By Parveen
Chopra
 We
are born. We study, find a job, get married, have children, grow old.
And die. In between, we chase money, fame, sex, knowledge and indirectly,
happiness. But is that all there is to living, or life? We consult some
experts and pose the question to 10 people from various walks of life.
Ultimately, the answer has to be individual. You have to ask yourself...
An unexamined life is
not worth living, said Socrates the Wise One. Socrates lived in an era when people
had the time to 'stand and stare'. Today, let alone examine our lives and what
we are living for, we don't even have time to examine the import of his statement.
There was another Wise One, this time a Chinese sage, perhaps Taoist, who
implored God: "Let me not be reborn in interesting times."
Unfortunately,
we are living in very interesting times. Life is a soap opera today and we are
all glued to it. Wars, bombings, riots, assassinations. Yo-yo stock markets, seesaw
politics, psst psst sex scandals. As if real life is not enough, reel life offers
still more engrossing entertainment. We cannot peel our eyes and consciousness
off the scenery to see where we are going, what we are doing, what are we on earth
for.
Entertainment is but only one item on the smorgasbord offered today.
'Consume' is the cacophonic jingle. Buy. Acquire. Make money to buy and acquire.
Make time to make money. The lure is gratification of needs. And needs can be
created and added on by slick ads.
The bait is a whiff of future happiness,
after you acquire the latest product, but the hidden aim is to keep you unhappy,
in want, else why would you keep on buying and consuming.
So you work
your ass off. Acquire some goodies, fail to acquire many others. You remain unhappy,
forever fatigued, but busy. In no condition to ask the existential questions.
In any case, popular wisdom dissuades you from philosophizing, tells you to be
practical, that is, engage yourself ever harder in solving your endless material
problems.
Indeed, a case of an entire culture conspiring against man,
more insidiously and resolutely than it ever has been in human history.
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