Thoughts on Life and Living

Is the world really what you think it is? It is not.

While working and travelling throughout the international community, I encountered a wide variety of cultures and beliefs that produced a similarly wide variety of conflicting ethical standards and behaviours. I was determined to understand, to reconcile, and to deal with these diverse standards in a way that would be most beneficial.

The world is full of educated derelicts, and a scholarly education and lengthy pedigree do not necessarily validate one’s beliefs or opinions; only the quality of the logic behind them can determine their value. The reasoning should be robust; it should not be based on trite, commonly accepted clichés that merely happen to be popular. In addition, consider whether an opinion is based on a morality of life that promotes living well, or on a morality of death that pro- motes self-sacrifice, deprivation, and suffering. The accomplishments of the Universe are great and wondrous for us to appreciate, marvel at, and enjoy. Each of us is a rare and unique human being who should be able to flourish as a proud, independent, sovereign individual with inalienable rights. I challenge you to weigh my opinions according to these criteria.

My journey continues, but I am comfortable sharing some experiences and observations in these articles. Mr. E. B. White, the author of the well-known book “Elements of Style”, instructs writers not to inject opinions into their writing. To do so is to imply that the demand for them is brisk. I am certain the demand for my opinions is not brisk; however, we all live in a storm of opinions, most of which are way off the mark for successful living. Therefore, I freely express myself, thinking, naively perhaps, that they might provide guidance and provoke thought in making better choices for better living. Like most, I am careful not to let my lack of knowledge of a subject deter me from expressing an opinion.

My treatment of the topics is not comprehensive, and I do not presume my views will be widely accepted. Many of them are also dated and are necessarily entirely timely for today’s world. However, I share them with you, hoping they might provoke thought and help clarify your own views on the subject.

Life is a continuous series of choices, and everyone must make them. The ability to think, to evaluate, and to choose is the supreme characteristic that makes us human. Every choice leads inexorably to right or wrong, good or bad, success or failure—according to how one defines those terms. Every choice is a building block of the structure of one’s life, and every choice counts, whether large or small. We have the free will to either create destructive social environments through ignorance and maliciousness or, through enlightened self-interest, to create a free and civilized society in which we can achieve our values and flourish.

My choices were not always rational or based on the best information available at the time, and in those cases, they inevitably turned out to be the wrong choices. However, at a young age, I knew instinctively that life was for living and therefore tried to make conscious, deliberate choices that enabled me to achieve my values and enjoy life—in other words, to live.

Hope you can do the same … preferably, better.