Individualism

Individualism. Individualism is the belief in one’s own self, in being unique and self-reliant. It is commonly said that every person is indeed unique and different. Is this true? Or is society changing that? Perhaps everyone is becoming more and more alike. Author and Philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you into something else is the greatest accomplishment”. When I look at the world around me, I see lots of people dressing alike, acting alike, and trying to be like other people. I do believe that if you stay true to yourself in this ever changing world, then that is the greatest accomplishment.

According to this philosophy, does the phrase “all great minds think alike” hold true? I believe that what makes a mind great is the ability to think differently. People that think alike are often narrow-minded. If a group of people see one abstract picture, such as the ink blotches that are associated with psychiatry, and then ask them what it is, you will probably get different answers. The first may say “a butterfly”, after that, everyone else’s idea of what it may be is tainted by the first person’s idea. They would become narrow-minded to the option there might be other interpretations of the picture. They might be only able to see the butterfly now amidst the unorganized mass of ink. So, the next person might say they also see the butterfly, and so would the person after that. However, in that mix of people, one may say they see a girl dancing. By him stating that, he may also change the opinions of several others, and there also will be some who are cannot see that. Most of the people though, will more likely still only see the butterfly because it was the first and easiest thing to see. Of course this metaphor would not be always one hundred percent accurate, however I think it suits my purpose. I feel that it is that one or two people who see the picture, or the world, differently then everyone around them are the great minds.  

Many people in our common society would often be considered “followers”. Followers as in they often don’t think or act for themselves. They try to use someone else’s thoughts or actions to pull them through life. (As I briefly showed in my previous metaphor)  Most everyone has someone they look up to, an idol of sorts, and though there is nothing wrong with this, trying to be exactly like them is a problem. In our society, I notice this most with my peers and their sports icons. A large percentage of my fellow high school goers are largely sports fans. And many of my friends that are sports fans aspire to also become a pro football or basketball player. One thing I notice is they believe it helps to dress like the players. This is mainly spurred by advertising, which is indeed trying to change a person, is it not? The very point of advertising is trying to change the viewer’s opinion into buying a product, and sports icons are perfect for them to use. In saying that if you wear this brand of shoes, then you will be more like LeBron James, people will buy those shoes. People come to believe their future success relies on the products that their icon uses. This goes for such items as their shoes, or brand of clothes, etc. Maybe that brand is the best for you, but instead of trying other things, other brands, to find out for themselves they blindly follow their idol. If they do become a pro sports player, that is great, they achieved their goal, but in order to do this, they will have had to find their own way there. It does not matter where you end up, but it is how you get there that matters.

The most common way I see individualism taken away from someone is not by government, society or anything of that sort, but by one’s own choice. I find that this is very true and prominent in high school. In high school you see the different cliques; there are band kids, sports jocks, drama kids, the nerds, the hipsters, etc. And in order to “fit in” with a certain clique, you often change yourself to become more like the other people in that association. You yourself take away your individuality by trying to be something you are not. Many people do this by trying to be what we know as hipsters. A hipster is someone who (according to Urban Dictionary) “shun mainstream societal conventions”, and try to defy the cultural norm. However, “hipsterism” has become more and more popular and prominent I our cultural society. Thus, one who tries to be a hipster, or just be different in that way, in truth becomes more mainstream than they originally were. In my mind, and in the minds of individualist philosophers, then then only way to really be “different” is to be true to yourself.

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you into something else is the greatest accomplishment”, and indeed it is. It is hard sometimes to stay yourself in a world that is constantly moving and changing. Staying true to yourself is not just any accomplishment, but an important one. You cannot truly live until you discover who you are, and live like it. I believe that if everyone stayed true to themselves and did not let society change them, the world would be a more diverse, simpler, and happier place. That is a very optimistic view point on things, but it is who I am. And being that way, in Waldo’s terms, is the greatest accomplishment.  

