Foundations

Hello, and welcome to the musings of 6d60.  Today, I shall discuss a theory that I mentioned in passing in my introductory post.  Well, I’m not sure if you would call it a theory, but that matters not.  I mentioned how I think everyone has a certian level of being that is their core beliefs and vaules, which defines who you are as a person.  Because really, what defines someone as a person?  Defines who they really are?  It would be their actions, what they do in response to various situations.  And your actions are determined by your beliefs.

Now when I talk about beliefs here, I’d like to make it clear that I’m not referring to beliefs as in religious beliefs, or lack thereof.  I mean, sure, that can sometimes be taken into account in decisions, but not always.  I’ll state from the outset that I am agnostic.  Why I am is a topic for a later post.  But whether or not someone believes in a god, for example, does not affect their every decision.  I’m talking about beliefs more basic, more fundamental than this, the very foundations of belief and personality.

These foundations of belief and personality are things people hold as absolute ideals.  Now, as I know myself better than anyone else, I’ll use me as an example.  One of my foundations is freedom; I believe that people should have complete freedom of speech, thought, belief, and action, provided, of course, that this doesn’t interfere with the freedom of anyone else.  Another basic belief I have is that something is wrong only if it hurts another person.  And realted to this, I think that hurting another, or forcing them to do something they do not wish to is wrong, unless they have already done so to someone else.

Now, one may think that beliefs like this only really come into effect in hypothetical stituations and discussions, but it is astonishing how much they affect your personality.  For example, an ex-girlfriend of mine and I basically broke up due to a difference in belief of the definition of the term right.  She said it was the highest ideal that one should always strive for; the best, most noble thing you could do.  I merely held right to be “not wrong”.  Needless to say, she was too much of a perfectionist for me.  She was always questioning her actions, whereas I never think about such things.

Another reason we ended things was due to our foundations on emotions; I believe emotions derive from logic– that is, if you feel something there’s a reason for it.  And if the reason doesn’t make sense, you should ignore the feeling and just do what you want; it will pass.  This former girlfriend of mine had it backwards from what I thought.  Her logic came from her emotions.  She would follow her emotions whether or not they made logical sense.  I was always trying to figure out where her feelings came from, and basically trying to slove negitive emotions of hers.  But in the end I just couldn’t do either.  Our relationship failed because we differed in key foundations of our respective personalities.

In my opinion, every couple should have a talk early in their relationship about all aspects of philosophy they can think of.  Because when it comes down to it, people who differ too much on some important foundations are simply incompatable.  It’s best to get that out of the way early, I think.  Saves a lot of frustration, confusion, and heartbreak later on.

Oh, by the way, I realize this was more of an opinion peice than philosophy.  I’ll get into more of that later.  Next time I believe I shall delve deeper into my thoughts on right and wrong, and good and evil and morality.

Origin

I am, at the request of a friend, originating a blog as of this post.  It shall be mainly on the topic of philosophy, so if you are one who is interested in such things, to use an outdated expression, stay tuned.  But first, on the topic of the thing that I decided the topic of this poast, the first post should be; the origin.  Specifically, the origin of my username, which is also the title of this blog.

6d60, besides sounding like the same number twice, has an additional significance, as I like the number 60.  Now here is why: 60 is the first number which is a multiple of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  I find that entertaining.  In a way, 60 is more even of a number than something like 10 or 500 or 1000.  Because those numbers only seem even due to our base-10 system.  A base 60 system would be much more practical for math.  It would make dividing much easier, as dividing by any number up to 6 would result in a single, non-repeating decimal.  But the merits of base 60 could be an entire post.

I like all the numbers in that series.  It starts with 1, obviously, because 1 is a multiple of 1.  Then 2, as two is a multiple of 1 and 2, then 6, which is a multiple of 1, 2, and 3.  Continuing on until 12, the series goes 1, 2, 6, 12, 60, 420, 840, 2520, 27720.  60 is the biggest of these numbers that is still manageable.

Now, the origional topic of this was why 6d60.  Well 6 is also a part of that series, and I like 6 as well.  And the d is the initial of my first name.  My username was origionally going to be just d60, but unfortunately, four characters were required.  6d60 also matches the convention of the roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons, in which the notation NdX means roll N x-sided dice.  There is, of course, no regular 60-sided polyhedron.

Now, philosophy, as I mentioned, will be the main topic of this blog.  I have in interest in such things, mainly because of how much what you think defines who you are as a person.  In my opinion, there is something everyone has, at their lowest level of their being, that is what makes them them.  I’m not referring to a soul, although that would be an interesting topic for a later post.  I mean that everyone has a basic set of core beliefs and thoughts, that define how they behave, and by extention, who they are.  And these are the basic philosophical beliefs.

Because really, everyone is a philosopher, whether or not they are conscious of it.  Everyone has thought of the nature of the world, of life, of how they should behave.  And everyone has ideas on these things.  The purpose of this blog shall be to define, and share with the world my ideas on such things, and also discuss the various merits and possibilities of others.  I should hope never to deride the beliefs of others, however, if you are easily offended by such things, best not to continue reading this blog, I think.  As crazy is this universe may be, perhaps with a bit more thought, it can be understood that much better.  And with that noble mission determined, I believe I shall go to bed.  Because sleep is good.