by chuck » Jul 10, 2005 @ 6:21am
I, erghm, was born again virgin. My will-power waivered.
And I don't suppose I want to do something absolutely unique, I know that's impossible. I realize it's incredibly American to want to do something different and change the world, but hey.. we've all got dreams right? But, yes, I probably have admitted to myself that if I haven't done anything particularly special yet, it most likely won't happen. Eventually I'll finally submit to the mundaneness of my life ahead of me, but don't you think it's a little early to throw in the towel? And as Satre so astutely points out (he would be pissed to see how I bastardize this), we have the possiblility to do anything at any time and anytime we abandon our ability to do something, we are just backing down from the anxiety of having a choice.
Now as to cultivating, I don't think you quite got the point. I haven't ever felt attached to anything enough 'cultivate.' Of course I don't find meaning in the world, once one abandons the crutch of a higher being the anxiety of existence weighs heavily upon their mind. It is incredibly hard to find meaning in the world without a deity to assign it. This is my delimma, I believe. I haven't decided what I want the world to me, so there couldn't be any cultivation on my part. (oh this is going to be way to circular)
I don't see any meaning, therefore I can't find any reason to delve deeper into things. I understand the surface value of knowledge and I have a desire to have more, probably, only because I'm cocky and I like to know I know something. So the only cultivation I ever do is for purely selfish ends. I suppose that's my delimma, unselfishness. I can't find it. I want to have something to be unselfish for. I feel so Hobbes. I don't know. My brain is such a contradiction. I understand that Pyschological Egoism is a faulty theory, both in my heart and through logical reasoning on the subject, but I continually accuse myself of acting on purely selfish motives all the time. Even charity is just out of pity. I also think I just proved your point somehow.
Either way, in answer to your command to cultivate meaning in my world, I say wouldn't that require me to know what is meaningful and commit to it?