Mystery

     I think any philosopher enjoys a good mystery. It gives us something to think about, questions to ask, answers to find. Our life here on Earth will always be filled with questions, riddles, and enigmas, sometimes without answers. I also think that a lot of the world thinks of questions in a negative light. And, it is natural, as humans, to fear and dislike what we don't know, however I don't think questions are always a bad thing.
      One of my favourite quotes about this topic comes from the TV show, Heroes, and it says: "Sometimes questions are more powerful than answers." -Mohinder. And this is very true, questions can have a bigger impact on a person then the answer could. Philosophy is a perfect example of this, people have dedicated their lives to the questions that may never be answered. Why are we here? What does it all mean? What will happen? These are powerful and mysterious questions, are they not? These questions have shaped religion and philosophy, and is in a sense, the very basis of religion and philosophy. 
     That did not exactly explain why I believe mystery and the unknown is so important to not just me, but the world. Albert Einstein once said "The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science". All art and science started with a question, a thought that was never completed with an answer. So, scientists and other great thinkers build their own answers, or at least substitutes for a certain time. I think though, that as interesting as it sounds, knowing everything would be a horrible thing. There are answers, we are better off not knowing. Our time of death? What the future is like for us? If we know these things, we will never experience, anything. Surprise, joy, sadness, love, anger will cease to exist if we knew absolutely everything. Sometimes, ignorance is indeed bliss. It is also impossible to know the infinite reaches of everything with our finite mind. So, if we did know "everything", our mind would probably, blow up. Do we know that? No. Will we ever? No, because it is impossible for anyone to know everything.
    Mysteries are infinite and fantastic, and will forever sit in the human mind as we reside in our mortal state. Is this a bad thing? No, not at all. As Einstein said, mystery is the most beautiful thing we can experience. (Some may argue that love is, but love is a mystery, is it not?) Life is a "riddle wrapped in mystery, inside an enigma" and it will be for a very long time. And lucky for me, that is what this blog is about I suppose.        

Origin

            It is commonly believed that evolutionism and creationism cannot coexist. This is called the "Creation–evolution controversy" or the "Origin Debate" , and it has been going on for years. However, though they seem to indeed disagree with each other, I wish to disprove this idea completely. I believe that  these two different ideas can indeed work together in a sense. That though we may not know the exact truth, I feel my theory is a plausible explanation for our origins.    

            Evolutionism is the belief that every living organism has evolved, or adapted, from other organisms. In most uses, it denies the belief of God creating the world and universe.  This idea is a common belief amongst religious and social groups such as atheists, humanists, fascists, and other "anti-religious" groups. And, most people who believe this take the scientific view point on most controversial ideas, such as origin and creation of the universe.  Evolutionism was started by the famous 19th century scientist, Darwin, which is why evolutionism is also commonly called Darwinism.

            Creationism is the belief that God created life, the universe, and everything and takes a literal view of the book of Genesis in the Bible. This is popular among Christians, or anyone else that believes in the Bible. Those who believe in creationism take a religious view on life, and denies evolutionism.

            These two ideas are very contradicting in the eyes of most people, and it is understandable. One states that everything evolved from nothing, that from the abyss of nothing sprang the universe and from the universe sprang life. And, then that life evolved and adapted to where we are now. On the other hand, God created a universe from nothing, and put life down on it, and it has been like that even to this day.  My opinion? What if God created the means which by a universe could be born? Maybe it was not just him pointing his finger and a universe was created in a second. I think that he created the God Particle, the means by which the universe was born. And, then with the matter and elements that were now flying in what we now know as space, he smashed them together to form planets, stars, quasars, and the entire universe. So, I believe it really was the big bang, but it was set into motion by God. And the actual formation of it all is so seemingly inconceivable, that it could not of simply happen by chance. Our planet has to be this certain distance from the sun, any slight change in where the Earth is and it's course, would make it uninhabitable for human life. There is no way it could be chance that put our planet in that exact spot. The origin of life on our planet though is more controversial simply because there is so little known about it. I believe that indeed, animals have evolved, in all shapes and sizes. Animals have been evolving constantly, even from dinosaurs. Crocodiles are perfect examples, they look like little dinosaurs if you think about it. And, they have been around for millions of years.

