It is only with a bit of embarrassment that I admit, if I want things I have said – essentially, Jason Merchey quotes – I have to place them on the web per se. That is, I have assembled a 30,000 quote search engine, but it is a “plug-in” to Values of the Wise’s actual website. It is kind of like having a shoebox full of silver; if someone searches your house but assumes that the contents of the box is shoes, they won’t notice the silver. So it is with plug-ins and websites. Thus, I have to go ahead and put all the Jason Merchey quotes into the body of a blog. Sorry if this seems gauche. I guess it’s not any worse than entering oneself into Who’s Who? or placing a Wikipedia article on the web. Well, at any rate, here you have it: Jason Merchey quotes! Enjoy.
For some folks, it’s not what they do for work; it’s what they do when they’re not working that defines their health and constitutes their challenge.
The nightmare I awoke from signaled my disappointment in the fact that we are the wealthiest people in the history of the world, yet so many of our fellow human beings – even our kin – have unmet needs. This typifies the chasm between doing what is right and doing what is expedient.
The rational mind seeks to grasp the finite, whereas the spiritual mind seeks to grasp the infinite.
They who have experienced the ethereal emotion known by man as “love” – akin to lounging on a hammock as a fragrant breeze wafts by in that sunny place in one’s soul – know that the absence of it is hardly worth living for.
Perhaps if this world were peaceful,
And love ruled as now do mere boys,
I would not be wearing these scarlet letters,
But living with my brethren amongst joy.
Making social and planetary progress sometimes costs money. It always takes effort to see clearly, such as reading the newspaper or other opinion papers. And, it might require expending some energy voting or organizing. However, the time to act is now. We cannot stand by and abide suffering, all the while the sand flows through the hourglass of our species’ survival.
Music is as prestigious as mathematics.
Five decades of study by the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware seems to indicate that humans, even in traumatic situations, tend toward altruism rather than selfishness. Perhaps we are more altruistic at our core than our day-to-day selfishness would indicate. (facts by Lee Clark & Jacqueline White)
If true progress with a problem or crisis has been identified by at least one person, and we do not make the plan become reality, then it must be lack of motivation. The questions then become: What is impeding our progress? What needs to change? How do persons of goodwill and the forces of reason counter complacency, greed, and ignorance?
Progressive thinkers have been calling reactionaries heartless and conservatives have termed liberals foolish for centuries. We will all have to grow in order that we may abolish such polarized and pejorative approaches to the problems of the world. But make no mistake; the problems of the world must be solved if we are to be able to grow on into the future.
If you think the present is unfortunate, with Howard Stern cussing on the air, and some women aborting one month-old fetuses, you should know that we may face worse, more tangible costs in the future if we don’t deal smartly with terrorism, global warming, dependence on fossil fuels, white collar crime, and AIDS effectively. Hell, a predictable hurricane kicked our asses in late 2005. Ameliorating or preventing these costly issues not only requires a notable level of wisdom and intellectual growth in order to visualize humane and effective answers, but they will take sacrifice and effort to institute the answers. We’d better bridge the “values divide” and get cracking.
We have proof that life has a way of avoiding demise, that water erodes rock, and that earthquakes reshape the land inches every decade. Humanity has so many weaknesses that get played out over and over again, be it in the theatre of war, the form of domestic violence, or the shape of white-collar crime. But we have the ability to invent language, to fly, and to grasp incredible virtues such as responsibility and magnanimity, and this is evolution.
Money is not to be chased and lusted after, for in the end, it only buys certain things that are facilitative of happiness, fulfillment, and satisfaction, not the real deal. The marrow of life can only be gotten indirectly. Values, virtues, flourishing, deeds, and relationships are free, but invaluable.
This is how liberals view race and racism and anti-gay sentiment/laws, I believe: 1. That it happened and was significant, 2. That it isn’t over today and 3. That it’s not right to ask minorities to simply “move on”. To do so would be to prevent healing and a reckoning. I don’t know that there has ever even been an official national apology for slavery, and the south wants to “rise again”. Reparations or a truth and reconciliation process are unfathomable. So, even though a race-based affirmative action kind of intervention for college spots or jobs isn’t as useful as one based on poverty, we are going to have to take not one, not two, probably not even *five* was steps in the right direction before we have “gone too far.” When conservative whites talk about going too far, it strikes me as a bit maudlin and untrue. Your experience is that something unfair was done to you. And in a sense that was true. It sucks to feel that the government or other institutions are being unfair. Welcome to America! Minorities have been feeling that way since 1675. Not only is it shocking to hear conservatives say “Ok, discrimination is over,” but clearly it isn’t even “over.” I can’t say Malcolm X was wrong when he likened all this “chickens coming home to roost.” This is what white people are disgruntled about – having to pay for past sins. Not only does the idea of copping to it kinda smart, being asked to compensate for wrongs and set the scales even again really gets whites going. Not just because it “feels unjust”, but because of the economic pressures all middle and lower class individuals are feeling. This is one reason why I see things in a fiscally liberal way – because it offends me that the rich live comfortably while the rest of us squabble and fight over the leavings. They must be clinking champagne glasses in Martha’s Vineyard, just laughing that the other classes and the different ethnicities fight amongst themselves. All while they have the politicians do their bidding.
Your own fulfillment and meaning are what get you out of bed in the morning; you feel good doing the things you find joy and interest in. Flow activities. Your acts of service, compassion, and concern for the other are what make you feel good about yourself. Self-help philosophies and positive psychology aim toward finding fulfillment and being happy; religion and ethics point to a concern for people and the entire planet as being indispensable for a human being who is conscious and righteous. All in all, this is a well-lived life; a life of philosophy; a life of value.
Though it is easy to be melancholy or complacent in the face of man’s inhumanity to man, the greed, and the bloodlust, I believe there is reason for optimism. You and I may fall, but the warrior of truth will use your dying body as traction on shifting sand to move ever-forward.
The era of greed and irresponsibility on Wall Street and in Washington has led us to a financial crisis as serious as any that we have faced since the Great Depression.” Charles Ferguson noted that “When the financial crisis struck just before the 2008 election, Barack Obama pointed to Wall Street greed and regulatory failures as examples of the need for change in America.” Indeed, Obama also said: “A lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess,” and: “We want a systemic-risk regulator; increased capital requirements. We need a consumer financial protection agency; we need to change Wall Street’s culture.”
I’m through looking for a beautiful woman who doesn’t wield her beauty like a sword.
Character education is more than memorizing rules and performing rote acts; it is, according to Aristotle, about creating positive habits and developing almost a muscle memory for doing the right thing in the real world. Practice makes perfect, as it were. This is the process of character creation. As Aristotle wrote, ‘It makes no small difference…whether we form habits of one kind or another from our very youth; it makes a very great difference, or rather ALL the difference.’
What does it mean for us to have a natural right to ownership of our bodies? First, since we have a property right in our bodies, we have a property right in the labor that is done with them. Additionally, since we have a property right in our labor, we also have a property right in previously unowned objects with which we properly mix our labor (Locke 1689).
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Finding meaning in one’s avocation, one’s pursuit – consists of determining what one’s special area of intelligence or intrigue is, and marrying that to the engine of passion to fuel its motion as though one was finding a pleasing racetrack and flooring the gas pedal.
Character education is more than memorizing rules and performing rote acts; it is, according to Aristotle, about creating positive habits and developing almost a muscle memory for doing the right thing in the real world. Practice makes perfect, as it were. This is the process of character creation. As Aristotle wrote, ‘It makes no small difference…whether we form habits of one kind or another from our very youth; it makes a very great difference, or rather ALL the difference.’
Ethics is about making a habit out of taking pains to determine what is right in a particular situation using general rules one has thought about ahead of time, and then doing that act faithfully. Every time. Slowly at first, and then it becomes second-nature. One day, you will have earned the right to call yourself good.
So, what of our natural right to liberty? Surely, as we are born having property in our bodies, we are born with the freedom to do with them as we please. It is only with the emergence of regulatory institutions that this right is reduced. Thus, the question emerges, to what extent is the right to liberty upheld under capitalism?
To warrant his argument, Friedman appeals to history, writing “History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom.” Indeed, Friedman is correct to say that there has never nor does there exist a country that is economically unfree and politically free. This is the case, Friedman reasons, because political freedom is contingent upon an effective means by which to disseminate unpopular ideas – a means that only exists within capitalist societies.
From the positive perspective, we are going to survive, evolve, and eventually look back on the problems of today and wipe our collective brows, exclaiming: “Whew! We were mired in some deep moral, environmental, and societal problems, but we made it! Peace abounds. Justice reigns. Truth flourishes.”
Aloofness does not protect one, it isolates them.
The places I have been emotionally have helped to make me who I am today, as fire is needed to bend steel. The values that move me came into focus for me in part because of the duress of pain I have gone through – and still experience at times.
Thomas Nagel, a philosopher, believes that “the absurd” is borne of the nature of the discrepancy between “…the seriousness with which we take our lives, and the perpetual possibility of regarding everything about which we are serious as arbitrary, or open to doubt.” Don’t hold on too tight! Acceptance of the Absurd is a value wise persons honor, in my opinion.
There may come a time in every human’s life where they must instantly choose between two monumental paths. One must act strongly and bravely, for the cost of one is but death, whereas the penalty for the other is a lifetime of dishonor.
I think John Kerry’s quote about the feelings we all had in the days and weeks after 9/11 was compelling. I think it’s illustrative of the potential that was on September 11 – all the potential for change and for adopting the types of values in America that we really do want to have. We could have changed the world; I think we’ve squandered that opportunity because of this quadrivium of government, religion, media and corporations that Christine rose and I are speaking about. I think they sell us out; well, let me say, those factions sell us, the people, out when they come together and ruin the golden opportunity that was presented on the dark day of September 11, 2001.
The bungling of Carter, Brzezinski, and others in matters such as Iran and places like it would change the trajectory of the United States forever. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (spilling over into Pakistan and many other countries) cost us much in both American lives, treasure, morality, and relations with other countries. This is more evidence of how far afield the government has gone in its pursuit of hegemony, empire, domestic control, and self-aggrandizement. The people long for a responsible, responsive, progressive (or even, simply conservative!) government again. A divided populace has grown weary of debt, divisions, and diversion.
