philosophy

Of Shifts and Quarks

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We are in a time when paradigms are shifting rapidly and in great quantities. Almost every paradigm we know is being challenged.

From Ai: “a paradigm is a distinct set of concepts, thought patterns, or standards that shapes how we perceive and interact with the world. Think of it as a mental map. It doesn’t just show you what to look at it;* it dictates how you interpret what you see.” Ai goes on to name different types of paradigms and differentiate between Scientific Paradigms and Social Paradigms. That makes sense since modern Scientific Discoveries change the current Scientific Paradigms and updates them. Think quantum Mechanics, Quarks and Muons, things not known in 1926, for example. But what changes Social Paradigms?

Our current government took office in January 2025 and quickly “blanket” pardoned people CONVICTED of crimes—by juries–for their peaceful and patriotic participation in the All-American Protest of January 6, 2021. Did this change a Social Paradigm?

The Pardoner in Chief was himself CONVICTED of crimes and due to be tried on more charges before our educated, morally aware, and personally responsible American Voters re-elected him, allowing him to escape further** judgement. Did a convicted felon’s election to the highest office in America change any paradigms? Judge for yourself.

Our current government is keen on restoring law and order to America. The administration knows the best the way to do that is arrest anyone who commits any crime and make them pay the price for their unlawful ways. But what is the price? A CONVICTED sex-trafficker is moved from her full-security prison cell to a medium security facility with perks and benefits not known by her prison mates. Does that change the Punishment Paradigm? No judgement. Apply your own.

Politicians used to say one thing privately and another publicly. They called it “diplomacy”. They knew the more they talked the more trouble they made for themselves. Our current government likes to talk about everything,..almost. Paradigm Shift. Strong period.

The modern American used to fret about not being heard. Now every American has a loud voice. An obvious Paradigm shift, but good or bad?

America has a System of Justice meant to punish the bad people and make sure the good people aren’t wrongly harmed. Our current government is using that system to charge good and bad people with crimes. The government makes a big show of indictments and charges, often with press conferences and non-diplomatic press releases, briefings, social media claims, and staged presentations. When was the last time they “staged” a CONVICTION public event? Are all the people being investigated and charged, being CONVICTED?*** Shift?

One of the biggest paradigm shifts happening, now, is the disrespect current politicians and officials are showing to the American People. Those professional politicians think we are idiots. Why do they think that? Because we are.

For America’s entire history, the American People have never really known what was going on and politicians did their dirty work—and their good work—behind the scenes: the less we knew the better. But now, politicinas don’t care. Paradigm shift? Of course, but what happens next? There are signs another paradigm shift may be in the works. Good or bad? Let’s see.

*Why Ai used a semicolon here is un-understandable (sic). Ai says the semi-colon is “stronger than a comma but not quite as final as a period.” You judge.

**Further is correct. It is a metaphysical distance. Farther is actual distance.

***Yes, the word is continually being capitalized for a reason.

How Many Of Us Are There?

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My UPER (Unnamed PERson) sent me a wonderful link to a nice, well-spoken gentlemen who discussed an intellectual and psychological concept you see all the time in these postings: the fragmentation of our psyche, what makes up our personalities and determines our actions. My postings use an Inner Voice (IV) and Outer Voice (OV) to illustrate inner mental and emotional conflicts. Regular readers* have been exposed to the inner dialogue IV and OV love to have about my life, its situations, and actions. Sorry for exposing myself**. Discerning readers also note there is an un-designated umpire ruling over the IV and OV debates, an entity making rulings, taking decisive actions, and writing these posts. Does that entity have a name?

Our brains are wonderfully intricate and obtuse. Ai obtuse for its “second” definition. The brain is bombarded with data from all sides, angles, and forms. Sight, sound, touch, political debate, and unfunny humor, so how does it decide what data, what stimuli to respond to? No one knows for sure, but I posit our magnificent gray watermelons take it ALL in, like a security camera, and park the data someplace in case it’s needed. Imagine the size of that data file after 73 years.

Who or what needs that data? And how is it recovered? Is there an app? And is it different for all 8 billion people? In the world of psychology, from here on out called The Circus, theories and guesses and opinions, oh my, abound. See the Pixar movie “Inside Out”, for a light-hearted examination of mental life. The Circus is different from excellent, rigorous, verifiable scientific research into the structures and mechanisms of the brain, where opinions are irrelevant.

Under The Circus’s tent you’ll find many “models” of personality that are used to treat corresponding symptoms/diseases of the “brain”, diagnosed by applying an individual’s actions to the individual model being used in the examination. Some results are good, positive, results, some are not. Fixing a broken mind isn’t as easy as fixing a broken bone. Or removing a misfiring heart. The word isn’t used anymore, but how many of us if we are looked at using the “correct” model might be labeled “crazy”? Everyone knows Freud’s name, but does everyone know what he postulated about the human mind? Ai him and read it. Or the many others*** in The Circus trying valiantly to bring their big-top show into the halls of actual science, oftentimes including simple self-help concepts meant to wrangle the mind into what it should be, according to the model of the time. I’ve been exposed to a lot of the models and could call IV, OV, and The Unnamed Umpire ID, Ego, and Superego to make myself happier. Or use the bible solution and replace all bad thoughts and lies with God’s Word. Or renew any addiction that makes thinking about things easier. Simple, profound advice when trying to understand your brain and its actions is to use anything that works for you, doesn’t destroy you, costs little, and doesn’t harm anyone else. IV OV and The Umpire are screaming in my ear to suggest you use their model. Actually, OV and IV are debating loudly while The Umpire is telling them to shut the hell up, we’re trying to be helpful, here. Like any other family, it will work out. Or not.

A thing to remember and helps: in 100 years none of it will matter or be remembered. OV wanted 200 years, IV wanted 50, The Umpire compromised.

Funny, happy ending? The fingers did exactly what they were told.

*I use “regular” because “irregular” readers don’t care or don’t know.

**It just sounds funny to admit it in writing.

***Transactional Analysis. CBT, DBT, and ACT to name a few acronyms. Maybe we need as many treatments as there are individuals?

The Miracle of Medicine, the Mind, and Youth

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There was a time when mornings were full of life, full of energy, when running was first before breakfast, and life got better with each mile. It was a blissfully ignorant time of invulnerability and unlimited happiness, with no doctors’ threats or tests informing dietary and sleeping habits. Only God knows what could have been different to prevent The Calamities of 2023…if anything at all. Hopefully, if the medical science establishment has any sense, they will be searching for way to send patients back to the good, old, days.

Yeah. Right. In the meantime, age takes us by the hand and steers us into physical conditions with strange names and mortal consequences. Science is really good at learning about and naming these conditions but our success at eliminating them has been mixed. How long have we been donating to cancer—as well as other disease—fund raisers? There was a cancer program in the 1960’s involving chocolate bars. I supported it with an allowance big enough to buy one bar a week.

The end result of medical research at this point in my lifetime is we’ve made progress at longevity. Per Ai, my birth year of 1952 has an average life expectancy of 68.6 for males in the United States. A male born in 2025 can hope for nearly 80 years. Ai is quick to point out sex, country of origin, and income can make huge differences, both plus and minus. Ask Ai yourself for more details but—spoiler alert—America does not have the longest life expectancy. We don’t even make the top 5. Monaco is number 1? Maybe wealth is the most important factor?

But as we age, we’re finding it harder and harder to be happy about aging. Why isn’t the aging “experience” making us happier? Is it really making us wiser? We all know why aging makes us unhappy, read the first paragraph of this post. But is there anything we can do about it?

