A Philosophy of Life

Thus have I heard…

A Philosophy of Life

“There once was a man who said sure, I think I’m as real as before, but when searching to find this one of a kind, it doesn’t exist anymore.”

Every mistake in life that can be made, has been made. One can be humbled by great strength and humiliated by great weakness, but true humility is ensouled only through the acknowledgment that there must be greater wisdom besides one’s own. Life, from the purely subjective point of view, had become total pathetic fallacy which allowed for only one kind of emotional response, a grand feeling of pathetic-ness. The more strength, stillness, and purpose a garden rock gained, the less that remained for more useful personal applications. The less good the world seemed, the more foolish this self-representative was. In the long run, the resulting covert depression did allow relative ease in admission to error. Eventually, however, it was realized that admitting of mistakes, that is one thing, while confessing complete ignorance is quite another. After lengthy patterns of personal duress and emergency, or delinquency, it would seem by Grace alone that some valiancy can apparently emerge out of nowhere, allowing for a complete acceptance of the facts.

Through observation and reflection there was a slow and methodical climb up the proverbial ascending ladder, leading not to any material success but towards a better understanding of the kind of metaphysics that truly matter. There can sometimes be spontaneous manifestation of impromptu epiphany, other times, not at all. These are of no value anyway. What is important was the realization of the fault in conceptuality. Namely, that the innumerable and insurmountable mishaps and failures, thus far erroneously believed to be the only cause of despondency, this notion was totally incorrect. But the problem was not error or concept per se, albeit these are the evil twins, nor was it the so-called person who has the ideas and performs the errors, even though, that one is just an erroneous idea anyway. Nope, the revelation was—he who is miserable can never be right.

That is to say, one can be right, and be happy, but not in the presence of his own inadequate thinking and insufficient values. In consequence to this, a certain understanding arose, namely that birth bestows all men with the inalienable privilege and right to be right. Things did not need to be this way, and the reason they were was due to a kind of unresponsive irresponsibility. In other words, the thought, that the highest responsibility a man has unto himself is learning how to live well, this had been hitherto kept aloof. It would be nice to say that this was some other person’s keeping, but alas, it is not so. Henceforth it was clearly understood that it could not be the mistakes alone, nor the results thereof that produced the anguish, it was unwisdom. Ignorance is the cause of all chronic frustration and suffering.

The inducement to oppugn all that had come before became enormous, and this, accompanied by a profound change in attitude, led to the unshakable conviction and sincere endeavor to finally learn something actually valuable. Counterintuitively, this became easier rather than harder. For the thing that would prove to sustain the ceaseless practice in thoughtfulness and training in applying the results thereof, was, lo and behold, simply itself. This in turn produced an indefatigable faith in Lawfulness. In that, every time a small contraction of ignorance was noticed somewhere, a larger expansion of happiness and security was observed everywhere else. Little by little, the repetition of ongoing discovery and utility of value revealed an irrefutable logic, namely, that growth does not need to be an unpleasant or painful experience. The ignorant become liberated by necessity whereas the wise are liberated by choice.

Well, unfortunately, in this case the search to secure a better way of life began as necessity. The subsequent gradual release from the fetters of desire, clinging, craving, grasping, attachment, delusion, and hence, suffering, towards more acceptable and appropriate ideals, this continued by choice alone. It started with a remarkably straightforward decision, that is, simply to begin living the philosophical life. To apply much thought and a small but slowly increasing knowledge to the problems of daily living. And when right motives prevail one finds that miracles can happen. Tenable inducements fashion into existence a correlative impetus, by means of which all good works shall inevitably produce good. This pattern thereby perpetually maintains and sustains itself. The Chymical Wedding of the quest for wisdom married to the utility of innovation. The cat will be let out of the bag: The Graal can never be found, simply because the Quest is the Graal in disguise, being nothing more or less than an enduring dedication to the victory of wisdom and truth over ignorance and error.

The above paragraphs are a laconic record relating to one very plain and ordinary existence, or the cumulative experience of observation, reflection, and realization. And what follows is the summary of knowledge, if it can be so named, cultivated through consciousness by means of such experience. More importantly, however, the subsequent paragraphs are statements of fact concerning the earnest endeavor to apply that which has been written to everyday conduct. Existence, as experience, provides infinite information for the purpose of perfecting itself, and it is up to every individual how he will choose to interpret this information; to use it, disregard it, misuse it, or abuse it. The words hereafter attempt to explain those things which have, in spite of thirty-seven years of unknowingness, ceaselessly proven themselves by their own merit to be always available and forever valuable.

Those with paranormal abilities walk on water. Those with supernatural powers travel through the air. But the wise, having conquered space itself, along with life and death, having mastered and controlled themselves perfectly, these ones dwell beyond the gods. The cause of all problems is not due to the countless errors of eight billion people. And the cure for eighty-four trillion problems cannot be found even with an infinitude of remedies. Most are comfortable enough with the life they have, at least enough not to be bothered in changing anything. So we all have exactly the life we want, whether we will admit it or not.

This makes the aspiration for greater wisdom, or lesser unwisdom, a difficult thing, for it must be merited on the level of wisdom. To test the integrity of a conviction it must pass as being honest, impersonal, unconditional, and bear a loving attitude. The degree of impetus behind the integration of said conviction into meaningful activity will be the gauge for its validity. If motivation fails in some area, then that particular article of faith was either untrue or had not been earned. It is not, art for art’s sake, but rather the way George Sand expressed it: “Art for art’s sake is an empty phrase. Art for the sake of the True, art for the sake of the Good and the Beautiful, that is the faith one is searching for.” Wisdom is the great art which can never be mastered, but if one achieves even to the level of the starving artist, he attains a purposeful and happy life.

Paracelsus said, "He who would know the book of life must walk it with his feet" and followed his own advice. The greatest teacher we have is our own experience, and the greatest examples come from a lack of adjustment to these experiences. The greatest learnings we can have in life only become available when we transmute a bad example into a good lesson. Mishaps, mistakes, and errors provide endless opportunity for limitless potential to outgrow them in terms of growth. To realize such growth is a responsibility implying the same kind of responsibility that consecration to a high moral religious code does. In other words, i.e., if we look at the Ten Commandments with wise discernment, we will see that it is not a divine Bill of Rights comprising the first ten amendments to the Universal Constitution. It is an instruction set for the comparatively uninformed and normal individual to achieve salvation, personal illumination, enlightenment, or whatever you wish to call it. Experience and time will bring all things in due course to complete fulfillment of their capacities, powers, and potentials, by means of their own growth.

If affections are caused by no other than oneself, are afflictions something to blame on another’s fomentation? Plato stated the controlling philosophic premise; “No one is ever injured by anyone else; he injures himself in the name of that person.” That assertion is irrefutable, but it is of course at the same time essential that we do the right thing by other people. However, looking carefully at this we will see that if we first did right by ourselves, then loving our neighbor is simply a byproduct of that anyway. As absolute Principle and as immutable Law, the Universe is forever right as it cannot err, and it is always just because it cannot deviate from Truth. And in concordance with and compliance to it there can be no misfortune, bad luck, or injury, no chance or coincidence, no bestowals by grace, nor any vicarious atonements. Absolute providence and sovereignty belong to and with the individual. Personal choice and responsibility are precisely what allows Man to be free. Therefore every man must work out his own salvation with diligence.

The doctrines of karma and reincarnation provide the only reasonable explanation for all apparent injustices and suffering in the world. Karma is not what happens but what is done, or they should be seen as the same thing, while reincarnation is simply the rebirth of karma. The continuation of faults that are conducted and not corrected. The hoping that one might continue in some way, that one may inherit a better life elsewhere next time around, regardless of whether it is in heaven or earth, this is exactly what keeps the wheel turning. Re-embodiment means that the spiritual individuality, not the individual personality, at death keeps everything that is valuable and nothing that is not.

The person through which these qualities may express themselves is simply a record of unsolved ignorance’s. This is the primary factor which provides soul, on the level of personality, a seemingly impossible degree of misfortune in early life conditions. But the cycle of necessity demands continual future growth. Both in this life and in the next. It would be irrational to think that something as complex as the human being, with all its disorders and diseases, could be perfected within one life. The laws of compensation and metempsychosis provide for infinite time to allow Man to learn how to get it right.

