LIFE
MEANINGS
Philosophy (repeat from earlier in the
course)
Philosophy: Love of wisdom.
Psychology: Logic of
the psyche
Both are greek:
The greeks were
surrounded by Non-thinking agricultural folk.
Their thoughts came
from their leaders.
Their jobs came from
their parents.
The love of wisdom
concerning many things: Politics, religion, education, fellow man, literature.
etc.
Life meaning
We study this because
it determines your life plan (hopefully)
If you decide that
money is really important you’ll go into business. If you see life as a dog - eat - dog battle, you won’t trust
others. There will be competition
between you and others. What you think
is valuable determines what you do.
Socrates said “An
unexamined life is not worth living”
In your groups make a
time keeper, reporter, note taker and facilitator.
Thinking requires
timing. That way you are really
focused.
Digress: who was
socrates
Digress: willingness to
ask
PMI THIS! List two Positive things, Two minuses and
two interesting ideas.
What do you think of
the idea that everyone should be required to write a two page meaning of life
letter every two years?
There
are several important harvests. Not
everything must end in “the solution”.
Perhaps
a point has become more clear?
Perhaps
some idea has been identified as a blocking idea?
Perhaps
there is an actual suggestion.
Perhaps
some alternatives have been spelled out.
Perhaps
we have more questions.
MEANINGS OF LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Pleasure:
Frued
Drugs and sex. If it
feels good do it.
The greatest jobs in
the world are drug dealer and pornographic film star.
Freud
Id, ego, super ego.
Those who object to sex
in public are jealous.
Sub text What you think
below the surface.
Play a scene
from a movie. The actress has to think
what is my motivation in this scene?
What are peoples subtexts in line at the cafeteria.
In my generation it was
the Velvet Underground. What songs
present this point of view?
OPV: Girls should be allowed to wear what they
want at school.
First: identify who the
other people are. Next, what will be
their concerns.
Don’t just investigate
to shoot them down.
Should pornography be
legal for all?
What are HVs? What are LVs?
Reflective journal #1
Mission
Josiah
Royce
Loyalty to loyalty
I hope today’s lecture
changes your life for ever.
Definition:
Loyalty: willing
devotion to a cause. , the best thing you can dedicate your life to.
Not to something small,
but something big. Not your sister or
family (though this is good training).
WRITE DOWN FIVE BIG
CAUSES THAT NEED YOUR ATTENTION
This could also be
science or art or religion.
And we tend to think of
loyalty as a warlike virtue. Think of
loyalty to universal peace.
And, Loyalty to loyalty,
this cannot be destructive of someone else’s loyalty.
In choosing you should
think of (not just your own) but the ultimate good of man kind.
Oppose no man, just
their blindness.
Realism:
You start out small
(Ms. Beyer’s ecology club) perhaps that
isn’t so efficacious then you move on and up.
Tell of the sea
sheppards.
Do people make a living
fighting for these things? Yes. Why not you?
Tell of Jennifer Butterfly
-------------------Is there any thing you’d die for?
The four benefits of
loyalty.
1 - meaning
Without a cause, you
sleep through life, your life has no effect.
You consult society to see what you can do. Better would be that you guide society.
People that have
individualistic outlooks are not getting what it means to be ethical. Are ethics important? Yes. Why
Faithlessness can never
be a virtue. Disloyalty is moral
suicide.
The Freudian doesn’t
have ethics. Some may argue that there
are the ethics of pleasure, but I think that they fail to see that ethics
requires you act towards others.
This can make you a
conscious and unified person. Your
cause is your conscience.
This meaning (end to
which we work)
can guide our behvior,
(control of impulses and discipline to life)
thought, learning.
2
– greatness
Power always comes
through social efficacy.
Think of the bravery
folks with a cause have shown.
I got up at five in the
morning to work. That is dedication to
a cause, that of ed reform. And can I
brag about that? Yes! I get power through dedication.
Tell of Peter Lumsdaine. He will brag about his actions through the
rest of his life.
There is no shame in
telling about how there are heroes in the world. George Washington. And
why are they heroes? Dedication to big
causes.
Train yourself to think
about heroes. What makes them
heroes. If you cannot love your enemy,
at least you can admire their dedication.
3
- immortality
Think of the bravery
folks with a cause have shown. In my
History class under progressivism we saw a woman throw herself in front of a
horse and die for the right to vote.
She lives on.
He who should lose the
world and gain his soul is rich.
