If we contemplate on our day-to-day life, we never come across something like life, as we always come across actions, which for most of the time is without rhyme or reason, with no connections, it is here that human mind accustomed with the habit of generalalising things performs an abstraction on our everyday actions by considering them to be a part of the larger stage, named as human life. We need to emphasize that actions in itself never contain in themselves any vestige of life as such, as their content is solely determined by the purposes that we have momentarily decided, actions is for the execution of the same. For example, I make a decision to watch a movie every Sunday, and I make it a point that I would only watch aesthetically crafted movies, now this decision of mine leads one of my friends to consider me as a person who wants to aesthetically design his life. The consideration of my friend regarding me is nothing short of absolute metaphysics, as my decision to watch sophisticated movies may very well be a result of multiple factors, and one of that multiple factor could be that I have fallen into love with a girl who for a very long time have been watching movies, which are artistic in their orientation, and now when I meet this girl, I want to exhibit that our likings are similar. The above elucidated example is a perfect case that how all aesthetic desires are mediated by concerns which are perfectly banal and sensuous, which leads towards an insight that any conception of reality, which we presume to exist in any single category is nothing short of an tragic oblivion . When we are faced with the question ‘What is Life’, we should never arrogate to ourselves the ability to answer it, rather we should modestly return the question by emphasizing upon all the plays of sensuality, which has occasioned it, with that we do not imply that nothing but sheer sensuality exist, as in that case life would become impossible, but that mysterious sensuality needs to be brought on surface, and thought, philosophy, art, should battle with it. Perhaps life is actually an endeavour where with all our intellectual resources we endeavour to carve out a space for ourselves an space, which is of pure contemplation, a space not besmirched by any sensuality. What that space would be, what that life would be are questions, which invite only abyss as an possible answer.
Nice long post after more than a year :-)
ReplyDeleteLife, according to me, is not a deep philosophical search for a space of pure contemplation, but a sequence of actions in search of happiness and contentment with ones' self.
The happiness is not necessarily sensual, for even a poor man, finds happiness in helping others, as it gives him meaning of his worth as a living, thinking and feeling being.
My immature thought is that the essence of life is not in thinking about it, but in living through moments of challenge and joy, with positive enthusiasm for kaun jaane kal ho na ho ;-)