Personal Moral Philosophy Essay
I Title This With a Preface. – Dear Friend,
I really hope you don’t mind swearing too much, otherwise I’m f-… screwed.
My personal moral philosophy boils down to a few basic but convoluted guidelines. Anyone who knows me well, knows well enough to have heard the schpeal like this: “Don’t f*ck with my friends, don’t f*ck with my freedom, and don’t f*ck with my happiness!” This is enough for the common, under-analytical world. Here however I feel I need to expand.
These three main principles guide me through life and each day they effect me deeply. A more thorough way of explaining them is to … The first of these guidelines hinges upon my deep personal belief in undying loyalty. I sat here thinking if the word unwavering would sit here better, the answer is no. There is a distinct difference and though mine is a fierce loyalty, it is indeed a rational one. The second of these guidelines amounts to my intense dependences upon and belief in personal strength. It is the fortitude for myself to stand against adversity, strength to be depended upon by others, the independence and personal freedom necessary to be capable of being dependable. This personal law is a corollary in that it is strongly associated with and yielded from the other two laws. This, the third law, thereby deserves mention in detail as well: It is my determination to never stop enjoying life, and to never stop feeling joy at my own independence and free spirit.
I shall start with this the latest and work my way back. Being this way, determined to enjoy life, and doing these things, making others happy, make me happy and though this is the only self-interested value I hold: my happiness. It is that I take pleasure at seeing others happy that it is spawn from – hence my intense loyalty. Being free, being a loyal friend, helping others and making them smile, for some reason barely understood by myself, makes me entirely happy and the rules are this: don’t prevent me from doing these things. The question hence, is: Why?
Though I do not consciously think about them each day, these principles are ingrained in everything I do and how I interact with the world around me. I have always found pride and comfort and security in my ability to help others, in my importance and the fact that others believe me useful and that I make a difference. Mine is a fear of not mattering. Mine thereby is more basically a fear of sorrow and unhappiness at feeling insignificant. I take comfort in alleviating others of their sense of insignificance because I believe no one should suffer such pains and because it makes me feel significant.
There, I’ve named my vices, and elaborated upon them I’ve even gone out on a limb by being blunt, brutally honest and a bit to the point common about them. I’ll not lie I’m honest even with myself about how they are not exactly the best of “virtues.” But they are mine and to me that counts for something. The strongest objection I think I’ve encountered with being the way I am is not the obvious answer: the naked self-interest lurking beneath the surface – though as I’ve made a flailing attempt to explain: is induced by the desire to ensure that no one suffers the same way as I have and fear – but rather that strongest protestation is this: that ultimately pursuit of my happiness will in this way lead to my inevitable unhappiness. That trying to make everyone happy, trying to please everyone, will fail. This I know.
This brings me to my next point which is that I have no answer to that, I have no response to it; I know it is true. My mores are resultant from these aforementioned beliefs and fears. It is in my nature and no matter how hard I try to pursue a more productive less painful fate; I simply cannot derail my train of convictions. To make others happy I must be loyal, dependable and fun to be around. I strive to be entertaining, friendly, approachable, trustable and I strive always to be able to reinforce what I say and promise and assure to others with actions. I do the best I can to conform to what I feel I need to do and simply cannot – not by means, but by physiological inadequacy - do less for this cause. I suppose it is as was said in class – I’m a psychological egoist.
These values are an important part of my life. They guide and shape me in all of what I value, cherish and respect, they give me a reason to hold my head high and they give me quite often the confidence and the strength to carry on through the roughest times. So I stick with them. They have worked their way into my very being, I cannot ignore them, shake them or even violate them in any way without a lot of double-talk side-ways reasoning and lies. I am bound to them. So I stick with them. They confuse me, they make me understand things. They help me understand who I am, who I was, and why I’ll become who I become. So I stick with them and hope that you have at least understood – if not enjoyed even a portion of what I just said.
