Philosophy Is Meaningless

I have a friend who discusses philosophy with me often, trying to poke holes in arguments and make counter-points for the sake of it. He doesn’t do it out of serious disagreement, rather for the fun of philosophical debate. However, a recent discussion motivated me to finally try and express my own personal philosophies in a more succinct manner. So here is my attempt:

First and foremost, be a good person. But what does it mean to be good? That’s the question nobody can answer. I believe it’s nothing more than a matter of intention. Maybe you are a troubled person and your attempt at being good will hurt someone — because you don’t realize the true impact of your actions. A good person, by my definition, would have the self-awareness to observe, reflect on, and understand the actual impact of their actions. And thus learn from them: grow. Quite simply, a good person is someone who is aware of the impact of their actions on others. A good person wants only what is best because they don’t want to harm anyone. They want what is best for themselves, and what is best for the self is the best for others, too. Accidents happen. Misunderstandings happen. Those are irrelevant. It’s all about intention.

Second, do what you want — for yourself. You are you. Not me. Not someone else. You are yourself, so you should prioritize your life. Try to be happy. Try to know peace. Try to be healthy. I won’t argue to be generous to the point of passing up opportunities for the sake of others, because if you have a chance, then other people can do whatever they must to also have those same chances. That doesn’t mean being selfish, it means prioritizing yourself so you can enjoy your life. Of course, my “ideal” good person will want to help others. I merely argue that you can’t help others without first helping yourself. Flight attendants would agree.

Third, try anything and everything (within reason). Don’t be closed-minded. Don’t be too open-minded. Think for yourself, but try everything. I went to church with my landlord because she invited me. It ended up being a nice experience. Would I go again? No. If anyone invites me to something, I almost always say yes. I’m no perfect person, so I don’t say yes to quite everything that I should, but my life has changed drastically since doing that. After all, I used to say no to almost everything. Looking at my calendar amazes me sometimes: all the people I have plans with and all the events. Those plans themselves don’t make me happy. Rather, it’s the experience that I enjoy. I have a lot to write on that topic, it will be a post of its own soon enough. But the short version is that life is nothing more than a collection of experiences. Thus, we should experience… experience life.

Fourth, have no fears or reservations. Let nothing hold you back. Society doesn’t matter. What other people think or say does not matter. If you want to express yourself in some way, then do it. An alternative description of this point is to just be yourself. Similarly, don’t worry about outcomes. If people don’t like what you do, try to understand why. Don’t stop doing it, unless there is good reason to, rather try to learn and grow and improve. I think of art when I say things like this: if people don’t like your art, then you are either a bad artist, or they simply don’t understand. A good artist would be able to identify the latter. A bad artist would blame the people. I think that applies to anything: do not fear putting yourself out there, if you can learn to be self-aware, you can learn to determine what you need to change yourself, and what other people are simply not understanding.

Fifth, be your own person. Choose your own beliefs, and have reasons for those choices. The moment you say “I am a this,” you are defining yourself according to other people’s ideologies. You can say “I identify with this,” but do not accept others’ beliefs without deciding them for yourself. Thence comes my strong opposition of religion: Who in this world has any power to tell you what is or is not true? You can point to your Bible, but what about those who point to their Quran? Are you going to tell me that you are right and they are wrong? I would call you a fool. Instead, acknowledge that different people have different beliefs for different reasons, and decide for yourself what is true. Like how I believe in a higher power — of some kind — and that is all. I don’t know what the truth is. I don’t know if there is reincarnation or anything at all, really. I don’t know. That is my belief: I am an I-don’t-knowian. However, I have strong beliefs that I hold for good reasons. I believe everything is for a reason, and that gives me plenty of meaning and purpose. What that reason is, I really have no idea. Nor does it matter.

Which brings me to my sixth point, nothing matters. You don’t need to be right. It doesn’t matter if someone else is wrong. What happens to you doesn’t matter. What you do in your life doesn’t matter. You are free. But you are also human. And it is our humanity to seek happiness. Thus, bringing everything together, you can try your best to be happy. Maybe you never will be. And that does not matter. So long as you try. You might fail at something. It doesn’t matter. You might be wrong about something. It doesn’t matter. Things might go wrong on their own. It doesn’t matter. Nothing does. And why would it matter? This is not nihilism, nor is this absurdism. This is life-ism. Nothing matters, so you might as well try to be happy. But that happiness requires the acknowledgement and consideration of our humanity — our inevitable, unavoidable selves.

Obviously, these points could be greatly expanded upon with more detailed arguments, but that serves no purpose. Draw your own conclusions. Agree; disagree; it makes no difference. Am I right? Am I wrong? Again, it makes no difference. Think about yourself, your own life, your own happiness. Formulate your own beliefs. But whatever you do, do not take other people’s words as fact, and do not subscribe to any pre-packaged philosophies. In fact, all of philosophy is meaningless. If you aren’t out living a (your) life, then what does any of this even matter?

If you can find goals, motives, directions, reasons, purpose, etc. in something, then that is great. Sometimes, the search for meaning is meaning enough. Sometimes, the search for happiness is happiness enough. As long as you are doing anything at all with your life and following the principles you believe in. It takes a great effort to be rational, realistic, and self-aware. It also takes a great effort to pursue anything at all. To conclude, I would like to say that you must respect yourself. You are doing yourself (and your life) a disservice by not trying. What also can take immense effort is realizing that trying can be something so “small” as going for a walk in the park.

Be human.