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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere’s a Lot of MOral Choice in the World<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The 21st century is an extremely rich time to be alive in terms of our ability to seek out information. But, that comes with a major downside in terms of finding purpose in one’s life.
With just a little bit of looking around online, you can come to the conclusion that there are hundreds of ways of looking at the world, easily. And, for each of those points of view, there are authentically-held beliefs that can guide someone’s life.
People of various faiths, philosophies, and ways of living hold beliefs, and develop moral standards that are contradictory to one another, but we can clearly see that people do hold each of these differing ways at looking for meaning dear to the ways in which they live their lives.
It’s easy to see, then, that your particular way of looking at the world is but one of many. For a lot of people, this presents a serious challenge: how can I be sure that my ideology, faith, or so on, is the correct one and is leading me towards behaving morally?
In simple terms, I’m not sure that you, I, or anyone else, can be absolutely sure of much of anything at all. But, with that said, I think Existentialist thought might offer us some insights to, at the very least, understanding where our ideas come from a little bit better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Some Reading Recommendations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
First, I’d like to recommend to you Jean-Paul Sartre’s work Being and Nothingness<\/em>: it’s the work of philosophy that best explains existentialism. I’ll also warn you, it’s extremely long and fairly complicated. The main point that matters here is that Sartre is convinced that we never have direct experience of objective truth. Everything we see, smell, sense, and speak, as human beings, is filtered first through our consciousness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One last recommendation from Camus, his essay entitled “The Myth of Sisyphus” in which the titular character manages to anger Zeus and find himself sentenced to immortality, and to pushing a rock up a hill every day for the rest of time. That sounds awful, but Camus ends the essay, confoundingly, with “we must imagine Sisyphus happy.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Taking both Sartre and Camus seriously, I think there are two things we can all do next that might help us feel a little more sure of our place in the universe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The search for one’s purpose in life is often the work of a lifetime. And, to be fair, it’s a question that is both extremely important to answer, and one that is extraordinarily difficult to do so. Here, I want to apply some of my knowledge as a professional philosopher who has been teaching at … <\/p>\n
That consciousness, frustratingly, is imperfect and full of all sorts of misconceptions, biases, and so on. Thus, we can’t ever be absolutely sure that we know anything for sure. What we ought to do, then, is remain consistently skeptical, and seek further information that might, at the very least, lead us to more reliable conclusions.
Next, I recommend Albert Camus’ The Plague<\/em>. I refuse to spoil this classic here, but there is a philosophical point that runs through the work that is vital here. For Camus, we have to recognize that we do not totally determine our circumstances: life, the world, and our place in it might be heavily influenced, or in some cases utterly dictated, by forces outside of our control.
This can, in some people, lead to severe depression. It’s exactly this, I argue, what leads people to mid-life crises when they retire: having had a boss or a job define so many of your working hours, many people, men in particular, feel purposeless without that outside direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manlife.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/being-an-octopus-MfPgDUhCxV4-unsplash-1024x683.jpg\")
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Wait, what?
For Camus, the lack of control we probably feel not only in reading his stories, but living in the 21st century is not something that should cause us much distress. After all, do you feel emotionally invested in the weather, or which way the wind is blowing? If you do, I feel sympathy for you, as you’re trying to bend nature to your will, which is not likely to yield success.
Instead, Camus has us focus our will internally. What can I choose or influence? Sisyphus can no longer choose anything about his day. So, what does he do? He chooses to find joy in pushing the rock up the hill.
I do not mean to suggest, however, that we become totally content with the way things are as they are now. instead, I suggest taking an honest look at what you can, and what you cannot, change. In taking stock of that, you’ll likely find that you cannot make sweeping changes to the world right now, but what you can do is find out where your thoughts and feelings come from, and then apply your mind and body to some end that you can find joy in.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat now? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
First, try to think of the foundational moral principles that guide your life. That can come from a faith, a philosophy, a code of ethics like those doctors swear an oath to, and so on. While you can’t be totally sure that those are the truth in an objective sense, they are, at the very least, lenses through which you can not only view the world around you, but also make sense out of the decisions that you have before you.
From there, make a choice. It will likely be a small one, a limited one, but it can be one towards some end that you have decided is moral. While that will not, probably, change the world, it is something good that you can hold on to in an uncertain world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/manlife.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/jon-tyson-PXB7yEM5LVs-unsplash-768x1024.jpg\")
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