Everyone has a set of values or standards.
Most of us never give much thought to what they are exactly, or how we came to have them.
The most fundamental or highest value is man's life.
The reason is that if we are not alive, we cannot have any values whatsoever.
All of our other values are derived from this fundamental one.
Friendship, loyalty, love and all other values are derivatives of the value of a man's life.
The serenity prayer draws a very important distinction.
It is that between the things we can change and those we cannot.
The former are the things which are man made.
The later are things metaphysically given.
So, while we can most certainly change our political system and politicians, we can do nothing to change gravity.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why so many people are boring?
I have.
I think the reason is that they are incurious. They don't ask good questions often enough. Perhaps because they don't valued knowledge and understanding beyond a very limited range, perhaps involving their career.
It has been said that we can stand those who bore us, but not those we bore.
I've often said that I don't mind being accused of anything except being uninteresting.
Repetition is a powerful tool which can be used for good or for ill.
We are often led to believe something which is not true simply because we hear it repeated often and from many quarters.
On a personal level we develop either good or bad habits by repeating them over and over.
Repetition being a tool, is neutral. It becomes positive or negative only in the way it is employed.
The only real freedom you and I have is the freedom to choose what to think and do.
We have control over nothing else in life.
Consequently, the greatest evil ever done us is to prevent our choosing as we wish.
I am here not including choosing something which inhibits the choices of others or which causes them physical harm.
I think the two most important keys to personal happiness are the ability to solve loosely defined problems, which I addressed in the previous piece, and having something meaningful to do.
Humans are wired to be productive and creative.
Failure to act upon this natural impulse will diminish the satisfaction one derives from life, and thus their happiness.
Numerous studies have shown that highly intelligent people may be more successful professionally. but, if they are happier than their less intelligent fellows, it is only very slightly.
This is counterintuitive. What could possibly account for this?
One explanation involves the difference in a person's ability to solve 'clearly defined' problems as opposed to being adept at solving 'loosely defined ' problems.
Examples of clearly defined problems are math and chess problems.
Examples of loosely...
I was listening recently to a podcast with James Kimmel the author of 'The Science of Revenge'. It was quite interesting and I learned a good deal.
The desire for revenge is often thought of as an emotion. Actually, it is caused by the pain a person feels when they believe they have been aggrieved or harmed in some way.
It could be anything from a simple social slight to serious physical abuse. The desire for revenge is motivated by our felt need to remove this pain.
When revenge is taken we...
Gratitude is an interesting word.
It is the result of appending the prefix 'gr' into the noun attitude.
The 'gr' comes from the Latin 'Gratus' which means thankful.
Thus, gratitude is a thankful attitude.
The Chinese have a word, baizuo (白左) – to describe white Western liberals whose generous nature leaves them open to exploitation.
Nietzsche described their behavior thusly: ‘There is a point in the history of society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly’.
The Communists referred to such people as 'Useful Idiots'.
On any given day you can see these folks at some...
It has been claimed that you cannot derive an ought from an is, or morality from reality.
I don't agree with that assessment.
If we define the highest moral value as man's life, as I believe we should, then as a result, behaving morally involves doing what is necessary to preserve that life.
For example, gravity 'is' a reality. Therefore a person behaving morally 'ought' to wear a parachute when jumping from a plane.
One of the overlooked and therefore underappreciated benefits of writing is the cathartic effect it can have on a person.
If a person has suffered some significant loss or endured a very painful experience, writing about can be very therapeutic.
For example, let's say that a child or spouse of yours has died. You suffer as a result.
When you think of them, consider sitting down and writing a letter to them expressing your thoughts in that moment.
One trend among the literati (academics, artists and art critics) is that of 'Deconstruction'.
Essentially in that context it means tearing things apart and reducing them to intellectual or aesthetic rubble.
The justification given is that the things being deconstructed are the products of colonialization, repression and conquest, and are therefore inherently immoral.
The real motivation is envy. It's an instance of tearing down all the taller buildings so that your own will be the tallest one...
As the impossible 100% perfect is the enemy of the quite likely good, so is certainty impossible and holding out for it is a serious error in judgment with very negative implications.
It is important to remember the value of good enough when it comes to knowledge.
We hear a good deal of talk these days about indigenous people and especially how us white folks have abused them and destroyed their peaceful 'Noble Savage' existence. More on that another time.
What is little understood and almost completely unappreciated is that all of us originated on the African Savannah.
The populations of every place on the planet migrated at some point to where they now reside.
For example the American Indian tribes arrived in America around 15,000 BCE, crossing the...
I was in a discussion group recently where UBI was the topic. All of the attendees other than myself were devout Democrats.
As the conversation veered into economic policies in general I was unsurprised to learn that almost to the person, the group thought free markets were a bad idea and that governmental regulation was both necessary and beneficial. Most of them hate Walmart as well.
When I made a simple but fact based argument as to why that assumption was false, one of the group simply...
What is referred to today as progressivism (more accurately collectivism, corporatism or democratic Socialism) took root early in the twentieth century. Teddy Roosevelt the 26th president cleared the ground but it was Woodrow Wilson who planted the seeds and FDR the small letter socialist who applied the fertilizer.
It would be left to LBJ however to begin the harvest with his 'Great Society'.
This period in the sixties would prove to be a watershed moment for the country. Capitalism was...
As a strong proponent of free markets, I am in principle opposed to tariffs.
I qualify that by stating that I only do so under free market conditions, conditions which we are most certainly not operating under on the world stage today.
Under such circumstances, tariffs if deftly applied or threatened, can be an effective means of levelling the playing field.
I would also not oppose tariffs if they were to replace all federal taxes and make the intrusive IRS unnecessary.
In Plato's famous treatise 'The Republic' he lays out his plan for the perfect society.
One primary element of his plan involves the placement of specially trained philosophers as kings over the rest of the population.
This notion has seen a revival in our time with the suggestion that the experts should rule over the rest of us.
The idea is just as bad today as it was in Plato's Greece.
This is not to suggest that we should ignore the counsel of either philosophers or experts.
It is rather to...
If you received what passes for an education administered by the State, you no doubt have been led to believe that a group referred to as the 'Robber Baron' became rich by fleecing the population at large.
This is not true.
If you have been bamboozled into believing such nonsense I suggest you read 'The Myth of the Robber Barons' by Burt Folsom.
If you can't take the trouble to do that then at least read up on James J. Hill who built a superior continental railroad without benefit of the...