THE HANGOVER! HOW HOLIDAY HANGOVERS REMIND US ABOUT OUR IRRATIONALITY AS HUMANS.

The meaning of Christmas is clear. In its simplest form it is a day when Christians (and probably all whose beliefs are based on Jesus Christ) celebrate/commentate the birth of Christ and the ultimate sacrifice by the Son of God to come live among us and redeem us from sin. It is a day of gratitude, a day of giving, a day when you are other centred (emulating Christ who gave up self for others)!

Yet the celebrations of Christmas show a completely different direction from the meaning and spirit of Christmas. They show that we as human beings are grossly irrational. Or are we now?

Yes! It is the Christmas holidays again. Families, companies, persons are in a 'festivities' mood. For many, this means travelling to holiday resort areas, holding Christmas parties, eating as much meaty and 'chicky' stuff, fine dining, drinking alcohol to the full, smoking the hell out of the holiday season, and generally trying one's best to live an ideally pleasure-full life.

The catch in all this is that there is a hangover that follows such activities. For alcohol and other mind altering substances, this means having a sickly, nauseating, head-punching headaches, stomach churning feeling. For other party activities, the hangover could mean that empty feeling (now that I have gone to Mauritius, then and so what?), a sort of existential crisis felt at the gut core of one's being. For the thinker, it leaves one with the question of whether all the effort in trying to enjoy oneself actually leads to actual enjoyment or not, whether all the effort is worth it at all. Socially, it could mean broken relationships, either because in the so called enjoyment, you offended someone or exhibited an outrageous social behaviour; sometimes to the extent of outrightly insulting and disrespecting someone. It leaves one with questions of what the true self is, between the decent you and the deranged you when in a party mode. Economically, the story is known. It leaves one broke and penniless. For most of us who are salary dependent, it could mean spending the whole December salary in a single day or week with nothing to spend in January. For those dependent on business, it could mean blowing their profits and even eating up their business start up resources. It could mean depleting ones full year reserves and savings. it could mean the winding up of business enterprises that may need restarting, esp. SMEs. It could leave one thinking whether the depletion thereof of these reserves were worth the enjoyment and pleasure derived from them.

All in all, hangovers may show just how irrational human beings are. And how even when we claim human beings are by their very nature rational, it could all be a fallacy or a claim that does not fully capture our true human nature. The human rationality could be inbuilt and experience-learnt behaviour that is necessary for human survivor - more of a psychological defence/denial mechanism. It could explain how without this defence mechanism, our lives would be short and much more meaningless. This can be seen with how people who have unlimited resources, people who can get whatever they want, live their lives in a desperately meaningless way, where in most instances the very things that are meant to give them pleasure and happiness end up earlily ending their lives.

We slaughter so many animals for food for no apparent adequate justification. We eat so much meat when it is not good for our health and the ultimate end to those animals' innocent existence. We drink so much alcohol when research is abounding about just how dangerous (socially and physiologically) alcohol dependency can be, we smoke even when research is abounding that smoking could lead to cardiovascular and lung problems, we spend all savings in a day or week knowing fully well how we will suffer after that day or week, we party in a notorious way knowing fully well that we could offend someone in the partying mood, we get overexcited even when our excitement annoys others and our neighbours.

This irrational behaviour that we sometimes look forward to and even plan for, may mean human beings are inherently irrational because many look forward to holidays as an excuse to publicly display this irrational behaviour. Or are we really that irrational? Wait a minute, what is it to be rational?

#HangoverThings!

ARE PHILOSOPHERS MAD?

The Philosopher, Diogenes who lived in a wine barrel.

To begin with, there are three major problems with this question itself that often is made in an affirmative statement - philosophers are mad! The first problem lies in the question itself, it lacks clarity on what being a philosopher is and what the question really is asking. The second problem is a definitional and conceptual problem of what it means to be mad - it is just not clear what it is to be mad in the sense that it is used about philosophers. The third problem lies in the confusion of an unasked question masked in this question, namely whether or not studying philosophy makes one mad (whatever madness means!).

DOES THIS LIFE HAVE ANY MEANING AT ALL?

"The meaning of our life is generally a measure of its value. All things measured are measured in respect of something else. Most ideas of life’s meaning measure our life against such things as its inherent value, its value in respect of others, its value in respect of the greater good or perhaps in respect of God. The meaning of life might also be measured by success. It is held by some that the true meaning of life is not known until we are dead. Others think that life is absurd and has no meaning beyond the experience of living it.

In 150 years’ time [unfortunately], we will all be dead. This fact seems enough in itself to make us think that nothing we achieve in our lives that satisfies us is worthwhile because none of these achievements will be permanent. If there is any meaning to our personal experience of life, we must find it in the context of our transitory life itself. Many of our functions have meaning (e.g. eating when we are hungry, resting when we are tired), but, on the face of it, our whole life, as a thing in itself, does not. Our life may have meaning beyond our own life (e.g. we may do something that benefits others), but any sense of personal satisfaction we gained from this would not extend beyond our impermanent existence.

In looking for a sense of purpose in our lives we may be regarding ourselves as too self-important — we are taking life too seriously. [But doing so makes almost always life unliveable because one would burn down with worry of the so many thigns in this life.]

The best place to live out our philosophy of life is the here and now. Love of life and love of the world is our fullest response to being alive (itself the most important benefit of life). Acceptance of our place in nature, and the debt we owe to the nature that sustains us, is the fullest recognition of meaning. Recognising that we are small parts in a vast whole and identifying with being part of it, together with an acceptance of the unavoidability of our spiralling search for our own reality can be satisfaction enough for our living." Gerald Rochelle in "Doing Philosophy"