Hence the axiom, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap” is fundamental verity. Not to imply that we should believe it in order to fear better the wrath of the gods, but rather we should know that it is so in order to understand that we can never escape our own ignorance, despite anything we believe. Any person who fails to live by such a standard will invariably suffer with it. All suffering is the result of ignorance, while security and happiness on the other hand are the inevitable result of greater insight and wisdom. There is no Satan or Devil, no Chimeras or Medusas, nor is there any immutable force of evil lurking in the darkness of space. All men alone merit their right to suffer or to be happy. Actually, both words Satan and Devil mean not slanderer but slandered. Terms given to slandered pagan gods by small men with little understanding and great hubris. Thus evil is simply another word for ignorance, which is an ingenious invention discovered, cultivated, and perfected by Man. To learn morality is for evil men to gain security; to keep security is for wise men to know evil.

No one in the world is more ignorant than the person who knows one thing thoroughly, his is the most uncomfortable form of ignorance known to man, that of narrowmindedness. Therefore if he knows that money will buy him happiness, even if the only thing he knows is used well, it is destined to end in tragedy. When the wrong man uses the right means; the right means work in the wrong way. Money per se is a neutral phenomenon, it is neither good nor bad, with the results of its use depending entirely on motive. A means of exchange is obviously a necessary part of life at the present time. To fulfill the need to make a living is one thing, but it is a vast mistake to make living primarily the need to amass a fortune. The wise man at death hopes to have achieved only two things regarding his wealth, namely, to owe nothing and to own nothing.

Virtue has always been a magnificent platitude. You know, “Virtue is not demanding more of others; it is expecting more of yourself.” Well one can expect until he is blue in the face but as Google suggests, “It is noticeable how often virtue signaling consists of saying you hate things.” To try and possess virtue or become virtuous is to define oneself as non-virtuous. Lao-Tzu said, “Goodie-goodies are the thieves of virtue.” Thus, when virtue is lost, a lesser quality takes its place as acceptable, which in turn loses precedence to some lesser quality again, and so on, until, what began as virtue ends as non-virtue or vice. Virtue as value is eternal and can be either rejected or accepted into the life of the individual. The one whereby all his thought, speech, and actions remain anonymous, where these do not interfere in any way with the workings of nature, this one ensouls virtue. He does not work to it or for it, he works with it. With true virtue and quietness, one may conquer both himself and the world.

Confucius spoke of the virtuous character of a superior man. His idea was that a superior man is one who cannot conduct an inferior action. But this is only the natural result of perfect integration of value within the individual. Integrity demands that knowledge be gained for the purpose of providing security and wellbeing by means of greater insight regarding its use. To gain knowledge without integrity is called modern science. To understand knowledge and to use it to serve the Good is called philosophy. To know that said knowledge is forever right and eternally good, and to have total faith in that, this is called religion. Societies and civilizations fall when they are no longer built on the foundations of integrity and truth. Without these values many houses of cards made of dogma, denominationalism, creeds, clans, and castes, have fallen and shall continue to fall. Truth alone is the highest principle. Therefore if Man desires as truth a lasting peace and security, he must first learn to secure within himself a kind of value that is capable of upholding it, namely, integrity.

We learn to live only if we begin living in order to learn. This education begins at birth and is therefore the primary responsibility of parents. Thus, until such a time when this duty can be properly fulfilled, then our unfortunate education systems remain unduly accountable. This situation results in an infinite regress of irresponsibility on the part of parents and of ignorance on the part of their posterity. With Adam’s fall we sinned us all. A vicious circle forever left begging the question, at least until we the people discontinue the foolish acceptance of an ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality. It is untenable to assume a true civilization or civility of people can be achieved without first attaining a basic certificate in idealism. Education should not teach a person what to think but how to think, and furthermore, that no amount of thinking can ever be a substitute for decorum, gentility, and prudent-ness. No individual who does not learn how to forgive his enemies can ever consider himself to be truly educated. "Smallness of learning inclineth the man's mind toward atheism; but greatness of learning bringeth the mind back again to God."