Taking responsibility for change is extraordinarily difficult. It flies in the face of genetics, hormones, engrained synaptic pathways, early childhood development, random events, and other uncontrolled factors. But what else can we do? Keep doing the same dysfunctional acts over and over again, with its associated pain? Commit suicide? Thinking things through is our only hope – at least if God won’t save us from our responsibility. Luckily our ancestors spent so much time inadvertently developing the human brain that we have the supreme gift of self-observation.
Bringing about a more just and humane society – indeed, world – is not just a matter of comfort; research shows a connection between social position and health. Literally, the society we humans have set up and perpetuate brings about not only the suffering of some people, it can exact an incalculable cost – untimely death.
Both conservatives and progressives feel that America is under grave threat, not from without, but within. The question is, Who is more dangerous to our liberty, character, future, and morals – gays, the poor, and unionists? Or Moral Majoritarians, civil rights magicians, or corporatists?
Societal factors and social ecology are shown by powerful public health studies to impact health more than do genes, biology, behavior, and even medical care. We are reluctant to jettison capitalism, but it is exacting a terrible cost. (example: Tarlov & St. Peter)
Are you, like me, angry that the more I educate myself the less faith I have that any one man is a paragon of honor? That there really are women out there who can be trusted, who are steadfast, and principled? So what if you learn that an old fable is merely aspirational, or that a historical figure was a hypocrite. Fear not: once the words have been said, once a deed is done, it is written not on the sand of a beach, but the sands of time. All you have to do is believe in an ideal, and it is yours. Einstein doesn’t own charity; if you see a homeless person, give them a dollar. If you see a politician spout off a phrase about justice – live with justice. Then the virtue is yours, permanently and fully. We can all be heroes the moment we choose to be so.
Man created science. But who created man?
I feel something when I think about values and quotations; I get a connection between my thinking brain and my emotional brain… and it spurs me on to laugh, to tear up, to act. Just a few words, such as: “Give me liberty or give me death!” for many of us has the same effect on the mind (in the right circumstance) as a naked body does for the sexual impulse.
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My fusion of philosophy with psychology, as well as a deep humanistic desire to see mankind progress into what I believe it can achieve, combined with what appears in hindsight to be surprising dedication to reading and transcribing evidence for the values of the wise over countless quiet nights are very important to me.
Just like a Christian who is in trouble may recite the prayer about God shepherding him or her through the valley of darkness, and Dorothy chanted “There’s no place like home,” the ideas that quotations communicate are rich with meaning. Quotations can be like the mirror of life.
Take heart: the force of good always prevails in the end; life is more powerful than extinction, and human society just functions better when things are fair. I don’t know if we are going to face catastrophe after crisis after scandal to wake us out of our slumber, or if working to organize on behalf of causes that are prosocial, just, and good is the answer.
If comfort with aloneness is good, then comfort with togetherness is great.
Economist Joseph Stieglitz writes that: “Everyone possesses self-interests in a narrow sense: I want what’s good for me right now! Self-interest ‘properly understood’ is different. It means appreciating that paying attention to everyone else’s self-interest—in other words, to the common welfare— is in fact a precondition for one’s own ultimate well-being.” He notes that Tocqueville referred to this spirit of thought as “a mark of American pragmatism.” He hits it out of the park with this communistic viewpoint: “The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles, but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this has been something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Often, however, they learn it too late.” He also points out that there are two visions of society, and he believes that “this second vision is the only one that is consistent with our heritage and our values.” The first vision is about “the haves” and “the have-nots,” one of gated communities and working poor. He refers to the alternative with the following: “The other vision of a society where the gap between the haves and the have-nots has been narrowed, where there is a sense of shared destiny, a common commitment to opportunity and fairness, where the words ‘liberty and justice for all’ actually mean what they seem to mean….”
I recall Viktor Frankl’s book about his experience in the holocaust entitled “Man’s Search for Meaning.” One of his main points in that true story was the fact that he felt that he had found meaning in such an absurd situation, and it made it more likely that his weak body and battered psyche would not collapse from depression or exhaustion. On the contrary, some of his fellow Jewish prisoners one day just gave up hope, became virtually unresponsive, and died shortly thereafter.
Diamonds are rare and highly valued. But with a written gem, like the ones that humans create by merging their power of thought (carbon) with the incredible phenomenon of feelings (time), and their unique situation (pressure), there has never been an equal in history. No one could have thought the same thing, felt the same thing, and been in the same environment and have the same background as the person recording the thought. This kind of originality and significance far outshines any rock.
Exercising deep, true responsibility for oneself takes no less than a Herculean effort.
There are times when we are called to duty;
Necessity dictates revolutionary action.
The time comes when we must stand and be counted;
Proactivity arises from the place of reaction.
Peace and love should be goals sought above all else–
Including dominance, wealth, and status in a profession.
Size should become passé as the preeminent mark of a man.
By growing emotionally and morally man can end his obsessions.
We do not think much about using live “lower” animals for our pedantic scientific studies; I’m in favor of doing so, so long as we obtain written or verbal informed consent from such subjects. Until such time, we’re selfish, callous, and benighted.
A hesitancy to believe was the first point I took from my philosophy class as a freshman in college.
When I think of a strongly ethical life, I think of chivalry. Not the patriarchal, sexist, fraudulent idea represented by the crusaders of the Eleventh Century, but the timeless, just version. Chivalry can take many forms, and one important form is to fight the powers that be – if it is the right fight. The wisdom and endurance to fight for the right cause can see us through. The race of men may yet one day gaze out on the horizon from our lofty tower, flags caught high in the wind, surveying a land that is just and good.
You know you’ve changed your whole mental image about companionship and commitment when you use the pronouns “we” and “our” to describe items that were previously described by “my” and “I.”
If the strong were good, society’s problems would begin to disentangle immediately.
Compiling a book of quotations on values does not make me a great spirit. Rather, I am somewhat like an assistant to a captain of industry; every time I quote someone my humility feels incontrovertible.
Gene Roddenberry, legendary creator of the insightful and hopeful Star Trek series, submitted a proposal in 1964 to MGM, where he received the first of several rejections. Conventional wisdom in the television industry held that science fiction is too expensive and too difficult to produce. (facts from Michael and Denise Okuda)
Until humanity evolves significantly, the best way I can envision for a wealthy person to secure the liberty and safety they prize is not by saving an extra 5% in revenue, but rather, to enthusiastically use their influence to force their representatives to wisely use their 40% in taxes to provide for the education and safety and justice of our citizens and to conduct American international affairs with honor, strength, and magnanimity.
Falling in love is good! Just be careful not to fall so hard that you’re knocked unconscious.
Of all humanity’s creations, the virtues are by far the most sublime.
The reason I feel that Solomon Asch’s famous Obedience to Authority experiment is ethical and was justifiable is because, fairly simply: We have been to the moon, decoded the genome, built 175-story skyscrapers, and can use satellites to talk to each other in real time via cellphone halfway across the globe. Why should we feel content to have huge mysteries when it comes to the human mind? If science can shed light on our essential nature, if it can lead to greater understanding, if it can curb our baser instincts, then we should consider the unwitting subjects of those experiments as psychonauts, and thank them heartily for their service to humanity.
The strong must herald the banner of the weak;
The good champion the rights of the innocent.
Only the noble woman helps the meek;
Standing courageously makes us magnificent…
You come to know yourself better when you know what you believe, and why. Quotations illustrate values in the way that a blueprint illustrates a house. They touch our minds and our hearts at the same time. I know they certainly touched mine at a time when I really needed them.
Even if my people were absolved of the historical and continuing mistakes and atrocities that cling to us – not the least of which being our disrespect of American Indians – it is ironic that we long for something that our myopic forbearers systematically stamped out or overlooked in their approach to indigenous people and ancient wisdom.
The way Martin Luther King used references to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America was a brilliant move. His charismatic voice, eloquent words, peaceful yet strong demeanor, and strategy of urging the powerful White majority to look within themselves and confront the hypocrisy that results from mixing liberty and justice with complacency and ignorance, all were ingenious.
The values I propose are supported by reason, experience, and insight from many different cultures and millennia of history. For lack of a better term, I call them the “values of the wise.” Evidence for the merit of these particular values and virtues has been drawn from the great minds and unsung heroes of our time, as well as the now-silent voices of the past, representing many belief systems from around the world. They extol peace as much as they do confidence; they praise humor as well as dedication; and they mutually support both liberty and responsibility. They encourage one to “live a life of value.” These 38 values are a minority of the possible number of values, but they theoretically capture the aspirations and mindset of the wise person – which can be instructive for how we ought to live as individuals and as a society.
Humanity has been taking ten steps forward and nine steps backward ever since we stood upright. There was no way for a lemur, who would eventually evolve into to space-exploring man by the grace of God or luck, to visualize that future.
I think back on my father’s example of responsibility; when a spider was frightening me by crawling up the wall, he would be called. He would come quickly, wearing a serious and dutiful expression on his face. My dad would actually trap the spider with a little cup and a piece of stiff paper, and then release it outdoors. As I saw the objectionable thing crawl away, not much registered except for relief that I would not be traumatized by that wicked little arachnid after all! However, unbeknownst to me, my mind was being taught; I was learning some deep lessons about how to be in the world.
Einstein’s Theories of Relativity were condemned by 100 Nazi professors. His response: ‘If I were wrong, one professor would have been enough.’
Becoming part of the solution requires no one else’s consent or assistance. There are ten possible solutions for every problem you or I can think of.
We are ruining the planet with some of our actions – not just the corporations who dump toxic waste. In fact, corporations probably do less direct damage to the world than the combined impact of citizens. We cannot continue on this path. Think of the difference between the American Indian mentality toward the environment and juxtapose that with our SUVs, disappearing jungles to feed cows for our meat-heavy diets, and the use of animal products for superstitious reasons such as sexual prowess.
Why accept darkness over seeing,
When the light can actually be lit?
The funny thing about smog being,
That over time, you fail to notice it.
One of the greatest contributors to that so-called “fatal” mentality that is a part of me is the notion that, if I am called to duty and fail to act when I ought to have, what good is my life? How many times can one forgo opportunities to uphold one’s cherished beliefs and still have a self-image as a “good” person?
Rome was mighty and self-assured, and then Rome fell. It elevated humankind in many ways, but it was as infamous for slavery as it was notorious for megalomania and expansionism.
