A LIFE WORTH LIVING

(This entry is a natural follower of the previous entry My Take On Sisyphus. It is a cruel entry, in the sense that it seems to disparage, alongside the life of an ant in an ant colony, the simple, unassuming family life of a kindly wholesome individual, drawing happiness from within his family, while impervious and indifferent to the perturbations of the outside world. It is however by no means the purpose of this entry to disparage a good person like that, nor to pat such a person on the back, saying: well done! Here is an individual’s judgment in the context of history and civilization. It is a challenge to each of us to see ourselves within such a grand context and to carve a niche for ourselves in that history. Many more are capable of it than those who actually succeed, and they need a motivation, or perhaps a simple reminder that immortality in this world is also possible. So, let this entry serve as such a reminder.)

Is any life worth living just because it is a life? What about an absurdly meaningless life, like that of Sisyphus? In the latter’s case, it was not even a life, but doing “time” in Hades on a sentence of eternity. Sisyphus could not help it, as it was forced on him by the gods. But no matter what Camus says about this, such a life can never be enjoyed, by taking an impersonal angle on it of a spectator in a theater of the absurd, nor ever become a source of happiness just on account of being your own life, in the realization that there is nothing you can do to change its unfortunate circumstances.

Is the life of an ant in an ant colony a meaningless life? Not from the standpoint of the ant colony. But human life is definitely of a higher order than the life of a lower animal, and different standards are to be applied to it.

An ant’s life is the life of a random specimen of the species. A human life is the life of an individual, with a purpose and merit all of its own, unlike any other. Yet, most people, both rich and poor, as well as of moderate means, seem to be living lives that are indistinguishable from a multitude of other lives, and when the time comes for them to die, they just disappear without a trace. I may sound very unkind, but to me such lives are not worth living. (Incidentally, the life of a Wall Street broker is the life of an ant…)

Shockingly, in my opinion, a life worth living has little to do with the person’s postmortem destination: to Heaven or to Hell. The principal criterion of a worthy life has little relevance to the hereafter. What are you leaving behind to the posterity in this world, we must ask. A life worth living must redeem itself among the living, first and foremost. A genius is definitely preferable to a saint, unless of course our saint is a genius in his or her own right.

Although I disagree with Thomas Jefferson about all men being born equal, even if we admit that they are, they do not die equal. From each according to their promise. To each according to their unique contribution to the wellbeing of human civilization.

Large words? Well, human life is larger than the life of an ant in an ant colony. And it is also larger than the life of a saintly, heavenly-selfish hermit.