Philosophy could be regarded as a very abstruse and abstract subject, possibly even removed from the reality of everyday life.
Politics aside, all of us have some sort of philosophical views, whether we are aware of them or not.
Since every
one of us has to make decisions in everyday life, I believe that philosophy need not be regarded as remote or beyond comprehension,
and that it is worth 'food for thought' here.
I believe
that religion is not an escape from everyday pressures, the pain and suffering, the pleasure and richness of the world- the
paradox of life and death. I don't think it can simply be used as a shell to crawl into whenever you feel hurt, as any belief
or philosophy one chooses to live by ultimately leads back to ones self. One is actually required to interact with other people
too.
The necessity for decision making, of course, stems from the problem of choice. Choice makes it a requirement
for us to make decisions. I believe that choice is one of the most important things any individual has in life, as a group,
choice makes it a requirement for decisions to be made (in this country) democratically. Many have fought a cause for this
(and still are as we speak). Remember it could be that Bad rulers in democracy are elected by good citizens who don't bother
to vote!
The
way a person CHOOSES to live their life is more important than the religion they CHOOSE to worship. There are over
42,000 different types of 'religion', but many more types of 'life'. Remember that prosperity is an instrument to be
used not a god to be worshipped.
Because
there are so many religions, Christianity, should not be implied as superior or inferior to other religions. It is simply
more popular.
Christianity
is usually treated in greater detail than other religions, simply because about 75% identify themselves with that religion,
and Christians apparently outnumber the next largest organised religions by about 40 to 1 (at least in the US).
One of the main issues with 'religions' is that they
always seem to refuse to look at how we 'are' & always seem to look at how we 'should' be.
You can
find out if you are religious, or not, or more specifically, what actual religion you are by taking the test below.
Since many proverbs aspire to deal with the great mysteries &
paradoxes of life, whether philosophical, metaphorical, obscure or ambiguous. I wish to amass as many as possible within my
website. There are over 9,000 quotes organised by author or searchable by keyword.
It can prove very hard to state the exact source of a quotation. In many cases they may have been
pillared for thousands of years in different shapes and forms.
In most cases exact origins may be obscure, but proverbs are sometimes and interestingly usually,
direct quotations from the Bible, from Shakespeare, or based somewhat loosely on biblical or classical texts. Many have simply
been handed down and modified in some way by word of mouth from generation to generation.
I
like to ponder on particular succinct & memorable statements, especially ones that contain advice, warnings or predictions,
analytical observations or hardcore beliefs of my own.
If you know, or have, a proverb, or saying please add
it to my 'wise words' and it will be displayed on my website!
The word 'philosophy' is derived from the Greek term 'love of wisdom'
but different ideas are that we mean by 'philosophy' an attitude towards certain activities or taking a detached view of certain
immediate problems or an evaluation or interpretation of what is important or meaningful in life- and we all hopefully have
something like this in our life, or perhaps the only thing that is REALLY important IS life?
As we all HAVE to
make personal decisions in life, we feel that making the CORRECT decisions is very important indeed.
Because
honour isn't necessarily about making the right choices, but about dealing with the consequences, sometimes the actual decision
a person makes may not be important in itself, it may rather be the fact that a decision HAS to be made that is very important
indeed.
Faulty judgement or incorrect decisions or indecisiveness are major causes of problems, accidents or incidents
in life, rather than the inability to undertake certain tasks that require skill or specialised knowledge.
Even Albert
Einstein once commented that an 'uninformed casual observer' can sometimes solve problems that an 'informed' person cannot-
it is the different outlook on things, nothing more.
What qualifies a person then, to assume a certain stance? I would
like to believe, it is probably because they have done whatever it is that you have not.
None of us here today, are privileged enough to have a 'dress rehearsal' in life- this is it, whatever you have today you
may not have had yesterday, and you may not have it tommorow.