The Navajo have a saying: “If we don’t turn around now, we just might get where we’re going.” I hope that we as a people make the necessary and right changes before we get where we’re going.
Fun is as deep as seriousness.
Would that I could have the integrity
To not feel so lonely about my aloneness…
Rather, to accept it, embrace it.
Because for whatever reason, it is me.
If my dream’s dark message comes to pass, Americans are either dying a slow spiritual and moral death, or we will experience a grisly one in the form of blazing shrapnel or agonizing smallpox.
True, there is some risk, but not acting is an action.
My old, defunct memories haunt me like tireless ghost.
I am writing the same old book again, never transposed.
Fresh experiences are perhaps what I need the most.
Envision a society where liberal philosophy ruled, where people were given fair opportunities from the get-go, and where tolerance had no tolerance for intolerance. In such a society – be it fifty or one hundred years in the future – the forces of openness and rationality could root out the televangelists, the moral reactionaries, and the tyrants behind the curtains. However, in this year, the President grants audience to such factions, accepts massive campaign contributions to enact their fetid goals, and shakes the cigarette-holding hand of corporations and political action committees. Thus, such a bright and warm vision of the future becomes shrouded by the darkness and cold of the present.
No one in their right mind would say “Screw the environment.” But that is a different stance than actually DOING something positive, such as “voting green” (e.g., in favor of pro-environmental legislation and for representatives who will uphold such values), choosing to hold down our population numbers, and purchasing a fuel-efficient car.
Maybe once we as an entire planet reach the apex of our potential, when virtues like justice, kindness, and peace reign, I’ll know it is then time to be conservative in my social~political belief system. But even that perspective is based on some faulty premises.
Chivalry need not be awesome, heroic acts. Simply “being of service to someone else” when you’d rather be taking a nap is simple, safe, wonderful thing to do.
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As we grow older, we gain increasing responsibility for our emotional health. You identify the problems, determine the path to take, and then do what you decided to, even if it is difficult.
For centuries, the old have considered the young to be rebellious and unwise, and the young have thought the old stifling and complacent. I myself am a young progressive; however, my fellow young person would do well to keep in mind the idea that looking within oneself and deciding what one believes and will do is different, and dare I say purer, than simply reacting or rebelling. So often, the rebel is low in integrity; the only thing they know about themselves is that they are not you.
Billions of possibilities regarding my evolution-
Thousands of seemingly random choices made.
Incalculable problems and moments with more than one solution-
Fleeting acts become permanently engraved.
Conservative ideology heralds personal responsibility as the cause of (the lack of personal responsibility) and the best solution to social problems, but the idea of justice and the virtue magnanimity are challenges to that position.
Politicians and religious icons often fail to be authentic leaders who have the people’s interests in mind. But we do need true leadership to help Americans find our way before it’s too late. Each of us has potential for leadership, for developing ourselves, and chipping in. We are all responsible for moving stones from the quarry to the site where we’re building this chapel of ours, and some of us are sleeping on the job, while others are stealing the stones and selling them at market. If I take time to go counsel, expose, or defeat the lollygagger or the thief, then who’s doing my work!? It’s an awful position for humans to be in.
Let go of others’ values. Take only what your church, family, and society inculcated in you that is authentic, rational, and feels right. Spend the time it takes to find out what you value, what you cherish, and why. Socrates heralded the process of really inquiring about values, and he made a massive impact. I value his method.
One of the most trenchant questions to analyze our self and our circumstances is,”Would I rather be anyone else?”
Morality is really quite simple. All you have to do is determine what is wrong and not do that; feel free to enjoy anything else!
On average, the United States may not be as downtrodden as other parts of the world, but that is on average – there is immeasurable suffering going on in America this very night. That feeds our anger and sows discontent.
We never hear much from police officers about the role they played in the 1960s. In their self-aggrandizement and lamenting of oversight and criticism, you don’t hear any mea culpas about the firehoses, the German Shepherds, the jailing of protesters, the killing of Fre son Riders. I would be more likely to empathize that the public is being unfair to them if they acknowledged their role as agents of the State and oppressor of dissent as much as protector and servant. Even to say “We behaved egregiously as an institution, yes, but those days are long gone” would help. If they want honor, they must act honorably.
In synthesizing different ideas with our self, we grow towards self-actualization. I think we all have within us the desire to progress, to grow. Discovering quotes that you identify with or that speak powerfully to you can help you find your path.
There are thousands of inspiring quotations that I think beautifully exemplify and clarify the values of the wise. When you read them, and absorb them, you too will discover a diverse, exciting, and empowering message – a message that will help you understand the power of values and help you put them into action in your life.
Money can’t make me happy, but I sure would be in a bad mood if I didn’t have any.
Awe for nature seems well-placed on our creator’s shoulders, but the next time I best someone in tennis, teach something that matters to another person, gaze into the eyes of one of the group home children who depend on me, achieve an A in a course, land a job, get that first kiss, or have an interpersonal connection, I should rightfully exalt myself as an individual, as a human.
Seizing the day may well result in one’s untimely death, but living sheepishly already has.
If one seeking an answer is good, and he looks within his heart, goodness he will find. If however, one who is not does, his heart will lead him thusly.
Use your values to improve yourself and to play for the side of right.
Moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that entitles one to claim: “This is what I think; this is what my community believes; this is what is right; this is what is good.” Moreover, it requires a rational, critical, explicit defense of the standards, values, and ends one has in mind. Not all acts, beliefs, and customs are equal. May the best-supported ones survive and the selfish, arbitrary, elitist, ill-conceived, and harmful ones meet the metaphorical guillotine. Moral philosophy tolerates elitism better than it does relativism. The superior view has the best reasons supporting it. “God told us” is useless, “We’ve just always done it like that” is meaningless, and “Because I feel like it” carries no weight. We must dialogue, debate, and decide.
Economist Joseph Stiglitz notes that the ups and downs and booms and busts occurred to many countries – and I would note that it was more of a domino effect starting with the United States than some kind of “whack-a-mole,” to mix metaphors. He assures the reader: “But it is not inevitable. Is not the inevitable workings of the market economy. There are societies that have managed to things far better…. Those societies produce a standard of living higher than that of the United States for most of their citizens, measured not just in terms of income but in terms of health, education, security, and many other aspects that are key to determining the quality of life.” In some of the most inspiring language of his incredible book, Stiglitz writes this: “another world is possible. We can achieve a society more in accord with our fundamental values, with more opportunity, a higher total national income, a stronger democracy, and higher living standards for most individuals. It will be easy. There are some market forces pulling us the other way. Those market forces are shaped by politics….”
We achieve a certain personal benefit that let’s say, feels good, to do the thing we believe is good.
Peace may never come to pass until little boys everywhere are encouraged by their parents and develop the desire to play with toy peacemakers rather than toy soldiers.
Having one single, discreet, multi-purpose principle, rule, or maxim that you plug in to various moral dilemmas and questions of the good and of justice (personally, societally) is not the best way to reason. It might not be possible. Instead, the process requires more activity, debate, contemplation, deliberation, reconsideration, and decision-making. Know some moral theory, and then try a particular case on for size. Question, argue, reform, and defend. Be willing to change when reasons dictate it. This is how, ideally, a citizen and moral agent behaves. It’s Socratic; it’s Aristotelian; it’s wise; it’s practical and reasonable. It’s how we empower ourselves as persons. Moral philosopher John Rawls’ concept of ‘reflective equilibrium’ is part and parcel of this meta-process. Indeed, he said: ‘A conception of justice cannot be deduced from self-evident premises. Its justification is a matter of the mutual support of many considerations, of everything fitting together into a coherent view.’ Ralph Wills also said: ‘When has justice ever been as simple as a rule book?’ I suppose all of this is disheartening in a way, but bracing in another.
The white visitor to the sacred circle asked the Great Spirit, “What do I tell my child when she asks, ‘What happened to the Indians?'” “Tell her the truth,” was the reply.
Anxiety changes thinking – for better or for worse. Anxiety is the horse that gallops you toward truth or bucks you off.
The wise tune into themselves, understand what they feel, and take appropriate risks.
As of 2003, there are over ninety United Nations resolutions that are being violated by countries around the world.
Sooner or later, and to wildly varying degrees, life gets you on the ropes, like heavy-hitter George Foreman was bloodying Muhammad Ali in the famed “Rumble in the Jungle.” For minutes, hours, days or years you take it on the jaw, endure uppercuts to the solar plexus, and reel from pain. Gasping for air or seeing stars, the temptation to call for the towel or to stay down for the count can seem immense. The blood in your eyes, the desire to cry. Some even call out for their mother. But I absolutely contend, if you bear down and retain your values, come what may – even death – as Muhammad Ali kept his strength, courage, and confidence, you will win by decision in the end. You may even knock your opponent clean out.
When you possess fierce self-knowledge, you are excited by your values. You know what you believe, why, and how. Every day you are proud or enthusiastic of the life you lead, the relationships you are in, the mark you’re leaving on the planet. You are motivated to live life, to become all you can, to make a positive difference, to come to love yourself.
Behold the human mind! Incomprehensibly deep, the distant layers of it connected in powerful ways to everything. In this vast storehouse of knowledge, memories are never forgotten, just inaccessible.
A 1994 study by the Center for Policy Alternatives concluded that three out of every five Latinos and African Americans live in a community with one or more toxic waste sites.
Self-knowledge is, in part, knowing what values you value, which virtues you possess, and what makes you ethically, spiritually, emotionally, and mentally unique.
It is true that armor can feel cumbersome;
The weight of duty does encumber the good.
He or she who is heroic strives to become;
Our hearts drive us to do as we know we should.
Now that I’m on my third book on values, I feel totally inadequate. I’m using a little bit of Woody Allenesque self-deprecation, but basically, that is true; it is hard to study legends like Twain, Socrates, King, Shaw, Gandhi and Keller and not feel like an underachiever.
For those people who have a strong urge to “help” others, not helping is the harder of the two options. And, in many cases, more honor is gained doing that which does not come as naturally as more habitual acts.
Distrust anyone who is peddling virtue for the purpose of social complacency. A people with a true grasp of values such as justice, integrity & liberty will not support the stagnant status quo.
Let us create a society in which no business person would dump waste into the riverbed, because, after all, it is their ocean; in which no person sleeps under the overpass, because, after all, they have a home; and in which no youth writes graffiti on the walls, because, after all, why would they want to do such a thing with their time?
