Reading through "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, I couldn't help but find myself agreeing with his view of how the human race seems to be less and less able to live without burdens/responsibilities, or in this case we are going to use the umbrella term "weight".
How are we living? The way life as we know it has evolved into an elaborate algorithm, a routine containing classes which get called every morning of a working week. Forgive the pseudo-programmer in me. Obviously, the great villain here is work. Studies, not so much. Sometimes you attend lectures, sometimes you don't. Work on the other hand, has been made into something so inflexible you might think it's a diamond rod that is so far up your arse, it controls your locomotive and limbic system, dictating everything you do and think. Imagine the olden days where Diogenes of Sinope would just lie about learning about the people in his village, or taunting Plato. What happened to good old free will? Why are we bent on bending over and doing shit for other people when we could run our own dream business, the whimsical way we want? The answer most likely is "The money is good." Ah money, another great evil, not to be tackled today otherwise this would never end. With the expenses we make to get a good tertiary education, only to land into a job, that will pay back your student loans after 10 years, we find ourselves, in the best case scenario, 30 years old, before we can even start thinking about investing in a house. The great question here is, are your goals, more important that living the life you dreamt of? Or are your goals eventually going to lead you to realising your dreams? If so, then will you be able to enjoy it fully at the time it will come true?
Lightness. The term "no responsibility" comes to mind. Eternal dreamer that I am, I have come to deduce that the most brilliant ideas come at times when we are just doing and thinking nothing. Like the fly flying aimlessly in a room only to hit the odd unlit lightbulb, that on touch, lights up. Like any living thing, the innate fear of being burnt by the sun makes the fly recoil and check that light source from a distance. What is it I am talking about you say? It is the fear of making our dreams come true. Because the adage "It's too good to be true." keeps running amok in our head. Media makes us think we need shit we don't have any fucking use for and that is where the money which could be used to make one of your dreams come true, goes.
Weight. Is it good, is it bad? The inexplicable need of doing things that can hurt oneself is inherent in human behaviour, triggers of which are detailed in this paper. Common sense would opt for lightness - opposite of weight in this
context - as the good. I am pro-lightness but I do recognise the need for weight as a means to
lightness. Think of it as the tunnel that one has to go through from
London, before ending up in the City of Love, Paris. :) But then, what is your opinion on the matter?
My personal opinion is that it feels a bit short. Not enough spent on developing all the small parts of the story. As if you were grasping for time yourself.
But, if viewed as a snippet of opinions, this is good.
You're absolutely right. There is indeed so much room to expand but too much would bore the reader. Best get their opinion and then elaborate in a second post.
this is actually very good.i specially agree with the 2nd part,very down to earth.don't you think that the answer to all this is that nowadays the new world order is so powerful that we commoners are fooled easily? this "dream" of ours is our weak point,money the poisoned fruit as to say,we got to sacrifice something to gain another.
Ah, the equivalent exchange rule. But one has to ask, is it really equivalent? :) Sometimes, life just fleets by and you end up with more worries than memories.
Very interesting piece...i could very easily see myself questioning the same bits and pieces in my life...i could easily meet you in so many parts of your story....
Nonetheless intricate yet fascinating...well done.
I agree with TripleZ, more elaboration on some parts and to add to what Zaid said,definitely we civilians believe that dreams are the building blocks of life, so we merely see the subtle difference between goals and dreams. While we working, we then run the risk of forgetting to question why we doing it in the first place, and we get so overwhelmed by petty things that in the end, its just us doing what the world dictates and losing focus on our dreams. Eventually we just walking around in circles.
More emphasis should be put on doing things one wants to do as opposed to things society regards as having greater status. I firmly believe that if one's job involves something one is particularly enthusiastic about one will perceive a job less as a choir.
Having said that, it isn't always possible to land that dream job. Time and money, as you mentioned, are limiting factors. I was fortunate enough to not have to worry too much about these factors initially and ultimately landed a great gig. At the risk of repeating myself, having an interest in the job makes for a good and very enjoyable professional life.
nowadays if a person does not have something to worry about, he becomes frustrated with life...burdens are an absolute necessity for a human being....otherwise life seems empty and the idle mind starts wandering in places that it should not. that is why when a human being is born, his parents search for a career field for him...so that he will be carrying responsibilities for his whole life. why do we study? to get a successful career. why do we need a successful career? for money and personal satisfaction. however, the money and .the personal satisfaction is insatiable as our desires do not have a ceiling. so it is worth pondering upon this....
