PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE
Your conviction and understanding about what a human life should be
Most of us follow the same sequence. We work, provide for our families, build a career, enjoy some of it, grow old and die. If that is all life is, it is a very sad one.
I believe a human life should be more than working for success. It should create meaning, reduce suffering and contribute to the flourishing of human and non-human life.
“To have Philosophy of Life is to understand what it should consist of, and what its guiding meaning, goals and purpose are.
It begins when you take life itself as the unit of analysis. Not your professional, romantic or family life separately, but life as a whole: yours, other people’s, and life itself.
Everyone already has a philosophy of life, often without realising it. Developing it means becoming aware of the philosophy you already live by, examining it and consciously choosing to live it at a higher level.”
Why Philosophy of Life matters today.
Philosophy of Life is not a luxury. It is a necessity: a spiritual survival kit that gives you something solid to stand on when everything around you is changing. Several forces pull us away from it:
Fast culture. We rush all day, ticking things off our lists. A philosophy of life needs remembering every day, but we no longer lift ourselves to that level; we stay down here, rushing.
Lack of community. Even people with a strong philosophy of life are often isolated. Living by one is not easy; it can feel counterintuitive in today’s culture.
Consumerism. A culture organised around producing and consuming distances us from deeper questions.
Unpredictability. Ten years ago, the unpredictable was still imaginable: losing a job, a divorce, illness. Today, technology is bringing changes that are literally unimaginable; our concepts and language are not yet rich enough to describe them.
Without a philosophy of life, we have no centre. The winds of consumerism, AI and technological change will throw us from side to side, and we will have nothing fundamental under our feet.
Three dimensions of Philosophy of Life
Born full of light
Human nature is intrinsically good. We are born with goodness, love and compassion; I call it being born full of light. Whatever happens to us afterwards, that goodness remains, even in the worst of people, though trauma can bury it so deeply that no one can reach it.
This is the prerequisite for Philosophy of Life. If you believe goodness is in everyone, you cannot be content that only your own life goes well. You want every life to be at peace, at ease and able to flourish. Your philosophy of life becomes the way you connect with your own goodness and use it to serve the world you live in.
Your points of impact
Everyone is born with a purpose. Purpose and meaning are unearthed, not created. But purpose need not mean saving the world.
A primary-school teacher shapes twenty-five young lives. A friend of mine, with very little money, cares every morning for thirty street dogs. One conversation with a stranger can change the course of someone’s life.
These are areas of influence, or what I prefer to call points of impact. You already have them, often without realising it, and noticing them is how you discover your purpose
Responsibility to life
This is our responsibility towards living beings and all forms of life: our responsibility to care.
Much of what we have, we did not earn. Most of us who are successful and healthy have won the neurological lottery at birth, and often the historical, geographical and cultural lotteries too.
Recognising that privilege can become part of your philosophy of life: what do you do with what you have been given?
Signs that Philosophy of Life is underdeveloped
You live by an inherited script: marry, have children, provide for them until they leave home, then finally find a hobby. There is nothing wrong with it, but it is rarely examined.
You have never looked at your life as a whole. You think about your career, your family and your leisure separately, but rarely step back to consider life itself: the limited number of weeks you are given, and what you want them to mean.
You believe you have no purpose, because you are looking only for a grand one, and overlook the lives you are already touching.
You take your privileges as deserved. Your health, your talents, where and when you were born: most of it was a lottery.
You have no centre when the world becomes uncertain. Each new change, at work, in technology, in the world around you, throws you off balance, because there is no conviction under your feet to stand on.
What changes when you live by your Philosophy of Life?
You approach life differently. Knowing that you may have decades ahead of you, or only today, you live more deliberately and more meaningfully. You become the main actor in your own life.
Your philosophy becomes daily practice, remembered every day and translated into your actions, thoughts, emotions and beliefs.
You connect with your own goodness, and serve the world with it, and with your unique capacities.
You trust the universe, because you have discovered something big.
You guide yourself and others, helping people move from where they are towards their true nature, whatever the obstacles.
Philosophy of Life follows Mystical Intelligence. It draws on Self Intelligence for self-awareness and on World Intelligence for awareness of the world around us.
As technology gives us new powers, the questions it raises will become so large that even children will think about Philosophy of Life.
I imagine a community of philosophers of life, people who need not share the same cause, but who share strong convictions and support one another.
How we work together:
Together, we look at the philosophy you already carry and take the time to examine it. We begin with your points of impact. What are they? Who have you influenced and how? Which ones are you unaware of? And which ones are still waiting for you?