My friend Drew had some questions for me. Here’s my reply. I’m paraphrasing below:
Shane,
If you were going to write a Walden-esque, Tolstoyish, book on how to live. What would you say? I’m just curious to know what your worldview and what your ideas encompass?
My response:
If I were going to write a book on my worldview-observations-ideals, I’d touch on a few different things, such as:
1. Titles/accolades/honors are irrelevant.
2.The value that seems inherent in money is an illusion. Monetary power comes from how we perceive necessity. Necessity varies from person to person. Simple living is situational and subjective, but it all stems from how we perceive necessity, because necessity is situational. I believe everyone should be responsible for their own relation to necessity and guard against excess distraction and vanity.
3. Every thinking person needs to examine existence honestly and every person should come to an intellectually honest conclusion on the responsibility of human beings. My belief is that human beings should care for one another and live thoughtful lives.
4. I don’t think people should drink as much as I do, but that’s neither here nor there.
5. The world benefits from those who strive to better themselves through education. (socially as well) This was something that challenged me for many years when I was younger. Why persist when life is a seeming exercise in futility? That’s something that all humans must work out for themselves.
6. Learn to love yourself. I’m still working on this. Nearly all my thoughts are self-denigrating. A lot of this has to do with my past and much of it stems from my religious indoctrination and the guilt that accompanies it. Personally, I think if humanity is some sort of experiment that went wrong at the fall, it’s failure by design. But that’s not the narrative I choose to believe, even in my more spiritual leanings, I reject the notion that humans are being punished for the apple narrative. (Can you imagine how much sooner the fall would have occurred if the apple had been pizza?)
7. Question everything: this is perhaps the most sacred advice passed down by the great philosophers/thinkers. The number one cause of anti-intellectualism is indoctrination during youth. Indoctrination is most effective when the subject is young: get em’ young, before they know the difference and you can hook them for life.