VII.6        Creating a Personal Best-Life Philosophy
                          And Folly-Free Ultimate Belief
        Is one of Life's Crucial Tasks Because It Enables Freedom and Well-Being
 
If your best-life philosophy's guiding spring is a moral and intellectual conscience combined with the courage to face life honestly and to act humanely, then the creation of such a life stance will make you stronger than most things that can happen to you. For nothing that can happen is half as momentous as the way in which you encounter it.
                                                           
Be aware that only if one becomes intelligent enough to understand one's own interests, can one overcome the demands of nature and culture, genes and memes*, that are to the contrary.
 
What an individual believes profoundly affects his behavior and health, both mental and physical. Hence, personal inner peace leads to social peace.
 
We are all unique because we have peculiarities and live in circumstances unlike that of others; hence, each has a unique world view and best-life philosophy.
                                                            This writer
 
*memes are units of cultural information that are transmitted by repetition in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes (see Mind Makers: Nature, Culture, Learning)
 
 
Introduction
1st. Acquire Anchoring Prerequisites
2nd. Decide on the Meaning of Life
3rd. Consider a Rational Ultimate Belief
4th. Evaluate the Need for After-This-Life Insurance
5th. Learn How to Make Moral Decisions
6th. Consider the New Values
7th. Integrate Parts into a Best-Life Philosophy and Folly-Free Ultimate Belief
 
Introduction
LIFE IS WHAT IT IS ALL ABOUT, for as we know it, an individual's existence is a one-time event. This fact should be a prime consideration when deciding on a life stance and life plans that entail the core aim of philosophy, namely, to make the best out of whatever life has to offer. However, this task requires a modern and moral worldview, that is, a comprehensive conception of the world and of human life that is supported by reason and a solid chain of evidence that connects the beginning of the world to the present. A worldview, then, if taken seriously, becomes a life-orienting belief because holding it has a crucial effect on one's life, not only on how to live but also about thinking how one ought to live.
     Philosophers from antiquity to modernity have correctly observed that everybody has a life philosophy whether being aware of it or not. It is implicit in one's actions rather than explicit in one's mind. The root meaning of the Greek word "philosophy" is love of wisdom, and where wisdom stands for organizing and planning one's life through the quality of being wise, the power of judging rightly and following the soundest course of action, based on knowledge, experience, understanding.
     To "create" means to bring forth something new. And an individual's life philosophy is something new and different from everybody else's because each person's peculiarities and circumstances are unique. Moreover, a life stance is not something set in concrete. It changes when adapted to changing circumstances and personal outlooks. This chapter, then, is a guide for the individual to form a best-life philosophy with the help of relevant essentials, not a hodgepodge of disconnected trivia, to make the best out of what life has to offer.
     Finally, whether it is people's existing life stance or ultimate belief, they will only modify or part from it when they can replace it with something that affords them equal or more satisfaction. Hence, the general task of a philosopher or philosophy should be as summarized by an ancient and two modern philosophers:
Vain is the word of a philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man. For just as there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body; so there is no profit in philosophy either, if it does not expel the suffering of the mind.
                                                      Epicurus (ca. 341-270 BCE)
 
If philosophy would become therapeutic, it would really come into its own.
                                                 Herbert Marcuse (1898-1979)
 
 

What [a best-life] philosophy aims at is concisely conveyed in the well-known prayer: "O God, give us serenity to accept what cannot be changed, courage to change what should be changed, and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other."

     Perhaps the most fundamental presupposition of the philosophical enterprise is the conviction that taking thought is worthwhile—not necessarily because we can thereby fulfill our desires, but also because we can thereby be freed from the burden of those desires which must remain unfulfilled. This is the presupposition of Buddha, of the Stoics, of Spinoza, of Freud. It might be called the philosophical axiom: to understand is to transcend.

                                                       Abraham Kaplan (1918-93)

 
To Create a Personal Best-Life Philosophy:
 
1st.                   Acquire Anchoring Prerequisites
Homo Mensura--Man is the  measure of all things, of things that are that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.
                                                                 Protagoras (c. 490- c. 422 B.C.)
 
