People want to know the meaning of life. They can’t master the difference in meaning between adverse and averse, but the meaning of life – that they think they can understand.
What good would it do people to know the meaning of life, anyway? People all seem to think they know the meaning of global warming, but most of them still haven’t got round to buying those four crummy light bulbs they promised to buy a couple of years ago at Live Earth.
Why are we here?, they ask. Well, I don’t know about you, but I find it difficult to be in two places at once. So it’s not possible for me to be anywhere but here.
And what’s so great about knowing why you’re here? When I go to the physician to check out that blood in the urine, I know why I’m there, but I’m not thrilled about it.
These days there’s a huge industry founded on persuading people they can discover their true selves and that, with that knowledge under their belts, they can then achieve whatever they want.
Now, almost none of the people looking for their selves (and precious few of the people offering to tell them where their selves are) could define the self, so they couldn’t recognize it if they saw it. But they’re looking for it.
But, you say, I am being cynical. People do not aspire to a purpose in life for base, self-interested reasons but for noble ones. They want to make the world a better place.
Well, you don’t need to dig too deep to find out how to do that. One of the great moral teachers had a pretty simple formula for achieving that goal – keep the ten commandments and give your goods to the poor. So get to it. I have to warn you, though – that commandment about adultery’s a bugger.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment