The Role and Power of Beliefs and Experiences

 

Chapter 6

The Role and Power of Beliefs and Experiences

Every human being carries around with them a remarkably singular package of beliefs and experiences. This makes each one of us remarkably unique. Indeed, no two people are exactly alike—not even identical twins! Consequently, no two persons see the world and respond to life's variety of vicissitudes and opportunities in exactly the same way. 

Your personal experiences and beliefs profoundly impact the way you view yourself, other people, and the world-at-large. Your beliefs and experiences also drive your behavior. If you know exactly what a person believes and has experienced, you can more-or-less precisely predict how that person will respond to any given situation.

Given this reality, we can postulate the following formula:

Beliefs + Experiences = Actions 

B + E = A

To illustrate this formula in action, consider the following example:

The desolate Atacama Desert
in Northern Chile, South America

In northern Chile lies the desolate Atacama—the driest desert in the world. The Atacama Desert is so arid there are parts of it that have never received any rainfall (in recorded history). 

Now... imagine a young person from this rural region who has never seen, or heard lightning, thunder, or rain, but has only learned about such forces of nature from others. Now imagine further that this particular person harbors a belief that a Higher Power punishes human beings for evil acts through natural disasters (e.g. earthquake, tsunamis, tornadoes, typhoons, etc.). 

The difference RAIN makes!

Now imagine that this person takes their first trip to the Amazon River basin, where it rains almost daily. The cab driver picks this young person up at the airport and begins driving them to their destination.

The Brazilian cab driver's experiences and beliefs are very different from the beliefs and experiences of the young Chilean. He sees and hears lightning, thunder, and rain all the time and believes that it is just what happens on a regular basis throughout the moist regions of the Amazon. 

As the cab drives down the freeway, imagine a powerful lightning strike lights up the sky in front of them, followed by a deafening crack of thunder. This is then followed by a massive monsoon deluge of rain, interspersed with continual lightning strikes and  their concomitant thunder claps.  

In this scenario, who is destined to have the calmer response to these external stimuli? 

The answer, or course, is the Brazilian cab driver. The young Chilean, on the other hand, will probably react with great animation and fear to the exact same stimuli.

Obviously, the Brazilian adult's beliefs and experiences are more in line with reality than our Chilean child. In this case—as with all other instances in life—what you believe and have experienced really matters and translates into pretty predictable actions.   

We learn further from this example that it was not the stimulus (lightning, thunder, and rain) that caused the unsettled response from the Chilean child. It was the child's experiences and beliefs about the stimulus that caused their response.   

That is the power of BELIEFS and EXPERIENCES!

From this example, we can discern that circumstances and events alone are not the primary drivers of our attitudes and behaviors, although they will usually exert a powerful secondary or tertiary influence thereon. The primary drivers of our attitudes and behaviors are our past experiences and present beliefs.

Thus, by adding a degree of timing nuance to our previous formula, we get the following:

Present Beliefs + Past Experiences = Future Actions

PaB  + PrE = FA 

If we know someone's past experiences and present beliefs, we can, with a high degree of accuracy, predict their present and future actions. More importantly, we can use this formula to better predict our own present and future actions. Most importantly, we can use this understanding to alter (enhance/improve) our future actions by altering our present beliefs and experiences. 

It is amazing to contemplate the reality that, with the exception of involuntary reflexes, external stimuli do not cause human behavior. Your behavior (and mine) are extensions of what we believe (and don't believe) and what we have experienced (and haven't experienced). 

Understanding this simple (in theory), yet sometimes complex (in actuality), formula is one of the most important principles and formulas you can ever learn.

Why?

Because once you really understand, internalize, and apply its meaning, you are no longer a victim of circumstances or other people's actions. YOU are LIBERATED to begin working on your own beliefs and experiences, which is the only authentic way to improve your present and change your future!

While you can't always immediately change your external environment and other situations in which you find yourself, you are always at liberty to decide your attitudes, beliefs, and perspectives about them. If you wish to change your behavior and/or circumstances over time, you must first go to work on your attitudes and beliefs.  

When your attitudes and beliefs are aligned with reality and truth, your actions will lead you to happiness, progress, success, wealth, and higher levels of Existential Growth over time. When your attitudes and beliefs are not in line with reality, your actions will lead you to become cynical, desperate, overwhelmed, unhappy, unsuccessful, and even financially poor. In time, erroneous beliefs will lead to existential atrophy and mediocrity. 

To further illustrate this formulaic principle in play in real life, consider the following BELIEFS and the kind of actions (or inactions) they are likely to motivate and produce.

Examples of Human Beliefs about Themselves, Others, and the World-at-Large

• I am a victim of my genetic predispositions and childhood upbringing.
• I am a victim of bad relationships.
• I am unlucky.
• Other people and circumstances are in control of my life and there isn't anything I can do about it.
• I can't help it; this is just the way I am.
• I am destined to fail.
• Nobody loves me; I am unlovable.
• I am entitled to so-and-so or such-and-such whether I am willing to work for it or not.
• My problems are the fault of:
• Ancestry/race
• Heritage/ethnicity/culture
• Parentage
• Siblings
• Employer/boss
• Lack of an employer/boss
• Inclinations and predispositions I cannot control
• Spouse/significant other
• Lack of a spouse/significant other
• Friends
• Lack of friends
• Too much government involvement in my life
• Too little government involvement in my life
• Society/media/pop culture
• Luck (e.g. I never win door prizes, drawings, or the lottery)
• I have the wrong astrological sign

Now, consider an alternative set of beliefs and consider the actions that these perspectives might motivate and produce:

• I will find a way to succeed regardless of any limitations I inherited or currently face.
• I create my own luck through dependability, hard work, integrity, persistence, and patience.
• I am sovereign over my own life, career, and relationships, and the only person that can take that freedom and power away from me is me.
• I have the liberty, power, and access to Serendipity necessary to transcend natural inclinations and predispositions that influence me to behave in undesirable and hurtful ways, even though some of those proclivities are very powerful, seductive, and entrenched.
• It is my responsibility to be the kind of person others will admire, like, love, respect, etc.
• Through hard work and determination, I can earn success and obtain fulfillment, joy, and satisfaction.   
• All of my problems are ultimately my own and many of them are of my own making. Even though some of them aren't my fault, they are still my problems, and I must take COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY for everything in my life and do the best I can where I'm at with what I've got. (1)
• I don't always like what happens to me; but I can always control how I respond to what happens to me. 
• It is up to me to earn what I want in life. With the aid of Serendipity, I am capable of getting and becoming what I am willing to pay the price for over time. 
• I have unlimited potential for personal achievement and Existential Growth. 
• I can overcome my past and present to create a better future for myself and my loved ones.
• I am sovereign over what I think about, say, believe, and do; and in that sovereignty lies my destiny.

Never underestimate the incredible power of all sincerely held attitudes and beliefs about yourself, others, and the world-at-large. Always remember that your beliefs (or lack thereof) absolutely drive your behavior. If you closely examine your behavior in any given instance, your authentic beliefs will always be exposed. To paraphrase a famous poem: You Tell on Yourself!

"You tell on yourself."

—Anonymous (2)

You Tell on Yourself

You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
    By the very manner in which you speak,

By the way you employ your leisure time,

    By the use you make of dollar and dime,

You tell what you are by the things you wear,

   By the spirit in which your burdens you bear,

By the kinds of things at which you laugh,

    By the records you play on the phonograph,

You show what you are by the way you walk,

    By the things of which you delight to talk,

By the manner in which you bear defeat,

    By so simple a thing as how you eat,

By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf:

    In these ways and more, you tell on yourself.

So, there really is no particle of sense,

    In an effort to keep up false pretense.

—Anonymous (2)

If you are sincerely interested in changing your behavior, the wisest course of action is to work on changing your beliefs so that your paradigms of self, others, and the world around you align more closely with truth and reality. 