The pursuit of what is true and the practice of what is good are the two most important objects of philosophy.
                                                             Voltaire (1694-1778)
 
Here, "acquire" means to get or gain by one's own efforts or actions understanding of the anchoring prerequisites, for you cannot posses what you do not understand. And "anchoring" denotes founding or grounding on a firm bases the creation of a best-life philosophy with the aid of the prerequisites as necessary conditions. The quality of a life philosophy is determined by the understanding and application of these indispensable essentials. With reference to the Macro Contents/Overview of this work:
The anchoring prerequisites are the knowledge, moral, intellectual, and pragmatic explanations as found in the various parts that make up a modern and moral worldview. They are all part of the creative process which is as follows:
While keeping one's idiosyncrasies and unique circumstances in mind, the facts, data, and concepts from this text’s sections, The Physical World, The Brain-Mind Event, The Social World, The Religious Realm, and The Abysmal Antisocial, are considered and applied as needed with the tools of The Intellectual Realm to The Pragmatic Life that culminates in Creating a Personal Best-Life Philosophy. But most important is an overall view, a correct worldview, which becomes a life-orienting belief because holding it has a crucial effect on one's life, not only on how to live but also about thinking how one ought to live and interact with others.
Here we should keep in mind that the term philosophy literally means the love of wisdom. And wisdom, as Brand Blanshard (1892-1987) points out, "involves intellectual grasp or insight, but it is concerned not so much with the ascertainment of fact or the elaboration of theories as with the means and ends of practical life."
 
 
2nd.                       Decide on the Meaning of Life
                                    Keep in Mind that It Is You who Decides
Truly:
Life lives, life dies. Life laughs, life cries. Life gives up and life tries.
But life looks different through everyone's eyes.
                                                                         Anonymous
 
It follows:
There is not one big cosmic meaning for all, there is only the meaning we each give to our life, an individual meaning, an individual plot, like an individual novel, a book for each person.

                                                               Anais Nin (1903-77)

Therefore:
Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.
                                                Pope Paul VI (reign 1963-1978)

     

 

Consequently:

A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

                                                        Charles Darwin (1809-82)

 

However:

In the end, it's not the years in your life that count.

It's the life in your years.

                                                      Abraham Lincoln (1809-65)

 

But what if life is one defeat after another:
"Don Quixote, you lost every battle of your life, and now you are dying, yet you seem to be happy?"
Don Quixote: "My friend, it is not winning or losing, it is the struggle that counts!"
                                       In the play, The Man from La Mancha
 
And:
Our greatest glory is not in never falling,
but in rising every time we fall.
                                Confucius (ca. 551-479)
 
Still we may ask like:
Callow Youth: "Mr. Coward, is life really worth living?"
Noel Coward:  "But, my dear boy, what else would we do with it?"
Noel Coward (1899-1973)
 
Life appears to have no fixed or given meaning. This is great news, for it yields to each person the freedom to decide according to one's idiosyncrasies or peculiarities and changing circumstances. When deciding on meaning, rational individuals seek freedom and well-being. But instinctively, all strive to make the best out of whatever life has to offer within the framework of their ultimate belief system. Many have the desire to transform from caterpillar to butterfly.
 
3rd.                    Consider a Folly-Free Ultimate Belief
Beliefs are the building blocks of the mind. Our beliefs determine our thoughts and attitudes about life, which in turn direct our actions.
                                                                     Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
 
Those who are plenteously provided from within,
need but little from without.
                                         Goethe (1749-1832)

When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion.
                                                     Abraham Lincoln (1809-65)
 
Religion is what an individual does with his solitariness.

                                        Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947)

Those who seek liberation must ask themselves whether they really want advancing toward autonomy or whether they merely exchanged one kind of conformity for another. The question remains whether one has turned to a surrogate and put on a new pair of blinders.
                                                 Walter A. Kaufmann (1921-80)
It has been said "only the educated are free." And if you are free in this sense, then you are qualified to follow your conscience for you could do no better. Thus, you alone can decide what you select to believe. Moreover, consider that the difference between what is "divine" and what is "humane" is merely the difference between the ideal and the real.
                                                                       This writer
 
The problem: Not counting philosophical beliefs, there are a perhaps a hundred thousand distinct and separate religions most of which offer an ultimate belief system that usually includes an explanation of the world, a moral code, and the promise of a better afterlife or next life if one submits to "the powers that are," specific dogmas, and practices or rituals. Presently, Christianity alone has about 35,000 distinct and separate institutions. Many religions claim to be the "only true" one while sometimes condemning all others or accusing them of the religious crime of blasphemy. Of course, there is no such thing as blasphemy because a perfect being such as God or cosmic moral law such as dharma cannot be insulted.
     To select from the multitude of existing belief systems, obviously one does not live long enough to examine them all, in particular since almost daily some new ones appear and others vanish. Hence, one needs a different approach to solve this predicament.
 
