While most people fear things such as snakes, spiders, death, or other objects associated with some form of pain, either physical or emotional, my fear outlines an internal struggle that has bugged me for a while now. My only real fear is that by my time of death, I will not have had a legitimate effect on the world and that I have not experienced my consciousness to the full extent.
I struggle constantly with thoughts of why we are here on this planet and what we are suppose to be doing. Obviously most would say that we are here to reproduce and make the earth and our species/ecosystem last as long as it possibly can, but the question that I struggle with is if our only purpose is solely to reproduce and extend the longevity of our race, then why have we come to be blessed with the complex consciousness and ability to think that we have?
This question always ends me in the philosophy that no one can truly answer this question, as Douglas Adam's novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, satirically points out, and that one can do nothing but enjoy the consciousness and the time that one has on earth, as the most famous of Latin phrases states,"Carpe Diem."
So, while I am not particularly afraid of physical or emotional pain or death, I am afraid of the fact that I cannot answer the question of life's purpose. I recognize that I will most likely never develop an answer for this, so I have come to put this fear at the back of my mind and live to Horace's philosophy of taking advantage of the time that we have here.
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This is a totally logical fear--I sometimes feel like I'm not doing enough to help out the world or I'm wasting a day being totally unproductive. I'm sure you'll do something impressive by the time you leave the earth!
ReplyDeleteKnowing you Peter, I'm pretty sure your name will be written down in history books
ReplyDeleteThis is a pretty sound fear. It definitely says a lot about you in the sense that you look at the bigger picture and you don't get distracted by the fine details of life.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely relate to this, Peter. I'm always concerned that I have missed or am going to miss opportunities to do something meaningful in life, and it freaks me out that each missed opportunity will just bring me closer to death and farther from discovering purpose.
ReplyDeleteOf the fears I've read about people having, I'd say that this is probably one of the most rational (at least to me).
Nice! I guess the best thing we can do is live life so that we have some fun and plan well. If you're scared you won't find it, you should be trying to find it, if that gives you pleasure. It's a paradox because being afraid of it and accepting there is no answer immediately means you've sucumbed to your fear.
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