I have come to discover over recent years, that I am a philosopher, an old and forgotten art. Now we have a lot of people who say they are philosophers, and they philosophize. Most are filled with shallow foolishness. Others stab at it, missing this or that, because they didn’t think it through.
That is the art of philosophy, to think it thru, to find the truth, as best we can, and train ourselves to believe it. But that takes time and effort and a lot of information. That’s why a culture has philosophers, to do the heavy lifting, to figure it out according to what is known to be true. That’s the key; you can’t build a successful philosophy, and subsequent culture on falsehoods. Whatever you do, it has to be in harmony with the very real world around it, or it’s not going to work. You can’t build a culture that doesn’t believe in eating, they would stave. You can’t build a culture that doesn’t believe in sex, they would die out. Okay, these are basic truths that we have to follow in order to survive; to live better than we would otherwise, we need a philosophy. Therefore it is necessary to create a common philosophy on which to build a culture, for a culture is built on common ideas and goals. If these ideas and goals are flawed, then the culture will play itself out. That is to say: it will rise to the level onto which their philosophy is based in truth. Above that, they have no reality to build on, and the world around you is real, regardless of what you might think.
My mother was a philosopher; I didn’t know it when I was young, but I did listen to her, and she was a well educated and very wise woman, a woman who had a way of seeing things as they are. I’ll be quoting her quite a bit. My father was a very smart man, he liked math, and my father liked things to add up. He would say, “If it doesn’t add up! It doesn’t add up.” He also liked to say. “If it’s true here, then it’s true there.” That is to say, if 2X2=4, than 4/2=2, that simple, don’t over complicate it. If you see it here, then you’ll see it there. I’ll be quoting my father quite a bit as well.
My Mother once told me, it’s better to watch the game than to play in it. Play, be part of the game, learn how it works at ground level, what does it take to make it happen? But, your point of view should always be from the bleachers, and beyond. As a result of this advice, I never saw, what my peers saw, I never heard what my peers heard. That was an odd thing that I didn’t come to understand for many years. So I was always at odds with my peer group. I just saw things differently.
I was born and reared a Roman Catholic, and learned the foundation, and teachings of the Church. I remember once as a teenager, I asked Dad, “You really believe all that stuff at Church?” He said yes. Now remember, I was born in ’52, so I was right in the middle of all the new age thinking. So I said, “But it doesn’t make any sense, with what there’re teaching at school.” He replied, ‘it’s the only thing that does make sense, don’t be afraid to scrutinize your God, He can stand up to it.”
Back to being a philosopher, my Mother and my Father sent me on a journey, that I have come to realize in recent years, I need to write down, because, that’s what philosopher’s do.
I not going to tell you my life story, I figure that’s another book, nor am I going to rehash what others believe, for that’s not my purpose, my purpose is to tell you what I believe, what I think and how it applies.
My Dad and I used to like to watch archeology documentaries. It was fun to watch them dig up the past and talk about what they thought. Then once, in later years, they (archeologist) were digging up some fellows who had shipwrecked up around Nova Scottish sometime in the eighteen hundreds, and had been buried by the local’s in the permafrost. Dad looked at me and asked, “How long you gotta be dead, before its okay to dig you up?” And I looked at him and said, “I don’t know.” But it got me to thinking. Archeologist is a fancy and acceptable word for grave robber. Now, if you looked up archeologist, and grave robber in the dictionary, you would get two different meanings for the same activity. One we accept, and one we do not.
Just how long do you have to be dead, before it is okay to dig you up for the people, or for profit? A hundred years, five hundred years, should you dig up your own? How about cultures of the past, a people who aren’t really part of who you are? On what criteria would you base such a decision? Or do you just ignore it, and accept the idea this grave robber has a degree, works under the guise of an archeologist, and is working for your good.
When I was six years old, my father gave me a bb gun, He gave me a mess of rules to go with it, the first of which was, don’t point a gun at anyone unless you intend to kill them, second, you can kill anything you want (within the law), but you can’t kill a song bird, or its your ass. I knew what he meant when he said, ‘or it’s your ass!’ Well, I learned one bird from another, just so I wouldn’t get caught shooting a songbird. At the time I thought Daddy liked song birds. Well he’s dead, and the years rush on, and I have come to realize, he didn’t give a damn about songbirds, it was his way of teaching me to always know what in your sights, before you pull the trigger.
So you see, there is more to passing along a Philosophy, then just talking about it. You have to live it in traditions, and taught repeatedly. This is where the ole sayings came from, Sayings like; ‘Birds of a feather flock together,’ ‘ a stitch in time, saves nine,’ ‘Well done is better than well said,’ so on and so forth.
What makes this political? Politics are a very real part of the culture, and therefore the Political Philosophy has to be based in truth, in what is real other wise it will crumble, and the culture right along with it.
Remember a culture ruled by one man, or a group of men, can only rise to the level of that one man, or that group of men and their imagination, ideas and ambitions.
A Culture of people, who limit their Law, and express themselves as free people, can touch the moon. ©
George Henry Nichols
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