"If there is one indisputable fact about the human condition it is that no community can survive if it is persuaded--or even suspects--that its members are leading meaningless lives in a meaningless universe."
--Irving Kristol
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This is definitely something that holds true in numerous situations. Looking at history, and even the times we live in today, we can see the desperate things that people have done under the belief that they have no meaning in life. Suicide, depression, substance abuse, etc., these are things that people normally have done under the belief or suspicion that they have no meaningful purpose in the lives they are leading.
Of course, seen through Plato's Apology, we get the idea that people need to have more than just some meaning, they need to feel important than every other creature on this planet, excluding their fellow humans. At times, like the judges whom preceded over Socrates's case, they feel even more important than the very God(s) they claim to be working for. While this is a slightly controversial belief, it works in favor of people to give them the meaning and importance which they feel necessary to have in order to make it through their lives.
Once these meanings, the purpose and importance, once it is removed, or even given a doubtful thought, is when the people begin to react in ways that are sometimes to the extremes. Murderers are often people who have come out of a divorce with less than what they expected, who feel they've lost the importance in the lives they once led. Those who commit suicide commonly feel that they have lost meaning, and hold no importance in the world, that if they were to just disappear the world would either take no notice or even become a better place without them. There are other examples, but most people who have come to suspect that their lives are meaningless often tend to act in self-destructive ways, perhaps even giving themselves a purpose--to destroy themselves?--in doing so.
Once the meaning that people's lives "hold" is removed, they begin to deteriorate. Their societies, if meaning is removed, will deteriorate around its inhabitants, while they deteriorate. While some will become zombies, continuing to exist without an individual will and no major decisions to make, the greater majority will fail, and once the majority has failed, then even the will-less zombies will fail. Without the ego-feeding importance and meaning they seek, people simply can not survive.
This is definitely something that holds true in numerous situations. Looking at history, and even the times we live in today, we can see the desperate things that people have done under the belief that they have no meaning in life. Suicide, depression, substance abuse, etc., these are things that people normally have done under the belief or suspicion that they have no meaningful purpose in the lives they are leading.
Of course, seen through Plato's Apology, we get the idea that people need to have more than just some meaning, they need to feel important than every other creature on this planet, excluding their fellow humans. At times, like the judges whom preceded over Socrates's case, they feel even more important than the very God(s) they claim to be working for. While this is a slightly controversial belief, it works in favor of people to give them the meaning and importance which they feel necessary to have in order to make it through their lives.
Once these meanings, the purpose and importance, once it is removed, or even given a doubtful thought, is when the people begin to react in ways that are sometimes to the extremes. Murderers are often people who have come out of a divorce with less than what they expected, who feel they've lost the importance in the lives they once led. Those who commit suicide commonly feel that they have lost meaning, and hold no importance in the world, that if they were to just disappear the world would either take no notice or even become a better place without them. There are other examples, but most people who have come to suspect that their lives are meaningless often tend to act in self-destructive ways, perhaps even giving themselves a purpose--to destroy themselves?--in doing so.
Once the meaning that people's lives "hold" is removed, they begin to deteriorate. Their societies, if meaning is removed, will deteriorate around its inhabitants, while they deteriorate. While some will become zombies, continuing to exist without an individual will and no major decisions to make, the greater majority will fail, and once the majority has failed, then even the will-less zombies will fail. Without the ego-feeding importance and meaning they seek, people simply can not survive.
I found you point on self-destruction as a way to regain purpose interesting,the idea that when all else fails you can always make your goal your own end is at the same time terrifying and comforting.
ReplyDeleteI think you understand what Kristol is saying which is a community whose people stop questioning because they don't have a reason to, will be a community whose people have no reason to live.
ReplyDeleteFear is often a wonderful motivator for human beings.
ReplyDeleteIt most likely stands as an equal motivator for people as comfort does. Both give good cause, and I feel it's really depending on the person that one will affect them more than the other. Hitting both bases here hopefully got to more people than just one of the two.