Tell of Golda Meir and
missing the sympohony. Now she won’t do
anything that isn’t for the bigger cause.
She has become great!!
4
– community
Relation to greater
organizations. Try to make it
larger. Not just to one sect, but
dedicate your work to all of America or the world.
We get a great deal of
training on focusing on our individual success in schools.
There is a greater
community. A society within which you
live. It is not just a fiction or a
metaphor.
Part of the sickness of
our time is that we see our government and our communities as so far away from
our control and contact.
We are now cynical we
don’t see our institutions as good. We
don’t do the 4th of july and memorial day with reverence and
dedication. Thanksgiving day is even corrupted.
This is so important in
this age where the family is breaking away.
To have a familial
common cause feeling with so many folks.
Loyalty is, in a way,
life long service to our mutual human ties.
A further, glorified
definition of loyalty: “Loyalty is the
will to manifest, so far aas is possible, the Eternal, that is , the conscious
and superhuman unity of life, in the form of acts of an individual.”
SC
The president recently
proposed 15 billion of our dollars to fight aids in africa.
How responsible are we
for others?
Others of a different
country? Family?
Reflective journal #2
Tragedy
The previous talk was
all crap. Do you believe that you can
stop starvation? The more you feed
africans, the more they have babies, the more they starve. Do you not realize that the world is going
to end? That either global warming or
nuclear war will destroy us?
This is the year 6btb.
What is the morality of
having children? They are also going to
die. Don’t you know there is an
overpopulation problem? Man is like a
disease.
The world will not wake
up, become aware and stop polluting.
SUVs are bigger and people who can barely read are having babies.
Did any of you watch
the all-star game? Half the world is
starving and the other half watches freaks put balls in hooops. This of course is interrupted by beer
ads.Telling you to destroy your mind and escape your painful existence.
We’re all going to die
and your life means nothing. You spend
your life trying to accumulate crap and then die.
Doestoevsky
2 responses to life as tragedy
Depressed people are smarter.
Kurt Cobain
Millions do it every year. All this talk of meaning is just useless crap. What will you become? Dirt, food, pig crap. If you’re lucky. Probably the whole meaningless shit house will just blow up.
Even if we don’t, blow ourselves up. In a billion years our sun will go out.
FI FO
What if we reduced the
world population down to 2 million?
What do we know (
Information that is in) What do we need
to know?
What if we payed people
40,000 dollars to get fixed after one kid?
Doestoevsy Final
Just like we back off of Freud saying that pleasure doesn’t mean you must do porno, we back off of Doestoevsky.
The end all is just that life has no meaning.
The universe is vast. There are a 100 billion galaxies. Lonely stars. In the quite night. Not that you might not like life. But don’t lie. It is a tale of sound and fury sung by an idiot signifying nothing.
Shakespeare “Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”
Look at your parents. They are right. There ain’t nothin goin on but the rent. There is no meaning of life. You can say, “yeah I save the world” but when you get right down to it. That is a lie. You don’t save the world. You are hopeless and all of life is hopeless.
Shakespeare says
No one here gets out alive.
Macbeth says
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Wealth - Ayn Rand - Objectivism
Bad press attacks-
“The exclusive worship
of the bitch-goddess Success is our national disease.”
-William
James
Many people do
this. This is done to get stuff. You want 16 cars?
Babes. Mansions.
Well first of all,
People who don’t think this is important have never worked at a McDonalds.
But what kind of people tell you money isn’t important?
Immigrants working 50 hours a week to support their famillies in poverty?
Secondly, this is not
what ayn Rand will argue for. Not a
crass materialism. But an ethic of
accomplishment.
Survival
All animals must
survive.
Rand says lower species
have SENSATION. Higher have
CONSCIOUSNESS.
And all have programs built in to show them
how. Man does not. Man must pursue a rational plan. He must also figure out that plan. The knowledge of what to do is not
automatic.
The values of what are
good and bad are automatic in an animal.
For man they are not.
Man’s consciousness is
volitional. He must survive by reason
and choice.
Some people do a little
instinctive thing to survive. They are
not fully conscious. People that choose
their path are really human and really conscious.
If you live by
imitating, someone had to have made a conscious choice to make that
pattern. You are a mental
parasite.
Some men try to steal
by brute force. This is trying to use
the method of animals. Since it is not
productive, it is not sustainable.
Only by conscious
rational thought does man survive.
If you follow this then
there is no clash between what you should do and what you do.
To not be selfish and
value yourself first is immoral.