A couple of things could be done. First, look for and appreciate the humor in life. It’s there but gets lost in the mail, so to speak. The earliest humor is the simple fact the day we are born we start to die. Right then and there the clock starts and there is no stopping it. Cruel or funny? Make your choice carefully, it matters. I recently filled out a health questionnaire asking me: “Do you sometimes forget things?” I can’t remember if I even answered. Another plus for aging is streaming services for computers, laptops, phones, and televisions. You can travel world from your chair or hospital bed, watching period dramas, slapstick comedy, relevant medical shows, and take enough on-line courses to become your own Doctor…as long as your faculties are intact.

And there is it: intact faculties. Most of us wouldn’t mind living to 100 or more if we can still, read, write, walk, and wipe ourselves, right? So, are the medical miracles helping us live longer helping us know we are living longer? You’ll never know until you get there, wherever “there’ is.

One thing we should all change our mind on, is death, especially if the Near Dead Expericencers (NDE) are to be believed. Nearly all NDE people, upon their return from death, report a heaven much too nice for most of us. Many also report not wanting to come back to life, and wondering why they did.  Can we expect the same at our own permanent death? If so, why worry? And why stigmatize suicide and outlaw assisted suicide and euthanasia?

It’s Monday so the post took a somber turn, or did it? One thing that makes a difference in and about life is how you view it, how you perceive it, and how you process it. And what you should always consider is there is no other choice than what happens on the macro level: you will die.

Will you suffer cognitive decline in old age? Not if you die young. One NDE describes his experience by comparing his life to a laptop computer. There is a memory on the old laptop you can transfer to a new laptop, and then you can discard the old and recycle it. That may sound matrixy (sic) but if it helps… embrace it. And don’t forget to keep some empty thumb drives* around, just in case.

Next post we’ll talk about Aliens and how they affect modern life through movies, plays, television, and Oscar voting.

*Memory sticks, or whatever else they are called these days.

Move on. Nothing to See Here…

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Today we talk about “Nothing”. Not nothing, but “Nothing”. The difference? Read on.

The dictionary definition of nothing: “not anything, not one single thing, or having no prospect of progress, of no value.”

The definition of “Nothing”? Who the hell knows.

We understand “nothing” when someone asks: “What are you doing today?” Since we aren’t doing anything, we answer “Nothing.”

We understand when someone asks: “What we can do to help?” and since there isn’t anything they can do we answer “Nothing”. Or when your girlfriend breaks up with you (or you with her) and one or the other says “I feel nothing for you.” (BTW, ouch either way,)

But when someone says about an empty space “There is nothing in there.” Is that a true statement? It might not matter on earth but what is space made of and how do we measure it? What is in the space between you and me in an open field? Something?

Here’s the question that best defines “Nothing”: What existed before the Big Bang started everything? Ai tries to answer it with this: “While the Big Bang describes the origin and evolution of our observable universe, the question of what, IF ANYTHING, existed before it remains a mystery.” Is it possible there was Nothing before the Big Bang? NOTHING? (Yes, all caps.)

And ask this of your brain” If there is a border or an end to the universe (since there is a beginning “singularity”) what might be beyond the border? (Infinity will be discussed at a later date.) After the end? Even better, when you think of Nothing,  you are thinking of something, yes?

It’s here where one usually covers their ears and goes “Nah Nah Nah, no more!”

In earnest discussions of God, believers like to say God started everything but then ignore the inevitable next question: Where did God come from? It is then faith is invoked and we are asked to believe there was nothing/Nothing before God. Which is entirely possible, but it would have been nice if He had given us brains to understand simple things like Nothing. Even with the power of faith, “nothing” before God is hard to wrap a brain around.

But maybe we are not meant to understand Nothing. (Irony? Sarcasm?) Maybe we don’t need to understand Nothing. What good does it do? And why do we even think about it? Most times I asked my girlfriend what she was thinking about she’d answered: “Nothing.” Bullsh@#, of course, women are always thinking about something. It’s men who enjoy parsing nothing, thinking of nothing, and doing nothing, even during sporting events. Ipsa loquitur. Yes, latin, google it if you didn’t take Latin in school.

So when we are thinking of nothing, are we thinking of nothing or something we can’t imagine or comprehend? Nah nah, nah, nah…

We should stop worrying about nothing, especially in this lifetime and hope, HOPE there is something after a lifetime of worrying about Nothing.

