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?
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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