Contract Illusion
Life loses all meaning the moment you lose the illusion of your own immortality. — Jean-Paul Sartre And this doesn’t just apply to life itself. People are drawn to things that feel eternal. What’s temporary often feels meaningless.
But not always. Take Buddhists, and others with similar philosophies — they try to live in the present, in the moment. But I think that’s only possible because of some illusion of immortality. Whether it’s natural or made-up — it’s still there.
And it’s also tied to the idea of happiness. Which, to me, has two parts. There’s the happiness of life itself — the joy, the desire, the pleasure you feel right now. But also the happiness of something achieved — or maybe better said, the fulfillment of an expectation, likely born from a desire.
And desire is a sort of contract. One you sign with yourself, agreeing to be, in some way, unhappy — until it comes true.
Tags: philosophy, quote