Brings home many of my own musings about the seemingly senseless 'nouveau-monde' we are living in. Albeit the strong currents fashioned by peers, the mass media (gaining ever more ground as the days go by), religion (to a lesser extent) and globalization (by this all-encompassing word, I mean all things virtual and space-distance-reducing) and conformism, we are constantly pressed by our own 'free-will' as you term it to follow the crowd. An idea, a single bright and unique idea would seem out of place and unacceptable because real creativity has made way for 'simplistic' alterations and pseudo transformations. The I-generation pushes us towards jobs which we are forced to accept to earn money and buy things we don't really need. And we THINK we are happy. Content is not the same thing as happy, but we have forgotten the true meaning of happiness. Appreciating simple pleasures has become a long-lost tradition and stepping into that direction might only earn us unflattering labels. The great question here is, are your goals, more important that living the life you dreamt of? Or are your goals eventually going to lead you to realising your dreams? As you so brilliantly argue, we never actually find the time to actually enjoy life, because we are so focused on acquiring the next best thing and cannot settle for less.
Good piece of writing. Succint. The article would have gained in value if you'd delved into the solutions to such a phenomenon...Otherwise, it was fresh and extremely readable!
Thank you all. I will definitely elaborate on this post further at some other point in time. The path to lightness is through weight from what I have gathered in Khalil's, Pong's and Krishnee's comments. And indeed what are the possible solutions to such a conundrum? Since society devises the degree of normality, any action, like quitting a "good and secure" job to try and live life the way you actually want it to be, would be coined as insane. Sure it does help having your dream job, nevertheless that still implies constraints to your freedom, minimised but yet there. (Ah yet another issue. Not for today.) Depending on one's situation, one should definitely find time to actually live life, irresponsibly, have a feel for the earth beneath one's feet and think about what really is happiness and not contentment. Happiness has definitely been downgraded with the disciples of Mammon - the God of Greed - multiplying exponentially over the decades. Materialistic (man)-whores that mankind has become is pathetic, shameful and most often than not, SUITED.
Goals. What is the ultimate goal? I guess for most of us it is to be happy. Now the definition of happy is very subjective. It seems that the weight never decrease, it just increases day by day. I still cannot understand why am going to work, why am I staying till 1 am in the office, why am bringing work at home on weekends. it is not because I'am fond of my job, far from that but I think that we tend to develop this kind of attitude because society wants us to think this way. We blindly believe that it will contribute to our progress and do no realise that we are not living the life we dream of. We cannot even appreciate the little things that made us happy before.
But then, we try to be more positive by saying happiness is not a destination, it is a journey. Continuously thinking of the need to have a car, a house and a top management job is adding unnecessary weight. I am not an anti-lightness, but too much lightness will make us lethargic and we will lose focus. We are living in a materialistic society and thinking of lightness as such is kinda unrealistic (except if you go and meditate on the Himalayas:P)
By default the weight is here and I sincerely think that our aim should be to lessen it, try to enjoy the little things in life and not to have any regrets. Live and let live.
I really liked what you wrote Ziyaad. It is direct and succint. The concept of weight v/s lightness is very original!
good article... we have pretty much the same thoughts.
That is the main reason I do not like democracy. It is NOT freedom. Think about it, once you loose your job, you will pretty much struggle with the main aspects of your life. Do we have any other choice?!
In my opinion, the answer is having the right balance of "I do not give a fuck" and "I got to do this. This is important"
It is one of the hard truths that the meaning of happiness has decayed to be: a job, a family and assets. That's it. If you have those and are not happy, then society estranges you, labels you as an ingrate and insane. Thanks for pointing that out Dips. :)
And Yan, you summarised it perfectly with that last sentence. I'll be quoting you on that whenever I discuss the matter! :)