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The Power of Eudaimonia: Flow States & Knowing Thyself

Gary Z McGee
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The Power of Eudaimonia: Flow States & Knowing Thyself

 “The ultimate end of human acts is Eudaimonia, happiness in the sense of living well, which all men desire; all acts are but different means chosen to arrive at it.” ~ Hannah Arendt

Eudaimonia is a Greek word referring to healthy, happy and prosperous human flourishing, especially as a striving toward arête (virtue or excellence) and ethical wisdom. Morally, Eudaimonia refers to moral or amoral actions that result in the essential value of independent and interdependent well-being.

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When used creatively, Eudaimonia can be breathtakingly effective at stretching comfort zones, shattering mental paradigms, flattening status-quo boxes, and propelling us into heightened states of awareness and compassion. But how to reach it, is the question. How do we tap into this most sacred state of being?

This article hypothesizes two possible concepts that, when combined, may give us an “answer:” Know thyself & Flow states. Let’s break it down.

Know Thyself

“Nobody is an ‘I’ in any substantial sense without a ‘you’ and a ‘they,’ and our self-understanding is formed as much by others as by ourselves.” ~ Patrick Stokes, New Philosopher

To know thyself is no walk in the park. It takes ruthless introspection, questioning to the nth degree, and the willingness to admit when we’re wrong. Above all, it takes a particular type of courage to break down the very idea of the “Self” to begin with.

According to Jean-Paul Sartre, each of us has three constitutive dimensions: being-in-itself (what you are physically), being-for-itself (what you are consciously), and being-for-others (what you are to others). A huge part of knowing thyself is becoming intimate with these three aspects.

Being-in-itselfdiscover yourself

You are a mind-body-soul taking up perceptual space within a particular environment. Becoming more aware of this dimension is becoming more aware of how you fit into your particular environment in the healthiest way.

From the basics –air, water, food, shelter– to the understanding of how far you can push your physical limits. Everything, your very survival, is based upon the basic understanding of your health in regards to your physical self within a physical world.

Being-for-itself

Your mind-body-soul has an independent awareness of itself and its environment that goes beyond self and environment. This is conscious awareness. Consciousness of yourself, of others, and of the environment. Becoming more aware of this dimension is becoming more aware of free will, your interpretation of reality and its flexibility, and the complex choices you make in regards to your interpretation.

Being-for-others

Your mind-body-soul is also interdependent upon how others see you. To a large extent, how others see you is out of your hands, but you can influence how others see you through your persona(s). Others may not see you how you see yourself, but with enough practice they might come close. Becoming more aware of this dimension is becoming more aware of yourself as a social being in relation with other social beings and how you manage your persona(s), your words, your actions, and ultimately your overall character.

Being-in-fate

Bonus round! This is my addition to Sartre’s ontological analysis on being (standing on the shoulder of a giant in an attempt to see further than the giant). Your mind-body-soul is also interdependent upon how you relate to and perceive your overall fate.

Amor fati, a Latin phrase that loosely translate to “love of fate,” is a way to interpret fate positively by having an attitude in which you see everything that happens to you, including suffering and loss, as necessary, in that it is all steppingstones that make up your existence.

Becoming more aware of this dimension is becoming more aware of how things play out on the broad spectrum of choice and chance. It’s being in touch with your own existential revolt, like Camus’ Sisyphus, who embraces fate and chooses to be happy despite the limits of the human condition. And in so doing, he discovers absolute freedom in amor fati.

If you can combine these four pieces of the puzzle of the self, and if you’re brave enough to question them to the nth degree, and if you can attempt to piece them together in unique and creative ways, and if you authentically regard everything that happens to you as being synchronous with fate and cosmic progression, and if you are prepared, most of all, to be present and vulnerable to some challenging truths about yourself, then knowledge of thyself, and perhaps even Eudaimonia, will not be withheld from you.

Flow States

“A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.” ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Achieving a flow state is colloquially referred to as “being in the zone.” Hungarian psychology professor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is known for coining the flow state.

Csikszentmihalyi described flow as “being completely involved in an activity for its own sake.

The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

When you “know thyself,” you add that to the set of “skills” in your arsenal when you show up to the canvas of your life. Then all you have to do is be present. Be engaged. Be in love with the moment. Let go of everything you think you know, and just feel your way through it. Simply be Creativity. It’s an active meditation. Breathe in, breathe out. Flow in, flow out.

