Monday 15 May 2017

The Fullness of Living Each Day to the Full

The final line of my high school anthem (aka School Song) was:
Live each day to the full!

We, the students (and probably some of the teachers), didn't really know the rest of the lyrics - something about seeking Christ and seeking wisdom, and possibly seeking wisdom in Christ (yes, it was a Catholic school) - but at school assembly, upon being instructed by our charismatic leader (aka the Principal) to sing the school song, we would mumble our way through until the last line, whereupon we would raise our voices in glorious chorus to proclaim our hive-mind intention to "Live each day to the full!!!". It was quite the invigorating experience. Say what you will about the evils of propaganda and mind control and whipping a crowd into a frenzy with apparently inspiring song lyrics and elevated levels of oxygen in the blood ('cos of having to take a really deep breath before the last line to make sure we 'sang' it as loud as possible), but I always felt kinda good afterwards and had more inclination to do some book learning.

However, I harbour some skepticism towards the popular notion that a person must 'live each day to the full'. It's a notion that seems to ascribe a moral duty to people to 'make the most out of life' - whatever that means, especially given that the fullness of living is subjective. Extrovert fullness would be going to every social function, travelling to every country, having many relationships. Introvert fullness would be avoiding every social function, staying in one place as long as possible, having a minimal number of relationships. Adrenaline junkie fullness would be skydiving, rock climbing, swimming with sharks. Not that I want to generalize or put people into restrictive categories or ignore the nuance and complexity of the human race (as satisfying as that may be), but it is possible to allocate people, to a degree, into different groups based on common behavioural and psychological traits. And these different groups have differing expectations and goals: 'loud' or 'quiet', many or few. Or no expectations and goals at all. Sometimes just getting through the day/week/year/century without too many catastrophes is a life well lived, goddammit!

It often seems as though a 'proper' expectation or goal should be loud - big and showy. And that if a person doesn't achieve, or attempt to achieve, they will be (should be) filled with regret. You'll never know if you don't try...You may never get this opportunity again...you only live once. I think I have enough self-insight, imagination, and wisdom to know that the thing you're berating me to do is something I do not want or need to do and that my life will be quite fulfilled, thank you, without having 'achieved' this annoying activity. Plus, this (at times, overbearing) insistence seems to be more about the person doing the insisting - maybe they have a domination power fantasy - than about the person being insisted upon. Also, and (possibly) most pertinently, there are many expectations and goals that are likely driven more by ego-fulfillment than by existential-fulfillment. Much like this blog post.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

It was pleasure reading your blog and I was quite amazed after reading it and I am really impressed with your writing skills and wish to see some interesting stuff like this in future also so keep on sharing
New Fashion Trends

Unknown said...

Brilliantly done and I am very impressed with the efforts you have put in for completing this blog successfully. So cheers to the great work and keep on going the way you are going on and provide us some more fruitful information on daily basis.
Fashion Design Techniques

Karim said...

May i add a quote, as a commment ?
(well, i intend to do so, and think it would be silly, to postpone this new achievement of mine until i receive a sign of approval)
By T.S. Eliot ((hoping i got it right - i don't want to check, being in a jazz club,, in Paris, before a concert...

Karim said...

... it's me again - had a problem of edition before i had completed my comment - here's the quote :
"And do not hope, for hope would be hope for the wrong thing"
(does anyone think it does fit effulgent's brilliant post ?)

Nicole_Effulgent13 said...

Thanks for the T.S. Elliot quote, which I had not known of previously. I think hope can definitely mess with people but it can also be a motivating force (for good or evil, depending on the subjective point of view). It needs to be managed wisely, though (so you’ve just got to get wisdom first – no problem!). It also helps to manage expectations – expectation being the trickier cousin of hope (as stated by Pickle in season 4 of the tv series Rectify).

PS I suspect the first two comments above may not be from real people :-)

Karim said...

Thanks for your answer - i had not suspected the first two comments (i just deemed them flat - and flattering !) - i should be re-reading sarraute's "l'ère du soupçon" (ie "the era of suspicion") - i guess the errors i make (of typo, and of english) clear me froms7ch suspici9ns... (i should verify more...) (i don't watch tv, and so, know nothing about that tv series)

Karim said...

I meant : i should rectify more !
- back to Eliot's quote : i agree with you, especially about the expectations - when you know what to expect, you run the risk of missing something else (that's how i understand the quote, which is from his poem "east coker"m "

Karim said...

And i got it wrong - it's :
"Wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing"