Warfighting

There is a lot of combat talk in this ongoing series, and with good reason. It seems that life in society is more like war than life. It seems that the philosophy of war is more appropriate to health and peaceful living than any other philosophy at least for people who value reason and life. You can really be beaten down in this world unless you "fight, fight, fight, fight," as Frank Sinatra used to say in his live concerts when fooling around with the band. I don't think that he knew how prophetic he was.



Why is the warrior philosophy so important? In this world people do not want to just shoot you--or your ideas--down, they want to tear you to shreds, denigrate and humiliate you in the process and you are both supposed to laugh about it afterwards. These days someone can sue you or merciless attack you in the press and utterly destroy your reputation, and fully expect to go out for coffee and crumb cakes later. It is more like Wonderland than life.

There is a particular glee in maliciousness that did not seem to exist here before. I never lived through any other time, but in watching the great American classic films for example, you get a sense that things were not so dirty. That does not mean people were angels. Far from it. But, there did seem to be a kind of balance in society that people like you could appeal to, and even if you would not be heard, at least there was some kind of appeal. Just as an example, no matter how many signs are placed around places that are supposed to be quiet such as in libraries or movie theatres, people still insist on taking their bloody cell phone calls as if no one else on the face of the earth existed or mattered. It sends a very clear message: F-ck you! Who cares if it disturbs you. I'll do what I want! If you have the courage to try to appeal to someone to seek redress, then it becomes all about you, your unfriendliness, your unreasonableness, your "anger." This mentality is at the heart of the problem for rational people. It is mentality of homelessness, a mentality that sees ideas and values as nondescript entities disconnected and uprooted from any type of integrated system of ideas. Ayn Rand called them "floating abstractions. Leibniz called them "monads." An excellent American martial arts instructor was more straightforward. He just called them "bullshit." Whatever you call them, it is not surprising that people, American in particular, have great difficulty in critical thinking, completing a thought, because both require connecting ideas and that requires a working brain. When thinking matters through and integrating knowledge in general are held as noble goals, then one does not strive for "floating abstractions," but for understanding. When greater understanding is your purpose, at some point along your journey you realize that cell phones, loud talking, and horseplay in quiet places is inappropriate. Why? Because you have a sense of appropriateness, logic, order, cause, and effect. In other words, you have built a life based on an integrated system of knowledge that is biologically sound. That leads to common sense so that you don't have to be told or wait for someone to complain about out of place noises, you know it already and simply do not want to disturb no so much because you are saint, but because it just is not necessary.

Rational people, no matter how young you are, will feel an understandable repulsiveness at the flippant attitude that too damn many people get away with under the guise of "humor" or "wit." The greater question that will undoubtedly occur to you is why should you show prudence, caution, and consideration while others parade around flaunting their inconsiderately vulgar behavior? There is no other logical answer except that it is in your interests to do so. Here is an example of where the warrior philosophy comes into play. If you accept the premises of society, then you should turn the other cheek as it were because it is a part of some make-believe social contract. This is smack of dishonesty. On the other hand, if you take a more independent path, and place your survival at the top of your concerns, then you can coldly and objectively evaluate what to do in the face of gross injustice. If you say something to an obnoxious buffoon in a library or movie theatre will it cause you trouble? If you fight some ape-like moron because he insulted you, is the trade off in terms of jail time, loss of freedom, and opportunity for earning money worth the temporary satisfaction you may feel in pulverizing him or verbally putting her in her place? Usually the answer is no. The fact that you are so often confronted with such discouragingly negative choices in life shows not that you have a problem with your thinking, but that people in general are brutes with a very low intellectual capacity. Certainly in general they have a very low capacity for human understanding in all of its forms. In other words, unless you want to spend a lifetime in disillusioned anguish, you have to define concepts for yourself and build your own value system based on truth, reality, and preservation. That will undoubtedly lead you to a warrior philosophy.

Employers fire you without notice, teachers call your ideas stupid, parents humiliate or berate you in public or worse, they beat you in private while pretending to be pillars of society. Everywhere you turn, people behave more like sworn enemies than friends and it all seems to be based on one big illusion. From the perspective of truth and independence, it seems that the Founders of America were extraordinarily insightful about the threats to liberty, happiness, and life. While their emphasis was understandably focused on politics, the essence of the dilemma is directly applicable to the individual life. For, it seems that life in society is centered around slavery of one form or another. People seem to be overwhelming concerned about getting control over others. First they try with various carrots, bells, whistles or Trojan gifts: "be nice," "smile," "be friendly," "have fun," "be cool," which all translate to the same thing. "Make us feel comfortable by telling us how great we are, agreeing with us, and being more like us. If that does not work, they try various forms of guile like guilt: "you should do it to be a good neighbor, a good son, a good daughter, a good father, a good mother, a good citizen, a good soldier, a good leader, etc. Writers like Nietzsche encouraged people to question concepts like "good" so that the individual could determine what the word means exactly and how it is being used; for as he aptly put it "there is blood and cruelty at the bottom all 'good' things."

How people use words and their premises is a form of analysis that teachers rarely teach you in school. It is even rarer still for teachers to be bold, strong, and independent enough to encourage you question the premises they use because obviously that would call into question everything that they are teaching. However, if what they are teaching has the strength of truth, it will endure rigorous questions and stand the test of time. A person's desire for you to question their premises and beliefs is the mark of strength and truth. Truth needs no defense. For a teacher or a so-called intellectual, to become defensive toward your questions is the greatest indication that what they teach cannot stand on its own, and if an idea cannot stand on its own why would someone want to teach it?

Questions like these, which conventional outlets in society rarely encourage you ask, get straight to the heart of the matter. Nietzsche called it philosophizing with hammers and arrows, but these were just metaphors for intellectual fortitude. One of the ways to arrive at that kind of kind of intellectual strength is through a philosophy that builds its edifice from the ground up, starting with what is true and verifiable and going from there. In other words you start with the the premise that Ayn Rand called existence exists; or A is A. Aristotle said it too. All of the foolishness that encourage you to doubt reality, that "your reality is different from my reality," that "to be is to be perceived," and the like are just distractions, and generally lead you to drugs and madness. Life among men seems to be full of distractions that lead you nowhere.



If gifts and guile do not work, then people resort to outright intimidation: do it or else...we will fire you, hurt you, jail you, or kill you. While most of life is not always this extreme, history is full of enough of examples to show that this is a significant part of life that cannot be ignored, that is if you believe A is A, and the emperor has no clothes.



It may seem easier to go along with the flow, to buy into the illusion and refrain from "making waves." To be sure this path generally provides greater financial rewards for society rewards its obedient foot soldiers, those who proselytize its message without question. That of course rules out independence. On the other hand, if independence is important to you, then you must find some way to live in this world without betraying your values or the things that you hold dear. Since financial rewards are often tied to betrayal, it is a difficult challenge to face. It is worth facing however, not only because it makes you stronger and forges a character. It does, but these have become hollow platitudes by now. The challenge is worth facing because it makes your life more solid and meaningful in the end. Facing the challenge and overcoming it eventually--for it may take some time--will make you more flexible, intelligent, worldly, and strong. These were the kinds of values that the Framers of America held in high esteem. For, these are the kinds of values that endure the test of time and that always build a stronger life no matter what the circumstances.



To see how this is true read Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankel, Common Sense by Thomas Paine, or On a Genealogy of Morals by Frederic Nietzsche.