Achieving a flow state is allowing yourself to be creative in the moment. The art that comes out does not have to be perfect; it just has to be authentic. Be present. Be genuine. Be creative. Creativity shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s perseverance. Keep drawing. Keep writing. Keep painting. Keep snapping pictures. Keep crafting.

Lose yourself in the process and the flow state will come. And even if it doesn’t, at least you’re doing something you love.

Like George Lois said, “Creativity can solve almost any problem. The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.”

power of eudaimoniaAnd when combined with the open-ended quest of knowing thyself, these flow states take the quest into entirely new realms of self-introspection. You become receptive to stimuli to which, in the time before, you were insensate.

Your independent search becomes an interdependent dance. Your “being-in-fate” melts the other three dimensions of yourself, sealing you together with amor fati into an interconnected, individuated, self-actualized being. And the sacred state of Eudaimonia washes over you.

In hindsight you see how knowing yourself and the creative drive to achieve flow states, were both profoundly critical in achieving Eudaimonia. Indeed. You see how your flourishing is due to knowing who you are in the here-and-now and loving yourself enough to produce fruit forthwith. Because of this, your quality of life is immeasurably improved, suffused with arête. Your health and happiness place each the other into proper perspective.

Through tragedy and comedy, ill fate and high humor, by knowing yourself through your creativity, you’re now able to make the most of the bad and appreciate more of the good. Your happiness is rounded out, not only by knowing who you are, but by relating to it and creating from it what you love – your own unique art.

Like Csikszentmihalyi said, “Of all the virtues we can learn no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.”

And perhaps the best part of Eudaimonia is the existentially robust and spiritually profound ability to tap into higher wisdom in order to discern the best course to take toward living well. Over and above who you are in the moment, transcending what the creative process can or cannot do, your burgeoning moral compass subsumes right and wrong, light and shadow, pain and love.

Your courage becomes a courage of the most high. Your humor becomes a humor of the most high. Thereby you feel joy. Therefore are you happy. You are now ready to meet Rumi, who said, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I’ll meet you there.”

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Stepping stones
Colourful Life
Theta state

How to Deal with Teenage Depression for the Awakened Parent

Ester Eckhaus
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How to Deal with Teenage Depression for the Awakened Parent

For a parent dealing with a depressed child, and for the growing teenager, the road to recovery can be both confusing and emotionally draining. Both parent and child are experiencing a huge shift in their relationship and understanding of each other.

Not only do parents need to be the emotional rock for their children, but also for themselves and other family members who may be affected by the changing storms in the home.

I wish to present not only a few ways to deal with the depression and a loved one, but also a few very important tools to prevent or help depression in children earlier on.

What can cause depression for teenagers?

There is no one thing that causes depression but a lot of similarities come up in teens that suffer from depression. One factor is teenagers going through the difficult teen years with the feeling that they are alone, and don’t have a trustworthy adult to turn to.

Not only are teenagers feeling pressured by school and peers, but the adults in their life put pressure on them to do well and succeed, with the idea that failure means that they may fail in their future life as well.

A lot of teens feel that they are struggling alone because they feel unable to confide in their parents due to fear of judgement or reprimanding. Another big factor that is seen in teenage depression is a strong feeling of a lack of control over their life.

This can happen very easily as parents forget to make the transition from the child who needs guidance and protection, to the young adult who needs guidance, but can be trusted to make his/her own life choices.

Especially when religion or strict educational expectations are involved, the teenager is left feeling completely powerless and unable to deal with self-worth and responsibility in a healthy way. Using the line “because I’m the parent, and what I say goes”, teaches a child that listening to authority is more important than learning how to make their own life choices, and leaves them feeling trapped in situations that are not the best for them.

How to create a healthy environment early on

2013_June_Ideas_WorkingParentsWishlist_Image011Having an open relationship and communication with each child is the most important thing that can be done for them.

When parents are willing to talk to children in a way that includes them in decision-making and conflict resolution, they are letting the child feel involved and in control of their life. Talking and working with them to find creative solutions instead of telling them what to do is always the better approach.

For example: “Let’s talk about chores”, instead of, “I’ve drawn up a chores list for you.” This also gives them the skills to make good and healthy decisions later on as a teenager, and even later as an adult. This also lets the parent and child mould their environment in the healthiest and most suitable way for each child’s unique personality.

