My new philosophy

In the musical “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” there is a cute song by Sally, Charlie Brown’s little sister. It is called “my new philosophy”. Apparently, Sally’s philosophy changes every other minute, giving a short but whirling show in which even simple concepts like “No!” are elevated to philosophical status. However, recently I found out that I too needed a new philosophy…

After all, I was wondering myself what would be the right way (or the right ways, or right-like ways) to live. And I realized that “right” and “wrong” are only applicable to goals. If you go to Amsterdam, that can only be right or wrong according to your intention whether to go to Amsterdam or to Paris.

So what would be a good direction to go? Philosophers and theologicians have debated these questions for centuries. However, using just “reason” or a vague God they had little data on which to make a decision, leading to either indecision or to awkward and inflexible lifestyles. It seemed clear to me that one needs an “experimental” theology or philosophy of life.

If one considers the activities by humans (life is a stream of activities and choices), one finds out that much time is spent in only a few pursuits: eating, sleeping, and going to the toilet. This is also biological necessity; if one doesn’t do that, one will not survive. Considering Darwinian selection of religions/philosophies, one of the prime concepts would therefore be surviving.

In practical applications this would mean to firstly take care of the body: sleep well, eat well. For eating, one should not eat too much, eat balanced and healthy food (vitamins and fats and carbohydrates and proteins, note the diet and read a good, preferably scientifically-based book), and take care for things such as teeth. So eating well and sleeping well would be the prime directives. This seems to be a good basis to start.