It would suck for someone dying on their deathbed to suddenly realize how much greater their lives could’ve been, how much more of a greater person they could’ve shown themeselves, and possibly the world, to be. I don’t just mean regretting certain actions or inactions, which I imagine that a lot of people do when they know they’re going to die. I also mean if they realized what those actions and inactions would ultimately lead to and how completely different their world would’ve been. In some cases, their lives would’ve been shorter but more dense with exhilerating and satisfying experiences. In other cases, they’d have lived longer and been able to make up for any lost time.

Fortunately for most people, they don’t actually realize all they could have been. And perhaps it is fortunate for most people that they don’t realize that at any point in their lives, even when their deaths are a long way off. But it’s unfortunate for those whose lives would’ve been saved or spared, or otherwise enriched somehow if only someone else had realized how affecting others in a positive way would benefit them moreso than if they did nothing or moreseo than if they irrationally lashed out at someone.

Now I don’t believe that anyone owes anyone else anything by merely existing, not even themselves at any other point in time. But I think that it’s in everyone’s self-interest to invest time and thought into figuring out what’s the best thing they can do right now and what’s the best thing to do next, right after the first thing, so that their future selves will be as happy as they could be because of their present actions. I also think that to maximize one’s future happiness (which will eventually become one’s present happiness and lasting, pleasant memories) one must also involve others and to assist with their immediate and future happiness.

I think the key is to make yourself uncomfortable with whatever passive activities and avoidances you find comfortable now and to become more comfortable with being active and self-challenging as well as actively challenging others and their inactive dispositions, with the intent to make them uncomfortable with how they currently are.

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel that other’s current sense of comfort is a huge obstacle in my pirsuit of maximal happiness. I don’t think that annoying people or overly unnerving them is the way to go, though. I do think that it’s hard to be comfortably subtle without being innefective. But I also think that it’s worth a shot.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 17th, 2006 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.