Humanism and Happiness

Influencers: Friedrich Nietzsche, Epictetus, John Stuart Mill, Diogenes, Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Campbell, Epicurus, Christopher Hitchens, Immanuel Kant, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Bertrand Russell, Thomas Jefferson, Frederick Douglass, Carl Jung, Marcus Aurelius, Voltaire, Jose Mujica, Albert Camus, Thomas Paine, Socrates, Richard Dawkins, Sigmund Freud, Jordan Peterson, George Orwell, John Locke.

 

Schools of thought: Libertarianism, Liberalism, Universalism, Secularism, Cynicism, Atheism, Stoicism, Individualism, Utilitarianism, Realism, Skepticism, Golden Rule, Humanism.

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There is no evidence of God.  So one should assume there is none.  If there was, he is obviously a cruel and evil one at worst and an apathetic and callous one at best; analogous to the cold and neglectful parent that plays favorites and visits pointless tragedies upon their children with extreme prejudice.  In either case, the worship of a God is fatuous and religion perpetuates it.  

 

Worship as a concept is a pernicious weakness.  If worship is extended to a man, that man will become a God.  If it is extended to a God, it will, in turn, be delivered back unto a man in the absence of God.  Even if kept personal, it will cultivate subservience in the practitioner.

 

Those who claim to know divine law are dangerous, as they are either lying or deranged.  We can only follow our own laws, which must each have a basis in the golden rule.  The laws of a country must always be secular, any deviation must be met with ridicule and contempt.

 

People can maintain a spirituality without the need for an archetypal God, and once one's spirituality is perverted by another's, then the cult is born.  And all religions are cults in some way, just some more than others.

 

Spirituality is one’s connection to a concept infinitely greater than oneself.  We are aware of the cosmos and the vastness of the universe.  To come to terms with that relative infinitesimal nature of your existence is to let go of superiority to others and relish in the concept of true equality with your neighbor.  

 

The cult’s only purpose is to eliminate self-autonomy, cultivation of personal beliefs, critical thinking, and individuality for the sake of one entity.  One cannot allow their destiny to be controlled by another.  

 

The absence of a God or designer prohibits the inherent point of existence.  We must build our own destinies in a way that most appeals to each of us personally.  Subservience will hinder that journey.

The five main virtues of humanity are Humility, Compassion, Skepticism, Wisdom, and Responsibility.

 

The five main vices of humanity are Dogmatism, Violence, Narcissism, Sadism, and Dishonesty.

 

The most vital component of social equality and liberty is freedom of speech.  All forms of censorship are invariably totalitarian and must be resisted. Offensiveness is not a crime.  It is a certainty, and one's own proclivity toward being offended should have no bearing on how others speak.  Those are personal feelings and they should remain personal.  Do not use them to control the speech and actions of others, that is a method of silencing dissent.  In modern-day, this is epitomized by radical Islam.  

 

Federalism is a key component of civil liberties.  One sovereign government cannot exercise absolute power and state rights, as individual rights, are to be lauded - not condemned.

 

Concepts of “mansplaining,” “white sensitivity,” and other fictional terms of that nature are tools meant exclusively to silence dissent towards a totalitarian and dogmatist belief system.  Any argument that utilizes such terms is to be flatly ignored.

 

The complexities and nuances of human speech negate the necessity of violence unless otherwise physically provoked.  To restrict the speech of anybody in any way is to incite violence, which can only be succumbed to or rebuked by a greater show of force.

 

Radical Islam is a threat to the West and the integrity of the human race, and Islam, like all religions, must be met with the harshest criticisms without fear of violent reprisal, as seen in Islamists.

 

We must master ourselves and ourselves only.  The instinct to dominate others is an unnatural and perverted one.  Because of this, people must always remain skeptical of those who exercise power.  As such, skepticism is a virtue.  

 

Slavery, while its presence throughout history and across races is undeniable and must be acknowledged, is also a dated and vicious system of oppression.  The ownership of another human being is perverse in every way and completely contradicts everything that leads to a fulfilling life for both the slave and the slavemaster.

 

With freedom, personal responsibility must be encouraged.  Victim mentalities, excuse-making, and other similar behaviors should be admonished as weaknesses dangerous to both the holder and the people around them.

 

There is order in the universe.  Not in the sense of everything happening for a specific reason, but in the sense of a machine utilizing all of the cogs and gears within to operate smoothly.  There is also chaos in the universe.  Again, things don't happen for a reason.  They are random.  The universe is an indifferent machine that chugs along and allows random chance to occur within it.

 

To master oneself, one will achieve personal enlightenment.  To master yourself, you must take responsibility and abandon wants.  Be mindful and work consistently to better yourself and feelings of want and jealousy will dissolve.  

 

In order for everyone to have the potential to master themselves and reach personal enlightenment, an enlightened self must be granted its own autonomy.  You must work to better yourself constantly and never assume that you have reached personal enlightenment.  Personal enlightenment should be a lifelong endeavor, even if you have already achieved it.  

