Do you live a hard life out of guilt, or because you find a harder life more fun?
Living is quite simple and easy
A thought:
To live a basic life is quite simple. Living for the most part is easy. But when we make life hard for ourselves, why do we make it so difficult and stressful for ourselves?
Is it because life in itself is difficult? Do you follow the nihilist and pessimistic philosophy which says:
Life is suffering and pain. It is best to have never been born. The best way to live is in a way which minimizes your pain and suffering until you die.
Why an easy life is a boring life
I believe the contrary.
For myself, I don’t want to live an easy life. It’s like playing a video game in easy mode. Easy is boring. Hard is often more fun— because it challenges us! There’s a delight in the chance of losing and failing, which keeps us sharp and keen.
Against self-masochism
But I don’t think we should make life hard on ourselves (intentional self-masochism) as a form of “repentance†and to somehow think that by not suffering, we’re not living in a virtuous way. I think it is the Christian ethos: Jesus suffered and sacrificed his life for others (pain). Therefore if we desire to emulate the life of Jesus (according to Christian morality), we MUST suffer and experience pain (or else we aren’t maximizing our altruism towards others, and we aren’t “sacrificing ourselfâ€enough for others).
Insouciance
I love this French word “insoucianceâ€which literally means not+worrying. It means having a casual air of indifference— a self-confidence out of strength, magnanimity, and disconcern for pettiness and all matters small.
Perhaps the way we live and carry ourselves is following this notion of “insoucianceâ€. This means live life in a fun and childlike manner. Without so much concern at what reality throws at you, the concern of how others think about you or treat you, and without making life unnecessarily difficult on yourself as a form of repentance.
I cannot be stirred
Diving deeper into the etymology of the word “soucianceâ€(worry), I came upon this word in Latin “sollicitusâ€which means to stir and agitate.
By adopting an air and attitude of insouciance, is the desire to have a stoic calm — to not be stirred by outside and petty matters which don’t concern us?
