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The Meaningless Face of Death
a fruit of applied philosophy

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The Meaningless Face of Death

david manz
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Posted 04/09/08 - 03:33 PM: Subject: The Meaningless Face of Death	#1
I think that its important for philosophers to show the results of their disciplines. Without results being shared, we merely indulge in circular arguments involving philosophical theories. If we have no results to discuss about a philosophy it is like a barren tree. We would be like philosophy professors who know all about the subject but suffer their lives in turmoil because they didn’t apply the underlying principles. I attempt here to relate a principle I learned and witnessed, a fruit! Paraphrasing something I learned from the Greek philosopher Epictitus I will relate a principle of his that operates to bring about a predictable and consistent healing of the mind, i.e. the elimination of all normally concerning things! That is after all, the reason we struggle to envision the principles behind the things discovered by history’s discerning minds, and to understand why they espoused such great virtue of an enlightened excercise of self-control. While it may sound like bragging when I extol the virtues of what I’ll call ‘a gift’, it is in fact nothing special in that it is available to everyone, but is indeed special to those who avail themselves of it’s comforts. I chose to apply his formulation, and it worked. The proof in my own life has been, no stress, no worry, no problems, for over twenty five years, none! Even though the early discoverers are rudimentary considering the age of the first discovered abilities of the mind, still they revealed principles, principles that were in action then, and are still in action today. I present an example based on a contemporary experience, meaning now. Epictitus taught me that whenever, whenever!, I am not feeling ‘good’, to take inventory of my mind, and find out what thoughts were present. When you do this you find that unless you are in pain, the evidence of the world is, ‘The world is at peace with you!’; the thoughts that were troubling you were always either from the past, starting as short a time ago as moments, or extending back as far as memory allows, or it was something in the future, but now being in ‘the moment’, evidence shows that the world is at peace with you. I started practicing this ‘inventorying’ frequently, and so far with me being lucky, the world has so far proven itself to be at peace with me. I don’t know about the next moment, but this one is fine. By relieving myself of the torment that occupies the space outside of the moment, I am freed to walk an earth that seems in turmoil to those around me, and I am able to do it with the full comfort and assurance that comes from completely freeing the mind of the negatives from the past, and those things that could cause worry in the future, all of them! After over twenty fire years of using this awareness, all of the moments when checked were at peace with me. To disallow discordant thoughts to occupy me, gives me reason to expect that this state may well continue indefinitely; including the moment when I breathe my last breath. Hopefully this sound feeling while in a world of chaos is a precuser to an afterlife that doesn’t contain the same mayhem we experience now. To show the most extreme example I can think of, just so everything else will seem easier, I’m going to refer to the death of my son. A trial of trials! Philosophical principles can only be applied on a solitary level, without this understanding the following example could seem harsh, selfish, or callus. It is not so! It is the way it is because ‘the principle’ that I applied for all of those years, operated the same, whether I was facing a dept, a fight, homelessness, or my own demise, but most importantly, it was still comforting me when I faced what must surely rank with the hardest experiences a person can face, watching the death of his child. Philosophically the truth of the matter is, that it is up to the person dying to answer whether or not the world is at peace with them, not me. I was fortunate in that my son also practiced the same discipline, meaning that of living in the moment, and I witnessed that at no moment did he consider that the world was not at peace with him, in spite of his pain. We both enjoyed the acceptance of reality, both living and dying. He showed me that the principle I follow is constant right to death. Bringing peace of mind. Always! Hopefully, even after death. During someone’s dying period, it is normally expected that one mourns, sorrows, regrets, and otherwise suffers those ‘feelings’ that are common amongst us, common being the key word, common separating one that practices from one that doesn’t. The feelings that are suffered by those that are not so disciplined, are feelings the like of which I set out to eliminate all those years ago, worries and concerns for either the past or future. I did not have ‘bad’ moments because of his pending death. Even though I was living in the experience of his death, at any given moment that I would ‘take inventory’ of my mind, the evidence of the world still showed me that it was at peace with me. The times in the past that I used this ‘tool’ to show me the peace that existed in my life, sometimes being very hard to accomplish, prepared me for this trial, during which, thankfully, I could in no way apply the word ‘suffered’ to myself. All I know for sure is it works for me! Can we discuss other fruits of philosophy that are manifest in your lives? In point of fact, it is the ‘fruits’ of philosophy that are important. If the fruit is valuable to us, then we can question what the rewarding philosophy/belief/religion was.

