Good in Life - Admission/Application Essay Example

Introduction The good in every individual’s life highly depends on their own perceptions of happiness and desires. Every individual have a certain good in their life which is their end goal, which is the element for which they strive throughout the live. However, humans are never satisfied with what they have and their wants and desires keep on increasing as they begin to accomplish them. Many philosophers have researched about the actual ‘good in life’ which individuals strive to get. According to my beliefs and perceptions, the good in my life will be money and wealth because as I have proceeded in life, I have started believing that money is everything that an individual needs to survive in this competitive world. The guiding principle and the end goal of my life are to gain enough wealth that allows me to get the best things and fulfill all my worldly desires. There is so much competition in this world nowadays that everyone wants to own the biggest house, the best clothes, the best shoes, the most comfortable car, and many other luxuries. Just like every other person, I want to live a secure, happy, and luxurious life as well for which wealth is the main element. Throughout my student life I’ve seen individuals striving for money in order to fulfill their needs and desires. People want to study well only for the purpose of earning good in their future lives while females only dream for rich men who would give them enough money for living a luxurious life. Thus, as I grew amongst very typical teenagers who fantasize a life with the most expensive car and a big house, I started believing in the fact that money is very important. In order to give your family a good and secure life, money is very important. Money ensures the best education, the best healthcare, the best life, the best quality products to use, and the best food to eat. Money indirectly or directly is the source for all happiness in today’s life. Everyone is simply in competition to get the best in their lives. Moreover, money has taken over all the major fields as the best services and facilities of every sector are only based on the amount of money. The bigger the amount, the better the service will be. The concept of a good life comes with many philosophies given by Aristotle, Socrates, and Epicurus. Philosophically, a good life would mean the life that an individual dreams of living for happiness. The Nicomachean Ethics given by Aristotle were the set of ethics which based on Socrates’ question of how individuals should lead the best life. Aristotle took the concept forward and applied philosophy to bring out a practical rather theoretical discussion. Aristotle’s work depends on how ‘good’ in life is created and how individuals should best live with ethical considerations (Tolstoy, 2010). Aristotle marked intellect as the major element for an individual’s ‘good’ life while Socrates favored a simple life with inner peace. He believed that wisdom, simplicity, and truthfulness are the main source for a good life and totally rejected the materialistic needs of life. Socrates had neglected the economic pleasures of life and believed they were not needed for a good life. The best things in life would rather be intellect, wisdom, honesty and knowledge (Kreeft, 2002). However, such philosophical concepts hold a lesser meaning in today’s world where everyone believes that materialistic things are what actually lead a good life (Boethius, 2012). The end goal for almost everyone is to have a wealthy life. Money brings inner peace and satisfaction as well, and money is what allows individuals to gain the best quality education and knowledge. Socrates also gave the concept of human behavior which greatly shapes by the urge of achieving what makes an individual happy. He said that human being shapes his personality by the capacity to use their desires to make ethical choices. These desires have the ability to shape the individual’s behaviors. According to this philosophy, individuals make all types of decisions and take actions that help them to achieve the good in life. When their desires become so strong, they tend to act wrongfully too just to achieve them. For example, a criminal would adopt criminal ways to acquire wealth for his family. However, Socrates claimed that those individuals who don’t have the tendency to make ethical and conscious decisions to achieve the good in their lives have failed to experience a life being fully human (Kreeft, 2002). In his life, Socrates portrayed a fully human behavior and made ethical choices. But in a world today which is full of complexity and uncertainty, an individual can easily get attracted to what he seems is good in his life. There is an allure in the things that we believe good in our lives and in order to acquire them we take unethical decisions and act wrongfully at times. Socrates says that an unethical life is however an unexamined life. It is important for individuals to ensure a moral life and follow the customs to achieve real happiness and peace in life. Thus, according to Socrates, the good in life will be achieved happily only when one adopts a moral life and controls their behavior (Kreeft, 2002). Another philosopher, Epicurus, gave his theory about good life which is commonly misunderstood. His theory is said to be the one in which individuals are fond of luxuries and sensual pleasures, having habits of luxurious food and drinks. However, the original philosophy of Epicurus was much different to this view; it was rather based on an ordinary understanding of life. Epicurus believed that the habits and desires for luxurious food and wine were natural in individuals but he refused to regard the desires unnecessary (Witt, 1954). He also said that in the long run of life, such desires would always end up in distress and pain. According to his views, the real happiness and ‘good’ in life was not for luxurious and sensual pleasures but the absence of mental distress and physical pain (Boethius, 2012). His philosophy didn’t completely reject the pleasures of life but in actual he regarded them as the natural pleasures which satisfy the individuals and make them feel happy from the inside. Such natural and necessary desires are for good food, good clothes, good friends, and