Minimum necessary force
Utilization of as little force as possible in order to achieve the necessary goal.
Imagine a Drunken homeless man causing a ruckus in your place of work and he clumsily swings at you. Do you:
A. Dodge, punch him as hard as possible in the face and then pounce and follow up with a ground and pound resulting in you knocking out the man’s last 3 remaining teeth, and getting blood all over the floor and your nice work clothes?
Or:
B. Shoot in, wrap your arms around him, drag him outside and refuse to let him back in?
If you choose A, I have some bad news. You’re a sociopath. And here’s why.
You’re gonna get sick of hearing this, AGENCY. A is gratuitous, excessive violence, that does not take the homeless mans agency into account. Yes he is being a loud, audacious jerk, but beating the man into a bloody pulp is a BIT much. It removes FAR more of his agency than is necessary in that situation, considering b is an option, and honestly just makes a mess, ruining your expensive clothes for a moment’s indulgence in rage. While as B takes action to solve a problem, protects your coworkers (and your clothes) and respects the man’s agency as much as possible while still fixing the issue.
If you want to live in accordance with reality, then acknowledge the equality of agency, and therefore respect it evenly, never use more force than necessary.
The ONE Question
There is one question at the base of philosophy. It sounds an awful lot like Albert Camus’s assertion that:
“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is suicide”
And is self-evidently influenced by it, but my one question is not based around one final macabre decision. Mine is a choice between two decision making axioms which guides an individual’s entire life. It’s more of a question as to one’s own philosophy, and it goes as follows:
“Is hope worth having?”
Or “should I try?”
Shut up. (Buddhism)
Nirvana is;
Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, given you don’t attest to it.
Absolute Agency is the ultimate goal. Freedom is a prerequisite for having agency. So to achieve the greatest agency you must be as free as possible, from as many things that constrain you as possible. One of the greatest shackles inherit in humanity is the need for constant stimulation. This becomes exacerbated through social media, video games, music, TV, audio programs, and anything really, that keeps the mind occupied and self-reflection at bay. That is not to say that one should not partake in these art forms. To the contrary, these can be the most meaningful, incredibly transformative, positively life altering experiences a person may ever have. The issue is in
The inability to “not attest” existing without some form of distraction, or (with fewer negatives)
The inability to “be content with silence”.
This makes a person NEED to be doing, watching, consuming, SOMETHING, at all times. This need is a shackle. So in order to maximize freedom, and therefore agency, one must free themselves from their addiction to stimulation. To do this, the constant stream of content intake, and the constant output of chatter, must stop. In other words;
Shut up.
No in, no out, just… be.
The most classic and universal form of shutting up is found in meditation, from the Hebrew word “meditari”, meaning “to contemplate”. The practice of which is taken up for the purpose of “dissolving the ego” or in my words “realization of the illusion of centrality”. You are not trying to GAIN anything at all; you are trying to shed an illusion, to clean the window, so as to be able to see the flowers more clearly and appreciate them more deeply.
To “brings one closer to reality”.
A mainly Buddhist practice, meditation entails thinking over any and everything that comes to mind, while also becoming aware of the separation between the thoughts themselves and the observer of said thoughts. You will allow your mind to do as it will, and assume the role of the audience in attendance to see a fascinating drama unfold before you. As one grows in this practice, thoughts begin to lose their dire weight; you come to understand them as “options to consider” as opposed to “commands to carry out”. This separation of thoughts, from observer of thoughts is what leads to the softening of the ego. you come to understand that your conception of self isn’t what you thought it was. When you come to identify as the observer, and not the observed, you’re previous clinging to those ideations wanes. This allows for the centrality illusion to begin its slow fade, the “veil of maya” begins its slow accent, and the vagueness of existence comes into focus. This newfound clarity allows one to look at old problems that once seemed opaque and unsolvable, and see them with crystal clarity. From gravy to glass. This then illuminates facets of those old problems that you could never see, and therefore new, unseen courses of action can be conceptualized and the likelihood of finding a solution skyrockets.
One of the most common forms of meditation is “Zazen” which roughly translates to “sitting meditative state”.