Respect in the Kantian sense is not a sentiment like love or care. It is a broad, superordinate imperative that leads to universal human rights.
Pleasure and pain are not our sovereign masters: when reason governs our will, we are free. *this statement is a paraphrased quotation of Michael J. Sandel, who was speaking about both Jeremy Bentham and Immanuel Kant
Whenever behavior is biologically determined or socially conditioned, it is not truly free. *this statement is a paraphrased quotation of Michael J. Sandel, who was speaking about Immanuel Kant
The only person who has to like who I am is myself.
Do the right thing because it is right. Determine it is right based on your own, autonomous interpretation of the universal moral law, not society or biology. Be truly free. Do your duty, even if you don’t want to. It is more morally praiseworthy if you do your duty even when you are not emotionally inclined to do so. *this quotation deserves a tip of the hat to Immanuel Kant
Choose to make a leap of faith about yourself.
A categorical duty is one that is right regardless of the circumstances or the consequences. We are only free when we respond to our own autonomously-derived, ‘categorical imperative’ about what is right.
For evil to flourish the good need just stand by and do nothing.
Many “good Christians” and so-called ethical leaders deserve shame.
They turned their heads and turned in their friends to their king;
They rendered the lofty principles of their philosophers lame.
(First line an adapted quote from Elie Wiesel)
It is very disheartening to the aspiring truth-seeker to note two apparently brilliant thinkers being diametrically opposed on a topic of importance.
Hope rides shotgun for the strong, whereas it carries the weak.
To think instead of floundering with nameless emotion, that to me is wisdom.
The truest mark of a human matured to their potential
Is the exercise of mercy; it’s absolutely essential.
The exalted position of Popes and thrones of monarchs
Affords the hypocrites the opportunity to prey like sharks.
The wise person makes as high an appraisal of self as they truly can.
Hesitance is as true as dogmatism.
One can easily see that most of the immoral things America has let pass – Indian massacres, slavery, union-busting, giving syphilis to victims in U.S. Army experiments, imperialism, Guantanamo Bay prison, putting millions of African Americans behind bars for cocaine and other largely-preventable social problems, and letting how many tens of millions die of malnutrition and preventable disease? – would not be considered morally permissible. Indeed, America has often chosen the most expeditious route, driven by sins such as lust for power and dominance, greed and nationalism. In our short, violent history, our ignorance has been matched only by our moral turpitude.
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Great spirits exemplify numerous virtues;
They view the world in vibrant hues.
She personifies the loftiest human values;
He knows many elusive and profound truths.
Living by your ideals requires that strength and courage be your allies.
One of the greatest American success stories is Jonas Salk creating the polio vaccine. It is worth noting what he did with it: he gave it away to the public domain. That kind of magnanimity is hard to find, nowadays. Even Bill and Melinda Gates have some secondary gain or even ulterior motives for their good deeds. Capability means that every child should be able to become a scientist, a playwright, or a small business owner because they have the capacity, because their capacity has been nurtured, and because they dedicate themselves to it. It’s not a free lunch, it’s a seat at the table.
A philosophical orientation is one thing; it is rewarding if one also has the requisite courage. However, wondering to the point of complacency or inaction is quite another.
A better understanding of what we believe as true can assist us in determining what is just.
I am more interested in historical truth than I am in improving race relations, but, ironically, more historical truth and a greater acceptance on the part of white people that racism was – and is – a part of American society should go a long way toward improving race relations. If we are earnest, courteous, and courageous, headway can be made. Society needn’t always remain this polarized and volatile. If we can’t speak truthfully, how can we join together to solve our myriad social problems?
Those with honor must be vigilant in the presence of those with little.
I’ve seen a broken, homeless person dreading the impending night; I’ve seen the plush suede interior of a private jet; I’ve heard a woman moan my name; I’ve known a person right there across from me want to die; what an incredible range of emotions this world has for us.
A “life of value” has two parts: one is about fulfilling yourself and finding meaning by prioritizing, or “living” the values that you authentically possess. When your life is consistent with what you truly value, then your life just “feels right.” Beyond fulfilling yourself and valuing your life, when you live a life of value, you make positive differences to those around you – be it your family, your community, your country, or our world. It is as though, objectively, your life is “valuable” to someone or something beyond yourself – that the earth breathes easier with you here. Hence, you derive a subjective sense of value from your life because you are living your values, but further, your life has some objective value beyond how you feel.
Value peace. Children raised in tense homes or experiencing duress in-utero appear to develop brain differences from children not so burdened. One’s inability to take responsibility for growth is subjecting one’s children to a lifetime of vulnerability.
How is it that so many wealthy, capitalistic, suburban-dwelling, golf-playing individuals decry the merit of trying to change the world, while at the same time work so hard and are so successful in their particular occupation? What if they dedicated themselves to being magnanimous more so than profitable, how would the world be in twenty years?
When one attends to another’s garden, one’s own garden tends to sprout weeds.
The road to enlightenment is long and narrow.
Only a few among us are able to maintain integrity under excruciating circumstances. Everyone fears something; the only thing that could have caused Orwell’s hero Winston to abandon his love was a rat.
I am not playing the “I had a screwed up childhood, and look, I never got swamped by drugs, by suicide” card. That’s not true because my childhood wasn’t totally screwed up, and because I have had thoughts of suicide and did use drugs. Though I did get tattoos! The body art I created illustrates nicely an attempt to show myself I was lovable and capable, and that life was worth living. I got one at age 19, but it was the sun. And then the moon to provide balance, like the yin-yang. A few years later came an open book with a quill and a candle next to it – symbolizing my ability to write my own future and shed regrets from the past. (I am sorry but I have to put a few more examples of the phrase Jason Merchey quotes in this blog. Jason Merchey quotes. Jason Merchey quotes ). And then at 25 came my aspirations – I etched into my flesh the values and goals I have for myself – from love to friendship, and the virtues I pursue – from truth to peace. I never got the skull with a dagger through it, because I wasn’t trying to express anger and rebellion – I was trying to find my own path through the forest, so I drew my own map, a map that was in my heart.
Power is what explains the fact that upper-class passengers made it off the sinking Titanic at a disproportionate rate (and in that zero-sum-game, many lower class passengers met grim deaths in an unforgiving, dark sea). Power is feeding Christians (progressive minorities) to the lions. Power is sending a scapegoated minority to gas chambers. Power is why women make 75-80% of what men make for the same work. Power is Bill Cosby appearing on television to be “America’s favorite dad” while he raped women repeatedly. Power is Bernie Madoff convincing thousands that he had their best interests in mind.
In the two decades from 1950 to 1970, the diminution of inequality was due to some degree to the market, but, as Joseph Stiglitz points out, “… even more to government policies, such as the increased access to higher education provided by the G.I. Bill and the highly progressive tax system and acted during World War II.”
SUSTAINABILITY is the key word. If uber-wealthy people get on board, then great. So far, they seem to be thinking that their gates, yachts, politicians, and PR companies will shepherd them through. There really are two Americas; this is a second Gilded Age!
We do not have justice in society. We have some semblance of it – polluted with error, impotence, cowardice, elitism, politics, selfishness, laziness and resignation.
Appallingly, the United States is attempting to inculcate techne in children and they are falling short of mastering even that. This leaves the American educational system, and thus, its leaders, centuries of time and light years away from Aristotle’s idea of phronesis.
Emotion is as admirable as erudition.
Politics reflects values as clearly as religion, the workplace, or intimate relationships. If one is interested in values, in doing right and living a life of value, then politics is relevant to their lives.
Richard Bernstein writes that some people are skeptical about phronesis because of the ‘elitist connotations of this ‘intellectual virtue.’ Aristotle himself did not think of it as a virtue that could be ascribed to every human being, but only those gifted individuals who had been properly educated.
When you know yourself better, you’re closer to being whom you always wanted to be.
Strength is banging on a door to get the person to open up; wisdom is checking to see if the door is actually locked first! Have you ever, like me, ripped a tag off of the back of your shirt in frustration because it had been driving you mad with the itching!? You ruin the back of the shirt.
The uncritical swallowing and regurgitation of facts, technique, and method that are passed down to graduate learners – who often are just slightly more mature than high school students – by teachers who are often fully indoctrinated by our society – does not bode well for a country that has numerous problems such as overpopulation, domination of politics by unregulated and ‘dark’ money, global warming, nuclear proliferation, a shrinking middle class, reduced civil liberties, and a pseudo-capitalistic economy that leaves many out in the cold.
My life is a map; proud ink on olde leather.
Relief depicts the saga of my life:
Love is represented by the mountain.
The river symbolizes pain.
Time is shown by vast grasslands.
The symbols make sense to none other than me.
Why not strive for joie de vivre,
Beyond a life bereft of fervor?
Why not decide to believe,
Thus taking you higher and further?
Regarding judgment day: if God is indeed just, I fear not.
There is always the fabled story, held tightly by innocent girls with sweet eyes …
But a wise person must ultimately query
Whether they have been embracing lies.
In fact, the military is a prime example of how techne can easily go awry if partitioned from ethical wisdom. The creation and use of weaponry (including devices such as buried landmines) is one of humankind’s direst problems. And, since America is the #1 exporter of small arms to the entire world, one might say that it is a peculiarly American problem. No surprise, perhaps, since America is quite a proponent of unbridled scientific know-how devoid of a relational, humanist/humanitarian concern.
Humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow’s concept of self-actualization, or that which humans at their best aspire to, is comprised of the following 14 needs: Wholeness (integration/transcendence), Perfection (justice/ completeness), Completion (fulfillment/destiny), Justice, Aliveness (spontaneity/full-functioning), Richness (differentiation/complexity), Simplicity (honesty), Beauty (rightness/aliveness), Goodness (rightness/benevolence), Uniqueness (individuality), Effortlessness (grace), Playfulness (humor/joy), Truth, Honesty & Reality (simplicity), and self-sufficiency (separateness/differentiation).
Isn’t it fitting that blood symbolizes both wounds and familial relationship?
Along with the positive and prosocial we have the capacity for evil, like we witnessed in Nazi Germany, where some people like Anne Frank wrote a diary about human resilience and others did medical experiments on captive subjects. Or like how my cat can attack a mouse and toy with it to death, and then in the next moment roll over on his back and purr while I pet his belly. Remarkable potential either way.
