Justifying your Existence - (a new year's thought)

[bhikkhu]

A little introspective gedanken for the new year, and if the answers aren't as you would like, every day is a new day, every year is a new chance:

Most people value their own opinions. Are yours really valuable to others? Is there more that you could learn, more that you could understand?

Do you enjoy learning? Do you have an open mind? As the world has changed, have you changed your mind about anything?

Do you praise more than you criticize? Do you smile more than you frown? Do you blame it on others?

As we live in a very wealthy country, in the richest era of human history yet, are you happy with what you have, or do you strive and suffer and climb over others for what you don't yet have?

As it has been said “true wealth is the ability to be generous”, do you hold on to what you have tightly, or are you generous?

What are you afraid of? Should you be?

If you lost your possessions, would you still have friends?

Do you know your neighbors? Do they trust you? Do they admire you, enjoy having you there?

Which is more valuable: to be famous, or to be admirable? Do you do anything you think of as admirable?

Are you good at anything? Do you enjoy doing it?

Have you spoiled your health with addictions and unhappiness, obesity and inactivity?

Do you blame it on others?

There is a high probability that generations to come will wish we had done differently. Does that make any difference to you? If you could pass down to them the ability to enjoy life with less, would you?

Happy New Year, all!

[snagglepuss]

1. A great post. Thanks for posting. K & R

:applause:

[Sapphocrat]

2. I exist...

...to keep people from getting too comfortable in their own insular little worlds.

I exist to piss people off. And when I cease to exist, my purpose will have been to fill them with unbridled joy upon my death.

Happy New Year.

[Hannah Bell]

3. Our existence doesn't have to be justified. Desire to be admirable isn't admirable.

[bhikkhu]

6. That last one was from talking to my daughter

She's at that age...determined to be a "famous singer", or a "famous actress", and very concerned about what the celebrities are up to. I always tell her a goal that would serve her much better would be admirable instead.

I know how you feel about someone having to justify their existence to someone else, but in this case I'm talking about introspection. If a person can justify their own existence to themselves, the world can become a different place for them.

[Hannah Bell]

7. nothing personal, but i disagree. i don't think we have to justify our existence, even to ourselves.

we exist.

i understand, where your daughter's concerned, & the kind of influences on kids, that they're too inexperienced to disregard--

but in a wider sense, i don't think we have to justify our existence, i think the felt need to do so = pernicious.

[bhikkhu]

8. Using different words:

to review one's life, and to decide to arrange and regulate one's behavior, so as to be a good and valuable person. So as to be, to oneself, a worthwhile and good person. If you look at the long list of ills that plague society, its not hard to say that some of them arise from the beaten-down state of whole sectors of society. Nobody can do everything, and for many there is little that they control about their own lives, but everyone can do something.

You could say its naivete, but I believe that everyone has the capacity to be and to feel valuable and happy, and to cast off whatever chains have been imposed upon them. I've had a very good year myself, in spite of a variety of economic problems. Sometimes the best defense is having a smile on the inside.

[Hannah Bell]

9. maybe we're saying the same thing in different words. the felt need to justify our existence, to be

worthy, destroys happiness.

we exist. we don't have to earn it. existentially speaking.

[WhiteTara]

13. agreed. n/t

[phasma ex machina]

4. My opinions on great issues outside of my core competencies are of little, if any, value even to me.

I exist to learn.

[The Midway Rebel]

5. For me, all the questions have easy answers except this one.

What are you afraid of?

[bhikkhu]

14. So it is, thinking about that one...

the answers for me tend to go back (somewhat ridiculously) to things that got to me when I was a kid, and then keep me from doing what I believe I should do. Fear of not being welcome, or of looking stupid, basic social things. Its easiest to say nothing, stay home, fade into the background...

[KakistocracyHater]

10. I got sick at 15 & lost all my friends because I am a shut-in

does that mean I don't deserve to live? I have been on this board off & on for years, took me several years to reach 1000; my buddy list is empty, yet I am trying to be friendly & make some friends. I guess my "social skills" truly suck.

[bhikkhu]

11. ...at 15 I lost all of my friends too

when I left school early. For about 2 years I hardly talked to anyone, spending my time buried in books, going for long walks and bicycle rides alone.

Anyway, I ended up moving and found a whole new crowd of good friends. More than once since then, actually. There's good people everywhere...and not meaning to give anyone a hard time, but most every year I run down a litany like the OP and think about things. Most of the time I had a bunch of good intentions like yours might be - make friends, get out more, talk to people, etc...it gets easier as you get older. I hope your year goes well :hi:

[Karenina]

12. . .

[Better Today]

15. What a piece of crap post, really. Who are you to determine these

stupid questions as a basis for justifiable existence? DO you have a clue how many borderline suicidal persons, or persons finding themselves unemployed and in dire straits whose families are harping on them to "just get a job" when there are none, or persons who because their worlds have crashed around them in the past year or two. . .

Ah, nevermind, clearly you have no heart, just judgmentality and a bizarre sense of superiority to be telling people how to or even that they need to justify their existence.

[bhikkhu]

16. Introspection is the key word there

as in, everyone traditionally spends some time in the beginning of the new year thinking to themselves about their life, and what they could make better. This list is something like my own list of things to ponder.

It is weighed toward the idea that people are most happy when they inhabit a role or roles in society, whether as a family member, student, worker, volunteer, neighbor, etc. Physical and psychological things often get in the way, and the new year is a good time to reflect on and plan for a better day.