Philo-Positive: This 2018, If You Think You Can't, You Still Kant

thegiamarcos (55)in #motivation • 7 years ago (edited)

It's almost 2018, and I know we all want to enter a new year with positivity. It's a good thing, because of course we don't want to start the year with rotten views in life. Now, I know a lot of people who feel like they can't just do that--they do not have the guts or they claim they are too down to make themselves happy in a snap. I'm not saying one could be happy through a snap, but one could surely take inspiration or motivation to do so from this philosopher whose name ironically sounds like you really can't--Imannuel Kant

Beauty Therapy

Immanuel Kant believed in the power of beauty, whether of nature, a person, art, music, etc. According to him, we constantly struggle in our lives as we play a tug-of-war between our duties and pleasure. As a remedy for that, he proposed that taking some time to appreciate the beauty of nature and art actually bring us away from that said agony.

It is because beauty like a nice sunset or a glorious beach does not ever demand us to choose between duty or pleasure. Instead, it allows us to indulge in a moment of pure bliss.

That is why we love the idea of traveling especially when life gets too tough. Seeing more of nature and exploring colorful cultures do give us that light of hope to seize life back again.

It's just awful that sometimes, some of us tend to see beauty as a subject for envy rather than of goodness in life--that very rewarding thing we keep on looking for all our lives we deprive ourselves from feeling, experiencing.

But those beautiful people cause our sufferings, don't they?

We see a lot of beautiful people on social media these days. There are a bunch of gorgeous Instagram celebrities whose lives we get to have a little peek on as we scroll down their posts. Why do you think we enjoy that practically lurking thing we do? It is because we love the idea of seeing these beautiful people looking flawless--no personality issues

to worry about, just still portrayal of their outside appearances that gives us a sense of calmness. Now, when we get too involved in a beautiful person's life too much, that's when that feeling vanishes. You feel like you are entitled to that person's choices and possessions in life with it almost completely normalized for so many years now, and that's exactly when the agony goes back again.

Audrey Hepburn's character, Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's was right when she said that line in the left. Beauty and relationships are not meant to be possessed. They were made to be appreciated, admired, loved, taken care of, cherished, and not necessarily to share it but most certainly not to make it live for you or serve its purpose solely for you as well. Now, we see it in married couples who get too stuck in the conventional sense of that relationship--they fight over the slightest of things, they feel unloved or disrespected when it comes to mere situations wherein for example, the other decides to do something alone--a self-space each person is entitled to. From those little matters that erupt to potential separation, they forget the reason why they got together in the first place--because of each other's beauty that struck them. In their irrational desire to preserve all of it like a material possession, they end up committing the very things that are meant to break all of it into pieces instead. All of it was not meant to be preserved or sealed but rather to be allowed growth and endless enjoyment and appreciation.

So for your NY's Resolution...

Admire the beauty of nature.
Appreciate and enjoy the beauty of people around you.
Do not take others' beauty as ownership. Treat is as companionship and have fun.
If everything in your life seems ugly or just really terrible, look outside your zone and seek masterpiece.
If there's no way out to see wonder, make your own. Trust me, you can.