Introduction The most besetting problem that man faces today is the problem of meaninglessness. As Edmund Fuller remarks in our age: “man suffer not only from war, persecution, famine and ruin, but from inner problem… a conviction of isolation, randomness, [and] meaninglessness in his way of existence.”1 The problem of meaninglessness is so pervasive that it threatens to corrode every sphere of human life. Man fails to perceive today the very purpose behind life and the relevance of his existence in a hostile world. Notwithstanding unprecedented scientific and technological advancements, which have added immensely to his physical pleasures and comforts, the contemporary man is doomed to find himself in a tragic mess. The prevailing economic conditions culminating in the abject poverty of the masses and the economic squeeze of the middle class on the one hand, and the economic affluence of the newly rich on the other, the drag of social conventions and traditions, the fast changing value system consequent upon the impact of rapid modernization accruing from industrialization and urbanization, the inter-generational tensions engendered with changing ethos, all these make increasing and often disturbing demands on the individual and contribute in their own ways to this sense of meaninglessness of life. The present century has been the dissolution of old certainties and dogmas and, as Paul Brunton observes: “Never before were so many people plunged in so much uncertainty, so much perplexity and unsettlement.”2 Deprived of the succor of ancient wisdom, which provided the much-needed basis for value and meaningfulness in life, the modern man has no substitute for faith and religion except science and information. Thinkers like Aldous ... ... middle of paper ... ...Alienation, “American Sociological Review,24/6 (December 1959), p.786. 7. Karl Mannheim, Man and Society in an Age of Reconstruction(“New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1940), p.59. 8. Simon O. Lasser, Fiction and the Unconscious (London: Peter Owen, 1960), p.61. 9. “The Hypnotized People, “Partisan Review,27/2(1960), pp.311-12. 10. Jasbir Jain, “Foreigners and Strangers: Arun Joshi’s Heroes, “The Journal of Indian Writing in English, 5/1 (January 1977), p.52. 11. O.P.Bhatnagar, “Arun Joshi’s The Foreigner. A critique of East of and West, “The Journal of Indian Writing in English,1/2 (July 1973), pp.13-14. 12. Quest, 60 (January-March 1969), p.101. 13. Arun Joshi, The Foreigner (Delhi: Hind, 1968),p.61 14. Arun Joshi, The Strange Case of Billy Biswas (Delhi: Orient Paperbacks, 1971).P.8. 15. Arun Joshi, The Apprentice (Delhi: Orient Paper-backs, 1974); p.64. 16. ibid.,p.65.
The western world is a superficial and materialistic society, consumed with the need for admiration and the feeling of prominence. A large portion of the bourgeois society participate in an inauthentic existence, denying both life and death. As a byproduct, we hide our empathy and compassion in order to represent ourselves in a socially acceptable way. When asked how one is doing, many reply “well”, regardless of how they are actually feeling inside. This is what social media is built off of: falsehoods and misrepresentations. By being preoccupied with status and wealth, we are robbed of our ability to experience life. Through the reading of “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, we are able to see that to genuinely live a life with meaning, we have to rise above the imperceptiveness of our society. Living a life of inauthenticity and confirming to social norms leaves you vacuous. This idea that social status and appearance does not define happiness speaks volumes to me, and
Thinkers and philosophers have been pondering misery since the dawn of civilization. At the dawn of humanity, humans existed to survive and reproduce; every day was a struggle. However, with the advent of civilization, humanity has moved further and further away from its original evolutionary drives, and it can be argued by secular thinkers that humans exist now to find happiness. Therefore, misery can be seen as the biggest obstacle to human happiness, yet misery itself is a mystery to many. Karl Marx’s The Communist Manifesto and Sigmund Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents put forth the authors’ opinions on the origins of mortal misery, and suggest methods to solve the problem of misery. Although the two have differing views, both see
Many centuries ago, people started thinking about the question “Who we are, where did we come from, and where are we going?” While seeking for the answers, many standpoints developed. Everyone has an opinion; when confronted with life’s decisions, even on what not to do and how to best stay away from regret. Then, another question was raised: can the individual ever be higher than the universal? Lead by the famous philosopher John Stuart Mill, many people believe that all are born selfish hedonists and get shaped by the culture and environment and eventually live for the society.
Once the author made his view clear, he goes on to display possible scenarios of how human existence can change within the next millennium. He proposed four possible scenarios. The first scenario that Nash discusses, the “wasteland scenario” depicts
To Thoreau, life’s progress has halted. It seems people have confused progression with captivity driven by materialism. To Krakaeur, people are indifferent to pursing the sublime in nature. To Christopher McCandles the world around him is forgetting the purpose of life. People are blind to nature. In the eyes of these men the world is victim to commercial imprisonment. People live to achieve statuses that only exist because man made them. Fame, money, and monotonous relationships do not exist in nature; they are the pursuits of soulless fundamentalism. The truth is that people pursue meaningless goals, and people don’t want to hear or know how they are foolish. When exposed, reality is so unsettling that it seems wrong. Yet, to be free of the falseness in life is in essence the point of singularity that people realize if there is no truth in love then it is false, if there is no truth in money then it is worthless, if there is no truth in fame then it is undeserving. Without truth everything is a worthless pursuit of a meaningless glass ceiling.
