My Philosphy

Or, Ignorance May Not Be Bliss, but Naivete Can Lead to Happiness

Or, Something I Fail at as Often as I Succeed

What you choose to see in others is what you project for others to see in you.

If you assume others have selfish motives and bad intentions you will treat them as such, and that's what they'll assume about you. If you see them as greedy hoarders out to take from you, then you'll preemptively hoard from them before they can. If you see the world as a threat and a danger to you, then you'll build your defenses to ward the world off and become a danger to others. If you see others as competition, then you'll always compete with everyone and do your best to put yourself at the top at everyone else's expense. If you find others ugly, stupid, incapable, or otherwise lacking, they'll see it in your eyes and know you are someone who holds them in disdain.

If, on the other hand, you can find the positive motives and good intentions behind others' actions, you'll treat them with understanding and respect. If you see them as generous, then you'll be freer with your generosity toward them and become a more giving person. If you assume others are interested in working with you and finding ways to mutually succeed, you'll find yourself practicing teamwork and working to create cohesive wholes of all your various groups. If you see the beauty, wisdom, and talents of others, you'll treat them with a warmth and kindness that brings out your own beauty.

If you want to be a good person, you must learn to find the goodness in others.

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See also:

From another post titled A Philosophy:

"That is not what I meant. Of course you belong here, because you have offered me your friendship, and friends always belong together. But friends look out for each other's welfare, and I am concerned for yours. I wish only to protect you."

"It is I who must protect you!" she exclaimed, although she did not understand why she felt this so strongly. "You need protecting. I can look after myself."

"None of us can look after ourselves," he said after a moment. "We all have to look after each other."

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It's not just my philosophy, but my strategy for attempting to accomplish what was diagrammed in the post Pretty Much Says It All:

Jessica Hagy seems to have diagrammed the formula for a happy and meaningful life:


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Today's book review:

Masterwork of a Painting Elephant by Michelle Cuevas

Like all good fables, it doesn’t seem to make much logical sense and seems to bear little in common with the real world, yet it captures wisdom and truth and connects readers to a deeper reality.

"Allow me to tell you a story," the turtle said. "You see, scientists have shown us how astronomy works: that the earth orbits around the sun and that the sun, in turn, orbits around the center of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. However, a group of people called the Hindus believes that the world rests upon an elephant. And the elephant rests upon the back of a giant turtle."

"I've heard that story," I said. "But I always wondered what the turtle rests upon."

She paused. "Well, the Hindus would tell you, 'Something, but we know not what.' And this is a wise notion, because we will never get to the bottom of things. We do not know what supports the turtle that supports the elephant that supports the world. No man stands on absolute truth. Perhaps we are merely banded together, each of us leaning on one another, keeping the world afloat."

I sat and thought about that for a moment, how each person has lots of people in his or her life, and how all those people make up the world for that person. Perhaps home is not located over mountains and through cities, past trains and tracks and across the ocean. Perhaps home is always right in our hearts and beneath our feet.