Philosophy flush

For the past few days, I had this rush in me to inquire more into the philosophical angles of life. I had been listening to speeches in TED and you tube. One interesting philosopher i came across is Arthur Schopenhauer, the eminent German philosopher of 18th century. His works had not been recognized for a long since his musings were not in line with the christian teachings and beliefs. But gradually during his last years he started gaining followers and positive critiques. I would like to share few of his prominent thoughts which has influenced me vastly.

His book is "The world as will and representation". He states, unlike his contemporaries who share a very optimistic picture of life, he seems very pessimistic about the way of life. He states that humans are always in a state of suffering and despair and experience only a brief period of happiness and bliss, unlike the reverse. His explanation for the same is humans are none other than their consciousness, which he calls the striving will(to live), which always desires for pleasure and material things in search of happiness. Since there is a desire, it states that we are lacking something in the present. This brings misery to man.He is always carving and longing for futuristic materialistic things in search for happiness. Once he attains the desired object,he experiences a brief state of satisfaction and happiness and the fulfilled desire gets replaced by new desires.So we are in a constant loop chase of happiness.So what are the ways he suggest for eternal happiness.

This is where he bases his writings on that of Upanishads,one of  the holy books of Hinduism.  The ever striving will which , as per him is there in every living and nonliving creatures alike but in various degrees. So every species strives towards existence at the expense of another. This is the act of the striving will. So the desires are created deep within your consciousness and appears to you as a conscious decision by you.If you need happiness you should not listen to this controlling will. There are temporary moments of happiness in contemplation of arts and beauty. Music soothes the soul as it represents the nearest language of the souls.His thoughts on morality are also outstanding,

There are no moral code of conduct as such as the ever striving will doesn't obey anything.He best describes as
1. Egoism - Where one only considers himself with consciousness or the will. So he hurts others as he considers himself as the center of the universe. This state is called egoistic state where most of us lie.

2. Just - Here he is a little better than the egoistic person, as he doesn't deny the other persons will, so he does not hurt or injure others for his survival/pleasure.

3. Altruistic - This is where he understands that there is a will in others as in him and it is all connected. So he puts others interest before his for the sake of the species. This is the best possible moral state possible in this materialistic way of life.

4. Asceticism - This is the highest form of morality where he understands his will and knows unless and until he silences his will he has to hurt something in order to survive.This has been done by many sages and saint in India and by people in other faiths also.

"For people experiencing the worldly pleasures, the life of sages are nothing, but for the sages who experience the eternal bliss, the world is nothing"