Principles

With choices looming around every corner, something must assure we make the appropriate choices. I am convinced that the central idea of those choices must be principles. People nowadays are infatuated with the approval of others in contrast to gaining knowledge or self-development. This isn’t to say that the person’s existence doesn’t matter but it does mean that what they think, say, or do has nothing with my existence. So where does that leave us?

 Principles. A set of standards and guidelines that one lives by and will be faithful to those standards free of the situational variables. Principles should not be broken. Those that love and support you will not put you in a situation where those principles are at risk. An example of a principle would be to choose growth over people. My personal growth in stature, skill set, and knowledge will far outweigh the need to have many friends or popularity. If I chase the need for many friends or the praise of many, I will come up empty, because what the human soul needs is not quantity but quality. To find a group that will help you pursue your endeavor is a goal that transcends the individual. A group is a collection of individuals, who in their own right, are pursuing their collective tasks all at their own speed and timeline. The difficult task is to find those that fit in the space-time, benefitting one another. That in itself is time well spent. I believe this is hard to do with a big group or those that don’t fit the mindset of the group.

This is a complete miss with those that think a human’s goal is to find as many people as possible. Life is not a numbers game. In the early stages, I am inclined to believe that it is. Now for those of you who have been in my class, you know the task that befalls you now is to define the terms. This starts with identifying which term to define in the above statement, “ in the early stages. I am inclined to believe that it is.” The term to define is early stages. Am I describing a time of early human stages, relationship stages, development stages, etc.? ALL OF THE ABOVE. The change from quantity to quality must take place and it must be evident. As you may have guessed, this is only applicable to those who live by the ethos, select growth over people. I am under the firm belief that eagles don’t fly with pigeons, AND pigeons don’t fly with eagles. It’s famously said that there are those who would rather read a book at a party because the conversations they would have were appealing to a side that they grew out of or found uninteresting and disengaging. Let’s further the hypothetical. Sooner or later, that individual would get fewer and less invitations to parties. Then they would find themselves having more time to grow and invest in relationships that actually mattered to them. Both groups win. Those who party will have more room for others that want to be there and those that chose growth will find themselves surrounded by individuals who are on the same path. 

Some may say that the hypothetical laid out before us today is an ideal, and on the other spectrum, far-fetched, but a possibility nonetheless. 

Principles depend on the degree of the dilemma. Situations will come when principles will be stretched or condensed but these times must be absolutely limited. Not all principles are made the same or from the same cloth. If your character is out of place or threatened, better to preserve your character than to take on an identity that is contrary to who you are. 

Principles can be derived from ethics, morals, experiences, or a combination of the three. The birth, implementation, and preservation of those principles will aid in a person becoming an individual who is grounded and firm, independent of the ever-changing landscape that surrounds them. Although there are many different definitions of morals and ethics, here we will define them as follows: ethics in regards to individual choices in relation to subjectivity and morals as the objective “right and wrong” at scale. Without going into too much detail, we must talk about truth to fully understand the idea of ethics and morals which in turn will further the development of our principles. We will define truth as a non-changing, non-adaptive, independent modality that invariably helps define human nature and choices. Simply put, truth is objective. Many people think that truth is subjective due to their opinions about the “truth statement” at hand but those who think like this are portraying an incomplete thought. It is one thing to say that the way a true statement is interpreted may change depending on the hearer and another thing to say that the lens by which people see the truth is truth itself.  In both instances, truth is defined as a subjective matter, which goes contrary to one of the prime criteria of something being true. Truth is not dependent on the hearer, conveyor, or interpreter. Truth is an entity that transcends the feelings, opinions, and lenses of the seeker. Yes, truth is meant to be sought out, which in turn, is a primary reason why truth is advertised as being subjective. 

For something to be true, that truth statement must fulfill a number of criteria; several of those being falsifiability, non-adaptivity, unchangeability, and potential to be widespread at its most basic level. (Another way to check for truth is to check the truth statement based on a self-sufficient, aromatic text, but that’s for a later time)Each criterion has its own subjective agenda in its fulfillment, which is where we come to our first problem. If we gauge a true statement based on a biased position, we come up with our own ETHOS, not truth. To live by one’s ethos is acceptable to a certain degree but to live by a personal truth is illogical, as it is not truth but an opinion of the truth, which in turn is not truth. This is a definitional problem. The word ethos and truth are fundamentally different and yet we hear it all the time: “live by your personal truth.” Truth is not personal. It is a noumenal entity that is not dependent on your existence or your interpretation of existence. So better to say: “live by an ethos.” One of the critiques some have of those that check the truth in this way is the notion of being rigid, narrow-minded, and clouded however, those that see the truth for what it has the purest form of that truth statement and in turn, allow for the most solid of principles. 

Perhaps alongside the right principles, one can argue that it is also imperative to unequivocally and unapologetically keep those principles. To reiterate, what good are principles if those principles falter, change and “adapt” to the times and circumstances. If those so-called principles falter, change and adapt then they aren’t principles, they’re mottos. And everyone, including the most illogical, unethical, and unstable people has mottos.