Many philosophers have looked at the nature of living and argued that life is nothing but suffering and misery. These sorts of viewpoints tend to assume that “philosophy of life” questions are objectively true for everyone, regardless of their perspective. But if our various attitudes and ideas change the way we experience the world, then it may be the case that certain viewpoints make life worth affirming and others make life worth denying.
It seems clear that how the world affects us as individuals is always shaped in some way or another by our attitudes and ideas. We all go through various mood swings and perspectives about the world over the course of our lives and these shape our experience. On some days certain things will make us laugh that on other days would make us furious. The actual event taking place in the world may be exactly the same, while our reaction and experience of the event may be completely different depending on our attitude at the time.
For instance, after watching a scary movie, a knock on the door may completely frighten us and result in us calling the police. The scary movie shapes our perspective in such a way that an ordinary event, such as someone knocking on the door, becomes a seemingly frightening and dangerous event. The experience of the world is different than what it would have been if we had not watched the movie.
The physical reality of the external world takes place in a definite way and then our internal world shapes the way in which the events of the external world make us feel. This is something we experience quite often. We may hear a motivational speaker or have a sudden epiphany about the world; now, tasks that we once found frustrating are transformed into something enjoyable.
The trouble with ideas and attitudes as they pertain to the philosophy of life are numerous. There is a question of what attitudes and ideas we should bring to the world and also what attitudes and ideas we are willing and able to accept. We may desire to take a life-affirming attitude toward the world but be unable to do so for a multitude of reasons.
If enjoying the events of the world were as easy as just looking at it in a certain way, everyone would choose such a viewpoint. Furthermore, various attitudes and feelings about the world can depart quickly. A great novel can leave us feeling happy about life and ready for anything – but these feelings generally fade away within a short period of time.
While our experience of the world is affected by our attitude, the events themselves still play a significant role on our experience, regardless of our attitude. It does not seem that I can make the experience of being tortured enjoyable by merely assuming the right mindset.
Even with these worries in mind, the philosophical question of what attitudes and ideas we should aim for in our approach to life is still of great importance. What we are looking for a is a way to make life in general worth affirming, even if that does not result in every experience being enjoyable.
How do we properly shape our perspectives? We need to attack the issue from numerous fronts mentally and physically. I have a lot to say about mental perspective shifting, but I’ll go into that on another day. Also, a lot of perspective shifting must be highly personalized to the individual.
But here are some very basic things everyone can do to shift their perspective positively: don’t surround yourself with negative people, eat healthy, sleep, expose yourself to a variety of media and art, workout, and sit in silence for at least 30 minutes a day.
We all basically know to do these things – it’s just a matter of actually doing it.
While these things can help at the margins, I think there's a major developmental step necessary to allow for perspective shifting.
ReplyDeleteInitially, the perspective of a teenager, college student, or whatever, is built out of necessity not choice. It is necessary to process events and explain or compensate for perceived or actual weaknesses. A cynical, anti-social perspective helps explain repeated social failures and poor interpersonal skills.
Reaching a point where you recognize the events, and shortcomings, that led to the development of your (negative) perspective seems to be a prerequisite to any lasting change in perspective. Otherwise, the temporary boost from a good book, meditation, or good diet will inevitably end when a negative life event can only be processed through the lens of the cynical, anti-social perspective.
I think you're exactly right. People need to reach a certain level of self-awareness and reflection to start properly shaping their perspectives.
ReplyDeleteOftentimes it takes extreme events for people to reach this beginning stage, such as the death of a loved one, loss of a job, etc. Ideally, one will not need external events to trigger internal reflections.
Unfortunately, the people who need such reflection the most are often the least likely to reach that stage.