My only personal project right now is developing a consistent theory of the “Quiet and Peaceable Life.” It’s just a phrase that rings thru my head keeping me from pursuing reckless or self-indulgent behaviour. No need to desperately claw at the face of life, hoping to make a temporary dent… the world /out there/ will continue along it’s merry way just fine, thank you.
Is that nihilism, escapism, fatalism, realism or merely the outworking of a ludicrously low seratonin level? Bah! The Übermensch in all of us pits and pries at the doors of eternity only to… what?
What do i mean by reckless or self-indulgent? I suppose I mean reckless as any act whose purpose is both less severe and less important than it’s consequences. Self-Indulgent? The vanity of a man compels him to attach himself to the wants of the great rather than the needs of the small. I’ve grown weary of trying to outlive my body. Significance in the particulars is less glamourous but ultimately more fulfilling than significance in the universals.
Attributing great consequence to trivial things is not wisdom. Wisdom is recognizing needs, love is meeting them.