Self Principles

[ZeaLitY]

My new semester has brought me into contact with some literature that's pretty arrogant and jargon-riddled. It's frustrated to read something communicated poorly, but it's even more frustrated to read something communicated poorly that's written with pure intellectual arrogance and convolution. While reading for my curriculum tonight, I asked myself what clear likes and principles of mine made it so bitter-tasting to read this stuff, and came up with four self "principles" (or some other applicable word):

Don't respect authority, and don't fail to question everything.

This world is a product of what others have made it. The "others" are human beings, who are fallible and act with self-interest. Their actions and words together create the observable state of affairs, but by no means is this a reflection of the underlying reality you'd like to understand. Question everything; see beyond labels, public relations, and historical gestures. Most people feel the problem of government and economics are too complex for them to understand, and that's partly because of the environment of discourse about them: filled with agendas, fallacies, self-promoting or demonizing labels, and other illusions. Well, hear everything; trust nothing.

Your level of inquisitiveness should vary with what you're trying to understand, of course; don't become so open-minded your brains fall out or so perniciously incredulous that you create a bubble of what you want to believe.

Generalizations are ultimately a failure of thought, not a success.

Generalizations are a convenient way to rapidly get a tenable hold on a situation, like a wrench that's not exactly the right size for a bolt but fits enough to twist it. But ultimately, generalizations are a failure of intellect, because reality is made of both the underlying, tiny factors that create something and its summary nature (from which the generalization is taken). It's better to have a command of both. It's also bad to get too comfortable in generalizations, because times and people change. If you really want to understand something, dig deeper into the contributing variables.

Everything is simple, and one should always strive to simplify, simplify, and simplify even more, and communicate this simplicity.

Every phenomenon reduces to science, and every human affair reduces to the human element, which reduces to science again. There is nothing sentience cannot grasp or understand, given enough time and effort (just like James Burke said in his series Connections). Complexity is is just a problem of misperception or misidentification of something, or an illusion that students of something new may perceive as they start to wrap their minds around their field.

Faith is a good example. Major religions are plagued by massive internal inconsistencies and differences of opinion on theology. There are different sets of scriptures, interpretations, rituals, traditions, and perspectives, all forming an irreconcilably complex web of confusion and contradiction. The simple answer is that it's all bullshit. Religion is a tradition of ever-changing and expatiated mythology, contributed to by many different people. And even the best writers are fallible, sometimes committing plot holes (or int he self-help genre, providing an erroneous prescription for action). Let your only master be the truth, and let Occam's razor and the scientific method be your machete to cut through the jungles of convolution.

Bruce Lee wrote much about human potential and actualization; while most know about his martial arts film career, they're unaware that he majored in philosophy and was a voracious reader, filling rooms of his homes with walls of books. He also believed that truth was ultimately simple, even if its simplicity made it tough at first to completely understand. As part of his writings, he stressed:

The height of cultivation runs to simplicity. Halfway cultivation runs to ornamentation... Research your own experience; absorb what is useful, reject what is useless and add what is essentially your own... It is not daily increase but daily decrease -- hack away the unessential! The closer to the source, the less wastage there is.

This is the marking of an adaptable, curious mind. If you don't understand something, look at it from another perspective. Research its roots and origins. Empathize with it, or make your arguments in opposition to it so that you may learn from the responses (or, if you are correct, share your findings). Use what works for you, and discard what doesn't; keep growing and being self-aware. Believe in your ability to understand. You have a brain; don't put limits on it.

Create immediately an atmosphere of freedom so that you can live and find out for yourselves what is true, so that you are able to face the world with the ability to understand it, not just conform to it. One can tell for oneself whether the water is warm or cold. In the same way, a man must convince himself about these experiences; only then are they real.

I dare not say I have reached any state of achievement. I'm still learning, for learning is boundless.

Humanity's manifest destiny is illumination.

Some may disagree, but this is the course I've set for humanity. The human race will have a conclusion, just as its risen from humble, animal origins over thousands of years. That ascent will continue. Humans will augment their knowledge and themselves; they'll explore the stars with high technology; they'll seek to learn all they can about the universe and themselves, and transcend humanity to achieve higher sentience. This is humanism (and these days, "transhumanism" is becoming another boon). This is the direction humanity is going, despite a few stumbling steps.

To frame all of human affairs and arguments in the context of human nature and this manifest destiny of illumination is to gain a solid foundation of understanding of things. When I first read the Constitution, I asked, "pursuit of happiness—but what is happiness?" Without awareness of a conclusion, or meaning (excluding even meaning assigned by religion, like "life exists to get to heaven"), this world is nothing but a population of frail life-forms who run about day to day in search of some fleeting pleasure. Everything begins with desire, whether conscious or biological; the "pursuit of happiness" is allowing these desires to compete for fulfillment.