Relation to reality
Pride is the natural
outcome of success. And admiration for
others.
Man did not lift
himself out of the cave by good feelings about himself.
Pride is a good thing
(despite what christians may say)
Confidence, not doubt
is health. Self reliance, not
self-distrust is mans virtue. Self
esteem , not fear.
The root of selfishness
is a trust in your own judgement. Your
own effective control of the world.
Pleasure is the reward
for successful action.
Pain is the feeling
that you are helpless.
People do get pleasure
from unhealthy things. This reflects
poor self-esteem and feelings that he cannot understand the universe.
Self - esteem comes
from a mind fully commited to reason. Reason is what gives us survival.
This is your ability to
use reason effectively in the real world.
Your ability to make
decisions and be proud of the results.
This is necessary,
natural and proper.
Money
“rich people can’t get
into heaven” Blessed are the poor.
So money is the root of
all evil?” Have you ever asked what is
the root of money? Money is the tool
of exchange which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and man abot to
produce them.
Religions will tell you that humility is the
way. It is not the way. Once you break
with reality you are insane. The truth
is that you are a human that can survive by reason on this planet.
Money rewards your
work.
We stand in the
greatest, most productive civilization ever.
And its life blood is money.
Throughout history men
of arms and no worth have ruled. They have confiscated the rewards of
others.
Now money rules and that is MORAL!!
Money is the material shape of the principle that those who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Those who hate money have nothing to offer.
Wealth is the
expression of man’s capacity to think.
Worship of money is the
worship of man and his effort and his mind. It allows no religious claims to value. It is the value of man.
Money shows us that you
must work for your own interest. And if
you are a good person you will be rewarded.
And even if you’re a honest hardworking person, you should be proud of
the money you make. You should know it
reflects your work, worth, and value.
The making of money is
your life. If you say that money is
evil, your life is evil. It is not. You are not. You make the money you deserve.
Virtue is productive
work.
A virtuous man never seeks to gain value that
is unearned.
He takes credit for the
value he’s made and responsibility if he hasn’t.
You don’t feel guilty
for what you haven’t earned (not giving)
You must live for your
own sake. You are your own end.
Productive work calls
upon all of man’s highest attributes: creativity, ambitiousness,
self-assertiveness, fight, dedication to reshape the world according to his beliefs.
If you follow this then
there is no clash between what you should do and what you do.
Capitalism
Justice is getting paid
what you earned. Not getting pay for
what you didn’t earn, or are entitled to.
Spiritual pay includes admiration, love, respect and friendship. But the praise you get also for creating
something of worth is money.
This says, you create value.
The only moral system
is free laissez faire capitalism.
Only here are we all
treated as independent equals whose potential and dignity are respected.
You have rights talk. I
have a right to money and sustainance. There is a radical disconnect between
what is and this dream land.
Where does that money
come from? It comes from others. IT is NOT okay to use others as your means
and to take from them.
It is not okay to take
from others and use them as end. It is
degrading to the person that is supposedly being helped. They are treated as non-rationale actors.
Communism and welfare
are equally evil. They are delusional
mystical thinking. This is the thinking
that you are owed something. That stuff
can come to you from nowhere.
If you don’t approach
the world this way you end up with mysticism.
This tells you that you should be rewarded for nothing. You create and
be proud of it.
You have self-esteem
talks. You should feel good about
yourself, but why?
Money is the ultimate
in morality. It demands that you
recognize that men must work for their own benefit.
The glory of mankind is
creating this country that is dedicated to money and no higher power.
Not fortunes by
conquest, but fortunes by work.
Money used to be
looted. People fought over a static
amount.
Now people “make
money” this is an American idea. It is the proud idea that wealth has to be
made.
Until and unless you
discover that money is the root of all good, you ask for your own
destruction. When money ceases to be
the tool by which men deal withone another, then men become the tools of men. Better to have money be the tool of man.
Altruism
We get technology from great people. The parasite lives off of theis the creator
creates.
The man who attempts to
live for others is a dependent . He is
a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves.
The relationship
produces nothing but mutual corruption.
You canot share your spirit or your body with another.
The wish to work for
others is slavery. If physical slavery is gross, how much
more spiritual.The conquered slave has the dignity of having fought.
The man who enslaves himself voluntarily in
the name of love is the basest of creatures.
He degrades the dignity of man and he degrades the concept of love. This is the gross concept of love.
Don’t be concerned with
disease but with life.
altruism means a
sacrifice to someone else. The idea that
you should help others.
