I have many thoughts in my mind, all the time. The one I'm thinking right now (and for a while), is whether we need utopia - will we, mere mortals accept such a life? If I by some magic could work towards such an utopia, would it be a sin in the bigger abstract picture?
11 comments:
I believe utopia means 'nowhere'. Utopia, or heaven, is here on earth right now, but people do not see it. In this land of a-plenty and abundance, no one should suffer or be persecuted. Live and let live, and there shall be utopia on earth. It is not a sin, but rather, our birthright.
Hey thanks - you are the first one to comment my blog!
If words don't matter, as long as we can communicate the thought, and if assume utopia to mean a better tomorrow, a much better one - to the extent that it is perfect or near-perfect, then would we humans accept it? Can we survive lack of betterness? Will be become monotonous zombies in such world?
utopia can mean different things for different people. it does not necessary involve absence of suffering. ayn rand's utopia presupposes a lot of suffering in the perfect world. so does marx's. sunil's opinion that no one should suffer is just his opinion of what a perfect world should be like. if your philosophy requires sufferings to continue in the perfect world or your utopia, so as to avoid monotony, well, cheers to that!
ok, i agree with both of you. if i get back to the base question - would creating a flawless future certainly be a good thing?
There can be no flawless future, cause humans are beings of purpose. There will be no purpose for some if everything they strive to achieve is already there. There can never be utopia...Adam and Eve didn't have one, although they were placed in one, even two people screwed it up! So, coming back to your question, I think that even if hypothetically each one achieved their 'flawless future', they would then go backwards towards increasing the entropy again. Also, if one person's flawless future is another's faulty, then how may be it possible?
Tahera,
Thanks for your comments. So, there is no 'real' flawless future, but I have a perception of it, like everyone else. Now, should I work towards it or would it be useless if/when I'm done creating one?
Regards,
saket
We are social beings. I don't think with our value sets we can go about towards achieving our 'flawless future', if it is at the expense of others'. But this is where the peroblem lies, wherein you and I may have different ideas on utopia, because of the education, values and exposure we have had. It is an extension of our view of the world. So, through the flawless future, I improve the view I see of my world. But is my world really only 'my world'? While doing this I have now distorted someone else's 'flawless future'. Did my 'flawless future' change account for this? Will it remain 'flawless' still?
So, I think it makes more sense for you to chase your dreams, but to create an eternal sense of happiness is not viable.
Btw the thread of thoughts reminds me of The Beach. Anyone seen that movie? Or, even Lord of the Flies.
Nope, not seen those movies, but I'm not surprised you have, being a movie maniac! :-)
going thru your blog i initially just passed it by as any other blog.. btu then over the nite i kept thinking of it and cudn't curb the compelling thought that came to me of utopia... u guys discuss it as the state of the world.. a perfect/nearly perfect world.. a world with a balance of -ve & +ve.. but to me utopia lies within.. now this may sound much like the stereotypical philosophical view of happiness, joy, utopia etc.. but really! look at history, look at present and anticipate the future.. i can't think of future as exclusive of suffering.. and neither do i find any examples in history of a world devoid of injustice. i read the word "entropy" in one of the comments and i think that's wot summarizes it all.. entropy!! the beauty of the world lies in entropy.. in the dynamism.. in the change .. now this change I think is constantly at play yet the basic elements remain the same at all times.. there r humans.. there is environment.. natural and created and then there r forces like emotions & perceptions.. while all the elements r undergoing change its upto us to perceive them as black and white or gud and bad.. therefore i think all around us are just triggering forces, the true utopia lies within and i also believe if we wish to realize and acknowledge it , we can!
and hey, one more thing.. talking of suffering. .i think its only going to increase in future. keeping the "look within" philosophy aside. coz its really not so easy for everyone to look within when u hardly have time to even take a gud look at our outer self in the ever getting busier world!!
i think globalization is triggering hard all the forces for suffering. consider this simple scenario - we r in a small clan, with ppl of our kind, with activities of routine, with a simple life.. we're happy with wot we achieve and contended. but as and how we move out of our own spaces we interact with ppl outside "our world" and gradually force ourselves into adopting their goals and lifestyles and thoughts and expectations as our own . we create trouble for ourselves. we compete against benchmarks that we hadn't grown up with. we expect things from ourselves that we weren't really taught to do. i think a lifetime is kindda short time to expect so much from ourselves. but as u said "survival of the innovative" i guess we're adapting to the dynamism again.. yet the point remains perceive the gud things in life to realise utopia!!! cheers!
Thanks Rashmi. Your perspective of utopia within is an interesting one, and quite insightful.
ps. feel free to introduce yourself - my mail is saket -- at -- brainlink $ dot $ com.
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