LIFE Cannot Be Explained Through Any List
Recently, i see many people writing about what we ought and ought not to do to live certain life or to achieve certain things and i wonder where these ideas are coming from. I do not know why we must be perfect or anything in life must be perfect.
I still find it hard to understand why people come up with list of anything! These people tend to think they understand life for what it is. Whenever I see any list of do’s and don’t, I wonder if the person that compiled such list lives in this world or another.
Mostly, these things are supposed to ‘motivate’ as far as the people who compiled them are concerned but in reality, they give us a picture of something non-human or perhaps fantasy.
For instance, I have read many supposed articles on impossibility. The writers tend to motivate their audience telling them that nothing is impossible. You see them come up with explanation like: The word impossible says I’M POSSIBLE! What they mean by that is known to them.
They quickly remind us that impossibility is a thing of the ‘mind’ (I still don’t know the meaning of mind). So they rationalize every situations and everything by telling you that you can do anything and everything. What they forget is that, in the process of doing so, they are already creating ‘superhuman’. So by trying to defend ‘possibility’, they started by eliminating anything they consider impossible and in the end they create an IMPOSSIBLE human.
Reality check, many things are impossible! It is impossible for you to be in two places at the same time! You cannot be in Nigeria and at the same time be in USA. It is possible to think you are living in USA while you are actually living in Nigeria. Bringing yourself to live somewhere outside your present existence does not translate to living in that place.
In logic, there is a topic called relational proposition. I will simply use asymmetrical analogy to explain this part. Under asymmetry, you cannot have it to yourself.
Examples: You cannot be your own father, you cannot give birth to yourself, you cannot create yourself.
If I am the father of John, then John cannot be my father
If I am the husband of Tonia, then Tonia cannot be my husband
So in logic, somethings are not possible.
Now to the reality of this kind of ideas, they forget the reality of every human being. They forget that happiness and adversaries are realities of life. There is an adage by the Yoruba people of Nigeria which says: Tibi tire ladaye. Meaning the evil and good coexist in the world. Literally, Ibi in that context means placenta. Ibi also means evil in Yoruba. Ire means good. So the ibi is the placenta and the ire is the baby. Both the placenta and baby stay together in the womb. They coexist and unless the placenta comes out, the delivery is incomplete. So we always anticipate the ibi-placenta together with the ire-good. This is the reality of life. So to try to rationalize it that there are things one must do to avoid evil is to deny one’s reality as a human.
Today, I saw a list of things one must do to be happy and I cannot but wonder the rationale behind such list? You begin to wonder and ask if the person is ACTUALLY following the list? You wonder if the person is TRULY happy after following the list? You also wonder if true happiness can be attained in life.
One thing we must not forget is that it is normal for human beings to imagine, to aspire, to visualize the possibility of a good life, of a wealthy life, of living fine and healthy. To deny man of such imaginations is to turn him into a robot. Visualizing and dreaming do not make us less human nor make us live an unhappy life. In fact, they make life interesting to live. Aspirations ensure continuity of existence and can indeed contribute to our happiness!
Those compiling these lists should know that life is not something that can be tailored; life is not something anybody can fully understand. The reality 'life' means different things to different people so what works for person A might not (and in most cases do not and cannot) work for person B.
Thanks for reading. Your boy @smyle the philosopher.
Congratulations! In addition to the vote from @randowhale, you also received a vote from @randowhaletrail!
I agree with a lot of what you're saying, there is no one way to achieve true happiness.
However, don't you agree that conditioning the mind and body gives you more power over outcomes in life and what you achieve?
Hello, thanks for your response!
Can you explain further what you mean by 'conditioning'?
Meditation to change ones attitude towards life.
Breaking the chains of what we are told to think my governments.
Okay!
By that, you logically imply that the human brain can be tailored in a particular direction. But have you asked what happens when the tailored did not become reality?
When you list certain things to achieve in life, you should always be realistic about it and know that the result might not favour you! Now, when you tailored it to suit you, it is fine. But when you come out to tell people that there is a particular model by you which you 'know' will work and think poeple must follow to achieve certain result, then you are creating a non or less human.
Such models should be subjective. This is my point!
nice write up bro...