In the scheme of life, there seems to be two prominent methods utilized in creating one’s “ideal” life. One method of which involves crafting the perfect life in reference to one self– in that life is considered optimal when these self-oriented ideals are met. The other path that individuals take is in creating a life that is fulfilled beyond oneself, in which fulfilment occurs not through happiness surrounding oneself but in positively implementing a difference in the lives of others. Both are entirely valid methods of living life, as the concept of self-fulfillment and or self-actualization is specific to an individual’s subjective opinion. These are not mutually exclusive either, in that it is entirely possible to create a life that is entirely centered around oneself yet is fulfilling in some manner of the needs of others. I believe that there is a spectrum in which people fall among these the two extremes, between self-consuming living that focuses entirely on one’s own happiness as the uttermost priority or contrastingly, a completely sacrificial lifestyle all for the good of others to a high degree of costs. There is a value in identifying how you live in comparison to that of how you hope to live. Below, are some quotes from nobel laureates that illustrate the manner in which these individuals chose or choose to approach life.
“And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction is wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual.”
-East of Eden, John Steinbeck, 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature
“People are always blaming circumstances for what they are. I don’t believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get fed up and look for the circumstances they want, and, if they can’t find them, make them.”
-Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Bernard Shaw, 1926 Nobel Prize in Literature
“Learning
To believe you are magnificent. And gradually to discover that you are not magnificent. Enough labor for one human life.”
-Czeslaw Milosz, 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature
“No individual is alone responsible or a single stepping stone along the path of progress, and where the path is smooth progress is most rapid”
-Murray Gell-Mann, 1969 Nobel Prize in physics
“Our words must be judged by our deeds; and in striving for a lofty ideal we must use practical methods; and if we cannot attain all at one leap, we must advance towards it step by step, reasonably content so long as we do actually make some progress in the right direction.”
-Theodore Roosevelt, 1906 Nobel Peace Prize
“We would be worse than we are without the good books we have read, more conformist, not as restless, more submissive, and the critical spirit, the engine of progress, would not even exist. Like writing, reading is a protest against the insufficiencies of life. When we look in fiction for what is missing in life, we are saying, with no need to say it or even to know it, that life as it is does not satisfy our thirst for the absolute – the foundation of the human condition – and should be better. We invent fictions in order to live somehow the many lives we would like to lead when we barely have one at our disposal.”
― Mario Vargas Llosa
“Be the change which you want to happen to the world”
― Mahatma Gandhi
All in all, this is an exercise in understanding what you value in building your personal form of the ideal life. If any of these quotes resonated with you, perhaps, it can be beneficial to dwell on the individual who stated them and what he or she was striving for to determine what your sense of fulfillment entails.