That you are good to
the extent that you sacrifice for the other, and bad to the
extent that you don’t.
But altruism is
insulting to you and to the man you help.
Both are seen as weak.
Under the philosophy of
LOYALTY, you feel moral to the extent that you make yourself unfit to
live.
To the extent that you
sacrifice yourself.
An individualist lives
for himself. He is a creator.
All greats have stood
against the men of their times. Every
great invention was denounced.
The first motor
foolish. The airplane imossible. The power loom was considered vicious. But men of unborrowed vision went ahead.
Everything good has
been created by selfish people. People
driven by their own vision.
Selfishness
Is the common understanding
of selfishness good or bad?
What does this
imply? It is better to think of others.
How does man succeed?
Where does wealth come from? How did we
get out of the caves?
To think just of
yourself is called immoral in this country.
Selfishness is a birthright! If you don’t look out for number one who
will?
This is natural. any morality that makes you feel otherwise
is messed up. It makes you think there
is something wrong with you. That there
is a clash between your desires and the world.
What you value and what
you should value (YOU!) are the same thing.
You should always feel
proud of your accomplishments and never feel guilty for what someone else
doesn’t have.
Under the philosophy of
LOYALTY, you feel moral to the extent that you make yourself unfit to
live. To the extent that you sacrifice
yourself.
Objectivist ethics
holds that the actor must always be the beneficiary of his action and that a
man must act for his own rational self-interest.
Rational
self-interest. Not the morality of whims.
To not be selfish and
value yourself first is immoral.
Parties
The highest soul:
A hallmark of
self-esteem is profound pleasure in the productive work of ones mind. His increase in knowledge, thinking and
achievement.
Lower soul:
They regard work, not
as a creative expression of their power and imagination, but as a necessary
evil.
Their pleasure comes
from not being conscious. They feel
that the universe is incomprehensible and out of their control.
Party:
For the rational
parties are a celebration of control over reality.
A rational man enjoys a
party as an emotional reward in which he meets new interesting, successful
people.
Losers hate and resent
all that are sucessful and party is a place where they can exxcape the terror
of being alone.
For the neurotic, it is
a desire to escape reality.
Vacations:
These are
relaxation. An escape into boredom.
Love:
Pride is the natural
outcome of success. And admiration for
others.
Pride is a good thing
(despite what christians may say)
The celebrations of
this mutual respect is love.
is attracted to a
falling apart, weak scatter brain that allows him to feel masculine it shows
his character.
If he is attracted to
sluts that make him feel better about not having any morals it is another type.
If a man is attracted
to a heroine, a successful woman he shows one kind of soul.
If a man is attracted
to a woman that is there to make him feel good about himself he is attracted to
another.
sex has a different
meaning for those that have self-esteem built on efficacy. Those that celebrate eachother.
There is a different
meaning for those who seek escape from despair or loneliness.
Paradoxically, it is
the pleasure chasers, who live for nothing but fleeting pleasures, who want to
have a “good time”, who cannot enjoy pleasure as an end in itself. It is there to compensate for some lack for
them.
Drugs are taken by those who want to go through the motions of celebration , without a reason to celebrate.
Since the function of
pleasure is to celbrate our sucess, the unsuccessful neurotically seeks
pleasure.
Sacrifice
To sacrifice ones time
and money for your wife is not a sacrifice.
She is important to you. You and
she are valuables to eachother.
TO sacrifice yourself,
hypothetically, so that 10 strange women may live. That IS a sacrifice.
You should judge the
situation by your gain. To not value yourelf is insane.
You should only jump in
to save a drowning man if the risk to you is minimal. Only a lack of self-esteem could cause you to value your life
less than that of a random stranger.
If a man’s wife was
drowning and he could swim and he panicked and didn’t jump in he isn’t selfish.
He failed to fight for
what he believed in and loved and valued. Remember ones value is is what one
fights to keep and that one’s own happiness has to be achieved by one’s own
effort.
Since one’s own
happiness is the moral purpose of one’s life, the man who fails to achieve it
because of his own default, his failure to fight, is morally guilty.
The value that makes
you not jump in for strangers is integrity.
A loyalty to one’s own values
What do you grant to
strangers then? The generalized respect
and good will one should grant to a human being in the name of the potential
value he represents - until and unless he forfeits it.
The man, as living’ is
of potential value to him.
Out of species
solidarity and representing their potential you might help them in a n
emergency.
