Living a good life

I received 2 very interesting comments from my previous post. 
Cos I do think about these stuff. But many times, I don't formulate my thoughts around them so it doesn't appear as a post until someone comments or asks stuff. 
So I really appreciate it when readers give a comment which triggers some of my thoughts which I had thought of but never bothered to talk about.
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... I would really be interested to hear your views about ‘what constitutes a worthy/good life’, based on your current moral worldview. Do you think that a once we reach financial freedom, is it ‘better’ to have a (I) simple life which fulfills only ourself and those we care about; or might it be ‘better’ to try to do something noble like charity or some kind of ‘noble’ job? Do you think that someone who lives a monk-like ascetic existence is less virtuous than say, someone who founded a charity to contribute to some important social causes?...
​​- Kuriko
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... it seems that you may have run out of a purpose/pursuit of meaning in life? For most, as you have noted, the purpose may be to achieve a form of financial stability. Or to pursue financial stabiliy as a means to achieve a comfortable life for their children/parents. But u have already are financially indepedent, reached an advanced level of thinking, have little desires and expenses. Maybe it is time to pursue a new purpose? E.g. being a coach/mentor, a new hobby, or restarting a career...
​- Tony

Ok usually, I put the comment in my main post cos I feel it's like giving credit to the person to inspired the post. But if you don't like it please inform me and I'll remove it. 

So these 2 comments forced me to structure my thoughts into a post instead of leaving them all in random bits. 
The main theme behind the question is pretty much...
What is the meaning of life? And what constitutes to leading a good life?

Of course, there's not right and wrong answer, and this is pretty much in accordance to my current mental state. If someone asked me this 10 years back the answer would be extremely different. 

My most simple answer to this is, there is no meaning in life. 
The meaning in life is to live. 
That's it. 

To me, humans aren't very much different from a dog, lions, cows. We are all animals living on Earth. 
No I'm not the religious type. I've read up on many different religious ideas and scientific stuff and I've come to a certain framework of how things are. I do have some other beliefs about spiritual, fate, superstitions and stuff, but those are not the same as religious beliefs. 

Ok so back to topic. What are we here for? Well... we are here to be here. I don't think too much about that. Asking this question just goes around in circles. 
A dog, cat, deer... they just exist. Only humans think too much. 
Most animals. Just enjoy their life, or they try to enjoy their life, they work to find food, then they eat, sleep, procreate and die... that's life. 

Humans are a bit more complicated. But yet, are so similar. Humans work to find food, then eat, sleep, procreate and die. But we build so much other complicated structures upon ourselves. Societal norms, cultural norms, religious differences, racial issues...

So, no... I reject or try to reject all these "norms" cos norms are made by man. 
I try to live a good life. 
And I define a good life to be a life where I am happy, and do what I want, as long as I don't hurt or disturb someone else, I am free to do whatever I want. 

To me, there's no difference between a person whom society will consider a bum. Maybe someone who plays video games all day and lives off his family inheritance.
As compared to a doctor. 

Everyone in society would consider the bum to be useless and the doctor to be successful and a better person. But this is a label by society. 
We owe it to ourselves to live a happy life without fear of the additional artificial pressures created by society. 

The bum could be happy for his whole life. 
And the doctor could be helping people but be miserable his whole life if he doesn't like what he does.
And when they both come to the end of their lives, what would they think? 
Bum : I really enjoyed my life, shiok sia.
Doc : What a miserable life I lived. 

But... who cares? 
You see... what I think, is that we all owe it to ourselves to live a good and happy life. Cos that's what we all have here on Earth. Just around 80 years or so. On our death beds, we all answer to ourselves.
When I sit on a plane and it jerks around, I think to myself. Am I happy where I am? Cos if the plane goes down, it really doesn't matter if society thinks I'm a great man or a bum. Cos for me, I'd be thinking... am I happy with how I lived my 35 years of life. 

So this is how I think about my life. Firstly and most importantly, am I happy with it? Cos that's what we are all here for. 80 years. That's it. 

