The inability to see the bigger picture or to see what is right in front of someone is often referred to as not being able to 'see the forest for the trees'. That is confining oneself or being restricted to noticing the minutia (small or insignificant things) of day-to-day life while being unable to notice the bigger or more important things.
"True" love, happiness, joy, wisdom, security of self, the list is endless. Having these things has for the longest time, many thousands of years, been considered to be some of the most important things to posses in life and also some of the most valuable. It has been said that "man does not live on food and water alone", and while the struggle for subsistence is difficult in the extreme within our society if someone has nothing or very little there will eventually be a need for human companionship and enlightenment, a need to feed the mind and soul as well as the body.
Why then is it that if everyone need these things, love, happiness, wisdom, etc. to give life meaning and purpose that many fall into the trap of living to work, of living to pay the bills, of living for the sake of living? Is there a base reason why or society prises money, little pieces of paper with numbers on them, over wisdom, over ‘the love of a lifetime’, over feeling happy and content at heart with life as it is?
Why is it that people can’t see the forest for the trees?
Please explain your answers.
Thanks.
2007-09-25
19:55:38
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3 answers
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asked by
Arthur N
4
in
Philosophy