eudaimonia
Something that someone said during Law Students Conference floats into my mind.
To inspire people, live an inspiring life.
I think that applies to religion too, because if you're not satisfied with your religion, you can't preach to others to behave as you do and expect them to believe.
Anyway, eudaimonia. I wanted to write this post a while ago, but floundered about and lost my train of thought and it feels like now's the time.
Eudaimonia is a Greek term. It refers to happiness, but more than a sensual/physical happiness. It refers to flourishing really, growing in all ways. Fulfilling one's potential in all ways. The key is that you don't give up anything for another pursuit. You don't think of pursuing study at the cost of having friends. Neither do you hang out with friends to the extent you forsake your studies. And there are many more things you might pursue than friends and studies, like hobbies or perhaps some potential future career or skills that you just want to develop for the sake of it. Or health!
Eudaimonia is supposed to be the true happiness. It took a long time for me to come to this phrase. Notice that it's not based on achieving certain concrete goals. It's not narrow minded, insisting that one area of your life is more important than others. It's also not discriminatory, in the way the Singapore education system kinda brings you up to be. I know I used to be a bit bemused at people who love the subjects they're studying and always participate in class and join extra competitions etc. I might or might not have thought they were a tad too diligent. Now, however, I'm thinking of it along the lines of... Learning things. Learning about life, about things that affect us in various ways. About enriching one's mind, and not in a cliched way.
And then the other goal of friends. I used to think that being warm to everyone was really stretching myself because well... I do have standards for friends, and don't really feel warm to everyone, so I shouldn't pretend. And maybe others don't want to do it because they feel people only do it for popularity's sake. But now I feel it's really more about touching people's lives. Touching lives doesn't just apply to radical tasks like building houses for orphans. It's just... Isn't loving people a worthy thing to do also?
I personally believe that pursuing eudaimonia comes hand in hand with pursuing the Christian God. Not that non-Christians may not pursue eudaimonia. Just that since Christians believe God created everything... Then really to know more about God's creations (including humans and strange sciency stuff), and to seek to learn more, is to seek to know God.
On a side note, I have this personal view that God is perfect in that he exercises all eight functions in the MBTI perfectly and simultaneously (this is a bit complicated, ask if you're curious). Afterall, he is the perfect being, with the wisdom and understanding of all of us combined, and he probably even has brain functions we couldn't perceive. So really, no one personality is inherently bad. If you don't like someone, it's probably just whether you identify with their types, and that you are limited by your own functions too! Also the fact that all eight functions are perfectly valid ways of perceiving the world, means that if someone feels that clubbing with friends allows them to fulfill one aspect of their eudaimonia for example, it doesn't mean that they're experiencing the world in a way that must be denied. To them, with the functions they use, it may be perfectly normal and good.
And then this led to... Releasing my expectations. One of the things about Christianity is we're not supposed to judge. God's the final judger. Just because we're Christian doesn't mean we're superior to other people, because it was God who made it possible for us to know him by sending Jesus and giving us our talents. Our job is not to think we see everything and judge people based on that. It's to love others, and it's to do what God wills instead of fearing man (other people's judgments included).
Thus it makes me much easier for me to decide not to act in conventional ways. To reach out for something I want to achieve. Some say, for example, that platonic relationships between males and females are impossible. But there is a sort of love called charis, which is grace, which is just like what God feels for us. A love that does not require anything back, a love that is not based on needing to love someone (like how children are conditioned to love their parents, their providers). So believing in this, I can reach out for this or for other forms of love and knowing (such as in a familial way). Those who reject what I do and who believe me strange are not those who want to achieve the same goals. But there are those who wish to achieve the same goals, and they are the ones whom I am reaching out for. And just because some people don't get it, doesn't mean I should stop reaching out for what I believe in.
The other option: Stop reaching out. If everyone stopped reaching out, nothing would happen. And, your growth and achievement of the things you wished to achieve would be dependent on other people. That isn't really fulfilling your full potential to grow.
I really hope that I can live an inspiring life. We'll see, and I pray!
P.s. Apologies for my convoluted sentences. I will try to go back and shorten them if I've the time and inclination! Thank you for reading thus far. :)
To inspire people, live an inspiring life.