A child who does not have strengths in one subject should know that this does not relate on his/her self-worth, and that the things that they are will be recognized and given a chance to flourish.

A creative child should be involved in creative outlets, an energetic child in sports, a gentle child in gardening, etc. If each child’s self-worth is measured by the child next to them, or the school’s curriculum, the child is not given the chance to find their own gifts.

What should I do if my child is already suffering from depression?

There are three basic rules: Support, Listen, and Validate

Support:

A teenager (especially when an open relationship was not established early on) may shut parents out in a time of depression or struggle. When this happens, it’s important to be gentle yet persistent.

Don’t overwhelm them with your fears, anxieties, and sadness on the situation. In this time, you need to be their rock and safety against the storm. Show them that you are there for them whenever they are ready to come out and lean on you.
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Listen:

To really listen is a practice that always needs more practice. Really listen to your child. Sometimes it may seem easier, or less scary to approach a teenager with the intention of giving advice or relating to them, but what they need is to be listened to without any lectures or opinions.

Don’t leave this job up to the therapist; a good talk between parent and child can be worth more than ten therapy sessions. Once again, if your teenager feels unable to speak openly and honestly just yet, give them time and space and gentle reminders that you are there when they want to talk.

Validate:

Once your teenager feels ready to open up, you must remember not to lecture (or even share your emotions on the subject.) Validate the feelings they are experiencing. This means not giving them your opinions or antidotes just yet, and don’t rationalize their emotions or negate them in any way.

Even “it will get better,” or “it’s just a phase that will pass,” can be extremely invalidating to a teenagers struggle. Try “we’re here for you,” or “you’re very strong.”

What to do for you and your family when your teenager is suffering from depression

Avoid the blame game

Do not blame yourself or your spouse for the way things have happened. This will only add more negative feelings to the mix and will make you feel unable to deal with the situation at hand.

If you feel that you could have done better as a parent, start now instead of beating yourself up over it. We are all human and cannot blame ourselves when things don’t go as planned. Forgive and set intentions for the future as you would like to see it.

Take care of yourself and the other family members

Make sure to take time to treat yourself. Treat yourself to a massage, a movie, or a night out with friends. Negative energy can be contagious, so break the chain with you. By treating yourself well you are keeping yourself above the negative energies, where you are better able to deal with them and be a source of help for your family. Also, it’s important to make sure that the other children are not being overshadowed by the present difficulties.

Don’t tip-toe

Other children in the family can sense when something is wrong, and most likely, trying to keep it a secret will lead children’s imaginations to something even worse. Let your children know what is going on around them.

Respecting boundaries is important as well, but talking to the other children does not require all the details, just enough so as not to leave them in the dark guessing. This will also show the teenager that it is not a taboo subject, and that it’s okay to talk about it.

Reach out for support

At a time like this it can be very difficult for a parent to deal with the many emotions that come up. Take the time to talk to someone, whether it be a good friend, spouse, family member, or counselor. Know that it is not a taboo subject, and that you will not be blamed or judged for trying to help yourself and your family.

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Teen depression
Communicating with your teen

Man is God Asleep; God is Man Awake

Gary Z McGee
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Man is God Asleep; God is Man Awake

“God is a circle whose center is everywhere and circumference nowhere.” ~ Voltaire

In a world filled with fear mongers peddling fear, and war mongers peddling war. In a world where the majority of the people are asleep, caught under the spell of the state and the aggrandized, over-consuming hyper-reality that it pedals.

In a world where what doesn’t really matter matters more than what really matters. It’s all too easy to fall between the cracks. It’s all too easy to remain on the sidelines. It’s all too easy to slip into a state of apathy and indifference. It’s all too easy to remain asleep.

But there is a way to put it in perspective. There is a way to turn the tables on apathy. There is a way to transform our stagnate indifference into proactive imagination. There is a way to pull the wiggling worm of our animal-angst out of the hole it has dug itself into, and give it wings.

There is a way to embrace the shadow; to help it shed its snake-like skin; to get it back into the game of life, as an ally, as our right-hand-man. There is a way to be a hero in this world, despite the cowardice of our inner-victim.

In fact, there is a way to be a hero in this world by using the cowardice of our inner-victim as fuel that launches us into a whole new level of heroism: cosmic heroism.