See? There’s nothing to fret about…it’s all good.

I wish Abbot and Costello were still alive. They’d have an answer. Google “who’s on First?” Logic and reason in 6 minutes…

No more…I’m lost in Abbott and Costello videos…

Expectations? Don’t Bother.

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In thinking about happiness and well-being, and after years of observation and self-testing, my conclusion is we are our own worst enemies. We get in the way of happiness by not seeing it when it’s there and by not pursuing it when it isn’t. The sentence sounds odd so take a moment to think about it…

I’ve been a New York Yankee fan since 1960. Sixty-two years. When you are a sports fan, you get to live the highs and lows of the teams’ results. Championship years and cellar-dwelling years, it’s all a package. Happy when the World Series ends in victory, banners raised, and sad in years they don’t make the Series, and the season is over with a whimper. It’s easy to see when happiness comes and when it doesn’t. They win, we’re happy. They lose, we’re not. Is there anything we can do about it? No, especially when we are a small child listening to every play on the radio. You actually experience happiness and despair, clearly defined and unavoidable. Damn Yankees.

So what does that have to do with anything? It’s easy to live with the happiness thrust upon you by your team winning, but what about the unhappiness of losing? Ah, there’s always next year. In baseball, the following spring brings hope for a better year, a hope for seasonal happiness, a hope for the World Series Ring. For a sports fan hope becomes an expectation. Before any new games are played, we do not hope the Yankees will be better, we assume to know the Yankees will be better, we expect it. And when the Yankees lose, we are unhappy because an expectation not realized makes us unhappy.

And there it is in black and white: expectations are the cause of unhappiness. The measured and regulated nature of sports makes it obvious, including the annual renewal of “expectation” no matter what happened last year. A common fan’s announcement after an unhappy, expectation-denying season is “never again will I root for them”, a vow only kept until next season begins with a new hope/expectation.

But the damage expectations do to our lives is harder to see in real life. Why are some of us unhappy? Something in life didn’t go as planned, didn’t happen as we expected it to happen, and there is no choice but to feel unhappy about it. Marriage doesn’t meet our expectations, we divorce. Friends don’t meet our expectations, we dump them. Even in our dining habits, if a restaurant doesn’t meet our expectations we unhappily decide not to dine there again. We expect a diet to work? Potential unhappiness. We expect to get a job? Meet the girl of our dreams? Become an influencer? Be like Taylor?

But it is not the action or inaction making us unhappy. Unhappiness comes from the destruction of expectation and how we process that destruction.

You want to be happy? Don’t expect anything. Ever. At all. Enjoy the terrible meal. Enjoy the Yankees losing. Enjoy your girlfriend dumping you. At least be ambivalent, but don’t be unhappy. And you can expand the process into your philosophy of life: don’t expect happiness and you won’t be unhappy when you’re not happy…?

A little hyperbole helps make a point until it veers off into absurdity. Hm. If you expect to understand what makes you happy and you never do, you’ll always be unhappy? Or happy you understand you’ll never be happy?

That’s it. You got it. Want to be happy? Just be happy. Let things be what they are. Do your best, but don’t expect it to be better than anyone else’s expectation, especially if it really is better.

Final example and possible escape from this mess: A young female student sits behind a young male in class. She constantly complains to him about not meeting the “right” guy. It takes her the entire school year to see her expectation of the right guy is wrong and the guy in front of her is The Right Guy. They fall in love and marry, something neither of them expected, though the guy did hope. (Don’t think too hard about this one. It’s a true story but a poor example.)

I took a shot of tart cherry juice to clear my head for the final, really final thought. Hope is one thing, but expectation is another, different thing. Find the hope all around you and you’ll find happiness anytime you want it. Let hope fester into an expectation, you lose control.

Keep hope alive. You can do it.

PS Hope this sloppiness helped someone…I expect to hear about it, too.