I know humanity is more than that. All our efforts to reduce inequality and injustice; to educate and learn about this world and ourselves; to answer the cosmological questions of the universe and find our own meaning in this existence—it's all a forward process to our "enlightenment" as sentient beings, and beyond. To stand back, and accept human nature—for all its savagery and cruelty, as well as its passion, love, and altruism—and to desire still improvement and more understanding—that's meaningful and insightful, and that's what's going to happen. It's excelsior; it's the springtime of youth; it's the stars beckoning the children of earth to discover all the wonders of the world, within and without them.

To examine social issues and the human condition through this lens is humanism, transcendent of culture, tradition, religion, and belief. It ushers much into view about the beauty of humanity and our environment, and it allows one to debate and strive with a clear goal and metric in mind. It is acceptance and striving both; serenity and ambition.



Let's see what's out there.

~

Those are some of the things that guide my thought processes.

[FaustWolf]

I think that post calls for a :kirk smiley sometime. I can't seem to implement it, bah.

Transhumanism is a fascinating philosophy, and well worth some investigation on everyone's part. How we evolve from here on out is really squarely in our hands. Ever since the Internet swept the industrialized world, it's been easy to think human progress has somehow already reached its peak because the Next Big Thing hasn't shown up yet. But if this global economic crisis doesn't become too much of a humbling step, we could be on the verge of things sci fi writers only dreamed about. We'll be like people born in the 1800s whose world was just blown away by the advent of automobiles and computers during their lifetimes.

[Lord J Esq]

I have many principles, far too many to write about here tonight from scratch. Here are a few of the ones on the more important end of the spectrum:

1. Open-Mindedness. It may not always seem like it, because I can make a pretty damn fierce stand on the issues I've figured out, but open-mindedness is a mantra of mine, and a very important principle. Open-mindedness is your train ticket to the world.

2. Awareness. The most important of all my principles. This includes awareness of oneself as well as awareness of one's environment. Here is one of the more poignant examples of awareness. Awareness can be cultivated; we should all take the time for that.

3. Critical Thinking. I am aghast that people don't do more of this. Many don't even know what it is. It's the difference between ignorance and something better. If you can't or won't think critically, you're never going to get ahead in the way that matters most: Illumination. Strive to make your thinking comprehensive and thorough, and you will never feel alone or overwhelmed in a world of big ideas.

4. Judgment. Oftentimes it isn't necessary to make judgments--that's a tenet of being open-minded. We often get it wrong, making judgments where none are warranted. However, we also often get it wrong the other way, making no judgments when we really ought to. Judgment is a great ally in developing and understanding one's own identity. People who don't stand for something, don't amount to much.

5. Honesty. Honesty to yourself, that is. Honesty to those who need it, and honesty to those who have earned it, and honesty to those who deserve to earn it. Honesty of passion and honesty of principle. Honesty of thought and honesty of intent. Honesty of character and honesty of disposition. We live in a culture where we are dedicated to distracting ourselves from all kinds of important truths, and dedicating to filling our minds with lies.

These are only a few of my principles. Perhaps I will name more later. Z's given a couple. How about some of the other voices here?

[GenesisOne]

Here are some of mine that I live by:

1. Objectivity. It helps me to look at something and judge something from an impartial point of view, and not just say "Here's the conclusion.  What evidence do we have to support it?"  It should be the other way around, which is "Here's the data.  What conclusion can we draw from it?"

2. Curiosity.  Eons ago, when the first cavemen looked to the stars in the sky, they might have asked the question: How did those get there?  For that matter, how did I get here?  That demonstration of curiosity has led us on a vehicle of scientific progress that's pacing along slowly and silently.  Our natural tendency to wonder about the phenomena around us has brought us to where we are today.

3. Truth. It is found in knowledge, and you can only obtain such knowledge by carefully studying and investigating the facts and information that exist out there in this tiny blue sphere of ours (and beyond).  It should best fit your worldview, because no one worldview is absolutely correct, and this is what makes our civilization so unique for every individual.  Hold to the truth and defend it with your life.

4. Resourcefulness.  Being able to deal skillfully and promptly with new situations, difficulties, and so on.  By immersing ourselves in new environments and the patrons that frequent them, we can be able to measure our ability to show openness towards the world beyond our comfort zone.  As we grow older, new difficulties of life will fall heavy on our backs.  Such tests of mental dexterity will show if you're ready.