others. In today’s life, this kind of pleasure is very essential as peer pressure and competiveness leads everyone to crave for good food and fine wine, as well as branded clothes and a high class social gathering. Epicurus also believed that these desires are inevitable but also negative as they cause us pain in the long run and prevent us from living freely and peacefully (Boethius, 2012). I believe that to a certain extent Epicurus was right because the urge for wealth never ends, it grows as much as it increases. Today, everyone is in the race to earn more and more money. Even the one who has enough wealth wants more. The greed for money never ends and in the end it ruins the individual with mental distress and insecurity. Acquiring wealth is associated with the urge of gaining security but in the long run wealth can be the biggest insecurity as the individual always has a mental tension about losing something, about negatives, and about having something to protect and save from others (Boethius, 2012). Moreover according to Epicurus, these luxurious desires may often lead the individuals to live in a fantasy life where they start believing that money is everything. This leads to a discomfort of death and the idea of afterlife. People are not concerned about death and the other realities of life which are spiritual and religious. Epicurus has been an inspirational philosopher who focused on the physical and natural needs of individuals as well as spiritual needs which contradict each other (Witt, 1954). Today, people don’t worry about the afterlife or their religions as much as they did before, but the truth is the philosophy of life lies in the earthly desires as well the spiritual realities. However, Montaigne was a student of Epicurus but he didn’t believe in the right balance, in fact he focused only on the physical pleasures that are undeniable in this world and that are the major source for happiness and ‘good’ in life (Boethius, 2012). The philosopher based all his beliefs and ideas on the notion of what humans actually do instead of what they should be doing. He believed in the simple idea that life doesn’t wait for anyone thus every individual must do what he wants to. He focused on fulfilling all the desires and wishes that an individual had before life ends. He believed that the physical and material pleasures and desires of a human is what comes naturally to them and must be fulfilled. He said we cannot increase the length of life but we can increase the weight. This is why as he came towards an end of his life, he began to live the fullest and increase its weight (Bakewell, 2011). For me wealth is the ultimate goal for my life and it will bring ‘good’ in life but I agree that there are several problems associated with acquiring wealth as well. Nothing can come without consequences. If one thing is doing well on one hand, it may be doing badly on the other. For example, the goal of acquiring wealth in life comes with many other problems such as insecurity, prestige, and the inability to gain comfort. Getting money would be ‘good’ in life only when it is used wisely and it brings peace and comfort. Achieving my goal would mean I have to go through several problems such as getting good education, performing well in my academics, then struggling to get experience, and get hired in a huge company which can get me a reputable job with a good salary. This is the goal of many teenagers out there but not everyone fulfills their desires. However, the good in my life is acquiring enough wealth for survival; this doesn’t mean that I will get a reputable job on a good position. There are other ways of acquiring wealth too and I will adopt any of those ways to fulfill the good in my life. My idea of the ‘good’ contrasts with those Aristotle’s and Socrates’ as they believed in the non-materialistic elements of life being the most important elements. Aristotle based his research and philosophy on Socrates’ question of human good and the life’s best things. Practically, both of them lead a simple life and believed in philosophy and intellect so they explained that wisdom, simplicity, and intellect are the most important things in life. This concept contradicts with my belief as I have learned that money and wealth is the basic key to all other elements of life and is the major source for ‘good’ in life. Moreover, Socrates’ philosophy about a moral life and ethical choices also contrasts with my idea as in order to survive in this world, I need wealth and in order to acquire wealth, I will make choices that might be unethical as well. My beliefs partly contrast with Epicurus as he gave the idea that a balance between the materialistic and the non-materialistic elements is extremely important in life to gain happiness and peace. He agreed on the physical pleasures which are undeniable but also concluded that they eventually end in pain and distress. On the other hand, Montaigne believed on only the physical pleasures of life which are good and which bring happiness. He said that materialistic elements are rather most important in life and must be fulfilled before life ends (Bakewell, 2011). My idea of good in life greatly goes along with that one of Montaigne. Thus, the good in my life is wealth and the willingness to earn more money as I grow up. I believe strongly that money is the key necessity in today’s tough life as everything depends on money. Without money, there is no meaning to life as we can’t achieve any of our desires without having enough wealth. The urge to earn more money determines my acts as I study well to get a good job, work part time to save money for a secure future, even though at times a end up being overworked and stressed but in the end, wealth is the element for which each one of us is striving and struggling in life. References Boethius. (2012). The Consolation of Philosophy. Ignatius Press Tolstoy L. (2010). A Confession. White Crow Productions Ltd Witt N. (1954). Epicurus and his Philosophy. University of Minnesota Press Kreeft P. (2002). The Best Things in Life: A Contemporary Socrates Looks at Power, Pleasure, Truth & The Good Life. InterVarsity Press Bakewell S. (2011). How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in one question and twenty attempts at an answer. Random House Read More