Doubting Might Be a Good Tactic

 

"The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts and the stupid ones are full of confidence."
- Charles Bukowski

"The fundamental cause of the trouble in the modern world is that the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt."
- Bertrand Russell

“I like the scientific spirit—the holding off, the being sure but not too sure, the willingness to surrender ideas when the evidence is against them: this is ultimately fine—it always keeps the way beyond open—always gives life, thought, affection, the whole man, a chance to try over again after a mistake—after a wrong guess.” 
- Walt Whitman

“Tell people there's an invisible man in the sky who created the universe, and the vast majority will believe you. Tell them the paint is wet, and they have to touch it to be sure.”
-  George Carlin

“Doubt is an uncomfortable condition, but certainty is a ridiculous one.”
-  Voltaire

An Old Philosopher's Notebooks   
By Michael Garofalo

Pragmatism and American Philosophy

Reasonable vs Unreasonable Doubt

Downturns of the Soul

I finished reading "The Existentialist's Survival Guide" (How to Live Authentically in an Inauthentic Age) by Gordon Marino, PhD, 2018. It delves into the lives' of persons who are sad, moody, discontented, anxious, depressed, despairing, guilty, self-hating, fearing death, sorrowful ... and how they might bravely deal with these darker conditions according to various Existentialists, especially the Christian apologist, Soren Kierkegaard.  These Existentialists are typically quite critical of comfortable contentment, bourgeois conformity, and ordinary "happiness." Mr. Marino is knowledgeable, a skilled writer, down-to-earth, and offers numerous good insights into these themes. 

"After a public fray with a popular newspaper, Kierkegaard, an inveterate walker, would be stalked by Copenhagen street urchins, teasingly yelling at him "Enten/Eller"---Either/Or. Either faith or unbelief.  According to Kierkegaard, the choice between the sacred and the profane is not one that reason can make.  Put another way, if you put all your faith in reason, you have made your choice.  Conversely, where faith is concerned, it involves a terrible clash.  This is the proverbial fallen tree on the path Kierkegaard repeatedly stresses."  - Gordon Marino, p. 237

"In Kierkegaard's time and much more so in our own, there is a tendency to reduce religion to either a gauzy form of spirituality or to something akin to philosophy for dummies --- good, uplifting, and yet untenable stories that would be better served by science and argument."
- Gordon Marino, p. 238

"The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furl'd.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world."
- Matthew Arnold, "Dover Beach,"  

Sincerity and Authenticity by Lionel Trilling

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise and Respected Persons

Virtue Ethics

Stoic Lifestyle Traits

 Positive Behaviors, Actions, Habits or Virtues for Stoics

"The qualities you can offer, then, are those that are entirely up to you: candor, dignity, endurance, indifference to pleasure, acceptance of your lot, frugality, kindness, self-reliance, unaffectedness, discretion, stateliness."
- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Notebook 5.5

"Can what happened to you stop you from being fair, high-minded, moderate, conscientious, unhasty, honest, moral, self-reliant, and so on."
Meditations, Notebook 4.49

Simplicity, calmness, peace of mind, composed, practical, social, tranquility, serenity, awareness ...

All Taijiquan and Qigong teachers place strong emphasis upon character and moral development.  There are many statements of codes of conduct for serious taijiquan martial artists.  In my opinion, the key intellectual, philosophical, and moral sources for current Taijiquan and Qigong players are Buddhism, Taoism, TCM, and Stoicism.  

My recent reading in the Summer 2023 of the Stoics includes:  

The Obstacle is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph. By Rayan Holiday. Portfolio, 2013, 224 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.

Stillness Is the Key. By Ryan Holiday. Portfolio, 2019, 288 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.

Ego is the Enemy. By Ryan Holiday. Portfolio, 2016, 256 pages. VSCL, Hardbound.

Lives of the Stoics: The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius. By Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Portfolio, 2020, 352 pages. FVRLibrary.

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living. By Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Portfolio, 2016, 416 pages. VSCL, Hardbound. 

My reading in the Autumn of 2022 of the Stoics included:  

Meditatons: The Annotated Edition. Translated, introduced and edited by Robin Waterfield. New York, Basic Books, 2021, 326 pages. Introduction, bibliography, notes, annotations. VSCL. 

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living. By Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Portfolio, 2016, 416 pages. VSCL. 

How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. By Massimo Pigliucci. 288 pages, 2013. VSCL.

The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual. By Ward Farnsworth. Goldine, 2018, 256 pages. VSCL. 

Virtue Ethics

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

Stoicism: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Notes

Seven Clear Functions of the Mind

"The proper work of the mind is the exercise of choice, refusal, yearning, repulsion, preparation, purpose, and assent.  What then can pollute and clog the mind's proper functioning.  Nothing but it own corrupt decisions."

