Live Life Properly
How philosophy can save
the world
Plato said “the
unexamined life is not worth living.” While I agree with this
statement, it's still up for debate. A dog or cat, for instance,
probably doesn't examine their life to the same degree, or with the
same skill set within a human's capability, yet there is a very fair
argument that said dog or cat can live a full and happy life. The
same argument could be made for a bush, or tree.
However we, (and Plato,)
are not talking about dogs or trees, these things, while being alive,
are simply not able to live the examined life, as it is the
examination itself that is beyond them. This points to a simple
concept and fair question, by way of our ability to do so, are we
not obligated to philosophize? This
is a topic that has been discussed since Aristotle, (who believed in
“the purpose” of things, such that a knife with no edge is not a
knife at all.) Rene Descartes who said, “I think, therefore I am,”
also speaks to this ability to reason as a depiction of purpose. In
short, flipping the statement on its head, to not think is
to not be.
Modern
humans in the year 2013 have a decided advantage of Descartes and
especially Aristotle, in that we can all be Philosophers. We are
capable of doing philosophy by way of our common education and our
desires to express our Self. Philosophy is just the study of thought
and most of us study our own thoughts at various times throughout our
lives. We do philosophy without realizing we are doing so. The bulk
of the population in Aristotle's time was lucky if they weren't
slaves. The bulk of the population in Descarte's time was lucky if
they knew how to read. We have the internet. We are at least capable
of being connected and communicating with everyone else in the world,
in real time. We are an amalgam intellect. We can learn anything we
want, for free, instantly.
So
why don't we? Why is it that our lives are not already perfect? There
has never been a time of more affluence, more intelligence, more
capability than the time we currently find ourselves inhabiting. Why
are there still problems in the world? Why do people suffer? The
answer, reduced to its lowest common denominator is simple: We are
trapped in a faulty social contract. We punch a clock.
A
social contract is a decided effort to work towards specific goals,
accepted by a group of people. Usually these goals are defined by
governments and work toward the bulk of the population living
comfortable lives. Obviously, various systems are currently and
historically being exercised. Such is it that we can refer to these
ongoing exercises as experiments, for instance: the American
experiment versus the Chinese experiment. Ultimately, these rather
dichotomous sounding experiments are strikingly similar: A ruling
elite manages the working class. The most important thing to take
note of is that, despite our modern cleverness and technological
advancement, life really hasn't changed for most humans in three
hundred years. We go to work, we pay our way, we live, we die. We
cash our cheques.
The
real problems in the social contract are revealed wholly by the lack
of foresight expressed by the contract, (it seems, by whatever
contract you subscribe to.) We all march down the sidewalk together,
robots on their way to work. We all pay the toll the contract
requires, while merely supplying to our own demands. Modernity is a
palindrome, the snake head eating the head on the opposite side. The
system provides the labour, the labour provides the reward, the
reward entitles me to the requirements of living. Given that all
three links in the chain remain unbroken, life can be comfortable,
but it certainly says nothing about my (or your) ability to live up
to our purposes.
Social
contracts come and go. They change in revolution, yet history
suggests they don't really change at all. If we tire of some
particular despotic government, we oust them and replace it with some
other ruling elite, a (hopefully) better elite that will govern us
the way we prefer. If this is a people's revolution, it is often for
the better. However a people's revolution is a very rare thing. Like
all things in life, revolution is a business decision and business
never changes.
Business decisions are always in favour of more business. People who
revolt are usually being oppressed, businesses who revolt, (via
government, which is the business of ruling,) are usually just trying
to do more business. Such is it that we may safely conclude that the
revolutions of the people are the type that end in what we would
consider an advancement of human rights, (whatever that means.) Every
other revolution, which represents the great majority of them, serve
only the preservation of the status quo, however disguised.
Revolution
from a personal standpoint begins and ends with the self. You are,
after all, all you have to work with. I'd like to suggest that a
revolution of the self is a major proponent of the 21st
Century Enlightenment. If we each take it upon ourselves to be the
fair, prudent and courageous humans we are meant to
be, rather than cogs in a clockwork that merely serves to mark our
time between life and death, the world can only become a better
place. However, revolution is painful and often ugly. The powers that
enjoy the status quo are vast and deep. To work against the status
quo is difficult, yet if the social contracts established are failing
us, this challenge must be accepted, even by the purveyors of the
contract. For it is not the case that simply replacing one elite for
another will begin to solve our problems. The elite are not the
problem, the system is the problem. We have all signed on to an
agreement to plunder our planet and ourselves for the sake of a
comfortable life now, be damned the future. I'm not even speaking of
the ecological problems caused by our actions, although these
concerns are fair and relevant. I'm talking about re-establishing
what it is we think life is supposed to mean, what we accept as our
purpose, what we consider our role in a global social contract,
species wide as inhabitant caretakers of the Earth and the only known
intelligence in the Universe.
This
is a very large and very real problem.
None
of these concerns can ever be remedied without first philosophizing
upon them.
None
of those philosophies can ever be enacted without taking action.
None
of those actions can be realized without taking responsibility for
them.
You
have been given the opportunity to be the change you want in the
world.
You
cannot unread these words. You can disagree only by remaining silent.
Undertake
the contemplative life for the sake of future generations, if not for
your own.
Philosophy
is the first step to a better world.
The
revolution begins with you.