Techeth
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Posted 04/09/08 - 05:28 PM:	#2
This is interesting the mind is a powerful tool, one that we can use to find truth and understanding. I can't help but say I'm glad you were able to find yours. I find interesting though the key word 'discipline'. This it seems is fundamental to the exercise of any philosophy. I have no great life philosophy of my own in the same sense, but I imagine key to any philosophy to life is the discipline to see it through. I bring this up because as you say the fruits of philosophy are valuable, in fact I believe, philosophy introduced at a younger age in schools or at least some of the fruits of philosophy would be of tremendous value to kids. But I imagine the reason so few of the fruits of philosophy are being enjoyed is the distinct lack of discipline to follow them. The impression I get from you and others who have similarly found life philosophies that have helped them, is that at times is has seemed easier not to bother. It is because of this, in part at least that I think, sadly we seem to starve from a lack of hunger when it comes to such fruits. But I do agree the end product of philosophy should be to provide something applicable to life.
Studying is like rowing against the current, if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. - Chinese proverb Life's a bitch but God forbid the bitch divorce me! - Anon Silence makes the soul feel sick - Timid Timothy THINK QUICK! Your future just became your past.

david manz
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Posted 04/09/08 - 06:20 PM:	#3
Techeth wrote: This is interesting the mind is a powerful tool, one that we can use to find truth and understanding. I can't help but say I'm glad you were able to find yours. I find interesting though the key word 'discipline'. This it seems is fundamental to the exercise of any philosophy. I have no great life philosophy of my own in the same sense, but I imagine key to any philosophy to life is the discipline to see it through. I bring this up because as you say the fruits of philosophy are valuable, in fact I believe, philosophy introduced at a younger age in schools or at least some of the fruits of philosophy would be of tremendous value to kids. But I imagine the reason so few of the fruits of philosophy are being enjoyed is the distinct lack of discipline to follow them. The impression I get from you and others who have similarly found life philosophies that have helped them, is that at times is has seemed easier not to bother. It is because of this, in part at least that I think, sadly we seem to starve from a lack of hunger when it comes to such fruits. But I do agree the end product of philosophy should be to provide something applicable to life. I’ve almost come to believe that when a philosopher reaches a culminating point in his philosophy, he will understand that there is nothing that can be ‘taught’, the sum of all he knows amounts to ‘0'. A total that can’t be arrived to as long as he thinks he knows something more then others about ‘the unknown’. Humility is indeed the highest virtue of learning and brings with it it's own form of knowledge that is above and beyond the ability to record in text. At least so I think! But what do I know?

Techeth
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Posted 04/11/08 - 09:30 AM:	#4
I know a very smart man who says a similar thing, "I only know what the world knows, I'm not stupid enough to think I'm clever." He's a firm believer in people learning things for themselves.
Studying is like rowing against the current, if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. - Chinese proverb Life's a bitch but God forbid the bitch divorce me! - Anon Silence makes the soul feel sick - Timid Timothy THINK QUICK! Your future just became your past.

david manz
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Posted 04/11/08 - 11:10 AM:	#5
Techeth wrote: I know a very smart man who says a similar thing, "I only know what the world knows, I'm not stupid enough to think I'm clever." He's a firm believer in people learning things for themselves. I think it was Mark Twain that said, 'People only think they think'. Now that I'm older I know what he meant.

Techeth
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Posted 04/11/08 - 06:09 PM:	#6
Well I'm glad you do, lol
Studying is like rowing against the current, if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. - Chinese proverb Life's a bitch but God forbid the bitch divorce me! - Anon Silence makes the soul feel sick - Timid Timothy THINK QUICK! Your future just became your past.

david manz
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Posted 04/11/08 - 06:44 PM:	#7
Techeth wrote: Well I'm glad you do, lol I'm not sure I get your reply. Clarify if you will.

Techeth
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Posted 04/11/08 - 06:59 PM:	#8
david manz wrote: I think it was Mark Twain that said, 'People only think they think'. Now that I'm older I know what he meant. I'm glad you know what he meant because I'm not sure, or at least confident I do, but then I am not 'older'.
Studying is like rowing against the current, if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. - Chinese proverb Life's a bitch but God forbid the bitch divorce me! - Anon Silence makes the soul feel sick - Timid Timothy THINK QUICK! Your future just became your past.

david manz
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Posted 04/11/08 - 07:27 PM:	#9
Techeth wrote: I'm glad you know what he meant because I'm not sure, or at least confident I do, but then I am not 'older'. Since I only think I think, I’ll tell you what I think it means. I can probably do this easiest by pointing out ‘a difference’. When you’re younger or let’s call it ‘unlearned yet’, all of your analytical thinking is tainted by your own visions of accomplishment. You tend to teach by showing how much you know that they don’t. Like putting ‘a spin’ on the blank spots in your own understanding; I am referring of course to philosophical thinking. When your view of reality is clouded with your view of yourself, you are like a man who wants to elevate himself in someone’s eyes, so he shows off a flyleaf full of credit cards in his wallet, or a wall full of certificates he displays as some sort of second hand endorsement. When you mature in your philosophy you can watch the others that were like you used to be. You can appear as the Pauper who has the pearl of great price in his tattered pocket, and walk like a king. How's that?

Techeth
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Posted 04/12/08 - 06:37 AM:	#10
"The meek shall inherit the earth" I think I understand you, at least in the sense I have seen my past self in others and been surprised at what I've seen, which then led me on to perspectives and how they were constructed. Is that what you mean by thinking you think, or what you think was meant by 'I think I think? That I lack the percpective to really think, while I dream a dream?
Studying is like rowing against the current, if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. - Chinese proverb Life's a bitch but God forbid the bitch divorce me! - Anon Silence makes the soul feel sick - Timid Timothy THINK QUICK! Your future just became your past.

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