A good cake

If I asked "What do you need to make a good cake?", you might say you need flour, eggs, butter, sugar etc. in all the right quantities.

But if I ask "What do we need to live a good life?" then it becomes difficult. What do we need? Happiness, virtues, purpose? Maybe all, but in what quantities?

Some people would say "It's up to each individual" but if killing people makes me happy you wouldn't say "Fine go ahead and kill people". So do the answers lie outside of ourselves? Surely there is some sort of life that's worth living, but what it is?

Oh, and by the way, my favourite cake is carrot cake, but I do like lemon cakes too... cake is good!

 

I couldn't make a decent cake to save my life.

 

I do like lemon cake though.

 

A good question. I wouldn't encourage someone who felt killing or being Malevolent was the way to a good life since that only makes a person in my opinion go down the wrong path. We as beings should strive to become better both individually and as a society. So having virtues, morals and ethics whilst also being kind, good and benevolent are a direction in the right path. Those are the ingredients for a good cake.

 

It's not difficult at all. To live a good life, you need cake.

 

Part of me agrees, but I think the other part has just given up. Let's say I strive for improvement, for example, I'm going to go green, save the planet etc. Now if the planet is actually saved I think that was good that was meaningful. But if things just get worse I think well that was pointless.

It's satisfying if you get good results and are validated by other people, so I can say 'I was a good friend, a good father, or husband' etc. but even without other people we should be able to look at ourselves and think 'I've led a good and worthwhile life'. But at the end of the day if we've got nothing to show for it and say, 'well I tried', that's a good thing, but it's not really enough, it doesn't really make life meaningful to me.

 

The ingredients used to make a good cake is a good metaphor for the qualities used to make a good life :yes: . Confucious would be proud :biggrin:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebu0OBa1pus

;p

 

You make a good point. But why does there have to be something to show for? If you do good things in life and are a benevolent person then in the end I personally would be content and happy with that. If other people acknowledge this in my life then that is a bonus. Like you mentioned, we should be able to look at ourselves and be content.
But also I guess this comes down to the individual, some people want validation and acknowledgment from others.

 

this is a very thought provoking thread... a good metaphor, and a good question!

 

I was in town last weekend thinking "What makes people happy?" and you could see examples of it, you'd see a couple holding hands, someone else eagerly buying new clothes, a group of people drinking beer outside the pub...

And you try to tell yourself "Well they may appear happy, but maybe they're not really so happy after all" or "Ok they're happy now but will their happiness last?" etc. And then I thought "It doesn't matter so much about other people am I happy?"

And then I thought about doing good deeds etc. and realise they're not that easy to do. Maybe it's easier to think you're happy by just buying something or talking to someone because how easy is it to do good deeds?

Mostly I'm not a bad person or a good person either, just insignificant. Even if you do a 'good' deed like give a couple of quid to charity, you just think well that's not going to cure cancer or feed the third world, and people may argue (rightly) that it's not insignificant but it just feels like it.

 

I'll post this thought separately as it pretty much says the opposite to my previous one...

I tend to go walking in the woods everyday, and instead of generally being ignored or insulted, some people actually smile and say hello to me. Some would say it's not a big deal, but it means a lot to me, it reminds me that other people ain't so bad after all. (As does this forum :smile