Philosophical

Essays concerning concepts and thoughts regarding metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and politics

Choose Life Carefully

Choose your life carefully. It takes time. You will make mistakes and you will have regrets. You will laugh and you will cry. And sickness will come, and sometimes it will pass. These are all steps on a staircase. These are all moments which become memories.

There are always compromises that whittle away at the best of intentions.

They too will come and go. And what we are left with is the moment. And in that moment we will relive those memories and look for new memories to make. Do this consciously. Do not count your days or waste your time. Do not give your self up easily to ease and comfort.

Resist much. Obey little.

Do the best you can. Always look to learn. Be curious. Smile when you can. Know who to take seriously and what to dismiss. Do not sell yourself or the world short. Make instead of buy. Keep instead of sell. Experience instead of watch. Let the batteries run down.

“It is not as much what you are doing but how you are doing it.” (Epictetus)

And one day we will die. Mortality is the future for all. Do not forget this, but live in peace knowing this. Do not wish for fantasies. Do not believe otherwise. And one day, hopefully in the mountains, you can watch the sun set and the cold mountain air surround you.

Truth Is Like Poetry 7

Problem: Immigration

First, although countries like the United States include the idea of a “melting pot” of cultures, the reality of this is that immigrants typically do not “melt” into society for at least a generation or two if ever.  This causes micro-cultures to form and these micro-cultures create cultural, religious, and social divides within the larger society itself, which in turn cause the undermining of society as a whole. 

Secondly many of the countries, especially those with a large number of asylum seekers (in particular), have personal issues stemming from the countries that they are leaving, that do not coincide with the culture and society in which those seekers are coming.  In short, there is a lot of so-called “baggage” that is foreign and carried into the country in which they are coming.  This includes many things such as ethical, political, and cultural differences that do not coincide with existing ethical, political and cultural systems.  These differences often cause a divide, which tends towards political and social violence.

Third, the influx into a country by large numbers of immigrants and asylum seekers undermine the existing culture, itself being as valuable as any other, changing its form and foundations to be something that it is not without the express consent of those that make up the existing society.  This is not as big a problem in countries such as the United States, where multi-culturalism is theoretically the end goal, “theoretically” being the key word.  There is an ethical component to this, as well as a practical component that needs to be addressed, which is beyond the scope of these short studies.

Fourth, many people who immigrate to the United States (in particular) are not accustomed to the social and economic realities that come with living in such a country.  These people often fail and end up in poverty or in impoverished situations because of their lack of understanding of the social and economic systems in which they migrate.

This problem comes with a caveat, however.  Many of the issues in the poorer countries that people immigrate from have been or are being caused by rich countries, those countries that people tend to immigrate to.  That problem aside, immigration causes these several problems.

See also: problems 1,2,4,5 & 6

Solution: Fair pay, fair prices, and narrowed policies

The reality of large, rich countries is that the corporations in these countries rely upon cheap labor, and it is them, the corporations, that create the motivation and the mode for immigrants, both legal and illegal to immigrate.  These corporations pay slave wages to “illegal” immigrants and often to the contractors they hire as well.

First, the need to regulate corporations and their ability to hire labor at slave wages is imperative.  This includes the corporate movement to immigrate to countries with little or no regulation in order to circumvent more fair practices in the country that they are in.  The immigrants who take these jobs do so for several reasons, but two predominant reasons are the pay scale, horrible as it may be, is better than the pay scale in their own country, and often social conditions are dangerous in their own countries.  However, once immigrated, their rights are limited and so they have no recourse in either country.  This situation, in turn, causes a myriad of other related problems.

Secondly, the public in the rich countries rely, consciously or not, on cheap prices.  Certain chains such as Walmart, Target, and most chain grocery stores, rely upon selling goods, services and food at well below realistic prices.  As the corporations that supply these outlets are regulated, prices will rise.  This, however, is not unfair or surprising.  As long as pricing is artificially low, the market will be contrived.

Lastly, as long as corporate money is interwoven with government policies, immigration policies will not change and the previously stated problems will continue.  However, this aside, government polices do need to be put in place to limit and/or control immigration into countries.  Historically, right or wrong, societies depend upon boundaries to make them civil.  These policies need to be fair to all involved, but strict.

Philosophy Revisited

If there were two concepts that define a healthy, happy and high quality life for all of us those concepts would most likely be happiness and truth, both philosophically difficult but important enough to warrant the work it takes to achieve and understanding of them.

