Test The Water .01 The Philosophy

Step with care and great tact, and remember that life is a great balancing act.

Dr. Seuss

Finally, the long awaited part 2 of Test the Water: The Philosophy has arrived. I will admit that one must not necessarily understand part 1 "The Science" to have an appreciation for the philosophy that was spawned there of. However, I would recommend that if you haven't yet read part 1 go back and do it now. The two are meant to be connected, as I attempt to couple together the logic of science, and the virtue of faith in spirituality. For some reason as humans we have decided the two must be separate. For me, the two are relative, Science is the discovery of the mechanisms in which this realm was created; and to me, those mechanisms are the fingertips of god. Furthermore, we are the universe. We are "of it," not "from it." We are "it," not "in it."

"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"

1st Corinthians 3:16

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origins. One of the things that I find compelling about Spinoza's works is that he often uses the terms "God" and "Universe;" the interesting part is that he used these terms interchangeably.

I tend to lean into that same type of mindset.

We are "of God," not "from God."

In part one I posited that life is relative. In order to 'show my work' I then described Einstein's Theory of Relativity the best way that I could. Let us now put the science to use in a sense of the human soul, or at least the human experience.

Last night I was scouring through some of the most well known Philosophers of the past in order to "check my work" against some of the greatest 'thinkers' sprouted forth "of " the Universe.

I started noticing reoccuring themes within these works: virtue, justice, and truth.

without further adieu.

let us begin.

JUSTICE

Justice consists of minding one's own business and not meddling with other men's concerns

-Plato

Anything we do outside of our mind enters the realm of shared reality, and all though individuals perception of that reality is their own, outside of that perception is the medium in which we all share the stage to act out our lives, and the name of that theatre is Reality. When Plato speaks about Justice in his best known work "The Republic," he isn't talking about law enforcement capturing a person, forcing them in front of a jury or judge in order to be condemned or set free. No, he is talking about each individual person's duty to be just in action.

Our actions ripple out, touching first those closest to us and manipulating the stage lighting of "Reality Theatre." Which then alters their perception from the angle of their perspective, be it positively or negatively. Nonetheless, that connection is now perceivably 'real.'

Now, that initial ripple has changed reality indefinitely. They assuredly see the world differently than they would have had you not been there to change the shape of their perception. As it goes, their perception leads to their actions, their actions are then perceived by those around them from their own relative perspective in the "shared" reality. The ripple may change with time, nevertheless it goes on and on and on and on. It's all connected. A collective, if you will.

The possibilities seem limitless. Allow me to explain.

What if we pretend that every person is an individual Rubik's Cube? A standard 3x3 Rubik's Cube has approximately 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 (43 quintillion) possible different alignments.

So imagine a single person has a potential for at least that many possible actions or ripples, and the human population is approximately 8 billion. Now try to invision each of those ripples in a pond that represents "shared reality," it seems to me that there would not be a single flat, smoothe, or calm portion on the surface of the water. Like the winds and rain of a furious storm continuously and unpredictably disrupting the water's surface.

Chaos.

What if now we use a set of steps to organize the cube's individual colored blocks in a way that we can all agree is "good?" Then does in not become justified? Making "goodness," in and of itself "Justice."

Maybe this is why all of the great philosophers speak of justice with such fervor. For justice can calm the water beneath the chaotic surface, and we need only peer beneath the surface to achieve "goodness."

For goodness' sake, Test the Water.

The problem is,

what is good?

VIRTUE

Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."

- Aristotle

The quote above seems simple enough. Yet, what is just? From one perspective it may seem like justice to imprison a man who stole a loaf of bread from the baker, but what if it were a time of famine, and the man was trying to feed his child? Is his action justified? It's just a matter of perspective I suppose. Perspective though is a lowly trickster; that can distort the shared reality perceived by an individual. For each Individual, reality forks off into a smaller branch of personal reality. Perception seems like reality, so one's perception is their very own personal reality. Distorted all though it may be. To them it is surely real, right, and true, and I believe most people will seek virtue in that.

1Yes, it's definitely a matter of perspective, lest we not forget it is all relative. Due to the interconnectedness of our individual 'perspective reality' leading to choices or actions that manifest in the shared reality of the 'real' world all around. Therefore something perceivably brave to one may be apparently unjust or in bad temperament to another.

So let us now return to the cube analogy, all of the cubes in figure 1 below are solved in one fashion or another. They are all organized in a way that we can all accept. Yet, one is probably more appealing to you than another. To me, B. is the most appealing configuration, to you it may be A., C., or D. However, all are justified. So which one is true? Well, it's a matter of perspective. I purpose this is how the birth of the phrase "your truth" was spawned. The only shared truth we can all agree upon is that all four cubes, are in fact cubes that are justifiably organized.