Until we learn some of these values for life, then a crass materialism and an all for one and none for all self-centeredness will continue to dominate our highly skilled barbarianism. We all know that a good temperament is always more favorable than a bad one, not only to the recipients but also for the agent or appropriator. But history indicates that men will never really believe anything they cannot prove for themselves. He can prove he is poor and that is reason enough for why he is also cantankerous and miserable. The wealthiest people he knows are therefore the happiest people he knows. They are also the most impolite and belligerent people that he knows.

He thus considers that an ornery naturalism can be and must be extremely profitable, and a bad disposition to be a fundamental requisite for gaining the same kind of material wealth and success the other man has. He spends the next thirty years learning how to direct his deplorability properly and how to best use his vanity to maximize his own advantage. He never gets anywhere but it does not stop him from persisting at it. Actually, the only success there is in life is reserved for those who are able to liberate their consciousness from such foolishness. These individuals earn that which nothing can buy—placidity of mind and serenity of heart.

The mental coordinator is the most important and invaluable asset that one possesses and too often becomes the victim of excess, misuse, or abuse. It becomes a burden to the soul rather than a benediction. The cultivation and improvement of such mental faculties as thought and nonthought, memory and nonmemory, logic, reason, concentration, intelligence, and intuition, are all essential for developing proper Mind. Noble works here bear trustworthy results everywhere, by means of which the individual becomes ever more conscious, sensible, rational, productive, efficient, calm, and less egoistic. To neglect or exploit these areas of potential locked within the psyche, is to fail in the proper use of the powers and faculties with which we have been endowed.

The mind subjected to any kind of prolonged abuse becomes the slayer of the Real, being victim to frequent sorrows, addictions, delusions, illusion and disillusionment in life. Mind is indeed the window to the soul, of the soul, and for the soul, mayhap, it could be the soul. The mind is the most sensitive of the organs. Therefore a common courtesy, diligence, respect, and honor among all sentient beings who may have a mind, is not only favorable but necessary. For even more than hearts, minds can be very easily damaged or broken, and often are impossible to repair. The mind that is used rightly and used well shall become a bearer of light and bringer of truth. Lest we forget, “As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.”

Shakespeare made quite the statement regarding imagination when he said, “There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so.” It is indeed true but at the same time does not imply an absence of all standards and values, and that morality disappears out the window. It means that ideas, opinions, prides, prejudices, emotions, and conceptualizations shall not be judge of anything, let alone the governing of one’s own conduct. One thinks in terms of facts, abiding in truth, always in accordance with the Law, without the influence of uneducated decisions based on irrational grounds. And if analysis is performed by way of necessity in working to a conclusion and not from one, it will be intelligent and factual, unaffected by emotional pressures, feelings and intensities, bad attitudes, false ideologies, or preferences. The one who kills his imagination dead, so that it stays dead, and performs resurrection upon his creativity only in purposed utilization, that one subdues unreasonable desires and ably services his most rational convictions. That one is a man of vision and moxie, dreaming big but accomplishing most.

Psychological health and physical health are intimately related. What exercise and fitness are to the body; science, religion, and philosophy are to the mind. The purpose of the forty-nine great arts and sciences is not only to serve the individual in his own development, but to continually enrich the culture of a People. The less that astronomy, mathematics, music, rhetoric, geometry, grammar, and logic are part of Man’s spiritual growth, the more that crystallization of society deepens and widens. With civilization ending up as nothing more than civil obedience to dogma. Hence social convention then becomes a leading factor in the problematic reification of what we call the personality, or mask, resulting in a chronic frustration called egoism. Man throughout the ages has been hypnotized by language, symbols, and ideologies, which have thus become part of his deep subconscious metaphysical belief systems. Things that are untenable, unprovable, and downright untrue, he has allowed to negate his very consciousness. Accepting as real and taking for granted certain notions and terms like, I am such, I want such, such is mine, etc. When these are merely conceits of the human mind.