            Where human life came from is more difficult to understand. All scientific evidence points to evolution, to us evolving from apes, to early Neanderthals, to what we are now.  This is something that we, as a race, know much less about. The chances are for the right matter and elements to come together to form sentient life in the first place are incomprehensibly tiny, and to adapt a brain like ours is absolutely incredible, and I am sure that that is not just from evolution. However, humans have indeed evolved or just adapted to the modern day. From ancient Egyptians from now is a lot has changed in our bodies. So, yes, I believe humans have "evolved" in a sense, but I don't think the origin of the human race is from a fish that grew legs. Other animals? Yes, just not humans. All in all, I believe there is way too much unknown to us in order to make a valid conclusion about the origin of human life. However, I think it is a lot more plausible that there is a little of both Creationism and Evolutionism rather than one or the other.                 

Time

"Time... you can't see it, you can't hear it, you can't weigh it, you can't measure it in a laboratory. It is a subjective sense of becoming, what we are, instead of what we were a nanosecond ago, becoming what we will be in another nanosecond. The whole piece of time's a landscape existing, we form behind us and we move, we move through it, slice by slice." - From the movie: A Man from Earth

                What exactly is time? Time has always been there, from the beginning all the way to eternity. Time is incomprehensible, as large and infinite as the universe itself, and just as a mystery.  It indeed has always been there, but at the same time, as the quote says, "you can't see it, you can't hear it, you can't weigh it, you can't measure it...". Now, some of you may be thinking that clocks measure time but, if we continue this quote, someone asks "don't clocks measure time?" and the man answers with  "No, they measure themselves, the objective referee of a clock is another clock". And despite not being able to see, hear, weigh, or measure it we, as a race, acknowledge time's existence. Why? Because what we do not only see, and hear, but feel too, are the effects of time as we "move through it".

                Time is indeed the sense of becoming that this quote talks about, we see and feel what we become, maybe not in a nanosecond, but we can see change in ourselves, but even more so in others. We notice how people around us change, both physically and mentally. We can see people we grow up with get taller, wider, shorter, thinner, all complements of time. In J.R.R Tolkien's "The Hobbit", one of  Gollum's riddles portrays these very effects of time. "This thing all things devours; Birds, beasts, trees, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, And beats mountain down."  The answer of course, being time.  And, indeed, it seems all things are swallowed up into the gaping jaws of the mighty beast we all call, time. In my mind's eye, time is one of the most amazing topics to talk about, because it is indeed always there, but we may not ever fully understand it. Unlike other topics, such as emotions, reasons of thought, ethics, morality, etc. because, those topics may only apply to some people, and we will never understand those because they are all different for every person, while time effects everybody.

                There is also the idea of time travel, that is commonly used in popular Sci-Fi culture. And, we have indeed found that, while in space, time is different because our bodies age slower. So, the furthest anyone has "traveled into the future" is only a few milliseconds. This record is held by Valeri Polyakov, who has spent more time in space in one mission than any other man (473 days, 18 hours, or 14 months) And though there is no way, currently, that we can forcefully shoot a man though time via time machine yet, it is proven, though only slight amounts, time travel has been accomplished. And, it is believed that black holes in space are powerful enough to indeed slow time down immensely, however this has not been confirmed because anything that gets close to a black hole will be pulled in (including light), and will not come out (at least on that side, there may be another side of the black hole, making it a worm hole). All these theories, although very interesting, are still theories.

                Time. Nobody knows exactly "what" it is, however it still proves to be the strongest force in the universe. And, man has a long ways to go if they ever wish to succeed in overcoming it. These are just a young philosopher's views on an infinite topic.                  

Is it Better to be Feared Than Loved?

                When referring to how to lead a group of people, a common and popular question asks: Is it better to be feared or loved? Now, most people may look at this and say "loved, of course" without giving it any thought. This is always true in two instances. One, individually, it is better to be loved by individual people, however I am discussing about leading a group. And two, in a perfect world, this would be totally and completely true. However, this world is far from perfect. I wish to look into the pros and cons of being feared by a group of people that you are in charge of.