Solving the problem:
The following argument should solve, or at least be helpful, in selecting an ultimate belief.
  1. The Alpha and Omega of existence is our quest for freedom and well-being while being guided by the highest ideals we are capable of within an ultimate framework of orientation and devotion. This may simply be doing good for goodness sake and doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. The guide, a person's highest ideal, appears to be the idealized self perceived as, for instance, conscience, a personal god, or a cosmic order and law as in the concept of dharma. In any case, past, present, or future, no one has ever come up with the content of an ideal that exceeds the human intellect.
  2. An ultimate belief should be first of all satisfactory to the individual's conscience, then the community, and perhaps any other power with humane characteristics that may exist such as the gods in general, the God of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradition, or the concept of a cosmic law such as dharma in many Eastern religions.
  3. There is strong evidence, such as gained from the study of religious texts and practices, that all existing belief systems are at most the best some individual or group of individuals came up with at the time. For example, many of the verifiable facts about this world turned out to be wrong, and much of the moral code is now reprehensible to the modern, moral mind and insufficient for enlightened individuals and the global community. Scientific accounts have replaced creation stories and many religious moral codes have been superseded in daily life by The Common Moral Decencies and Ethical Excellences and the "Global Contracts and Universal Norms" as listed in The Social Sphere.
  4. The most popular organized religions, the world religions, had to make compromises, rotten compromises, with those in power in order to be tolerated and promoted. For providing social control of the folks in favor of the worldly powers that were often abusive, the religious institutions were granted exclusive mind control and often help in eliminating the competition.
  5. The most powerful and universal tool for social control by organized religion was the teaching of accepting a diminished life her and now in favor of a reward or better afterlife (heaven) or next life (reincarnation or nirvana). Degrading this world in favor of another world for which there is no compelling evidence is perhaps their most harmful falsehood next to declaring contingent facts of history as commanded by a higher power, e.g., that everybody should stay in their ordained place with theirs "god-willing" on the top.
  6. Being worshipped would be an embarrassment to a humane, rational person and even mores so to a divine being. People prostrating, lying with the face downward in demonstration of great humility or abject submission, would arise the emotion of pity for the deceived and anger toward those who teach these dehumanizing rituals.
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A common sense conclusion to all these statements, and a guide to a universal belief, was reached by the philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) who explains:
To begin with, I take the following proposition to be a principle requiring no proof:
Whatever, over and above good life-conduct, man fancies that he can do to become well-pleasing to God is mere religious illusion and pseudo-service to God. . . . [Moreover] Nothing is divine but what is agreeable to reason.
And the 14th Dalai Lama (b.1935) seems to agree when he declares:

This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.

[And] Whether you believe in God or not does not matter so much, whether you believe in Buddha or not does not matter so much. You must lead a good life.

[Because] We can live without religion and meditation, but we cannot survive without human affection.
With good life conduct being an individual's most highest respected ideal by any name, the state of our mind and our actions can now move:
  • Toward the holy defined as the wholesome, complete, and perfect in a moral sense.
  • Toward the divine defined as the extraordinary and excellent in the highest degree.
  • Toward the best defined as what humanity is capable of, for it could do no better.
And best of all, since the highest ideal exists at least as a phenomenon of the mind, a psychological truth, it does not matter anymore if those who subscribe to it call themselves believers, unbelievers, agnostics, naturalists, atheists, or any other name, for their actions or behavior should be the same. And we may judge their ideals by their actions and the fruit they bring forth. 
Fortunately, most people already practice good life-conduct as guided by The Common Moral Decencies And Ethical Excellences. Hence, they make community life possible and they do this regardless of their religious or ultimate belief associations. However, the religiously oriented, and there is nothing wrong with it, often observe rituals of their respective faith and have hopes for a better life after life as we know it. But it is apparent that the hierarchy of most religious institutions dwell in a hole, that is, they exist at a lower level of consciousness. They need to stop digging, and get out by climbing the ladder of morality, knowledge, and intelligence to escape from the pit of immorality, ignorance, and plain foolishness originally dug by our well-meaning, but less-informed pre-scientific ancestors.
 
4th.           Evaluate the Need for After-this-Life Insurance
Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.
                                                        Epicurus (341-270 BCE)
 
The fear of death is the most unjustified of all fears, for there's no risk of accident for someone who's dead.
                                                   Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
 
We are not fated to live and die thoughtlessly. We can think about our lot and, within limits, change it. But we must discover the limits first.
                                             Walter A. Kaufmann (1921-80)
 
It seems to me that when it's time to die, and that will come to all of us, there'll be a certain pleasure in thinking that you had utilized your life well, that you had learned as much as you could, gathered in as much as possible of the universe, and enjoyed it.
                                                        Isaac Asimov (1920-92)
 
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.
                                                     Samuel Johnson (1709-84)
 