Humans look for some key equation through which they might tie all of the experiences of life and feel the satisfaction of action toward a goal, rather than the emptiness of which sometimes consumes the activities of our existence. However, humans may never find some great pure meaning beyond their mundane existences, because there is none. What there is to be found, however, is the life itself. Humans seek to find meaning so that emptiness will not pervade every thought, every deed, with the coldness of reality as seen by an unemotional eye. Without color, without joy, without future, reality untouched by hope is nothing more than an empty void. Man’s search for meaning is depicted in John Gardner’s Grendel, as Grendel’s perspective and philosophy
In today’s world, people can’t imagine life without technology. Surrounding us various technologies are helping people to live life with luxury. I believe technology has helped us define happiness, but it can also bring misery.
Hence, people cannot rely on those to guide them in life. This contributes to what Frankl (2010) referred as existential vacuum, which is “a sense of futility and emptiness and a feeling of meaninglessness” (p. 41). Consequently, in such state, people are unable to identify their individual wishes that in turn, lead them to conformity or totalitarianism. Frankl (2010) cautioned his readers that such sense of emptiness and meaninglessness are increasingly experienced by young people in the US.
From the moment of birth, to the moment of death, humans are flooded with emotions both good and bad. Individuals are continuously seeking fulfillment, some failing to find it while others succeed. Many seek adoration; love, accomplishment and greatness. In literature, authors take the readers on journeys that allow imagination, granting the possibility for the reader to grasp inner desires and decide what is truly important in life. Literature allows readers to dive into a different world where happiness and fulfillment is plentiful and eternal, also described as a utopia, while other pieces of literature direct the reader into a world of dissatisfaction which is a dystopia. Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World is in 26th century England. With the help of advanced technology and drugs, happiness fills the lives of the people living at that time period. But, the people are missing out on one of the most important feelings of life. That is sorrow or unhappiness. The society in Brave New World is very different from modern-day society; many aspects of life are removed such as family, monogamy, and religion. The citizens of Brave New World live in false happiness with all the necessities of life provided for them but have the lack of an inferred deeper satisfaction. In Brave New World happiness is the lack of unhappiness because the inhabitants can never truly know what happiness is without experiencing true unhappiness. The lifestyle in Brave New World is built on the notion that happiness is the only thing necessary in one’s life. This novel suggest that the reader should seek things besides happiness because the citizens in the World State live bleak and monotonous lives which show the faults in this so-called ‘perfect’ society. In thi...
Abrams, M. H., et al., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 1986.
Mehta, Kamal. “Naipaul as a Short Story Writer”. V. S. Naipaul: Critical Essays Vol. 3. Edited by Ray, Mohit Kumar. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers, 2005. Print.
Society has subconsciously forged a stereotype of happiness. There are countless individuals who have proposed themselves a goal in live. Whether it’s an emotional or professional objective, in the end this is what defines and gives meaning to our existence, this is our pursuit for happiness. Still society has created a system that stigmatizes boundaries and segments between human beings. Consequently giving birth, to decrees that indirectly influence and dictate an individual’s life. The appliance of rules, the taking of decisions, the virtues each hu...
“’You are so very much like everything else in this country, inefficient, dirty, indifferent,’ he murmured”. (P. 178 l. 6-7). Sir Mohan Lal is the protagonist in Singh’s short story “Karma”. He appears very selfish; he likes to look himself in the mirror, and praise himself. He is a well-educated man, with a tie from the University of Oxford. He makes sure that there is a copy of ‘The Times’ next to him, so if passers should doubt that he is British, the English paper will surely convince them. He is determined to be as clean as possible, by using both soap and eau de cologne. He is not a man, who wants to smell like the rest of the mob. He is yearning for the British to come to him, so they can realize that he is as articulated as them. He is certain that he resembles a true English-man, and can see no difference between him and them. As a graduate from Oxford, he must be in their league, so he assumes that whomever he meets will accept him, and take him as an educated man. Sir Mohan Lal have been to England for five years, and in that time, he attended the University of Oxford. He has grown very fond of England; he sees it as a more sophisticated country than India. He identify India with filth, and feels pity towards the country, due to lack of elegance and finesse.
Human life is absurd and there is no universal meaning, but humanity suffers from this inevitable fact so they try to find meaning through various created purposes to feel significant in their life. The absurdity of life is one of the biggest issues of philosophy because of the consequences it can cause in peoples lives. As human beings we desire purpose, meaning and order in life. Without the content of a meaningful life we feel lost and strive to find something that gives us meaning. We are all suffering from this unattainable goal to find a meaningful life. Albert Camus and Thomas Nagel agree with the fact that life is absurd but disagree on the right approach to life after realizing that life is without meaning.
There are several reasons why a person could be feeling that their life is meaningless or has no meaning. According to Victor Frankl these reasons could be existential frustration, existential vacuum, and the meaning of suffering. Frankl breaks down the meaning of existential frustration as so, it can be referred to as existence itself – the specifically mode of being, the meaning of existence, and striving to find concrete meaning in personal existence, which is the will to meaning. Existence itself, in simpler terms is just existing and the human mode itself. The meaning of existence is the question in which we often ask ourselves; Why are we here? When we strive to find concrete meaning in personal existence, we are looking for the personal meaning for existence. Basically what Frankl is saying is that when we are dealing wit the existential frustration we are looking for given meaning that isn’t there. (There is no meaning). On the other hand there is the existential vacuum, which is when you cannot find meaning in your life. Frankl says that the existential vacuum manifests itself mainly in the state of boredom.