Sometimes, I’ll get caught up in the idea that our lives are a series of exhausting transactions, an endless defense of our self-worth and value. Then I remember there’s enough metaphysical wiggle room to allow for the possibility we might be in a simulation, that we aren’t yet certain whether consciousness is a fluke of material interaction, how much free will we actually have (if any), and other seemingly unanswerable matters.
As long as I have that wiggle room, I’ll focus on framing my life as an adventure–not an oppressive horror-survival, or a Sisyphean slog that only lets up when I breathe my last.
Dirty Sci-Fi Buddha 
On the free will issue, Daniel Dennett’s answer always gives me pause. Just a quick paraphrase: We may have a tad, but it’s not what you think it is.
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I like to entertain a mystical model of existence, where we are in possession of a higher or deeper self. In that case, I like the idea that in a lot of cases, what appears to be destiny to our surface self, may actually be the free will of the higher or deeper self self.
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I like that perspective 🙂
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We get the idea of transactions from a desire to influence the world around us: we ‘sacrifice’ something to get a better future, and we do it all the time. Because other people think the same way, it ‘works’ within human society (and other, similar, animal societies). It even led Man to invent Gods and other spirits of nature, to be able to propitiate them. And it led to ‘priests’ and ‘seers’ and even ‘astrologers’ to intercede for us. It is a superstition – a laying of deduced ‘mechanics’ on top of what we observe. And when we realise that we are each the only ones accountable for that act, it can free us from believing that we _must_ sacrifice. Like you, we can then choose not to do so, which – as you have found – releases a lot of emotional tension.
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Well put! The idea does indeed work in the short and medium term. In the existential sense, it seems like a cruel way to design reality, especially given that we come into this world without knowing a concrete set of rules that will definitely work for at least the individual if not the collective. It would be a game with vague (if any) rules and too many options, many of which lead to fruitless outcomes.
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That’s a cool take on life, I personally like the idea that we might be brains in a vat experiencing consciousness only through electronic impulses which simulate reality
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I’m fond of that notion myself!
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“Framing life as an adventure” – I like that. It keeps one curious and open 🙂
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Interesting musing about life as transactions.
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Very tempting that Sisyphean slog – and hard to resist sometimes.
Gwen.
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Good way to look at things!
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I like to think in terms of having an adventure. I’ve been displaced twice, and now I have a steady dwelling. Yes, I would say adventurous.
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I’m glad you have stability!
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An adventure for sure! God bless.
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