Rethinking Outdated Philosophies

Warning:?This 5-minute reading may not be good for your ambitions.

One of my most important learning in life is that there are many things that I don’t know.?When I was 40 I thought I had all the knowledge I needed to face the world.?However, having reached the senior age I realize that there are still many things that I need to know.?The adage is that life begins at 40 and it’s still probably true.?In my experience however I should say that 60 is just the beginning of a more conscious learning about life.?Of course it’s not necessary to reach 60 to realize this.

Being self-righteous is being unfair to myself and to my loved ones and to my friends and to others because it limits my capacity to learn more and to understand more, and thus people around me suffer as a consequence of my limited outlook like being in a box.?

The important lesson really is not to box ourselves no matter what age.??Management gurus often advice people to think outside the box if they want to be more effective, and it’s a sound advice because it widens our horizons.?Or we could be braver by not just thinking outside the box but by throwing the box altogether!?For those who ask why they remain stuck in some kind of a shit hole, chances are it’s probably because they stubbornly refuse to get out of their boxes.?I stand corrected.?However the fact is that the world is burning or drowning because people have so boxed themselves with their prejudicial beliefs, with their unscrupulous political ?and religious ideologies that they have no tolerance for other ideas. ??

It’s not too late though.?At 60 plus, we may need to rethink our outdated philosophies and reinvent ourselves, throw our boxes and be free.?Then we realize that there’s no need to make life complicated.?For sure we will still commit mistakes but that’s fine. Life is a continues learning and re-learning or unlearning process.

Sometimes we hear some people say not to take life so seriously.?I believe there’s wisdom in it.?While it’s a noble goal to change the world and we continue to do what we must to make it a better place to live in, does it not also occur in our minds that no matter how much we struggle to change the world it seems that there are forces beyond our imagination that control its destiny, which are even beyond governments regardless of whether they are corrupt or well meaning???Does it not occur to us that we seem to be living in a kind of matrix?

We are programmed to consume.?We are programmed to think that happiness lies in the accumulation of wealth, thus our life’s goal in mainstream society is how to make money and more money and it looks like this is now embedded in our DNA inherited by our children manifested as early as kindergarten when we ask them what they want to be when they grow up.?Money is power. Politicians understand this.?Government bureaucracy understands this.?The military and the police understand this.?The courts understand this. Lawyers understand this.?Medical doctors understand this.?So do too engineers, architects, advertisers, media people, networkers and so on, and yes, business especially.?

Some people are programmed to exploit other people while others are programmed to be victims and play victims.?Others are programmed to create wars while others are programmed to be collateral damages. ??This reality is currently unfolding in Ukraine, in The Sudan, in Syria, in the Tigray region in Ethiopia, in Myanmar, and in many other places where conflicts are on-going including China’s expansionist intent by its on-going military build up in the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea, where the prospects for peace seem to be nowhere as we watch.?Is the world programmed for violence as shown by history, and is humankind programmed to keep on repeating history?

I believe that whatever our roles are in the matrix we are only being played upon by those who control it.?The big question is, who control the matrix?

The good news is that we can get out of the matrix.?There is something we ourselves can control – our own choices.?We can decide to be happy now regardless of our life situations and not overthink about the future.?We can decide to build peace by changing our mindsets, by consciously refusing to allow ourselves to be engulfed by the cultures of materialism and violence but by participating in the building of more constructive social systems that put more value on people than on profit or destructive ideologies.??We can decide to do what is right and not to be used as tools by corrupt politicians or dishonest government officials.?We can teach our children to question reality and not to follow it blindly.

Somebody asked me what is the secret for staying young.?There’s really no secret.?We are as young as we think and feel we are.?We just have to accept that we will grow old physically to eventually free ourselves from our mortal bodies.?With that thought we can realize that we only need to live simply because our earthly journey is short and bounded by time, that sooner or later our consciousness will travel back to eternity.??Then we can age gently.?No need to compete against each other.?

Cultivate kindness and truthfulness if you have not yet began to do so.?Let compassion be your soul, and integrity your heart.?And make moderation your virtue.?Eat but not too much, drink but not too much, earn but not accumulate.?Balance is the law of the universe.?Let not anger overpower you.?There’s no need to harbor resentments in our hearts for everything happens for a reason.?Learn to forgive and to laugh, to let go and unburden your soul. ?And yes, to love.?Love is the true justice.?It ?reconciles all contradiction.??It is a force more powerful than money or hatred.?