Lately, I've been left with relatively little to do. With most of my friends dispersed to distant lands, I spend my newfound spare time in solitude. I've withdrawn from the world of daylight and movement to do some weeding and pruning in the gardens of my mind (hence this blog). My musings are probably unintelligible to outside readers, but I'll articulate them as best I can.
These days I feel like a well-educated drifter. I withdrew from my social and community groups because I know I'll be leaving town soon, and I now realize that those were the major anchor connecting me to
If all goes well, by August I'll begin a new life out west. I'll start with a clean slate, although no doubt my calendar and address book will soon be full again. I decided that before I go I should create a modus vivendi, an ethical framework to follow as I adjust to my new surroundings. I would never impose a code of behaviour on others (except my own children), but I think a personal code of behaviour would be beneficial. I want to find a way to enrich my life while enriching my community. In other words, I've been pondering the age-old question: What is the good life?
Material goods don't have much to do with goodness or happiness, but I'll address them briefly. I'm quite minimalist, if not ascetic: the less possessions I have, the better. I'd like to do without a car, home computer, TV, robot butler, etc. for as long as possible. I make an exception for art and literature plus major labour-saving devices like a washer/drier. Some say a good life is one of simplicity, so I have a head start in that respect.
Regarding intangible matters, I've decided upon three overarching goals: (1) to support a happy and prosperous family; (2) to contribute to the culture and scholarship of my community; and (3) to fight against injustice. Obviously I’ll also do things I enjoy—spend time with friends, read, study martial arts, etc.—but I want these rules to help me live an ethical life. I'll address them one by one.
(1) For some reason, getting married and raising a family are very important to me. It seems to me that is a fundamental responsibility of adulthood. I don't know anything about parenting, or even about maintaining a stable relationship, so the details on this are decidedly fuzzy. Nonetheless, I feel it is important enough to list first... I can always sus out the details later.
(2) I'm an academic at heart. Scientific and artistic scholarship is perhaps mankind's greatest achievement, and I would be remiss if I didn't contribute to it. I also feel that those who can appreciate scholarship are richer for it, so insofar as possible I should help make it accessible to the public. If I had the time and money, I could organize free movie screenings, lectures, performances, exhibitions, etc. (Who am I kidding... I'll probably just donate money to the local library and call it a day.)
(3) There is a lot of exploitation and injustice in the world, sometimes transitory but usually endemic or institutional. This could be social, environmental, economic, political, or some variant thereof. This makes life needlessly harsh for many people and also keeps them from contributing to society to their fullest potential. Most forms of injustice have a half-life of years or decades, so I won't “heal the world” in my lifetime, but it's still important to carve out justice wherever I can. I adopt the maxim that "the personal is the political"—if healthy relationships are created on a local scale, then society becomes that much healthier in the aggregate.
To make a long story short, I want to bring more beauty into the world. I don’t mean to create works of art—I don’t have the talent for that—but rather to reshape the tangible and intangible world itself into a more beautiful and healthful form. If I can do that, then I’ll consider my life worthwhile.
No comments:
Post a Comment