The sun sets on another day…
They say that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain, but currently that rain is falling here. The sky was gray and gloomy as twilight fell upon us and sunset was less than perfect but still an amazing evening.
I spent some time in a coffee shop today working on a new book. Actually it is a book I have been working on for many years and I am finishing the last chapter now. As I sat there sipping a cup of chai the man next to me grumbled slightly and I looked over I’m saw him reading through or writing a paper.
I asked an easy question, was the paper good? What followed was a 45-minute discussion on philosophy and the core elements of philosophy as it is associated with quantum theory and a variety of other contexts. I found that Andrew, not me Andrew but another Andrew, was a professor of philosophy and he was grading papers. That in itself was a lot of fun and it is rare that I can actually talk to people on certain subjects simply because they are not common knowledge.
Andrew had great ideas, great understandings, and a new book coming out soon that I ordered. The idea behind it all was philosophical. ( I will pause here and giggle as you think the word duh)
It was interesting seeing his points of view and determining the essence of value. As I sat later thinking about the conversation I wondered how the world determines value and how people, any people, define value on a day-to-day basis.
So let me put it out there. Value is hard to Define from a global standard in my opinion simply because in order to Define value you have to come up with a common construct and for the most part, in spite of manipulation and secondary items, very few people share the same construct of what value is.
Value could be anything from materialistic machinations to holistic hallucinations and a host of other items in between. If I were to define the value of my existence it would not be measured by things, but it one time it was. If I were to be questioned now on what things were important to me, they may not be important to anyone else because the things that are important to me and that have value are those things that open up my mind to other times and other areas and bring back fantastic memories of a variety of situations.
If I were to ask a philosopher to define value, they may answer that value is defined by how we as a society find our way to something better. Not as a single entity but as a whole or how we approach the world and continue evolving from a scientific method to a purely subjective method but always from the idea of evolution of thought.
If I were to ask a politician the answer might be the ability to control the masses. If I were to ask another politician it might be the ability to walk away from the idea of government.
The complexities aside, most people or at least a significant number May not see commonality between themselves and others. Most people may not see beyond what I like to call conversational DNA and the ability to speak without inserting your thoughts into a conversation. My idea here is that when you are talking to someone if there are Concepts that you do not understand, you will use your experiences to fill in the blanks of the conversational DNA and make it make sense to you instead of trying to clarify and learn more.
I’ll give you a strange example. Right now there are very liberal people and very conservative people that are fighting over a variety of different situations. If they actually took the time to talk to each other and remove the conversational DNA from the mix they might find did they both want the same thing. They both want the right to choose, the right to be left alone, the right to be who they are and not who someone wants them to be. Because of the inherent bias of the two extremes they may never know this simply because there are issues that they do not agree on.
Sorry, I’ve gone down a rabbit hole again. It happens.
My point to this ridiculously long post is that we need to define value for us. If we try to define value as a whole it will be constantly changing since there is no essence of value past today. If there was, economists would become rich because they would know what would be valuable 6 weeks for now or a year from now. Define the value for you. If it’s altruistic and creates a situation for everyone that makes the world a better place, all the better. Only you can define the value that is right for you.
So as the sun sets on another day, I hope you have a spectacular day. I hope that you find Value in everything you do. Mostly I hope you realize that you are special and there is only one you and that you is unique. Keep finding a path to enjoy life, and make your world an amazing world, no matter what.
Sleep sweet, love life, and find value…