Figure 2 is a simplified version of figure 1. To put it simply, two things can be true at the same time.

Two things can be true at once

-unknown

No matter which you see first, are not both true?

So perhaps to be truly virtuous one must live by the moral dictates that have been absorbed from the shared reality, and ultimately installed by perspective, into one's individual reality through their personal truth of perception.

Doing this without stamping out the collective of another's morals dictas, and seeking to understand what appears to be the difference. Only then, reducing it to its simplest form which is agreeable or justified can one obtain and live in virtue.

simply,

virtue is found in truth.

One mustn't tell lies.

TRUTH

Three things cannot long be hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.

-Buddha

The truth is, I've lied a lot in my lifetime. I've lied about little things in order to protect someone's feelings, I've lied about big things in order to protect my own reputation or even to make myself appear better or more virtuous than I actually am.

The truth is, I am but a simple man trying to build an extraordinary life. In that pursuit I sometimes lose sight of honor, of legacy, and of truth. I try so hard to be the man I think that I am expected to be; that I forget the endeavor to be the man that God or the Universe intends for me to be.

I have lied to strangers, and I have lied to myself, the part the that hurts the most is the times I have lied to the ones I love. I have since deeply repented for those lies. I have sufficiently punished myself for my deceit, and I have chosen to move forward in the path of deliberate truth. That is the only way I can forgive myself for telling lies to the ones whom I've loved most in my life.

There is no excuse for lying, it leads you down a tortuous path. You may get away with it at first, but it always leads to the same place. You start with one little lie, then its questioned. So, naturally you come up with another lie to cover your ass. Soon it's just a tangled mess of nonsense and eventually the ones who are closest to you see you for what you are.

A liar.

Mark Twain said, " if you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything."

A lie may feel good in the moment, because it appears that you may have avoided some sort of discomfort. Ultimately all you've done is prolong the inevitable, except now it is much worse. After the truth eventually rises to the surface like oil on water; not only are you found out to be guilty of the accusation, but more now, you are also a liar.

The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.

- Miguel de Cervantes

Virtue is impossible for the liar. For the liar, there is but a tangled web; the liar can no longer remember what is the truth.

I am choosing right now, in real time, in this moment to vocalize my dedication to deliberate honesty. It really is the best policy.

If what we do both effects, and affects those around us in the "Shared Reality." Then when you lie in order to maintain the perception of your individual reality, you are making the shared reality equally untrue. Now damn it! It is already challenging enough to navigate this plane without selfish deceit.

So, choose to be deliberate in honesty, step truthfully through life, or may karma be the heartless bitch she is. You may not believe in God, I choose to live as if there is one. Virtue is the only true hope that mankind has, and without truth; virtue cannot exist. If virtue doesn't exist, then what the hell is the point?

Look! we're in this together, like it or not. Selfishness only sow's famine elsewhere. This is why gluttony is so obviously disgusting. This is why injustice is so infuriating, and this is why lying is so terribly wrong.

So get in there, face the music, and walk in truth.

Test the Waters at first, and then jump right in.

I'm sorry for the previous rant, that is not at all what I expected to write about truth. No, not in the slightest. Sometimes I get on a roll, and I just can't help myself. It was not an attempt at preaching, it was more like I was telling it to myself. Sometimes when I'm writing I feel as though the words are not coming from me, rather the words are coming through me, and only then, to me. I feel as though this "philosophy" was truly gained within me, for me, to share with all of you.❤️ with every passing click of a key. If I'm being honest, my heart is beating particularly quickly right now, not hard, just fast. "My blood is up."

Sadly, or maybe luckily, we are approaching that 2000 word mark. So I'm afraid it's time to put a ribbon on this thing.

It's always a challenge to wrap a publication such as this in a neat little bow, so honestly I'm not going to try. Rather I'm thinking of making the "Test the Waters" theme a permanent segment on averagebenjamin.com. Please let me know if that's something you all are interested in.

I will close with this. Whenever you choose to act out, and in whichever manner or temperate you do so is your choice, so be tactful in each step. For you are but a single ripple in a vast cosmic ocean, with each ripple comes a reaction that lasts eternally.

No pressure.

To put it simply "time is fluid, and life is relative."

So, Test the Waters.

As always,

thanks for reading.

Don't Forget to subscribe to averagebenjamin.com and find us on FaceBook @averagebenjamin. It's been a pleasure writing this piece.

this is AverageBenjamin,

Signing off.