2025-01-26 • no tags • 333 words
(This is entry 78 of 100DaysToOffload)
I think there is a long period of figuring out exactly where in life you want to be, and what are the means of producing happiness in the self. I'm not sure if it is the same for everyone: typically, I suppose, arete, and virtue, and vice, all seem to be correlated with particular activities, and so are in a sense deontological. However, if all humans are the same fundamentally, perhaps it is true that there are given actions (and their associated contexts) which are either virtuous or vicious...
Regardless, what is longer is the orienteering process. I could know that I should eat in a particular way, and that eating certain foods make me feel good and others make me feel bad, and that certain actions that I do make me feel bad, and then... I go and do them again.
That is the orienteering process. There is a bit of a separation between cognizance of an idea, and the subsequent urge (urgent) to get it done. People can want to stop drinking for years before they do, and often once they do, it's immediate: something has "flipped" in their mind.
The orienteering process takes longer. Maybe orienting is more accurate, or implementing, or realising.
The thing I wonder is: how long does it take? I suppose it can take a very long time, or it can be very quick. Almost, it depends upon from where you start to measure.
I think the reason why I want to read more philosophy to better systematise my ideas. I don't know if that is the right way. It might be pleasing to me, but if philosophy is for happiness, then there is a problem there.
I almost sort of know what I want to do, and the general life I want to lead. I just don't always do it. Maybe ultimately it's a matter of time: you can provide the right conditions for a plant to grow from a seed, but you still need to give it a season or two.