Positive Things to Embrace, for Perspective for Choice

I noticed that in my post yesterday:

Before attempt Rational Living - First Cast Aside Anxiety, Irritation, Negative Judgement

Image by sdminor81 via Flickr

was completely stated negatively!  I only mentioned what I wanted to avoid, which is exactly the worst way to go about changing your focus.

So, stated *positively* I have:

Before attempt Rational Living - First Embrace --

• Philosophical Security
• Epicurean Delight
• Graciousness - Tolerance - Accommodation
• Being Informed by Honest Work.

Embrace these before, as a prerequisite for attempting Rational Effective Living -- attempting --

• analysis
• decision
• commitment
• action
• rinse & repeat.

In detail:

Embrace Philosophical Security - this is the peace and security of the Stoic philosophers, such as found in Epictetus

Show me someone who is sick, and yet happy; in danger, and yet happy; dying, and yet happy; exiled, and yet happy; disgraced, and yet happy.  Show him to me, for, by the gods, I long to see a Stoic.

http://www.knowledgereform.com/2010/02/17/stoic-advice-from-epictetus-on-the-art-of-living-part-2/

Embrace Epicurean Delight - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aponia

As with the other Hellenistic schools of philosophy, the Epicureans believed that the goal of human life is happiness. This was to be found in the tranquillity of spirit which resulted from aponia, suppression of physical pain, and ataraxia, elimination of mental disturbances.

In my mind it is taking enthralling happiness from the commonest of physical experiences, like a breath of morning air, or a sip of cold pure water.

Image by TheGiantVermin via Flickr

Embrace Graciousness - Tolerance - Accommodation - for other people and outside things, offer them all graciousness, tolerance, accommodation.

Embrace Being Informed by Honest Work - how wonderful to enter a situation being informed by honest work.  You can speak with understanding, assurance, and earned confidence.

I have a lot of practicing to do, to learn this skill!

Hey! just realized how much of my happiness is under my control!

Thank you, Plinky. Instead of constructing the perfect day from start to finish, I just imagined plopping my head down on the pillow, and what would put my mind at ease before I saw logs. And it brought into focus that all this stuff is under my control. Which is a good feeling!

Image via Wikipedia

Laffs

A very nice way to end the day is being silly with a silly wife and a silly daughter. The economist Bryan Caplan makes the case for less emphasis on trying to change or mold your children, and more emphasis on enjoying the company of your children. Goes without saying that this is fine advice for your spouse as well. It is very nice to share a little house with such interesting people. I don't mind the teasing.

Image by pcgn7 via Flickr

walk the dog, exercise

I feel much better about myself after I walk the dog, and exercise on the stationary bike. Much better than walking the bike and exercise on the stationary dog (?).

lost some pounds

Image via Wikipedia

Seeing that I gained a few pounds can be a real downer. My liver does not need to be any fattier. I am not fattening myself up for Hannibal Lecter to enjoy.

Four ideas, yesterday and today

Morality = emotion + cultural transmission + ability to abstract First, today, was listening to webcast... From EconLog, Arnold Kling:

"Moral Philosophy" "Will Wilkinson and Jesse Prinz. Highly recommended. You could easily spend four years at an Ivy League college and not have a class as interesting as this one."

Webcast on : bloggingheads.tv

• @13:20 Jesse Prinz, "'Emotions are the middle ground between _action_ and _thought_"
• @28:38 Jesse Prinz: "morality is inevitable, but morality is not universal
• @45:00 Morality = emotion + cultural transmission + ability to abstract

OK, "Morality = emotion + cultural transmission + ability to abstract". Then yesterday was thinking about three things: Politics & Societial Prescriptive Morality:

• what if you list the things that really disturb
• if you confess that, people will say you are: elitist, practically an enemy combatant, wrong, unreasonable
• you could lose your: livelyhood, carreer, friends, recognition
• in Third World countries, you could lose your life, if you are on the wrong side of political conflicts
• the end result - consider working outside of public politics

Fame & Publicity:

• what if you contrast who does and who does not deserve positive fame and publicity
• if you confess that, people will say you are: elitist, wrong, unreasonable
• the end result - consider working outside of public notoriety

but then I was thinking, if morality is tied to emotion, it is not easy to control.

Image via Wikipedia

You owe it to the world to be Progressive, Happy, Effective:

1. Happy, Effective and Progressive
2. Unhappy, Uneffective and Progressive
3. Happy, Effective and Reactive

When we consider people who are Progressive, but also Unhappy and Uneffective, we are supposed to see that they just need help to expand their responses, and not to criticize them, because they are just doing the best they can. But don't people who are Reactive deserve the same understanding?

Bertrand Russell - Conquest of Happiness

Reading Russell's _The Conquest of Happiness_, I am guessing the book has not aged well. He is hammering nails in the coffin of Victorian morality. Time and geography make the book old fashioned. The other thing is that some of the most basic research into human happiness is less than 5 years old. Yeah, I am disappointed (so far, at page 72) that I found nothing to improve Little Moe inside my Head, Sphere of Direct Influence. (Which is a terrible title for the post...)