Aristotle’s definition is a great start, but really a test of happiness rather than a definition: happiness is a good in itself.  If we really want to be happy then we must look to understand what it is to be happy.  If your happiness is reliant upon someone or something else it is not truly happiness, but a lesser version of the happiness that we all so desire.  A high quality of happiness is a good in itself.

Truth is perhaps a bit more difficult, but I’ve come to a definition of it that through the years I’ve found is helpful.  [T]ruth is:

The quality of the relationship between the idea of a thing and the thing itself.

So, [T]ruth comes in degrees of quality.  Through the years I’ve claimed that philosophy is the most important human endeavor and have been looked at with incredulity.  But, given this definition of both happiness and [T]ruth and their importance to the quality of our lives philosophy is the only path by which we can understand the quality of those things that we deem most important to us.

The conclusion of this is simply that we must understand the quality of our relationships.  This has the funny and further inductive property of applying to all of our relationships, political and personal; an interesting consequent in itself.

Finish Work

When all else is done, there is finish work.  The details that make a house a home; it is the same details that make life worth living.  But finish work takes time; there are many pieces to be placed, to be sanded slightly, to be fit snug in their place.

Finish work is quiet and it takes time, most often it takes much more time than we might believe.  But finish work is what we walk into each and every day and each and every time we walk into a room.  It is the finish that we see.

Carpentry is life and the finish work that we begin is reliant upon the work we’ve put into our lives in those years that seem to rush by and at the same time slow to a crawl.  In our youth we build a house, sometimes hurriedly, and when we get older we cannot understand why the base boards don’t miter quite right or why the casing won’t quite meet the wall.

In our age and years of living we can no longer rush but are now slowed by the weight of time and it is then we are faced with the finish work in what we have built.  Bad habits show and new habits form even without our knowing.

But it is in the finish that we learn that good enough is not nearly good enough for the finish work that we have to do.

Thank God It’s Friday

It is difficult to portray true sympathy.  The words fail somehow; they become crass or ridiculous.  Language fails often where thought is concerned.  However, it is important, somehow, to express what we feel; especially to those we care about and perhaps more importantly: to ourselves.

Life, it would seem, is very short and it is difficult to be sympathetic to this when the workday seems so long or the weekend so far off.  This, on the other hand, seems to be a failure of thought but the results are the same:

“hump-day…yay!”

“Thank god it’s Friday!”

It is as if we are wishing parts of our lives away.  But we are unable to be sympathetic to the true consequences of doing so.  Those boring days that we wished away are automatically the subject of longing and desire when we realize, in short and few moments, how short life really is.  Sympathy seems important to remember if we are to understand that a beautiful day or a starry night is…well, miraculous.

But our thoughts cannot contain such grandiose ideas and as a result our language fails.  No matter how much we may love, the word “love” will always fall short.  No matter how much we may seem to care, the word “care” never cuts it.

Philosophers have pondered the concept of time and the only objectively real component of temporal ideas: it is the present.  And so, be sympathetic to the present and what it contains, which is the whole universe; something that we may never come to understand.

Pieces and Pictures.

 

As of late, the main job at the farm has been finishing the shop.  “Finishing” has included a hectic schedule of demolition and renovation that has lasted approximately five months.  The job was done alone, and perhaps because of the concentrated reno-work or simply because of the single-handedness there has been an intimate relationship with almost every piece, pipe, and plug in the place.

Now the newly installed floors are being sanded.  Every nook, every cranny, every crack and misplaced joint has been stared down.  The largeness of the job has become a singularity of pieces of a puzzle that is much larger than it seems.  Perspectives change without us knowing.

The fields are unmowed and the barn is filled with “stuff”, seemingly forgotten because of the total concentration on the shop.  However, perspectives change.  The sanding and preparation done, the floors are ready for finishing and the time to broaden perspectives again is now on the horizon.  Perhaps, with a little luck, the farming will come into view soon.

Perhaps soon the nooks and crannies, the cracks and crevices will be forgotten for different puzzles and pieces.  And one day, perhaps, all the pieces will be placed; standing back the picture that was always there, in pieces, will be in full view.  Perspectives change with the pictures that we create.

Space

spaceSpace is amazing thing.  We create things to create space; we place things to create certain spaces and we rely upon people to give us space.  Space surrounds us; it makes up most of the universe and yet we are surrounded by barriers.