Even the strongest willed persons have a limit
to how long they can "white-knuckle" it. 

Everyone has a measure of willpower—some people extraordinarily so. But willpower alone doesn't provide enough fuel required to take you to the highest levels of Existential Growth; nor is it alone capable of helping you maximize your potential personally or professionally. 

You may be able to "White-Knuckle" your way for a while, but you will eventually run out of gas, burn out, and become disenchanted with the process if you fail to first alter erroneous beliefs that are driving unwanted behaviors.  

For example: consider a smoker who is trying to stop smoking. If a smoker ultimately believes the calming, relaxing, and other enjoyable properties of nicotine use are worth the health risks, they will almost certainly fail in their efforts to quit—no matter how strong their willpower is or how effective their quitting techniques may be. 

If, on the other hand, a smoker believes that no amount of momentary catharsis is worth sacrificing one's long-term health, quitting will not only be possible, but may even prove to be surprisingly easy. In other words, those relatively rare individuals who are able to quit "Cold Turkey" are not necessarily the ones with the strongest willpower, but the ones who are most effective at changing their beliefs and perspectives on smoking. Serendipity also plays a role in these kinds of efforts, the contributions of which can seem mysterious in both their reach and efficacy. 

Thus, the difficulty and feasibility of any given task is not primarily determined by the required behavior changes involved, but by your belief about how valuable (or not) the required behavior changes are to your long-term freedom, growth, and inner peace. As the philosopher Friedrich Nietzche once wrote: "He who has a why to live can bear almost any how." (3)

"He who has a why to live can bear almost any how."

—Friedrich Nietzsche

Everyone needs an ADVOCATE or two along the way.

Your past experiences also play a significant role in shaping your present and future actions. This is why failure often breeds more failure and success tends to generate more success. It is vital, therefore, that teachers, coaches, mentors, and leaders residing at higher levels of Existential Growth provide students, mentees, and others at lower levels the opportunities they need to learn, try, fail (safely), try again, and ultimately succeed.

Just as it is impossible to become self-actualized according to Maslow's hierarchy of needs without first having access to food, drink, shelter, and safety, it is similarly impossible to rise to the highest levels of Existential Growth without authentic and caring ADVOCATES who can teach, coach, mentor, discipline, reprove, encourage, and cheer you on along the way.  

While it is true that many people fail to rise to their potential because they choose not to listen to their teachers, coaches, mentors, and consciences, it is also true that others fail to rise because they lack access them in the first place. Hence the importance of obtaining access to quality leaders, educators, and mentors is a variable of primal importance in everyone's life—and a variable of which I have been unusually blessed in my own life and career.    

As a self-action leader, it's incumbent upon YOU to examine and analyze how your past experiences and present beliefs have shaped and/or limited your perspective. If you lack experience, this can prove challenging, but not impossible. It will require that you draw creative insights from reading, studying, interpersonal associations, critical thinking and synthesis, and prayer or meditation. You can then concurrently exercise persistence and patience in proactively seeking out additional experience.  

Learning from the experiences of others is tremendously valuable, but ultimately insufficient to acquire all the wisdom you'll need to successfully navigate your own life's journey. There are some lessons that can only be learned thoroughly through real life experience. You cannot reach the highest levels of Existential Growth by study, observation, association, and critical thinking alone. The treacherous and sometimes solitary trail of individual experience must also be traversed.

But that's okay because that is why we are here—to gain experience from which we can learn and grow. 

In the beautiful verse of the poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox:

    "There is room in the halls of pleasure

       For a large and lordly train,

    But one by one we must all file on

       Through the narrow aisles of pain." (4)

How to Change Your Beliefs

John Maynard Keynes—a famous British economist and philosopher once noted that: the difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.  

"The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas

as in escaping from old ones."

—John Maynard Keynes

It's usually not enough to just decide to change your beliefs and then expect your actions to naturally follow suit. Quite to the contrary, a great deal of time, effort, practice, and repetition is required to make the change real. 

For example: most people who smoke know it's bad for their health, and many genuinely believe in this knowledge. However, this knowledge and belief doesn't always motivate them to change. This is because they usually have other, more emotionally compelling beliefs that outweigh their knowledge of the health risks involved. 

To illustrate this phenomenon, consider the following BELIEFS that could potentially eclipse the knowledge that smoking is unhealthy and may prematurely terminate your mortal life.  

• The positive benefits (pleasure, stress relief, self-reward, etc.) of smoking ultimately outweigh the potential negative consequences. 
• I can always quit down the road and reverse some of the negative effects of my present smoking.
• My granddad smoked a pack a day his whole life and lived to be 92; I've got good genes for beating lung cancer.  

If we are honest with ourselves, all three of these beliefs provide potentially compelling motivations to continue smoking. Thus, to motivate action to stop, you must believe that acting now is indispensable to obtaining your long-term goal. Once you've altered your beliefs in this manner, your actions will often follow automatically—or at least more quickly and easily than otherwise. The challenge, of course, is to align your beliefs with both truth and reality; it does no good to believe in, or act upon, incorrect information. 

To accomplish this, you might cultivate the following, alternative beliefs about smoking: 

• There are other, better, and much more positive and productive ways and means of relaxing, dealing with stress, and rewarding myself for jobs well done (e.g. exercise, yoga, meditation, prayer, healthy hobbies, etc.)
• No matter how good my genes are, smoking will still inhibit my physical energy, strength, and vigor.
• I don't want to perpetuate my granddad's lifetime legacy of smoking. 
• My spouse/significant other hates that I smoke; the quality of my relationship deteriorates when I smoke.  
• Smoking makes me a social pariah among most in the current culture (a non-smoking majority).
• It is embarrassing to me that I am a slave to nicotine. 
• It is a dirty, gross, and expensive habit that makes everything it touches smell bad. 
• Etc.  

A key step in changing a belief system involves gaining insights into your own potential. Those who achieve little in life typically fail to comprehend what they are capable of doing and being. 

In his theological classic—The Screwtape Letters—C.S. Lewis implies that keeping people in ignorance of their potential is one of the devil's greatest and most effective traps. In this work of Lewis's, the fictional senior devil (Screwtape) writes to his junior devil trainee (Wormwood) and explains: "It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds: in reality our best work is done by keeping things out." (5)

"It is funny how mortals always picture us as putting things into their minds.

In reality our best work is done by keeping things out."

—The Devil

If Deities and devils really do exist—and I'd wager my life and career's work and fortune that they do—there is no doubt in my mind that the devils want you to remain in ignorance of your true potential in this life (and beyond); and the Deities desire that you liberally attain as much self-knowledge and enlightenment of your potential as possible.  

A second key step in changing your belief systems involves acting in faith on those beliefs you have good reason to assume are correct—even if you aren't entirely sure yet, don't feel like acting, or haven't yet experienced the fruits of your actions. 

ACTION is essential to SAL and
just about everything else.

In the New Testament, Jesus taught: If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (6)

In speaking these words, it is essential to note that the Christ did not say: "if you know you will do." He said: "if you do you will know." 

The order here is essential! 

        ACTION is absolutely paramount to your success!

If you know how everything in your life and/or career will ever turn out, you don't have to live by faith. But the reality is that most of us have to live by faith most of the time because we don't know exactly how things are going to turn out. Thus, we must make faith-infused decisions every day of our lives based on the various beliefs we hold about truth, consequences, other people, the world around us, ourselves, and the future. 

Thus our chosen actions are just as important as our beliefs, and from a practical standpoint, even more important! Thus, if you really want to know if a principle is true, you must put that principle into practice, not the other way around.  

A third key step to changing your beliefs involves stepping out of your comfort zone. Whenever you undertake a new endeavor, you tend to learn and grow. This is especially true when an endeavor is challenging and intimidating. In the words of Viktor Frankl: Exceptionally difficult external situation[s] give ... [us] the opportunity to grow beyond [ourselves]. (7)

"Exceptionally difficult external circumstances give us the opportunity to grow beyond ourselves."

