Philosophy: past, present and future

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

In talking about Philosophy, we have the past, the Ancient
Greeks who invented, among other things, Philosophy…

But for them, Philosophy meant something different
than it does today, for us… Philosophy wasn’t just taught,
it was meant as a ‘‘Way of life’’ and that is the fundemental
difference between ancient Philosophy and modern day…
we talk about it and they live it…

Much of ancient Philosophy revolved around the idea of
remaining, no matter what happened, cool, calm, collective…
to retain a peace of mind, even in the face of death…
and yet, in the true spirit of Philosophy, we must
ask, is being calm, of being in control no matter what,
should that really what we should be aiming for?
to avoid discontent and anger and other emotional states…
is that the point of being within philosophy, as oppose
to our modern day, which is talking about philosophy…

The problem I have with the Ancients is this…
OK, I am cool, calm and collective, I am at peace
with the world… but that attitude creates a problem,
where is my incentive to improve myself or the world?
If there is one aspect to the world, it is change…
and our failure to change is opposed to the reality
of the universe… we must change, adapt, move
with the times, the environment…and if we are content
with the world, then why should we do anything?

The ancient state of mind precludes us from attempting
to change and adapt to the ever-present changes in the
world… The world does its thing and I am above that sort
of thing… I accept and move on… So, where is my
incentive to become a better person?

That has to be a part of me that is not content with
the world as is, or I have no reason to change…
So, I question the ancient beliefs that our goal is
to become at peace with the universe…

I am most impressed with the ancient prophets of the bible…
Read the bible and it is clear that they are not content, they
are not cool, calm and collective about religion or god…
The prophets don’t calmly accept the word of god, with
a few exceptions, the prophets are shown struggling with
god, ‘‘wrestling with god’’ is often the terms associated with
the prophets and holy men of Isreal…
And to me, that is the proper way to be religious… not
to bow one’s head and pray to god… hell no…but
to wrestle with god… make his struggle, your struggle…
if we are to become ‘‘divine’’, what is that path?
the path for me anyway, is to struggle with god,
to fight every step of the way, the road to
becoming…to meekly accept and pray is not my way…

I spent 40 years struggling with becoming… and I still struggle…
I have truly honored philosophy by my struggling with what
it means to be human… and I shall continue to so honor
Philosophy by questioning every aspect of philosophy and
existence…
The path to becoming lies in the struggles of being human…
and our taking the next steps of becoming…

verily I say unto you, we human beings are closer to
animals… we exist far too much in instincts and rules,
to be, to do the right thing, which is more than just instincts or
following rules established thousands of years ago…

Philosophy isn’t something to talk about, it is about
how do we live the path to becoming human…
Philosophy is about doing, and not just reflecting,
using philosophy as a ''Way of Life"… putting
some meat on the theories of living,
is the Christian theory of living, is that the right path
into a ''Way of Life?" I disagree and I have stated my
reasons often…

Today, we talk about doing the right thing, but we rarely
ever put that into action… it is not enough to have
theories, of which we have plenty, but it is time to put
the various theories of life into action… and see which one
is actually the more correct path…
It is not enough to talk about our theories, but we have
to act on them…

and who today even ask, "“How do we improve our soul?”
and what theories and, AND actions we can take to improve
our soul…Most who engage in the question of improving
the soul, do so in context of religions… But we can no
longer blindly accept the indoctrinations and prejudice
of our childhood…

and the first step is to bring back the idea of ‘‘wrestling with
god’’…

Philosophy as a ‘‘Way of Life’’ is what we are aiming for,
not just talking about Philosophy, but actively
practicing Philosophy… do you have that kind of courage?

Kropotkin

2

Let us put some meat on this bone…

Kant talks about duty, and yes, we do have duties, but
the question becomes, duty to whom? and why that one
should be the one we engage in, and not the other possibilities…
Do we have a duty to god? a Duty to other human beings?
a Duty to the state/society? and what is the nature of that
duty? What obligations I accept when I accept the duties
of existence, duties of the state/society and does my own
sense of duty to myself, which everyone must have, is
that duty the highest possibility or does the duty to god,
reign supreme… or perhaps our duty to the state/society
is the highest duty we have?

