9/14/2012 The Non-Bullshit Life

by Tyler Blevins

Hey guys, just going to outline what happened in class to prompt this question and I will give the complete response I gave to submit to the teacher. Hopefully we can expand on that.

The concept of a bullshit life came from a TV show clip where a man is going to a date, but he gets attacked by a homeless man. The homeless man run at him, misses him, keeps running into the street due to momentum, and a car hits him and he dies. The man goes to his date and goes on a monologue about how our lives can be erased at any second, and therefore, all human action is “bullshit.” Our teacher challenged us to come up with answers to “What isn’t a bullshit life?” The answer I gave is below:

I have thought about this question during a few intellectual discussions with some of my colleagues, and I believe I have come up with a satisfactory answer, at least in my own life. I will attempt to explain my position in this essay.

The Romans had the deity Hilaritas, who was the goddess of good nature and humor. This was also an extension of the Greek concept of Hilarita, which simply acknowledged the inevitability of death for all human beings, and that the passage of time would lead to the collapse of all things that humans have ever built, dreamed, and thought. While this immediately may seem pessimistic and nihilistic on the surface, if analyzed, this can lead to the realization that all worrying is ineffective and without merit. In effect, this philosophy can eliminate all worry because all causes of human worry will eventually be nonexistent in the grand scheme of things. This allows for an upsurge in humor in the largest case of dramatic irony possible so that the person experiencing this realization finds humor in everything in existence and is able to communicate that quality to others that want it. This, I think, is one of the greatest ways for a person to find legitimate meaning in life: finding humor in this great game of life and transferring that good nature to others.

My own personal philosophy of what gives my life meaning is to be as happy and compassionate as possible to everyone I come into contact with. I always try to help anyone whenever I can and going the extra mile all the time, and I get great joy out of doing that. I suppose I could measure the success of this principle by considering how many people will show up at my funeral and what they will have to say about me after I am gone. Yet despite all of this, I try to remain as humble as possible, yet I realize that even that statement pumps up my sense of self-worth. In essence, I suppose one could say I try to be as happy and helpful as possible.

To close, I wish to use Horace Mann’s statement: “We should be ashamed to die until we have made our mark upon humanity.” I think that statement adds tremendously to clarity in what we should be striving for in our day-to-day lives. This, in essence, wraps up my philosophy on this subject based on what I currently know. I plan to read Viktor Frankl’s book, “Man’s Search for Meaning” at some point very soon, so I may have more to say on it later. But for now, this encompasses my position, as flawed or as solid it may be.

In essence, I think a non-bullshit life consists of leaving a mark on humanity that transcends your own death. I will expand on this more in the club, and I hope we can get a good discussion going from this. Cheers!