The Good Life

This article seeks to redefine the Good Life in the context of Singapore.

“In Singapore, people’s interests are very narrow, they sort of just want to go to work, go back home and spend Sundays with their family and raise a family … [One of the] frustrations about living in Singapore is finding people with a real passion for things which don’t involve money or shopping or eating.” - Tan Hwee Hwee

  

Epicurus divided man’s needs into primary physiological needs of food, shelter and clothing, as well as secondary psychological and emotional needs of safety, liberty and love. Singaporeans go beyond these basic needs. We occupy ourselves with earning and spending more money in a country where the “5 C’s”[1] reflects the still widely held opinion that material accumulation is the surest emblem of success.[2] Social status is still commonly thought to be attained through one’s conspicuous consumption of goods and services – think shiny new cars, designer bags, expensive wristwatches, hyped-up restaurants and luxury holiday resorts. With consumerism as its religion and pointless one-upmanship as its sport, Singapore has quickly become a society that knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.

The Good Life is simple

"With respect to luxuries and comforts the wisest have ever lived a more simple and meager life than the poor. Man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can do without." - Henry David Thoreau

When we have enough to eat, live, and dress in reasonable comfort, more material wealth should become less important – more financial security does not lead to greater inner security. We need to reevaluate the true value of our possessions. We should consider living simply, and carefully allocate our excess time and money towards our communities and families, our health and our leisure. Enhancing these aspects of our lives will improve our quality of life, rather than merely increase our quantity of possessions. As it is, Singapore is an excellent place to lead a simple life[3], as it provides relatively decent standards in housing, education, healthcare, transport and safety that grant comfort and dignity to an ordinary citizen. Doing away with the unnecessary will give our lives a lightness that allows us to focus on what is truly important to us.

The Good Life requires self-actualization

“"The happiness that is genuinely satisfying is accompanied by the fullest exercise of our faculties and the fullest realization of the world in which we live." - Bertrand Russell

Yet, fulfilling Epicurus’ primary and secondary needs will only result in the pleasant life. Attaining the Good Life is about self-actualization, where each person uses his unique talents to contribute to the good of the community in ways which are meaningful to him and significant to the community. When a person “exercises his faculties fully for the fullest realization of the world”, he is unconsciously engaged while being gratified with a higher level of fulfillment and enjoyment. We should enjoy each step of our journey (ie. what we do on a daily basis), while believing that the destination we plan to reach is meaningful to ourselves and the community. Deciding on what is meaningful to us will force us to focus on our true values and desires, and help us edit out the superfluous from our lives. 

The Good Life is socially engaged

 “Each of them, living apart, as is a stranger to the fate of the rest, his children and his private friends constitute to him the whole of mankind. As for the rest of his fellow citizens, he is close to them but he does not see them, he touches them but he does not feel them." - Alexis de Tocqueville [4]

Singapore faces a dearth of social capital, where social and community life have both been significantly diminished.[5] We pay less attention to broader interests outside of ourselves, our work and our immediate social circles. We have less trust in and concern for our fellow citizens - few take an active interest in public affairs, while the rest are content to throw bricks via Facebook posts and Tweets. To build up social capital, we need to volunteer and participate in person within actual political and civic organizations that nurture specific community interests while tolerating opposing or minority views.[6] The country will then slowly develop healthy and productive communities, cohesive and cooperative neighborhoods, and develop a social infrastructure for all citizens to collaborate on solutions to present and future problems.

Conclusion

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt

This essay is not meant to criticize but to suggest that it is better to stand up, not sit back; to be involved, not indifferent; and to be an agent of change, not cynicism. As Roosevelt points out, the critic simply does not count. Neither does he play a part in the Good Life – he is merely a “cold and timid soul who neither knows victory nor defeat”. 

A life of simplicity, self-actualization and social engagement arises out of conscious choices that one makes. In short, the Good Life is available to anyone who chooses to seek it.

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[1] Representing cash, credit cards, a car, a condominium, and a country club membership.

[2] Fernandez, Warren. Thinking Allowed? 

[3] “A little extra ordinary,” Alain de Botton, FT Weekend Travel, Dec 18, 2004.

[4] Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 510

[5] Rappa, Antonio. Modernity and Consumption.

[6] Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam