Gooooooal

Something that will subtly, and sometimes violently, influence your happiness is purpose. People who have a goal, a cause, a rallying cry or significance (more on that one in a later post) tend to be happier. And the reason is simple.

When you have an end goal you look at it and not all the little things that go on around you. Now you may be thinking,”Doesn’t this blog focus on happiness, especially from little things? Isn’t a goal then counter productive if it makes you miss little things?” Short answer, yes. Long answer, not really.

If a person doesn’t have a end goal then it can make it even harder to enjoy the little things in life. When there is a goal, the person is able to look at it with hope, and still enjoy the little things, as long as they try to. And that is really the key; if you look for little things you will find them, it just tends to be easier when you have an end goal.

Moved

Hey everyone! For various reasons, mostly involving community discussion and the like, I have moved the content over to isthereanup.tumblr.com All new content is going to be over there. Thanks!

Wise beyond ones years

What is wisdom? How can we know when we see it? Who is a truly wise person?

War and Peace

Is war ever justified? Is peace possible, or natural for man?

I love peace

Little later than I wanted, but here it is, the first question. It’s actually related to stuff ‘m learning in class…..don’t judge. So without further ado, please discuss. My thoughts will be posted in about a week.

Is pacifism a valid theory? Theoretically? Practically?

Idea

So as I was brainstorming things to do with the blog, my friend came up with a rather brilliant idea. Each day, or every other day, I will be posting a philosophical question, and letting you all discuss and argue about it through the comments! After awhile, I will summarize what’s been said, as well as give my own opinion. I am excited for this, but it needs your help! Please comment! I’ll get the first question up tomorrow. Ciao!

Reality

“What is real?” is a question that has been asked ever since man started to reason. Almost all the great philosophers have asked this question, and there have been many different answers. Personally I find this the most compelling question that can ever be answered because it will provide a basis for any other answers that can be decided. I find two compelling cases for what is real, and they can be defined. I’m not going to spell out exactly what they are, that’s for you to look into more, but I will briefly outline them.
First up, Rene Descartes theory. Descartes basically sat in a room and disbelieved anything that he could doubt. In the end he was left with one simple statement, “I think, therefore I am.” From this Descartes went on to build up an entire system of reality and what could be believed.
Next Immanuel Kant, who is one of my favorite philosophers. He claimed that reality could be known through logic, and experience, as long as the logical thoughts can fit in what humans can experience. His theory is rather difficult to explain and I recommend further study.
I hope that this post has made you think a little (that’s one of the goals), and interested in finding out more. Questions? Comments? Let me know! Later!

Life Philosophy

Today I want to try and explain something that I care deeply about, but it’s not something easy to define or explain, in fact I have trouble explaining it to myself, so here goes. Life philosophy is something that popped into my mind when I thought about things I really enjoy doing. In essence this is helping people find their life philosophy. Clever no? It’s asking the hard questions like, is there a god? what is real? is government justified? and the like. It’s something that I love doing in everyday conversation with people, making them think about stuff, and I am excited about getting it out, and where it can influence more people. It’s a messy, unrefined business that takes people out of their comfort zone, and into new ideas, its hard and exhilarating. And while I love to see people adapt views that I agree with, as long as they think about their reasons, I’m happy. In the future this blog is going to have large sections of time to this issue (although minimalism, travel and the likes will still be discussed) and hopefully I can start to get people into it. Here’s to luck!

Work

Work. It’s something most people hate. I have had jobs where I was definitely not happy. I am in the process of reading several free e-books on working for yourself. I don’t know where this will lead right now, but I think there’s some potential. It’s exciting, like most things I’ve been writing about. The journey continues, and when something is actually decided, I’ll be sure to let you know. Chow!

Risk

Short and sweet today. I watched a video about risks that I found rather inspiring. It was put better than I can put it down here, so I won’t go into detail. Instead I’ll sum up what was said: take as many risks as you can. Make them quick and pick the scarier option. That’s it in a nutshell. I plan on taking risks, plenty of them in the coming months. And I’m super excited. http://vimeo.com/8985164