Editorial November 4, 1991 Issue

What is our model of life?

Michael D. Rissler

We all have models for life. That is, we have an idea of what we'd like to achieve, or we have a concept of order by which we measure or arrange our lives.

These models can vary greatly. An athlete might have in thought an outstanding performer in a particular sport after whom the athlete patterns his or her training. Nations have national leaders that become models of what citizenship means. For many, people in the Bible are still models of character and action.

There are other less personal models, too, that shape our concept of life. For example, isn't there a general model or philosophy of life that views life as a series of opposites in constant conflict? The presumption is that good and evil, truth and error, love and hate coexist. As this model is accepted, one accepts a model of selfhood that would have these opposite qualities always at war. The everyday outcome of such conflict suggests strongly, and cynically, that "we win some and we lose some."

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