Tacit consent to and blind acceptance of fallacy, as being perfectly veridical, without thinking anything through. And thinking things through is the only respite Man has from agreeing by default with majority, because that is what majorities do, they do not Mind they just say yes. We are not here to fit in we are here to find out. The earth is a proving ground for the soul, and one life is like one day in school. We are here to get it right, not to agree with group opinion and vanity, which are the quicksand of Reason, but to ensoul the true standards of value. Animal soul is simply another term for a confused mind. The illusion of I-ness is the unneeded ornament to ostracize, the unnerving oppressor to outwit, the unwarranted obstacle to outgrow, and the unequivocal outcast to omit from the consciousness of Man. And he can achieve this quite easily if he finds something else to believe in more than himself. He who understands relationship, that self and other go together, and harnesses wise discernment, that one discovers the Real.

It is important to maintain a middle way in life. To maintain a rational view of all things while avoiding those notions which exemplify conceptual dualisms. All extremes weaken the mind and eventually lead to fanaticism and intemperance. Therefore concepts which favor seriously either spirituality or materiality, idolatry or iconoclasm, nihilism or reificationism, or fervent beliefs in identity and difference, inferiority and superiority, pessimism and optimism, self and other, etc., such distinctions can be pleasantly reserved only for practicable conventional usage. But the middle way cannot be found by dividing two extremes in half. As such the nonconceptual reality allows for a greater sphere in which a thoughtful person can be compassionate, a humble person can be kind, and an honest person can be loving. To err is human and to forgive is divine, that is a platitude, therefore, to forgive is now human too, that is, if being human implies that one can sometimes also be intelligent. The intelligent learn to live well by seeing things as just so. These individuals enjoy eternal contentment.

Men can only fail in theory but never in practice. By thinking too much and doing too little, we end up failing both. Every time we perform purposed activity to the best of our current abilities, in some small way we grow. And there can be no failure in growth. We do not need to continually strive after successes if we want to achieve victory of life. At-one-ment cannot be taught by anyone in terms of words, as the same essential ideas have come and gone countless times throughout the ages. If there was a foolproof method, it would have long been perfected by now by all humankind. The soul has always known Good from before beginningless time. Therefore, it may be, that what the first man wrote the last man shall read, but what is far more certain is that what the first men did, the last men shall perfect. To achieve individual, and in turn, collective success per se, Man’s job right here and now is the same as it has always been, to read not the ink of another, but to write with his own blood. Those disciplined in their ceaseless practice and training find eternal safety.

The only time that there is, the only time available to a person for beginning anything is now, “The felt presence of immediate experience,” as Terence called it. Upon waking, he gets up, stands on his own two feet, and makes his bed. After this, the rest of the day will unfold naturally according to priority, responsibility, and necessity. The performance of these principles and the degree of his own sense of value are correlative, and that equation shall in turn inevitably determine how the events of his day will transpire. But what is loved by one man is hated by another man; what is right to one is wrong to the other; what is best for one may be the worst thing for another. However, the epitome of wisdom is an impersonal, unconditional, and absolute love. And the one who can both start and finish all things on that note, not only possesses the solution for all problems that could be so, but he also holds the prevention of all problems that otherwise would be so.

The study of ethics and the making of laws only became necessary when people started doing the wrong thing. Hypothetically, little by little, we should be coming nearer to truth and closer to the true standards of value. Inferior conduct in turn should become an ever more impossible feat. At least this is nature’s plan. In time there will no longer be the need to occupy ourselves with defining moralities and writing legislations. Law will instead define us. An ethical structure will one day arise within Man that cannot be disobeyed, thereby relinquishing the need to cling to either manmade or natural varieties of codes. Obviously, in the moment, we cannot exist outside or beyond the present time in which we live, that particular and peculiar span of years which governs our current progress and evolution, and the current degree of Man’s potential, or possible unfoldment. The man who learns to uphold Law places the power of Law back where it belongs, then it serves him rather than destroys him.

Man takes many liberties with the liberal use of his own free will. Having the power to choose he finds that consequences are in absolute ratio according to the choices he makes. The man most liberated is the man who chooses to do well, and the soul most glorified is the one that realizes it cannot do it any other way. Science is discovery of the laws of life. Philosophy is obedience to those laws. Religion is joy in maintaining these realities. There is a perfect reason why ignorance is the root of all suffering: If the ignorant could be happy there would be no reason for anyone to use their intelligence and struggle to become wise. Nature has decreed that the ignorant can never be happy, and that in their unwisdom is the secret of their own misfortunes. The simplest things in life are indeed the best, and for no reason other than a complete lack of Reason, we make the simplest things to have, the hardest things to do.

Solon brought back from Egypt the teaching that there is only one Law, which also inherently necessitates obedience unto itself, not only for our growth and wellbeing, but also for our very survival. For cooperation with it and opposition to it inevitably reveals that the Law both giveth and it taketh away. With the innumerable manmade laws and legislations simply being differing degrees of interpretation and implementation by Man of one Divine Plan, namely, the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. Cicero defined civilization for us, and we have not yet been willing enough to roll up our sleeves and achieve it. Civilization is, in fact, as he pointed out, humanity's coming of age as a spiritual generation of life. Cicero said there is only one definition for it: "Civilization is the possibility of human beings living together in a commonwealth of purpose, cooperating in all things necessary, and each man placing the good of the others above his own."

With Lord Francis Bacon’s idealism being indisputable: "In that Western Empire, in that mysterious New Atlantis, men were dedicated to the knowledge of all things knowable and the application of that knowledge to all things necessary." And Pythagoras’s convictions demonstrably irrefutable: “If one turns to prayer, he should pray for nothing lest he gets it. For the gods know what men need, but men know only what they desire. And a man is destroyed by what he wants, and only preserved by what he needs.” The Buddha taught us perfect compassion, taught the cause of suffering and a direct path leading to its end. Jesus taught us supreme morality, the importance of love, and the charitable path leading to eternal joy. Thousands of years hence and we are still newborn babes learning to crawl. A time will arrive when we must learn to walk, as our survival will rely on it, and necessity shall once more become our only dependable saving grace.

Purposeful living makes us one with hope and with truth. Conviction provides us with the strength to learn, discipline gives us the power to act, and practice transmutes faith into a beloved art. From this we can discover and preserve lasting inner peace and security. It comes to those who find reality in all that is, seeing truth in all that happens and wisdom in things as they are. But he who accepts the name will never possess the fact. Instead of searching for meaning and purpose in life beyond things as just so, being that one who grows to become good rather than happy, useful rather than secure, kind rather than content, and wise rather than enlightened. Then, by so doing, in due course he shall discover through his endeavors that his own meanings and purposes burgeon naturally according to his own growth. And, by means of which, the happiness, security, contentment, and enlightenment that he once thought of but never sought, reveal themselves as being the simple byproducts of no longer living without integrity.

It is hard enough to construct a reasonable philosophy of life in the first place, as this takes considerable perseverance in study and patience in thought. But this seems relatively easy when compared to the difficulty of actually living that philosophy. One may have rationalized his thinking according to his own best logic, cultivating beliefs in terms of his total experiential knowledge. And when it comes to applying his best beliefs directly to the task at hand, it quickly becomes a fool’s errand. Actually, the only reason a person can believe a thing is because he can do it. If he cannot do it then he has no legitimate reason to believe it. And if he does not do what he properly believes, then he fails in living what he knows to be right, good, just, and true. And this is the eternal problem which has no answer. Fides generat fiduciam. Factis ut credam facis. Sed quis custodiet custodes?

Perhaps Blake was right, where a fool who persists in his folly will become wise. But then the problem remains: It is easier to fool a man than convince him he’s been fooled. Truth, however, in the most inclusive sense of that word, can never injure anything. The only reason the truth or the facts may appear cruel, nasty, mean, or spiteful, is because the one who is insulted or offended by truth has become addicted to error. And whatever it is that takes a fool’s drug of choice away from him is pure evil in his eyes. What about this I, the illustrious, or rather infamous pronoun, which may feel injured, insulted, offended, form addictions, or suffer? The supposed I which seemingly thinks and believes, thinking what it can do and believing that it can’t do?

After nigh two score years I am still unable to find I, despite an infinite amount of investigation into it and searching for it. Until such a time as I can prove that the I does exist, the assumption shall remain that it does not. Thus, the mental coordinator will rely only on its powers of commonsense, logic, and reason, as the basis for guiding all thought and speech. And the heart will not trust anything besides the principles of integrity, virtue, justice, love, and truth, as the foundation for governing all conduct.