I dont understand the majority of people?

Question

i just dont understand how so many people seem to get caught up in thier everyday, mundane lives and seem perfectly happy. they are just content with thier lives and i just dont get it? how can you ever be satisfied isnt that doing an injustice to yourself...shouldnt we all be striving for self-actualization? but does it even matter if we reach it?

maybe i worry about what other people do with their lives b/c i am destined to...a lot of your answers only look at one side of the problem, plz try to transcend your ideals and give some real answers

sorry to sound like a jackass to all of you, cause some answers are good but most are just proof of what i was asking about

Answer 1

The whole point of self-actulization is that you may just never reach it.Or you may be self-actulized today but tom the goal is different.
i think I can see what you are gettin at, it very easy to get run down in the mundane running of day to day life because that is what society says we should be doing to be "good roles" or to be leading acceptable standards of life.

I get v fed up. for example. I spent a year saving for my holidays, I've had my two week holiday now I'm back to working doing day to day run of the mills thngs looking forward to net years hols! There must be more to it all.

Which is why I'm of to work on Mercy ships next year Whoop whoop!

Answer 2

There probably isn't a person on earth who doesn't think ' is this it' at some point in their life. We all just do the best with what we have. The things I value most in my life are my family, and no amount of self actualization or personal achievement will surpass that. My life may be mundane at times, but its rich in so many other ways. You could achieve all your personal goals in life and still miss out on the really important things.

That makes me sound just like one of those people you are talking about lol. But there again if I seem perfectly happy, then maybe its because I am.

Answer 3

Their lives are only mundane from your perspective. You have a different view of what life is about so it would only be an injustice for you to live this way because you don't believe in living this way. I think it is important for society to have people like this and has come about maybe through necessity; If noone would be content in a menial job then who would do these menial jobs. I used to think like you but this last thought made me think differently. Same as your body is created by different cells doing different activities so is society

Answer 4

you are an individual,so is everybody else. the majority of people is engaged in their 'mundane' lives so far you perceive
it. If they are content then that is a very neat trick they've managed .you can learn from them how its done.Too many
people are living in abject misery caused by others or themselves.Anyone that manages to be content has won half the game I'd say.As for self-actualisation ..you need to have a self in order to actualise it and you can only gain a self by what you do. Get on with it

Answer 5

Many people have been conditioned to believe that one can define oneself in terms of something else. People define themselves in terms of their job, what school they went to, how much money they have, etc. All of this is obviously arbitrary in terms of the idea of the "true self".

If you grant that external definitions are meaningless, then what do you find internally? I just find possibility.

Within certain practical constraints, you could be anywhere doing anything right now. Maybe you have some inherent "nature" that makes you a certain way. But if you try, right now you can do something completely out of your "nature." You could just go outside and get in the car and just drive away from everything and never come back. If you stay, you have chosen it. You can feel that you have no "nature," only continual choice. You can choose differently at any moment.

So here is the punchline: Self-actualization is impossible, because there are no properties of the self to find or express, only continual choice. Trying to define oneself is as meaningless a pursuit as any other.

I think of life as a canvas. You can paint anything on that canvas, and you can also paint over anything you have painted up until now. The painting is thus never finished. Just paint something as beautiful as you can.

Answer 6

If we were all striving for self-actualisation, then the most successful people wouldn't stand out. I often ask myself the same questions, in fact! Yes, I do think that life without dreams and goals is meaningless, but sometimes when you try to achieve so many goals (and even if you do), you might find yourself emotionally worn-out because of all the stress.

Perhaps this is why so many people choose the easier life path. Another reason might be that during their upbringing they weren't taught to strive for something better, to stand out... On the other hand, what is happiness? I guess it means different things to different people. And so they "get caught up on their everyday, mundane lives and seem perfectly happy".

By the way, "seem" could imply that inside they aren't so happy...

Answer 7

My friend, look our celebrities and the everyday Heroes and you would know about mediocrity, still people believe in drugs, fame, easy money and how many call to this late at night TV programs that is a scam in your face, still you hear that Islam is a religion of peace and that the media is guilty for our miseries where is only a reflex.

As you say, make justice to yourself and don't waste time with people, yes, some...a few, can be so great, the rest for me are heavily under rated and still like that, they manage to surprise me, everyday.

Answer 8

:) You make it sound like self-actualization is better. But is it really? Who are YOU to decide that? Have you not been told to be happy in EVERYTHING you do. You should even enjoy WALKING from place to place, not just walking to get from point A to point B. And once you are content/happy with everything, nothing else matters. If you are just as happy/content with mundane life as you are with self-actualization, there is no difference, and so they can choose either and they still reach the same goal :P

Answer 9

i've often thought the same thing. but then i learnt that no one thinks alike. were i would cry someone else might laugh. maybe peoples ideal life is being an average person with a mundane life. i couldn't see how they could be happy. then i realised that it was what they wanted. and who am i to judge whether their dream is good or rubbish? i've never walked in their shoes. never thought like them. doubt i've spoken to them so who am i to judge? i tell myself that everytime i think like that in any situation. maybe you are just one of those worriers. at the end of the day, i hope you reach your self-actualisation and if you want to rant about how i could possibly be happy with just sitting at the leptop for hours on end i'd be happy to listen and i wouldn't mind because i'm one of those people who listens to everything and everyone and then at the end of the day do what i want. hope you reach your self-actualisation. perhaps this is a phase. it was for me =D. and some people don't want self-actualisation. some people hate chocolate and others love it. sometimes we can't see how the opposite can ever be the case, but we accept that it is the case and move on. i'd love to reach self-actualisation...just no idea how to reach it lol. hope you reach yours and maybe you should concentrate on smiling and being happy =D because when you are happy you are one with yourself. =D

Answer 10

Self actualization... Well, once you get involved in day to day activities and you participate in social life, you get so caught up in this hectic process that you tend to become less aware of these things you mention. This process of self actualization becomes natural and imperceptible. You just let things follow their natural cycle and accept everything for what it is.

However why should being mundane have a negative connotation? being valuable from an intellectual, social, financial etc. perspective matters, but what matters more is your ability to adapt to your environment and your circumstances regardless of how uncomfortable they are. You don't have to brake the contour of typicality just to prove you're valuable.

There's no need to have self-actualization as a stable purpose in your to do list, you just need to be aware of your own potential and learn how to use it properly.

Individuals who don't strive for progress and change because they're unaware of the necessity of those processes could be judged. But people who don't strive for gaining self-actualization because they have the ability to fall into every shape circumstances force them to take should be valued.