2017-10-01 Important and interesting?

I find myself still dwelling on last weeks thoughts on difficult or easy, like my brain can’t let it go, but keeps on doing circles around it. Which normally is a sign that my thought wasn’t done, wasn’t ready, wasn’t thought till the end. So, any confusion created by that column, sorry.

Here’s where it’s at now: is everything that is important interesting? And likewise is everything that is interesting important?

It’s quite easy to say ‘no’ – everything that is interesting is not important. Right? Cause for one if you’re a curious type person that makes everything in life important. And we just know everything can not be important. At least not equally important. And two, we know from our own obscure interests (try collecting match boxes, like I did) and other persons weird or even sick obsessions (try thinking of porn or violence and it’s pretty obvious) that for sure not everything that is interesting is also important.

But then on the other hand if something interesting isn’t sick it actually may still be character and/or life defining for the individual, whether it’s collecting matchboxes to find order and inner peace or to be constantly sketching drawings of clothes and in the end establishing a career as a fashion designer. Or, why not incessantly be head down over the computer and probably be driving the surroundings, or if nothing else the parents, crazy about it, and then in the end become a multi-millionaire social media game changer? Well, all of a sudden the interesting actually also became important and the initially easy ‘no’ is now a tentative ‘yes’, what is interesting can be really important…sometimes…

Turning it around, it’s equally easy to say ‘yes’, of course everything that is important is interesting, just think about justice, world peace, childrens’ rights, equality, education – how can those super important things not be really really interesting? Cause they’re so important, they are life changing, they are the starting point and the end point of humanity! But, come on, be honest, when was the last time you found those things as interesting that you would find yourself thinking about them every day, and wanted to engage in them all the time? Just doesn’t work that way, does it? Unless living during the French Revolution and thus being threatened on those values that at least I feel are the most basic societal and individual values, it’s not important enough.

But those are the big values, the higher societal values. It could easily be argued that most people actually do feel that was is important in their daily lives is also very interesting. Like doing well at your job, like providing for your family, like caring about your friends and relatives. It’s the things that bring meaning to your life, and as such by definition they are both important and interesting.

So, where does this train of thoughts leave me? I’m not sure, probably with a feeling of still not being done thinking really. Or is it just that, this time again, all the time actually, that everything in life really is relative? That everything is depending on the circumstances? So, what is interesting can be really important, cause it may be what will put meaning to your life , and likewise, what is important can be very interesting, if it can potentially change your life?

2 thoughts on “2017-10-01 Important and interesting?

  1. Som nyinflyttad till Sverige på 60- talet kunde jag inte för mitt liv förstå varför alla pratade om vädret som någonting mycket viktigt och intressant . Efter 50 år i Sverige är jag en av dom . Viktigt därför att frusna själar längtar efter lite solsken , intressant ??!! vet inte, dock kanske inledning till intressanta samtal …..

So, what's your thoughts?