I think you need a new keyboard lol. Did you mean ataraxia?
Another word I haven’t heard until now, but yes, I do support this attitude to life. I think I’ve learnt it from my ex. Sometimes bad things happen that are beyond your control and lamenting them is a waste of time, which can be much better spent on trying to figure if there is anything that can be done about the loss or adversity. And if nothing can be done, move on to enjoying other things in life.
I was interested to read that in ancient times, ataraxia was the ideal state for soldiers heading for battle. You can be sure as hell that if I was about to face the prospect of killing others or being killed, ataraxia would be the last mental state I’d be in!
Purpose?
So much this.
To quote Carl Sagan, “We are a way for the cosmos to know itself.”
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate the beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch Or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded!
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Learning.
Spend your life enjoying it and helping others enjoy theirs. As the universe unfolds, we’ve only got this one brief moment of consciousness before we disappear, we have to make our life filled with as much happiness as we can. And help others fill theirs.
Have you looked into Epicuianism? Sounds like what you wrote fits.
No. I came up with this myself as I was pondering the world, the universe, how there is no evidence of any god existing, and how the best science we have tells us that we are just matter and energy inhabiting spacetime. But matter arranged in such fantastically improbable way that we can feel happiness. Why waste the precious moments we’ve been given on doing anything other than striving to feel happiness? Which of course can come in different forms for every one of us.
I’ve just had a quick search, I guess your message has a typo and you meant Epicureanism? It is similar to how I feel about life, but it seems to say that lack of pain and fear is enough to consider oneself happy. I’d go a bit further and postulate active pursuit of things that positively make you or fellow sentient beings feel pleasure.
I did misspell Epicureanism.
They do suggest that seeking pleasure is very important. But there’s a focus on the simple pleasures with time with friends as one of the highest pleasure. There’s also the concept of atarxia which the state of mind of calmness and acceptance.
To crush my enemies, see them driven before me and hear the lamentations of their women
To discover and adhere to an objectively moral life.
Me too, but I started from the context of AGI safety: eventually we will make a superintelligent machine without any wisdom, that could be given any moral system, even making paperclips.
So here’s my draft of a logical path to maximal morality, and consequent values: https://www.quora.com/If-you-were-to-come-up-with-three-new-laws-of-robotics-what-would-they-be/answers/23692757
Of course it was downvoted to oblivion on LessWrong, probably because they believe: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/NnohDYHNnKDtbiMyp/fake-utility-functions
Help each other.
Everyone is born evil, the purpose is to realise we’re one. It’s a long cycle and we’ve done well in the last 100 year vs 1000 years
Hard disagree. I think we’re born stupid, that’s very different.
Honestly, your comment sounds a lot like the “original sin” shit that the Christian church tries to push.
Well I’m probably wording it wrong or you’re reading it differently.
But, what I mean is every individual has their own journey towards their maturity when they realise helping others is the way to go.
To make as many people as uncomfortable as I humanly can.
ideally producing scientific research and art but in practice I’m just trying to minimize my own suffering :/
Pretty sure that’s what everyone is doing. It helps to help others, where we can, in my experience. Focus on love, beauty, goodness. We can hyperfocus on the ugliness and easily fall into the abyss of despair, rather than the abyss of freedom (within personal constraints, obvs).
On a cosmic timescale, facilitate a world with minimal suffering and maximal fulfillment.
Not to die today
I used to be flourishing as an artist. Now I’m just trying to not end up in a camp within the next 4+ years
