Knowing everything is a curse. Knowing a lot is a curse. Being able to ponder life’s bigger questions isn’t a blessing. Eventually you can’t keep your head on straight anymore and you begin to question your beliefs.
It’s hard to imagine knowing everything about your life. Part of the allure of life is not knowing what’s around the riverbend. And having different opportunities and chances where you can pick a certain path of life which you may have never thought of before allows you to hope for better things. To know who you’re going to marry, what you are going to do, and when you are going to die would probably seriously discourage a person. It can make life seem dull and pointless, and the person resigns themselves to their fate. Because everything is already planned out, there doesn’t seem to be a point in trying hard if everything is known. That’s why it’s nice to not believe in predestination or why it’s nice to read that the future changes based on your decisions in science fiction books. It’s been proved in history - people who feel like their future is decided for them either because they’re rich or because they’re poor often don’t bother trying to help themselves and instead just sink into despair. This leads to them often fulfilling their idea of what would have happened to them and makes them think “Ha, I was right after all; nothing can be changed.” And they weren’t right in the first place - they just made themselves right by means of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I believe (maybe naively so) that humans need lofty ambitions. This statement can be taken to excess, but it shouldn’t be. Lofty ambitions were created by humans to satisfy an inner need to continuously strive for something. The striving when it’s balanced by taking satisfaction in the ‘little’ things like family, friends, or nature creates a dynamic harmony in us that full knowledge or riches cannot.
It’s hard to imagine knowing everything about your life. Part of the allure of life is not knowing what’s around the riverbend. And having different opportunities and chances where you can pick a certain path of life which you may have never thought of before allows you to hope for better things. To know who you’re going to marry, what you are going to do, and when you are going to die would probably seriously discourage a person. It can make life seem dull and pointless, and the person resigns themselves to their fate. Because everything is already planned out, there doesn’t seem to be a point in trying hard if everything is known. That’s why it’s nice to not believe in predestination or why it’s nice to read that the future changes based on your decisions in science fiction books. It’s been proved in history - people who feel like their future is decided for them either because they’re rich or because they’re poor often don’t bother trying to help themselves and instead just sink into despair. This leads to them often fulfilling their idea of what would have happened to them and makes them think “Ha, I was right after all; nothing can be changed.” And they weren’t right in the first place - they just made themselves right by means of a self-fulfilling prophecy. I believe (maybe naively so) that humans need lofty ambitions. This statement can be taken to excess, but it shouldn’t be. Lofty ambitions were created by humans to satisfy an inner need to continuously strive for something. The striving when it’s balanced by taking satisfaction in the ‘little’ things like family, friends, or nature creates a dynamic harmony in us that full knowledge or riches cannot.
No comments:
Post a Comment