Drawing room doctrine

It is paradoxical that in an atmosphere of unrestrained behaviour – such as currently prevails amidst this enfeebling global pandemic – the formulation of purpose is apparently strictly academic. I say this to capture the difference in attitude arising from necessity. If one were for example compelled to accomplish even the lowest domestic fundamental then the debate about existential meaning is far less engaging. Indeed one may be hard pressed at the outset to establish a modest stimulation for the philosophic investigation. Nevertheless my scrutiny of the redeeming features of humanity survives the most inured perspective.

Not uncommonly such absorbing exploration may in an instant be wiped from the war room chart. Relevancy is more a product of immediacy than solemn metaphysics. Yet there lingers from the most preoccupying endeavour the private need to formulate assurance that we live as more than mere insects; that is, without having accomplished anything of value. In this respect the confluence of need and production is discernible – that mix of the visceral and the cerebral.

Some might argue that throughout life there should be no expectation of anything more than survival. Assuming for sake of argument that employment is but a conduit to food and shelter, there is some strength to the proposition that celebrity of any form is irrelevant. Strangely perhaps we persist in the search for justification – a variation of vindication and apologia. increasingly I am reduced to accept of the pleasure of the moment.  This superlative is absent any personal addition; that is, the glory and glamour of what exists is sufficient. It follows that after a lifetime often dedicated to the achievement of marks, position, capital and status the assessment of life is corrupted or misdirected. Yet descension by any degree is a small injury. In the end we are confronted by the inarguable simplicity of life because everything else is like having the same meal over and over again and always too much.