Goal: Live a meaningful & ethical life.
This is my personal foundation upon all foundations rest.
The formula is as follows:
1. See the Ocean (Metaphysical Grounding, Belief)
2. Feel the Tides (Awe, Mysticism, Practices)
3. Ride Your Wave (Drive)
4. Make Each Water Droplet Count (Actions, Orientation)
My personal formula for living a meaningful and virtuous life begins by grounding my ethics in something. For the theists, they ground this in their individual God. For the atheists, they ground this in the literal nothingness. There are countless variations of this, but I have found that beginning from the root of metaphysics and working upwards from that essential “belief” in the Truth (with a capital T), is an effective framework for developing a well thought-out meaning system. In my case, this is what I will refer to as the Ocean.
Out of this, arises the layer of mysticism in this metaphysics. What practices you take part in, due to the reverence of your metaphysical belief; feeling the Tides.
Then, your “why” for acting in this world, your drive to fulfill your purpose; ride your Wave. This naturally occurs when you are deeply in touch with the Ocean.
And finally, within your wave, make each water Droplet count. These are your individual actions and continuous ethical orientation that leads to your wave successfully pushing the Ocean in the way it needed to be.
1. See the Ocean (Metaphysical Grounding, Belief)
“A person is a person through other persons.”
— Archbishop Desmond Tutu, summarizing the philosophy of Ubuntu
Stoics called it the Logos.
Hindus called it Brahman.
Daoists called it the Tao.
Buddhists called it Dharma.
Spinoza, the Gnostics, and Richard Rohr called it God.
They are all referring to the same underlying, universal concept: the Ultimate Reality, Cosmic Order, or the Fundamental Principle that governs, organizes, and constitutes all of existence.
This concept is monistic* or holistic, meaning it describes a reality where everything is fundamentally unified, interconnected, and inseparable.
*Monism: the view that reality is one unitary organic whole with no independent parts.
This is the world we all are a part of. This is the Ocean.
Religions have tried pointing to it for millennia, yet fail when reaching institutional level.
“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
— Siddhartha Gautama (The Buddha)“The bad thing about all religions is that, instead of being able to confess their allegorical nature, they have to conceal it; accordingly, they parade their doctrines in all seriousness as true sensu proprio [in the literal sense], and as absurdities form an essential part of these doctrines we have the great mischief of a continual fraud.”
— Arthur Schopenhauer
Schopenhauer viewed religion as a necessary, simplified, allegorical version of complex philosophical truths. The “fraud” occurs when institutional religions insist their myths and metaphors must be taken as literal, historical fact (sensu proprio), leading to intellectual dishonesty and the acceptance of absurdities. These metaphors all are trying to grasp the “metaphysics of the people,” according to Arthur Schopenhauer.
Far too often, institutional religions “carve an idol out of our fear, and call it god,” as spoken by Antonius Block in the movie The Seventh Seal (1957). In these cases, faith is just an idol created to cope with the terror of existence and the dread of death.
Rather than taking a literal (sensu proprio) point of view, we can view them through a metaphorical, mythological lens.
“Half the people in the world think that the metaphors of their religious traditions, for example, are facts. And the other half contends that they are not facts at all. As a result we have people who consider themselves believers because they accept metaphors as facts, and we have others who classify themselves as atheists because they think religious metaphors are lies.”
— Joseph Campbell, Thou Art That: Transforming Religious Metaphor“A mature Christian sees Christ in everything and everyone else. That is a definition that will never fail you, always demand more of you, and give you no reasons to fight, exclude, or reject anyone.”
— Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ“God is the name of the blanket we throw over mystery to give it shape.”
— Barry Taylor Tags
Every religion is true in one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble.
The great benefit to denying this truth claim and taking this mythological view is that it allows you to be open to other metaphors; it widens your perspective. Humanity has been tackling the underlying questions for eternity. When you grow up within one specific metaphor, it generally blocks off other writers, solely because they were not within your specific myth.
Say you grew up only going to one restaurant, believing all others aren’t available. You wouldn’t like them, your parents told you. Until one day you develop a close friend, and they only go to a different restaurant. You begin talking to them and they start raving about it. Clearly they don’t know how good my restaurant is, or else they wouldn’t be going there, you think. After awhile of conversation, you begin talking about your restaurant. But here’s the catch, you realize he was thinking the same thing about your restaurant. This external perspective gets you to try (just once) his restaurant. Surprisingly, you actually enjoy it. After, you begin mixing and matching, realizing that all these restaurants lead to satiation. All of a sudden there are so many paths: I can find out that I like Italian… Or don’t like seafood… You start to pay attention to your macros and your calories… How to balance these different cuisines together… Red wine pairs with the red meat. You may even find out that the other places also point to what your restaurant was focused on, that there can be overlaps. In doing so, you can go back to your old restaurant, but willingly this time, instead of out of necessity.