Happiness? Meh…

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Happiness. Bah, humbug; Ai says: “Happiness is a complex and multifaceted concept with no single, universally accepted definition.” After listening to algorithmic crap for 5 minutes the Ai voice settled on a conclusion: “it’s a mental state where positive feelings outweigh negative feelings.” There’s an algorithm you can run for yourself. Get a piece of paper, make a T Chart (also called a “graphic organizer”, “two column chart” or “Pros and Cons”). List all your positive feelings under the Pro side and all your negative feelings under the Con side, then add them up, subtract for the difference, and find out your mental state at that very moment. Remember, if the Pros outnumber the Cons you are happy, no matter how you feel. Trust the process.

You wonder where “happy” came from? According to Ai it derived from the Middle English word “hap” which meant “good luck” and through the years the word meant something that HAPPENED (or could happen) to you not what you felt about the happening. (e.g. Winning the lottery is “hap” and how you feel about winning the lottery is “happy”.) There is no known reason or excuse how happy came to mean a feeling of being fortunate instead of the actual act of being fortunate. Fortunately for you I wasted my time looking this up so you can sit and feel fortunate you didn’t have to do it. Put that on your Pro side.

Much like all the different “theres(sic)” there are, happiness is often misused and even misunderstood. If you feel happy you read my post, for example, does that make you happy all day? For a second? For ten minutes? Ai is, again, no help. Happiness can be: “a momentary, specific emotion like the joy you feel when something good happens.” Or it can be “a broader, more enduring sense of well-being.” Ai does not offer a judgment on well-being-joy being better or worse than momentary-joy when contemplating if you’re happy or not. Thanks for nothing. But if you have to contemplate if you’re happy, logic says you must not be, and if contemplating makes you happy, do NOT look down at your navel…unless it’s an outie.

When collegiate philosophical course requirements conflicted with the happy-go-lucky (Yikes.)  lifestyle of a young man, I retreated to an area lacking external stimuli. The hopeful plan was quiet reflection and meditation would lead to a clearer understanding of why what I liked to do to be happy might not be what what I should do to find everlasting happiness and peace. It took 52 hours for the mental fog to part, revealing nothing more than the need for external stimuli.

What saved that particular young man from perpetual Naval Contemplation while looking for “life’s:answers” about happiness was contemporary literature. In James Thurbers’ “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and collected works, he noted the need for humor and a “Sense of wonder” when understanding happiness. Wonder? Yes. Remember how you felt when you first saw Niagara Falls. Or the Cathedrals of Europe. Wasn’t the wonder, first, that made you happy? For some specific NY sports people, imagine how you’ll feel when the Buffalo Bills (for non Bills fans, insert your favorite team,) finally win the Super Bowl. There will be a dizzying sense of happiness, but isn’t it the result of wonder? They finally did it! Wonderful. Some would say the Bills not winning the Super Bowl is humorous, as well, but let’s not get Western New York angry.

As usual, the post has wandered off to the side of the metaphorical trail, but one last visit with Mark Twain ( a HUMORIST!) might help with Happiness: “There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved.” Significantly, he adds: “To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with.” Not much humor in either statement, but happiness? We all know what he means…

So happiness can be like your first love: you’ll know it when you feel it.

And if it never happens? The only answer to “never” is an incommunicative death, which is what waits for us all.

But there’s hope. Be patient and recognize it. Happiness will follow.

Can’t close without a thought from (honorary) Dr. Steven Wright. “Yesterday I was a dog. Today I’m a dog. Tomorrow I’ll probably still be a dog.” Take 5 minutes to think before you wonder what it has to do with happiness and why it’s The End.

PS John Lennon’s song “Happiness is a Warm Gun” has nothing to do with this post. Maybe later…

You Are an Idiot if…..

