By guest author Elizabeth Kays
“This House would live fast and die young.”
With these eight short words, some of the brightest young minds in the world took their stand behind the sentiments of this generation. Spoken by Humphrey Bogart and echoed in the words and life of James Dean, this short phrase is the battle cry of the Oxford student. Life—or at least, the opportunity to live the good life—is too short to take things in moderation. Even if our actions today cost us down the road, we will have lived, no matter for how short a time.
But in our desperate attempt to live fast—whether through drink and debauchery or simply taking risks and not considering the consequences—our generation has lost itself in the pursuit of one adventure after another. We rush from thrill to thrill, from high to high, no longer even hoping that the next adrenaline rush will actually bring us satisfaction. Our standards have fallen so low that we’re no longer really pursuing happiness—physical pleasure and a lack of guilt are good enough for us. Who cares what will make us happy in the long run? We don’t plan to live that long.
To be sure, much of this sentiment comes from watching the failed attempts of Respectable People to attain happiness. We’ve seen previous generations try to find happiness through restricting their actions and delaying their gratification, and most of them are just as miserable as we are. So why bother? If we’re never going to be happy, we might as well at least enjoy ourselves.
But are we really willing to abandon the hope that something worthwhile exists? If we discovered something that could make us truly happy—happiness, not just temporary lack of pain, but true, deep, wholesome satisfaction and fulfillment—what would we give to attain it? Or would we even try?
Have we lost the ability to hope for something more than just a good night out or another temporary high? In reducing the world to atoms and molecules—by ignoring the metaphysics of life and rejecting even the possibility of higher consciousness or thinking—have we actually managed to kill that one desire which makes us human?
The soul’s search for satisfaction—the never-ending quest of humanity to discover something that will give it fulfillment—has been rejected by our culture in favor of another round of drinks. Why bother searching, we ask, if there’s no guarantee we’ll find anything? Especially when we can guarantee there’ll always be another pint to down, another girl to romance, another football match to win?
There are no guarantees in life, except for this: lowering our expectations may protect us from disappointment, but it will never lead us to true happiness. Reducing joy to serotonin in the brain and fulfillment to mere pleasure may make life less complicated, but it cannot make it better. I submit that even in the archaic and sometimes dull process of searching for something beyond our own selfish individuality, we gain more fulfillment than a pint can ever offer—simply by acknowledging that there must be more out there, and by continuing to hope that someday we’ll find it.
In fact, embarking on the perilous quest for meaning is the only way to actually “live fast” in the modern world. It’s the only road left with absolutely no boundaries or safety nets—every other path has clearly marked road signs and greasy fast food joints along the way. Living slow and dying old? That’s the real adventure.
A note about our Guest:
Elizabeth Kays grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and now studies Chemistry at the University of Oxford in the UK. Her journey across the world has challenged her to examine culture with new eyes and challenge the status quo with the truth of Christ. She enjoys reading (especially books that don’t involve chemical equations), chilling with friends, and playing Ultimate Frisbee . . .as long as it isn’t raining.
Maybe this is what you are saying, if so it’s worth repeating. But is this really in defense of a “slow life” or the most exhilarating life that can be found?
I agree that people “live fast”, but I see it as an illusion. A purposeful rejection of the ultimate high. If we think we are finding satisfaction in this life through worldly means. That guarantees that we have chosen not only the eternally “slow life” but even the temporary one..