One project that most fascinates me is the project of living 'the good life.' The good life is where value, as discerned through philosophical investigation, is in some way respected or achieved. What exactly moral value is, and what should be done about it, is hotly debated, so I will assume the good life is where sustainable happiness (perfectly or closely) is achieved and a consistent ethics is in use when relating to other beings or things with moral value. I am most concerned with figuring out how to live to facilitate the sustainable happiness part of the equation of the good life.
In figuring out how to live we need reflexivity; that quality of mind, perhaps unique to humans, where we can analyze our thoughts from a higher level (a meta level, or a meta-meta level, or a meta-meta-macro level!), which is honestly pretty nifty. Theoretically, if we are engaged towards a goal, self-reflexivity gives us the power to modify and correct our approach to that goal if that approach isn't efficient. This quality/habit/skill needs to be nurtured in order to efficiently achieve the good life, and auto-correct if out approach is not efficient.
It seems to me that the best self-analysis happens as a result of synthesis. It's a lot of work to investigate the nature of reality yourself (the process of collecting the raw data for synthesis), not to mention this work has been done in many countless variations across history by people employing diverse methods. So for the sake of efficiency we must seek out and collect data relevant to our goals in places where they are most dense and useful. Thus, reading and researching are moral goods.
Ok, well, maybe not moral goods, that's probably a bit too tempting of a claim on my part, but it's certainly a good idea. After this you need the two further components of energy and honesty. Honesty is necessary because if the process of synthesis is always sabotaged by sentimentality or attachment there is no point in it. What is most lacking in most people, organizations, and myself is energy, which is the fuel to implement good ideas and see them through. My biggest challenge at the moment is using the structure above to develop the mental mechanisms necessary to achieve sufficient energy to implement and try out the ideas arising from reasoned reflection (my ideas are forming a serious backlog by now). Choose your aims carefully and then be attached to them, not the numerous distractions impeding your progress.
In figuring out how to live we need reflexivity; that quality of mind, perhaps unique to humans, where we can analyze our thoughts from a higher level (a meta level, or a meta-meta level, or a meta-meta-macro level!), which is honestly pretty nifty. Theoretically, if we are engaged towards a goal, self-reflexivity gives us the power to modify and correct our approach to that goal if that approach isn't efficient. This quality/habit/skill needs to be nurtured in order to efficiently achieve the good life, and auto-correct if out approach is not efficient.
It seems to me that the best self-analysis happens as a result of synthesis. It's a lot of work to investigate the nature of reality yourself (the process of collecting the raw data for synthesis), not to mention this work has been done in many countless variations across history by people employing diverse methods. So for the sake of efficiency we must seek out and collect data relevant to our goals in places where they are most dense and useful. Thus, reading and researching are moral goods.
Ok, well, maybe not moral goods, that's probably a bit too tempting of a claim on my part, but it's certainly a good idea. After this you need the two further components of energy and honesty. Honesty is necessary because if the process of synthesis is always sabotaged by sentimentality or attachment there is no point in it. What is most lacking in most people, organizations, and myself is energy, which is the fuel to implement good ideas and see them through. My biggest challenge at the moment is using the structure above to develop the mental mechanisms necessary to achieve sufficient energy to implement and try out the ideas arising from reasoned reflection (my ideas are forming a serious backlog by now). Choose your aims carefully and then be attached to them, not the numerous distractions impeding your progress.
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