Bertrand Russell is the philosophical enemy of one of my favorite thinkers, William James. However, a wonderful thing about Philosophy is that it seems by its nature, to unite individuals of very different persuasions insofar as their thoughts on what Philosophy is fundamentally for. In preparation for the class I am teaching in April, I have been navigating several 'What is Philosophy?'-type essays, and I have found in Russell some deep articulations of some of what I find most frustrating about ordinary, unexamined life, consumption of concern with worldly things. I have found in him a new friend (I forget, too, that one of the things I always liked about Russell despite my distaste for the staunch Analytic Philosophy he practiced especially earlier in his career (of which he was a pioneer), was when I learned that toward the end of his life he published collections of short stories - at first anonymously. Maybe because he was embarrassed? I don't know...) :
“The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite, obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize…we find…that even the most everyday things lead to problems to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny f custom Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing us familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect...
The life of the instinctive man is shut up within the circle of his private interests: family and friends may be included, but the outer world is not regarded except as it may help or hinder what comes within the circle of instinctive wishes. In such a life there is something feverish and confined...The private world of instinctive interest is a small one, set in the midst of a great and powerful world which must, sooner or later, lay our private worlds in ruin. In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife between the insistence of desire and the powerlessness of will. In one way or another, if our life is to be great and free, we must escape this prison and this strife."
"In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife between the insistence of desire and the powerlessness of will."
If that doesn't sound like just what I have been feeling especially violently as of late...
Something especially frustrating about the dilemma is how a part of this confinement is the unconscious certainty we feel that one of the only ways to escape this dilemma, is on society's terms. If we want a life that is "great and free" one sure way is to somehow liberate oneself from the constraints of having to be employed,working a nine to five, by become independently ridiculously wealthy. This thought frustrates me endlessly. It's a product of the very trap we're in, to think that the only way out is on terms not our own. Granted, there are certain obstacles that cannot be overcome without certain means, many of which are obtained financially. There are two problems with this thought: 1) Being able to afford not to work is not the only way to live a life that is 'great and free'. I have seen people work very, very hard, and exercise great amounts of dedication and will toward creating a life for themselves where they have room for greatness and freedom, mostly by attaining jobs that foster creativity - where they have room to create, to learn, to lose themselves, to be inspired, to teach, to challenge and be challenged, to enjoy. More importantly though, sometimes those experiences that allow to us be inspired, to learn, to grow, etc - experiences such as traveling or getting a degree - are perfectly obtainable without being extravagantly expensive, it just requires some crafty thinking, some connections, and often times a willingness to be just a little uncomfortable. See more on this below*. 2) Having enough money so that one has the luxury of not having to go to work every day, from what I have observed, brings with it its own arsenal of pressures, expectations, assumptions, that rob that luxury of its very nature of being a luxury. Even being in a position of making more money that I have made, myself, I feel the weight of what that 'luxury brings with it.
*On being willing to be uncomfortable: One of the most enlightening, challenging, enlightening, enlivening, memorable experiences I ever had was when I spent a year living in a 10 x 20 shack in a 'garden' in Paris in an entirely jury rigged dwelling of old ship parts, duct tape, plastic and metal sheets and wires, with an insane painter and a group of random international students. I had to repair my own roof when after the first night rain dripped through it onto my face while I was sleeping; hot water was not in guarantee supply, I slept on a mat on the floor and had to maintain three walkie-talkies in my room at all times (read; see). It would've been worth it for the sheer absurdity of it all, and the chance to live and work in Paris, but what made it much more than a ridiculous, wonderful experience, was the fact that this was an environment which fostered creativity to the utmost degree. The most bizarre, complex, beautiful associations of ideas and images were given space to foster and grow wildly. Writing and creations and of many other kind emerged from me at that time. I would be very happy to find an environment that allowed for that sort of free flow of creative imagination to run wild in me again.
There is more than one way out of this, but I'm much better at thinking about it than navigating the world and its demands. This, I suppose, is where a little savvy in the way of worldly things might do me some good. But I could do with a lucky accident instead.
No comments:
Post a Comment