"What I Have Lived For" is the famous prologue The Autobiography of Bertrand Russell. In this essay, the British philosopher summarized the three simple yet overwhelming passions that governed his existence: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and profound pity for the suffering of mankind.
1. Longing for Love
2. The Search for Knowledge
3. Concern for the suffering for others.
These three powerful passions are like great winds as they were the main forces which were driving his life.
He says he sought love, first, because it brought ecstasy − for which he could sacrifice his life for a few hours of joy. Ecstasy was so great that it helped him escape terrible loneliness and offered glimpses of transcendence. He says he has seen heaven in love which great poets and saints have imagined. For Russell, love was not not just about romantic relationships but a broader sense of connection and intimacy with others.
Secondly, he says he went in pursuit of knowledge. Russell's view on knowledge differed significantly from common understandings. He was a British philosopher, logician, and social reformer, a founding
figure in the analytic movement in Anglo-American philosophy, and
recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1950. His search for knowledge fueled his intellectual curiosity and led him explore the depths of human philosophy, science and mathematics. He divided knowledge into two primary categories: knowledge of things
(objects of awareness) and knowledge of truths (an idea offered for consideration.).He believed that through the study of mathematics and philosophy, we can gain deeper understanding about ourselves and the world around us.
Thirdly, his concern for the suffering for others. This awareness of human misery compelled him to return him to the practical world of human suffering. He saw the torture of the oppressed, the cries of the starving, the helplessness of the elderly, war, poverty and everything deeply affected him. Human suffering compelled him to become a vocal advocate for social justice and human rights, He envisioned a world free from pain and suffering and he dedicated his life to fight for a social justice and human dignity.
Russell's passions provided him the reason for his living and directed it his life, the first two passions took him to heaven where he found ecstasy, knowledge and deeper understanding, while the third passion gve him the concern for the suffering of the mankind which brought him back to the realities of human existence.
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