As the logic of this comes to me, it tells me that I should be seeking a duller, more “boring” life, so that what counts as novelty, what counts as exciting, is made smaller, less intense, less compulsive.
On this rendering, a credible case could be made that the credo “You only live once” actually works to make people more unhappy on balance. You can’t be doing cool things continually, and the constant quest for novelty and excitement makes ordinary life seem unpleasant and unwelcome.
There is a yang, of course, to every yin. I am not pooh-poohing people who want to go out and live lives of danger. What I would say I most definitely am pointing out to be life deadening, is endless hours seeking excitement in media–on the internet, in movies, in fake life.
I watched “The Big Sleep” over the weekend, and enjoyed the dialogue thoroughly, as have several generations before me. I missed much of it, and really need to rewatch it, but the wit and savage insight were a lot of fun.
But this movie was not my life, really. It might have created new ideas for me, perhaps taught me something about the world, but I certainly do not want to lie on my deathbed remembering scenes from movies.