Philosophical discussion panel; What constitutes a great life?
It is a question frequently asked; yet seldom are they who ask and are content with answers given.
What is the answer? You may ask.
The answer, perhaps, is not singular in nature.
Contrive to conceive of it: Life, a swirling sea of infinite potential, birthing multitudes of realities out of the same fundamental "truths" and laws.
You, a receiver of information which you then use to birth new life.
Creation = creating change.
Change is the only constant and we as vibrating beings are constantly changing thus creating our reality as a continuous process.
It is true, that their is much to life.
Life is complex; full of substance and sustenance.
But many who walk this earth - even though knowing such truths - may wonder: what does it mean to live a great life?
To be a great man or woman.
They may ask themselves: How may I achieve this? How do I achieve living a great life?
First off, we must ask: achieve? Why must you achieve something to live a great life?
You are then saying that a great life revolves around achievement.
Simply put: living a great life simply means to 1) LIVE and 2) to do it greatly or in great proportion, magnificent splendor ect.
Perhaps to you living greatly means to be great in the eyes of other people.
Perhaps to the next man who works as a politician; it is about the same thing , being grand in the eyes of the public.
Yet to do so is simply to be a grand spectacle in the eyes of others.
To define oneself as a grand spectacle is most definitely debilitating.
To assume ones Identity as something definable - like a grand spectacle for instance - limits the ability of living a great life as something that happens is - immediately after in the past.
This is defining the ability to live a great life as essentially having a single great moment - or a series therof.
And we know this is not it because to live a great life is to live a great life in the NOW ; always.
How can we do that when we cannot ALWAYS be delivering grand spectacles to the public?
Why would we want to live a great life in the first place If it was only confined to a series of events in space and time?
We wouldn't.
We want to live a great life in every moment.
Do we not?
When we desire a great life? Do we not desire living it?
We can only live life in the now: life in the past is a memory.
To live , is to LIVE NOW..
There is no other time-space to live in BUT now.
So, living a great life is not being great in the eyes of people: for sooner or later their thoughts of you will change.
So too, will you change, as well as your thoughts about the people you once wished to impress and the desire to impress them.
People say time is fleeting....
The truth is....Moments are fleeting : We cannot hold onto them.
We cannot LIVE in moments.
Life does not become a series of moments until we remember them as "past" in the now.
A baby lives in the now because the baby has no memories to draw upon.
To LIVE, is to LIVE NOW.
You cannot live in the past: nor the future.
So what, then, constitutes a great life?
Is it money, may that be the answer?
Well,
Money is nothing but a tool: a means of exchange to get what you want or need.
It does not constitute a great life simply because money is just a tool.
Even though it gets you what you want: not the money nor the objects you can buy will last.
Neither of these things constitutes a great life.
SO what does?
One could say that physical experiences that are pleasurable - such as the experiences of having sex, or taking drugs - are what constitute a great life.
And yet....They too do not last.
Chasing either of these pleasures and trying to make it so will result in an addiction...
Which I would say does not constitute a great life.
So what does?
Is it a great reputation that constitutes a great life?
Perhaps....
But a great reputation has to be kept no matter the cost.
Otherwise, it is no longer great.
A reputation also has to be kept: sometimes the way to keep up a good (let alone great) rep is to do bad things.
Sometimes very bad things: and how does one do bad things and still remain great?
how does one live a great life while maintaining a great reputation this way?
Lets say you only have to do good things to maintain your rep ; Will not your reputation fall apart eventually?
People may destroy your rep.....
Reputations can be destroyed.
SO, how can a reputation constitute a great life when it can be destroyed and costs effort to be maintained?
Is it really so hard to live a great life?
Lets be more clear....
Living a great life = Living greatly.
Living in a great manner.
Surely to live greatly is to live life to the fullest extent possible in every moment.
Perhaps living greatly is allowing the possibilities of life to unfold...not forcing anything - just choosing what reality you wish to experience.
Perhaps it is living for today, living our desires as they come to us.
Or is it something else? Is it what I've said and something more?
A multitude of things?
Is the concept of living a great life subjective?
Let me know in the comments below (and get paid in steem )
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Thinking about the meaning of life and what constitutes a good life is always fascinating.
Though for me the word "great" has some negative connotations, something like "superior" to others. I know, that's not what you mean.
A good life, the way I see it, is one that isn't just lived for oneself. It's a life of giving and receiving, a life of learning and teaching, a life lived between memories (the past), action (the present) and hope (the future), a life in tune with oneself and with those around...
To me, great simply means, something of strong proportion, or magnitude. I see it as neither good nor bad; it is to me, a unit of measurement.
I agree with what you've said. Thanks for participating in the discussion!
I believe that we can all live a great life if we choose to appreciate the blessings around us and give back what we have amassed.
To me, it is living in harmony with the universe and interacting with life in a way that gives value to our beingness.
I agree with your last statement.
But if greatness is just a neutral measurement, is it actual desirable to achieve it? What about a "great leader" who leads his people into war after war?
What about a "great hedge-fund manager" who amasses enormous wealth for himself and his investors by naked short-selling of stocks and currencies destroying viable companies and whole the economies of whole country's in the process?
Those individuals are living most certainly memorable and influential lives, while a nurse aid in a nursing home (like me) is practically invisible. But should I aspire to their "greatness", sourly regretting my own choices in life?
In my humble opinion, when all is said and done, being decent is better than being remarkable and "good" better than "great".
Or maybe that's just sour grapes, I might have been a really "great dictator"....
I think "greatness" is anything that can be defined as "great". Surely one can be 'great' or do great things in either a positive or negative context.
I think greatness can be found in even the smallest of actions - anything that makes something "considerably above the normal or average".
For example, 'giving' somebody a smile, hug, or flower can be considered deeds of greatness as they have greatly changed the situation (whatever that may have been) into one of appretiation of love.
Love this!!!❤
....Reflections... <3
for everyone it's different :) nice post! upvoted
And what is it for you?
These thoughts have tumbled through my mind for years, I have expressed them in similar fashion around a multitude of campfires. There is one thing however, that I realized hinders us utterly. We are timeless beings living an existence that is ruled by time. Because deep down in our spirits, we know that time is an illusion, when we face it, it becomes a struggle. We can meditate and be in the moment, but we can't meditate twenty-four hours a day. It is a stale mate, if you will, between this physical realm and our physical forms and the spirits that inhabit us. That are stuck in this prison.
Once I realized this, instead of looking at it like a prison, because let's face it, that sucks ha, instead I saw it as a challenge, a game,-a play. And our bodies are the costumes we're wearing in this theatrical production. So how do we live a great life? We just do. We just see it as great, and it is...because that's the one thing that time has no effect on, the knowing in our spirit that all is well, so long as we say it is. And naturally this is going to mean all different things to all different people, and that's great, that's what makes it a game, or a fun one anyway ;)
Amazing comment :)
I LOVE CAMPFIRES :)
Unfortunately where I live - people love their phones hahah
I forgot that you said something about giving away steem in this post...thank you :) Oh, people like their phones around here too, but we make a point to put them away when we're doing certain activities like campfires ;)
Or taking LSD haha.
One of my biggest goals in this life is to acquire my own land and create a sustainable community and if I have children they will grow up like this
I think for many this is important. It's easier to focus on the now, than an uncertain future.
Good post man! :)