IS LIFE ABSURD?

"Good works do not make a person good.  A good person simply does them."
- Wolf Howl

“A fire broke out backstage in a theatre. The clown came out to warn the public; they thought it was a joke and applauded.

He repeated it; the acclaim was even greater.

I think that's just how the world will come to an end: to general applause from wits who believe it's a joke.”
― Søren Kierkegaard


Our base desires seem to hoodwink our higher-reasoning selves and drive us mad with one unmet expectation after another.

Modern life has made things worse,

deepening our cravings and at the same time heightening our delusions of importance as individuals.

Not only are we rabid in our unsustainable demands for gourmet living, eternal youth, fame and a hundred varieties of sex,

but we have been encouraged –

by a post-1970s "rights" culture that has created a zero-tolerance sensitivity

to any perceived inequality, slight or grievance –

into believing that to want something is to deserve it.

Universities has watered-down the term happiness to "Selective Well Being." 

But lifeless jargon does not enpower us to live fully each moment.

Happiness is elusive. 

If you have it, you are unaware of it.  And once you are aware of it, it evaporates.

Think back on a moment in your past when you were happy. 

You were unaware of how precious that happiness was.  Ironically, you probably felt you were unhappy.

Now, you would give almost anything to go back and enjoy the happiness of which you were unaware.

So upon reaching a certain maturity, we realize that there are many forms of happiness. 

I wonder if any two people who feel themselves happy are experiencing the same phenomenon. 

As we live in an age so the age lives in us. 

And this is the age of the glamor of potential.

Sadly, as soon as we get the things we wanted, we no longer want them ... that is the "glamor of potential."

It is an eternal loop of frustrating desire

by which the things we have are devalued by the things we want next.

One way out of such a loop is the one found by the Stoics, Sarte, and the ancient Greeks:

a detached grasp of the futility of things which leads to accepting responsibility for your actions.

Not a favored view in the 21st Century. 

This is the age of the committee, herd instinct, team playing. 

Understanding comes from solitude, but solitude in the Digital Age is a mirage, isn't it?

What do you think?