None of us really possess a 'crystal ball', and
the 'so-called' experts of today (as they did yesterday), still preach a 'right first time' philosophy. With one chance how
on earth does a person make a decision the right one? Well, have you ever backed a horse?
The answer
of course is by judgement- the mental process used to make a decision.
Judgement is apparently divided into
the two extremes of learned skills (perception) and thinking judgement (evaluation). There is a range in between
the extremes of automatic (learned), and thinking judgement and the aim of training in any environment is to move as many
of the thought or evaluated processes into the learned skill area, so that correct decisions can be made without extreme demands
of brainpower.
The art of composition is often thought of as a natural gift exclusive to certain people, an
art which cannot be taught. I believe simply that this is quite wrong. Unlike animals man does not live from one day to the
next. He is future-oriented. This is the only way he can maintain his ability to survive in the long term. But this also requires
the ability to make decisions.
Don't let yourself be fooled into believing the fallacy that great men owed their
success to a mysterious gift placed in their cradle by the gods- a gift which you have been denied. If you are planning to
wait for some divine spark to light in you the fire of inspiration and motivation then you might as well forget the whole
thing straight away.
So how do we make the right decisions? Well it so happens that we are human and anyone can,
in fact make an error in judgement.
When making a decision though a person needs to:
Recognise relevant
information and evaluate it, using knowledge and experience, comparing it with past events.
Seperate facts from
emotions and see what the real situation is (rather than what you would like it to be- this is called a mind set) and identify
the problem (if any). Remember a 'false' sense of security is worse than being unsure.
Consider alternative solutions
taking into account the time available and your own skill level.
Balance the risks and then make that timely decision.
Remember that good judgement and decision making is useless if not acted upon. Under confidence is damaging to
the decision making process and over confidence is dangerous.
Remenber that the ACTUAL decision that you are planning
to make may not be as important as the fact that the decision HAS to be made! Not arriving at some decision in the time you
have available qualifies as indecisiveness (probably the equivalent of not voting in a democracy)?
(Return to this page and a different saying will appear)!
Many today embark on a plan of action (or act upon their decisions), by preserving with their choices despite a number of
cues in a situation which should alert them to the fact that their original plan, decision or choice is actually unworkable!
This over adherance to a plan normally has all the hallmarks of someone operating under stress. I believe that in
such situations individuals find it very difficult to mentally 'stand back', reassess their plans and make adjustments (possibly
even by admitting they were wrong, or had made a mistake).
Sometimes people find it difficult to give up the comfort
and reassurance of a choice, once formed. Sometimes they are already working to their full capacity and have few resources
left to re-evaluate and amend existing plans. At other times they may be concerned about a perceived (or actual) loss of face
associated with having to abandon their original decision! We have all been there since we are all human.
'Continuous improvement' 'in' life or 'of' life is a LAW, it is NOT an example (it is something
that as a species, we HAVE to do).
Consider: Animals DO NOT evolve by adapting in order to survive. They survive BECAUSE
they adapt, in order to evolve (this is a very different thing),and man of course is an animal so it applys to each and every
one of us.
We are aware of course that most of us have to work and strive for the 'continuous improvements' that we
have to decide to make in our lives for ourselves, but these decisions ultimately affect others as well. In trying to define
this 'law' of nature it is sometimes hard to accept that respect to the meaning of any law is always greater than it's attendance.
It is the 'law' of continuous improvement that extends each and every one of us to new limits all the time and in
that process, builds on our experience. Remember there is always a first time for everything! Where does one gain 'experience'?
Everyone is faced with 'lack of experience' many times over but how does one gain experience, except by say, reading and studying
and then finally 'doing'?
The answer in this case is not by law but by example. Often we are not aware that we learn
a great many lessons that have been learned before by others. I believe that any art can be followed as an example and that
if we (as an individual or a group) are influenced enough we too can achieve 'great' things.
'Where there is a will,
there is a way?'- We have all heard this saying, but concentrating on the above, I believe that this is very true. Three elementary
attributes are, in my mind, a requirement to achieve virtually anything. Well what are these three things..?
