An Article I Found Interesting

http://www.boundless.org/2005/articles/a0002408.cfm

This article interests me. It's long; I read it over several days. Here are some quotes or main points of it if you'd prefer to get the gist and save some time. :)


Regarding Our Number of Choices:
"...in the modern West it's a tenet of orthodoxy that more choices equal more happiness. But Schwartz argues that while choice is good, at a certain point too much choice makes choice difficult, and thus even when we do decide, robs us of satisfaction. Bewildered by an array of choices, we become paralyzed, unable to make a decision. If we do make a choice, we find ourselves constantly wondering, What if?"

"The point is that when we are confronted with an overwhelming number of choices, we become indecisive and often don't decide at all. That is the paradox of choice. The paradox is that while choice is supposed to liberate us, at a certain point, too much choice can actually tyrannize us."

But, How Do I Choose?!
"Marriage is heroic in that it calls a man and woman to give the gift of “I” — a gift so radical that it constrains our choice, but also so creative that it creates a “we” (the one-flesh marriage union) and other little “I’s” (children!). The decision of marriage at once narrows the horizons (you can’t marry anyone else) and extraordinarily expands them (you raise your own family)."

"In other words, in marriage, we discover another paradox: the paradox of gift. The paradox is that in giving the ultimate gift (our self), we gain what humans throughout the centuries have described as “the meaning of life” (the love of one’s spouse and children). When it would seem that we lose ourselves, we find ourselves. Not only do we spiritually “find ourselves,” but we also physically find a reflection of ourselves in the children that come from the marriage union. As John Paul II said, 'The lover "goes outside" the self to find a fuller existence in another.'"

His Conclusion:
"In courting and choosing whom to marry, we would do well to focus on the person and to remind ourselves that marriage is about giving ourselves in love to another person, and not primarily about individual fulfillment. Marriage rescues us from the paradox of choice and introduces us to the paradox of gift: Give yourself, and you find yourself. Focus on your needs, your happiness, your desires, and you get neither fulfillment of your needs, happiness, nor desires. Give yourself unreservedly to your beloved, and you discover the meaning of life."

My Conclusion:
I think he has very valid points. And I guess that means I should move to a place where I can outshine everyone? Is that the translation?