Definitions meaning = a life's purpose; significance of one's life will = a person's ability to make decisions and act on them; the individual ability to pursue goals greater will = a group's ability to make decisions and act on them; the collective ability to pursue goals 1) Meaning & Belonging You have meaning if your life is significant. Your life can only be significant if it is important to something greater than you. Therefore, you can have meaning insofar as you are … [Read more...]
Are Pride and Humility Good or Bad? (Affective Ethics)
On the Ethics of Pride and Humility Definitions Pride is the pleasure you feel when you contemplate your strength, competence, or superiority. Humility is the pain you feel when you contemplate your weakness, incompetence, or inferiority. Affective Ethics According to a utilitarian reading of the above definitions, pride is inherently good (pleasurable) and humility inherently bad (painful). Yet if we look at all their potential consequences on well-being, the picture becomes more … [Read more...]
On Acting Like an Aggressive Alpha Male
Twas yesterday night. We were done working and about to go home. "Dom," a female colleague urged me, "there's a group of guys outside on our premises. Tell them to go away. Those stairs are private property. I've already told them earlier, but we need your backup." So I went outside and said, "Hey, do you all know that this is private property? You have to leave." There were six men, ranging from about 25 to 40 years old, drinking beer at the top of the stairs where they had found shelter … [Read more...]
Will Vs. Flow: Can You Force Yourself to Do Something?
A common distinction between Western and Eastern philosophy concerns the importance of will. While Western philosophy emphasizes the power of will, Eastern philosophy highlights effortless action. Force versus flow You can force yourself to be courageous in the face of fear, to work without procrastinating, to persist despite exhaustion, and to suppress adverse emotions. But what does it actually mean to force yourself to do something? Consider first that you can't force your body to do … [Read more...]
How Emotions Interact and How to Control Them Effortlessly
How Emotions Interact In traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine, emotions are viewed as having relationships of mutual promotion and counteraction. This is how they are thought to interact: Anger promotes joy and counteracts anxiety. Joy promotes anxiety and counteracts sadness. Anxiety promotes sadness and counteracts fear. Sadness promotes fear and counteracts anger. Fear promotes anger and counteracts joy. Does this theory of emotions, which instantiates Wu Xing, … [Read more...]