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Question Sometimes I feel like my life would be easier if one day, I just got on the bus and went away somewhere and left everything behind - my family, my friends, my belongings, my identity, everything. It's not that my life is bad - on the contrary - it's a perfectly good life that in many ways I am extremely grateful for. But apart from the impracticalities of that action (I would most probably not be able to create a new identity successfully or be capable of supporting myself and would end up homeless), what is stopping me? What stops me from taking huge risks and following impulses? Why should I stick to what is normal, or proper, or expected? I'm not asking a psychological question - I am curious to know the philosophical elements, if there are any. Why don't most humans follow their urges?

Accepted:
August 15, 2006

Comments

We don't all or always follow our urges, because and when we realize (just as you have, above) that our urges would lead us to doing things that are impractical, or worse.

Let's face it: Life is not easy. Only death is easy--you can lie forever in your coffin. RIP, right? Life, on the contrary, is messy and filled with complex relationships and demands on our time. But life is wonderful precisely because of all such things. Who wants "easy" if the alternative to "easy" is having family, friends, belongings, and an identity? Most of these things we choose (or choose to sustain) precisely because--for all their messiness and all the many irritations they really do create--they make our lives more valuable, more worth living. So, yes, you could run away and (at least in theory) have it "easier." But would you really be happier, would you really be more fulfilled? Would you flourish. I don't think so... Instead, you (and most of us) choose not to follow destructive, irrational, and detrimental (to us, and to those we care about) urges. That's because we are rational in our pursuit of a good life. Enjoy the fantasy while you're on the bus, if you want. But then--you've got a life, right? If so, enjoy it! If not...get a life! (Consider the alternative...)