- Epictetus, Discourses, 4.11.6-7.

"Let's break down each one of those tasks:

Choice - To do and think right
Refusal - Of temptations
Yearning - To be better
Repulsion - Of negativity, of bad influences, of what isn't true
Preparation - For what lies ahead or whatever may happen
Purpose - Our guiding principle and highest priority
Assent - To be free of deception about what's inside and outside our control (and be ready to accept the latter."

- Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic, p.15

My recent reading of the Stoics includes:  

Meditatons: The Annotated Edition. Translated, introduced and edited by Robin Waterfield. New York, Basic Books, 2021, 326 pages. Introduction, bibliography, notes, annotations. VSCL. 

The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living. By Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman. Portfolio, 2016, 416 pages. VSCL. 

How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. By Massimo Pigliucci. 288 pages, 2013. VSCL.

The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User's Manual. By Ward Farnsworth. Goldine, 2018, 256 pages. VSCL. 

Virtue Ethics

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

Stoicism: Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Notes

Can You Explain Your Reasoning?

 "Rationality is not just a matter of having some reasons for what one does, but of aligning one's beliefs, actions, and evaluations effectively with the best or strongest available reasons.  It pivots on doing that which, everything considered, one is "well advised" to do.  The matter of giving or following the course of intelligent and responsible advice is the crux of rationality.  There is nothing complex or arcane about the sorts of considerations that determine good and cogent reasons in this regard.  It is a matter of the sort of things that conduce to one's real advantage, to one's best interests.  This is a matter of furthering the full and rewarding life, preeminently involving the sort of things that make us happier and/or better persons in what relates to our benefit and the benefit of those who do and should matter for us (our family, community, and fellows at large, and the advancement of our individual and communal values.)  Practical rationality thus calls for appropriate resolutions intelligently arrived at and sensibly implemented.  It is geared to the sensible pursuit of appropriate ends.  The idea of optimization, of seeking for the best among visibly available alternatives, lies at the very core of rationality."
-  Nicholas Rescher, A System of Pragmatic Idealism, Volume I  1992, p.9

The Thinker's Way to Solve Problems

Have I accepted the problem?
What do I know about the problem?
How can I define the problem?
What are the alternatives?
What are the advantages and/or disadvantages of each alternative?
What is the solution?
How well is the solution working?

-  John Chaffee, The Thinker's Way: 8 Steps to a Richer Life,  1998

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

Thinking like Alfred North Whitehead

 Some Principles of Alfred North Whitehead's Thinking

1. Question the assumptions of your community, your society, your religion, your science, your educational institutions, especially those that are rarely mentioned.
2. Question the dominant media, asking who controls it and what they want you to think.
3. Recognize that a serious answer to any important question brings into view lots of other questions.
4. When people appeal to mystery, consider that it may be mystification.  Push critical thought as far as you can.
5.  Recognize that the wider range of influences on an event or person that you consider, the better you understand that event or person.
6.  Recognize that the broader you consideration of the context and of the likely consequences of your action, the better chance that you will make the right choice.
7.  Realize that all your ideas and values are influenced by your particular situation, but refuse to conclude that for this reason they can be dismissed as merely "relative."
8.  Recognize that there may be no actions that are completely harmless, but do not let that prevent you for acting decisively.
9.  Understand that compassion is the most basic aspect of our experience, and seek to liberate and extend your compassion to all with which you come in contact.
10. Deepen you commitments to your own immediate communities, but always remember that other communities make similar demands on their members.  Let you ultimate commitment be all-inclusive."
-  By John B. Cobb, Jr., What would Whitehead Think?   

Process Philosophy

How to Live a Good Life: Advice From Wise Persons

Alfred North Whitehead

Belief in Telekinetic Minds

 

“The idea of God as telekinetic mind with intelligence, knowledge, plans, preferences, control over events, etc., is completely unacceptable to me. This is obviously human projection taking thousands of highly elaborated cultural forms. Yet I have, in dire straits –in foxhole conditions you might say—experienced the feeling that I can only describe as my life or fate being in the hands of God.  Like William James, I think there is religious experience and related forms of so-called mystical experience that are moving and meaningful. I just don’t believe in supernatural persons, and I think the forms of fear, hope, antipathy and confidence that the major world religions stimulate in people are more destructive than constructive.”
-  Catherine Wilson

Epircureanism

Epicureanism at the Origins of Modernity By Catherine Wilson. Oxford University Press, 2008. Index, bibliography, 304 pages. A study of Epicurean influences on many of the ideas that pervaded seventeenth and eighteenth century metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and natural and political philosophy. VSCL.

Temptations - An Open Door

 

Test, try, experiment - within reason.
Manage your pleasures and desires.

