Living an excellent life Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Living an splendiferous smell sentence - Essay ExampleFor instance, a erect flutist is unattackable as far as his flute playing is good (Parry). Aristotles definition also held that good was an end in itself. Eudaimonia was reached when there was nothing missing from a lifespan. Therefore, a good life was also a complete life. He also specifically identifies gentleman good with psychological goodness rather than a material or physical goodness. His happiness is of the nous, rather than of the body (Parry). These are effective a few facets of the more complex notion of eudaimonia or happiness that Aristotle defines in his treatises. This desire however has evolved over the years and goodness or a good life today does not necessarily have to do with serving wizs function or leading a purely virtuous life. There has even been the question of whether goodness or happiness is really of the mind alone. Bill cleg and Matthew Dickman are two contemporary writers who present rathe r different opinions on what makes an excellent life. Bill Cleggs memoir Ninety Days traces his progress through ninety age of rehabilitation from drug addiction while Dickmans poems touch upon many contemporary issues found in relationships like gender roles, abuse, and pain, among others. These two writers present rather different views on what makes a good life and this paper will explore how they compare to each other as well as to Aristotles concept of eudaimonia. Bill Clegg, in his autobiographical work, Ninety Days, formulates a set of principles that, to him, make a life worth living. He traces his descent into drug addiction and back again into sobriety in the memoir. angiotensin converting enzyme of the key requirements, according to Cleggs worldview, to moving towards a good life, is honesty honesty with ones friends and family, only if most importantly, honesty with oneself. This honesty needs to be coupled with a inexorable regime to recover from any negative or deb ilitating experience like turning into an addict. Cleggs own commitment to rehabilitation, as recorded in Ninety Days, is not free from trouble. He has a relapse, for instance, when just three days away from his goal and yet he starts again. Clegg, therefore, leaves room for mistakes and believes in a greater redemptive power that can overcome weakness. Another one of Cleggs requirements for a good life is the need to establish contact with others. For instance, at one point, when he has nevertheless sixteen more days to go, he has to move out from Noahs apartment when he is not there. However, he needs to have a friend, Sai, with him while he moves out only to have a glamorous force field around him to make him feel better and stronger when he reenters the building he left on a stretcher for the first time. This need for companionship and the value that Clegg attaches to forming benevolent relationships is missing from Aristotles idea. Cleggs friend in rehab, Polly, is another ex ample of how Clegg considers establishing human contact with others as an instrumental part of getting sober and back to living a good life again. Polly is in many ways a foil to Clegg, she is both similar to him in mickle and yet very different. In the extract where Clegg describes his first meeting with Polly, he declares how his first purview at seeing her was I hope she doesnt want to talk after the meeting but he winds up chasing after her for her number. Their growing attachment is also