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Delight Springs

Saturday, December 9, 2023

Overview and Thoughts of SSHM Chapter 5

 Chance Hall Section 13


In chapter 5 of Sick Souls Healthy Minds the author Kaag touches on a few concepts: truth, consequences, pragmatism, and zest (SSHM). Pragmatism is something covered not just a lot in SSHM but also throughout our introduction to philosophy course. A key role of pragmatism that I try to implement into my life as much as I can is ameliorating life or making life better. One important way that I find to do that is to find truths about your life, whether that be good or bad. A negative example could be that whenever you find something that brings you happiness you do that so much that it becomes unhealthy (doom scrolling or overeating) or are prone to becoming addicted to substances that bring a positive feeling (vaping or drinking). Thus, by knowing you have that tendency then you can ameliorate your life by creating checks and balances that would only allow you to do these things with moderation. Or a positive example could be that you know that doing yoga helps not only to strengthen and make your body more flexible but also clears your mind of stressors (Benefits of yoga). Thus, by knowing this you could regularly schedule yoga sessions to improve your body and mind.

Though personal truths are important to understand, having at least a rudimentary comprehension of scientific truths is not only useful but important to create a well-rounded person too. (Using Science) For starters, having scientific comprehension gives a person tools to be able to think critically. Overall consequences are what we want from finding the truths in our lives and the universe. On the other hand, though consequences are not always what we strive for or even enjoy for that matter. Yet consequences, more or less, are how we flow through time - from one event to another. Even breathing, we inhale oxygen then our body miraculously and quickly distributes it for every part to use then we exhale our waste material of carbon dioxide, giving each of us the consequence of living another moment.

Towards the end of the chapter Kaag points out that, zest is, having keen passion in life and what William James calls the key to human meaning. As Bertrand Russel explains it.  I do not think that there is a singular meaning to human existence or life itself for that matter, in the sense of a direct particular answer to the question: What is the meaning of life? Or why are we here? Other than of course 42! Although, for me, after breaking down that we are a living part of the universe that interacts and observes other parts of the universe then a part of an answer arises.



 So, we are alive and to stay alive we must perform actions on a continuous basis or else we will cease to be alive. Then it just makes sense to find the actions that cause the best response in you, meaning they will make you happiest. And I do not just mean the bare minimum of intaking nutrients, so your body continues to function and just performing menial actions that only allow time to pass by. Because if that is all one does then they are for all intents and purposes animals, although some animals are seen to do more than simply keep their body fed. Therefore, having a keen passion in life is A key to human meaning (I would say there are many keys). Since zest is only a single part of living, then it is important to remember to not focus all your energy on pursuing zest.

It is direly important to remember to put focus on the other keys such as taking care of your mental, nutritional, and physical health. Although there is still substantial importance to develop zest in your life. Because having a passion to productively focus on really inputs reason into not just our day to day lives but also our long-term goals. And without a keen passion then depression becomes very likely, since there is no overall direction for livelihood. I believe that part of the reason why so few people in our modern world have a true keen passion for anything is because the system that we live in does not nourish that type of person. What, specifically our western system, grinds us to become is obedient workers that consume whatever is thrust in front of our faces. Because having an independent well-rounded intelligent population does not generate the most amount of wealth for those in power. An important question we need to ask ourselves and that of our representatives in places of power is: How can our society create intelligent people with a keen passion and a sense of community?

1 comment:

  1. P.s Professor Phil, I did not understand all of your comments on my draft and commented back on the other post to try to understand. Since there was no reply, I just fixed it the way I interpreted the part I did not understand.

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