Then we go on to what should we do about it. 
Whether someone decides to help a noble cause or sits around doing nothing is all up to the individual. 
I believe what is important is, are you/we true to ourselves? 
What good is a person who is the CEO of a charity, but he doesn't really like helping people, he just likes the power he gets by sitting at the top seat?
Are we/you living in a world of lies? Do you smile at people you don't like? 
Some people thrive in such environments. They are really happy when they get promoted. 
But is this what life should be about? Is this success? By being a hypocrite and political? 

As I untie myself from societal norms, I avoid people who just say things for the sake of it. I avoid people I don't like and hang around more with people I like. And to me, this is what it means to live a good life. If I'm going to spend 80+ years on Earth, this is what I'd rather be doing. 

For me, what someone does with his life in terms of work, is irrelevant. As long as he is true to himself he is someone to be admired. 
I do feel somewhat sad for a person who needs to find recognition from external sources. Someone who must earn a certain amount of money to feel successful... someone who needs a certain level of power or reach a certain position in life, etc... 

So I don't really look at financial independence together with this. It is somewhat a different idea. 
For me, it took a certain amount of financial security before I managed to live the way I want.
For others, they may already be able to live the way they want. They may be very happy doing the job that they love so much that they look forward to going to work everyday. And they don't mind living a political life smiling at people they don't like. 
I'm fully aware that there are people who don't struggle to do such stuff. 
For me, I feel a great conflict within me when I do it. 

Ok so based on this, to answer the comments, I believe a good life is a life that someone is able to do what they want and be true to themselves.
It doesn't matter if they are freegans, bums playing video games and not contributing to society, or people who help out with charitable organizations. 
People owe it to themselves to live a happy life for the 80 years they are alive. 
Even if someone is financially free, if he/she does charity work but doesn't like it, then that person has wasted their own life. 
Cos to me, the objective of life is to live, to be happy, to simply exist. 
I reject the idea that a life is deemed wasted unless it is a life of contribution to society, regardless of the feelings of the individual. 

This doesn't mean I encourage people to be a bum. I encourage people do be true to themselves, surround themselves with people who love them and people that they love. To be happy with their lives, if they aren't happy, to do something about it. Cos in the end, you only answer to yourself. 
If the bum doesn't enjoy playing games but continues to do that, then that is also considered a waste of his life. Bumming around is only a waste if the person himself feels it is a waste. 

As for the 2nd comment about losing a purpose in life. Yes, initially this was the thought, but I came to terms that there IS no meaning in life but to enjoy it. So whatever I do now is somewhat entertainment or curiosity.  Like how I embarked upon my freegan journey. It wasn't necessary to explore that route, but I found it interesting, so I went to take a look and found that for me, that journey was very enlightening. 

Imagine a pet puppy following an owner along on the owner's business trips. Does the puppy feel any need to do anything more? The puppy makes the owner happy just by keeping the owner company. 
Or maybe the pet puppy will do some other activity. Find food to bring home, or help someone or whatever... 

So yes, I do think humans think too much about meaning and what they want to accomplish in life. Cos they have an inherent desire to find purpose. And definitely, with kids, the purpose becomes a lot more obvious, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with finding purpose. 
Cos sure as hell, it isn't easy to come to terms with "life has no meaning". 
So it's easier for people to work along the lines of "be a useful person to society".

Where do I go from here? 
I have no idea really. 
Cos my wife loves her job. It sends her overseas once or twice a month. She enjoys me going over. I don't really enjoy going over but I enjoy making her happy. If I start out some other thing with heavy commitment I won't be able to follow her along and that would mess up our current situation. 
She may not feel so happy with her job cos she might not like travelling for work without company, or our relationship may get worse cos she would not be around at home 25%-50% of the month. 

When I'm back in Singapore, I collect food and pick her up, we are both happy with the current flexibility of my schedule.
So for now... I'd prefer to keep the status quo. We are both sufficiently happy with how things are. If I start doing anything more it may shift the balance and end up in a worse off situation.
So no point fixing something that isn't broken for now. Unless things change in future. 


* Of course this is my own feelings on how I want to live my life. If you want to live it another way by all means go ahead, there's no right or wrong answer. In the end, it's not about me. It's about your own life and how you want to progress with your journey. *


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