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Live a meaningful life from Aristotle and Plato up nowadays

I did not know the meaning of the word “Eudaimonia” before reading the articles and the posts of disruptively meaningful life" where each individual is able to express and to fully develop his most authentic and genuine human potential. I believe the eudaimonic vision of a prosperity based upon what we are achieving, accomplishing, fulfilling for ourselves and for the others is a very actual and very fascinating topic. Before continuing let me clarify few things. Eudaimonia is not a religion, it is not ascetism, it is not utopia, it is not a way of life nor a naive vision of the reality. Eudaimonia cultivates depth and authenticity not the “quick and dirty” way. Eudaimonia builds and creates sustainability does not run after easy earnings. Eudaimonia is better quality against more and more quantity of poor quality. Eudaimonia is the pursuite of the most authentic and genuines wishes against the status of having and possessing. Since many decades we are living a dimension of prosperity which is characterized by a fake and dangerous promise that we’ll be happy as long as we continue to buy new stuff and new products. This is the opposite of the eudaimonic vision of prosperity and obviously it is a trap, it’s an unuseful and fruitless pursuite to what Umair Haque defined "the Opulence Bubble". One of its most devastating effects is that it makes us not just economically poorer, but it also impoverishes us spiritually, emotionally, it empties our minds. Reaching happiness within this environment is a scam which has already devastated the ecosystem of the entire planet. No wander if a deep sense of uneasiness and discomfort is spreading across the globe and it does not seem to stop. In this perspective I believe that the “we are the 99%” movement is showing up the deepest distrust against the current system and its proven inefficacy to deliver authentic, genuine human growth and a sustainable future. These people are asking to invest in human potential before anything else: before making investments in the economy, before going on with industrialization at full speed, the nations of the world, the international organizations and institutions must consider to act with the highest attention for the human beings and for the environment.

Our passions will propel a new age of prosperity

If you read through these quotes that I found in different books, posts, articles and speaches, I suppose you will easily guess what I mean by “passions that will propel a new age of prosperity”.

• In the book “Crush it!”, by Gary Vaynerchuk you read: “Love your family, work super hard, live your passion.” The book is entirely developed around the idea: “Do what makes you happy, keep it simple, work hard, look ahead.”
• In the book “Enchantment”, by Guy Kawasaki one fundamental concept emerges: “New business are created from people trying to make the world a better place with new ideas which they fulfill by pursuing and developing their passions.”
• In the book “The art of the start”, by Guy Kawasaky you find this quote from Ludwig van Beethoven: “I never thought of composing music for the fame and the glory. What’s inside my heart must come out; this is why I am composing music.”
• Steve Jobs during his famous commencement speach at Stanford said: “[...] Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. [...] And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. [...] Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become.”
• In the article “The best investment you can make”, by Umair Haque published on the blog of the Harward Business Review you read: “The best investment you can make isn’t gold. It’s the people you love, the dreams you have and living a life that matters. [...] the safest investments of all are the human, the social and the emotional ones.”
• In the book “The new capitalist manifesto”, by Umair Haque acknowledges “[...] my insight matters less than your vision, ambition and passion.”

The list could go on, but I am sure the underlying concept is becoming clear: if we want to make the world a better place, things have to change first in our hearts. The place where our dreams, ideals, intuitions, inner voices, ideas and ultimately where our most authentic passions are living. This is not just a naive vision of our society, but rather a very different way of feeling and living that brings those who deeply share it, to feel like misfits. In fact when we come to realize that “the heedless pursuit of more is unsustainable and, ultimately, unfulfilling” how would it be possible not to feel a misfit in a world that does not understand the “difference between maximizing consumption and maximizing quality of life”? The starting spark must come from each and everyone of us, from our will to build a sustainable future where “prosperity is not what one has, but what one is capable of”. Within this renewed context we’ll be able to develop the art of living our life paths “meaningfully well” as opposed to “pursuing opulence”.