July 15, 2024

Living Life One Step at a Time

Looking at history’s pool of ideas, we can see that some of those ideas can be combined while maintaining a sense of integrity.  Organized into 5 steps, these ideas can be put into a sequence that can be seen as maximizing the big challenge of establishing individual integrity.  Here we go.   

Step 1:  We are spiritual.  Conscious awareness is most evident during a quiet time when external stimuli are minimized.  Self-evident is that one’s own conscious awareness is personal and private.  It is in this sense that life can be seen as an individual activity.  The only function of consciousness is to provide the ability to make choices.  Animals can do all the rest; and sometimes better, as when it involves running fast or tracking a scent. 

Human biology and physiology validate the idea that we do not look out of our eyes, but only perceive a world after being picked up by our sensory system and processed by our nervous system.  The only world anyone can know is his/her own world of conscious awareness in the present moment.  Life is a dynamic process, and maturity is increased one step at a time.    

Step 2:  We choose relationships.  We can see others as having experiences similar to our own to the degree we assume that their conscious experience includes a similar sensory system and background experience.  Our choice of relationship generally began with parents, then peers, then authorities, and then self-governing.  Choice of relationship takes us from having less control to having more control.  With maturity, we may find that it is the spiritual relationship itself that is primary.  Doing something together takes priority over the activity itself.  In all of this, we can see ourselves making what we call choices.  Self-evident is that our choices give rise to a sense of self-determination.   

Step 3:  Maximizing integrity can be seen as being hardwired in our physiology—physically, rationally, and among our choices (spiritually).  Whatever we choose to focus on, our sensory system will try to maximize integrity.  Conversely, we can identify our priorities by taking notice of where we choose to spend our time and to that which we turn our focus.  Whether that be a friend or idea, we will seek to find integrity among our interactions.  That is, we discover our priorities by looking at where we spend our time.  If we spend our time accumulating money, we can then see that physical acquisitions are our priority.  If we spend our time researching ideas, then rational considerations are our priority.  Most basically, we choose where we put our focus.  Thus, in all of this, we are hardwired to maximize integrity.  Insight into our current priorities provides us knowledge of our guidance system for making future choices.  Our priorities will continue to serve as our guidance system until we choose to change them.     

Step 4:  We join with others after recognizing that physical power rules as a self-evident observation.  Protection, education, and cooperation in common causes are only some of the benefits when individuals are able to work together. 

Having a common language is essential when working together.  It begins with learning to listen to the point of understanding an idea when presented by another.  This is followed by the skill of presenting an idea in such a way as to be understood by another.  The greater the listening skill, so will it be with the clarity of one’s speech.  Carelessness in speech can be seen as accompanied with a similar level of carelessness in listening.  Interpreters can help up to a point, but whoever chooses and monitors the interpreters (media) has power over both parties.    

Step 5:  We seek to find stability in a world of change.  It’s a daunting task.   All experiences from birth to death seem to involve change—physically, rationally, and in matters of choice.  Stability could be established using a primary referent around which all other choices would be prioritized under it.  Such a primary referent would provide a basis for rationally guiding our other choices, including what is embraced and what is excluded. 

Change in the primary referent generally would be minor if at all.  Given the dynamics of that hardwired integrity, any change in the primary referent may require changing the status and significance of every other experience upon which it was established.  It has been likened to being “born again”—reorganizing and prioritizing one’s behavior and thinking.  However, depending on the breadth of coverage by the choice of primary referent, a change in circumstances may require addressing a change as when a spouse dies, health or financial setbacks occur, or when a sense of having an “empty nest” takes center stage as children leave and begin their own lives.  Such reorganization or being “born again” has been likened to reorganizing the contents of a filing cabinet after one’s interests have changed.     

Perhaps the most stable relationships are those grounded in spiritual rather than physical or rational beliefs.  For example, a couple may describe themselves as “soul mates.”  Their sense of being together continues even after physical and rational considerations change.  The house can burn down, and they are prepared to rebuild and do it together.  And again, when one’s belief changes, they will talk it through until they find common ground upon which they can build.     

Choosing a primary referent can be seen as the most significant choice made during an individual’s lifetime.    

Next posting in about 10-20 days with the topic: “God—Historically a Remarkable Concept”