—Viktor Frankl

Three Steps to Changing Beliefs and Behavior

1. Gain insight into your own potential.

2. Act in faith on sound beliefs.

3. Exercise the courage to step out of your comfort zone.

This three-step process of self-discovery and growth can naturally change your beliefs and behavior over time to better align with truth and reality. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe—one of Germany's most historically heralded philosophers—explained that: self-knowledge is best learned, not by contemplation, but by action.

"Self-knowledge is best learned, not by contemplation, but by action."

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Ralph Waldo Emerson
1803-1882

In a similar vein, the great American philosopher—Ralph Waldo Emerson—once wrote: 

"Do not be too squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments the better. What if they are a little coarse and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again, and you shall never be so afraid of a tumble [in the future]." (8)

These words of Emerson have inspired me to courageous action on many occasions in my life, and I commend them enthusiastically to you, albeit with a clear caveat, as follows: Don't use this advice as an excuse to do stupid, harmful, or foolish things. Instead, allow its counsel to inspire you to embrace life's wondrous opportunities to take calculated risks on the altar of personal and professional growth—even, and perhaps especially, when you are afraid. 

Generally speaking, most human beings are too often paralyzed by the fear of making a mistake. If you allow it, this fear-of-failure induced paralysis can prevent you from taking action, and the failure to act is sometimes the biggest mistake of all!

Remember that courage doesn't mean the absence of fear.

        Courage is acting in the face of fear

In the splendid words of John Wayne, a famous 20th Century movie actor in the Western genre: Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway. And in an enlightening echo of Emerson: He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life. 

"Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway."

—John Wayne

"He who is not every day conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life."

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

As you contemplate the kind of courage spoken of by Wayne and Emerson in the quotes above, it is important to understand that there is a difference between a sin and a mistake. Sins are actions you know are wrong, but you choose to commit them anyway. Mistakes, on the other hand, are inadvertent errors that inevitably occur while learning new things, acquiring new skills, developing new capacities, and taking calculated risks aimed at achievement, contribution, and growth. 

Mistakes are an absolutely indispensable part of any significant learning and growing process. You simply cannot reach the pinnacle of your potential without making a lot of mistakes along the way.  

So, avoid sins—yes!

        But welcome necessary mistakes.

After all, you will inevitably make a lot of them along your journey to the highest levels of Existential Growth. Thus, the quicker you accept that there is a learning curve to all meaningful growth and achievement, the faster you can move forward on your upward trajectory to an ever-brighter future. 

The most successful people are usually those who have failed most often and made the most mistakes—and then moved forward to learn from their mistakes and improve day-by-day. This is not to be confused with the people who have committed the most sins; there is, of course, a profound difference between the two. 

Consider here the inspiring words of Michael Jordan, who is, in my opinion, the greatest basketball player of all time—the legit GOAT.    

"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost more than 300 games.

Twenty-six (26) times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot—and missed.

I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

—Michael Jordan

The Vital Role of Experience

At Freedom Focused, we believe all human beings are here on this planet to gain experience and learn from it so we can grow existentially to become all we are capable of becoming—and then teach others to do the same. That is why taking calculated risks and trying your very best are both important elements of SAL-in-action.  

The importance of our personal experiences cannot be underestimated. This is because the communication of conscience takes place within the realms of our own, quiet, internal, personal experiences. 

In his book, Existentialism: For and Against, British philosopher Paul Roubiczek elucidates the limitations of human reason and emphasizes that in any quest to understand truth, "experience must be admitted as evidence." (9) While he doesn't reject the need for reason to understand life, existence, and truth, he likewise asserts that reason alone is insufficient to conceptualize a broad and holistic range of reality.

"We shall not understand man without understanding his humanity (reason) but neither shall we understand humanity without paying attention to single [persons] and to our own inner experience. ... We rarely pay enough attention to the deeper meaning of our personal experience and of our feelings; we disregard inner knowledge." (10)

TRUTH is therefore located at the intersection or nexus where empiricism (science), historicism (experience), and visceralism (conscience) meet, as follows: 

Venn diagram of TRUTH

Some truths can be scientifically proven; other truths—particularly those in the metaphysical realm—cannot. In dealing with seemingly unprovable truths, you essentially have two options. The first is to take the route of the postmodernist and essentially formulate "Your own truth" based on whatever you want it to be—consequences be damned!

The second route is to rely on viscerally-guided and conscience-imbued faith that is appropriately balanced by scientific and historical analyses of discernible data, experiences, and realities.

Regardless which route you take, natural CONSEQUENCES will ultimately play out over time according to the irrevocable and omnipotent edicts of Universal Law. The question then begs: which route will provide me with the most helpful and positive long-term consequences? At Freedom Focused, we recommend the second, conscience-imbued pathway in the most earnest, enthusiastic, and strongest possible terms.  

The SAL Theory and Model is designed to help you grow as a holistic unit—which includes the three (3) primary elements of your nature; namely: MIND (empiricism), BODY (historicism), and SOUL (visceralism)—in an upward spiral towards the highest levels of Existential Growth. 

The first route is a narcissistic and nihilistic highway to nowhere—a path full of preventable potholes, chaos, and pain that leads to an existential dead end marked by despair, hopelessness, and misery. 

The second route is a selfless and scintillating trail to triumph—a road rife with knowledge, development, achievement, contribution, and service that leads to the pinnacles of your potential.  

Are the things you are reading in this Life Leadership textbook TRUE, or false?  

        That is a choice that you will ultimately have to make.  

But remember that your choice in the matter doesn't change the TRUTH of the matter. As Sir Winston Churchill so eloquently reminds us: The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, and ignorance may deride it; but in the end, there it is.

 "The truth is incontrovertible.

Malice may attack it, and ignorance may deride it;

but in the end, there it is."

—Winston Churchill

In the next chapter, we will take the principle contained in the Venn diagram above to the next level by adding a fourth component and then turn it into a metaphysical board of directors you can utilize to make the best possible decisions in your life and career.

At Freedom Focused, we call this metaphysical board of directors your SAL Command Center. 

If you are ready to begin engaging yours to its fullest capacity, read on! 

In Your Journal

• Do you currently harbor any unhelpful beliefs in your life or career? If so, what are they, and what different beliefs might you cultivate in their place that would lead to better results and more peace in the future?  

• What past experiences have you had that have led you to cower and fear before people and life?

• What past experiences have you had that have led you to courageously act, even in the face of fear and social pressures?

• What positive and productive actions or activities have you been avoiding in your life or career because of fear?

• In what ways might your life and/or career be improved if you face your fears and act?

• What might you lose if fear prevails and inaction persists indefinitely?  

—Dr. JJ

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

Author's Note: This is the 395th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 205th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.   

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Chapter 6 Notes

1.  Paraphrased from a similar statement from Dr. Nathaniel J. Williams: "Do the best you can where you are at with what you've got." 

2.  This poem is sometimes attributed to Marie Losavio. Otherwise, it is listed as Anonymous. Given it used the word, "phonograph," to refer to a record player, it is assumed old enough to be in the public domain.  

3.  Frankl, V. (2006). Man's Search for Meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Page 76. 

4.  Wilcox, E. W. (1912). Poems of Passion and Pleasure. London, UK: Gay and Hancock. Page 115.

5.  Lewis, C. S. (1995). The Screwtape Letters. New York, NY: Bantam Books. Page 11 (italics added). 

6.  John 7:17

7.  Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man’s Search for Meaning. Boston, MA: Beacon Press. Page 72.

8.  From Emerson’s Journal entry, dated: 11 November 1842.

9.  Roubiczek, P. (1964). Existentialism: For and Against. Cambridge. UK: Cambridge University Press. Page 11. 

10.  Ibid. Pages 11-12.

Right and Wrong are Real

 

Chapter 5

Right and Wrong are Real 

If "Truth with a capital "T" really exists in both a physical and metaphysical sense, then we are left with a similarly corresponding reality about right and wrong. In other words, they are just as real, and we must spell "Right" with a capital "R."