5. Friendship.  In the words of Lee Iaccoca's late father, if you  walked away from this life with about four or five good friends, then you've lived a most fulfilling life.  I'm not talking about fair-weather friends, either.  I'm talking about those who you enjoyed having fun with when you were younger, those who your share your weirdest pastimes with, those whom you use as moral yardsticks and they to you, and those who show genuine concern for your well-being.  What would be without such people?

[ONSLAUGHT]

1.) Meaning. I can't stand when someone has me do something, and in the end it's going to prove absolutely useless. In school I hated how I would learn things, only to find out that "Am I ever going to use this? Is this going to benefit anything? Can I help someone with this?" In school, yes. Outside, no. I constantly questioned my teachers about things, because it's almost like a need for me to be able to put my whole that it has a meaning. I wound up finding over 50% of what I was taught was useless information, just for the sake of making you "smarter". I use quotations namely because of another of my principles. Not to say I'm stupid, this just made me not book smart.
2.) Intelligence Is Leveled By Character. While not EVERY situation this applies with, it does most. As I mentioned, the quotations before. You could have an IQ of 193 and I'm not gonna consider you smart if you behave like a prick. I see someone smart as thinking to go out of their way to assist someone, not just for themselves. Chrono I will admit strongly inspired this in me. I dunno. This one is very hard to explain.
3.) Honesty. I know, this one doesn't always work out by 9/10 times I will tell the truth, because it's supposed to get you in less trouble than usual. I have yet to be in a situation where that is true, but at least I can know the truth, and the other person knows it. Rather be punished for honesty than live a rich lie.
4.) Always give it a chance. Some people can be extremely cruel, but I still feel it's important to not judge them right off the bat. This applies to things as well. Pretty much be open minded.
5.) Never throw the first punch. This is a personal one, since as a little kid I got into a very violent situation and discovered I have a sort of split personality type of thing. In extreme situations, intellectual or physical, another person seems to take over. physically, it's a complete psychopath. This is why if I ever get in a fight(god forbid), I want it to at least be in self defense, since I've found this often reduces the damage I cause. In case you're wondering, intellectual crisis situations make the other me  a defenition genious. I've tried to get that to come out more often, but it's only come out about 3 times in my life.

I have more, but I don't have the time at the moment to go making a large list. I can tell you though, a lot of my principles were actually inspired by Chrono, one more reason why I love it so much!

[Uboa]

Z, I was thinking about your post over the last few days.  Sorry it took me a while to reply.  I really appreciated it, and I can relate all too well to having to deal with arrogance and convolution in academia.  I envy people whose experience with higher education, and those in it, has been one of net enlightenment.  That's the way it should be, but some in the system really do go out of their way to throw hurdles in front of students.

The one other point that I had to consider with regard to your post was the simplicity of life, concepts, the universe, everything, etc.  Simplification of difficult problems, i.e. breaking them down and using step-by-step analysis, is crucial to gaining a deep understanding as well as just maintaining sanity.  I agree that too many people communicate problems as though they are way too complex, and I think that complexity can often be taken as a sign that the ones doing the communicating are not being completely forthcoming. 

I often have a hard time seeing the simplicity in a lot of subjects/situations, though.  I think that for any one person the majority of subjects will inherently seem tricky, just because the way to break down and simplify most problems is not readily apparent.  This is why clear communication from experts is so important. 

Anyway, to follow the subject here I've been trying to think of what my "self principles" are.  The closest I come to these kinds of principles, at least in terms of what I think of on a regular basis, may sound more like kinds of mind tricks, but I find they help greatly.  I can only think of a couple right now.  I'll add more later if I run across them.

-Don't dwell - Work to break "feedback loops" that you get caught in.  I notice myself getting caught in feedback loops in a number of situations, especially when I'm writing or drawing.  I get so caught up in being influenced by what is on the page, and I become too fixated on following continuity instead of thinking critically and improvising to create something better.  I notice myself doing this in other situations as well, and so I figured that this is a good general rule to keep.

-I'm not sure what to call this, but it reminds me of a phrase I heard at DEFCON, which is "Never underestimate brute-force." - From wikipedia:

In computer science, brute-force search or exhaustive search, also known as generate and test, is a trivial but very general problem-solving technique that consists of systematically enumerating all possible candidates for the solution and checking whether each candidate satisfies the problem's statement.

In life this translates to:  Sometimes you just have to exhaust a bunch of options before you find something that works.  If an algorithm to solve a problem at hand isn't available, get all of your possible solutions in order and start testing them.  Unlike a programmed brute-force search, our brain has the capacity to make sense of why some solutions are viable and others aren't, so what starts as guess-and-check work can eventually reveal some underlying structure to our solutions.