DAY 51 – KEY ASPECT: A BETTER LIFE PHILOSOPHY
I am leaving an auditorium after listening to a debate between two of the best college debate teams in the nation. The moderator tells them the topic is what is philosophy and how does philosophy impact our lives. What followed was an interesting discussion that made me think about my personal philosophical ideologies.
One of the key themes throughout the debate was that philosophy is both personal and societal in nature. They are the thoughts and beliefs each of us have about how to conduct one’s own life and how to conduct the affairs of society. The objective of any philosophical concept is to enhance the life of the individual, enhance the lives of all of the members of a particular group and possibly for humanity as a whole.
Like so many other things, human beings adopt a particular or set of ideological concepts. We get exposed to various ideologies and our thoughts have us make sense of and believe in the merit of certain ones more than other competing concepts. Eventually, we adopt what we believe is beneficial into our belief systems and try, if not always successfully, to live our lives by them.
Believing in the benefits of a particular philosophical ideology is very important to those who hold them in very high regard. Since we live our lives in the silent words each of us say to ourselves, we are constantly reinforcing in our minds the importance of certain ideological concepts that we consider in our best interests. For many human beings they also believe that when other people live their life by the exact same philosophical principles the world becomes a better place for all of humanity.
Too often people think that one’s personal beliefs are the absolute answers to a particular issue or to humanity’s collective problems while other beliefs may hinder our ability to live in a better world. What unfolds with such a mindset is that people on each side of the issues are in constant disagreement and cannot develop a unifying ideology that remedies our problems. Living life from a closed or rigid mind does not lend itself to look for beneficial ideas in other ideologies that will contribute to preventing and resolving human difficulties.
Look at how some human beings become embroiled in philosophical disputes and arguments. When a local, regional or national government does not function in a manner in conjunction with one’s political philosophy there can be outrage at those who hold the opposite political beliefs. When people hold a certain economic philosophy that they believe is the best way to conduct the human economy they often do not give any credence to aspects of other economic philosophies that may have merit. When human beings hold a particular religious belief there can be outrage, mistreatment and intolerance towards those who have different religious beliefs. Wanting our fellow human beings to think as oneself is unrealistic and often antithesis to living in harmony with our fellow human beings.
If we are to live in a world where we are a unified species we need a philosophical ideology that all of us can believe in and adopt in our everyday affairs. Such a belief system will enable us to work together for our collective best interests. A “better life philosophy” will do this.
A “better life philosophy” states that I will make life better for myself, others and planet earth. This is a very simple concept with far ranging implications. Too often we try to look at life from the separate perspective of oneself or other people or the earth. Now we can think of these big three areas as one. When someone is trying to create a better life for oneself and one’s family we now have to throw in the mix our fellow human beings and the earth as well. Anything less leaves unwanted problems as a ripple effect of our inability to simultaneously put other people and the earth into one’s personal and societal equation.
Having a “better life philosophy” as an overarching belief system enables us to enter into an objective discussion about what we are doing in our daily affairs. It will help us to focus our attention upon one’s thoughts and behaviors, whether it is for each of us as individuals or all of us as a collective species. We will have a criteria to meet of whether what we do is actually working for the benefit of oneself, society and the earth or whether we are falling short in meeting the nine basic requirements for a better life and better world.
A “better life philosophy” will not diminish one’s personal belief systems that have life enhancing qualities but only reinforce them. The goodness that is part of most ideologies will still be there and we will simultaneously see the goodness in the ideologies held by our fellow human beings. Our ability to join forces and make this the last century for most human problems will become easier with a common worldwide philosophical ideology.
After thinking about my personal philosophical beliefs I now realize that most of the time I have been living my life wanting and striving for a better life for myself, others and planet earth. I can also see that most of my fellow human beings have many aspects of a “better life philosophy” at the heart of their belief systems even if we do not call it by this name.