THE DESIGN FOR LIVING
“To philosophize is to learn how to die, simply because it is to learn how to live and because death – the idea of
death, the inevitability of death – is part of living.”
I used to believe there was a 'Design for Living'. I derived this notion
from my immense intake of stories. I noticed that so many are the same, so many
characters want and need the same things. My 'Design' said we needed communication
and rituals. My take on this has since developed. Instead of a 'Design' I
believe it is much simpler. To understand must think about what it actually
means to be human. So many have philosophized about man's purpose on earth. My
personal opinion is that there is none, we procreate and we keep on living changing
the world as we go “Living in the present is not a dream, nor an
ideal, nor a utopia: it is the simple and extremely difficult truth of
being". Now reduce your life to this simple concept, imagine yourself as an
early ancestor in a cave if you must - just as they were we still are, humans
need to and want to survive. We survive so we can procreate and thus change. Is
change our purpose? It is the difference
between us and other mammals and animals on the Earth. And what is their
purpose? To serve ours? Where then will all this change lead us?
"Then there's the other movement... farmers going out to milk their cows... soldiers reporting for duty. Those who believe that life will go on somehow... or just don't know what else to do. People prepare for the worst... but hope for the best. They concentrate on the things that are important to them. All the things beyond fat and flour" Perfect Sense 2011
Now this is where my 'design' comes in. To survive we need food, water,
shelter. These are the things that will physically keep us alive. But I
strongly believe we also need things to keep us mentally alive - communication.
Communicating with others is a way for us
to reach out into the abyss of the world and clutch to what we can find. When
we find someone we particularly like communicating with we cling on tight. The
sense of self is mostly lost as a child as we grow to recognise that we are not
the centre of the universe, that our minds are ours alone and no one will ever
penetrate them fully or understand them fully:
"In search of something we feel
ourselves to be lacking (a sense of self
loss), but it will never exist and never did"
(Cramer)
Love is the answer. Love in people but love in other things
too including religion, art, politics, work or an idea. But whatever you love, it
will lead back to purpose, your purpose.
Pop Culture Reference:
Walt experiences a trauma,
makes a realisation, creates for himself a coping mechanism, is confronted,
makes a choice and is resolved.
This linear projectile is something seen often in stories.
And is key to my 'Design' where almost always the resolve is that people are
important. The projectile teaches the protagonist the Design. Or speaks about
it, defies it, never knows it.
“To
live is to struggle, resist, survive, and no one can do so indefinitely. In the
end we must die and it is the only thing we can be certain of. We would like
there to be life after death, because that alone would allow us to definitively
answer the question. But curiosity is no more an argument than hope.”
“There is the Platonic interpretation death,
that is to say the separation of the soul from the body, is the purpose of
life...through suicide? No, on the contrary, through life that is, more pure,
more free since it is freed sooner from this prison – from this tomb, as Plato
says in the Gorgas – which is the body.” The cacoon and the butterfly – Lacan.
“I’d
rather have your opinion on paintings or books or plays than anyone else’s I
know. But you’re liable to get side tracked if you’re not careful. Life is for
living first and foremost. Even for artists, life is for living. Remember
that.” (Coward, 1994)
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