There are times in life when you experience so much upheaval that you wonder why you are so unhappy. The truth is that the pursuit of things more complex than happiness provides the meaning of a person's life. As a result, the debate is whether pursuing a personal goal or a national aim is more gratifying. Personal goals, according to our brains, help define who we are. As a result, our goals shape our identity (Ford and Wortmann 1). Notably, when we think about and act on the goals we have established for our lives, we can tolerate any level of stress. Nelson Mandela lived his life in the pursuit of democracy, freedom, and equality of the blacks in South Africa. He joined politics with a personal desire to bring apartheid to an end, and he was willing to die if that was the only solution to achieving his goal (Nelson Mandela Foundation 20). In contrast, Vincent Van Gogh went into the field of art in the pursuit of love and personal satisfaction. The artist was not happy as the paper will discuss to the extent that he left the art business and went into theology for some time. However, he later went back to his pursuit of art success (Van Gogh Gallery 4).
Living well
Humans turn to religion, philosophy, and science in the search for a formula to feel satisfied in life or a guide to satisfaction in life. The problem is that there is no such guide or method. However, psychologists suggest that a good life entails encountering more positive as compared to negative feelings, being in continuous use of your strengths and talents, and having contentment that you have led a good life. Additionally, a better life entails being involved at work and other tasks, having close interpersonal relationships, believing that there is meaning in life, being a member of a social community, and feeling safe and healthy. These conclusions may seem like common sense, but humans lack the know-how of getting and maintaining these qualities (Park and Peterson 4).
An excellent example of an individual who attempted to live well was Ivan. At the end of the narrative, Ivan is flooded by a flash of light, and he realizes the wrong and right way to live. He was convinced he had been leading the wrong life because he was not happy and it appears that his life did not have to mean. Nonetheless, what did the narrator mean when he said that Ivan was leading a meaningless life? It is only when Ivan reflects on the right thing missing in his life that his son kisses his hand and for the first time, he feels compassion for him. Therefore, his life lacked kindness. He was leading a lonely and devoid life, that is, he was self-focused. However, following the psychologist's argument, he was leading a good life because he was involved with work and other activities. The challenge is that he was withdrawn from the social self.
Nelson Mandela
In contrast, Nelson Mandela lived well because, in spite of having endured so much agony of being put in prison, sicknesses, and divorce, he managed to deliver South Africa from the reign of Apartheid. Mandela led a life full of anguish, thus, for him, the negative feelings were more than the positive ones. He lost his father in 1930 at the age of 12, and from then, he realized he wanted to join politics. The circumstances surrounding his father's death made him determine that his purpose in life was to fight racism in South Africa and encourage democracy. Later, his mother passed away in 1968, and the first son followed suit the following year.
Mandela started his studies for a Bachelor's of Arts degree but failed to graduate from the University of Fort Hare. He was expelled for taking part in a university protest. When he went back to the Great Place, the king threatened to arrange marriages for him and Justice who was his cousin, if he failed to go back to the University. The two fled and went to Johannesburg. However, he was committed to his studies, and so, he completed his degree from the University of South Africa and only returned to Fort Hare to graduate.
Later, he started an LLB degree at the University of Witwatersrand, but failed to complete it. He had been admitted as a poor student. However, he resumed his studies at the University of London when he was sent to prison in 1962, though he still did not complete the degree. During his last prison months, he received an LLB from the University of South Africa and graduated with a ceremony in Cape Town. Nelson joined politics in 1942 and married his first wife, Evelyn Mase, whom he divorced in 1958. Mandela rose in the political ranks through the ANC party. He favored a radical massed-based policy. The programme action led him into trouble after organizing a civil disobedience campaign against six unjust laws. He was arrested and sentenced to nine months of intensive labor and a suspension for two years. However, this did not deter his goal. He knew he had found a higher purpose for his life and so, enduring negative feelings could not stop him from pursuing his objective (Nelson Mandela Foundation 13).
Mandela went on advocating for democracy, freedom, and equality. His goal was the ban of the unjust apartheid regime. Mandela was arrested again on 5th December 1955 by the police swoop, leading to the Treason Trial of 1956, which involved women and men from different races, whereby 28 of them were found guilty. They were sentenced to prison only to be acquitted on 29th March 1961. Additionally, during the trial, he married his second wife, Winnie Madikizela and they had two daughters. Therefore, in as much as he was in pursuit of a national goal (freedom, democracy, and justice), he recognized the importance of belonging to a social community. He appreciated the significance of having a close personal relationship. However, the couple divorced in 1996. Nevertheless, the fact that Mandela made attempts to establish intimate personal relationships and pursued a goal that brought meaning to his life is a clear indication that he lived well.
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent, on the other hand, also led a somewhat reasonable life. He favored the life of art and joined it after learning from his uncle. In the beginning, he was happy and content with his work. These are the qualities of living well; being engaged in work and other tasks, experiencing less of negative feelings and more of positive emotions. However, he became tired of the art business and lost interest in the trade, a clear impression that he felt that he was leading a meaningless life and did not feel like he was pursuing his purpose in the art business. Something was missing in his life and while in pursuit of it, he commenced the study in theology.
Despite being intelligent, passionate and enthusiastic, he failed his exams. At this time, he began missionary work in a coal mining community. Vincent was pursuing happiness; he had yet to master the art of living a life of contentment and beyond happiness. Due to the lack of happiness, his preaching went down, but he developed a special interest in the members of the coal mining community. He had a desire to belong to a social community and develop a strong relationship with someone. The new change in interest drew his desire back to art (Van Gogh Gallery 4). With this continued change in interest, it is safe to say that Vincent had not yet developed a personal goal and instead, he was following alarm goals that made him keep on changing his interests. Alarm goals are triggered by an emergent interest, which dies as soon as it starts, for example, watching a live show because you want to keep up with the life of a certain movie star. So, it is not the show that interests you, but rather the life of the movie star.
Nonetheless, when he goes back to art, he has little success, but puts more effort in his work. He realizes that there is more to life than the pursuit of happiness. He goes after his dream to begin an artists' colony in the South of France. However, even after putting in so much effort, he develops a mental illness, and he commits suicide. By the time he died, his art had not been wholly appreciated, and twenty years after his death, memorial shows were developed to portray his work. Therefore, there is a possibility that Von could not see the meaning of his life, which explains why he took it away.
The harm of death
According to Vinding, the idea that death reduces suffering is a lie to say just the least. As a fact, it is true that when a person dies, he/she does not endue any suffering, but the question that eludes most people is the process of dying, which is never free of harm and the attempts to introduce concepts of painless death will not change the point. Death is painful to bring about, and a painless one is even harder (3).
Moreover, it should not be forgotten that death causes pain and suffering to more people. The reason being, humans, stay in communities where they are relied on while offering amazing values. Therefore, the actions of individuals are not only indispensable to enable society to operate peacefully and with limited frictions, but also assist in causing the progress of several fronts. The advancement is essential from new knowledge attainment to the development of state-of-the-art technologies and ideas. Such improvement, in turn, alleviates suffering and makes life much better for other people. Hence, a good number of people are assets, or they are potential assets with the purpose of diminishing suffering. Therefore, when a person takes his/her life or dies, he/she minimises the chances of accomplishing this goal (Vinding 5).
Hence, following the above argument, it is right to say that Ivan was wrong to imagine that by dying he would end, not so much, his suffering as that of his family. According to the fictional story, once Ivan realized that he was leading the wrong life because he did not have compassion, he concluded that by dying he would make it right. His death is appreciated as his second act of compassion because he does ask his son and wife for forgiveness. However, his death caused the suffering of his family. Further, he reduces the chances of his community, reducing pain and getting accomplished because his role in that the society cannot get a replacement.
Nelson Mandela
In the same way, Mandela may not have taken his life, but his dying process came with a lot of suffering to him, his family and citizens of South Africa. Nelson Mandela died in his Johannesburg home on 5th December 2013, having demonstrated undeterred devotion to equality, democracy, and learning. In spite of being provoked, he never responded to racism using prejudice. He ensured an inspiring life to all people who led a deprived and oppressed life (Nelson Mandela Foundation 32).
Therefore, death deprived the community a pillar of democracy and equality. Mandela was the first African president to step down after one term as president, and he developed the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund. He was committed to positively reducing the suffering of members of the community. Hence, his demise minimized the chances of the community being able to maintain democracy, equality, and freedom.
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent took his life after painting for only 10 years and producing 900 pieces. Vincent died before his work had been fully appreciated in his time. However, it did not take long for the world of art to realize the genius they had lost. Therefore, the act of Vincent committing suicide afflicted the art business to the extent that memorial shows were developed to inspire upcoming artists. Had he been alive, he would have encouraged and taught them the tactics himself. Moreover, before deciding to take away his life, Vincent was suffering. He was faced with the psychological turmoil that made him go mad.
Vincent's development of mental illness may have been because he was not able to establish a balance between the two extremities, that is, in the book Death in Venice, Gustave advice that the life of an artist can be problematic and extreme; hence, it is crucial to develop a midpoint. At the start of the narrative, Gustave was an overly educated individual who approached art rigidly and coldly. However, he gets tired of following the rules and decides to live for Venice, a place where he could bend the rules, but ends up dead at the beach. In the same case, Vincent as an artist was unable to balance the extremities in his life, which led to his death.
Meaning in life
At this point, it is clear that the pursuit of happiness is not the only way to lead a content life. Therefore, how can a person lead a content life? Mostly, this happens when an individual realizes his/her meaning in life. Now, the question becomes, what is the meaning of life? This prompt should be of value, purpose, or worth. Therefore, getting a person's meaning of life is about discovering the significance of his/her life. Thus, those people who complain that they are leading a meaningless life, in reality; they have not realized their purpose.
The Tralfamodorians, on the other hand, argue that realizing one's meaning in life is not essential because free will is a bizarre concept. To them, things happen the way they do because life moments are structured, and there is no person able to make any alteration for the future. Without free will, there cannot be any accountability. Therefore, in life things happen and there is no action anyone can do to change the current state of the occurrences.
Nelson Mandela
Mandela refused to embrace such a concept of leading a structured life. He wanted to see a country where racism and lack of freedom was a thing of the past. So, he put up measures to help him reach his goal. Mandela knew his purpose in life would be to save South Africans from the apartheid regime. He went into politics, and refused to be released after the treason accusation so that he would achieve his goal. He led a sad existence, but realized the meaning of his life, which to him, was more important than happiness.
Vincent Van Gogh
In contrast, Vincent failed to realize the meaning of his life. He had a talent which he explored undeterred, but beyond the aptitude, he did not know his purpose. However, it is the realization of a person's intention that gives life meaning and one is willing to do anything to achieve his/her goal. In this regard, had Vincent realized the meaning of his life, he would have endured his psychological and physical turmoil and stay alive, enough to see his work influence, upcoming artists.
Conclusion
From the above arguments, it is clear that life is more than the pursuit of happiness. Nelson Mandela lived his being unhappy but in the pursuit of the freedom and democracy of his people. His satisfaction came from knowing that someday, South Africa would be free from racism. Vincent, on the other hand, was also unhappy, but he never realized the meaning of his purpose. The art world only understood the importance of his work after he had committed suicide. Therefore, a person may be leading a sad life, but discovering his/her purpose is a reason to keep his/her existence.
Works Cited
Ford, Julian, and Jon Wortmann. "How to Set Goals that will keep you fulfilled and focused." 1 February 2013. Web. 10 December 2017 .
Nelson Mandela Foundation. "Biography of Nelson Mandela." 2017. Life & Times of Nelson Mandela. 10 December 2017 .
Park, Nansook, and Christopher Peterson. "Association for Psychological Science." Perspectives in Psychological Science (2009): 4. Print.
Van Gogh Gallery. "Vincent Van Gogh: Overview." 2015. Web. 10 December 2017 .
Vinding, Magnus. "The Harm of Death." 2015. Web. 10 December 2017 .