* For all practical purposes, going forward, God, the System, etc, are synonymous with the Ocean.
Now that we’ve covered the ways in which many religions have tried to point to the Ocean (and failed due to the mandate of sensu proprio), let’s define what the Ocean is.
“The metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being—the thing is immemorial and universal.”
— Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy“Our ground and God’s is the same.”
— Meister Eckhart“Human Energy presents itself to our view as the term of a vast process in which the whole mass of the universe is involved. In us, the evolution of the world towards the spirit becomes conscious.”
— Teilhard de Chardin
Using Aldous Huxley’s verbiage, the Ocean is “divine Reality,” the interconnected, vast process of which our world is playing out.
In today’s world, science is our best methodology of understanding the Ocean. “Science is the practical pursuit of God,” notes Matthew McConaughey, “The two are not exclusive. They dance together. They go together.” Science is the means of exploring the Ocean.
Science’s nature means it is always being improved upon, but the current scientific research believes something happened roughly 13.8 billion years ago, nicknamed the “Big Bang.” Before that, it is (currently) impossible to know.
Note: A recent paper theorized that this “Big Bang” was actually the collapse of a black hole, based on an analysis of galaxy spins from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Some researchers argue observational bias from the Milky Way’s own rotation could explain the asymmetry, but this could help explain the beginning of our universe (ie. our universe is inside another universe via this black hole).
This is the moment where a “leap of faith,” in the words of Søren Kierkegaard, is allowed:
You can argue, using Thomas Aquinas’s 2nd Argument From Efficient Cause, it is necessary to admit a First Cause before the Big Bang, which is uncaused itself, “and this everyone understands to be God” (as Theists do)
Of which, you can argue that God acted in the world through:
Jesus of Nazareth (Christians — 2.3 billion people)
Muhammad (Muslims — 2 billion)
No one yet, but will (Jews — 15.8 million)
Or you can argue that God has never and will never act in a personal manner (on this planet), but does exist due to logical necessity of a creator (Deists)
Or, you can argue that science continues to learn more and will eventually be able to continue proving what happened before the Big Bang and that everything is natural (Atheists — 500 million)
Or, you can argue that there is no singular “beginning” requiring a cause, believing the universe cycles eternally through creation and dissolution (Hindus, though traditions vary widely — 1.2 billion)
Or, you can argue there is currently no way of knowing enough to reach a necessary level of belief (Agnostics — 500 million)
Or, finally, you can argue that the origin question itself is not conducive to awakening and should be set aside (Buddhists — 500 million)
These are all leaps of faith, based on our own reasoning and understanding. Belief in God is “transrational,” according to Richard Rohr, it’s “bigger than the rational mind can process.” However, to believe is pragmatic. Actively religious adults in the United States are 44% more likely to describe themselves as “very happy” compared to both religiously unaffiliated adults and those who are religious but inactive, according to Pew Research.
It’s important to balance between belief and grounding here. I am of the mindset it is better to ground your belief in what we have likely evidence for. Looking back through time, some of the biggest mistakes we made as a species were when we based our decisions on moral assumptions. The Holocaust assuming Jews needed to be executed. Crusades assuming anyone not Catholic is in their way (up to (9 million deaths). Societies murdering citizens believed to be “witches” solely because our science couldn’t prove sicknesses. There are countless other everyday decisions (using Christian arguments to ban abortions in a country that values religious freedom, for example) that prove the fault in grounding ethics in a faith.
On this topic, I tend to refer to John Stuart Mill’s quote:
“The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs.”
— John Stuart Mill
Belief is indeed powerful and pragmatic, individually. The issue here is that grounding ethics (which is inherently relational and intersubjective) in a “faith” (in the literal sense of the word) means making an assumption without evidence. If our grounding is in this assumption, we are the most prone to make errors in our ethics; making it unfit to serve this role. Rather, an evidence-based system seems most safe; and what can we prove if not our existence and the System with which we inhabit (the Ocean).
As of today, we are unable to understand our Ocean beyond this 13.8 billion year mark. After this event, however, science can help us understand a lot. From evolution to astrophysics, we understand (and are continuing to learn) how our Ocean exists. We are able to decipher our place within it via science. All of the cosmos and the whole System as we know it, and are continuing to develop knowledge in, is (almost definitionally) sacred.
