Philosophy is a method of using your intellect to discover what works.
We are physical creatures. We are finite. Our nature determines our
method of survival. Our minds are our only means of self-preservation.
We have to discover what kind of enviornment we thrive in and learn to take the necessary steps to ensure that survival.
But, if we are to live above the level of mere survival our existence must be improved; we must learn the truth that : NATURE, to be commanded, must be obeyed.
What does that mean? Unless you understand the objective nature of the real world you cannot mould it to suit your purposes.
Man must discover the limits and contrive the strategy of surmounting those limits.
Two thousand years ago a man could not fly. When darkness came he could not see. Great distances could not be quickly traversed. The lights in the sky were speculative visions.
But, men who used their rational powers seized nature in their own hands. In heroic efforts of will they focused and sifted and abstracted and learned. Men became inventors and discoverers and scientists and tore away the shrouds of ignorance that smothered them in the darkness of lesser animals.
Mankind, through the efforts of a very few, rose above subsistence and superstition and broke the bonds of gravity to plunge into the dazzling glory of transcendance.
But, while those thinkers, those philsophers, those rational minds were dragging mankind ever upward toward better lives, healthier bodies and more rational knowledge, others more sinister had their agendas.
The Greek philsophers ideally discussed the concept of a PHILSOPHER KING who might embody greatness of mind with magnificence of deed on behalf of his nation. Such a ruler would not need the tyrannical sword of death to improve his lot by subjugating others. The Philsopher King would, by dint of empowering progressive advancement and fair judgement, enable mankind to flourish equably.
This man never materialized!
Aristotle devoutly tutored the son of Philip of Macedon, the king's son, with the ennobling spirit of knowledge and service. This son grew to be Alexander the Great. His zeal was that of spreading the GREEK ethos throughout the known world. His was a missionary zeal for all things Greek. Anyone who could not speak greek was blubbering gibberish (hence the term: barbarian; mean blubbering gibberish).
Alexander was great only in that he was an efficient fighting machine. His travels in ancient lands were a mission of destruction to any who opposed his will. True, he spread Greek thought. But, at what price in blood?
I cite the above example for a reason.
The ideal is only "ideal" from a certain point of view. Nothing is ideal for everybody. To the non-Greek the ideal of Alexander was a threat to their national identity, their language and their very selves.
Philosophy works for the individual when a man discovers what his nature is and what it must become. How a man "becomes" cannot be at the cost of others. Religion enters!
Why should any man follow the rules of others? Who can force a particular behavior? The answer is: God. God is the profound extrapolation of the ideal: All good and all powerful, just and true.
By insisting there is a mind and a power above all else and signing that god's name to a list of behaviors, the middleman (priest) offers the reason :WHY MUST I OBEY?
So too with a political ruler. What is legitimate about a ruler that any man should obey him? It must involve POWER and it must involve some claim to transcendant goodness and justness.
History is a list. The list is paired. On one side we have the names of rulers. On the other side we have the names of priests, prophets, mystics of all kinds. The ruler gains legitimacy from mystic. How?
The mystic has power over the minds of men. Fear, superstition and a claim to ethical dominance enslave man to the punishment of god or the reward of service in his name.
The political ruler must use the religious ruler. Parasite and host.
Parasite: politician/priest Host: mankind
The engine that drives this false symbiosis is fear and ignorance; power and persuasion.
Only an individual is truly free. But, even the wisest and mightiest of individuals is but one human being. To accomplish great change the individual must have numbers: co-operative collusion; a multitude of hands and shoulders pushing against obstacles.
And that is the built-in rub!
The minute an individual joins forces with others an awful price is paid:
1.Compromise
2.Dominance/submission
3.Obedience
The failure of politics is the failure of religion is the failure of mankind to achieve the dignity of autonomous action. Thus we become fractions and factions and splinters and sects and cults and chaos.
Democracy asks permission of those who must obey. The Constitution tells what rights and freedoms an individual possesses and the Bill of Rights protects man from his own government.
The citizen is free and the government is bound; that is ideal democracy. All men are created equal? How? By this. All men are born human. Our humanity is in our shared nature. We all share the nature that what we NEED to survive and flourish is identical. We cannot escape our human nature. We are all created equal by our humanity. It is our law and our agreement with that law that create us as a people.
So then, why do we not live in Utopia? Because men must rule men. Because laws are administered by men. Because the advantage to power is greater to the one weilding it than it is to the one to whom it is being dealt.
Win-win is the ideal. But, power cannot be equalized. A leader is not a leader unless he turns his head behind him and see followers lining up.
When we win; we lose.
Hell is other people.