Apologetically Yours,
~Shannon
I really hope you don’t mind swearing too much, otherwise I’m f-… screwed.
My personal moral philosophy boils down to a few basic but convoluted guidelines. Anyone who knows me well, knows well enough to have heard the schpeal like this: “Don’t f*ck with my friends, don’t f*ck with my freedom, and don’t f*ck with my happiness!” This is enough for the common, under-analytical world. Here however I feel I need to expand.
These three main principles guide me through life and each day they effect me deeply. A more thorough way of explaining them is to … The first of these guidelines hinges upon my deep personal belief in undying loyalty. I sat here thinking if the word unwavering would sit here better, the answer is no. There is a distinct difference and though mine is a fierce loyalty, it is indeed a rational one. The second of these guidelines amounts to my intense dependences upon and belief in personal strength. It is the fortitude for myself to stand against adversity, strength to be depended upon by others, the independence and personal freedom necessary to be capable of being dependable. This personal law is a corollary in that it is strongly associated with and yielded from the other two laws. This, the third law, thereby deserves mention in detail as well: It is my determination to never stop enjoying life, and to never stop feeling joy at my own independence and free spirit.
I shall start with this the latest and work my way back. Being this way, determined to enjoy life, and doing these things, making others happy, make me happy and though this is the only self-interested value I hold: my happiness. It is that I take pleasure at seeing others happy that it is spawn from – hence my intense loyalty. Being free, being a loyal friend, helping others and making them smile, for some reason barely understood by myself, makes me entirely happy and the rules are this: don’t prevent me from doing these things. The question hence, is: Why?
Though I do not consciously think about them each day, these principles are ingrained in everything I do and how I interact with the world around me. I have always found pride and comfort and security in my ability to help others, in my importance and the fact that others believe me useful and that I make a difference. Mine is a fear of not mattering. Mine thereby is more basically a fear of sorrow and unhappiness at feeling insignificant. I take comfort in alleviating others of their sense of insignificance because I believe no one should suffer such pains and because it makes me feel significant.
There, I’ve named my vices, and elaborated upon them I’ve even gone out on a limb by being blunt, brutally honest and a bit to the point common about them. I’ll not lie I’m honest even with myself about how they are not exactly the best of “virtues.” But they are mine and to me that counts for something. The strongest objection I think I’ve encountered with being the way I am is not the obvious answer: the naked self-interest lurking beneath the surface – though as I’ve made a flailing attempt to explain: is induced by the desire to ensure that no one suffers the same way as I have and fear – but rather that strongest protestation is this: that ultimately pursuit of my happiness will in this way lead to my inevitable unhappiness. That trying to make everyone happy, trying to please everyone, will fail. This I know.
This brings me to my next point which is that I have no answer to that, I have no response to it; I know it is true. My mores are resultant from these aforementioned beliefs and fears. It is in my nature and no matter how hard I try to pursue a more productive less painful fate; I simply cannot derail my train of convictions. To make others happy I must be loyal, dependable and fun to be around. I strive to be entertaining, friendly, approachable, trustable and I strive always to be able to reinforce what I say and promise and assure to others with actions. I do the best I can to conform to what I feel I need to do and simply cannot – not by means, but by physiological inadequacy - do less for this cause. I suppose it is as was said in class – I’m a psychological egoist.
These values are an important part of my life. They guide and shape me in all of what I value, cherish and respect, they give me a reason to hold my head high and they give me quite often the confidence and the strength to carry on through the roughest times. So I stick with them. They have worked their way into my very being, I cannot ignore them, shake them or even violate them in any way without a lot of double-talk side-ways reasoning and lies. I am bound to them. So I stick with them. They confuse me, they make me understand things. They help me understand who I am, who I was, and why I’ll become who I become. So I stick with them and hope that you have at least understood – if not enjoyed even a portion of what I just said.
Apologetically Yours,
~Shannon
posted by Shannon Hollender @ 1:39 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home