If change and progress are what we as a country desperately need, science cannot provide that bereft of a moral sensibility. Perhaps no one knows this better than Einstein, since his theories were utilized, more or less, in the process of inventing the atomic bomb – which although superior to allowing the Nazis to invent such a weapon first, showed that a new ethos would need to grow in the hearts of men if we are to avoid self-induced annihilation. He predicted: ‘The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.’
Humans prioritizing techne and idolizing scientism are largely responsible for where we are today as a culture, for better or for worse. But phronesis, perhaps known today as ‘wisdom,’ is what will help humanity progress into the future with better results than if we did so with mere techne. Consider what Copthorne Macdonald says about what he refers to as the global problematique: “Humanity attempts to solve its myriad problems with factual knowledge alone, when what is needed is the integration of facts and wisdom.’
Consider yourself “grown up” when you can relate to your parents as person to person, not child to parent. To be able to be objective, confident, and steady in such a relationship means that you have become yourself, and transcended being just an actor in an endless play in which you have a supporting role.
If we have had conscientious and “good” persons since the beginning of recorded history (the likes of Socrates), with much of their wisdom still available in the form of quotations, and if moral philosophy has carved out what is right and what is wrong for many decades, then what is the problem? If ancient philosophers in China were speaking of goodness and justice, why did an innocent person get executed in the last year?
Long ago, Aristotle began discussing phronesis, but 25 centuries later, it seems that we are still ethical infants. However, perhaps a full understanding of the ostensibly nebulous concept of phronesis is no mystery or insolvable puzzle. We might already know everything we need to know about wisdom. The core of the idea may simply be that helping each other is the way in which we help ourselves. Helping others is consummately human, and probably evolutionarily determined. Considering the Golden Rule, one is struck by the fact that phronesis has always been there. It is as deep as sexual desire and equally important for the progress and survival of Homo sapiens. However, technique/knowledge developed within us since we began making tools, and is blind or even potentially harmful when separated from its true master, wisdom. Any efforts – religious, pedagogical, political, and personal – that can bring about a greater awareness of, understanding of, and honoring of phronesis will pay dividends beyond that of any new technique.
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Apart from her, an image lingers in my mind;
A fusion of her, us, and my desires.
Music that mirrors feelings soothes me in her absence;
In the coolness of solitude, it is a warm fire.
We need to be wise how and where we get our information, what conclusions we draw, how we think, the challenges of education, and be mindful of why education is really important. How does a student of life come to know what truth is, then?
Did you ever hear about the following way to encourage yourself to do good deeds: to imagine that God is taking the form of the lowest of the low here on earth, unbeknownst to us, and seeing how man treats this incarnation- and only when he is consistently met with kindness will he decide that man has progressed enough to end our suffering.
Behold this thing called wisdom, and how long it has been that people such as Socrates or Voltaire or Helen Keller or Lucretia Mott and their progenitors have been thinking and writing and speaking and agitating remarkably about it, and yet we still don’t seem to have the type of system which elevates the folks who care most about wisdom and who have achieved the deepest learning to positions of power.
Distrust those who claim that more military equals more safety; it is absurd.
I fantasize of her as a man imprisoned,
As if her smile hides the key.
Her intellect frees me from chains;
Her wit allows me to more truly be.
Are you frustrated that despite your success, you still feel unhappy, unfulfilled, or dissatisfied with some or many areas of your life? If you’ve experienced the disappointment of missing goals, achieving success without satisfaction, or waking up to a life that doesn’t feel like your own, it could be that you’re living out of alignment with your deepest values.
Alas, I live an unexamined life.
Socrates would most certainly look upon me with contempt-
Though I may desire more excitement,
I oft’ bow to inertia and fail to make any attempt.
We let sand pass through the hourglass as though it is limitless.
Happily, when it comes to building a life of value, you are the architect. And the contractor. And the carpenter. And the painter. And the interior designer. And the Realtor. That’s the good news. It is also disappointing to some people to learn of this responsibility. “Winging it” just won’t get you where you want to be and it won’t make your life very valuable to you. Nor will you end up being very valuable to others in your life and in your community.
Being conservative with our social interventions even though they cost money is not just an ideology or attitudinal preference, it is a moral choice.
Sometimes we get so busy with life’s details that we don’t stop to realize that many of our most important life decisions and goals do not truly serve us. Throughout our lives we take on the beliefs and values of our parents, teachers, bosses, and others influences in society – only to neglect, forget about, or never truly identify our own values. Without realizing it, the beliefs and values of others then become the blueprint you use for building your own life – even though they may not fit with what you really want or hold most important.
The process of losing self-perceptions, roles, and automatic behaviors gained unwittingly in one’s family as a child is the essence of becoming oneself.
Cogitation & contemplation — not indoctrination — begets emancipation & elucidation.
The difference between being a moral pillar versus a moral sheep is a matter of keeping a vigilant watch on oneself and purposely shaping one’s behavior – rather than being bumped around by consequences, the opinions of others, fear of punishment, or social convention.
For many reasons, I believe true altruism is rare or mythical. But do good, by all means! Even if the reasons are selfish to some degree, the world becomes a better place as acts of goodness proliferate.
The past can be remembered with a smile or downcast eyes, with the difference being one’s attitude.
Could it be that I may spend the rest of my life attempting to reconcile the ambiguities, the polar opposites that appear to be inherent in the universe, in society, in myself?
The first and foremost characteristic of the fully functioning person according to humanistic psychologist Carl Rogers is openness to experience. The second is existential living (the tendency to live fully and richly in each moment of existence as it comes). The third can be boiled down to self-reliance or self-confidence. The fourth is experiential freedom (the sense that one is free to live in any way one desires). The final characteristic Rogers posits for optimal psychological maturity is creativity. He said, “The good life involves a wider range, a greater richness, than the constricted living in which most of us find ourselves. To be a part of this process means that one is involved in the frequently frightening and frequently satisfying experience of more sensitive living, with greater range, greater variety, greater richness…it involves the courage to be. It means launching oneself into the stream of life.”
I played water polo when I was a teenager. It is a very challenging sport, and many of the kids act dishonorably underwater when the referee is not watching (such as putting their foot in your Speedos and putting their weight on them so you start to sink). My water polo coach taught a good lesson in regard to one of my teammates who was angrily shouting an oath at his opponent. The coach later told us: “Say nothing and walk away, or say nothing and kick his ass. But either way, say nothing.”
Superstition, ignorance, supposition, and guess
Account for humans seeing dark shadows move.
Science, rationality, and logic serve us best:
Certain evil is impossible to prove.
Live your life such that if you were to die at that very moment you would feel proud to have it described in your epitaph. For example, “So-and-so died while helping an old lady cross the street” is considerably preferred to, “So-and-so died while engaging in autoerotic asphyxiation.”
Educated “liberals” have prudence about terming someone else wrong because of their behavior or opinions. I believe this is not because their “moral compass” is misaligned, but because it is in the nature of liberalism to refrain from judgment.
In addition to the “C.Y.A. mentality” that so many in the military are taught from the earliest days in boot camp or the war college, it is a diminishing of the enemy that makes Abu Ghraib possible. The paucity of respect, tolerance, and kindness that marks our treatment of prisoners in this so-called “war on terror” makes me feel like this is more like a “war on civility,” “war on honor,” and “war on our image abroad.”
Being alone, failing, or someone being angry at you are the stuff of nightmares. But you’re never really alone if you have yourself; you aren’t a failure unless you give up on yourself; and there is only one person who votes on your acceptability: yourself.
A work of art, such as a piece of writing or a painting, is just a puppet in the dark, lost forever in time and space, until a human being comes along and animates it with his or her attention.
Often whatever “unlived life” characterizes our way of living is the reason remembrances of times past are accompanied by chills or tears.
We must be very careful taking our lead from men. Remember how Tolkien talked of men in “Lord of the Rings?” Like Saurumon the traitor, we have modern-day tragic characters shouting from the tops of dark towers. How did Rush Limbaugh, Jerry Falwell, Trent Lott, Ann Coulter, George Bush, William Bennett and countless others who have been shown failing to do What Jesus Would Do (WJWD) earn the right to tell folks what to do, what is right, and how to live? If they were truly moral pillars, perhaps we lesser folk ought to be humble and take them seriously. However, it is insulting to the good everywhere when we are condescended to and misled by folks who ought to just get their own house in order and exercise a little more modesty.
We should choose our friends based primarily on how much pressure they can withstand before selling us out.
I’m not soft on terrorism; I’m strong on justice and responsibility, and against our policies that justifiably anger the rest of the world. Others are not just envious or respectful of our enormity; they feel humiliated and insulted by it.
Why are power and deviousness so correlated in this world?
There are no easy answers to the problems that plague us. They are difficult to understand and solve in part because of their complexity and intractability. I don’t have a solution that no one else has thought of. But I do believe there are solutions that many persons have thought of. They can be described simply as values. They are the antidote to human problems. Can we learn to listen to the whispers over the din? Can we turn down the reality T.V. program and listen to the quiet voices of reason and optimism found in books?
Why view the world two-dimensionally,
When three glorious dimensions exist?
Why not wonder unconventionally,
Choosing to live rather than just persist?
It is understandable to be mired in hopelessness and anger about the starvation, pollution, and treachery that we sow and reap daily. But it will be your and my better angels, in the form of courage and wisdom, that allow our potential to rise to heights that Helen Keller, Ann Frank, and Harriet Tubman have dreamt would someday become reality.
I think that liberty is beautiful, but we must watch ourselves to ensure that our libertarian desires are not simply functioning to grant us privacy to do that which is unethical – without some external entity interfering. Liberty can honorably be invoked for something like political dissent, but not child abuse.
We all make mistakes and are imperfect. People can fear looking foolish or being shown to have weaknesses. Everything else but our ethical choices, our moral conduct, can easily be overlooked or chalked up to inexperience, ignorance, or just plain being human. If one’s values are well-determined and consistently applied, one ought to feel confident.
The “land of opportunity,” which is also the land of the all-you-can-eat buffet, the suburban Hummer, and the so-called USA Patriot Act, might not be responsible for anything besides that which can reasonably be attributed to it, but minimally, we are failing to seize the advantage of our unparalleled power to do right.
Greed, fear, arrogance, and complacency taint the American greatness.