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I should use a different word than “idiot”. Idiots get defensive hearing the word and all hope of explaining why they are an idiot is lost. Let’s say “unsmart’. You are unsmart if…

  1. You use the word “libtard”. Basically, you’re unsmart if you don’t use your own words and thoughts in civil discourse. What’s unsmart about libtard is it shuts down the flow of conversation, much like idiot does. See? An extensive—but not complete—search of online comments has not found, yet, a liberal version of libtard, though many writers have tried, proving liberals can be unsmart, too, just not as creatively as conservatives.
  • You get your news from one source. While conservative sources are unabashedly biased and untruthful, it takes a more discerning mind to see where liberal news sources fail us. Look for snarky, unneeded adjectives and adverbs. (You are definitely NOT unsmart if you recognize those two words.) Liberal news will soon be as bad as conservative news as griping and complaining about everything is a proven ratings getter. Liberals are about a decade behind, but gaining fast, inspired by our 47th President.
  • You think you understand ANY of what’s currently happening in politics. Americans have always been, um…lazy in their election choices. Until their person loses. And the American Billionaires are constantly searching for new ways to divide us and raise profits. Google “Model Pricing” and see how companies are using it to make more profit per sale and reward the CEO’s better. Musk?
  • If you think you understand our economy. Federal Debt, Deficits, Expenditures, Outlays, etc. DOGGIE (sic) is currently trumpeting “the finding of billions of dollars of waste and fraud” when all they are really doing is stopping spending. Of note, every single dollar of that spending had been “approved” by at least one level of government so go after your elected reps, whoever they are, for the ones responsible. Look for long-term reps like Pelosi and McConnell. Google Pork, too. Rather, Pork Barrel.
  • You think fraud and waste are being discovered and prevented. They kind of are by virtue of NOT spending approved money, but what about the money already spent? I’ve talked with a number of business friends, and we all agree fraud is very rare in business, but waste is rampant. See, fraud is illegal if you get caught, but waste just makes you look stupid, if caught. One you go to jail, the other, you retire, buy a boat and Sail the Gulf of Trump. A smart, capitalist “entrepreneur” will choose waste, anytime, and it’s easy enough to do, just pay yourself more. Again, see Elon, he knows.
  • You think anything our government has done in the last eight years was to help you. If you benefited it was the “trickle down effect”, the leftovers the billionaires didn’t want. FYI: the preceding years were no bonanza, either, but how many remember?
  • You believe in SPECIFIC conspiracies. There are conspiracies out there but by their very nature we will never know about them. (Unless…you’re part of it?) So, if we do “know” about them…hmmm…wonder if some unsmart citizens are being manipulated? PizzaGate? Q-Anon? Eating cats and dogs in Ohio? The Kennedy assassination? Look away from those and try to find the real ones right under your nose. You won’t but at least you won’t be manipulated like sheep, either. Ignorance is bliss but it is easier to ignore something you don’t know about than worry about something you shouldn’t.

The whole deal is to KNOW you are not as smart as you think you are. Soooo many people today know everything about everything they stop learning, paying attention. And they don’t care if they are proved wrong. See: The Big Lie.

I guarantee if you think you are just smart enough, you’ll find a way to navigate normal life. And if you really, truly are smart, none of this matters, anyway, does it.

Good Governing Advice

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I knew about Democrats and Republicans from a young age. Kennedy, Nixon, Eisenhower, et.al.

It was college, however, when I learned about progressives and conservatives. It was 1970-71 and there were people in my university dressed way better than me with cars costing more than a year’s tuition. In the all-night, dorm-hall debates inspired by the one Freshman Year Course we all had to take, “Philosophy, Religion, and Drama”, not only were a lot of the well-dressed people (not all) Republicans, but Conservatives, as well. And some Democrats (not all) called themselves Progressives. What the hell? How many more subsets are there?

I honestly believed it was normal, almost required to switch from one to the other, and not just because of the sex appeal of the opponent, but on the issues, as well. Bright, intelligent young people could think both ways, right? Even multiple ways, threesomes, maybe?

Sadly, life revealed you had to pick one or the other, or half one and half the other, or just move to an isolated cabin in the woods. So, I picked one and got on with life, ignorant of what I’d done, but unable to be monogamous in my choice. The other choice often looked better.

