Philosophy

Simple Life – A Philosophy (My own personal continually updated ramblings on how to live my best life)

“The Simple Life” is built from an underlying philosophy that grew out of questions like … “What is the meaning of Life?” or “Why are we each here?”. At the risk of sounding a bit crazy, I will delve into a personal philosophy that I have modified over years of contemplation / introspection. 

What is the purpose of my life? 

Like many others, I find life to be an oxymoron. You can’t have life without death. 

Defining Life

For you to exist in the first place… another living thing must consume/grow and split off a piece of itself for you to exist as a stand-alone living entity. As this new living being, you must grow so that you too can split off a piece of you to keep your species propagating through time. To grow, the matter in your body will need to consume energy. While plants get their energy directly from the sun, our energy comes from other living things, i.e. plants & animals. To be alive, you must bring death to other living things which you consume for their energy.

Life and Death. They are interwoven at the most basic level. To sustain our own lives we must consume other life.

Birth & Lineage

Yet we aren’t simply harbingers of death. We are capable of spawning new life, a child to carry on as our next generation.

This is a tough one for me as I have no children of my own. Happenstance did not bring me an unplanned child and the decisions I’ve made chose a path that would not end in children. That decision forces the understanding that my lineage ends with me.

Longest Life

Even if you manage to consume energy to a ripe old age… Nothing lasts forever.

Entropy

Physics, 2nd Law of Thermodynamics teaches us that Entropy (a measure of disorder in a system, i.e. our bodies) is always increasing. Entropy/chaos cuts us down even quicker than it does the mountains that surround us. Each sentient being must wrestle with their own mortality. You are alive now but not forever. We are passengers on the 3rd rock from the sun hurtling through a vast universe. Passengers who ask… does our life have a purpose?

Purpose/immortality

I like to think that the meaning or purpose of my life is that which I give it. Only those you have touched deeply care about you and your existence. When you disappear you are kept alive in the memories of all those whom you have connected with in a meaningful way. When it is not us but our loved ones who pass on, the grieving will last our lifetime. We hang onto memories that keep them alive… if just within us. Fear not your emotions. Reach out and touch those around you now in some meaningful way. This is where happiness comes from and it brings meaning to your life.

People & Experience; Not Things

Sell everything you own, except the boat and have the Simple Life! Life is not about things but people & experiences. Things are but a distraction from life. The less you have the more you will focus on those closest to you. You will live your best life by being present in the moment.

Managing Your Life Takes More Work Than You Think

You can’t focus on living your best life if you are distracted by things. For me, I found I was buying lots of things. We are bombarded by marketing which is repeatedly preaching a better life through purchasing things (via TV, radio, billboards, social media, sales people, etc). That’s not a jab at Capitalism. It’s simply how capitalism works. My simple view of Capitalism is …We all work for $ so we can trade that tender for whatever brings us happiness. I’m simply suggesting that not buying “things” makes your bank account grow faster. Knowing that you have $ for when things go wrong keeps worry (fear) away. When you have enough $ you can retire (exiting the cycle of work => buy things => work) and focus fully on your pursuit of happiness. At some point in my life, that became my goal. Looking back, I’m glad I chose that goal.

Be Right with the World

Each night you must lay your head down on your pillow and know you are right with the world. If you can’t sleep because you feel regret over decisions you made … stress not. Tomorrow you must say/do whatever is needed so that you are once again right with the world. At least… inside your head. It doesn’t mean that those whom you may have wronged will forgive you. We are all judged for eternity on the things we have done. Yet, if you took the steps to right your wrong, that’s the best you can do.

Leave Nothing Unsaid

Share how you feel emotionally. Tell those whom you love now before you don’t have that chance because one of you is no longer here. When your final moment arrives… you’ll lay your head down easy that last time. Even now in this moment, simply knowing you are right with the world frees you from any fear of your own or loved one’s future death and allows you to focus on living. I believe “fear of death” affects our everyday emotions more than we realize.