1. The
physical environment (eg resources)
2. The desire (most important factor)
3. A modicum of natural ability
(sometimes having arms and legs helps)
I believe that if one is blessed with all these three characteristics (not
necessarily in order), then they have the basis to achieve every goal imaginable, and unimaginable, for that matter. Time
and time again we discover that our limitations are exceeded far beyond our beliefs of yesterday, normally due to someone
(probably in a minority) doing something that just has to be done and then passing his or her example onto us all to follow!
I tend to believe that being in the right place at the right time is akin to success. Lottery numbers in the right
place and time, after all, could bring resources beyond belief!! Sadly being in the wrong place, at the wrong time is somewhat
easier and should be avoided at all costs! "The secret of prolonging life is to avoid shortening it".
I believe that what happens
in a person’s life is ‘already written’. This ‘fate’ attitude is valid because of the laws already
mentioned above and other scientific laws that apply to energy, mathematics, and motion in general. A person must go through
life as their ‘destiny’ wills, yet each person is free to ‘do as they choose and take whatever ‘direction’
they see fit based on their decision making process already described here.
The ‘Cards’ that
each one of us is dealt in life make up this ‘hand of fate’ and this is why I believe that whatever ‘destiny’
deals us in this respect is the hand we have to face – albeit relative
to another’s – good or bad (luck?). So many people seem to believe that resource alone (money) is all that one
needs or seems to wish for (a lottery win?) yet I have already stated that the most important factor for any task is desire,
followed by ability and last (and least) resource (money). This is because poverty itself is normally proven not to be a vice,
but normally an inconvenience (and sometimes a severe one) when it comes to overall achievement. Since we enter this world
with nothing, and leave it with nothing, it is surely here and now that is all we really have – Life?
Since the Body and Mind of
a normal human being have certain defence mechanisms that sometimes operate subconsciously to remove ‘painful’
matters from our consciousness. Defence mechanisms remove symptoms but not causes, and can be dangerous, sometimes merely
disguising issues that could be successfully resolved by more realistic methods of management such as removing a root cause of a problem or issue.
The most common defence mechanisms
include:
Lack of awareness: the brain subconsciously denies or represses
the existence ofa problem;
Rationalisation: a subconscious attempt to justify actions
that would otherwise be unacceptable, often indicated by a person substituting excuses for certain behaviour rather than logical
reasons;
Phantom Illness: to avoid having to face up to reality;
Daydreaming: staring into space as a means of mentally
escaping by creating a fantasy of being in more pleasant surroundings or circumstances;
Resignation: mentally lost or bewildered, and ready to
accept whatever comes, including defeat;
Anger: ranging from mild expressions of frustration, such
as the use of bad language, to more violent expressions of physical behaviour and;
Mind Set: Hearing only what we want to hear or expect to hear, rather than what is actually said.
Our days are like identical
suitcases, but some people pack more into them than others. That's because they know what to pack. Everybody gets twenty-four
hours, but not everybody gets the same return on them. The truth is you don't manage your time; You manage your life.
Time cannot be controlled;
it marches on no matter what we do. Nobody, no matter how clever, can save minutes from one day to spend in another.
No one is capable of creating new minutes. With wealth, you can't buy additional hours for your day. People talk about trying
to 'find time,' but they need to quit looking; there isn't any extra lying around. Twenty-four hours is the best any of us
is going to get.
Wise people understand
that time is their most precious commodity. As a result, they know where their time goes. They continually analyse how they
are using their time and ask themselves, 'Am I getting the best use out of my time?'
Always consider that we don't really pay for things with money; we pay for them with time. In five
years, you may have enough money put away for that holiday or house you want. Then you’ll slow down. That means the
house will cost you five years; one-twelfth of your adult life. Always translate the pound value of the house, car, or anything
else you want into time, and then see if it is still worth it.
