Just what would constitute the “perfect life” to you? I’m curious what would have to occur for the average ILP’er to feel their life was “fullfilled” and lived “to perfection.”
For the sake of my question, this would have to be physically posibble- eg no ominipotence or superpowers, etc. For example, would being a highly successful author do it for you, or a famous actor? Would being a successful musician make you happy? Perhaps simply finding your “soul mate” and spending the rest of your life with him or her would be enough.
Short of “blue sky” stuff, what Ideal Path could you take with your life that would make you the happiest and allow you to die knowing you didn’t leave any regrets behind?
That first example would do it for me. Be an extremely renowned author like Stephen King - hey, millions have never read a word of his work, but they know who he is. Being that successful would allow me to have the finances to secure a home in some secluded paradise.
Of course there is the darkside…write a manuscript on the scale of Hitler’s Mein Kampf that would spark a revolution in thought and give rise to a new world order which would spell certain doom for religion, but not spirituality. This new world order would finally unite humanity as a whole and ultimately ELIMINATE STUPID PEOPLE once and for all.
Come to think of it…that doesn’t sound so bad afterall…wouldn’t things get done faster and better without stupid people screwing it up?
Muwahah…my words have already made you question your reality!
Yeah, a writer who makes money enough to maintain a decent life. That would be a good, ideal life.
I could live in a hut, though with a view of the ocean.
A hammock hanging from two coconut trees.
When I was young I’d hoped/expected to do something grand and noble that would help all humanity. Hmmm…that’s didn’t work out. Now I’d be content to just be really rich. Yes, semi-idle rich would suit me just fine.
Had I more talent, I’d love to be a renowned musician or author. Short of that, it would be really cool if I had the coin to open my own restaurant. Yeah, a lotta work, as I’d be the Chef/Owner, but it would be rewarding, too.
At this very second, my Ideal Life would just be to have some $ and a little bit of time to enjoy it. Why can I only ever have one or the other?
I just mean that for us workaday jamokes, we can either have money because we’re always working or have plenty of time off by working less, but making less money. Anyway, it’s pretty expensive to open a restaurant, and the majority fail within 5 years. My own place, built just as I’d like it, would probably cost $2.5 million to open.
Marry the girl I love. Win the Lottery (I don’t feel like working for the money). Buy what I want.(money and what it buys doesn’t matter too much to me… but since it can be perfect it gives it that nice Porsche edge) Help out my whole family(which will some how get much bigger?). Get a book published (only one). Start up place to help the homeless and get them back to a more healthy life.
I’m pretty much sorted on that one - I get paid a ton of Turkish lira (don’t get too jealous - though I get paid a billion and a half - that’s only about 600 quid - but for over here it’s more than reasonable) and only work 4 days a week for 7 months out of 12…
So what’s left…?
I’d like to be a pornstar…
PS: Yeah - what is it with ilp…? I’d like to write a book too - but it would probably be awful potboiler sci-fi or cyberpunk horror… Something for retirement. (As is the masterpiece oil-painting)
It’d be ideal for me if I never have to worry about what’d be ideal for me; instead, I’d like to worry about what’d be ideal for a certain others. In short, my ideal is: not to live for myself (as impossible as that may sound).
When I was young, I thought that I would like to live in Ely Minnesota June through September, and La Jolla California the rest of the time. La Jolla is obvious, but Ely has a nearby high energy physics lab along with its adjacency to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (Basically canoeable wilderness to the Artic). Not to mention all kinds of eclectic weird people. Ely’s 60 F below temps in the winter are a bit much.
However, as I grow older I can not help think of the Bob Dylan lyric “Those not busy being born are busy dyingâ€. I have a fear that if I don’t stay active and grapple with new challenges, I will lose it.
Phaedrus: I noticed that you were a Vikings fan. Do you live in Minnesota, and if so could you recommend a good restaurant?
Hmmm
Who cares for wealth, I’ve seen it go so easily.
I’ve seen knowledge fail, when all was needed was pure common sense,
All I want is for those silly things to always remain the same.
A certain someone to always blush everytime I tease him,
Ohhh and for him to always find the time to paint (for that special painting brought us together)
For my family and relatives to dance, laugh merrily, and sing (those really old folk songs) into the wee hours of the morning as we once did.
I want to live a life full of love.
curious_rina, we must be the romantics here. When you think about it though- is it really healthy to have the success of your ideal life contingent on the desires and behaviors of another (specific) person?
so my point is: “don’t try” doesn’t exactly correspond with the type of ideal life that you’ve descriped nicely. if i misunderstood something here, then let me be clear; but if i didn’t, then refute me. but if you “don’t try”, then… well, what can i say
I guess I meant the ideal life would be doing what comes naturally. I’m not a huge Bukowski fan, but I remember him saying he didn’t try to write. He simply wrote. The obvious implied contradiction is that you can’t rightly try to not try. That’s absurd. My post is doomed to contradiction due to that alone. But Bukowski is not meant to be taken literally.
In life you have a lot of opportunities to stay true to yourself. And instead a part of you sometimes forces another part of you into odd shapes, pursuing what you think is the golden goose. In the end you’re wrong anyway. The golden goose is ACTUALLY a life where you didn’t twist yourself into odd shapes to begin with. It’s about getting in touch with and accepting your passions early on. I think it at least improves your odds of finding happiness, community and a real soulmate.
The victory is being yourself…meaning remaining unspoiled by misplaced ambitions and conformities. It’s actually a blessing. A luxury. An ideal…per this topic. Maybe it’s not viable in the end. But the Torah states that we’re all put here with a special talent and our job is to contribute to the world in our own unique way. Only then will we feel whole. I don’t believe in Torah, or that we’re “put” here, but I believe in the thrust of that sentiment as an ideal. Is it attainable? Fuck if I know. But it would be NICE.
Oh, and sometimes trying is the opposite of what we need to be doing. Sometimes you just let everything the fuck alone for just two seconds. People clearly have a way of getting in their own way. I know something about that. Refraining from certain Games can be extremely courageous.
Now I’d be content to just be really rich. 
Yes, semi-idle rich would suit me just fine.
