Figuring out exactly who you are.
Figuring out exactly what you want.
Becoming the best you you can be.
Happy pigs and sad philosophers are a bloody stupid argument because it implies happiness is found only through ignorance as if learning is responsible for unhappiness.
I would object to that assessment of the happy etc. argument. The way I’ve always intended it is not to imply that ignorance is responsible for happiness, but that it is possible to be happy at a so-called ‘low station’, or sad if one is culturally elevated.
It’s not a matter of ignorance or knowledge. It’s a matter of status and other people’s standards. For pig, perhaps, read dustman. If someone is happy emptying bins, then they are under no obligation to try to ‘better themselves’, especially if it would make them miserable.
In the end, the point is that we judge our own lives and choose our own paths. Other people’s views on what makes our lives ‘better’ are interesting, but we’re still not obliged to follow them.
I’ve always assumed that the happy pig, sad philosopher argument was purely about learning rather than status. If someone is emptying bins then I don’t see why this means he is not a philosopher or of low status.
‘In the end, the point is that we judge our own lives and choose our own paths. Other people’s views on what makes our lives ‘better’ are interesting, but we’re still not obliged to follow them.’ Isn’t that what I’ve been saying all along?
I maintain though that you must first know yourself in order to choose your life.