This is not during
normal conditions. It is when a man is
temporarily in jeapordy due to the laws of nature.
Those who normally use
such examples, view man as out of control.
You don’t sacrifice
your lives to others. You value them,,
but that’s it.
Rights
The right to be left
alone and not subordinated to societies schemes is the only moral right.
The right to life:
self-sustaining and self-generating action. TO not be kept from doing this is
basic.
The right to take all
actions necessary to the furtherance, fulfilment and enjoyment of your life
(life liberty and happiness).
This is positive
freedom. The right to be left to your
voluntary uncoerced action.
The right to property
supports the prior. But this is a right
to action. Not to have property.
Man is man. A living being. This is the basis for his rights.
Rights are conditions
of existence required for his survival.
Governement was
instituted to protect such rights. Thus
they are the servant, not the ruler.
The bill of rights is
against the government.
The conflict was with
altruism. That viewed man as a
sacrificial lamb.
Democrats say you have
a right to an education, housing, good job etc. AT WHOSE EXPENSE?
If someone is entitled
to them then someone is required to furnish them at no expense. THis is slave labor! You can not have a right that obligates me
to work for you for free.
Collective rights
There is no such thing
as collective rights. Rights are only
of the individual.
It is no more
legitimate to say what ever the group decides to do is right (majoroity rule)
than whatever I decide to do on a whim
is right.
We should get rid of welfare?
Debate. Then ADI listing.
Agreement, Disagreement and Irrelevance.
Where are you in agreement? Disagreement?
Relationship
- Carol Gilligan
women
Women have a different
virtue than men.
This is due to their
childbirth, pregnancy and raising children.
Their emphasis is on
the physical and emotional maintenance of others.
This ethic is in
someway superior to the male ethic.
Men
Men dominate
everything.
Men have dominated the
world in war, politics, capitalist economy ,philosophy and women!!! The “rape”
of the planet is due to men’s management.
Men’s management cannot see the planet as something we’re in a
relationship with. Men must dominate.
Men’s domination of
women, have made women more cooperative., less aggressive, more gentile and
more nurturing.
The way in which women
have survived is by offering themselves up as objects of prey.
Relationships
Two 11 year old
children need medicine for their dying mother, they have no money.
When asked whether they
should steal money or not, the female suggests explaining to the pharmacist
what their problem is. (Carol Gilligan 1982)
Women emphasize
relationships. They think differently.
You have elaborate
philosophies and plans. In the end it
only matters who you love. It only
matters if you care for others.
Not even doing things
for strangers, but doing things for your lved ones. You want meaning? Help
your mother with the dishes. you will
have made her life a little easier. You
will have appreciated her existences.
You will have communed with her in this moment of existence.
Importance
Relationships values
have been devalued due to men’s colonialization of the world.
The home , family and
domestic virtues and emotional care are UNPAID!!!
That’s because its seen
as a backdrop to the more IMPORTANT work of men.
Note the lack of male
elementary school teachers. That’s
cause its not seen as important enough.
In the end only
kIndness matters.
Women vote more
democratic. They vote for caretaking
for the old. Childcare programs,
maternity leave and environmental protection.
Let loose the woman.
Feelings
The reason men work so
hard and destroy the planet in the process, is fear of love and rejection.
The reason men must
dominate the world and their women, is insecurity.
When push comes to
shove men are afraid of love.
Its time to work less
hard on changing the world and more on healing our relationships.
Men tell their boys not
to be sissies because of this. Men
don’t cry. This is to drive them into
the super ego.
Danger
Once you start saying
that women think in limited relational ways, and not grandiose abstract rules,
you possibly justify women not voting.
They are too weak to
run a country cause they’d never go to war.
Think of their children dying.
They were definetely to
take a supportive role in Hitler’s “fatherland”.
APC exercise
Alternative
Possiblities Choices
First what do we assume
about friends.
What if a friend lies
to you about their relationships?
What are alternatives
possiblities and choices?
What are the good/bad
things about friends?
PROJECT
In groups of 4, write
three reasons for and three reasons against each of the meanings of life.
Try to divide the room
into even groups for each of the meanings.
They must write a three
paragraph essay for this intro middle conclusion.
They will turn this in
with the 12 questions.
They can make
presentations that show why their way of life is the best.
Some meanings must have
more than one group.
They are to make one
statement that expalins their meaning to life.
3 statements in favor of Their point of view.
They must then answer
questions about it.
For this they must
anwer what they think will be the most obvious questions against this.
They should present it
on Friday.