But first, we have to come to terms with ourselves. We have to take a deep breath and realize that we are a very young and confused species in an otherwise ancient and fine-tuned universe.

We have to be okay with the absolute fact that we are human beings – finite, impermanent, and mortal– in order to comprehend the absolute fact that we are spiritual beings – interconnected, interdependent, and reoccurring in different forms.

Man is God Asleep

“Here is a new spiritual practice: Don’t take your thoughts too seriously.” ~ Eckhart Tolle

It’s okay that we’re animals. It’s okay that we’re imperfect. It’s okay that we’re fallible and prone to mistakes. It’s okay that we’re spiritual beings trapped in human skin.

It’s okay that most of the time we’re spiritually asleep. It’s even okay when we fall back to sleep after having been spiritually awakened. It’s okay that we are individuals attempting to individuate. It’s okay that we are independent agents becoming an interdependent whole. It’s even okay when we fail. Failure is just a steppingstone. One of many.

Between man and God there is a veil. And it’s okay that there is a veil. We are as much the veil as we are the human being attempting to see through it as we are the God attempting to forget it already has.

Like Rumi said, “The ego is a veil between humans and God.” And that’s okay. It must be. On the path toward enlightenment, the ego is just as important a tool as the soul. We must be capable of finding leverage between both in order to individuate the ego and self-actualize the soul.

Between dreaming and wakefulness there is a third thing: metamorphosis. Sometimes metamorphosis requires a wake-up call. Sometimes it requires a call to adventure. Sometimes it requires an utter upheaval of our current lifestyles. Sometimes it’s as simple as seeking out solitude and meditation.

Sometimes it’s all of the above. But always it requires imagination and reason. Whether before or after, it requires creative thought and the ability to reasonably grow along with our burgeoning comfort zones.

From victim of the world to becoming the world, our comfort zone stretches and our courage grows. Eventually our comfort zone subsumes not only the world, but reality itself. We free ourselves. Through the almighty courage of our spiritual power trumping religious/political/nationalistic pseudo power, we go from victim of the cosmos to becoming the cosmos.

We open the paradigm and ascend. We become the tug-of-war between flesh and spirit; as much in love with our roots as we are in love with the infinite womb of the cosmos. We become eternal, infinite, connected with everything, realizing that we always were. We have pierced the veil. Man as God asleep has become God as Man awakened.

God is Man Awake

“Earthly things must be known to be loved. Divine things must be loved to be known.” ~ Blaise Pascal

Our mind’s eye is the cosmos looking through us, using us as meaning-bringing creatures with the power to bring meaning to a universe otherwise devoid of it.

Thus bringing about “Meaning” itself, which we alone are responsible for. Wow! What a power to wield. And what a responsibility to carry.

Gazing into the universe through our unique perspective, the universe – otherwise infinite, otherwise interconnected, otherwise meaningless – buckles and bends into finite shapes, time-wrought specialness, and powerful notions of compassion, apathy, and love.

Flowers become colorful bundles of atoms unleashing species-specific perfumery. Sunsets become dazzling layers of cosmos-upon-cosmos juxtaposed with our hearts layers of memory-upon-memory, stringing it all together through a medium called Time. Where night becomes day, sun becomes moon, birth becomes death, and rebirth is hidden in between.

God is man awake when understanding the former puts everything into proper perspective. When it is understood that meaning, thought, and even imagination, is all just temporary, all subject to evasive Truth and tricky vicissitude, all merely impermanent, but all the more beautiful because of that fact.

God is man awake when religious pseudo power is trumped by authentic spiritual power. When Death becomes the teacher of Life. When Pain becomes the teacher of Forgiveness. When Non-attachment becomes the teacher of Love & Courage. When Absurdity becomes the teacher of Humor.

God is man awake when hopelessness is transformed into adventure, despair into a reason for excellence.

When one understands, as Pablo Picasso did, “The situation is hopeless. We must take the next step.”

Indeed. The next step is always a becoming. The next step is an unyielding gentleness, a soft obstinacy, a loving overcoming, and a strict self-forgiveness. It’s realizing that it’s just as okay to be God asleep as it is to be Man awake.

It’s just as okay to be a worm in hiding (healing) as it is to be a God rising (enlightening). It’s always both. It’s an intermittence. It’s a breathing in and breathing out. It’s inhaling godliness and exhaling creatureliness, and vice versa.

