Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Axioms?

  I often write and discuss philosophy. I know, it sounds stuffy but really it isn't. The dictionary describes it as a theory or attitude held by a person or organization that acts as its' guiding principle. It is something everyone talks about,  all the time. Our philosophy is what defines each of us. People don't change much, philosophy does. Remember philosophy is just a theory, not a fact. The trick to living a happy life lies in that knowledge. You must adopt a philosophy that is in tune with your morality. Do not be fooled by adopting a philosophy and then spending your life trying to prove that theory. Learn to adjust your philosophy to reality, in order to achieve happiness. Sounds like advice from an old Chinese guy doesn't it?
 Our philosophy is based on our axioms. Axioms are those ideas or thoughts we take as fact. They really are self evident. Well I should say, self evident to ourselves not necessarily to others. We are all expected to learn the basic axioms of life. The golden rule is one of those axioms. Another may be, everything that goes around, comes around. These axioms provide continuity in an otherwise chaotic world. Their purpose is to explain. We all feel better when we have an explanation for things. Isn't that what man has always done, tried to provide an explanation to a God that he's not quite sure exists? But man has faith in his ability to perceive and explain all things and so adopts a philosophy of belief.
 I don't recall who said this, if you want to know what you believe, write, but who said it isn't important. The importance lies in the message. It is an axiom I have adopted. So far I have found it to be true. I have learned a great deal about myself these last seven years as I compose these morning blogs. As for my love for philosophy I discovered that quite by accident. I have found, in retrospect, a great number of the axioms I live my life by were learned by accident. As much as I would like to believe that I'm I control, I have learned I'm not, much is incidental. And for that reason I must subscribe that to someone, or something , divine intervention is as likely a reason as any other.
 It has also been said to be a successful writer, write what you know. That brought another axiom to mind, one I heard a long time ago. The more you know, the less you think you know. I'm thinking I don't know a whole lot. Does that make me smart? No, I don't think so, I think it just makes me open to more ideas. But then again, it is like shopping, in the end you do have to " buy " something. Our " axioms " are what we buy. I would say don't buy the first thing you see, shop around. I would also say, sometimes you just have to buy the sensible shoes.
 My thoughts have wandered around a bit this morning, I hope you could follow along. I began this little foray yesterday afternoon. I had written a comment on Facebook and a friend thought it relevant enough to copy and paste into another forum. He informed me that it was gathering quite a number of "likes " and generally positive feedback. I was naturally pleased to hear that, we all need and want confirmation. He jokingly said, " you're going to be famous. " I chuckled at that and my immediate retort was, " fame is a fleeting thing but the truth remains forever. " It is an axiom that just rolled off my tongue, as the saying goes. I checked the Internet for plagiarism. Had I read that somewhere? I found a number of quotes by famous people regarding fame but nothing in those words. Had I just uttered an axiom by accident? No, it wasn't an accident it was an explanation. An axiom I have adopted as my own. Imagine that, a universal truth. How had I learned that? Well, that's unimportant to the conversation, what matters are facts, not philosophy. 

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