“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”
— Isaac Newton“The cosmos is within us. We are made of star-stuff. We are a way for the universe to know itself.”
— Carl Sagan, Cosmos“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”
— Albert Einstein“From dust you are and to dust you shall return.”
— Genesis 3:19
Note: It might be because I was raised Catholic that I seek to ground my metaphysics in a supernatural form and am more apt to make the jump from sacred to divine, but at that point it’s semantics. I believe the System is sacred enough to be used for the foundation of metaphysics and revered. The terms “Divine” and “God” trip me up in terms of being able to necessarily “Believe” but I still think I can justify believing in this Ocean and our connection to it. I think at some level, this is a debate over the word “divine”, and I would be fine agreeing to a religious form of Naturalism if this blanket System being called “God” fails logically as a Pantheist or Panpsychist. The key is to have enough humility to be open to new knowledge. This System is so grand and interconnected that I can’t help but revere it. I don’t know if it should be called “God” due to the baggage that comes with that term, but this grounding in the Ocean feels like the only plausible metaphysical grounding for where ethics can be found.
This is where I leave you for describing our Ocean. It is a wonderfully vast, interconnected reality in which we all are here within; the System in which we all coexist.
This is my grounding for my metaphysical belief and one in which I plan to build upon in the next few sections, to build a robust structure and value system; beginning with mysticism.
2. Feel the Tides (Awe, Mysticism, Practices)
“In mysticism, that love of truth which we saw as the beginning of all philosophy leaves the merely intellectual sphere, and takes on the assured aspect of a personal passion.
Where the philosopher guesses and argues, the mystic lives and looks.”
— Evelyn Underhill, “Mysticism”
This first layer of metaphysics releases the next layer of mysticism. If the last layer set the stage for explaining our place in the System (and some of the faults of other ethical groundings), this layer provides pragmatic ways to shift our mindset in accordance with this overarching metaphysical System.
“Whatever your mind believes, your body will manifest.”
— Olivia Fox Cabane, The Charisma Myth
Actions follow from the internal mindset. This section will focus on the practices that align this internal mindset with the System.
This is one section where religions can set a great precedent. Commonly, religious citizens comment on a big positive is attending religious ceremonies These include the time for reflection and stillness, the weekly ritual, the community, and experiencing awe (either due to feeling part of something larger than yourself, or due to the magnificent architecture in many religious institutions).
I believe a handful of examples here go together.
What do we do with this metaphysical claim. There is quite literally no way to understand it and grasp the process of Nature. I personally take awe and reverence for it.
This is where religions do help us a lot. From buddhist meditation to christian services, religions do have a strong track record of bringing about connection and mysticism.
It is a very experiential belief, it invites you to partake in it. I could be convinced this is the “natural” state we all can work towards on our own journeys.
It is quite important to place the god System at the center of your worldview, at the top of your hierarchy. Not the false gods of money sex and power. This immense and interconnected System with so many wonders, it deserves recognition as the reason for any action. You are part of it. There is a small probability of being part of it. You’re only here for a short period of time within it. So use it wisely. Do good within it. Fix your headspace to be able to enjoy it. Help others in it. That is the drive, the top of the pyramid
Awe/Ego Dissolution:
1/400trillion chance of being here.
The mystical practices help reduce the ego and fall into the larger System, for the next steps. “I think therefore I am” - at the center of you is only the one experiencing. The consciousness. The ego is when you attach yourself to something. Buddhism is getting rid of attachments. Don’t associate with the name, focus on the actions. The actions will drive the results. When you take away all ego, you are acting in accordance with what is being asked of you.
Stillness:
Joseph campbell aliveness
“there’s a difference between noticing a tree, and noticing you noticing a tree”. Ram Dass separate the you from you. The “Thinker” - Eckhart Tolle
Through meditation etc nature beauty. Meditations, gratitudes, and awe- & beauty-seeking. Compassion meditation (metta), breath work, walking meditation. Get insight from all religion’s mystics or any spiritual individual. Gnostics fall here. Buddhism, daoism. Unitarian church. Zen Buddhism. Bahaii. With pantheism, most religions point to the same underlying God. Usually the mystics. Paintings enjoy sublime. Ram dass. Alan watts. You become what you focus on - focus on the love and awe within this System. Rob Bell. Richard Rohr. Sam Harris meditation. Wim Hof breath.
I don’t know why and if we’re the only beings that have this ability, but I think at its highest level, this connection (separate from the material world) helps us connect with the System itself.
3. Ride Your Wave (Drive)
“He who has a why to live
can bear almost any how.”
