Monday, November 21, 2011

Love, Drugs, and the Meaning of Life

Most today would say that true romantic love doesn’t exist. They say it’s not true because the feeling of passion and interest one has for another while “head over heels” is a biological reaction that has no real connection to the person. Instead that feeling is created by the idea that someone has opened themselves up to you, or it can be pure physical attraction. Therefore, the feeling inevitably fades with time. Any lengthening of the relationship is due to children or economic issues. Eventually the person learns to “put up” with the other.

So a lot of people are privy to this and they date around for the fun of it. All the while knowing that any feelings that develop are to be ignored and not pursued. What results are relationships that are superficial and shallow, only maintained because of the shared feeling of passion or romantic love. So it’s as if the two persons understand that these feelings of wanting to be with the other are not genuine, and as a result they are doing it just for the thrill or pure feeling of it. This desire for feelings brings us to our next focus, drugs.

People use recreational drugs for the feeling of it. They understand that the feelings they get from the drug are not genuine- meaning that they wont last and are shallow. This is exactly the same case as with love. People fall in love with one another but all the while aware that it is superficial. So one can see how taking a drug and playing the field or dating for the fun of it are one in the same as they both are done to get some shallow feeling.

Some claim that the meaning of life is impossible to know. That may be the case, but it is equally true that there is a true meaning to life. With that said I think the meaning of life is satisfaction. Now how does that tie in with what was stated above? If what we all want out of life is satisfaction then these actions like dating for the fun of it or using drugs are valid ways of getting that. But one I believe is more honest then the other.

I believe that recreational drug use is more honest then dating for the fun of it. Because although the people maybe in agreement about not letting the feeling get too strong, they nevertheless eventually do, causing some horrible and confusing emotional disasters. On the other hand, drug use involves no one else and it is completely sincere. You can’t lie to the drug, nor can you upset it. You must only respect its power to enslave you and work according so that doesn’t happen.

In the end, my point is that if all we want out of life is to feel good, then we must acknowledge this: We can’t use other people’s feelings to create feelings for ourselves. If one wants to muddle themselves up in a relationship for the sake of superficial feelings then so be it. But if they want to be honest about what they want, then recreational drug use is a valid choice.

Sure it may seem taboo and even wrong to suggest that recreational drug use is more moral then fooling around, but when taken into consideration the lies, lack of respect, asymmetry in feeling and emotional upheaval of shallow relationships, one can see how the fact that drug use only involves that one person, makes it a more ethical choice, because any mistake will effect only that person; thereby upholding the ideal of liberty. This is unlike a relationship which has two or more people’s feelings hang in limbo. 

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