This brings us to Law #2 of the SAL Theory, which states that: There is a categorical and universal distinction and division between RIGHT and wrong.  

LAW #2

There is a categorical and universal distinction and

division between RIGHT and wrong.

Years ago, Robert Fulghum wrote a bestselling book entitled All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things.

According to Fulghum:

"All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate-school mountain, but there in the sandpile at Sunday School. These are the things I learned: Share ... Play fair. Don't hit people. Put things back where you found them. Clean up your own mess. Don't take things that aren't yours. Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody. ... [Live] the Golden Rule." (1)

While Fulghum may be oversimplifying things a bit, his point remains lucid and cogent in a world where so many people—including many in the upper echelons of business, education, and politics—struggle with a variety of basic, behavioral mores that have historically been embraced by civilized man. While not everyone receives the same quality of moral training, I don't think it would be exaggerating to say that most people gain at least some semblance of right and wrong by the time they're five years old.

All too often, the problem is not that we don't know right from wrong; the problem is we fail to choose right over wrong. A similar problem manifests itself through intellectual and social efforts aimed at rationalizing away and otherwise justifying wrong thoughts, speech, and behavior. Imagine how much freer, stronger, and more virtuous our nation and world would be if collective humanity spent as much time, effort, and money trying harder to do what is right than in attempting to conceal, justify, and rationalize what is wrong!

You don't have to belong to a certain culture, ideology, philosophy, political persuasion, or religion to comprehend the fundamental difference between right and wrong choices in life. You merely have to understand the variables that lead to long-term health, happiness, Existential Growth, and inner peace. 

On the flip side, you must likewise understand the variables that lead to long-term sickness, misery, and existential atrophy. 

What then is the difference between right and wrong? 

The answers to this question are found in Corollary 2.1 and 2.2., as follows:

COROLLARY 2.1

Right choices consist of thoughts, speech, and actions that lead to the long-term health,

happiness, Existential Growth, and inner peace of oneself and all people

(and other living things) impacted or influenced thereby.

COROLLARY 2.2

Wrong choices consist of thoughts, speech, and actions that lead to the

long-term sickness, misery, existential atrophy, and turmoil of oneself

and all people (and other living things) impacted or influenced thereby.

Like deteriorating fruit, our moral sense can likewise
atrophy and rot over time if not carefully preserved.

Existential atrophy is the opposite of Existential Growth. It is defined as: the deterioration and regression of one's holistic potential. 

Existential Atrophy

The deterioration and regression of one's holistic growth and moral progress.  

If right and wrong are real, how are we to differentiate between these two opposing forces? 

One answer to this question is to listen, and then hearken to, the edicts of your conscience. This leads us to law number three, as follows:

LAW 3

All human beings enter the world with a conscience, which prompts them to think,

say, and do what is right, and to avoid thinking about, saying, or doing what is wrong.

At Freedom Focused, we believe that ALL human beings are born with a conscience that naturally prompts them toward good and away from evil. We further hold that for most human beings, one's conscience is at least marginally operative from a very young age. Whether or not your conscience continues to operate soundly over the course of one's life depends entirely on the degree to which YOU choose to listen to and heed its metaphysical guidance.

Regardless of the imagery you employ in conceptualizing this key truth (e.g. Jiminy Cricket, an angel and devil on your shoulder, a light within, True North [2], etc.), the existence of the human conscience is an incontrovertible truth that we believe all honest and reasonable persons would not only acknowledge, but have in fact experienced to varying degrees throughout their lives.

In the eloquent words of the famous 18th Century German philosopher, Immanuel Kant: two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe ... the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me. 

"Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe:

The starry heavens above me and the moral law within me."

—Immanuel Kant

Just because YOU entered this world with a conscience does not guarantee you will always be directed by its guiding light. Just as a muscle will atrophy with disuse, so the light of conscience dims with disregard. Thus, we arrive at Corollary 3.1, as follows:

COROLLARY 3.1

Your conscience is sharpened or dulled over time in direct

proportion to the adherence, or lack thereof, that you grant it.

Our nation and world have too many dulled consciences. The time has come to dust off the sharpening wheel and let the sparks begin to fly. Just as importantly, the day has arrived to begin a widespread pedagogy of conscience cultivation in our nations, states, communities, organizations, schools, and families—beginning in the individual lives of me and YOU.  

In Your Journal

• In your experience, how does your conscience communicate with you?

• During what time of your life was your conscience most sensitive? Why do you suppose this was?

• During what time of your life was your conscience most dulled? Why do you suppose this was?

• What single action or habit of yours currently sharpens your conscience more than any other?

• What single action, inaction, or habit of yours currently dulls your conscience more than any other?

—Dr. JJ

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

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Chapter 4 Notes

1.  Fulghum, R. (1986). All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things. New York, NY: Ivy Books. Pages 4-5.

2.  Covey, S. R. (2004). The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. New York, NY: Free Press. Page 53.

TRUTH, or the Way Things Really Are

 

Chapter 3

TRUTH, or the Way Things Really Are 

In BOOK the THIRD, Chapter Three (What is Self-Action Leadership), Truth was introduced and defined as: the way things really were, are, and will be—as delineated by the continuous interplay of Universal Laws and natural consequences over time.

A shorter definition of truth is simply: Things as they really are.  

Error, on the other hand, was also defined as: anything that deviates in any way from the truth.

This chapter builds on these two definitions to further flesh out the concept of TRUTH as it relates to both the physical and metaphysical world. 

Earth, the Universe, and our lives and relationships are all subject to certain irrevocable laws of physics and metaphysics. Whether you know it or not, like it or not, and accept it or not, that is the way things really are.

Universal Laws govern the acquisition of everything of value and worth that cannot be purchased with money, such as: courage, confidence, discipline, health, good relationships, knowledge, patience, personal growth, skills, etc. Money can never procure blessings and virtues such as these, and yet there is a price that must be paid to obtain them. That price, which is sometimes heavy and high, must be paid in the currency of time, effort, sacrifice, self-sacrifice, service, and love.

These prices are non-negotiable.

           And Universal Laws set the price. 

Our feelings in the matter, however important and meaningful they may be to us and those we love, are irrelevant as far as the Laws are concerned. For Universal Laws are no respecters of persons and deal their cards out impartially to all. 

Universal Laws, be they physical or metaphysical in nature, govern the way things really are. They are incontrovertible, inviolable, and preeminent. They transcend human trends, fashions, inclinations, mores, cultures, opinions, popularity, decrees, edicts, and legislation. You can choose to respect Universal Laws or disregard them, but in the end, their consequences are immutable and omnipotent. Thus, while we are always at liberty to choose, we are never free to arbitrarily determine the long-term consequences of our choices; such is the all-powerful purview of Universal Laws.  

Physical Truths

Scientific verities are examples of Universal Laws in the PHYSICAL world. These laws include: energy, friction, gravity, mass, motion, leverage, speed, thermodynamics, torque, etc.

Gravity, for instance, is a universal physical law that governs the operations of space, time, and the movements of physical bodies in our world and throughout the Universe.  

If, for example, I am standing atop a precariously high precipice, I have the freedom to jump off the cliff if I so desire. But if I choose to disregard and disrespect gravity and jump, I put myself entirely at the mercy of the law, with all of its gruesome consequences at the bottom of the cliff.

If, on the other hand, I choose to recognize and respect gravity, there are ways and means whereby I can jump safely by utilizing safety mechanisms and tools that work in harmony with the law (e.g. parachute, airplane, hang glider, hot air balloon, etc.).  

A main reason our contemporary civilization is as scientifically advanced as it is today is that there is a near-universal accession and agreement upon many important physical and scientific laws of the Universe. This was not always the case. In past centuries and millennia, great debates were waged, and in some extreme cases, martyrs were sacrificed over truths that are simply taken for granted today. 

