Essentials: Long List of Short Answers

Our recent discussion on the essentials for a good life generated many possible answers. Here is a list of short answers that were suggested, with which you may or may not agree:

1. Good health.
2. A sense of moderation.
3. Flexibility.
4. Passions.
5. Breyer's ice cream.
6. Good relationships.
7. Peace of mind.
8. A sense of self.
9. A sense of purpose.
10. A feeling of gratitude.
11. Compassion
12. Patience.
13. Love.
14. Ability and willingness to be content.
15. Work.
16. Feeling one has the power to change things.
17. Hope.
18. Pleasures.
19. A forward looking capacity.
20. Appreciation of the present moment.
21. Confidence.
22. Mindful awareness.
23. A spiritual perspective.
24. A moral code.
25. Something to do and someone to do it for.
26. A philosophical attitude.

I also find it interesting to note what was not mentioned - money, sex, good looks, status, fame, good luck, good genes, good schooling, family connections. Let me know what you think.

Cheers,

Steve

Steve Stokes Afterthoughts

Here are some afterthought from Steve Stokes concerning our discussion last Wednesday:

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Steve,

All in all, I thought it was a very [good] session. I have three points I wanted to share with you.

First: I was not saying that a person needed to have passions or great passions to have a good life, my only point is that whatever passions one has, the fulfillment of those passions is paramount to the good life. I believe the Founding Fathers hit the nail on the head when they identified the pursuit of happiness as one of the unalienable rights of humans.

Second: I think the mode of conversation after the talk was over was more productive towards the exploration of the topic. When we are waiting our turns, the time lag disconnects the speakers from each other, and we are only allowed to make stilted sound bite statements. I don't think David really got a chance to understand that is was my position the fulfillment of personal passion is the one essential for a good life. It seemed as if David didn't think the rest of us were addressing the question at hand. I don't know, maybe it was a matter of semantic misunderstanding, but in any case the mode of conversation blocked us from resolving that difficulty. As I think on this, it seems like maybe David thought we were more answering "what are the essentials OF a good life", and he differentiated that from "what are the essentials FOR a good life", the former being the requirements of good living, and the latter being the resources/tools needed to bring about the good life.

Third: This is just a follow-up: when I reviewed David's six essentials they look more like a list of essentials for living a saintly life or a life that is good, as opposed to the "good life". Maybe in his mind the way to a good life is to live life as a saint, and so they equate.
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Thanks, Steve. Dave, feel free to respond.

At some point I plan to implement a bona fide electronic bulletin board or forum site, linked to this site, whereby you and Dave and others can carry on a more in depth, back and forth dialogue. In such a forum you would have ample time to present your arguments and make your case. You would not need to limit your time and wait for others to take their turn, as you do in a one hour podcast. I think that might address some of your concerns in your point number two. (Don't ask me to predict how long that might take me to get up and running though.) In the meantime, feel free to run your afterthoughts through me directly.

Cheers,

Steve

Essentials for the Good Life

Greetings Philosophers All,

The latest Thinking Out Loud podcast has been released on iTunes. The session was recorded at our new venue, the Charlottesville Public Library, on Wednesday, July 2nd. The topic was:

"What are the essentials for a good life?"

Participating were veteran citizen philosophers, David Rood, Deborah Martin, George Garrett, John Tytus, Stephen Whiteman, and Steven Stokes. Also joining us for the first time were newcomers, Rachel Backburn and Susan Patrick. Welcome to the forum, Rachel and Susan, and thank you for sharing your philosophical insights. We had a most enlightening discussion. Here are some of the questions we wrestled with:

Are there any universal prerequisites to living the good life? Is the question totally subjective, or are there any objective measures? Is good health an essential element? Do physical impairments preclude living a good life? Do pain and suffering? How about impaired mental health? Must one have passions to live the good life? From whose perspective is one's life to be judged as good? Are pleasures, contentment, and happiness reliable indicators of a good life? When a sexual predator is fulfilling his passion, is he living the good life? Might passion be necessary, but not sufficient to a good life? How do we distinguish the essential prerequisites FOR a good life from the hallmarks OF a good life? Is peace of mind essential? Is it a cause or an effect? Can one's life be judged in progress, or must it be judged as a whole only after it has been completed, as one might judge a book or movie? What does it mean to be contributing to the goodness of the world? Are externally applied criteria any more objective than internal judgements? Can one have a good life by just appreciating the present moment? Is a spiritual framework necessary for a good life? Are the essentials for a good life the same throughout ones life? Is there a preferred or natural order to the unfolding of one's life? What does it take to stay on one's course, given that everyone's path may be different? What role does gratitude play in living the good life? Are not most of us living far better lives than even the kings and queens of previous centuries?

To subscribe to the podcast with your podcast software (such as iTunes or iPodder) copy and past the following link into your software:

www.citizenphilosopher.com/rss/tol_podcasts.xml

If you have iTunes, you can find us listed in the Apple Music Store directory under Podcasts/Society & Culture/Philosophy, or just do a search in iTunes on Thinking Out Loud People. The direct iTunes link is:

phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=214321935

If you don't have iTunes or other podcast software and just want to download the mp3 file directly, use this link:

Listen to the broadcast (mp3)

You are invited to add your thoughts by clicking on the "comments" link at the lower right hand corner of this post.

The next Thinking Out Loud will be Wednesday, August 6th, at 7:00 pm. We will select a topic at the beginning of the next session, as usual.

Cheers,

Steve

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Premed Science Tutor,
Citizen Philosopher,
Life Coach
www.citizenphilosopher.com
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Ebbecke Answers

Frank Ebbecke emailed me to offer his perspective on three of the proposed questions for this month. Frank used to be one of our local regulars in Charlottesville, Virginia, many years ago, but now resides in San Antonio, Texas. We are in the process of trying to coax him into partaking in our dialogues once again as one of our cyber participants. Here is his take on suggested topics 1 through 3:

For a good life I think you need a since of purpose and some measure of security.

To be reasonable and rational is to first realize that we live in a world that is not reasonable or rational. You are not emotionally devastated when you encounter this lack of reasonableness or rationally. This helps one to be consistent to purpose toward a worthwhile goal in the face of a temporary setback.

Big picture, how big? Ultimately there is nothing you can do. We all die. The sun will supernova some day. In the shorter run, yes we can influence things, but to a lesser degree than what we would like to think. If you lived in Charlottesville in 1861 and you are against Secession you could have a problem. Here in Texas, you would not have the problem for long after mentioning it, because you would be hung. We may be for or against the Iraq war, but if we are not in a policy making role, there is not much we can do about it.

Having spent a career in public education, I've seen children from the best backgrounds go bad. I've seen kids with the cards stack heavily against them go on to make something positive of their lives.

So, I guess the best answer is that we can influence the "big" picture of our lives, but again with a lot of qualification. I can apply myself, save and invest, and work hard. I can't do anything about gas prices, interest rates, the job market, tax policy, home prices, the stock market, or the emotional state of those around me. These qualifiers almost make me want to abrogate personal responsibility altogether. This is abanding too much to fate, I think. Speaking broadly, I've noticed that those who are responsible, apply themselves, plan ahead are over time better off than those who do not.

Best wishes,

Frank V. Ebbecke
San ANtonio, TX

Thanks, Frank, for you thoughtful reflections. Good to hear from you again. Hope you will be able to join us long distance in our next discussion in August. Would be nice to include the Texas perspective in our deliberations.

Cheers,

Steve