But what if something, e.g., soul or mind, survives the death of the body? After all, most people believe it, and from a scientific and logical point of you, anything that is not impossible is possible. Well, if we are indeed judged by some entity after death, then those who practiced good life-conduct to the best of their ability have nothing to fear, for they could have done no better. Instead, the higher power would be most pleased and hand out rewards if there are any.  Categorically, individuals can do no better than to select a folly-free ultimate belief to the best of their ability. Amen.
     However, there is one remaining question: "If there are judging higher powers, what would happen to those who have not practiced a good life-conduct or were even outright evil--the many deceivers, exploiters, criminals, and other sociopath of this world. While it will not satisfy the obsession for punishment so prevalent in most cultures, these antisocials too would be eventually forgiven because to condemn them for eternity for transgressions in the few minutes of their lives would be even a greater atrocity than the ones they committed. Moreover, these people are at best only partially responsible for their evil doings, for they were substantially formed by their genetic endowment and environment over which they had limited or no control.
 
5th.                 Learn How to Make Moral Decisions
If I give up the rights of the first born, the Siamese twins of  evidence and reason, then I have no longer a reliable guide. I must then blindly accept inferior guiding principles and wild speculations.
                                                                         This writer
 
Introduction
A. Moral Decisions Need Relevant Knowledge
B. Moral Decisions Require Specific Decision-Making Skills
C. Moral Decisions Involve the Emotions
D. Moral Individuals are at a Disadvantage Unless . . .
 
Introduction
Each one of us lives by a moral code, and whether we are aware of it or not, may not be very moral or even immoral. The code may not exist explicit in our mind, but it is implicit in our actions. Foundational to moral ability is what Adam Smith (1723-90) called the "moral sentiment," the capacity to empathize, that is, to see life and its problems through another person's eyes and feelings. For instance, people who want empathy will sometimes ask: "Why don't you walk in my shoes for a while." Moreover, this capacity allows one to learn from the life situation of others. Closely related is the emotion of compassion in which one takes the suffering of another as one's own. The key is here to feel for the suffering of others without becoming overwhelmed by or neglecting it. These emotions are insufficiently present in sociopath and all those promoters of political and religious ideologies that promote a self-serving agenda for individuals, groups or institutions at the expense of the common good. And unfortunately there are too many among us who can be happy in the midst of avoidable bad social conditions.
     An individual's moral autonomy begins to emerge as a result of his or her reflection upon customs or mores from the point of view of their justification, or warrant, as standards to which a person is required to perform. Mores are "fixed customs imbued with an ethical significance." The task is here to distinguish what is worthy of acceptance from what is not worthy of acceptance--even though the community, the nation, or the entire world may regard it as acceptable. For example, at one time slavery, and slavery-like conditions were widely accepted, and just as the inferior status of women is still widely accepted in the world religions and nations where there is no separation of church and state.
     Human beings are almost daily forced to make moral decisions. But the modern world is far to complex for one to follow simply one's emotions, though they are an essential part of the process. The materials required for learning moral decision making have already been covered elsewhere in this worldview. It is suggested that one proceeds as outlined below.
A. Moral Decisions Need Relevant Knowledge
1st. Familiarize yourself with The Natural Origins of Morality, for to really understand something, it is necessary to know of their origins and development over time.
2nd. Since one cannot follow every moral code, just as one cannot follow every map, one needs universal criteria to sort out what is worthy and what is not worthy. Therefore, read and practice The Common Moral Decencies and Ethical Excellences with the goal of eventually internalizing them.
3rd. Since moral decisions require value judgment or premises, become knowledgeable about how they are connected to Ultimate Values Justified as Moral Rights.
4th. Now you are prepared to get acquainted with the topics listed under "Global Contracts and Universal Norms" as part of The Social Sphere or see the table of Contents.
5th. Finally, enrich your knowledge base by reading how the ultimate values discovered earlier are implemented in society--read the "Triad to Universal Freedom and Well-Being" again as part of the The Social Sphere or see the table of Contents.
 