Because of the incontrovertible evidence we have for many physical laws, most people adjust their behavior to avoid the consequences of disregarding them. This respect is rooted in the fact that the consequences stemming from physical laws are often meted out without delay, so there's little room for arguments over cause-and-effect relationships that exist between laws and their concomitant consequences. As a result, a social consensus exists with regards to these laws.

Metaphysical Truths

The problem with postmodern-esque philosophies is that this same consensus does not exist for metaphysical truths. In fact, to a postmodernist, there really are no metaphysical truths; there are only physical laws and metaphysical beliefs, conjectures, interpretations, and suppositions.

This rejection of metaphysical laws (intentional or not) often leads to consequences that hurt more and last longer than the consequences one might endure from disobedience to physical laws. The fact that negative consequences of broken metaphysical laws typically take a great deal of time longer to manifest themselves contributes to a lack of social consensus on what these truths entail.

Because it can take weeks, months, years, decades, or in some collective cases—centuries or millennia—for consequences to fully flesh themselves out, a great deal of contemporary confusion ensues about the reality and substance of universal metaphysical laws and truths. As a result, many people spend their relatively brief lives here on Earth cultivating false notions about truth and reality that lead to disastrous results—a natural consequence of harboring misconceptions about metaphysical truths and their accompanying morality codes. 

Unlike natural occurrences in the physical world, which are governed by physical laws and create immediate (or imminent) consequences readily recognized, many human thoughts, speech, and actions are governed by metaphysical law and therefore have delayed consequences. As a result, many human beings are either ignorant of universal metaphysical laws, arrogantly choose to dismiss or flout them, or naively attempt to evade or manipulate them. 

While such dismissal, evasion, and manipulation tactics may appear or seem to work in the short-run, Universal Laws always prevail in the long-run. Thus, efforts to avoid said consequences are ultimately futile—an existential waste of time, energy, and often money and resources as well.  

Just as our physical health depends upon our reliance upon and regard for physical laws of healthy living, our mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and existential health depends upon our reliance upon and regard for metaphysical laws of mental health, emotional well-being, social adjustment, spiritual peace, and existential growth. And a key component of our mental, emotional, social, spiritual, and existential well-being is our continual commitment to TRUTH and REALITY, or the way things really are.

In the incisive prose of M. Scott Peck, M.D.: Mental health [is] a process of ongoing dedication to reality at all costs ... no matter how uncomfortable the reality makes us.  

Mental health is a process of ongoing dedication to reality at all costs,

no matter how uncomfortable the reality makes us.."

—M. Scott Peck

Understanding and accepting REALITY—the way things really are—including right and wrong and their accompanying True Principles rooted in Universal Laws, is hard work. It demands that you consistently listen to and follow your conscience, despite the inconveniences and difficulties of doing so. 

C.S. Lewis once delineated this difficulty as follows:

"No man [or woman] knows how bad he [or she] is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of [a military force] by fighting against it, not by giving in. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A [person] who gives in ... after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside until we try to fight it." (2) 

Sir Walter Scott
1771-1832

An unwillingness to face the difficulties involved in heeding the whisperings of conscience weakens your integrity and leads you away from the truth. Deceit always begins with self-deception. If not recognized and relinquished, self-deception invariably leads to dishonesty with others. If pursued indefinitely, your entire life will eventually be tangled up in a complex web of lies. In the inspired words and prosodic parlance of Sir Walter Scott: O what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive! (3)

"O what a tangled web we weave

when first we practise to deceive!"

—Sir Walter Scott

What's both ironic and sad is that if deceit is taken too far, you won't even be able to recognize your own deceptiveness because you will have lost the ability to tell the truth to yourself. Indeed, it is often the case that truly evil people don't see themselves as being bad or doing what is wrong; they ironically see themselves as good and doing what is right—and after a certain point, it is virtually impossible to convince them otherwise, which is why the worst of the worst usually end up dead from either suicide or enemy retribution. 

To rise to the highest levels of Existential Growth—soon to be introduced in the SAL Theory—YOU must value, respect, honor, and adhere to the Universal Laws of both physics and metaphysics, and the True Principles that accompany them.

There is no other way.  

Nations, states, communities, organizations, schools, families, relationships, and individual lives that are not rooted in TRUTH and GOODNESS will eventually falter and fail. Your only assurance of lasting success, happiness, fulfillment, and inner peace is to make goodness, rightness, and truth the bullseye of your life's existential target.  

Truth cannot be created or destroyed. 

        Truth and error—and by extension, good and evil—simply are. 

It is true that truths can be discovered, but they cannot be created or amended to suit our inclinations or opinions; nor can they be bossed around or bullied into submission. Truth exists outside of human authority and influence—just like the heat and light of the Sun and the orbit of our planet around it. 

Truth in all of its majestic permanence and perfection outlines and highlights the consequences of all human thought, speech, and behavior. While we possess liberty to make choices, we have no freedom over the long-term consequences of those decisions. The results we get in life flow from a nexus of the consequences of our choices and the consequences of others' choices that affect us. We may not like what the consequences are, but our liking them (or not) is irrelevant to their existence, power, and influence over our lives.  

Like Freedom Focused, Stephen R. Covey defined truth as "a knowledge of things as they [really] are." (4) Covey further taught that some principles are correct (or true), and some principles are incorrect (or false). When human behavior aligns with true principles, positive long-term consequences ensue. When human behavior aligns with false principles, negative long-term consequences ensue.

In Covey's own words: 

"Principles are guidelines for human conduct that are proven to have enduring, permanent value. They're fundamental [and] they're essentially unarguable because they are self-evident. ... Although people may argue about how these principles are defined or manifested or achieved, there seems to be an innate consciousness and awareness that they exist." (5)

To illustrate this "innate consciousness," consider again the words of C.S. Lewis, who referred to truth as the "Law of Nature." 

"Whenever you find a [person] who says he does not believe in a real Right and Wrong, you will find the same [person] going back on this a minute later. He may break his promise to you, but if you try breaking one to him, he will be complaining, "It's not fair," before you can say Jack Robinson. A nation may say treaties don't matter; but then, next minute they spoil their case by saying that the particular treaty they want to break was an unfair one. But if treaties do not matter, and if there is no such thing as Right and Wrong ... what is the difference between a fair treaty and an unfair one? Have they not ... shown that, whatever they say, they really know the Law of Nature just like everyone else? It seems, then, we are forced to believe in a real Right and Wrong. People may be sometimes mistaken about them, just as people sometimes get their sums wrong; but they are not a matter of mere taste and opinion any more than the multiplication table." (6)

William James—the father of modern psychology—further corroborated Lewis's assertion thusly:

"What interest, zest, or excitement can there be in achieving the right way, unless we are enabled to feel that the wrong way is also a possible way and a natural way—nay, more, a menacing and imminent way? And what sense can there be in condemning ourselves for taking the wrong way, unless we need have done nothing of the sort, unless the right way was open to us as well? I cannot understand the willingness to act, no matter how we feel, without the belief that acts are really good and bad." (7)

This quote was shared previously in this textbook, but given that repetition is the key to reception, it certainly bears repeating here!

Truth Transcends the Known Sciences

Truth and reality encompass far more than what mankind can perceive with our five senses; it also transcends the canon of science we have been able to demonstrably prove to-date. It is, after all, a well known fact that mankind has yet to discover many scientific proofs. In fact, amidst the wellspring of scientific knowledge currently available, there is still a LOT more we don't know than we do know—to say nothing of our unknown unknowns, which in my lowly opinion, accounts for the greatest amount (by far) of knowledge yet to be discovered in the Universe.  

These pressing, perplexing, and puzzling realities led M. Scott Peck to query: "Why is it that we humans go around thinking that we know the score, when actually we don't know beans?" (8)

Peck's own answer to this question was: FEAR & LAZINESS—two of the greatest inhibitors of Existential Growth. 

