The good life free essay sample

What is the good life? This ambiguous idea differs for everyone. Americans may believe that to live the good life is to live the American Dream and achieve freedom, equality, and prosperity. Others may believe that the good life involves being very wealthy or famous. Over all, the definition of the good life varies for everyone. There isn’t one specific way that a person should live in order for it to be â€Å"good†. However, although the definition of the good life is very diverse and open to multiple interpretations, in order to live the best life possible, one should concentrate on doing whatever makes him or her happy, listening to his or her conscience and doing what it right, and establishing good relationships with family and peers. The most key piece to living the good life is doing whatever makes one happy. For most adults, this could mean having a job in their dream career field, and actually wanting to get out of bed to go to work in the mornings. We will write a custom essay sample on The Good Life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Or, it could mean not having a job at all. Nonetheless, most adults would be happy by achieving success in their chosen careers, and having stable and loving families. However, a small number of adults actually achieve this ideal happiness. Regardless, the good life is still attainable. In order to live the good life, one has to strive to find happiness in whatever he or she does. According to Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay â€Å"The Over-Soul†, one can achieve happiness through God and religion. He states that God is accessible to everyone, religious or not, and that religion is essentially the key to all happiness. For Christians, Emerson’s point of view may be correct. Many Christians believe that God can bring happiness to anyone who believes in Him. For non-Christians on the other hand, Emerson’s idea is irrelevant. Still, religious or not, people should strive to find happiness in whatever they do, and they should learn to accept their lives as they are. Even though no one lives a perfect life, people should aim to make the most out of their lives, and learn to find happiness in even the smallest situations. Doing so would allow one to become closer to attaining the good life. Another important part to living the best life possible is listening to one’s conscience and doing the right thing, and actually feeling good about the decisions that are made. If one’s life consists of doing bad things, he or she will ultimately feel bad about them, and many regrets will be left behind. However, if one does a lot of good deeds throughout his or her life, there will be minimal regrets and he or she will be able to work towards living the best life possible. Listening to one’s conscience is also an effective way of avoiding regrets. Many times, when one doesn’t listen to his or her conscience, regrets occur, because one looks back on the decisions made and realizes that they should have done something differently or listened to their conscience. Even though listening to one’s conscience might not always be the right thing to do or yield the best results, it will allow for one to live with few regrets. And, by living with few regrets, doing what is right, and listening to the conscience, one will become closer to achieving their good life, in whatever way it is defined. The last way to live the best life possible is through establishing good and meaningful with one’s family and peers. A lack of friendships and substantial relationships will most likely leave one feeling very lonely and outcast. However, if one can form positive relationships, they will be more social, happy, and closer to achieving the good life. In Gary Eberle’s text, The Geography of Nowhere, Eberle states that electronics and the media are preventing many people from establishing good, intimate relationships with others. Electronics are causing us to be very disconnected from each other: â€Å"The people spend so much of their lives connected electronically to someplace else that most of the time they hardly seem to be there, or anywhere at all, for that matter† (Eberle 2). Here, Eberle is showing how electronics and the media have caused society to be very disjoint, and they have hindered meaningful relationships from forming. So, in order to live the best life possible, we should strive to overcome the power of electronics and try to continue to make successful relationships with others, as healthy friendships are one of the most important pieces to living a good life. Still, working past the power of electronics is not the only way to secure good relationships. In addition, one ought to be a trustworthy person. Trust is essential to all relationships, and if one is trustworthy, he or she will have more satisfying relationships with others. Along with trust, in order to form good relationships, one could be understanding, generous, comforting, and more. Doing so will allow one to develop healthy relationships with their friends and family, and the good life will then be more reachable. Over all, the good life remains a very unclear idea, and there is no concrete definition on what the good life is, nor is there a definite way on how one is supposed to live it. Still, one can work towards living the best life possible by striving to find happiness in his or her life, as well as listening to his or her conscience, doing what is right, and establishing valuable relationships with peers. If one can do all of these things, they will be closer to achieving their definition of a good life. The Good Life free essay sample Attaining and living the â€Å"Good Life† does not always come easily. There are costs to living a fulfilling life and often times sacrifices must be made in order to do so. This is most notable in a few of the readings from the course. Siddhartha, from