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!
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment