The Design for Living

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.

'To be alone is one of the greatest evils of man'. Alone, a man is nothing. Even the changes he may make to the world around him means nothing if it cannot be witnessed or consumed by others. The need for other's approval is just one of the ways in which we need communication. Irvine says that we all desire to be a ‘somebody’ and for people to acknowledge our existence, to admire us if not love us. Our desires are not random, they are manipulated or predetermined by evolutionary psychology to pro-create which means that whether we like it or not we are driven by an urge to find compatibility and connection in other people which strengthens Lacan’s reading of our constant pursuit for the ‘Thing’ in relationships.

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, the protagonist in the TV series Breaking Bad, needs to take control in his life when he is told he will die of cancer and so he decides to take control of the money he will leave to his family. He discovers a talent in cooking crystal meth as he gets involved with a young dealer. The two begin to get deeply involved in the Drug Trade where Walt gradually becomes a very respected figure. This makes him feel respected, good and powerful. However when his wife finds out, he stops for her for a short time before making a choice to go back. This time however it isn't just a way of coping with Cancer, it is everything. His life spirals out of control and he loses his family, his friends and his life by the end.

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.” (The Little Book of Philosophy). Curiosity is the hope that we will find ultimate communication and completeness.

 “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)