Final Blogpost Essay- Eli Feck

 

    "I wonder if William James ever looked at this painting and thought about the possibilities that it holds," Josh Kaag, author of "Sick Souls, Healthy Minds", says suddenly. He has been quite for some time, admiring the painting that is hung on one of the walls in the small study. "At first glance it looks as though the man is simply admiring the view, but when you look closer, you see that the view is very limited due to the fog. What reason, I ask you, besides to admire that foggy view, would a person stand at the top of a cliff and simply halt?"

    He has directed this question at me, who is currently the one only person in the room, and I pause for a moment before replying. "Perhaps his mind is elsewhere, on other earthly matters, and he has come to this spot to help him think and clear his head; or perhaps he has come here, as I suspect what you think, in the attempt to, or merely to ponder, the possibility of ending his life. If that is his intention, then perhaps " Kaag is slow to reply to this, so slow, in fact, that we are joined by another two guest before he gets the chance to reply. The door opens, and both Susan Neiman, author of "Why Grow Up," and Immanuel Kant come in. They take their seats near us, and it is time to begin. "To begin," I say," I would like to ask what does it mean to grow up, and why should we? Secondly, I would ask you each to consider what makes life worth living?"

    Susan Neiman is the first to pipe up and give an answer, "In terms of why we should grow up and what it means, I would like to say, 'The short answer is: because it's harder than you think, so hard that it can amount to resistance - even rebellion. The forces that shape our world are no more interested in real grown-ups as they were in Kant's day, for children make more compliant subjects and consumers(WGU 192).'  Growing up has to do with more than just getting older each year, it has to do with becoming a self aware individual who is able to think for his or herself and make decisions accordingly, with minimal influence from factors that would like to make our decisions for us. Life is worth living because we can look back on our lives once we reach old age and reflect on the decisions and choices that we made without exhibiting strong emotional reactions that may have occurred in our youth. 'The ability to see your life as the whole it has become allows you to see the strengths with which you've lived it, and develop a sense of your own character. Integrity is never static; it's too easy to lose for that. It's rather a matter of determination: you've begun to figure out what sort of person you want to be, and you resolve to work harder to become it(WGU 204).'

    John Kaag chimes in, "I would agree with you that a large part of growing up is learning to think for oneself, and there some some people who never learn to do that; we might argue that these people never really do grow up. When we are children, we are easily influenced by our parents and their ideals. It is not until later in life, sometimes much later, that we begin to break away from our parents' beliefs and start to form our own. 'Do my actions have the feeling of the ‘real me,’ or am I just half-asleep, play acting at the only life I have(SSHM)?' This is the question we must ask ourselves when we are forced to concede and allow ourselves to be subjected to the will of others, when we sacrifice our mental and habitual freedom, even if we do not realize it yet. As Rousseau said, 'Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains." This applicable to childhood as well as its original meaning in "The Social Contract." We are, at a young age, essentially slaves to the wills of those around us, devoid of opinion or leverage in any given situation until we reach that age and stage of life called adolescence, in which we question nearly every idea and rule that our parents have laid before us. Is life worth living? I would have to say that it depends. Life is worth living if it is made to be so. According to William James, the question of if life is worth living or not is simple. 'Maybe life is worth living-'it depends on the liver.' Maybe certain lives are so impossible or unbearable that they are better off cut short(SSHM).' I think that William James would say that a lot of it has to do with the way we approach situations in life and how we react to them. For example, 'We don’t laugh because we’re happy, we’re happy because we laugh. The action itself is enough to bring about a particular affective state.' If we take this type of approach to life, the odds are that we will rarely be tempted with that escape from life that so many people attempt, and many succeed, in performing every year. 

    Immanuel Kant, who had been quiet for this discussion, made his debut. "To grow up ideally, one would have to be raised as Rousseau's Emile, a task impossible for all except perhaps God. A substitute, the best substitute that one may find given the conditions, however poor of a substitute it may be when compare to that fictional character that Rousseau dedicates so much time to, would be for one to somehow manage to retain discipline under a naturally occurring morality; a morality, according to Rousseau, that occurs even if the individual is kept away from other people who could sway their judgement and morals. Life is worth living not for ourselves, but for those who come after us. Can a person truly grow up in their lifetime alone, or is growing up an action that is spread across decades and generations of people? Life's meaning is to do one's best to act as the caregiver of Emile, except there is not just one Emile; we are responsible for how every Emile that is born after us is brought up, what they hold important, their morals and beliefs. Whether we see it or not, we impact future generations, and therefore our purpose should be to make a positive impact on their lives. We may therefore say that we do not grow up as individuals, but we contribute to the advance of growth for our culture and the society in which we help to nurture and grow."