I eventually learned an easy way to understand the problem. A debating poster on the web site “Quora” described it this way: “America is like a car with Progressives being the gas pedal and Conservatives being the brakes.” Wow. AI found this for me when I asked it (Him? Her? Them? It?) to tell me what significant legislation was ever passed by the Republican Party. Every Republican Bill AI located seemed to be negative, about reversing something our keeping something from happening. Or lowering taxes. There was no Great Society Program, No Civil Rights Act, Social Security Act, No Affordable Care Act. No Apollo Program. So what is the deal, Republicans?

The definition of conservative: “averse to change or innovation and holding traditional values.” (Oxford)

Progressive: “happening or developing gradually, or in stages, proceeding step by step.” (Oxford)

These two “base” adjectives grew into political nouns that ideologically oppose each other.  When we look at legislative history, it is Progressives (represented by Democrats), taking 2 steps forward, and then Conservatives (represented by Republicans) taking as many steps back as they can. If that sounds bad, it is not. It is the perfect government formula. Progressive step on the gas, Conservatives hit the brakes. Have you EVER driven a car without using both pedals? Might be interesting, but apply the same principle to governing. Progressives fight for same sex marriage, and conservatives try to pass laws to restrict it. What happens next?

I have always thought of Conservatives as “stick in the mud, hold us back, rigid, get in the way” ideologues. I still believe that but now view Conservatives as an equal, important part of the “good governance formula”. Imagine if we pressed the gas pedal all the time? Of course, we won’t get anywhere if we don’t get off the brakes. Perfect, yes?

Sadly, our new administration is not just pumping the brakes but trying to throw us into reverse and drive us to the scrapyard. It is awfully hard to see the future when you’re driving in reverse. Please, don’t try it.

Maybe that IS what we need to do, now, drive as fast as possible in reverse. We don’t need no stinking brakes, do we.

Morality? Logic? God? Belief?

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The subjects listed above are “hot button” philosophy subjects debated, discussed, and verbally torn to shreds over the many centuries since man gained enough free time to stare at his navel. Morality is a major topic because it underpins the nature of society, at least a successful one. For my money, I always thought morality came from God. All Christians feel the same way, and it puts atheists in a bad jam: how can atheists be moral if they do not believe in, and hear the Word of God (WOG) directing them?

I did an end run around the conundrum by accepting full-throated agnosticism and allowed morality to be the WOG, if He actually existed. Lazy, lazy, lazy man. There are those among the enlightened who think the existence of evil negates the concepts of morality as the WOG and dumps the whole idea of Morality into a recycle bin for another generation to bring up and hash, I mean, hack to pieces.

At my age its hard to learn a new trick but just now I stumbled upon an article that sparked an “Aha” moment. Entitled “How a Huguenot Philosopher Realized That Atheists Could Be Virtuous” by Michael Hickson, the author exposed me to a philosopher heretofore not on my reading list: Pierre Bayle. In Mr. Bayle’s book “Various Thoughts on the Occasion of a Comet” published in 1682, Mr. Bayle presented an argument for atheism that settled once and for all the question of atheism and morality.

“It is no stranger for an atheist to live virtuously than it is strange for a Christian to live criminally. We see the latter sort of monster all the time, so why should we think the former is impossible?”

In 1682. It is a statement loaded with Logic. (capitalized to show how important it is). Logic. What a wonderful thing. Logic. No matter how many times I say it, it keeps its meaning. Logic is “a particular way of thinking, especially one that is reasonable and based on good judgement” says an unknown google writer, probably an AI personality. No, they didn’t have AI in 1682, nor did they have the benefit of instant communication. Mr. Bayle’s statement, therefore, about the “sort of monster” he sees “all the time” must have been from first hand experience. Sadly, it is a statement as true today as 1682…343 years later. Religion, belief, morality, all seem unchanged after nearly four centuries. Why?

