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by Gary 'Z' McGee
August
03, 2023
from
Self-InflictedPhilosophy Website
Spanish version
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Gary
'Z' McGee,
a
former Navy Intelligence Specialist turned philosopher,
is the author of
Birthday Suit of God
and
The Looking Glass Man.
His
works are inspired by the great philosophers of the ages
and his wide-awake view of the modern world. |
Borrowed Time by Stuz0r
"We live
in a fantasy world,
a world of
illusion.
The great task
in life
is to find
reality."
Iris Murdoch
The task of finding reality is easier said than done.
It requires seeing
how everything is connected to everything else.
It requires
sacrificing both dependence and independence to interdependence.
It requires seeing
past cultural conditioning, religious indoctrination, and
societal brainwashing.
In short:
it requires doing as
Miyamoto Musashi suggested, "Think lightly of yourself
and deeply of the world"...
The cosmos created the
star that exploded to create the carbon that created the earth that
evolved to create life which evolved to create you. It's all
connected...
The acorn's task is to
fulfill its purpose and become a tree. The caterpillar's task is to
fulfill its purpose and become a butterfly. The eaglet's task is to
fulfill its purpose and become an eagle.
Likewise, the immature
(egocentric, uninitiated, unenlightened) human's task is to fulfill
its purpose by becoming a mature (soul-centric, initiated,
enlightened) human.
Human maturity requires
seeing reality the way it is. The
reality is that nature made you a human.
And becoming a mature
human requires living up to your fullest, most virtuous potential.
Life is a
mission
"Very few
people are artists in life.
The art of life
is the most distinguished
and rarest of
all the arts."
Jung
Fulfilling our potential is the supreme human task. True happiness
comes from living a life of health and virtue and fulfilling our
greatest potential.
So, the first question
is: what are health and virtue...?
- What is health?
Health is primary. Health is the benchmark. It's
foundational, the core of universal law.
And moderation is
health's secret decoder ring.
Without this
benchmark, you cannot discern what is useful from what is
not.
Without this
benchmark, you cannot discern when you've gone too far.
When you use health
as a benchmark, you realize that health is not a matter of
opinion.
Rather, it is
dictated by an indifferent universe with universal laws that
apply to everyone, despite our interests, biases, opinions, or
beliefs.
And this applies to
everyone not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as
well.
But health will only get you so far. It can teach you
moderation, but it won't get you outside the box, the comfort
zone, the domesticated bliss, the indoctrination, or the
cultural conditioning.
Only virtue
can do that...
- What is
virtue?
A robust character hinges on eight core virtues:
-
courage
-
curiosity
-
temperance
-
humility
-
liberty
-
honor
-
wisdom
-
humor
These virtues are
vital rungs on the ladder toward achieving wholeness in
character and fulfilling your life's purpose:
-
courage frees
character
-
curiosity
grows character
-
temperance
balances character
-
humility
grounds character
-
liberty
stabilizes character
-
honor unifies
character
-
wisdom guides
character
-
humor
overcomes character...
This kind of
character creates an anti-fragile spirit despite an otherwise
fragile and spiritless world.
With a character such
as this, you can stand tall, strong, sincere, and fierce. You
are a true force of nature to be reckoned with. A dynamo
amidst dominoes. A lion amongst men.
With the sharpness of your mettle, you're able to cut through
all 'golden calves', superficial hierarchies, and delusions of
grandeur.
You're able to cut
through all so-called 'authorities'...
Indeed,
the only
authority is "to cut."
The only answer
is to question.
Everything is a
building block.
Everything is a
whetstone.
The only sin is unfulfilled potential.
It is the darkest
place you can sink.
It's the only
thing worthy of fear.
The only true
failure is to abdicate the responsibility of
fulfilling your potential...
So,
you abdicate to
no one.
No authority.
No State.
No God.
Not even Death…
Death is a
duty
"Soon you
will have forgotten all things;
and all things
will have forgotten you."
Marcus Aurelius
Death is a duty...
It is not something
to fear.
It is not something
to fret over...
Just as nature has
assigned you to be healthy and virtuous and to
fulfill your greatest potential, nature has also assigned you to
die.
Indeed...
Life is less about
getting what you want and more about making the best of what you
get.
So, if fulfilling our
potential is the supreme human task, then true happiness
must also come,
from living
adventurously and dying well...
So, the second question
is: what does it mean to live adventurously and to die well...?
- What is living
adventurously?
Living adventurously is living dangerously.
It's taking
strategic risks.
It's gambling on
the edge, with an edge.
It's overreaching
comfort zones and overcoming safety nets.
It's the ability
to laugh and be laughable in the face of self-seriousness.
It's the ability
to be bloody-minded in a world of sheepishness.
When you're living
adventurously, you're ahead of the curve.
You're
discovering new ways of being human in the world.
You're a force
of nature first, a person second.
You're able to
climb the mountain of darkness and pain and angst and punch
Tribulation in the face.
You're able to
take risks, turn tables, flip scripts, push envelopes, and
challenge the gods.
You're a force to
be reckoned with rather than a thing to be forced.
Why live
adventurously...?
Because then you have
your courage in front of you where it can be a spearhead. You're
able to live a courage-based lifestyle rather than flounder in
the fear-based lifestyle of the masses...
As Nietzsche advised,
"The secret of
reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment
from life is to live dangerously."
- What is
dying well?
Dying well is about discipline...
It's about using
everything you've learned from health, virtue, and
adventure, and combining them into a daily
practice.
It's transforming
pain into self-discipline.
It's allowing the
routine to tear you down and build you back up, again and
again.
Then it's about
rerouting routine.
It's manifesting
resilience despite resistance.
The
undisciplined mind (unintegrated shadow) looks at death
like a beast it should fear.
The disciplined
mind (integrated shadow) looks at death like a beast it
must ride into fearlessness.
Mortality is always a dance between death and rebirth.
A human
fulfilling his potential dances this dance well.
He (or she)
respects death.
He reveres
impermanence.
He honors
mortality.
He pays homage to
finitude even as he respects Infinity.
He walks with death at his side. It gives him perspective.
Death becomes a
kind of compass he uses to navigate the infinite.
Death teaches him
how to live well in order to eventually die well.
He is at peace
with the fact that he is going to die.
This peace
transforms fear into the fuel needed for fearlessness.
Fear becomes a reason for heroism rather than an excuse to
remain a victim.
It becomes a cape
a hero wears as he stares into the abyss of the human
condition.
He doubles down
on fear because he realizes that heroism is forged in the
crucible of risk.
He seeks out
challenging experiences that will make him come alive
despite death.
For coming alive
is what it's all about...
As
Marcus Aurelius said,
"It is not death
that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning
to live."
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