Kant says we have duties, ok, let us take him seriously…
what duties have priority? to ourselves, to the state,
to god or perhaps another duty should be primary…

As a ‘‘Way of Life’’ should we even engage with duties or
perhaps we can minimize that aspect of human existence
and engage with another aspect of existence instead of
primarily engaging with duties…

So, we must take our values, whatever values we have
decided upon and now we must live within and by those
values… I have stated many times before, I believe in
the value of justice… which is to say, being equal before
the law, but not only the law, but all aspects of the state
and society…

I hold the highest value we can engage with, on a day to day
basis, is justice, treating people equally…
not freedom, but justice…Who cares if we are free if
we are not being treated justly?

and to engage in the pursuit of Justice requires us
live within justice, not to talk about it, but our daily
engagement with being just, both individually and
collectively…if you want to make a better society, a
better state, begin not with trite pretensions to being
religious, but with an honest engagement with justice,
as a value for all people including yourself…

Instead of posting the ‘‘Ten commandments’’ on school
walls, how about practicing justice, individually
and collectively… that is the path to creating a better
society, not pretending to be Christian…

What is the path of Philosophy, going into the future?
we begin by practicing our philosophies, we engage
in Philosophy as a ‘‘Way of Life’’ and not just talk about it…

Kropotkin

3

once again, let us begin with practicality…
I read in the news that the ICE raids have begun…
to ‘‘round’’ up illegal aliens… and yet, it is already
known that legal, American citizens have been rounded up…
with the goal really being forcing everyone to carry papers
around stating their American citizenship…
and yet, that is exactly, to the T, what the Nazis
did, the famous ‘‘Papers please’’… No papers, automatic
arrest… I could get arrested for not carrying papers if,
if someone were to think I wasn’t citizen…
I can point out that my ancestors have been in this country
before there was even a country… and yet, I am at risk
of being arrested, as are you…

and that is what happens when we allow our fears of something
different comes to the forefront… Americans are blaming
Illegal aliens for their lives being sad and pathetic… instead
of taking a stand, being brave and accepting that there
American lives suck because of their actions and values,
not because of any illegal aliens… one might claim, I
am just protecting myself… No, you are being a
gutless coward and a hypocrite… instead of taking
responsibility and accountability for your own life,
you blame others… Jews, illegals, liberals, blacks/
minorities…the MAGA party is literally about finding
someone to blame for one state of existence…

So, how does rounding up illegal aliens even begin
to make life better? or to make our state/society
better? It can’t and in fact, one could make the argument
that by rounding up illegal aliens, you have made
America even worse… As I would argue…

Put to the test, most actions come to failure, because
we fail to apply what is reality to what is fiction… in
people’s mind instead of the reality of the situation…
America is a better state, country with illegal aliens in it…
but it takes a vision of where we really are instead of a
phony indoctrinated viewpoint…

Kropotkin

4

I will name this post,

In praise of discontentment…

Human existence is not for the faint of heart…
it is full of, as the Buddhists is constantly reminding us,
full of suffering and woes unto death…

I for one, am not going to work for peace of mind
and contentment regardless of the conditions one finds
themselves in… Part of the human condition is change
and to accept change, is to reject peace of mind and
contentment…Human beings should be dissatisfied
with the current state of affairs… for it is in that dissatisfaction
with reality that comes improvement and moving closer
to becoming human… the road to becoming human
only comes with some sort of discontent and unhappiness…

or to put it in other words, that we must begin to
grow by wrestling with what it means to be human…
instead of passively waiting for the future to manifest itself,
I say we go and create the future we want…wrestle with it…

What does it mean to make a ‘‘better’’ America?

the answer to that is clearly not to ban illegal immigration or
deport those already here… that path leads to greater
and greater problems… and Why? Because that path
is not reaching for what is higher in us, but it is the path
for becoming lessor human beings until we are no
different than animals… for improvement, real improvement
begins with us being positive and hatred of immigrants
is not, in any way, shape or form, a positive…
hatred is always a negative…and the war on immigration
is an exercise in hatred… and nothing good will come out of it…
and it negates and denies other human beings… and that is
nihilism… the modern curse of the last 150 years…
an active engagement with nihilism… both World Wars
and the Holocaust and the Vietnam and Iraqi wars were
also an engagement with nihilism… the negation of human
beings and their values… as with the isms of capitalism
and communism and Catholicism (which is a stand in for
other religions)

what is the opposite of Nihilism? who knows, we don’t even
have a word for that? that is how sad our modern age is,
we don’t even have a word for the opposite of nihilism…

Kropotkin