I believe that there are forces of anti-progress, anti-justice, and anti-truth out there that have designs on power and domination and they will use any means to accomplish their goals. They are, in my mind, like the villains of any book or movie – they do not play by standards that you and I would recognize as “honorable” or “fair.”
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Learning to do it for oneself, to live deliberately and with confidence, knowing how to love oneself, and resigning oneself to be consistently proud – although perhaps not always easy – are fundamental to happiness and fulfillment. Indeed, it is similar to oiling a rusty axle; it takes time and energy to do so, but since one must travel the distance with or without efficiency and quiet, why not choose to make the journey as pleasant as possible?
Why spend your time worrying about the meaning of life and such when there are so many more important things for us to do?
Danger and dishonor come in all shapes and sizes.
Desperation drives one to literally fight or flee.
Challenges have many faces and varied guises-
Emulate the undaunted falcon or steadfast oak tree…
Respect is hard to retain; we tend to see others as either superior or inferior to ourselves – neither of which engenders much respect.
Come to know yourself. You may not like all of what you find, but that’s not the point.
An interest, instinct, and ability to assemble and examine inchoate ideas, impulses, and insights intelligently is ingenuity in a nutshell. It is an immature inkling that becomes an inspiration or idea of the impassioned intellect.
Lisa Beamer, the widow of American patriot Todd Beamer, who died attacking the would-be destroyers of the White House on Flight 93 on 9-11-2001, subsequently found this quote of Teddy Roosevelt while going through Todd’s desk: “The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena…who strives valiantly, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in worthy causes. Who, at best, knows the triumph of high achievement and who, at worst, if he fails, fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
The hopes for peace and justice in this world
Have stretched like the womb of a mother past due.
The symbols of Rome and Christ on a banner unfurled,
Warped into the demonic symbol the vile Nazis flew.
A breath of fresh air is afforded by knowledge,
By experiencing life and classes at college.
Seize the day or don’t bother trying;
Get busy living or get busy dying!
(last line from Steven King)
At times I am so shocked by the behavior of humanity that I am insulted to have been brought into this world. Other times, I get down on one knee, just thankful I’m alive.
In a relationship, the two members are always being challenged. If one person feels anger in reaction to the other, that first person’s task is to have enough responsibility for themselves to avoid hurtful words; the other, to tolerate that misstatement. I do not know which is more difficult.
If you change but a few persons’ lives, you are a very important person.
Have you ever heard of a society that didn’t value justice? Not justice as a particular social norm, but justice per se? No. Every society has outlawed murder, for example. Cheetahs hunt; meerkats keep watch; chimpanzees socialize; humans value justice.
Comedy is as profound as philosophy.
People tend to spend their adult years either reliving or trying to terminate the image they carried in high school.
Sometimes the noble knight must fight alone,
His brothers in arms being bested all around.
Of course he feels that fear down to the bone,
But his courage and duty keep him bearing down…
Perhaps passion does not negate objectivity, but rather, emboldens it.
When Jesus spoke of the Golden Rule, or when your mother told you that a given act (or a thought, perhaps) was wrong, they were trying to teach right from wrong in terms of a theory. When you feel guilty for doing something that is against your moral code, your ethical theory is at work.
What should the reasonable person make of this world?
If God is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, and benevolent,
Why does his creation – wondrous human beings,
Face atrocity wrought by nature unbridled and humans malevolent?
Life’s cruelty strongly indicates the dispassionate nature or perhaps randomness of the universe behind the day-to-day happenings of the earth.
Ethical theory studies what is right and what is wrong. For example, if you find a dollar on the ground, do you take it? How about if it’s a dollar in a wallet with no ID? What if there is an ID in the wallet? What if you see a person drop it as they are walking in front of you? Or consider what you would do if they left their wallet on the counter and were looking in the other direction for a moment….
Each of us has the opportunity to witness violence and intervene, to abstain from cheating on our taxes, and to volunteer our time to help others. Chivalry is not about a sword as much as it is about whether or not you tell the lie that no one is likely to find out about.
I was perplexed to discover that Hitler was an avid enthusiast of jokes. How could the same person who decided who should and shouldn’t die really value humor?
How could Thomas Aquinas or Pope Merciless IX know more about the Creator than the boy next door?
If we have a grasp of the fact that death is inexorably approaching, we tend to develop new priorities and live in accordance with the fresh outlook. Typically, this is because we are gaining in years, but it can also be due to the recent assignment of a grim prognosis secondary to a terminal illness. We tend to view time — and how we value ways to use the precious resource — differently in such circumstances. For example, in a study by Kalish and Reynolds (1976), younger participants were asked how they would spend their six remaining months of life, and they indicated pastimes such as traveling and checking things off their bucket list, whereas older adults valued and prioritized more ‘inner-focused’ activities, such as reflecting on their life, and meditation.
‘White trash’ is a term that is used for ignorant, classless, poor white people – as well as for ignorant, classless, rich white people.
Gazing at the sunset in the distance while a compelling Native American tribal song played in my headphones, and with the second war in Iraq ever-present in the news, I experienced feelings of both reverence and regret, appreciation and shame.
Western lifestyle has replaced a profound appreciation for the divinity of nature, overall respect for the planet, and true community with a mechanized, profit-driven, staunchly individualistic lifestyle symbolized by our reverence for currency and respect for SUVs.
At one point Hitler wanted to be an artist, but, having failed, went on to become the most infamous violator of human rights in history.
The highly moral person might even consider the continued dishonor that is inherent in the quintessential Roman, 18th Century French, and modern American ways of life to be a figurative failure, even if the latter succeeds in preventing the rest of the world from harming it or storming the Bastille – as the formers failed to accomplish.
How could God let his children, in Auschwitz, endure? Was he not available, or did he not care to assist? Were their hearts not sufficiently obedient or pure? The love described in the Bible was sorely missed.
If anyone does something nice to you, the second motive to consider is altruism; the first is gain.
The somewhat shallow life I lead, albeit pleasant,
Seems more like meaningless and dull from one point of view.
Real friendships punctuate it with camaraderie and anxiety;
They turn my pastel existence to a more vibrant hue.
The story is old: leaders vie for power, representatives of the gods further their beliefs, be they good or bad. How long is this cycle of witnessing mankind’s tragic flaws to continue? Why are we no closer to peace, that oft’ spoken ideal, than we were when Homer thought to deify his contemporaries and expose his civilization’s flaws? Will truth and fulfillment ever win the day?
I compare thee to the moon and stars;
I desire you like only a poet can.
We’re a flame that will eternally burn,
With trust and passion as the fan.
You use your values every day, but do you know how you came to honor those particular values? What are they? Can you list them off as quickly as you would list your favorite foods? Most people can’t, and that is curious – since values underlie and affect one’s behavior, success, satisfaction, roles, beliefs, goals, health, and spiritual life.
The finer things in life are fine, but the meaningful things in life are more meaningful.
Men of war adapt to peace about as readily as men of peace adapt to war.
Developing one’s ethical, spiritual, and emotional life does not happen as easily as gaining weight – it is more akin to exercising. But when you think of Jesus, see that movie character doing the right thing, hear the Dalai Lama, or watch a religious figure in your place of worship, think of Martin Luther King or Helen Keller, do you – like me – get the feeling that they practice and really “live” their chosen values?
The truest mark of a human matured to their potential Is the exercise of mercy; it’s absolutely essential. The exalted position of Popes and thrones of monarchs Affords those humans opportunity to prey like sharks.
This is not the end of the story of my life — Oh no, my unyielding determination buoys me. A tireless struggle to become all that I can — The sapling that is my soul will become a tree.
If the company who employs you has solid values that differ significantly from yours, then you have one of two choices: conform or leave. I suggest you leave, if at all possible.
The legacy of a man is created through a few remarkable situations.
What honor lies in philosophizing from one’s soporific armchair?
‘Tis a world full of pessimists, of mutable morals;
Indeed, those who show greatness are becoming increasingly rare.
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I personally believe that the wise are liberal/progressive, for the most part. When I say liberal I don’t mean “support unending welfare for anyone who wishes to stay home instead of work” or “never wants to use a gun for self-protection;” no, that type of thinking is 75% false, promulgated by the “right” so as to win the struggles for the tax rate, the favor of corporations, and the whole “sexual morality” thing.
We as a society are angry; angry at the powers that exert manipulative control over the way we think, influence the ways we live and cooperate, and that seek to control us for personal gain.
In dark hours, I am crushed by the weight of the idea that the values I aspire to make living life too difficult to bear.
The preparedness for Hurricane Katrina being bungled will turn out to be Bush’s last stand. Historically, his goose is cooked. But if we as people can bring the chickens home to roost on Bush’s lying and manipulation sooner rather than later, lives will be saved. And for those who have already been victims of his atrocious lack of planning and self-doubt, justice in the present and future will be a reckoning for the past.
Often the knight must fight alone.
Nothing in my normal, daily life gets me more upset than to see a) suffering and death because of b) shenanigans, chicanery, and incompetence on the part of our federal government. It is egregious, it is un-American, and it has to be rooted out for the disease that it is. My fellow Americans, we don’t have all the time in the world. The world is in such precarious shape, ready to combust. A hurricane of Biblical proportions, as Katrina has been called, is a metaphor for the destruction that we are causing to ourselves and the world.
A person who follows news realizes that just about 2,000 American soldiers have died in combat and by terror tactics in Iraq, and surely ten times that many Iraqis lost their lives – many civilians. This staggering amount of people who are dying to remove Saddam Hussein from power, try to build a Constitution in Iraq that resembles a republic, and keep our access to oil and a convenient military springboard is truly high. This ought not to be overlooked if we are going to be operating in reality as a society.
The problem with moral decision making is not when the big issues are on the line, but rather during the countless, little decisions we are continually faced with. The majority of people can make the “right” decision if someone turns on the spotlight and says, “What are you going to do?” The real question is, what has one been doing from day to day with no one watching?
It’s curious that I feel so alone on a planet with 5 billion other people.
Love is as powerful as profit.
Often we want to try and retain our self, to be confident and courageous. Wisdom is required to determine when is the right time – or it’s not confidence, but dogmatism. It is wise to be yourself – but with the realization that your self needs continual improvement. We simply never arrive at perfection – or at least we don’t linger there long. And the less you try to cling to that, the more face-saving it is when you discover the need to change.