I’m getting the book and reading it, but–with apologies to Spock and all offended Star Trek fans–we might be better off with lives based on Logic instead of Belief. As a possible Clue, The Bible’s WOG “Golden Rule” is loaded more with logic than faith. You have to wonder why.

As usual, a short space makes for an oversimplification, but is it?

Of course it is, since the modern sophists among us can easily rip apart the “reasonable” and “good judgment” parts of googe’s AI statement, But will the rest of us let them?

In this day and age, Logic is taking a beating. Forget–for example–your politics and wonder how many good, reasonable, and moral people there in the world waiting for…aw, forget it. We pay football players more than we pay police. Is that logical?

We’re doomed, but I’m going to find out about that comet.

Philosophy For Dummies

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As a young man attending a small, Liberal Arts University in 1971, I took great pleasure-and invested lots of time–in reading, studying, and debating Philosophy. Full disclosure, my heart wasn’t in the winning of late night debates, or even in the final, complete understanding of Kant’s Moral Imperative. I was a young man with young man hormones and young man desires: my main purpose in “debating” was to make new friends, especially those of the opposite sex. You are then, entitled to wonder with the 1970’s drug and sex culture if any of us remembered the substance of the all-night-long “debates” and associated dalliances. I learned early on some of my contemporary females enjoyed being supported in their arguments and some enjoyed being challenged so I seldom argued the same philosophical “position” two nights in a row or slept in the same bed. All the more support for the notion “youth is wasted on the young.”

It came to pass then, by accident, that I became proficient in understanding, regurgitating, and arguing for or against the entire curriculum, and passed daylight tests with ease. Profligate, with benefits.

The main thought, or belief system gained from the best year of my life was the amount of bullsh##, I mean sophistry, ahem, surrounding Philosophy. There is no right or wrong philosophy. No right or wrong view of the world. No single, unifying theory of the origins or purposes of life. (It should be noted there are extreme cases of minorities having severely dangerous and “unproductive” theories of how to live life, but are they wrong?)

I left college for life on the road, but never lost sight of the nature and innate absurdity of professing a belief in anything unknown or unverifiable. And living life to follow that absurdity. Debating anything related to life’s secrets became a game of Devil’s Advocate over the next few decades, the simple ability to be a Devil’s Advocate proving its need. Res ipse loquitor, legal but succinct.

You’re obligated to read about all this because there is currently a ton of bullsh@# being manufactured and spread about. While Kant’s Moral Imperative is not the end-all of philosophies, its simple premise is one all modern citizens should learn: “Act in the way you want others to act.” (Way over simplification, but if you’d care to debate, leave a comment.) A variation is the Golden Rule. (Matthew 7:12) which came directly from God as noted in the Bible.

Any one of the 70 per cent of Americans not dumb, (see older post) could argue forever about right and wrong, and throw some pragmatism, and utility into the word salad but could anything be simpler than The Imperative? The Golden Rule? Imagine a killer stopping in his/her/their tracks because he/she/they realize he/she/they don’t want anyone to kill him/her/them? Or a politician voting against the minimum wage, but for a raise to his own pay? You see the breaking of the Imperative/Golden Rule most often in politics and many religions. The modern term for it is Hypocrisy. It should be noted, too, The Golden Rule and Kant’s Moral Imperative have been expunged from Capitalism, but that’s a whole ‘nother post.

The lesson learned in debating (unfaithfully and unabashedly) for both side of a philosophy was that nothing mattered, anymore. It’s all just words. Modern civilization is at that point. We’re not talking nihilism, here, after all life has to go on. But there is way too much of people doing to each other what they would not do to themselves. Why? (Capitalism, again?)

Organized religion is an existential trap, but each and every religion has good points. Personal reflection, investigation, and faith can do wonders for life. But don’t let dogma, creed, screed, belief, or an inflated sense of one’s worth cause a loss of vision about what life is really about: people living together.

The entire world should be locked in a student dorm and not allowed out until they reach agreement on…hm…what?

Let’s start with The Golden Rule. Nice and simple.