Said he:

"It is scary to think that we really don't know what we're doing or where we're going, and that we are intellectual infants stumbling around in the dark. It's so much more comfortable, therefore, to live in an illusion that we know much more than we actually do. ... Were we to wake to the reality of our terrible ignorance, we would either have to think of ourselves as being profoundly stupid or, at the very least, let ourselves in for a lifetime of effortful learning. Since most people don't like to think of themselves as stupid or let themselves in for a lifetime of effortful learning, it's just so much more comfortable to live in this nice illusion that we know much more than we actually do." (9)

At Freedom Focused, we fully acknowledge how far science has come over the centuries and millennia; and we are so grateful for that knowledge! Such progress has provided us with much information about how, when, and where the Universe was created. It has also driven the industrial, technological, medical, and information revolutions that have transformed life on this planet into such a relatively advanced, comfortable, and safe realm in which to reside.  

Our Universe remains Mysterious to even the
most knowledgeable among us.

Despite this knowledge, however, science can tell us nothing about why (for what purpose) the Universe was created, whether there is more than one universe, and whether creation was aided by the direction of an intelligent (i.e. divine) source (or not).

Moreover, any astronomer or physicist worth their salt will tell you that our unknowns still greatly outnumber our knowns in both fields of inquiry. In fact, the smarter (wiser) the scientist, the less they will claim to know in comparison to what yet remains mysterious about the our unspeakably extraordinary and unfathomably gargantuan Universe.  

While there is no shortage of conjectures, hypotheses, suggestions, and wild guesses to these questions and mysteries, the reality is that we humans remain rather infantile in our total understanding of a great many things both in our world and throughout the known Universe. 

Black holes, cancer, AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, faster-than-light travel, time travel, string theory, mental illness, and many elements of quantum mechanics are just a few examples of scientific, medical, and technological mysteries that remain unsolved and will likely continue to challenge mortals in this world indefinitely into the future. 

Another reality about humankind, however, is that a lot more data exists than that which is measured only in the physical realm. The metaphysical realm also has a cornucopia of data to explore as well. Indeed, many and varied are the reports of human beings who have experienced déjà vu, spiritual and visceral intuition, premonitions of impending danger, supernatural visions and/or visitations, and out-of-body experiences (i.e. near-death experiences). The number of such experiences throughout human history are so diverse and high (collectively speaking) that they cannot possibly be numbered, although if they could they would perhaps require 13-or-more digits to both accurately and adequately quantify.

Those who choose to rely solely on physical knowledge about life and the Universe drastically limit themselves and turn their backs to a vast ocean of metaphysical data that can be accessed through a combination of cognitive rationality, experiential common sense, and visceral intuitiveness, openness, and humility. 

It is so much easier to arrogantly assert that there is no absolute truth than it is to humbly commit to the hard work required to discover and discern what is, in fact, absolutely true! Such assertions seemingly absolve you of a "lifetime of effortful learning" (9a) and searching. But in reality, they only leave you further in the dark. 

The "there is no absolute truth" concept is a convenient credo because it opens the door to moral relativity and moral relativism is easier to stomach (in the short run) than the fact that all actions are governed by Universal Laws that enforce natural consequences over time.

Let's face it: it is simply human nature to pursue what we want to do rather than what we should do.

Moral relativism is appealing to many because it negates accountability with the specious claim that no one moral code is better than another. After all, who wants to admit that they (or their moral code) might be wrong, misguided, myopic, stubborn, foolish, or even evil?

It takes a noble—and humble—person to do that.

And unfortunately, noble and humble persons—aka SELF-ACTION LEADERS—are not a dime-a-dozen in our world.  

One of the most tragic absurdities about human nature is our tendency to invest our greatest efforts convincing ourselves—and others—that we are right, instead of spending our time and energy trying to learn was actually is right.

At Freedom Focused, we declare in words of soberness and solemnity that TRUTH with a capital "T" does exist absolutely, and so does deception and error. Moreover, there is a difference between Right and wrong and Good and evil just as surely as there is a difference between light and dark and hot and cold.

If YOU are convinced otherwise and unwilling to consider this proposed alternative viewpoint, this comprehensive Life Leadership Textbook will be only minimally helpful and you will be unable to rise to the highest levels of Existential Growth. If, on the other hand, YOU are willing to acquiesce to the reality of certain absolutes, these books will prove very beneficial in aiding your quest to rise to the pinnacle of your personal and professional potential.  

To sum up, TRUTH is, always has been, and always will be.

The question is not whether it exists or not; the question is whether or not YOU and I possess the desire, determination, persistence, resiliency, and work ethic required to seek it out and then consistently and faithfully abide by it throughout our lives. In the stirring oratory of Sir Winston Churchill: The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, and ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

"The truth is incontrovertible.

Malice may attack it and ignorance may deride it;

But in the end, there it is!"

—Sir Winston Churchill

Whose Truth

In all this talk about truth, a question naturally arises: If truth exists absolutely, then whose truth is the TRUTH? Is it mine? Is it yours? Is it somebody else's? 

The answer is: It's nobodies.

Truth does not exist solely in one creed, doctrine, dogma, or philosophy. Moreover, it exists outside of human opinion, perception, whim, and will. Just because a person standing next to me sees something differently than I do in a painting doesn't change the fact that we are still looking at the same work of art.  

Truth exists outside of human desires and inclinations. It's defined and described by opposition and enforced by natural consequences driven and operated by Universal Law. 

No one owns the truth.

        Truth just is.

With this said, there are, of course, many great minds, hearts, and spirits throughout human history who have effectively articulated aspects of truth. At Freedom Focused, we seek earnestly to identify and then share wisdom from the past that best articulates TRUTH.

This Textbook for Life is full of this shared wisdom.   

To Every Action...

For every thought, word, and deed you decide to engage in your life, you also choose a corresponding consequence. This is a fundamental TRUTH—whether you know it, like it, or want it to be that way, or not.

Simply stated: When you pick up ONE side of a stick YOU pick up the other side right along with it.

Isaac Newton scientifically canonized the concept of consequences when he taught the world that great truth of mechanical physics: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

This famous physical law, known today as Newton's Third Law of Motion, has a corresponding law in the metaphysical realm. The only difference is the time lapse between the action and reaction. In the physical world, reactions typically follow actions relatively quickly, if not immediately. For example, if a speeding car slams into another car (action), both cars will immediately incur damage (reaction). 

Metaphysical Consequences Take Time to Materialize

In the metaphysical realm, it usually takes a lot longer for a "reaction" to follow a given "action." In some cases, it may take weeks, months, years, decades, or even a lifetime or more for all consequences to fully manifest themselves following a given action or set of actions. 

Don't let the delays fool you!

Just like the physical world, Universal Laws dictate the reactions that eventually follow all metaphysical actions (e.g. thought, desire, intention, deception, inaction, moral lapse, etc.).  

How much time is required to accurately classify a thought, word, action, habit, or lifestyle as "Good" or "bad"? In other words, how much time does the "Long Run" entail? 

The answer to this question is: It depends. 

Moreover, it varies widely from decision-to-decision, situation-to-situation, and circumstance-to-circumstance. 

Physical consequences can, of course, come quickly or even immediately. For example, put your hand on a red (or blue) hot stove and you will speedily become acquainted with the laws of thermodynamics and heat transfer; and it will hurt—badly. 

Other consequences take much longer to materialize.

For example, mistreating a friend, colleague, or loved one probably won't poison the relationship immediately. It may take years or even decades of disrespect and abuse for a close relationship to finally collapse, although there will likely be a lot of pain along the pathway to its terminus. 

Similarly, people usually don't die quickly from a single cigarette, alcoholic drink, drug "hit," or a sexually promiscuous or other physically dangerous lifestyle. They usually die slowly from prolonged patterns of poor life choices they have embraced steadily over time. 