Be open to thinking and feeling in new ways.
Sometimes ignore what other people tell you to do or not to do.
Old values are not necessarily better values.
What is "bad" in one generation may be "good" in later times.
Enjoy the pleasure of eating apples.
When someone tells you not to ask, sometimes ask and ask again.
With only one life to live - be bolder.
Don't resist the temptation to improve, to change, to grow.
Like water, enjoy going downhill in new directions.
Embrace intellectual pleasures.
Be suspicious of people who talk too much about guilt and punishment.
Some failures are inevitable, just get up and move on.
Thinking and doing are often more advantageous than believing.
Many people associate sexual pleasure with 'sinfulness': nonsense.
Succumb to temptations to laugh more often.
If you can't take advantage of temptations then you are not free.
Remember what works for you.
When your tempted to be compassionate, act on the impulse.
- Mike Garofalo, Pulling Onions


"Do you really think it is weakness that yields to temptation? I tell you that there are terrible temptations which it requires strength, strength and courage to yield to."
- Oscar Wilde

"The trouble with resisting temptation is it may never come your way again."
- Korman's Law

"For every man there exists a bait which he cannot resist swallowing."
- Friedrich Nietzsche

"If we resist our passions, it is more because of their weakness than because of our strength."
- François, duc de La Rochefoucauld

"Most people want to be delivered from temptation but would like it to keep in touch."
- Robert Orben

"What makes resisting temptation difficult for many people is they don't want to discourage it completely."
- Franklin P. Jones

"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones."
- John Maynard Keynes

"If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down, but the staying down."
- Mary Pickford

"The most useless are those who never change through the years."
- James Barrie




Willpower, Resolve, Determination, Progress

Senses

Epicureans and Hedonists

One Old Philosopher's Notebooks

Pleasures

Why Should I Live?

     "In the very act of asking that question, you are seeking reasons for your convictions, and so you are committed to reason as the means to discover and justify what is important to you.  And there are so many reasons to live!

     As a sentient being, you have the potential to flourish.  You can refine your faculty of reason itself by learning and debating.  You can seek explanations of the natural world through science, and insight into the human condition through the arts and humanities.  You can make the most of your capacity for pleasure and satisfaction, which allowed your ancestors to thrive and thereby allowed you to exist.  You can appreciate the beauty and richness of the natural and cultural world.  As the heir to billions of years of life perpetuating itself, you can perpetuate life in return.  You have been endowed with a sense of sympathy─the ability to like, love, respect, and show kindness─and you can enjoy the gift of mutual benevolence with friends, family, and colleagues.

     And because reason tells you that none of this is particular to you, you have the responsibility to provide to others what you expect for yourself.  You can foster the welfare of other sentient beings by enhancing life, health, knowledge, freedom, abundance, safety, beauty, and peace.  History shows that when we sympathize with others and apply our ingenuity to improving the human condition, we can make progress in doing so, and you can help to continue that progress."

-  Stephen Pinker.  Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress.  Penguin Books, 2018, p. 4.  

[Dr. Pinker was asked this question "Why should I live?" by a young woman at a public lecture he was giving.]

How to Live a Good Life: Advice from Wise and Respected Persons

Bertrand Russell's 10 Rules of Thinking

 1: Do not feel absolutely certain of anything.

2: Do not think it worthwhile to produce belief by concealing evidence, for the evidence is sure to come to light.

3: Never try to discourage thinking, for you are sure to succeed.

4: When you meet with opposition, even if it should be from your husband or your children, endeavor to overcome it by argument and not by authority, for a victory dependent upon authority is unreal and illusory.

5: Have no respect for the authority of others, for there are always contrary authorities to be found.

6: Do not use power to suppress opinions you think pernicious, for if you do the opinions will suppress you.

7: Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.

8: Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.

9: Be scrupulously truthful, even when truth is inconvenient, for it is more inconvenient when you try to conceal it.

10. Do not feel envious of the happiness of those who live in a fool’s paradise, for only a fool will think that it is happiness.

Is Carrying a Concealed Weapon Unsafe?

I got into a Facebook discussion with advocates of CCW (Carrying Concealed Weapons).  They offered training in gun handling and gave you what looked like a police badge to carry around.  

I asked: “Does anyone know how many gun carrying persons either shoot themselves by accident, or their children shoot themselves by accident, or shoot an innocent person through negligence or by accident; as opposed to shooting or making a citizens arrest of another person in a case of legitimate self-defense?  I'd wager that the former case far out weights the latter. Seems rather unsafe, unnecessary, and unwise to be carrying around a loaded weapon in your waistband.”

It is simply a question that requires a rational assessment of risk vs rewards/benefits.  