It’s seeking, ever-seeking, for that permanent impermanence, that self-same eye that God sees us through and through which we see God. It is lower-case discovery as well as upper-case Discovery.

It’s consistent and persistent self-discovery turned self-overcoming. It’s heeding the wise words of Rumi: “Be relentless in your looking, because you are the one you seek.”

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Awake

Are my Worries Helpful or Harmful?

Ester Eckhaus
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Are my Worries Helpful or Harmful?

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” ~ Corrie ten Boom, Clippings from My Notebook

Negative thoughts keep us stagnant and paralyzed against the natural flow of the world. They are the thoughts that sneak in after a positive thought and say “but on the other hand…” or they creep up on us when we are having a bad day and make us feel discouraged that we may never have a good day again.

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They keep us in a place of fear; a place where we are unable to fully explore ourselves and life’s possibilities. But what happens when we really need to take worries into account?

How do we find the right places to flourish, or the right steps to take in life, if we do not look at all sides of the situation; worries included? How do we discern between helpful worries that lead us to where we need to be, and unhelpful fears and anxieties that keep us looping in the same place?

Let’s take a look at some fears and see if they are helpful or hurtful.

“I’m worried that my boyfriend/girlfriend will go to the party dressed like a bum…and all my professional friends will be there.”

This is a worry that is unhelpful. Whenever we are dealing with worries about judgments from others, we always have to let go of this idea that we can have control over what others think about us.

No matter how hard we try there will always be some people who will judge, and the best thing to do is to live your life the way you feel most authentic, and ignore anyone who feels they need to change you.

Another thing that makes this an unhelpful worry is because it concerns the actions of another, which we have no responsibility over. The best thing to quell your anxieties in this situation is to focus on the love you have for your significant other, and this love will allow you to leave them the space to be themselves, no matter how they decide to dress.

“I’m worried because my boyfriend/girlfriend is not treating our friend with respect.”

This is a helpful worry, in a way that you don’t want to be around someone who’s going to treat another with disrespect. But again, you don’t have control over another’s actions.

The best thing to do in this case is to talk to your loved one and see if this is something that they were aware of and if it’s something they desire to work on.

“I’m worried because I need to find a new job, and if I don’t find it soon I won’t be able to pay my rent.”

This one’s tricky because it is a valid worry, but the worrying itself is not helpful. The best thing to do in this situation is to practice staying as calm and stress-free as possible. The more calm you are, the more you can focus on motivating yourself to do what you need to do, in order to deal with the situation at hand.
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“I’m worried that I’ll die before I get a chance to accomplish everything I want to accomplish.”

This is the most unhelpful kind of worry. The fear of getting hurt or dying is a big fear that people are walking around with, and people become paralyzed for fear that they will encounter something unpleasant or painful. Unfortunately, we have no control over certain things that may happen to us.

So again, this is a worry to let go of. Just practice being centered and calm, and live the best life that you can, and the rest is out of your hands.

“I’m afraid that the people I love will abandon me.”

This thought comes from a negative belief system that has seeped into our consciousness from childhood or past trauma. It is usually an irrational fear that we can’t explain, but these thoughts have the danger of controlling a lot of what we do and worry about.

These negative thoughts need to be examined and worked through in order to heal (whether by ourselves, good friends, or a therapist). Now that we’re familiar with the different kinds of fears (and I’m sure there are plenty more) we can decide what to do depending on if it is a constructive fear or not.

How to deal with unhelpful fears

These fears are only there to drag you down. They do not come with a helpful message, only the intention of keeping you paralyzed. They need to be quelled or dealt with in a healthy way, in order to make them go away. Here are a few helpful tips for taking care of unhelpful fears:

1) Acknowledge that it is an unhelpful fear.
2) Take a few deep breaths or practice any sort of relaxing exercise, whether it be yoga, singing, meditating, or going for a walk.
3) Write down your fears. And for every fear, write down two oppositions to it, or reasons why you should put the worry aside. (ex. “Worrying about judgment is not helpful because I have no control over what people will think of me”, or “This worry will not help me deal with the situation at hand, so it’s best to deal with the practicalities so that I can feel better.”)
4) Write down all your fears. Make sure that you read them and acknowledge that they are all unhelpful and holding you back. Next, throw out the paper, burn it, rip it, whatever makes you feel that they are now nonexistent.
5) Ask for help. Whether from a loved one or higher power, it’s always important to have someone you trust to help you out in a hard time.

