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.