paradox.
so driving home tonight i was listening to one of taylor's depressing mixes and contemplating life.
as 'first day of my life' came on i started to think on a huge paradox of life.
that is simply, aging.
does the fact that we live for such a short time make our life valuable or worthless? because every second could be our last, does that make it worth more, does it make each second, each moment priceless? or does the fact that we'll be gone soon enough make everything pointless? because we could die tomorrow, today, or years from now, does that mean that everything we do is essentially without reason? without purpose?
why go to school for twelve years to die on the day we graduate? why work a dead end job to die the day we retire? why have kids to die the day they go to kindergarten, or better yet to have them die that day? why chase after someone to die the day they admit they've loved you all along, to to have them die at that moment? why get married to die on the honeymoon, why buy a house to die the day you move in? why buy a car to die driving home from the dealership?
sure those are all by chance, and all depressing, but it happens.
why do we make such close bonds with those around us only to suffer pain and heartbreak why they die?
it all seems so pointless...
but yet, all those days at school brought friends and memories that made life worth living. working to achieve something made gave life purpose. having kids is the greatest joy humans can experience (or so they say), and thus makes life worthwhile. love, whether received or sent makes life worthwhile, doesn't it?
is there really any significance to the perpetuation of the human species? it seems rather silly that the only reason we're here is to fuck and to fight (which is all the same) and to carry on our genes. it's the basis of everything we do and yet the reason for nothing. why build skyscrapers and faster cars, better computers and fancier gadgets? to make life easier? if life is completely easy, and we carry on living for long, doesn't that make life worth less? or more?
people always ask, do we have a purpose? in the grand scheme of things, no. we don't have some higher purpose. heaven is simply something to look forward to if we're good, hell is something to fear and therefore act good. heaven and hell, two things completely made up by the human species to give purpose to our own worthless existences. we have no purpose...
except for those we make for ourselves.
i don't think the idea of heaven or hell is a good thing. they make the life we have here on earth, the only thing we know to be real and definite (relative to our own lives that is), pointless. i think to think there's something after death takes away from the fact that we're here now, living, dying.
it's a paradox... that of life. of aging. of dying. from the womb to the tomb, from the cradle to the casket... the only thing that gives our life purpose is our very own death.
if we lived forever would we stop to smell the flowers?
if we had all the time in the world maybe we would care about the small things, and not just the big picture.
so i guess the fact that we live not so long makes life pointless after all. why stop to smell the flowers when you need to get to where you need to go faster, cause you don't have time to waste on the perfume of a flower.
what is a few seconds out of our lives? everything and nothing at the same time.
i suppose optimists would say that because life is short, it's worth more. which is funny because they live longer than pessimists. so pessimists should be a little more optimistic, cause living longer would make life more worthwhile, right?
hmm. i suppose personally... life is worthwhile not because we have such short lifespans... or because we're dying the moment we're born, but because we give our own lives purpose. not through religion or anything of a higher being... but because we as humans, as people, gave our lives purpose when we dared to dream...
something so minuscule and yet so huge is really the only thing that gives us a reason to live... it's both transparent and frail because dreams can easily be broken or forgotten, and yet solid enough for us to depend on them to keep going... to keep living... to keep walking towards our graves...
i think that's what sets us apart. not self-awareness or language or anything so simple... but something much more abstract. i think the fact that we aspire to become greater, to become something we're not... to become something we can't even define... is what makes us human.
and what gives our small lives meaning.
as 'first day of my life' came on i started to think on a huge paradox of life.
that is simply, aging.
does the fact that we live for such a short time make our life valuable or worthless? because every second could be our last, does that make it worth more, does it make each second, each moment priceless? or does the fact that we'll be gone soon enough make everything pointless? because we could die tomorrow, today, or years from now, does that mean that everything we do is essentially without reason? without purpose?
why go to school for twelve years to die on the day we graduate? why work a dead end job to die the day we retire? why have kids to die the day they go to kindergarten, or better yet to have them die that day? why chase after someone to die the day they admit they've loved you all along, to to have them die at that moment? why get married to die on the honeymoon, why buy a house to die the day you move in? why buy a car to die driving home from the dealership?
sure those are all by chance, and all depressing, but it happens.
why do we make such close bonds with those around us only to suffer pain and heartbreak why they die?
it all seems so pointless...
but yet, all those days at school brought friends and memories that made life worth living. working to achieve something made gave life purpose. having kids is the greatest joy humans can experience (or so they say), and thus makes life worthwhile. love, whether received or sent makes life worthwhile, doesn't it?
is there really any significance to the perpetuation of the human species? it seems rather silly that the only reason we're here is to fuck and to fight (which is all the same) and to carry on our genes. it's the basis of everything we do and yet the reason for nothing. why build skyscrapers and faster cars, better computers and fancier gadgets? to make life easier? if life is completely easy, and we carry on living for long, doesn't that make life worth less? or more?
people always ask, do we have a purpose? in the grand scheme of things, no. we don't have some higher purpose. heaven is simply something to look forward to if we're good, hell is something to fear and therefore act good. heaven and hell, two things completely made up by the human species to give purpose to our own worthless existences. we have no purpose...
except for those we make for ourselves.
i don't think the idea of heaven or hell is a good thing. they make the life we have here on earth, the only thing we know to be real and definite (relative to our own lives that is), pointless. i think to think there's something after death takes away from the fact that we're here now, living, dying.
it's a paradox... that of life. of aging. of dying. from the womb to the tomb, from the cradle to the casket... the only thing that gives our life purpose is our very own death.
if we lived forever would we stop to smell the flowers?
if we had all the time in the world maybe we would care about the small things, and not just the big picture.
so i guess the fact that we live not so long makes life pointless after all. why stop to smell the flowers when you need to get to where you need to go faster, cause you don't have time to waste on the perfume of a flower.
what is a few seconds out of our lives? everything and nothing at the same time.
i suppose optimists would say that because life is short, it's worth more. which is funny because they live longer than pessimists. so pessimists should be a little more optimistic, cause living longer would make life more worthwhile, right?
hmm. i suppose personally... life is worthwhile not because we have such short lifespans... or because we're dying the moment we're born, but because we give our own lives purpose. not through religion or anything of a higher being... but because we as humans, as people, gave our lives purpose when we dared to dream...
something so minuscule and yet so huge is really the only thing that gives us a reason to live... it's both transparent and frail because dreams can easily be broken or forgotten, and yet solid enough for us to depend on them to keep going... to keep living... to keep walking towards our graves...
i think that's what sets us apart. not self-awareness or language or anything so simple... but something much more abstract. i think the fact that we aspire to become greater, to become something we're not... to become something we can't even define... is what makes us human.
and what gives our small lives meaning.