Philosophy of the Void

Sugar and happiness have a lot in common. Occasionally and in small quantities, they can sweeten life and make things interesting. If consumed excessively, they lose their virtues and become dull or even harmful. I think happiness is terribly overrated in our society. People are needlessly pressured to smile and do things that cause pleasure. The pursuit of happiness is considered one of the principal objectives of life. I think pathological happiness is as harmful to a human being as pathological depression. So is the pathological pursuit of happiness.

I imagine human beings desire happiness because it was associated with a higher likelihood of procreation in the Stone Age. Perhaps it relieved stress. Maybe it was just a signal – we feel happy in situations such as the presence of family, moments of relaxation, possession of wealth, etc. These things probably made it more likely that one’s genes would be passed down to the subsequent generation. Like sugar, scarcity made it unnecessary for our desire for happiness to be bounded. So today we go off robotically in the pursuit of happiness, just as we consume foods and drinks loaded with sugar, to please our senses that are terribly out of sync with the times.

I think the sour, spicy, and bitter moments of life are as essential as the sweet ones. Not only for the sake of growth, but also for the sake of existence. Moments of depression, anger, and sadness should be cherished – not for the sake of living life happily, but for the sake of living life.

I’ve been meaning to start a web log for some time now, and I even started a diary (currently offline) with the intention of putting it up at some point.  My life is generally mundane, though, and I figure it is senseless to bore the general public (and myself) with such trivial detail.

This is a discussion of the philosophy of the void.  The name has no particular significance.  It is just a term that I concocted as an apt description of what is to be placed here in the future.  I subscribe to no established school of philosophy nor religion.  What I intend to place here are my thoughts and reflections from the perspective of a human being of this era, as untainted as possible by the established methodologies and dogmas of conventional thinking.  I make no general claims to originality - original thoughts do not occur often in a world of 6 billion+ people - but all things placed here will be original from the viewpoint of my existence.  The presentation will be discursive, although I hope some coherence may eventually emerge.

Hopefully, at some point this will become a discussion, but until then, it will proceed as a monologue.  I would be glad to hear what you think!