Hard Questions
- Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
- Should your life have a purpose? What if you don’t know what exactly you want to do?
- How do you know when you’re happy and truly achieved something?
- Ever inspired by Norvig’s speech?
- Do you have aspirations/dreams? Even if it is world peace.
- Is money important or dreams?
- What if you don’t have any dreams or aspirations?
- How often should you stop, take a step back and take stock of your situation?
Are there any more hard questions one has to ask oneself?
September 28th, 2006 at 8:50 pm
The species homo sapiens may become extinct in future to give way to more highly-evolved-beings (perhaps, one that has more control over their minds). The word ‘purpose’ denotes an end in itself, while biological evolution has no ‘end’ but only ‘means’.
I really don’t have any concerns about the ‘future’. Here, I am sitting in office, slacking off, reading some elisp code, chatting with #emacs fellas, etc..
A zen master once said, “Life is like going into the sea knowing that the ship is going to sink in the middle!”
We ‘create’ such questions and delude ourself on the way ..
September 29th, 2006 at 10:49 am
Very tough questions, indeed. Thanks for the links.
September 29th, 2006 at 1:40 pm
[...] from here: http://www.swaroopch.info/archives/2006/09/28/hard-questions/#comments [...]
September 29th, 2006 at 1:42 pm
The zen quote was profound..
I have reproduced it in my blog.. Let me know if you want me to remove it..
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:40 pm
Smack!!
Three pounds of flax
October 6th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
@Sridhar : If we consider ourselves as a ‘means’ of evolution, then isn’t our ‘end’/purpose to contribute towards that evolution?
October 6th, 2006 at 12:34 pm
If we consider ourselves as a ‘means’ of evolution, then isn’t our ‘end’/purpose to contribute towards that evolution?
I cannot clearly conceive a beginning or an end for evolution. It is happening “irrespective” of whatever we do. If that is the case, I fail to see the applicability of word “towards” in your question.
Even when considering a vehement phrase like ’survival of the fittest’, I fail to see how the survived species become “holy” over the extinct ones.
Swaroop, I definitely see these as very superficial questions, which means, they do not solve the fundamental problem. The human condition is worse. Suffering being our primal problem, I incline toward Siddhartha’s way of living (and that I am finding darn difficult to follow!).
October 10th, 2006 at 9:10 am
@Sridhar : Does it mean that humans should just “take life as it goes” and not bother about anything? Won’t life be more difficult that way?
Can you please detail on Siddhartha’s way of living?
October 10th, 2006 at 9:39 am
Does it mean that humans should just “take life as it goes� and not bother about anything? Won’t life be more difficult that way?
No.
Can you please detail on Siddhartha’s way of living?
That’s difficult, but I try …
After diligent meditation, he attained enlightenment. He said, life is suffering. And suffering is due to craving — getting attached to our own habitual patterns of living. Any pattern creates friction with reality which is changing all the time. By breaking those patterns or letting go of craving, suffering can be ended. A well-defined path to reach this state is the noble eightfold path.
This doesn’t mean that we should “take life as it goes” or not bother about anything. It means we should let go of our patterns (good and bad, etc.. and all such dualities) and be creative than reactive.
Leading such a life is very difficult. Trying to live life the creative way in spite of long-accumulated habitual reactions is like swimming against the strong ocean currents.
The noble eightfold path is very superficial in explaining the way. I recommend reading these two articles instead.
If you’re interested, watch this 1 hour video by Alan Wallace: Toward the First Revolution in the Mind Sciences
October 10th, 2006 at 11:07 am
@Sridhar, Thanks for that lucid explanation. I’ve been following your fascination(?) with Zen Bhuddism for some time now.
More power to you