Constructive fears

Constructive fears are easy to deal with once you recognize them. They are there to tell you something or point out something that needs to be changed. Once you have received the message that your worry has come to tell you, you no longer need to spend any more time worrying. The next step is action:

1) Acknowledge that you have the power to change a bad situation.
2) Work to change it. Whether it’s talking to the person involved with the worry, or working your butt off to find the ideal situation, know that this is something you can deal with.
3) Once you have a plan of action, check back with yourself and feel if you are still worrying. If so, then the worry has become an unhelpful worry and you should treat it as such.

Sometimes worrying comes from having too much on our plate at once; when this is the case it’s a great exercise to see all your worries in front of you in an organized manner. Draw out a spiderweb of all your worries.

Put yourself in the center, label it “Me” or “My Worries”, then write all your worries spider-webbing out from your center. Next, label them with numbers in the order of importance, or the best order to deal with them.

You can also label them “helpful worry” or “non-helpful worry”. This game plan allows you to deal with things in a stress-free and organized way.

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Low self esteem
Negative thoughts Thoughts

Why Not Believing in Anything is Absolute Freedom

Gary Z McGee
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Why Not Believing in Anything is Absolute Freedom

“You do not believe; you only believe that you believe.” ~ Samuel Coleridge

I’m about to cutoff one of the intellectual giants of human history… Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, you have the floor: “None are more enslaved than those who believe…”

Stop right there, Monsieur Goethe! He was about to say “…they are free.” But that’s irrelevant, governing the nature of his premise. It is belief in anything that makes men slaves.

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Allow me to explain: Belief tends to trap our thoughts into tiny nutshells. It can even trap entire realities into the finite space of a nutshell. These nutshells are filled with snakes eating their own tails. These snakes are never allowed any nourishment (knowledge) from outside the shell, because everything outside the shell is dangerous, poisonous, scary, and unknown.

These snakes become suppressed by their own oppression, and they have a tendency to become neurotic “snakes in the head.” In such a state of anxious fear, we’re inclined to maintain the hardness of the shell so as to remain comfortable and secure.

When we cling to the nutshell of our belief, we are declaring that our comfort is more important than Truth. Inside the nutshell, we’re more willing to remain comfortable and free of fear than to risk the discomfort of being wrong or facing the fear of the unknown.

Even if that comfort means we’re forced to eat our own tail or end up with snakes in our head. Our belief must remain rigid and inflexible, because otherwise all that dangerous, scary unknown knowledge might get inside and mess things up. We must not risk vulnerability. We must maintain our faith.

But, as Terrence McKenna said, “If you believe in something, you are automatically precluded from believing its opposite.”

This is the epitome of close mindedness, because our belief closes us off from even considering another person’s belief. It cuts off empathy and harbors apathy.belief2

Even worse, it prevents us from living an examined life. Indeed, belief is the antithesis to an examined life precisely because our beliefs are somehow exempt from examination.

When really our beliefs should be the first thing we question. Taking things into consideration, that is to say philosophy, can help us with this.

Like Bertrand Russell said, “Thus, to sum up our discussion of the value of philosophy; Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite answers to its questions since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather for the sake of the questions themselves; because these questions enlarge our conception of what is possible, enrich our intellectual imagination and diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation.”

Not believing in anything is absolute freedom precisely because neither our intellect nor our imagination are diminished by the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation.

Not believing in anything frees us to take everything into consideration. We become logically liberated, scientifically set free, and our rationality is relieved.

Healthy skepticism and an intimacy with probability become our shifting bedrock, our foundational quicksand. We’re free to swim in the waters of uncertainty rather than remain chained to the pillars of certainty.

When it comes down to it, letting go of belief is allowing ourselves the freedom of being wrong. It’s finally admitting that we are a species that is profoundly fallible and prone to mistakes.

It’s understanding, as Kathryn Schulz said, “Whether we wrongly think we can see or wrongly remember what we did on September 11, whether we are mistaken about pantyhose or string theory, what we are ultimately wrong about is always a belief. If we want to understand how we err, we need to look to how we believe.”

Indeed. My believing in the Flying Spaghetti Monster gets me nowhere, except maybe entertained. Better to simply take it into consideration as a silly belief that some people might have, and then laugh at it. Laugh at myself. Poke holes in my faith.

