Cont'd...LINK to August 8th, 2013 Thought Post

A living thing above all desires to vent its strength.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote that thought.

That thought is at the centre of Nietzsche’s philosophy, Will to Power.

"Physiologists should think again before postulating the drive to self-preservation as the cardinal drive in an organic being. A living thing desires above all to vent its strength - life as such is will to power -: self-preservation is only one of the indirect and most frequent consequences of it."

 Friedrich Nietzsche

‘Beyond Good And Evil’, (1886)

People above all desire to express their strengths.

We above all desire to express our strengths.

That is a good starting-thought for another perspective on a philosophy for living.

We have strengths. We perceive our strengths in our conscious minds. Awareness of our strengths also exists beyond our conscious minds. We have desires. When one of our desires is met neurons in our brains automatically self-administer a dose of reward. That’s a fact of our brain chemistry and electrics. We have emotions. Most of them, perhaps all of them, do us little good. Rather, emotions seem to cause a life-long series of challenges. We have thoughts. Often, if not always, our thoughts are entangled in emotions and desires. From time to time, our strengths are at the centre of our thoughts.

Two human abilities rise above all others: intelligence and self-control. Every human being possesses these two abilities at birth. To a certain degree, and the degree varies from person to person, we develop these two abilities over time. The amount of intelligence and self-control we develop determines the extent we are able to express our strengths.

A philosophy for living must focus first on the interplay between personal strengths, thoughts, emotions, desires, intelligence, and self-control. And, a life is lived in full when intelligence and self-control are harmoniously applied to emotions, desires, and thoughts so they enable the expression of strengths. Intelligence and self-control must be applied to:

• work around or counter emotions,
• create and direct desires, and
• create and direct thought.

These three processes enable the expression of strengths. These processes involve a conversion of internal energies into actions. And actions, which have external form, bring about external changes…we perceive those changes as results.

Life, of course, is much more complicated than personal strengths, thoughts, emotions, desires, intelligence, self-control, and how they interplay. Regardless, and this is specifically intended to cover spiritual considerations, a philosophy for living must include these human abilities and their interplay. None of them can be excluded or denied. None of them is contentious. Other aspects of the human condition, including spirituality, are contentious and so they must be dealt with later rather than up front. Also, up-front simplicity is an important consideration. When it comes to sharing a philosophy for living - less is better.

Removing contention, maintaining simplicity, and re-ordering for presentation this philosophy for living covers: 

• intelligence,
• self-control,
• emotions,
• thoughts,
• desires,
• personal strengths,
• the interplay between them, and
• energy – the essential ingredient for life. 

Intelligence

Intelligence is innate. This applies even when our lives are most-brief. Intelligence exists in our genes, intelligence generates our first breath, and intelligence generates our first heartbeat. When we are normal and healthy intelligence grows. With each moment of life we receive internal and external stimuli. Our brains experience chemical flow, electrical activity, and the growth of neuronal connections. All of this allows energy transfer, which, when we boil it down is information transfer. With billions of neurons and trillions of neuronal connections, over time, we build a vast storehouse of information in our brains. Our ability to access that storehouse of information and use it is, in a word, intelligence. Some argue that intelligence is predestined, that is, we are born with a predetermined upper limit. Perhaps, that is true if intelligence is defined in terms of cognitive capability as measured in IQ, SAT, and EQ tests. Perhaps, that is an understatement. Certainly, we lack the tools to state such things with certainty. We do, however, possess scientific evidence to prove physical neuronal growth occurs throughout life. These ongoing neuronal changes are caused by the addition of information and the storing of it. We learn as we live. Each of us has the ability to gain knowledge as a life-long process.

Self-control

It seems people are born with the potential to have and develop self-control and the degree of potential varies from person to person. As one example, some newborn babies exhibit a calm nature while others exhibit a distressed nature. It seems some people are born with a predisposition to self-monitor. Others learn how to self-monitor. When intelligence is applied with self-monitoring people have the ability to self-regulate. And, to some degree, all people self-regulate. Self-monitoring and self-regulation combine to form self-control. These attributes are wrapped up in the concept will power.  

Emotions

Paul Ekman defines emotions as innate, beyond our consciousness, beyond our control, and of little value now humans are civilized. That’s what I mean when I use the word. Emotions hit us automatically. They affect us physiologically and our bodies react to them. Emotions differ from feelings and moods, both of which are flavoured by consciousness. An inverse relationship exists between emotions and self-control; when emotions run high self-control is low and vice-versa.