The danger in "testing" or "trying" out risky behaviors and lifestyles is less in the sampling itself, and more in the heightened potential of developing a habit that could prove addictive and destructive over time. That, of course, is why it is wise to stay clear of some behaviors entirely; because in most cases, it simply isn't worth the risks involved.

With some actions and activities, ONCE is too many!

I have a close friend who chooses to not touch alcohol because members of his family have struggled with alcoholism and he knows he has the "addiction gene." Would it be okay if he sampled an occasional sip of beer or wine?

Perhaps.

        But for him, it just isn't worth the risk of what it could potentially lead to. 

He is a wise man!

This example reminds me of a story you may have heard before, but is worth retelling. There was once a man who owned a truck driving company and needed to hire additional drivers. During the job interviews, he asked prospective employees how close they believed they could get to a curvaceous mountainous road without falling off the cliff.

Some applicants—the one's desiring to brag about their driving acumen and precision expertise on the road—claimed they could get precariously close (within a few inches, centimeters, or even millimeters) to the edge and still remain safely atop the cliff. Other, less confident and experienced drivers answered more conservatively, saying they could only get one or two "feet" away. A few wiser and more responsible and sensible drivers answered as follows: "I always stay as far away from the edge as possible!" 

Who do you think the man hired to drive his trucks?  

        The conservative, responsible, and safe drivers—of course!

Some consequences of our actions can take decades or the better part of a lifetime to materialize. For example, dishonest CEOs (e.g. Ken Lay, Bernie Madoff, Sam Bankman-Fried and many others) corrupt politicians (e.g. Richard Nixon, Rod Blagojevich, George Santos and many others) or murderous autocrats (e.g. Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, and Muammar Gaddafi) often live in the lap of debauchery, ease, luxury, and power for years or even decades before their evil actions and licentious lifestyles catch up to them and they are finally brought to justice.  

Some consequences take generations, centuries, or even millennia to fully flesh themselves out. Consider, for example, how long it took the medical field to discover the existence and impact of bacteria and germs, or to figure out that bleeding a patient was a counterproductive method of supposed "healing." Even though germ theory was proposed by various persons throughout the ages, the idea didn't become mainstream until well after Louis Pasteur published his papers on fermentation and silkworm health in the 1860s. 

Louis Pasteur
1822-1895

One of the delayed consequences of Pasteur's publications was Joseph Lister's research, which led to the introduction of sterile surgical practices in the 1870s. "Listerine" was later developed and named after Lister. Similar disinfecting products, such as antibacterial soap were also developed as a delayed and positive consequence of the groundbreaking work of Pasteur, Lister, and others.

What about the rise and fall of nations and empires?

It took several generations for the communist Soviet empire to fall, but when it did, it fell hard and fast. Other nations have faced more gradual declines. The mighty Roman Republic—and later Roman Empire—ruled the ancient world for nearly a thousand years. Yet, whatever remains of it today lies in ruins, and its once-mighty language (Latin) while still studied and used ceremoniously in some quarters, is officially dead.  

A great truism about True Principles rooted in Universal Laws is that results often take time to measure. (10) This is especially true in the metaphysical realms of our lives. The delayed reactions surrounding cognitive, social, and moral actions can make future consequences seem and feel unclear and uncertain.

Because of this ambiguity, humans must consistently exercise both discipline and faith all along the way. The right course of action will not always be crystal clear in any given situation or circumstance. Nevertheless, it is always incumbent upon YOU to try your best to decipher, discern, and discover the truth of a matter and then courageously act in accordance with your finite knowledge, wisdom, and the whisperings of your conscience.  

Philosophical Windows to the Truth

Philosophically speaking, the SAL Theory and Model both draw heavily from Immanuel Kant's deontological embrace of Universal Laws, John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham's views on utilitarianism, and Aristotle's Golden Mean.

Immanuel Kant
1724-1804

Window to the Truth #1: Kant's Universal Laws

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) was a German philosopher of the eighteenth century who taught the existence of irrevocable Universal Laws. Kant was a deontologist, meaning he believed human beings have certain Existential Duties and obligations set forth not by any mortal being or Earthly tribunal, but by Universal Laws themselves. 

Kant is famous for coining the term—Categorical Imperative—which describes our absolute duty to align our conduct with Universal Laws. 

According to Kant, when a human being obeys the edicts of a Universal Laws even though one feels disinclined to do so, they are exercising a Good Will. In other words, we are at our very best as humans when we do what is right even—and especially—when we don't feel like it. 

Existential Growth requires that you to accept the reality of both physical and metaphysical Universal Laws and then exercise a Kantian Good Will in obeying them—whether you feel like it or not.

Abraham Lincoln
1809-1865

Abraham Lincoln once reiterated this deontological principle rooted in Kantian philosophy when he said: Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.   

"Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us,

to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." (11)

—Abraham Lincoln

Jeremy Bentham
1748-1832

Window to the Truth #2: Bentham & Mill's Utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832) and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) were English philosophers who promoted a philosophy that "Right Action" is accomplished by making decisions whose consequences will bring about the most possible happiness (or benefit) to the greatest number of people. 

John Stuart Mill
1806-1873

This philosophy is known as Utilitarianism.

Utilitarianism should not be equated with a mere "Ends justify Means" philosophy. In the clarifying words of Mill, "In the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth, we read the complete spirit of the ethics of utility. 'To do as you would be done by,' and 'to love your neighbor as yourself,' constitute the ideal perfection of the utilitarian morality." (12)

Aristotle
384-322 BC

Window to the Truth #3: Aristotle's Golden Mean

According to the great Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384-322 BC), truth, virtue, or the "Ultimate Good" is defined as a balance between excess and deficiency. This balance, or Happy Medium, is known as the Golden Mean.

Such balance creates a target that helps self-action leaders avoid the error of extremes, which is useful since virtually all errors, evil, and vice occur through thinking, saying, or doing either too little—or too much—of something.

The Triadic Golden Mean of SAL

SAL Theory expands on Aristotle's conception of the Golden Mean to introduce a triad of variables, the perfect balance of which lead a self-action leader to identify truth and make correct decisions. These three variables are as follows:

• Rationality   (reason and logic)

• Common Sense   (derived from experience—your own and that of others throughout history)

• Conscience   (visceral intuition). (13)

Sometimes a single variable is sufficient to determine the right course of action in a given situation or circumstance. For example: many of the routine, daily tasks we tackle each day can be successfully navigated by the simple use of common sense (experience) and/or rationality (logic). Other decisions involving leadership, management, relationships, and morality are more complicated and require the added consultation of conscience (visceral intuition).

Self-action leaders strive to cultivate and consult all three variables rather than relying on just one or two. 

A limited focus inhibits your Existential Growth and stunts your capacity to live life fully. For example: an imbalanced RATIONALIST may be academically gifted, but narcissistic, nihilistic, and have trouble forming meaningful interpersonal relationships. Someone who relies only on common sense may be pragmatic and secure physically and financially speaking, but fail to rise to their fullest potential because of their unwillingness to take risks in promotion of further growth and progress. And a person crunched too tightly into the corner of conscience may fall asleep void of guilt, but may do so on a "pillow of stone," (14) bereft of creature comforts and conveniences made possible by rational, common-sense living.

Recognizing Truth

Some truths, like certain laws of science and mathematics, can be scientifically observed and empirically verified. For example: water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit (100 degrees Celsius) and Earth is situated 93 million miles away from the sun within its solar system. 

Other truths cannot be seen, but can still be scientifically validated (e.g. the existence of cellular, gamma, micro, radio, and x-rays).

Still other truths cannot be proven scientifically, but can be verified (or at least effectively postulated) by experiential evidence over time (e.g. I made a wise choice in taking a calculated risk as evinced by the positive long-term benefits of that decision).

In making said judgments, never forget that "results take time to measure." (15). As such, beware of pursuing courses of action or lifestyles that feel right in the moment, but which very well may bring about disturbing and painful consequences that inhibit your Existential Growth in the future. 

