Andrew Easterbrook

I have been thinking about a few things this week. This post can serve as a reminder to write something about them in the future.

• I think there’s an important connection between having a good life and the accumulation of “defining moments”. Of course it’s self-evident that defining moments in one’s life are what one remembers, but what about prospectively, as well as retrospectively? Might it be good to seek out and aim for certain defining moments? Not just “goals” but something different, something more like milestones. A goal might be to learn to fly, for example. But a defining moment needs to be an actual experience, so in that case, the defining moment would be flying solo. Having lots of good defining moments will be enjoyable. And it leads onto my next point,
• Control. Control and leadership are two things we are all brought up to seek and value. Why? What’s the inherent value in having control (over events, other people, your life, etc) apart from it making you feel good? In terms of the previous point, I think that having control over which defining moments you experience plays on this a little. And is control a good thing? Certainly not in some situations, we don’t like dictatorships, forceful imposition of ideas we don’t like, or restrictions on our freedom. So what’s good control and what’s bad control?
• On the other hand, control over oneself is undoubtedly good. If we have the ability to satisfy our own needs, we are happy. But if one has too much of that control, and satisfies every whim, that’s not going to be ideal either. So where do you draw the line between having the competence to do anything you like, and staying away from actually doing everything you like?
• Is hedonism coherent?