 

To facilitate all of this, the number one and most important action everyone must take is to adopt the Golden Rule and implement it into their lives.  Treat others as you would have yourself treated.  Be kind, compassionate, and empathetic.  Failure to do so will only lead to misery for yourself and others.  Virtue is very much its own reward.  Being virtuous exclusively for the possibility of being rewarded negates the original action.

 

Our kindness and compassion should also be shared with animals.  Those who would subject an animal to needless cruelty should not only be admonished as perverse but also as dangerous to their fellow man.  The harvesting of their meat should only be a necessity and alternative for their cultivation as food should be embraced, not shunned.  The abuse of a dog in relation to all other animals is an especially sinister and perverse one.  Dogs and humans are linked through evolution - everything in humanity should cry out for protection and benevolence towards dogs in a way not dissimilar to children.

 

Individualism, when practiced appropriately, naturally facilitates community and harmony.  One does not need a collectivist mindset to craft a perfect society.  

 

While practicing individualism, one must avoid the pitfalls of materialism and meritocratic ideologies.  Materialism disintegrates character and judging people by their talents and not their character is an elitist point of view that restricts the equality of people.

 

Objectivism is a manifestation of materialism, meritocracy, as well as several of humanity’s greatest vices.  It is a perversion of individualism and personal responsibility that rationalizes moral apathy and narcissism.  To find pleasure in assisting others is the number one way to promote happiness among the largest amounts of people.

 

Judgment over appearance is a primal instinct that must consistently be challenged by every thinking person to participate in a functional civilization.  Racism in particular is the most vulgar of prejudices.  It is a collectivist tribal mentality to separate those by race and it must always be challenged.  The number one way of achieving this is diversity.  Not as a goal, but as a natural process.  Race will always, unless interfered with by the perverse, eventually, disperse evenly throughout civilization and not become unrecognizable, but irrelevant.

 

Judgment over sex, like war, appears intrinsic within us.  Sexism is avoidable, but men and women are different.  They have different minds, bodies, behaviors, attitudes and even chromosomes.  But just because they are different does not mean one is inferior to the other.  As humans, they are equal.

 

Identity politics are exclusionary mindsets that completely nullify not only one’s own personal enlightenment, but they hinder the actualization of people around them.  Practitioners of identity politics have adopted terms to dismiss and shut down conversations or understanding.  This is dogmatism and it must be opposed.  And while social equality is a must, this will only breed more disparity as it silences dissent.

 

To label something as profane simply because of political correctness is totalitarianism.  It is totalitarianism disguised (poorly) as empathy and compassion, but its exclusive function is to divide and sew intolerance of every stripe.

 

Equality of outcome deprives people of their true potential.  To receive an advantage in a competition is to deny your true potential to shine and will ultimately lead to misery even if success is reached.  Equality of opportunity is all that matters. 

 

Personal enlightenment, self-actualization, happiness, and contentment are all linked.  Though achieving one will not summon the others to their fullest potential, they will each assist each other.

 

Personal enlightenment and happiness are not measured by success but by complacency with one's lot.  Success is fleeting and nullified by inevitable death.  Peace with the inevitable and suffering is the key to happiness.  Materialism, meritocracy, and arrogance must be treated with ridicule and contempt.  Success and happiness are not mutually exclusive, but neither are failure and happiness.

 

Being content with one's lot does not preclude self-improvement.  Self-improvement and complacency must be practiced hand-in-hand, lest satisfaction will never come.  Strive for what you want, but love what you have.  That way, the inevitable failures you’ll face will never stop you.

 

Being content with your lot and being content with failure are both components in another vital aspect of life.  You must enjoy it.  A life not enjoyed is not a life lived.  Everybody has a right to happiness, and those that infringe upon it do not deserve their capacity for happiness.  This is not to say one must be complacent and peaceful to achieve happiness.  Many derive pleasure from discourse and disagreement, and those can certainly also contribute to personal growth for anyone.  

 

The eristic nature of these people will bring peace upon the refinement of their ideas and beliefs.  And to argue effectively, one must always enter a debate with respect for the other person’s beliefs despite disagreements.

 

Marxism and Communism actively prohibit the search for meaning and happiness and limit the achievements of any given person.  They are naive reductionist philosophies that do not account for ambition, self-actualization, individuality, or the predators amongst us. 

 

The balance of Capitalism and Socialism facilitates the greatest possibility for self-actualization and personal enlightenment.  Though not perfect, they are superior to every other political ideology out there.  It facilitates success, individualism, and personal enlightenment.

 

Pity and revulsion are inexorably linked.  If you pity yourself and your life, you will be revolted by it.  As such, if you seek pity, you will find it coupled with revulsion in your fellow man.  Pity separated from revulsion is compassion.  Revulsion separated from pity is hatred.  Be compassionate with yourself and others will be compassionate with you.