Hesse’s novel, exemplifies someone who so passionately wanted to find enlightenment that he was willing to give up his family, prior beliefs, and all of his belongings. Rama’s situation in the Ramayana also demonstrates the idea that the good life does not come without sacrifice. A final example of this idea is read in the Bhagavad-Gita where Krishna must put his family in danger on the battlefield to do what is right. After a more in depth look at the situations from these readings, it is ever more apparent that the good life does not come free. The novel Siddhartha by Herman Hesse is a clear example of the good life requiring sacrifices. We will write a custom essay sample on The Good Life or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Siddhartha so badly desired attaining Nirvana that he was willing to abandon his beliefs, stray from his family and friends, and give up all of his worldly possessions. With each different belief system with which he orientated himself, he changed his lifestyle in one way or another. Some beliefs required him to give up his belongings, so he did. Siddhartha’s rationalization for this new life he was willing to lead was that in the end, he would find enlightenment, which would be worth more than anything currently present in his life. Most people in today’s world would never be able to handle such a sacrifice but still believe they are living a good life regardless, which argues Siddhartha’s method of attaining enlightenment. I can attest to that in that I find myself living a good life without giving up my possessions. As long I have people in my life who matter, that is all I need to be happy. It is ironic that Siddhartha felt he had to give up people in life in order to be happy when in the end, it was a person (his son) who brought him to the state of total happiness he looked so long and hard to find . The Ramayana by Valmiki also gives insight to the idea that the good life is not led without a cost. Rama, the first son of the King, was next in line for the throne as necessary for Dharma. His stepmother forcing the king to give the throne to her son and the King’s second son left Rama banished to the forest with no throne and no one but his wife Sita. This situation can be viewed in two ways: Rama accepting his banishment means that Dharma is not being done since the first son must rule. The other is that he is willing to sacrifice the throne because it was his father’s order. This shows that maybe Rama’s idea of a good life is doing his father’s will rather than what society and cultural belief call â€Å"right† (Dharma). However, Rama does end up â€Å"doing good† in the forest when Sita is kidnapped and he is given the opportunity to rescue her. That could be seen as his Dharma. Rama rationalizes his banishment by knowing he is doing what his father desires of him and that is all he needs to feel fulfilled. Rama’s situation relates to a topic that recently came up in American History class where John Brown wanted slaves to be free and ended up being hanged for measures he took to free them. The similarity lies in the fact that both Brown and Rama felt they had an obligation to someone and were willing to sacrifice whatever they had to in order to meet that obligation. Rama’s story is a contrast from Siddhartha’s idea of gaining enlightenment. Rama will do the will of the person he sees as his master while Siddhartha feels the need to be independent and find enlightenment himself by abandoning others. Again, it seems that Rama’s method was more accurate seeing as in the end Siddhartha realized that certain people mean more than you think which was Rama’s thought from the beginning . The Bhagavad-Gita is a story in which the most drastic sacrifice takes place in order to what is right and attain the good life. Arjuna, the Pandavas leader, is told he must fight his family, the Kauravas. Arjuna is opposed to fighting his own blood for a kingdom he does not really want. Krishna tells him that he must act selflessly to attain enlightenment, which is reached by dissolution of the soul. The main concepts of this include renunciation, self-service, and meditation. He is telling Arjuna that he must work off his karma so that he can achieve enlightenment and the first step is to be selfless by fighting his family and forgetting that he fighting against his own blood. After Krishna’s lengthy lesson, Arjuna realized that it truly was his duty to fight in battle against his family, challenging as it may be. This situation compares to Rama’s in the Ramayana in that both characters are loyal to their families. The only difference lies in Arjuna’s final decision to abandon his selfishness of not wanting to harm his family and do hat was expected of him. The story of the Bhagavad-Gita is similar to the Bible passage Genesis 22 verses 1-18 where God asks Abraham to sacrifice his only son. While although Arjuna was not literally sacrificing his family members he was fighting them knowing bloodshed would occur but was willing to go through with battle because it was expected of him and would ultimately bring him the enlightenment he d esired . It has been evident throughout the course â€Å"What is the Good Life† that reaching enlightenment and living a happy life do not come without a cost. There are times when family might have to take a back seat or unnecessary goods must be purged. Some are willing to do whatever may be required if it means they will reach enlightenment but seeing as no one can pin point what exactly enlightenment is, it is a big step to alter ones entire life not knowing what will truly come out of it. The characters of these readings from the course exemplify the kinds of people who take the chances and have faith that those costs will lead them to the good life. Word Count: 1071 Really good essay! Sorry it’s coming back so late again, just been overloaded with work! Hopefully this helps.