The Conversation Continues

P: ...It's huge - bigger than anything here on Earth.

F: OK.

P: Now imagine that it is surrounded by landscape on all sides of varying types. One area is a desert, another a tundra, another a temperate clime, and so on.

F: Are you saying life is like the weather?

P: No, no. So you've got this terrain - this mountain and the areas at its base. Now, the top of the mountain is the goal - happiness. And paths of various types lead up the side of the mountain.

F: Alright, I can picture this mountain of yours.

P: You have people living in the various areas. They do what everyone does: eat, sleep, dream, do the nasty...and seek happiness. So they all want to reach the summit of that mountain but, in order to do so, they must first traverse the land in which they live. Desert people must roam across vast stretches of sand and contend with drought; people living in cold areas must trudge through snow and struggle to keep themselves warm and so forth. And this only gets them to base of the mountain. From there, they must make the difficult, hazardous climb up to the top.

F: Big whoop. So people each have their own way of finding happiness...

P: Yeah, it's kind of lousy analogy, isn't it? Look at what it does illustrate: people find happiness in different ways as their lives are unique in many ways - life in the forest is different than life in the desert. But there's similarity too as everyone has to climb the mountain. And climbing the mountain - finding happiness - is not easy, it's a struggle. As Aristotle said, happiness comes through "study and care" and not by chance.

F: I thought you said that those books didn't help...?

P: Well, hindsight is 20/20. Besides, quoting Aristotle is a good way to fool people into thinking you're smart.

F: Look, I see what you're saying but it doesn't really help me. It doesn't tell me how to be happy - just some allegory about how hard it is for people to find happiness. I still feel that there really is no purpose to live. I think all living organisms on this planet have it built into them the need to survive and copulate no matter what. So as humans we've created religion, destiny, need, desire, wealth, and all these other things that are supposed to give reason to life. But at times I'm aware that whether or not any of my dreams are fulfilled is irrelevant in the scheme of things. They're just there to give my brain something to focus on so I keep existing.

P: Felicia, either you've missed my point or I haven't made it very well. Remember what I said about my having read all those books and not finding an answer? I can't give you an answer - only way to think about things because, as with the mountain, finding happiness is not exactly the same for everyone. And think about what you just told me. What is this "scheme of things"? Do you really care if you end up in some history book? And do you honestly believe that needs and desires are just things people invented thousands of years ago?

F: Well, no, but they're just byproducts, they're ways of finding a mate. It's our genes' way of getting the best possible person to have offspring with.

P: In a certain sense, I agree with you. But I think what you're doing is confusing what are called proximate and ultimate causes. Your genes aren't doing these cost-beneift analyses like Alan Greenspan inside of your body. Saying that such things are the result of our genes selecting this over that is misleading. Our genes "do" such things or have that behavior only when viewed in the grand scheme of things, as you like to say, over a long, long period of time. Our passions, our needs and desires - they're real and they're genuine and they're immediate. Your genes and mine, they don't sit around plotting Machiavellian schemes. Instead you and I, we sit around thinking about love, friendship, and so on.

F: So...

P: Someone once said that those who care about legislation and sausages should not see them being made. The same goes for our emotions. While amoral and uncaring genes may ultimately be responsible for things, it is the proximate, the nearer causes that concern us. "What can I do to make myself happy?", "Who can I love?", and the like.

F: So you're saying that the things that are important to me are that way because they're important to me.

P: Hey, nice tautology! Yes, that's what I'm saying. Your passions and desires are important because they're what colors your life, gives it meaning, and makes you happy.

F: So, what happened to you? What happened after you read all those philosophers and got nothing out of them?

P: Oh, it's a boring story and I don't want to bore you.

F: Bore me.