Our system says that all’s fair in war and business, and then when our people behave in such a way that what is expedient is right, the youth today are claimed to “lack values.”
It is very important that we realize that it is not the children of the rich and connected who join the armed forces and fight in horrific conditions in the hot desert, it is the folks who are lured by the signup bonuses or who didn’t get into (or didn’t feel ready) for college – the lower and lower-middle classes. It is easy to sign an order saying “Go over there and risk your life.” It is hard to go over there and risk your life.
If the world were indeed just, I too would be politically conservative. Until then, I propose we decide to make it so! Then we can resist change – and not be morally culpable doing so.
Holding prisoners in an isolated camp without judicial review or other basic protections is a glaring example of the United States doing what is expedient rather than what is right.
I think so as to better understand what I believe.
One might be on solid ground stating that “liberal” implies openly embracing what is fair, progressive, and magnanimous – whereas conservatism implies being opposed to or fearing such things (or commonly in the political realm, actively trying to stymie them). So, liberal implies openness, freedom, and generosity and conservatism implies an honoring of the status quo. I guess the question then is, What is the status of our society? In need of change, or just right? I imagine the answer depends on whether you were in the towers on September 11th, or watching it on your flatscreen; whether you were stuck in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, or discussing it over wine.
Strive to see what is not readily apparent to the naked mind.
We as a country seem to have a devil’s pact with super-super-store Wal-Mart: You provide us with cheap stuff to buy, and we won’t complain too much as you open 275 mega-profitable new stores a year that are appalling in many ways.
We are a society that is ailing. Money is the god of our leaders. Things like cops killing unarmed suspects, prison abuses, mass killings, court backlogs, innocents on death row and, yes, cops getting murdered, are but signs.
I pray to God I can indeed look longingly, appreciatively, deeply into my wife’s eyes during our last moment together, and say, with words unable to describe my feelings: “You never left me. You never did!” If I were to die today, I could hug a few selected people and honestly say, “I trusted you. As much as my heart would allow me to, I trusted you. I only hope my company was adequate compensation for your dedication.”
When you take responsibility for yourself and your values, you become aware of what the influences are on the values you hold, and you make efforts to emphasize those of your choosing and de-emphasize that are really just instilled in you because of culture, genes, religious background, early family environment, etc.
We may never know with certainty if we are correct in a belief we cherish – or a perception we hold, or a way we choose to live, or a decision we make. But if we think carefully, and define our self confidently, that may be the best we can do. For if we don’t have confidence in our self, and believe in the power of reason, on whom or in what can we depend? We cannot rely on others to think for us. Insecurity may be the work of the devil.
Communality is as honorable as individuality.
In any given situation, the ideal thing to believe or do may have some elements of the “left” and the “right,” but that does not necessarily mean that the best course of action truly “lies in the middle;” perhaps truth is to be found in some fusion of progressive and conservative principles – but that is not the same thing as a watered-down amalgam of both philosophies.
My father said, “There are times to sit, or stand and be counted,”
When good people die, just laws are forsaken, banned books smolder
There comes a time when our steed must be armored and mounted;
The balance of good and evil rests on our collective shoulders.
The foundation on which my true self has been built
Is shaky to the degree that the bricks forming it are lies.
Part of the bedrock supporting my pride is silt-
I want one to know only truth when gazing in my eyes.
If our creator is good, powerful, knowledgeable, and everywhere,
Then how can all manner of evil deeds escape his watchful eye?
As humans torture, deceive, litigate, and abandon their humanity,
What can explain why people suffer silently and then just die?
“Values” is more than just sexual issues and shit. It certainly is not “family values” to kill approximately 100,000 Iraqi civilians and lose 1,000 men and women from our country. This is a bona fide moral issue if there ever was one! Invading is not only a strategic blunder of massive proportions, it is ruinous to our honor. Why was no one worried about removing Saddam and/or the sanctions before we needed a distraction – from 9/11, bin Laden, North Korea, the Kyoto Treaty, tax cuts for the wealthy, etc.?
Change is inevitable. It is wisdom that fosters development and progress.
One can only see one side of a coin from any given perspective. The knowledge that there is another side to that coin is a potent bit of knowledge indeed.
Almost everyone has the capacity, the longing, for virtue – to be respectful, to seek justice, to dwell in peace, etc. There are many factors that get in the way. One must find those factors and remove them, or circumvent them.
The fusion of progressive and classical values this book is about is not “radical” compared to let’s say Jesus, Jefferson, or King. It’s just that certain political factions want to marginalize a value system that does not maintain the status quo in regard to race, class, church/state alliances, and societal responsibilities. Our country needs major work, and so does the world – people are suffering needlessly, and this is not okay. “Values of the wise” are our answer.
God works in mysterious ways. But so does the devil.
The insecurity the wise person must face is extraordinary. Think about not being able to say with true confidence, “I am right,” or “this divorce is the best thing for me,” or “this candidate is the one,” or, “God exists.” It is so seductive to sink back into the comfortable idea that you know something, that you are sure. Yet that is the one thing the wise person must hesitate to seize upon. So, metaphorically, the wise person is resigned to lie in bed, but never to fall asleep.
For people with an “emotional distance/closeness” problem, there is a gross paradox; for they long for closeness until such time as they have it, and then they long for distance once again.
To willfully kneel before one’s god may be the ultimate act of strength.
An idea that can be helpful to a person who wishes to make strides in his or her development, beliefs, and objectivity is to externalize and explicitize their decision-making process into a dispassionate dialogue with self and often another source (such as a person, a journal, or a published book).
Living a “life of value” takes actual learning, thinking, consciousness, conscientiousness, and practice. Developing one’s ethical, spiritual, and emotional life does not happen as easily as gaining weight – it is more akin to exercising. But when you think of Jesus, see that movie character doing the right thing, hear the Dalai Lama, watch a religious figure in your place of worship, or think of Martin Luther King or Helen Keller, do you – like me – get the feeling that they practice and really “live” their chosen values?
You use your values everyday, but do you know how you came to honor those particular values? What are they? Can you list them off as quickly as you would list your favorite foods? Most people can’t, and that is curious, since values underlie and affect one’s behavior, success, satisfaction, roles, beliefs, goals, health, and spiritual life.
America is a sick society as evidenced by our huge number of guns for protection from neighbors and due to a fear of tyranny; more deaths have been produced right here with guns in the last forty years (1.7m)(mostly suicides and interpersonal violence) than in every war since 1776 (1.4m). Look at our veterans. Money in politics. Violence on tv. Football players giving themselves concussions for our entertainment. Wall St behavior. Trump. Sanders getting cheated. Vaccines as public enemy #1. Factory farming. Opioid addiction. It’s very dark here.
Re: athletes not standing during the national anthem, I do see the idea of not standing as “disparaging America,” but as a liberal, I am more interested in the truth of the matter than the reverence of the nation, unity, or appearances. Oddly, Trump can say at a rally something like “America is in terrible shape” and everyone claps. Why? Because the crowd feels that something is wrong with America that liberals or Barack Obama have caused. This is totally backwards. Liberals have always jerked America forward with the fools and reactionaries screaming. As with slavery, Jim Crow, or voting rights for women, eventually most people catch up and thinks the process was perfectly natural. I would urge folks to consider what Black Lives Matter activists are protesting, and here is a hint: it is not America per se.
My life is like a book. Each chapter is long, detailed, incredible, and spotted. But each chapter is a separate entry – albeit next to two other chapters in the time frame of the table of contents. Many chapters are written and done with. The regrets that pop up from the past seem to have much to do with my failure to see that the chapters are already written. I’m only able to write on one page of the current chapter, and the rest is done. Chapter 9 only has so much relevance for the current chapter – chapter 14 if you will. When I look at my life that way, rather than to focus on a “failed relationship” or a “mistake made,” I am less sad, less torn.
‘Three decades of data prove that tax cuts for the wealthy do not ‘trickle down’ to working people or grow the overall economy,’ maintains billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer in an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times. He added: ‘Let’s raise taxes on the rich…. Let’s boost wages to stimulate economic growth and job creation. It’s the only way we will create broad prosperity, rebuild the middle class, and give working families a fair shake.’
Regarding liberal concern for the world’s disfranchised, I think that on a small scale it is helpful – if not altruistic. However, regarding guilt about not being able to help everyone, do everything, and change the way the system works, I would say this: be part of the solution and not part of the problem and you can feel good enough (though not great). You and I are not the originators of luck. We are not the designer of the universe, nor do we have the power to manipulate complex sociological phenomena with a simple benevolent thought. Live consciously and hope that the darker side of human nature does not ruin this experiment that’s been running for the last 20,000 years.
If one doesn’t cling immodestly to facts or beliefs, then it doesn’t hurt to renounce them.
Think not of your cherished memories as a sunset, now long-faded; know that your special experiences from decades ago are words etched deep in an immovable piece of granite, permanent, and always within sight.
The absence of a sense of purpose unifying mankind is clearly upon us;
Suffering, corruption, inequality, and injustice mark present-day earth.
Hard laws and hidden cameras have failed to make up for a dearth of trust;
Can we find in human hearts the means to create a spiritual rebirth?
Intelligence is a necessary, but not sufficient, precondition of enlightenment.
Think freely and independently or you are a slave bound by imaginary shackles. These shackles may be wrought by tradition, emotion, neediness, or fear.
I could easily be a hero, were it not for the physical and mental pain involved.
A person must live in a self-directed way. You must make your own decisions. Don’t let anybody tell you how to play the hand you get dealt; poker players don’t listen to other people about how to play their hand. And make no mistake – everyone you come in significant contact with is playing the same game at the same table. Poker players don’t have advisors, and they don’t count on the beneficence of their fellow players. I’m not advocating a harshness or thick-headedness – just noting that you’re a loser to the degree that you let another tell you how to play this game of life.
Los Angeles looks more like the City of Demons it seems. As one of the richest nations we can’t even feed our poor. The silence where forests dwelled is pierced by screams. Yet we ignore the harsh pounding of danger on our door.
Values of the Wise definitely has a ‘traditional values’ and ‘family values’ element to it; the folks on the political right don’t have dominion over the term ‘values’ and certainly not over righteousness. And since when did premarital sex become more morally interesting than the hubris and greed with which so many of our leaders conduct themselves?