B. Moral Decisions Require Specific Decision-Making Skills
  • Now that you have covered the knowledge part, you are almost ready to make sound, that is, "good" moral decisions. You have to make inferences from your knowledge base in order to reach probably true conclusions. Therefore, you need some intellectual tools. Hence, familiarize yourself with the subjects of The Intellectual World but be thoroughly acquainted with What is a Reasoned Argument? and in particular the part named "The Empirical Moral Argument."
  • But even the decisions arrived at by superb decision-making skills must be reviewed in the light of their anticipated, empirically verifiable real-life consequences.
C. Moral Decisions Involve the Emotions
Emotions, a "feeling and wanting" state of consciousness in which empathy, joy, sorrow, pity, fear, hate, passions or the like, are experienced, are distinct from the above noted consciousness of having knowledge, decision-making skills, and intellectual skills in general. Although emotions do not correct themselves, nevertheless, emotions are tempered, modified, and influenced in other ways by thinking enabled by a person's knowledge stock and intellectual abilities. In the final analysis, and unavoidably so, moral decisions are consciously and subconsciously directed by emotions and they are often, if not always, the final arbitrators.
     There are other less obvious workings of the mind that hold power over the moral decision maker. Therefore, the decider should be familiar with The Brain-Mind Event in general and with emphasis on the three chapters:
D. Moral Individuals are at a Disadvantage Unless . . .
they are forewarned about the underhanded means stated in the chapters of "The Abysmal Antisocial" and appropriate the skills offered in the chapters of "The Intellectual World."
You have to learn the rules of the game.
And then you have to play better than anyone else.
                                                    Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
To achieve freedom and well-being or other goals of one's life plans, the moral person is at a disadvantage when competing with amoral or immorally individuals or institutions that use  underhanded means or even brute force to accomplish their objectives--"nice guys finish usually last." To overcome the unfair advantage of the wicked, to level the playing field, or to have a fair chance of success, the moral person has to be aware of the antisocial practices by others and needs a better store of knowledge applied with better intellectual skills. The study of the chapters of the The Abysmal Antisocial and The Intellectual World go a long way to prepare an individual for this struggle.
 
6th.                            Consider the New Values
           
              Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
                                                                                 Confucius (ca. 551-479)
 
It matters not how long you live, but how well.
                                    Publilius Syrus (1st century BCE)
 
It matters not how a man dies, but how he lives.
                                             Samuel Johnson (1709-84)

Obviously, there are two kinds of education. One is how to make a living and the other is how to live. However, both are decidedly influenced by the values we hold. And developed Western societies are gradually moving away from traditional values toward the emerging new values that are being embraced on an ever-widening scale suggests Joseph T. Plummer in "Changing Values: The New Emphasis on Self-Actualization" (The Futurist, January-February 1989).
 
Traditional Values New Values
Self-denial ethic Self-fulfillment ethic
Higher standard of living Better quality of life
Traditional sex roles Blurring of sex roles
Accepted definition of success Individualized definition of success
Traditional family life Alternative families
Faith in industry, institutions Self-reliance
Live to work Work to live
Hero worship Love of ideas
Expansionism Pluralism
Patriotism Less nationalistic
Unparalleled growth Growing sense of limit
Industrial growth Information/service growth
Receptivity to technology Technology orientation
 
 
7th.                Integrate Parts into a Best-Life Philosophy
                                 And Folly-Free Ultimate Belief
                Talent is only as good as its execution.
                                                        Albert Bandura (b.1925)
 
The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here.
                                               Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899)
 
The kind of philosophy one prefers depends on one's character and experience.
                                                      William James (1842-1910)
 
You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.
                                                Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
 
Life means responsibility! Let us restraint from dying a coward and fill our life with the courage to live as a warrior. Then life is worth living.
                                                        Andrie Wongso (b.1954?)
 

People's sense of the world and beliefs about personal problems are usually derived from their worldview, life philosophy, and ultimate belief; hence, it is crucial to have all of them morally correct. And if correct, that is, intellectually honest and reflecting a guide to good life conduct, some problems will turn out to be no problems at all but simply faulty perspectives.

                                                                    This writer

 
To integrate is to form a unified whole, that is, the parts that make up a best-life philosophy should exist side by side and connect with each other without contradictions. The success of this process is proportional to the effort one invests. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) confirms this fact when he asserts:
However far man may extend himself with his knowledge, however objective he may appear to himself,
ultimately he reaps nothing but his own biography.
And "there is no royal road"*, meaning an easy path, to acquire an individualized and correct life stance. Hopefully, the text of this worldview and the efforts of the reader make it possible. Of course, it is much easier to follow a ready made religious or political ideology. But then, one is just an automaton, a heteronomous (other directed/governed) rather than an autonomous (self-directed/governed) individual. A person practicing unthinking conformity does simply not use the potentials he or she has as a human being. Moreover, it is irresponsible because in a democracy, a government of, for, and by the people, the quality of such a government--thus, the freedom and well-being of all-- depends largely on the rational thinking and moral integrity of its voting citizens.
*When an ancient Egyptian prince complaint to his math teacher that "there should be a less difficult method of teaching math for the king's son," he was told "there is no royal road for learning math."