 

War is an unfortunate inevitability, as such a sovereign nation must defend its own rights and its own people.  To be "anti-war" is naive.  As there are people whose ethics have been perverted by societies and institutions that don't follow these rules.  These people must be restrained and punished and those who aren't perverted must be protected from them.  War must be a last resort, but war is always on the horizon.

 

Deviation from these ethics results in a lack of morals, and vicariously a lack of humanity.  Those that violate and disrespect the rights and well-being of others must be given no quarter.  There are people who are truly sadistic and they should be removed from society by whatever means necessary.

 

History is not made by one person being their best self, but several.  Narcissism is not only perverse, it is illogical, unreasonable, and foolish.

 

While I do believe in individuality and skepticism, a joint government is necessary to protect us from predators.  The government's power must be controlled and monitored and power must ultimately reside with the people.  Public servants are just that, servants.  And they not only must be treated as such but also act as such.  In modern American politics, we have gravitated away from this.  

 

Individual freedoms come at a cost - happiness comes at the cost of safety.  The padded room, the ever-nurturing parent, God, everything that assures us also ensnares us.  You may find physical safety, but you’ll never know peace again.

 

Morality is a human construct built from rationality and reason.  As such, we are born neutral but become acclimated to morality, rooted in the golden rule, as we reach adulthood.  This is done simply by reasoning with ourselves, reasoning with others, and measuring the consequences of our actions.

 

Ignorance and apathy are unavoidable in many regards.  No one person can have matching interests across all fields of life.  As such, they are not vices.  They are merely weaknesses that everyone has. 

 

To say that people are inherently evil is analogous to the arguments of original sin: A crooked and malicious idea that promotes self-hatred and subservience to one's proclaimed masters.  

 

That said, some people are perverse.  The contributing factors for this are far and wide indeed, yet almost none excuse evil and immoral acts.  The people who violate the rights of others, who actively interfere with the well-being of a human being in the most negative of vicious of ways, violate not just the rights of their victim.  They violate their own rights as human beings.  All are created equal, and there is nothing one can do to be better than the rest.  But there are actions that make one lesser than their counterpart: Rape, murder, child molestation, terrorism, and other grotesque acts such as these do make one lesser.  They have actively and willingly succumbed to their darkest selfish desires, sacrificed personal responsibility, and foisted others in their paths of destruction.  Factors do not correlate to excuses, and their rights should be thrown at the mercy of the judicial system and the loved ones of the victim.  The rights of the perpetrator come second, if at all.  

 

Quotes:

• Benjamin Franklin: 

  • “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

  • “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.”

• Christopher Hitchens:

  • “Don’t seek refuge in the false security of consensus.”

  • “What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”

• Diogenes:

  • “In a rich man’s house, there is no place to spit but in his face.”

  • “Why not whip the teacher when the pupil misbehaves?” 

• Epictetus

  • “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

  • “If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.”

• Socrates:

  • “The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.”

  • “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

• Friedrich Nietzsche:

  • “I cannot believe in a God who wants to be praised all the time.”

  • “Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”

• Carl Jung:

  • “Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people.”

  • “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.”

• Sam Harris:

  • “A puppet is free as long as he loves his strings.”

  • “Few of us are murderers or thieves, but we have all been liars.”r

• Marcus Aurelius: 

  • “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.”

  • "If someone can prove me wrong and show me my mistake in any thought or action, I shall gladly change. I seek the truth, which never harmed anyone: the harm is to persist in one's own self-deception and ignorance."

• Voltaire:

  • “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.”

  • “If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.”

• Sigmund Freud:

  • “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats with one-seventh of its bulk above water.”

  • “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”

• George Orwell:

  • “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

  • “Power is not a means; it is an end.  One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.  The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture.  The object of power is power.”

• Bertrand Russell: 

  • “Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric.”

  • “The good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge.”

• Ayaan Hirsi Ali

  • “We must focus on a future where every individual has the freedom to express their beliefs, whatever they may be, without fear of being punished.”

  • “Tolerance of intolerance is cowardice.”

• John Stuart Mill: 

  • “The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others.”

  • “That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in the next.”

• Thomas Paine:

  • “The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.”

  • “The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.”

• John Locke:

  • “Being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions.”

  • “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom.  For in all the states of created beings capable of law, where there is no law, there is no freedom.”

• Jordan Peterson:

  • “Compare yourself to who you were yesterday and not to who someone else is today.”

• Joseph Campbell

  • “The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”

  • “Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

• Immanuel Kant

  • “Morality is not the doctrine of how we may make ourselves happy, but how we may make ourselves worthy of happiness.”

  • “He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men.  We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”

• Thomas Jefferson

  • “I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend.”

 

• Others:

  • “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.”

    • George Santayana

  • “Religion is the opiate of the masses.”

    • Karl Marx

  • “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

    • Charles Darwin