Self-fulfilment has many forms. If to love others is a way to achieve self-fulfilment, it is after all a form of self-love. That's my thought.
Can you help me to formulate an answer to the question: What is life about?
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Self-fulfilment has many forms. If to love others is a way to achieve self-fulfilment, it is after all a form of self-love. That's my thought.
The problem is that love as is classicaly understood, is not for one's self. We have another word for that, selfishness.
Love is by its vey nature, toward others.
And I know there are all kinds of tricky and apparent intelligent philosophies especialy nowdays with regard to love, but the people who propose these philosophies forget or pretend they don't know what is the nature of love. You can't take a word and change its meaning and give it a compltely different meaning. You can invent another one, but love by its very nature is toward others...that's why the need to put "self" in front of love, "self-love".
To be honest, I can't even perceive the meaning of the concept "self-love", it sounds like a disorder to me, it sounds weird, and to me it is weird, because I'm not use to think of love as "self-love"...something in my mind screams when I hear this, because I know the word "love" is corrupted and distorted, because I know is real meaning.
How do you know that your concept of love is the right one, or that the 'classically understood' (I would like some examples of this) is the right one as opposed to the more modern interpretation that you are rejecting? Many 'classical concepts' such as women being 'property' or different races being inferior or superior have been replaced by new concepts that I think most people (educated people) would agree are much more appropriate.
I believe I know the 'real meaning' of love.
It is not selfish to be kind, forgiving and considerate to yourself. You can actually harm others by mistreating yourself so it can be the best for everyone and the loving thing to do to treat yourself with respect and kindness.
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I dont think I've decided the last word on this question yet, asking it and searching for the answer is a big part of what drives me, although it would seem to be the same for everyone and the point of much in the way of movies, TV, books, most topics of interest and human endevour.
In time I've decided having a laugh and fun are very important, knowing what your dreams are and not giving up on them too, although, and I am thankful that my life has taken the course it has as a consequence, not to rush anything and not to live too "accidentially", it is called spontaneously by a lot of people but leaving everything to chance and fortune (Oh Fortuna!!) is not the best strategy for life. I've never had a five year plan, I sort of wish that I had, although I dont upon reflection imagine that I will make one for the next five or anything like that.
Although I have fewer regrets than some people I know and am unlikely to hurt anyone should I have any mid-life crisis as a result, some people I know have families, children, wives, dependents that they all have second thoughts about or resentments of, even, and I have nothing like that at all, it actually makes me wary about making decisions like this myself.
In time I've decided having a laugh and fun are very important, knowing what your dreams are and not giving up on them too, although, and I am thankful that my life has taken the course it has as a consequence, not to rush anything and not to live too "accidentially", it is called spontaneously by a lot of people but leaving everything to chance and fortune (Oh Fortuna!!) is not the best strategy for life. I've never had a five year plan, I sort of wish that I had, although I dont upon reflection imagine that I will make one for the next five or anything like that.
Although I have fewer regrets than some people I know and am unlikely to hurt anyone should I have any mid-life crisis as a result, some people I know have families, children, wives, dependents that they all have second thoughts about or resentments of, even, and I have nothing like that at all, it actually makes me wary about making decisions like this myself.
If you are right about what you have, I guess I could be jealous to some level. The funny thing is, I had never thought I was a "planning" type of people until I moved abroad and found out planning ahead is actually one of the means to survive. Then I applied this rule across the board in my entire life (except career). Ten years after, I found myself lost in my planned life. I "think" I have every basic things I planned to have, but strangely I don't feel I'm any close to where I want to be. Sometimes, it's hard to say if it's because of who I am (always feel a bit everywhere but nowhere at the same time), or if it's simply because I lived a life following my brain in stead of actually listening to my heart. I went for "the safer bet"...
Do you think you are over that age of mid-life reflection or not? To be honest, I really didn't believe this "mid-life crisis" stuff at all, at least not to me - until I was hit by it so hard. This makes me wonder if everyone would have their own phase of "mid-life crisis", with no exception...
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Well, they talk about the quarter life crisis and all sorts of stuff now, I am 35, so its not midlife, at least not for my part of the world and not usually for people like myself, although I've developed diabetes and it could cut my life shorter.
I have always been reflective, I think its easier to be crisis afflicted if you are but a little reflection delivers a crisis but a lot delivers you from crisis, any stoic philosophy, even most of the epicurean or hedonist alternatives, properly understood, will tell you that. I'm very good at counting my blessings and have a sort of innate optimism, even when I receive bad news, such as the diabetes diagnosis, I found that despite thinking my bad feelings would last longer that they did not.