Fear is the Root of all Bad Behavior

If we feared nothing, our actions would more closely match our feelings and emotions in real-time. Whenever I behave poorly to a situation, I often find that I feared something. Maybe I was afraid of saying how I truly felt or how people would react? Maybe it was fear of embarrassment? Whatever the fear was it stopped me from being true to my emotional self and the consequences are often regret and unhappiness. Be brave and act true to your emotions. Doing this will steer you in a direction that is true to yourself and your future interactions will improve as those around you will better understand the true you.

What then shall I do with my short time here?

Pursuit of Happiness

Do that which makes you happy. To protect your happiness, prepare for the inevitable heartbreak of loss by reminding yourself that you can keep loved ones alive inside your memories. Fearlessly figure out what brings you joy and go after it. It does not have to be monumental in scope. In fact, A simple life for me is about the small things. Finding joy in the moments you spend alone and with others.

My Mantra  

Life can get chaotic so you better have a short set of guiding principles to quickly reference. I settled on a three-line mantra.

1. Free Will Trumps Destiny
2. Seek Truth
3. Stay Away from Stupid People

1. Free Will Trumps Destiny

I don’t believe in fate or destiny. I believe my actions define my future life. I control my actions but not the world I live in. Life is full of chaos from natural events or the actions of others. However, you can react to life’s chaotic events by falling back on your mantra. Whatever actions you have taken are what landed you where you are today. You get the reward or blame for where you are right now. Don’t like where you are? No worries, the actions that you do now will carry you to a new place.

2. Seek Truth

Those who have the best/true information make the best decisions. If you want to make the best decisions in life that will take you to your desired happy place, you better understand what is true in this world. Understanding what’s true in this world will guide you like a compass to that happiness you pursue.

3. Stay Away From Stupid People

SAFSP has nothing to do with IQ but instead people who are acting stupid in the world. People who are not acting right. If you surround yourself with good people, good things happen. Good people will share in your rejoice when things go well for you. They will be there for you when things go wrong.

Religious Philosophy vs. Building Your Own

Religion can offer comfort. Most religions will offer simple answers to the painful dilemmas of your own mortality, lost loved ones and an uncontrollable life.

1. Our own Mortality – Follow most religions and you’ll live on forever in their afterlife.

2. The loss of those we love. In the religious afterlife, you’ll be rejoined with those you love again.

3. Control in a chaotic world – Pray to a supernatural being and they will grant you what you want/need.

Even after religion solves the three challenges stated above, you’ll still seek a meaning of life. Most religions I’ve seen state that life is about making sense of the life’s struggle. This is useful as… many turn to their religion of choice when they are struggling to make sense of their difficult life.

I view religion as someone else’s philosophy that helps its followers unite under a common set of rituals designed to bring them together. Its followers are freed from having to build their own philosophy and can simply follow the rules laid down by another to find guidance in their life. Religion is the path most followed.

No Such Thing as Creation

The universe began with a big bang. A singularity of energy which always existed, expanded outward into a nothing. That energy would expand and precipitate matter as it cooled. Matter in the form of hydrogen atoms. Those clouds of hydrogen atoms self assemble into stars though the force of gravity and magnetism. Gravity crushing inward balanced against the energy of fusion pushing outward. It’s this stable sun that shines energy upon us. Nucleogenesis (creation of heavier elements via the sun’s fusion) naturally creates all the elements in our periodic table. Chemistry is the study of how these elements auto assemble into everything we see around us. Summarizing.. the singularity always existed and its energy gave rise to all the matter around us. This matter and energy will exist for eternity. We learn at an early age… “Matter is neither created nor destroyed but only changes form”. It is impossible to point to anything in this universe and say it has a creator because everything has always existed. You can however, point to something and say it was assembled. Whether self-assembled or assembled via a living creature.

My belief that we are ephemeral beings in a vast eternal world evokes a desire to bring meaning & purpose to my self-managed life.

“I gang my own gait…” – Albert Einstein.

I walk my own path… so to speak. One’s own life is paramount and I am comforted knowing, I own it. I walk a path guided by my own philosophy using truth as my compass. If I’m lucky, I’ll be inspired by many along that path and I hope to inspire others in an equally meaningful way.