Thoughts

We experience a conscious phenomenon. It takes the form of a little voice, which talks to us. For most people, but not all, the little voice speaks to us from a point just inside our head, behind a point between our eyes. This little voice speaks to us without provocation. It chatters at us incessantly unless we are able to tune it out or replace it with focused thought. This conscious phenomenon is our ‘mind’. The mind is either closely bonded to but distinct from the brain. Or the mind, somehow, manages to make each of us believe it is distinct from our brain. Each person’s mind is unique. No other person possesses anything similar to it. Thought: that’s the name we apply to the process of the mind. Perceptions: in a variety of ways they work their way around the brain and then register in the mind. Memories: they are filed in the brain-library, much of which is accessible to the mind. And each person’s stupendously-complicated mass of thoughts, perceptions, and memories is unique.

Desires 

People, naturally, experience thoughts that are flavoured in such a way that they create physical changes that can be felt…much as hunger causes hunger pangs, cold causes shivers, music soothes, and sweet things taste good. These felt thoughts are ‘feelings’. They come in two types: positive feelings and negative feelings. When feelings last for extended periods of time they are known as ‘moods’. Probably, people are predisposed [genetically] to be pessimistic, neutral, or optimistic and these predispositions are experienced as feelings and moods. Probably, through the application of thought and self-control most people can influence their feelings and moods. Certainly, some people are capable of influencing their feelings and moods. The most-intense felt thoughts are ‘desires’. Desires stoke thought and motivate action. Desires can couple with emotions, causing the mind to experience its most-intense ‘calls to action’. Two interesting and intertwined questions arise: (1) Can we, through conscious thought, master our emotions? and (2) Do we possess power of will? I believe the answers to those questions are both “Yes…to a degree”. People can employ thought to control and supress emotions: the extent to which this can be accomplished varies from person to person.

Personal Strengths

Each person is different from the rest. We can see that. We can hear that. We can sense that. Each of us has natural talents. Each of us has weaknesses. Each of us has strengths. Some people illustrate prodigious capabilities at a very young age: consider Mozart. Some people illustrate manifold-and-superior capabilities throughout long lives: consider da Vinci. Some people illustrate extraordinary insight: consider Einstein. Some people possess a super-human ability to persuade others: consider Napoleon. Some people somehow know the course of their lives at an early age and they live it. Most of us do not illustrate these things. Yet, each of us possesses natural talents which, if properly nurtured and developed, can be used to achieve amazing accomplishments. Ideally, that nurturing and development begins at the time of our birth and continues throughout our lives. But, for the vast majority if not all of us, that is highly unlikely and not required. It is never too late to nurture and develop personal strengths. A person develops personal strengths by using intelligence to understand innate talents, master thoughts, master desires, and apply self-control.

The Interplay between Intelligence, Self-control, Emotions, Thoughts, Desires, and Personal Strengths

Intelligence, self-control, and personal strengths are our greatest gifts. We live our lives to the fullest when we use our intelligence to understand, develop, and vent our strengths in a manner that rewards self and delivers value to others. We draw on intelligence and think in order to formulate desires; we create images in our minds of the future states where self is rewarded and others are receiving value. We have visions of desired goals. We use self-control to focus thoughts and guide actions toward the achievement of our desired goals. While we are doing this, emotions are distractions. We must use intelligent thought and self-control to develop habits to regulate our emotions, to the extent this is possible, so emotions do not thwart our ability to achieve desired goals.

Energy – the essential ingredient for life

We are made of energy. I mean that the way Einstein meant it when he clarified the equivalence of matter and energy. Our bodies are energy processors; we convert some of the energy contained in the substances we consume. Every cell in our body exists because it contains and converts energy. Our bodies are pre-programmed to process energy. These energy-conversion processes are incomprehensibly complex. We have identified order in these energy-conversion processes: as examples - chromosomes, genes, and DNA. We have also identified chaos in these processes: as examples – birth defects, cancers, and allergies. We understand some aspects of energy: as examples – some aspects of electricity, some aspects of the mechanisms of chemistry, and theories about nuclear forces. However, the more we learn about these things the more complexity we uncover. Our understanding of the energy that makes up our bodies is limited. Our understanding of the numerous chemical and electrical processes happening within our bodies is limited. We know energy is the essential ingredient for life and we know energy takes different forms. Some of these energy forms are accompanied by physical repercussions which we can perceive: as examples – electricity creates lightening, gravity keeps the Earth in orbit around the Sun, and light creates visible colours. Some of these energy forms are beyond the scope of our perceptions: as examples – none of us have seen an electron, none of us understand the energies that brought our species into existence, and none of us know the ‘spark’ that triggers life, apparently about 96 hours after the conception of the human embryo.

...to be continued