— Friedrich Nietzsche
For the next stage moving into a drive, I enjoy the Gita in the Hindu religion. “Nature acts through me; I must fulfill what’s needed”
“It is my duty (dharma hindu + stoics) to do ___.” Live in duty.
Confucian role ethics (role and duty)
“We’re all we have” - Comedy sex god
My duty to it as an agent in its System
Viktor frankl. get quotes “What is my calling/duty given this larger reality?” rather than “I must create meaning from nothing.”
My deepest drive is to fulfill my duty given what opportunities I have been handed. Reduce my ego getting in the way of that as much as possible. Break down every mental barrier to seeing the Truth. You are not how you feel, you are how you act. Stoic (control what you can control, serenity prayer).
Meditation: ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) - stoic’s accept what you cannot change, commit to acting on the ones you can (using your values)
I still believe we don’t “find” meaning necessarily, we create it (existentialists, Ric Elias). But I think we “choose” it. We lean into what actions we think we should do. There isn’t a necessarily correct meaning and correct path, but we rationally and irrationally choose our meaning. I think we have some duties depending on our role
Care Ethics (Gilligan, Noddings, Held)- Built on relationships and interdependence rather than abstract principles. Emphasizes attentiveness, responsibility, competence, and responsiveness in relationships. Very aligned with the interconnectedness theme and the specific relational roles (son, father, friend, etc.).
Ubuntu Philosophy “I am because we are” - Southern African philosophical tradition that sees personhood as fundamentally relational and community-based. The self only exists through connection to others.
For me, that means being the best…
(1) son, brother, husband, father, grandfather
(2) community member, friend
(3) professional, mentor, mentee
that I can be.
I know on some level this “duty” is likely emotivism. The “right” decision might not technically be fully logically sound, but the goal is to reduce the ego, look through a value system, rationalize, what is my role here (what is being asked of me) and what can I control, what would excellence look like. Think rationally and work on reducing the ego, even though the duty that comes to mind might ultimately be emotivist (we are a node, strict determinism). The emotions causing the beliefs around right and wrong, feel them still, they’re important, separate from them through therapy and journaling but still feel them.
Be able to play the role when the time calls. As a man this might mean being able and ready to protect - Bugzy Malone video.
At some level I also agree with the existentialists that we aren’t handed a specific meaning in this world. You create it. There isn’t a specific “right” purpose handed to you by a god. I think you do actively have to choose to create it and pursue the meaningful acts. This is my framework of “creating” my meaning. I disagree with the fundamental notion that there is nothing to ground your meaning in (existentialists), there is in the System we are in.
Dark night of the soul, what got me out to actually move and get on with it was the connection to nature, my role in it, the areas I can grow in, and the areas people around me need me to grow in. “We are all we have”. You are being asked of something in this world. There is something that you can provide and would be morally justified to do so. This is the drive
The foundation for the precipice and what we owe the future. Just how big this System is and could be going forward. Play my role in it
Bodhisattva vow
High agency, act.
I believe I will be back to dust after I die. My time is now until then. Build it up as much as I can now.
What values do you want to emulate. What do you think you can grow into, what do people need you to be. Value ethics Aristotle. What would a (charismatic) individual do here.
Serenity prayer
4. Make Each Water Droplet Count (Actions, Orientation)
“The only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs.”
— John Stuart Mill
Moving up to more of a broad logical layer on the ethical question. Out of the deep reverence and focus on the interconnection of the System and my role, I want conscious beings to experience eudaemonia as the ultimate goal (eudaemonic consequentialism). This is my lens and ultimate ethical foundation. Humanist perspective. Try to grow the collective eudaemonic flourishing on this planet before I leave. Make the place a little bit better than how I found it. As a general vision for role on this planet. Help more people reach nirvana. Bodhisattva vow
Another option: Capabilities Approach (Sen, Nussbaum)- Instead of maximizing aggregate wellbeing, focus on ensuring all people have the capabilities to live flourishing lives. Less utilitarian calculation, more about enabling conditions for eudaemonia. Build the bridges and pathways
Pragmatically achieving this goal
As long as the action passes the Formula of Humanity (Kant) second formulation of the categorical imperative. “So act that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in the person of any other, always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means”. Treat it all with love, in everything you do.
Equation roughly:
Goal * Means
Goal: Eudaemonic consequentialism (including capabilities) + Humanism + Pragmatism
Means: Formula of Humanity (1 yes, 0 no)
Bringing It Together
See the Ocean: You are part of an unbelievably large and interconnected System, called Nature.
Feel the Tides: Connect with it. Get outside your wave.
Ride Your Wave: Mission is to play your role in it.
Make Each Water Droplet Count: Act and help others within it.