Personal Philosophies You Live By

[alexander]

So i am yet again in one of my rather philosophical moods, which probably means i am yet again on the brink of depression, which, with me at least, reflects in my shift from technical things to more worldly thinking, deep analysis of things to the point of long meditation and nose bleeding. Also means i can be easily agitated, but that's not the goal of this post...

 

So, down to the point, everyone has a philosophy in life, some people have more of them, some less, some have more broad ones that apply to many situations, some have many that are much more directed. Some people borrow those philosophies from books, some people borrow them from other people, and occasionally people change/add philosophies for one reason or another, these are the ones of interest for this thread.

 

So philosophies you have created. But firstly why do we create philosophies and when. From studying this phenomenon, i have come to understand that there are only a hand full of reasons that we as people create philosophies. Though before i go into that, let me preface that with the fact that there is a distinguishing difference between philosophies and rules. Some people live by rules that they have created and/or borrowed from someone, rules are different from philosophies, though through analyzing both i have come to understand that more often then not rules are based around philosophies, and are meant to target either exceptions or specific instances of a philosophy. The main distinguishing difference of a rule over a philosophy is that a philosophy talks about a way of thinking about something, where is a rule marries an action to a situation, so lets not talk about rules, but rather talk about philosophies...

 

As i was saying before, i have come to understand that generally philosophies are created based on a hand full of things. I narrow them down to these:

 

• an even in one's life (generally generating an analysis type of a philosophy)
  
• an event in someone else's life, generally someone that is very close to the person (generally generating more of a metaphysical philosophy)
  
• an event in one's local community, or country, generally dramatic (generally generating a specific event philosophy, or a philosophy on a political/economic base)
  
• spur of the moment (generally generating a reaction type philosophy)
  
• boredom (generally generating a more broad philosophy with many meanings)
  
• based on a definition (generally definition of an outlook on something for example optimism, generally generates a definition-type of a philosophy)
  

This is based on limited data and psychological analysis, and i would like to expand my classification of personal philosophies, as well as reasoning, and just plain hear what other people come up with...

 

Now then, i will share some of my more recent philosophies, you can agree or disagree with them, if you have a comment on it you are more then welcome to share it.

 

In return, i would like to hear some of yours, because i would like more data for my analysis, thus, you get to share, i get to comment and analyze, chances are i will post my thoughts on them and classification (if you don't want to see that, just note that in your post)

 

* Don't expect of someone, you wouldn't otherwise expect of yourself

(reaction)

 

* Every language however different they may be, share a commonality; they all have 2 terms one of which is meant for asking someone and another one for verbally rewarding the acquiescence of that request. In English those words are "please" and "thank" respectively. It is imperative to use those terms to indicate an asking-type of a request.

(analysis)

 

* One's personality reflected in intercommunication does not follow the polarity laws of electro-magnetism. (negative attracts negativity)

(analysis)

 

* Focusing on little things blurs the big picture

(broad)

 

 

well, here are a few, i'll save some more that i can recall for replies, hoping someone joins me here, that is.

[InfiniteNow]

I think it's better to be authentic and be perceived as offensive than to be insincere or false and perceived as mannerly.

 

Also, very few problems in this world which cannot be solved after a few beers/coffees, and even fewer when those beverages are shared with friends.

[alexander]

hmm, interesting, looks like and you can correct me on this one, reaction and P/E base, though the P/E base one looks to be of a spur of the moment generation.

 

great stuff already, especially the first one, let me ponder it for a bit, i will probably post analisys on that philosophy a little later...

[freeztar]

Efficiency and functionality trump aesthetics in all things practical.

 

Judge someone not for the grapes they grow. Instead, taste of their wine.

 

Kindness repays itself. Not through any reciprocal force, but rather through self improvement.

 

No one is humble.

 

A positive outlook can't change a situation, but it sure makes it more comfortable than the alternative.

 

Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we practice being spiderman. :shrug:

[alexander]

I think it's better to be authentic and be perceived as offensive than to be insincere or false and perceived as mannerly.

 

this one is interesting, and i have one that is similar to it, it's a rule driven by a philosophy

 

don't say something about someone you would not otherwise say to them directly, and dont say something about someone if you have not already indicate it to them

 

this is a philosophy-derived rule

 

* No matter how elaborate the mask, eventually the face will show

(analysis) noting here that it seems that analysis-type personal philosophies generally tend to be short and described in third terms forcing one to derive a meaning to themselves based on a situation.

 

It seems that your philosophy was more likely based on an event or a set of events, most likely interpersonal experiences driven by personal psychology... (and once again, correct me if i'm wrong here) (this was a hard one to place)

[alexander]

interesting, freezy

 

once again correct me if i'm wrong

 

the first two are nearly the same thing worded differently, with the second one being a bit more situational, and the first one based around a product, but both look like an analysis driven by local community (most likely work-type experience)

 

next one seems to be more metaphysical driven by boredom

 

"humble" is a specific situation driven by a reaction

 

next one i am going to have to define a new type of a philosophy, i'll add it on to the original post. Definition-based philosophy

 

last one seems analysis based on personal experience

[pamela]

smile and make eye contact with every one that crosses your path.

 

listen, it is an art to keep silent

 

never presume to know what an individual is like based upon first observation.

 

laugh often, especially at yourself.

[InfiniteNow]

You very ably grasped the heart of my post. Thank you for understanding.

 

Also, I loved this quote, and had not heard it previously, but it's quite resonant.

 

* No matter how elaborate the mask, eventually the face will show.

[modest]

I think it's better to be authentic and be perceived as offensive than to be insincere or false and perceived as mannerly.

 

It's better to be authentic and perceived as mannerly than to be authentic and perceived as offensive.

 

Ghandi comes to mind. The philosophy requires making oneself authentically respectful of the thoughts and opinions of others and therefore defeats the dichotomy of insincere/offensive or sincere/inoffensive or the mutual exclusiveness of sincerity and respect.

 

~modest