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> Personally, I’d take 60 years of a challenging, but meaningful life over 90 years of relaxation and low stress. This reads like satire.
by simongray 8y ago
> Personally, I’d take 60 years of a challenging, but meaningful life over 90 years of relaxation and low stress.
This reads like satire.
- keiferski 8y agoDo you have a real criticism, or are you just being flippant with the middlebrow dismissal? Not everyone is trying to live the most comfortable, stress-free existence. Many philosophers, religious leaders, and thinkers throughout history have posited (correctly, in my opinion) that a challenge-free life is not a particularly meaningful one.
- dijit 8y agoI'm glad you find meaning in struggle. But you said it yourself "not everyone". And how do you define struggle? is it physical challenges or mental ones? There's a lot of grey area here too. Personally I would like to live happy, I would trade years of my life for happiness, but being in the gym does not make me happy by itself.
- simongray 8y agoThere's plenty of meaning to be found in all sorts of endeavours, including going to the gym. I just think you sound defensive when you imply there's no meaning in a life full of relaxation and no stress. I also find it a bit amusing that you bring up a Nietzsche quote in your edit. AFAIK Nietzsche didn't go to the gym or run any marathons. He did, however, go for a long walk every morning.
- FabHK 8y agoThe long walks were not very effective: "Nietzsche resigned in 1879 [at the age of ~34] due to health problems that plagued him most of his life; he completed much of his core writing in the following decade. In 1889 at age 44, he suffered a collapse and afterward, a complete loss of his mental faculties." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche
- coldtea 8y agoCorrelation != causation. We know from actual studies (not a single anecdote) that long walks are very effective in improving health. We also know that Nietzsche had prior health issues, the kind that long walks wont fix.
- WalterBright 8y agoBeing around that age myself, I want another 30 years. Edit: as many years as possible. I have no desire to check out. I like being alive.