Kevin's Watch

Not sure if there's a name for it, but I believe that everything is perfect, rather than the opposite. Despite that objects may have a likeness (mass-produced chairs, for instance), there will be a factor (a mark, a dent, something) that separates chair A from chair B. That uniqueness is so great that chair A is a perfect model of chair A, unable to be matched or duplicated in its absolute uniqueness. Of course, maybe there are things in the universe that are perfectly alike, but I'm not aware of them.

Anyway. Just a hopeful "everything is special" philosophy of mine. I suppose it's the antithesis of Plato's "there is one ideal chair" line of thought. More philosophies to come.

The philosophy I live by: Pessimism. Why? Because I will always be either (1) right or (2) pleasantly surprised.

I suppose it counters Foul's philosophy, too: Never expect the best, because nothing is perfect. Nothing is special. You are not special. Get over it.

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:The philosophy I live by: Pessimism. Why? Because I will always be either (1) right or (2) pleasantly surprised.

Wow.
Seriously.
I don't know what to say.
I've been living that way and saying those same words for most of my life.
It's both weird and heartening seeing someone say the same thing.

Parts of my philosophy can be summed up in catch phrases from other sources such as:

Hunter S. Thompson, "It's not weird enough for me yet.",

William James, and other bastardizations (such as Elvis Costello), "I used to be disgusted, now I'm merely amused.",

Prof. Irwin Corey (the comedian, and older sources), "Where ever you go, there you are."

and Bertran Russell, Buckminster Fuller and Alan Watts who esentially all said. "No two individuals view the universe the same way."

This is a good thread Foul.

Of late, I have been exploring my own "personal philosophy" a lot. So I don't have a set one, yet. But here are some of my thoughts:

"If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things." - René Descartes (1596-1650)

Like many other people interested in philosophy I, like Descartes has said, try to "doubt all things."

The other great quote from Descartes is the famous maxim: "I think; therefore, I am."

Essentially, I believe in the fundamental "goodness" of the universe - that evil and wrong are all purgations of what life and existence are all about; that what we think is "wrong" is quite literally "wrong" - something that isn't in-tune with the Universe.

I am also a deist, and believe a God is the center of this Good Universe.

I may seem naieve, and overly-optimistic, but that is what I think life is.

I have my whole life ahead of me to pursue such philosophical questions. I will try to live my life as Krishnamurti writes:

You must understand the whole of life, not just
one little part of it. That is why you must read,
that is why you must look at the skies, that is
why you must sing and dance, and write poems,
and suffer, and understand, for all that is life.

I've never really considered myself as having a philosophy. I spend far to much time thinking about how things work inside my own head to wonder about the world outside it.
I suppose you might say I think that the self - one's own mind, one's thoughts and actions - are the most important things in life.
But on the other hand, constant self-analysis doesn't really constitute a philosophy.

Murrin wrote:one's own mind, one's thoughts and actions - are the most important things in life.

You must be a very disciplined person: one day I tried to be "mindful" of everything I did...and about ten years before that I attempted to not pass judgements on anything. Needless to say those efforts left me completely exhausted.

I meant more in the sense of understanding them than trying to control them, heh. Maybe I should have left out 'actions'? I dunno, it just seemed like they all went together.

An interesting topic indeed.

Despite having been a student of philosphy, I can't really claim any particular view as being the one that I agree with. In fact, there's something I disagree with in pratically any philosophy I've ever read. Contrari-wise, I can usually find some aspect that I agree with as well.

I like Danlo's views the most so far in this thread, the two most vital things are amusement and perspective. One man's meat and all that.

I like to believe in a lot of things, but just because I do, doesn't make them true, or real, or important.

I think my view combines Alynna's pessimism, with Lord Mhoram's optimism. The optimisim, the belief that everything is special, is what I like to belief. The pessimism, the view that nothing is special, is what my rational mind usually suggests, along with the probability that oblivion is all that we face.

Perhaps it is that everything is equally special, but just how special that is, is up for debate.

If the truth is anywhere, then it is everywhere.

--Avatar

[God] grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. -----Reinhold Niebuhr, 1926

That about sums it up for me.
I deliberately placed God in [] because of the fact that some days are easier than others for me to believe there is a God. Yes, I am a flip-flop believer.

The acceptance is the easy part.
The courage is a bit more hidden.
The wisdom likes to hide around corners. Just when I think I've got it, it disappears around another.

my philosophy (if you can call it that) is one of gettng through life as comfortably as possible.

This means I've looked at the world, seen how it is and tied to work out a path through it that will result in a combination of least pain/effort for most pleasure/gain. This does include things like self-respect and a sense of duty, though, so I couldn't, for example, live off social security handouts, because I wouldn't consider that pleasurable.

Happiness.

The happier a life has been, the more successful that life has been. Therefore, the actions of an individual should serve the purpose of increasing ones own happiness (over the course of a life. An action that gives momentary pleasure but overall will make your life less happy is a bad action to take).

That is at the heart of my philosophy. Everything else follows, and is subject to that goal. If something is going to make my life happier, then I believe it is morally correct for me to take that action, regardless of what effect it has on other people.

Of course, damaging something I value, such as friends or family, is likely to make me unhappy.

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:The philosophy I live by: Pessimism. Why? Because I will always be either (1) right or (2) pleasantly surprised.

I, on the other hand, believe that expectation influences outcome. What's more, it's proven by quantum physics.

To some extent, you create you own reality, based on your expectations. If you expect good things, you'll get them.

Edge,

That doesn't explain plain bad luck though.

Lord Mhoram,

There's no such thing as luck, good or bad. We get what we expect.

Edge,

Really? Always? I think that certainly, in some cases, there is just simple bad luck: Bad stuff just happens to good people. Did my friend expect his parents to die in a car crash at the age of 6? No, but it can be classified as bad luck, yes? [/off-topic]

Everything happens for a reason.

There are no accidents.

We choose our parents.

...some New Age pap, but I tend to agree...

danlo,

I too can agree with that. Edge, however, said that "We get what we expect," which IMO is totally untrue.

Ok... 'we get what we expect' is an oversimplification, particularly regarding circumstances where multiple people have conflicting expectations. I didn't think that through very well, and I apologise for that.

But I still uphold the basic principle of 'expectations influence outcome'.

In other words we are our own self-fulling prophesies? hmmm....