I think that applies to religion too, because if you're not satisfied with your religion, you can't preach to others to behave as you do and expect them to believe.
Anyway, eudaimonia. I wanted to write this post a while ago, but floundered about and lost my train of thought and it feels like now's the time.
Eudaimonia is a Greek term. It refers to happiness, but more than a sensual/physical happiness. It refers to flourishing really, growing in all ways. Fulfilling one's potential in all ways. The key is that you don't give up anything for another pursuit. You don't think of pursuing study at the cost of having friends. Neither do you hang out with friends to the extent you forsake your studies. And there are many more things you might pursue than friends and studies, like hobbies or perhaps some potential future career or skills that you just want to develop for the sake of it. Or health!
Eudaimonia is supposed to be the true happiness. It took a long time for me to come to this phrase. Notice that it's not based on achieving certain concrete goals. It's not narrow minded, insisting that one area of your life is more important than others. It's also not discriminatory, in the way the Singapore education system kinda brings you up to be. I know I used to be a bit bemused at people who love the subjects they're studying and always participate in class and join extra competitions etc. I might or might not have thought they were a tad too diligent. Now, however, I'm thinking of it along the lines of... Learning things. Learning about life, about things that affect us in various ways. About enriching one's mind, and not in a cliched way.
And then the other goal of friends. I used to think that being warm to everyone was really stretching myself because well... I do have standards for friends, and don't really feel warm to everyone, so I shouldn't pretend. And maybe others don't want to do it because they feel people only do it for popularity's sake. But now I feel it's really more about touching people's lives. Touching lives doesn't just apply to radical tasks like building houses for orphans. It's just... Isn't loving people a worthy thing to do also?
I personally believe that pursuing eudaimonia comes hand in hand with pursuing the Christian God. Not that non-Christians may not pursue eudaimonia. Just that since Christians believe God created everything... Then really to know more about God's creations (including humans and strange sciency stuff), and to seek to learn more, is to seek to know God.
On a side note, I have this personal view that God is perfect in that he exercises all eight functions in the MBTI perfectly and simultaneously (this is a bit complicated, ask if you're curious). Afterall, he is the perfect being, with the wisdom and understanding of all of us combined, and he probably even has brain functions we couldn't perceive. So really, no one personality is inherently bad. If you don't like someone, it's probably just whether you identify with their types, and that you are limited by your own functions too! Also the fact that all eight functions are perfectly valid ways of perceiving the world, means that if someone feels that clubbing with friends allows them to fulfill one aspect of their eudaimonia for example, it doesn't mean that they're experiencing the world in a way that must be denied. To them, with the functions they use, it may be perfectly normal and good.
And then this led to... Releasing my expectations. One of the things about Christianity is we're not supposed to judge. God's the final judger. Just because we're Christian doesn't mean we're superior to other people, because it was God who made it possible for us to know him by sending Jesus and giving us our talents. Our job is not to think we see everything and judge people based on that. It's to love others, and it's to do what God wills instead of fearing man (other people's judgments included).
Thus it makes me much easier for me to decide not to act in conventional ways. To reach out for something I want to achieve. Some say, for example, that platonic relationships between males and females are impossible. But there is a sort of love called charis, which is grace, which is just like what God feels for us. A love that does not require anything back, a love that is not based on needing to love someone (like how children are conditioned to love their parents, their providers). So believing in this, I can reach out for this or for other forms of love and knowing (such as in a familial way). Those who reject what I do and who believe me strange are not those who want to achieve the same goals. But there are those who wish to achieve the same goals, and they are the ones whom I am reaching out for. And just because some people don't get it, doesn't mean I should stop reaching out for what I believe in.
The other option: Stop reaching out. If everyone stopped reaching out, nothing would happen. And, your growth and achievement of the things you wished to achieve would be dependent on other people. That isn't really fulfilling your full potential to grow.
I really hope that I can live an inspiring life. We'll see, and I pray!
P.s. Apologies for my convoluted sentences. I will try to go back and shorten them if I've the time and inclination! Thank you for reading thus far. :)
Labels: eudaimonia, friends, God, life, reflections
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