I am not discussing the “right to own arms or bear arms.”  I am not discussing hunters in the woods, or the few folks living in the wilderness.  

The responses to me were varied, often irrational, and off the point: get out of the country, you are irresponsible, you don't know, policemen carry guns and don’t shoot themselves, get a life, my "rights," etc.  

There are legitimate cases where a person needs to carry a concealed loaded gun based on dangerous occupations, dangerous work areas, safety, security, etc..  Hopefully, they are trained and very responsible, and, I prefer, licensed and insured. 

Many people own guns, but keep them safely locked up in their homes.  I’m a veteran and own guns, but keep them at home.  

I think the vast majority of Americans think the risks of carrying a loaded gun in their waistband or purse are far greater than the benefits or advantages.  The vast majority see no need to carry a loaded gun in their waistband or purse into the workplace, supermarket, church, school, barber shop, restaurant, gas station, hospital, library, repair shop, retail stores, a park, on a drive in the country, etc.  

Every year in America, over 100,000 people are shot with a gun.  

Most people don’t like to be around people carrying loaded weapons in public; and, rightly or wrongly, associate such concealed weapon carriers (CCW) with criminals, hot heads, loose cannons, paranoid people, bullies, misguided folks, or people with a pretentious hero complex. Many States have passed laws against non-licensed and unauthorized persons CCW.  Most of the responses to CCW Facebook books are against the idea.  The clear FACT is that the vast majority of Americans DO NOT carry a concealed weapon on their waistband or purse because they think it to be unsafe, unnecessary, and somewhat disrespectful of common social customs.    

One CCW post stated that it would be a "miscue" to get angry and make a mistake and misjudge another person and threaten them with a loaded gun or shoot them.  A "miscue"??  More like a criminal offence: brandishing a weapon, aggravated assault, criminal negligence, or manslaughter.  

Currently, some Republicans in the U.S. Congress are proposing bills to expand the ability of citizens to carry concealed weapons.  The NRA lobby, gun and bullet makers, and some citizens support this idea.  I do not.  

To drive an automobile you must meet age and many other legal requirements, be trained, pass tests, receive a valid licence, register your vehicle, purchase insurance, keep you car properly maintained, and follow all the rules and laws of the road.  I want to see the same kind of controls and requirements for carrying loaded weapons in public.  Cars and negligent drivers can injure, maim, or kill people. Guns and negligent users can injure, maim, or kill people.  Apply the same sensible social controls and regulations to both.  


Over 2,200 years ago, the sage, Lao Tzu, wrote down in the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 80, some advice on this matter.  

Though you have armor and weapons enough
Have no reason to parade them.

Though there are arms and soldiers,
There is no occasion to stage public reviews.

And, though there are weapons,
People do not carry them.

Although there are weapons and armours,
There are no occasions to display them.

There may be armour and weaponry yet they will sit collecting dust



Another perspective on this question of risk vs reward/benefit is the issue of statistics.  These statistics, if true, should make you think, and keep matters in perspective:

Celebration in Honor of Epicurus

On February 4th we honor the memory of Epicurus (341-270 BCE), the founder (Hegemon) of the school of philosophy in Athens, Greece, that we now call "Epicureanism."  His school was called "The Garden" (Ho Kepos).

His followers celebrated together in his honor on the 10th of Gamelion.  Gamelion was a lunar period of the Attic Calendar used by the ancient Athenian Greeks. Gamelion was the period in January or February, each Winter, occurring  after a full moon.  Consequently, the celebration of the life and philosophy of Epicurus was a movable feast.  Vincent Cook reports that Epicurus was born on February 4th.

I am content to use February 4th for the purpose of honoring the memory of Epicurus.  Friends of Epicurus, please celebrate and enjoy yourself today.  Epicurus would have encouraged us to: enjoy wholesome pleasures, be cheerful, have peace of mind (ataraxia), be uplifted by our decent friendships, practice kind speech (suavity), find beauty and factuality in the natural world, respect our bodies and our senses, flourish as human beings (eudaimonia), cultivate wisdom through good conversation, reasoning and reading, and let go of superstitious and false beliefs.  We tip our hats to the founder and master! 

Recommended Reading about Epicureanism and Epicurus

Virtue Ethics

A Philosopher's Notebooks


“Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search of it when he has grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. And to say that the season for studying philosophy has not yet come, or that it is past and gone, is like saying that the season for happiness is not yet or that it is now no more. Therefore, both old and young alike ought to seek wisdom, the former in order that, as age comes over him, he may be young in good things because of the grace of what has been, and the latter in order that, while he is young, he may at the same time be old, because he has no fear of the things which are to come. So we must exercise ourselves in the things which bring happiness, since, if that be present, we have everything, and, if that be absent, all our actions are directed towards attaining it.” 
-  Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus