"Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition"

[Easy-E]

"The growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."

Wow...

 

[WaveCapsByOscorp™]

Wow...

i enjoyed that quote a lot too. the article was good too. i felt like it was a nice little obituary for ruthie, probably one that wouldn't have reached people like me until someone actually did try to consider the pros and cons of ambition and the pros and cons of establishing relationships with your community. it's a balance, i feel.

one question that they raised in the article that i found interesting was whether or not people of high ambition treat others ethically. i've always felt that being ambitious never had to mean that you treated others with a lack of respect and dignity and equity. it seems like if someone was ambition and still ethical to others, they'd have a balance and understand they're connection to those around them. like they'd have good principles about them to help them treat others with the proper respect and maintain healthy relationships while still being ambitious. but the article never did address that, it started talking about how ambition and materialism lead to lonely, empty lives...

 

[concise]

Listen: Psychologist Barry Schwartz Shares the Secret to Happiness :: News & Events :: Swarthmore College

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. He says choice has paralyzed rather than freed us, leaving us dissatisfied instead of happy.

Schwartz studies the link between economics and psychology, offering startling insights into modern life...

In his 2004 book, The Paradox of Choice, Schwartz tackles one of the great mysteries of modern life: Why is it that societies of great abundance - where individuals are offered more freedom and choice (personal, professional, material) than ever before - are now witnessing a near-epidemic of depression?

These outcomes are interesting given that relationships and community pose some challenges to our assumptions about the good life. After all, relationships and community impose constraints on freedom, binding people to something larger than themselves. The assumption in our culture is that limiting freedom is detrimental to well-being. That is true to a point. Barry Schwartz, a psychological researcher based at Swarthmore College, has done extensive research suggesting that too much freedom -- or a lack of constraints -- is detrimental to human happiness.

"Relationships are meant to constrain," Schwartz told me, "but if you're always on the lookout for better, such constraints are experienced with bitterness and resentment."