Personal Life Philosophy

I dont trust philosophies instead I put my trust in logic and reason. If I did consider it as a philosophy it would be to get on with my own life the best way I can, to help others where I can, to forgive others, and to learn, understand, and question everything. I live by my own rules, and choose not to conform. I cant go back to yesterday because I was a different person then and continue to change and grow. Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected outcome, if things dont go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but thats like and those that do come out stronger. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And thats where you want to be. Try not to take anything serious because nothing is meant to. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously. Dont limit yourself by setting a specific way of life and searching to find Weltanshauung. In doing so you assert that there is no other source of knowledge of the universe but the intellectual manipulation of carefully veiwed observations and that no knowledge can be obtained from revelation, intuition or inspiration. When we conform to just one certain way of living we miss out on some of the good things life has to offer. There is not one answer that explains this world and when we limit ourselves to finding that one answer we miss all the other answers around us. We must allow ourselves to learn and not push new ideas away just because they dont fit into our

way. We deny ourselves of the knowledge and wonders of the world. I am thrilled to be alive at a time when humanity is pushing against the limits of understanding. To grow as a person we constantly need to be learning of the truths around us and not just believe what others may tell us. When what you hear and what you see do not match, trust your eyes. It is inadmissible to declare that science is one field of human intellect and that religion and philosophy are another. They all have an equal claim to truth and everyone is free to choose his own convictions and what he believes in. However, truth cannot be tolerant and admit compromise or limitations, and must adopt an uncompromisingly critical attitude towards any other power that seeks to seize any part of its authority. Truth is not a fully objective matter independent of ourselves or our thoughts. Instead it is constrained by our abilities to verify, and is thus constrained by our personal situations. Abrahamic religions are used to make people feel like lowly sinners, encouraging low self-esteem, while at the same time leading them to believe that their creator genuinely cares for them, thus inflating their sense of self-importance. The only reason many religions patrons try to be good is to gain Gods approval and reward, or to avoid his disapproval and punishment. Living for someone else is not really living. We should all learn about different faiths, and notice our own incompatibility, and draw up our own conclusions about the consequences of that incompatibility. One of the truly bad effects of religion is that it teaches us that it is a virtue to be satisfied with not understanding.

I can forgive, but I cannot forget, is only another way of saying I will not forgive. The willingness to forgive is one of the great virtues to which we all should aspire to achieve. The standard view of forgiveness is a process of overcoming moral anger or other unhappy reactive attitudes suggests that people who have been wronged form judgments about those who wrong them. But to truly forgive the process involves overcoming negative reactive attitudes caused by and directed at a wrongdoer and also involves revising, modifying, or abandoning such critical moral judgments. Be the one who nurtures and builds. Be the one who has an understanding and forgiving heart, the one who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them. Every time you forgive, the universe changes; every time you reach out and touch a heart or a life, the world changes; with every kindness and service, seen or unseen, purposes are accomplished and nothing will be the same again. Once I thought that to be human was the highest aim a man could have, but I see now that it was meant to destroy me. (H. Miller, 1934) Love is our most unifying and empowering common spiritual denominator. The more we ignore its potential to bring greater balance and deeper meaning to human existence, the more likely we are to continue to define history of mans inhumanity to man. Strive to find the good in others and help them find the good in themselves. Spend your time helping others in their despair and poor offerings. Learn to be open to other views and the good of them. A person needs a basic trust of life and humanity in order to allow all this to happen, to believe more in human goodness than he or she fears. This person has to trust that most people are good people. Trust in ones own intuition as well as

humanitys character is also a must. The moment you stop trying to become a better person, is the moment you start to become worse than what you already are. This is what you shall do; love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body. (Whitman, W. 1871) This is one of my favorite quotes by Walt Whitman. At the beginning he talks about loving all things of nature and to stand up to the stupid and crazy. This fits in with what I talked about before about humanity and love. We need to treat others as we would like to be treated and stand up for those who cant do it themselves. Feel one with nature and become a part of it instead of fighting against it. He also mentions to argue but not about God. I agree with this statement more that any other. Faith is such a touchy subject with so many people including myself. I dont see myself as religious, but very spiritual. Learn about each other and accept each other as we are. Dismiss whatever insults your soul to me means to look past negativity and

what others may think of you. What matters is how you feel about yourself and if you dont like what you see then change it and become the person of your own potential and limits. He tells us to re-examine everything that we have been told, which is something we should all be doing all the time. Dont take things at face value and dig deeper. You may surprise yourself at what you find and what you can learn. There are no limits to knowledge and never will we know everything, but we shouldnt stop trying. The more knowledge we have the more accepting we become and the more rounded we are in our thoughts and actions. .

Bibliography
Freud, S. (1933) New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis Hogarth

Press
Hitchens, C. (2007) Got is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

Twelve
Dawkins, R. (2006) The God Delusion Mariner Books Miller, H. (1934) Tropic of Cancer Obelisk Press Whitman, W. (1871) Democratic Vistas University of Virginia