Thursday, October 06, 2005

Nothing but Philosophy This Time

Proving, once again, that life is what you make it, I just taught my best astronomy class. Why was it the best? Because I woke up this morning and thought "What have I done at Davis that anyone cares about? All I have wanted to do was make other people's lives better, and the only life I have made better was my own." Probably not true, I hope at least, but still a depressing thought. So I just decided to teach the best class I had ever taught. It was amazing how the sudden breaking of habit made such a change. But I find that has been true a lot recently. I stopped eating processed sugar, and now I don't even crave it. I stopped driving my car to get groceries, and now I hardly drive my car at all. I stopped worrying about how astronomy has been getting less and less fun, and suddenly I was able to make it fun.

Now if only I can stop worrying about my own personal growth. It is suprising how always thinking about if you are becoming a better person or not will actually make it harder to be one.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The philosopher John Stuart Mill was, at one point in his life, in a completely depressed funk when he realized nothing he could do could make him truly happy. The harder he tried to be unhappy, the more depressed he became. Finally, he decided to start striving for goals other than his own happiness. After awhile, he lost track of his quest for happiness, only to realize he was now happier than he'd ever been. You don't strive for happiness, he realized, you find happiness in striving for something.

Well, anyway, that's his take on it.

Trenton said...

Yeah, I've known that is the case for a long time. But the tough part is that I know doing something will make me happier, but if I try to do something without being strong enough to do it well I could end up hurting someone else.

I should probably just join a sports team.