Choose (Sense Of) Life

I need to pay more attention to the brighter and happier aspects of humanity, rather than the gloomy, death-ridden aspects as I have been. I shall retreat into a fantasy world where Iraqi acid baths, suicide bombers, race riots and all so forth have no right to exist.
said simon at malpractice

Do it, Simon, I implore you! Choose happiness! The competition for "most miserable" gets so exhausting after a while, and no one ever wins.

There was once a time when people had deep, dark serets. I don't think that it is healthy to feel that you have to hide things from the people you are closest to. But somewhere along the way, people have become so empowered that now they wear their "issues" as openly as a badge of honor. There is a sense of superiority in having suffered, as if being damaged makes a person more complete than someone who is free from scars.

I believe that you learn from all experiences, including tragedy. But you learn more from moving past pain than from carrying it along with you. It doesn't take a "fantasy world" to see the joy in every day of your life, nor does it require that you evade the fact that there is evil. Accept that it exists, but that it isn't the meaning of life. Your meaning comes from the choices that stir your passion and spirit. Just make the right choices. Why mope around to Mahler when you can be enchanted by Puccini? Why be depressed reading Dostoevsky when you can be inspired by Dumas?

I only have so many years, and I don't know the number. I don't have time for man-haters, life-haters, depressing things. To refuse to see that glorious and brilliant things are all around me would be to deny reality. And it is impossible to think of all the universe at once. So then, it is all a matter of where you shift your focus. What will you choose?

The benevolent universe premise is the idea that the world is fit for human habitation, that it is a source of infinite joy and pleasure, and that pain, ugliness, and disappointment need not be the focus of one's waking moments. Pain is addressed head-on, resolved to the best of one's ability, and then relegated to the back of one's mind while more pleasant issues are attended to. Difficulties that cannot be solved are endured, but they are not be the focus of thought. People who believe in and act on the benevolent universe premise are said to have a good sense of life.

Ayn Rand's Benevolent Universe Premise is discussed in Allan Gotthelf's book "On Ayn Rand"

Friday 06-Dec-02