Once asked the job of government the answer was simple: to create space for a civilized society.

Once asked why read, the answer was simple: to create space in our minds for imagination.

Why learn?  To create space for curiosity.

Why be curious?  To create space for progress.

We all need space to ourselves and to allow space for others.  This is not just tolerance; we must not tolerate stupidity or incompetence.  But we must leave space for those who do not want to be or to remain stupid; to be or to remain incompetent.

There must be space for them and the change that they search for in the space that they live in.

There must be space for change; and it is in the spaces that we create that life happens.

Art

black-hole 2

A musician searchs for intertwining melodies, chordal movements, and counterpointed lines to paint a mental picture or to tell a story that can only be understood through sound.

A painter splashes paint, dabs color, carefuly inundates the canvas with lines of imagination, shapes of surreal dreams, looking for the picture that is indelible, cemented in his mind.

The poet draws words from the canvas of language and rhythm; memories are real, and reality as clear as the words on the page. The black and white of paper and pen the most beautiful of all.

The philosopher searches for the illusive truth, the difficult understanding and the never-ending hunt for reason. The art is euphoric and personal but applies to the world.

The farmer wakes with the dawning sun and looks over mother nature. His animals await, his plants sit silently in the morning light. Pitchfork in hand, plough on horse, the farmer smells the earth, the manure, the life that he creates.

The teacher draws in the coffee smells and pulls up papers, hoping for the spark of intelligence. Eager faces look for guidance, and the teacher looks for secrets that we call learning.

The carpenter draws a blade across the wood and puts his nose to the newly planed plank. Timber becomes lumber and lumber becomes the necessities of life.

If only…if only perfection were found in art. Then, and only then, the artists could rest their weary heads and contemplate the perfection in their hearts.

The Silence of Space

space II

Much of this blog has centered upon the goal of self-sufficiency, but little do we realize that such goals come with their own baggage.  No matter what the goal we have, it will pale in comparison to the idea of that goal.  This is simply a reality rather than a judgement.  The idea is so opaque, so brittle in its nature; easily breakable but it is the only solid ground we have to stand upon if we are to succeed.

If to simplify we must complicate, then to achieve a goal we must have an idea of that goal . Perhaps the most important act (it does come down to action) is to move forward while remembering the past; to complicate in order to simplify.  But again, remembering the past complicates the very simplicity that we desire.  It does sound so encumbered, so esoteric.    How can self-sufficiency be so complicated?  It is because that while life is simple, to act is complicated.

We must all light upon a surface and look around; we must all settle in the security of knowing that the life that we lead is not only up to us, but up to our realizing that there is no ideal.  We must acknowledge the silent moments and learn from them what we can; they are so few and far between.

So, as I feed the animals I must take the time to consider them.  When I work in the garden, I must look for those moments between the weeds that give me happiness.  When I work a piece of wood, I must follow the history of the grains of the tree that it is made of.  When I look up, I must realize that in the end we are self-sufficient like it or not; realize it or not.  The silence of space reminds me of that, and the act becomes complicated.

The Human Condition

human condition

Always remember that sometimes it is your expectations that are the problem, they can hold you back.  This sounds counterintuitive, but think about it: it is old philosophical news that we act upon our emotional rather than rational motivations.  Our expectations are often our long and hard sought rational musings over possible situations, and when we finally act those musings often do not coincide with how we feel.

But should we, as rational beings , act upon our emotions?  Our intellect informs us that we are acting emotionally and tries to override how we feel with what we think. Do we act or do we think?  We are capable of both, but eventually we will act upon our emotions.

This is problematic for rational-capable beings such as humans.  We think knowing all along that we will act emotionally: we have no choice.  We know that we will act emotionally and that knowledge is not enough: this is the secret.

Our expectations will always be squandered, they will never be met because they are the product of our understanding.  My friend, Chris Ransick, and I have often debated (over scotch of course) terminology (he is a poet and I a philosopher/farmer).  I think that we are arguing this exact point: the intellect is our ticket to freewill, but we will consistently act emotionally knowing that we give up our freewill.

This is not a new discussion, it is centuries old in philosophy, and it will continue even given the knowledge that how we feel will determine the outcomes of what we think.  This, I believe, is the human condition: we must continue to think seriously about what we feel and why we feel that way.