| | Yes, Tim, that's the way I see it. Choosing from life's "buffet" should be neither arbitary nor whimsical, but guided by consciously-chosen, long-term values.
But if your long-term values are few, narrow and one-dimensional, you can quickly find yourself living an unsatisfying, Spartan existence. Of course, it's possible to choose to live such a Spartan existence, if your goal is some great achievement that would be impossible without such ascetic discipline. But you probably wouldn't want to live that way simply for not giving enough thought to a wide range of long-term goals, which could include goals pertaining to: health; personal improvement; interpersonal skills; relationships; career; financial security and independence; knowledge; experience; spiritual/aesthetic values; travel; adventure; enjoying life; having fun; etc.
The challenge is to find a personally meaningful way to get your mind around all these possibilities, and to "know thyself" sufficiently well so as to place these goals and values into a reasonable, satisfying and effective hierarchy.
Actually, "hierarchy" is not sufficiently accurate. That terms suggests a single list of ranked values, whereas what you really need to develop is a "matrix" of values. Separate different kinds of values and goals: abstract values; means; ends; concrete goals; specific experiences that you want to be part of your life.
Bring together those that are similar in some way, and rank them according to a combination of objective standards, and your own personal tastes and sense of life. Why are your personal tastes and sense of life important? Why can't you rely solely on reasoned, objective standards?
Let me give you an example of why you need to balance articulated reason and sense of life. Every year thousands of young people complete all sorts of tests to help them decide on a career path. Many of them find the tests advise them to enter careers to which they are supposedly suited, but which they find totally uninteresting, or even disgusting.
These tests pose as objective. They claim the authority of being scientific. And they appeal to our willingness to accept well-articulated reasons. But if people blindly follow the results of these tests, without critical interpretation and evaluation, the outcome may well be wasted years of misery, preparing for a career for which they may well have the appropriate skills, but not the requisite sense of life and values.
If you have a strong gut feeling about something, you would do well to discover why you feel the way you do. Chances are your sub-conscious or intuition has already identified something that your conscious reasoning has overlooked.
Reasoned choices must be your guide in the end; but they are better choices if they take into account and examine your own personal tastes, personality, and sense of life.
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