Consider the following actions you can take to avoid these preventable consequences:

• Listen carefully to, and then follow the direction of, your conscience.

• Cultivate associations with people who are both honest and wise.

• Undertake a careful study of human history.

The Role of Conscience

Truth can be found in many different places. Likewise, incomplete truths, half lies, and outright deceptions exist amidst many philosophies, dogmas, doctrines, and creeds. Frustratingly, there is also a lot of truth that we simply don't know yet. But not knowing something doesn't negate its reality; it merely means we are presently unable to discover, access, or measure it. Case in point: the galactic cluster M-39 will continue existing with or without your knowledge, concern, or consent!

True (or good) principles can only be verified scientifically after the materialization of all consequences. This means principles not proven true with short-term experiments require extended periods of time—i.e. decades, generations, centuries, or even millennia—to be "proven" sufficiently to satisfy skeptics.

The good news is that if you had enough time, data, and research, you could probably prove many metaphysical principles to be right or wrong using empirical experimentation alone.

The bad news is that you and I don't have centuries or millennia in our relatively brief lifetimes to figure out everything that is, or is not, true from a strictly scientific standpoint. As such, those waiting on science to tell them the truth about everything will surely die disappointed.  

That is where history comes in! 

Studying history provides us with the centuries and millennia of data and experience we ourselves lack.  

In a world of finite knowledge,
Conscience Counts!

Unfortunately, there are many physical and metaphysical realities of life that either can't or won't be proven scientifically and/or empirically in our lifetimes. This includes current theories about astronomy, physics, medicine, psychology, sexuality, spirituality, religion, philosophy, morality, interpersonal relations, and an afterlife (or lack thereof). 

What are you to do in situations where scientifically validated answers are unavailable? The answer to this important question lies in studying history and learning to viscerally discern right from wrong by developing a strong visceral connection to your conscience.

Some believe that the visceral intuitions of conscience serve as suprarational communiqué from a Higher Power.

I am one of these believers.

Others view these internal communications as entirely instinctual, or perhaps even as a by-product of involuntary physical processes, such as indigestion or upset gas. Some cast the entire concept off as pseudo-spiritual psychobabble. Others make an array of life's most important decisions by listening to the still, small voice of one's conscience. Others ignore it repeatedly until its voice either dims considerably or falls terminally silent. 

To achieve the Aristotelian virtue accessed within the Golden Mean, visceral wisdom must be balanced by empirically validated and rationale science—and vice versa. One without the other leads to dangerous extremes and debilitating myopia. Blindly following your intuition with no consideration of logic, reason, and the experiences of others throughout history may lead to overzealous recklessness. On the other hand, a pure intellectualism that is not tempered by the compassion and concern of conscience easily becomes a cold, loveless, and joyless existence, bound by the narrow limits of empirical observation. 

Theodore Roosevelt
1858-1919

In politics, the former sometimes manifests as fascism or religious extremism, while the latter might morph into communism. Both extremes are dangerous and undesirable for the common citizen. In the insightful words of Theodore Roosevelt: We can just as little afford to follow the doctrinaires of an extreme individualism as of an extreme socialism. (16) 

"We can just as little afford to follow the doctrinaires of an extreme individualism as of an extreme socialism."

—Theodore Roosevelt

In a world increasingly beset by the errors of extremism on all sides, Aristotle's Golden Mean, in all of its balanced majesty, rises triumphantly as a philosophical phoenix of truth and ideological egalitarianism flying forth out of the sordid ashes of political and cultural postmodernism. 

Just as your mind, heart, sociality, and conscience must be properly balanced for you to be fully functional and healthy as a human being, so must visceral wisdom compensate for the shortcomings of science. And since human visceral intuition can easily go awry, science must likewise provide a tempering rationality. 

Moreover, while the crystal ball of history does not always perfectly predict the future, its vast storehouses of experiential wisdom should be robustly researched and routinely reviewed to inform present and future actions.

To reiterate—and add a few additional words of wisdom from—the great historians Will and Ariel Durant: 

"Intellect is ... a vital force in history, but it can also be a dissolvent and destructive power. Out of every hundred new ideas ninety-nine will probably be inferior to the traditional responses which they propose to replace. No one [person], however brilliant or well-informed, can come in one lifetime to such fullness of understanding as to safely judge and dismiss the customs or institutions of his society, for these are the wisdom of generations after centuries of experiment in the laboratory of history. ...

"So the conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it—perhaps as much more valuable as roots are more vital than grafts. It is good that new ideas should be heard, for the sake of the few that can be used; but it is also good that new ideas should be compelled to go through the mill of objection, opposition, and contumely; this is the trial heat which innovations must survive before being allowed to enter the human race. It is good that the old should resist the young, and that the young should prod the old; out of this tension, as out of the strife of the sexes and the classes, comes a creative tensile strength, a stimulated development, a secret and basic unity and movement of the whole." (17)

In Your Journal

• What is an area of your life that is presently out of balance?

• Would you classify this area of your life as suffering from a deficiency or an excess?

• What is something you could begin doing today to restore equilibrium to this area?

• How might Bentham and Mill's concept of Utilitarianism inform or change your decisions moving forward?

• How might Kant's concept of a Good Will and the Categorical Imperative inform or change your decisions moving forward?

• How might Aristotle's Golden Mean provide additional insights into the long-term direction of your education, career, and/or life?

 

—Dr. JJ

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA

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Chapter 5 Notes

1.  Peck, M. S. (1993). Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Toward Spiritual Growth (The Edited Lectures). New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. Page 75.

2.  Lewis, C. S. (2001). Mere Christianity. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. Page 142.

3.  Scott, W. (1812). Marmion: A Romance in Six Cantos. Canto VI. Section XVII. Lines 27-28. The Poetical Works of Walter Scott, Esq. Vol. 3. Page 216. Baltimore, MD: Published by Joseph Cushing. William Fry, Printer. Google Books version.

4.  Covey, S. R. (1989). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change. New York, NY: Fireside. Page 35.

5.  Ibid. 

6.  Lewis, C. S. (2001). Mere Christianity. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco. Pages 6-7.

7.  James, W. (1884) The Dilemma of Determinism.

8.  Peck, M. S. (1993). Further Along the Road Less Traveled: The Unending Journey Toward Spiritual Growth (The Edited Lectures) New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. Page 75.

9.  Ibid.

9a.  Ibid.

10.  Smith, H.W. (1994). The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management: Proven Strategies for Increased Productivity and Inner Peace. New York, NY: Warner Books. Page 145. 

11. Lincoln, A. 1860. Cooper Union Address. Brooklyn, NY. February 27, 1860.

12.  Mill, J.S. in Keller, D., Ed. (2002). Ethics and Values: Basic Readings in Theory and Practice. Boston, MA: Pearson. Page 95.

13.  In conjunction with Aristotle’s philosophy of the Golden Mean, the Triadic Golden Mean of SAL was further inspired by Stephen R. Covey’s model of leading a powerful life, which requires a balanced approach among four key elements (vision, discipline, passion, and conscience). See Covey, S.R. (2004). The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness. New York: NY, Free Press. See Chapter 5 (Pages 64-93, and page 65 for “Leading a Powerful Life” model – Figure 5.2).

14.  From Holland, J.G.’s poem, Gradatim, in In Cook, R.J. (1958/1997). One Hundred and One Famous Poems: With a Prose Supplement (Revised Edition). Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary Books. Page 127.

15.  Smith, H. W. (1994). The 10 Natural Laws of Successful Time and Life Management: Proven Strategies for Increased Productivity and Inner Peace. New York, NY: Warner Books. Page 145.

16.  Roosevelt, T. (1910). Citizenship in a Republic. Speech delivered at the Sorbonne. Paris, France. April 23, 1910.

17.  Durant, W. and Durant, A. (1968). The Lessons of History. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster Paperbacks. Pages 35-36.