Saturday, July 10, 2010

All you need is Love


Are the Beatles right? Is Love all you need? Obviously it also helps to have shelter, food, access to clean water, health-care, education and a stable government. If the universe does exist as the outcome of morally neutral physical forces, without purpose and indifferent to human existence, what meaning and purpose can we make of our lives? What values do we live by? How do you live a Good Life in the absence of any external force or design?

Philosophers have been asking the last question since Socrates. The Greeks thought that a good individual life could only occur in a good society and that good government was an essential element in achieving this goal. The real point of politics must be to develop a society where individual lives can flourish regardless of class, gender or ethnicity. It is probably possible to live a good individual life if oppressed, poor, hungry and scared but without doubt it is harder.

So given the constraints of time and place and societal conventions, what autonomy does an individual have to create their own sense of purpose and meaning in Life? I believe that we have a reasonable amount of autonomy over the choices we make in life and that we can and do set our own direction. Many philosophies and certainly most religions are quite prescriptive about how to live your life. But I believe that there is no one way to live a good life. However I find much to agree with in the philosopher A.C. Grayling’s recent book “The choice of Hercules” where he discusses finding a balance between pleasure and duty in trying to lead a life truly worth living.

However most of the recent studies on Happiness and Well-being reveal that it is relationships that are the greatest indicator of happiness. Not only relationships within a family, but also with friends and with the wider community which give you a sense of belonging. It is probably stating the obvious to say that love, of whatever kind, seems to be an essential ingredient for the Good Life. Moreover it seems to me that along with obeying the law, having a sense of awe and wonder at the mystery of life and the universe might also help, with gratitude for life and acceptance of death. Nothing else seems to really matter. So I’ll end with another song: Don’t worry, be Happy!

2 comments:

  1. Dear Karen,
    I was surfing for some quotes by Socrates and came across your blog. Have you ever read anything by Ravi Zacharias? He's a very interesting writer. Just wanted to suggest this author for you to consider in your musings.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Many thanks for the suggestion - I will follow it up.

    ReplyDelete