Question why I might believe that “his noodly appendages will save me from my sins.” Or why I insist on wearing a colander for a hat. As with all things, a good sense of humor can set us free.

Taking things into consideration is far superior to believing in things precisely because we are a fallible species. We happen to be a species with a big brain, which gives us a false sense of security that we have discovered answers to complex questions.

But when it comes down to it we’re merely big-brained naked apes fumbling and stumbling through a vast cosmos of which we have barely even scratched the surface.

Our human understanding of reality is more akin to a Planck-length balancing on a quark, teetering on an electron, wobbling on an atom, wavering on a molecule, which is precariously positioned upon an ice cube on the tip of an iceberg that we can hardly even begin to fathom. And that’s okay.

That is why we must take things into consideration rather than believe in things. Belief is limiting. Taking things into consideration is limitless. Belief is mental slavery. Taking things into consideration is mental liberation.

As I wrote in Bertrand Russel’s Ten Commandments of Higher Teaching, “caveat credentis: believer beware. Instead of believing in things, take things into consideration. It is quite simple to alter considerations. But it’s almost impossible to alter beliefs.”

This is because of cognitive dissonance. None of us are free from the clutches of this particular mental stressor. Best not to have a belief at all. Best to take things into consideration using probability as a guide.

Best to embrace cognitive dissonance, to dive into the unforgiving waters, to relish in its discomfort, to feel the burn of being a fallible, prone-to-mistakes, imperfect, naked ape going through the vain and futile motions of attempting to pigeonhole infinity into finite constructs.

We’re bound to come out the other side wielding a mind open to possibility, and a heart burning with a humor of the most high. Like Gerry Spence said, “I’d rather have a mind open by wonder than one closed by belief.”

If, as Anaïs Nin said, “We do not see things as they are. We see things as we are.”

Then my first act of free will shall be not to believe in free will at all, but rather, take it into consideration as a more conducive stance toward attaining truth. I won’t “believe” in Time, because Time only perceptually exists; where actually it does not.

But so what? I’ll refuse to “believe” in Truth, instead I will attempt to maintain a strong faith in human fallibility. Sitting on a bench will be the only time that I predicate a benchmark, but even the bench will be subject to questioning.

Like Douglas Adams quipped, “I don’t believe it. Prove it to me and I still won’t believe it.” Indeed. Prove me to myself, and I still won’t “believe” it. Because I could be an illusion, even to myself. Although I will take it into consideration over almost anything else because of the laws of probability. After all, I probably do exist.

Here’s the thing: We live in a world where beliefs are rampant. Beliefs seemingly keep us grounded. So it’s understandable why we have them. After all, without belief it seems as though we’d all go crazy. But the opposite seems to be more the case. It is belief –especially unquestioned beliefs– that makes people go crazy.

Like Voltaire said, “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”

Indeed. It’s because of unquestioned beliefs that people drop bombs on other people. It’s because of unquestioned beliefs that people commit genocide. It’s because of unquestioned beliefs that the KKK is at war with everything not Aryan.

belief4But, as Guy Harrison advised, “Hate the belief, love the believer.” Taking things into consideration, rather than believing in things, sets us free. It opens us up.

Not just our minds, but our hearts as well. When we hate the belief but love the believer, we are empathizing with the human condition itself.

We’re rising above the pettiness of the lizard brain’s fight-or-flight need for comfort. We’re elevating ourselves to a state of heightened awareness where we are able to utilize our evolved mind and trump our primitive brain. We’re transcending the outdated lower frequencies with updated higher frequencies.

Not believing in anything is absolute freedom because we’re able to magically rise above the silliness of it all.

We’re able to see how everything is connected to everything else and how attempting to stuff infinity into the finite nutshell of a belief is done in vain. It’s perhaps the vainest act of all. Better not to be vain in the first place. Better to stay where the magic is.

Better to remain in a state of constant awe, in love with the moment, bewildered and astonished by the grandeur of the unknown. Better to be like a humorous magician insouciantly daring to pull it all out of a hat.

Imagination free. Intellect untethered. Love unmoored. Humor dethroning all kings –be they kings of mind, body, or soul. Unlimited by belief, but limited by cosmic limits –whatever they may be. And Voilà tout! Magic becomes a real possibility.

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Blindfold
Blind faith
Dennett quote
Intelligence

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