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What is wrong with our priorities? The military funding in this country is not too far from 3/4th of a trillion dollars a year, year after year. This greatly outpaces all the other major industrialized countries combined. We also sell more arms and weaponry to other countries than any other does. As Omar Bradley famously and poignantly put it, “We’ve learned how to destroy, but not to create; how to waste, but not to build; how to kill men, but not how to save them; how to die, but seldom how to live.” He also, equally strongly, said: “We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living. We have grasped the mystery of the atom and rejected the Sermon on the Mount.” Martin Luther King, Jr. struck a similar chord with his famous barb, “Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men.
We all believe some positive things about ourselves which are true, and some which are untrue. There are also true and untrue negative self-perceptions; the trick is not to be mistaken about which are which.
Fulfillment and meaning make life worth living.
We who use the term honor do not do so lightly.
Through all our trials and defeats that must stay constant.
We need to grip both our swords and principles tightly.
The pull to forsake beliefs is ever present.
You can’t polish something that doesn’t have form and substance; first things first.
Be careful looking to either person or god for your own principles, for peace is bigger than Gandhi; passion is greater than King; perseverance is more than Keller; love encompasses Jesus’ message.
One who intends to do right must take their aspirations very seriously, because those who intend to do wrong certainly take their commitment very seriously. These people do exist; they are educated, wealthy, diabolical, and they have no compunction about snapping rules in order to preserve themselves and perpetuate their goals. It takes no less than heroism to win in a struggle with such people.
Is not the stifling of another’s opinion worse than any single opinion, no matter how subversive it is?
The values in this chapter are about deciding what you believe the right thing to do is, and then doing it.
Did you know that 55% of Americans believe that Christianity was written into the Constitution and that the founding fathers wanted One Nation Under Jesus (which includes 75% of Republicans and Evangelicals) (USA Today)? It is true that Puritan pilgrims came here seeking religious freedom, and that today we are one of the most religious of industrialized nations. But the fact that the vast majority of Americans think we are and are supposed to be “a Christian nation” is disconcerting, for two reasons. One, we certainly are not; America has slowly come to accept that religious pluralism and toleration and separation of church and state are ideals worth striving for. Some of the founding fathers were deistic and not particularly religious. But perhaps even more so, how can we be considered a Christian nation when we have this level of political chicanery, poverty, militarism, materialism, and greed? Those counter-ideals are literally antithetical to the message we believe Jesus was trying to convey during his brief time on Earth. We Americans seem to be purposely courting ignorance.
Balance is a worthy path to take. Pursuing the highs and accepting the lows. But time is too valuable to waste, Because watching t.v., no one ever grows.
What does the thoughtful person do with the fact that there are no perfect examples of virtue? The man who harms the child molester while they are both in prison is injuring nevertheless. Woodrow Wilson was a racist. Our war with Iraq was as self-serving as it was liberating. Mother Teresa’s image cracks under criticism. How many presidents were adulterers? We ought to study and extol the principle, not the person; people are by definition imperfect, whereas principles are, by definition, perfection.
Is honor an archaic concept?
Is it becoming the appendix of the human mind?
Those who do value it seem suspect.
Seeing a Catch-22 and a double-bind,
People fold instead of standing erect-
True honor is becoming difficult to find.
The uncritical swallowing and regurgitation of facts, technique, and method that are passed down to graduate learners – by teachers who are often fully indoctrinated by our society – does not bode well for a country that has numerous problems such as overpopulation, domination of politics by unregulated and ‘dark’ money, global warming, nuclear proliferation, a shrinking middle class, reduced civil liberties, and a pseudo-capitalistic economy that leaves many out in the cold.
Things we bank on can be shattered before our eyes.
Hard work and smart planning can disintegrate.
Even though we keep our eyes on the prize,
We may be victims of insidious fate.
I am frightened by the possibility that revealing a lie I told to one of my professors will set in motion a cascade of damaging consequences – possibly even nullifying my achieved education since that class. But, if so, I cannot call her a liar, and I will not keep this mar on my “record” any longer. I must go through with it; I cannot do otherwise. Whatever happens, I will face it with courage and honor, virtues conspicuously absent when I committed my wrong.
In fact, the military is a prime example of how techne can easily go awry if partitioned from ethical wisdom. The creation and use of weaponry (including devices such as buried landmines) is one of humankind’s direst problems. And, since America is the #1 exporter of small arms to the entire world, one might say that it is a peculiarly American problem. No surprise, perhaps, since America is quite a proponent of unbridled scientific know-how devoid of a relational, humanist/humanitarian concern.
Maintaining one’s position can be both wise and foolish, weak and strong, confident and misguided. The wisdom is in knowing when to stand firmly and when to be supple.
Alternative explanations for how it was that average Americans were willing to do nasty things to others in Stanley Milgram’s Obedience to Authority experiment have been considered, debated, and an answer found – at least according to the “authority on the subject,” Milgram. It was somewhat surprising because no one predicted that “average” Americans would be willing to do anything near what the Nazis did. According to Robert Cialdini, “the real culprit in the experiments was the subjects’ inability to defy the wishes of the boss,” in this case the persistent and eerily-calm researcher in the lab coat from Yale University who urged and directed unwitting subjects to “perform their duties despite the emotional and physical mayhem they were causing.”
Believe in the possibility that we can rise to unimagined heights.
You can fail in many ways, many times, and still not be a failure.
As an example of the real-life costs of following dubious, mistaken, or evil orders, consider the prevalence of medical mistakes, now a leading cause of death! When a doctor (authority figure) makes an error, few who are lower in the hierarchy “will think to question it” (Cialdini). A 10-15% error rate likely occurs in hospitals. This means peoples’ deaths. Ignorance resulting in death outweighs brief mental and physical suffering by the few. We must not remain unnecessarily ignorant of psychological phenomena; it is not wise.
It is crucial to uncover, elucidate, uproot, and counter the tendency to obediently follow others. Failing to successfully do so will continue to lead to, as in the case of American bison, humans individually and as groups mindlessly following leaders off a figurative cliff. Certainly, Germans think that is exactly what they themselves did under Nazism’s sway.
Physics, astronomical phenomena, microbiology, and on and on…
Are masked in darkness until our senses or reason bring the dawn.
Yet we have no direct evidence of God;
Perhaps one day the skeptical will be awed…
Education leads to knowledge, yet wisdom is only found within..
“Captainitis” is when subordinates blindly follow mistaken orders of airline pilots, occasionally leading to disaster (Robert Cialdini). As well, consider law enforcement and the military– situational factors which help to create the phenomenon of putting moral concerns aside and blindly obeying those in command sometimes result in violations of civil liberties and the death of civilians, soldiers, and innocents. It is easy to see the parallels between the Stanford Prison Study and the Abu Ghraib atrocity. Might Trump and his band of authoritarians usher in a dystopian nightmare in modern America?
I’m more interested in historical truth than I am in improving race relations, but, obviously, more historical truth and a greater acceptance on the part of white people that racism was (and is) a part of American society, should go a long way to improving race relations – if we are earnest, courageous, and cooperative.
Self-esteem is much about the power one had in their home as a child. The more power a child enjoyed in comparison to siblings and parents, the easier the rest of life seems.
Without sounding like a fortune in a fortune cookie, I am seeking wisdom. I believe there is so much out there to learn and do out there, and I want to learn and do as much as I can before I die.
People are hurt and even die when, as Colonel Jessep famously maintained in A Few Good Men: “We follow orders, son. We follow orders or people die. It’s that simple.” That may be true; tragically, ironically, people also die when orders are followed. It is psychology’s duty and privilege to map out, clarify, and warn us all of this phenomenon so that humanity might have the wisdom to successfully avoid a psychological trap natural to the human condition.
He does right, pleasing himself and his counselor,
But his decision was not based purely on lofty virtues.
Fear, obligations, and pressure muddy the water;
If one is forced, one did not of their own volition choose.
Freedom and peace are two of the highest states of humankind. There is no alternative for those who really understand what these ideas are about.
More than just silliness or stupidity, a vivid sense of humor can yield insight into a person’s modesty, passion, and intelligence.
He who values principles and exercises control,
Faces the omnipresent threat of adversity.
Perceived as odd, foolhardy, and droll,
Despite the failure of respect from his society,
By crushing the dice rather than letting them roll-
He can sleep at night sure of his integrity.
When I feel nostalgic about the past or worried about the future, sometimes it helps to get more vigorously involved in the present, to work on myself, to push myself.
Avoid the temptation to panic when the chips are down; when the chips are down is when one really needs to rely on oneself.
There is nothing wrong with admitting that you have problems. It is your struggle that makes you worthy, not your perfection.
Yes, there is disagreement, even among philosophers, about what is right, and which theory is best. This is just the process, and the nature of the beast. It doesn’t point to the fact that objective universal moral principles are not able to be analyzed, and decided upon, though. Enter the educated and responsible individual!
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I have a hard time with criticism. It reminds me of my smaller self. It is easier to just be confident, that makes me feel big. But sometimes, in deflecting criticism with confidence, I am standing in unreality.
One day, years from now, if the planet is still inhabited by frail humanity, few if any will remember you. Your life is but a grain of sand on a beach of time. So live! Read what you have written. Listen to wonderful music. Remind yourself often of your goals. Say, “I have been hurt, and I’m going to be hurt by others in the future in all probability, but one thing is certain – either I can live, or fail to do so. I can grab life by the throat and move passionately, or I can be a prisoner to fear of the future and regret from the past. I can make it happen right now, even as I feel my pain, or I can yield to anxiety.”
Wanting something to be true and it actually being true are two unrelated matters. If you are driving in the fog, don’t wish or assume or need there to be a bridge across a chasm, determine with great confidence whether it exists or not.
Seeing the strikingly beautiful sunrise this morning on the way to work, the vivid rays shining through the trees, I pulled over and just felt drawn to looking at it. It filled me; I experienced such a deep feeling of awe and desire to dwell among the security, warmth, light, peace, and solace that I began to cry. The juxtaposition of such beauty with the feelings I feel inside were jarring. I wanted to just dwell in the protection of the sunrise, forever.
We might have been graced with each other,
Only to find ourselves cursed by merciless time.
Perhaps a promising future lay before us,
But it’s a towering mountain my heart must climb.
At various times, we all feel on top of the world, or like fucking assholes. The question is, What is the average way we feel about ourselves?
The more you know, the more you have truth on your side. It is a sublime power.
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