                Fear can be very powerful as both a tool and an enemy to us. When making a group of people follow you, fear is used as a tool more than one may think. Throughout history fear has been used to control and dominate others. It is frowned upon by most society, yes, but if we think about it, fear is a much more logical answer than to be loved. Wars are not solved with love most of the time (perhaps there can be a marriage between two high ranking officials from both sides), but other than that wars are not won by love. To win a war, one side must invoke enough fear into the opponent to the point where they surrender or, they completely overpower the opponent. And even in matches in a much smaller scale, such as sports or simple board games, fear can be used. If enough fear is invoked it makes them nervous, and does not allow that person to think clearly. Intimidation can even be seen in the animal kingdom. Gorillas for instance, the silverback, who is the leader of the pack, makes himself appear larger and tougher than the other gorillas. If anyone challenges the silverback, they can ether beat the previous leader and become even more feared than he was, or they could be beaten down and looked down upon. This principle of  loss and victory applies to human society as well as gorillas. Each loss and victory for a county will determine how the rest of the world looks at them. If someone loses a war, they are look at as weak, and if they win, they are feared as a mighty country. However, there are downsides to this powerful tool. If one gains too much power this way, people may try to split off, and over through the government. There have also been many revolutionists and anarchists in history. And some succeeded (such as the American and French revolution), and others failed terribly (The Revolutions of 1848). This shows fear can be a powerful tool, but it can backfire.

                Love. According to the Beatles, "all you need is love". And, if everyone loved each other, this would be a perfect world but, as I have stated, this is not a perfect world. And, some may argue (like myself) that with the world constantly growing darker and harder to live in, we will need more love for one another to survive, but this is a different topic. I believe that a ruler should be loving, and loved. As I have stated though, love will not end wars typically, there needs to be an element of fear upon other opposing groups. So, I concluded that a ideal leader would have both qualities, and this would be respect. Respect is composed of many elements. From your followers point of view, they look up to you, care for you, but understand that you have earned that rank, and you are there to help them. And to your enemies, you are not feared to the point where they will start a war or grudge match against you, but they do not look down upon you either. This is the perfect median between love and fear, but respect is closer to love than fear. So, in conclusion I believe, over all  it is indeed better to be loved over feared.              

Great Minds

     Madness. By definition, madness is a state of mental instability which may cause irrational and/or unnatural behavior. Is it really this though? I have a different idea of what is crazy and what is clever. I think society has trouble seeing the difference between a great mind, and a madman. If society or just any person does not understand someone or something, they consider it alien or different, and they call it insanity. Those with great minds are not insane, they just see things differently than the rest. They are just above the crowd, they deviate from the norm. That is not mental instability, their mind is just more in tune to the world around them. However, on the flipside to this, just because one is not mentally or emotionally unstable does not mean that they are normal. Ian Fleming wrote in his book Dr. No:

                " You are right, Mr. Bond. That is just what I am, a maniac. All the greatest men are maniacs. They are possessed by a mania that drives them towards their goal. The great scientists, the philosophers, the religious leaders — all maniacs."

                Anyone who aspires to and does something great with their genius can be considered a maniac. According to the dictionary, a maniac can be defined as "any intemperate or overly zealous or enthusiastic person". So, if someone is enthusiastic about doing something, and do it well, they can be considered a "maniac". So indeed, in the words of Dr. No the greatest scientists, thinkers, philosophers, innovators, inventors, leaders, etc. were all maniacs. There is a difference, in my opinion, from a crazy madman and a maniacal philosopher.

 

                You are probably familiar with the phrase: "All great minds think alike". I disagree with this phrase. Sure, sometimes it is true that great minds are capable of thinking, and seeing the same things, however I believe that it is the ability to see things differently that makes a great mind great. If you give three different people the same problem, a paradox with no real or correct answer, such as:

If someone says "I always lie", are they telling the truth? Or are they lying?  

                Two of them may say it is impossible to tell if this man is lying or not, and they are right in a sense, there is no answer. But, a cleverer mind may say, it is a paradox, and if there is no real answer, how can stating “it is impossible” not be an answer. Concluding that impossibility is an answer, will lead to the conclusion that a paradox itself is another paradox. Anyone who thinks like that would surely be called crazy by today’s society. But, even if his answer (or non-answer) is crazy, he is still smart because he looked beyond the norm of just saying it is impossible. A great mind is a great blade forged in the fires of experience. Weak minds are pieces of metal rusting from lack of use and care. With a great mind you can overpower any problem and person. This is why it is important to think outside the box, and not be afraid to blaze your own trail in life.