Principles

So I read a lot of self improvement books in an attempt to better myself and gain some clarity about this crazy experience of life that I’m apart of. One of the recent one’s was the book “Principles” by Ray Dalio. Dalio breaks the book up into two section: life principles and work principles, with an introduction to himself and some of his general life philosophies and experiences. After reading the introduction, I was inspired to write down some of my own “principles” that guide my actions and intentions. What I came up with below are 10 more-or-less beliefs that I hold closely at this point in my life. This is basically the framework how I view my life and the world around me. The reason I am putting these out here is not to change other people’s views, but rather airing them in the public so I they can be critiqued and improved by myself and others. I think this is a really beneficial exercise in understanding who you are, and it probably planted the seed in my mind for creating this blog (for better or worse). I highly recommend both reading “Principles” and going through this exercise yourself.

*fair warning: the statements below are based purely on bro-science and probably half-truths I half-remember from books and podcasts, so take any “facts” I state with several grains of salt*

1. Religion – I am not religious. I was not raised in a structured religion, and my exposure to it was generally negative. That being said, I highly respect everyone’s right to practice religion. I think that it can provide a lot of positive structure to individuals and even the world – if channeled correctly. While I believe religion has caused a lot of pain and suffering throughout existence, my biggest issues with it right now is mainly from a logical perspective, and my inability to adopt “faith” in something that I have no meaningful experiences with. I do believe in a higher power, not a robed man in the clouds, but rather a force in the world that is out of my control. The force I am talking about are the laws of nature and chaos which dictate my world, and I understand I have no ability to change them, so I need to learn how to operate effectively within them. I believe this understanding is crucial to maintaining humility.
2. Free Will – I believe Free Will is a paradox. At a 30,000 foot viewpoint, there’s nothing that mankind has discovered (that I know of) which could explain the source or prove the existence of Free Will. The paradox is that if you do not believe in the existence of Free Will, you are at risk of becoming a passive vehicle, letting laziness consume you and blaming your external environment for your own shortcomings. While I will assume that Free Will does not exist while analyzing the world outside of me to prevent judgement, I would like to operate under the assumption that I have Free Will and I am responsible for my actions and deserving of their consequences. I have to be careful here because I think this unforgiving viewpoint of myself has caused a lot of my own challenges in life. It’s clear that the human brain is not capable of understanding all the complexities of the natural world.
3. Natural Truth – With the previous point in mind, I believe it is crucial to learn and absorb as much knowledge about the natural world as we can. I believe the pursuit of truth while mitigating the impacts of emotions is key to the pursuit of happiness. The ability to absorb and process the natural world without judgement of good or bad is a key concept of Buddhism, and I think this is critical to pursuing a happy existence. There is a never-ending source of natural truths in the world, and the ability to commit oneself to the pursuit of these truths will keep you youthful and lively throughout your existence.
4. Transparency – I believe it is important to live transparently. This means opening yourself up to the world as you are, with the ultimate goal of becoming a better individual. By opening up, you are able to receive positive and negative feedback about your actions/thoughts/behaviors, and course correct accordingly. Hiding your true self from the world prohibits this feedback and stunts your personal growth.
5. Politics – I believe being moderate in politics is a good thing, and I have a general distrust for politicians or ideological extremists. I believe the world is entirely too complicated to be explained by any single ideology. So, anyone willing to commit themselves entirely to one school of though is either willingly or unwillingly ignoring the rest of the world’s natural truths. I believe this is how many of the most terrible situations in the world have come into existence, more often than not led by politicians. These politicians tend to take advantage of people’s desire for a simple answer to life, and use it to further their own personal agenda, I understand the pragmatic need for uniting people to achieve a goal, but I believe humility should always be used to prevent separation from the truth.
6. Relationships – I believe a pillar of happiness is the fostering of meaningful relationships with open and honest people. Whether as life partners, friends, family, or business partners, I believe we are social creatures that benefit from forming these relationships. Honesty & integrity are critical traits in a good partner, and it each individual’s responsibility to make sure they are exhibiting these traits within their relationships. It is important to have empathy so that you don’t become jealous, and instead encourage your partners to achieve their own dreams & goals. Helping others in their pursuit of happiness will allow you to become wealthy in all senses of the word.
7. Materialism – I believe that after basic needs are met, material objects never provide a greater return than experiences and relationships. Material objects tend to require resources (time, energy, money) to maintain, while experiences and relationships tend to contribute to an individual in the terms of knowledge, strength, & confidence. It is important to establish your level of basic material needs early in life so you spend your resources pursuing meaningful experiences and relationships.
8. Work – I believe another key to happiness and success is the pursuit of meaningful work. We are biologically wired to work towards goals, and are biologically rewarded when we achieve them (happiness, liveliness, etc). There are too many examples of people becoming depressed, fading from physical existence, or even dying once they have lost their pursuit of their goals. It is critical to find work that you are passionate about, because no endeavor comes without failure, and passion will be the only thing that will keep you motivated during the worst of times. It might seem like a selfish endeavor, but it is the only way to provide enough happiness and wealth for yourself so that you can help others. The earlier you can find this passion, generally the better. You can expedite this process by trying as many different things when you are young and have minimal responsibilities or dependents to tie you down. It is not impossible to do when you are older and more settled, but it creates complications and you have to be more creative in making it happen.
9. Health – I believe that being in the best physical and mental state as possible, given your resources, is paramount to achieving maximum happiness and success. While we sometimes forget, we are physical creatures and during the majority of our evolution, we did not have the same level of consciousness and mental capability as we enjoy today. We need to respect our origins as physical beings by exercising and replicating the lifestyles of our ancestors as much as possible, while still existing in the modern world. Modern society is relatively new, and it is egotistical to think we can outsmart millions of years of evolution with synthetic foods, medicines, habits, etc. Mental health is another cog adjacent to the physical cog, and it will not work effectively if the physical cog is inactive. Instead it will spin in place with no progress, creating anxiety, depression, etc. Mental health should be addressed with activities like meditation (which is rooted in physical breathing), and purposeful appreciation and gratitude (which builds positive neural networks).
10. Substances – I believe substances such as drugs and alcohol should be used sparingly. The term “drug” is subjective and should really encompass substances like caffeine, sugar, etc. I believe we evolved with a long and intertwined relationship to exogenous substances, but we can’t ever let them take control of our lives. I believe that these substances can be used to accentuate experiences, but whenever they have become a necessary tool for every day survival, it has gone too far. At a practical level, it is hard to live a creative and inspired life when you are hungover.