Life is synonymous with
Activity. Though various factors act upon us, we are the participating and active agent. Therefore at the center of any philosophical study of the Human Life should be
Self-Effort i.e. An Effort put forth by the Self (
defined as the total organism, both Physical and Mental). The above diagram is one such attempt to investigate and map such a model.
Modern Science has shown us that there is no inherent meaning to life and the various Philosophies are an attempt at inventing one so that our
Experience of Life is
Meaningful (whatever that might be for each person).
Nihilism is the one true Philosophy and against this background we need to paint our chosen Philosophies and Ways of living. Thus we come to the central problem. What model of the Human Psyche allows us to accept the truth that
Life is objectively meaningless and yet allows us to live a
Happy and
Meaningful Life? Clearly since the only thing inherent to us (i.e. the organism) is
Self-Effort, it is there that we must seek for
Meaning i.e.
Self-Effort defines Meaning. The expression of Meaning is subjective to the individual or group and is purely a sociological construct bounded by agreed upon norms and conventions. For example, One may put forth self-effort to acquire wealth and power while another might put forth self-effort in the service of the downtrodden at great cost to himself. Objectively, from the viewpoint of the Universe as a whole, neither matter, whereas from the subjective viewpoint of the acting individual and the society to which he belongs to, one would be deprecated and the other commended based on what benefits they accrue to the society and individual. So we will not get into what constitutes
Meaning itself but confine ourselves to what motivates Self-Effort, what are its constituents and how it is expressed.
All of Life and Self-Effort happens on the following backdrop;
- Nature and Time are the controlling entities.
- Nature sets the stage by giving us potentialities via Evolution, Genetics, Heredity and a Self-Aware Brain. We are provided the healthy proper tools or diseased and deformed ones. We have no choice over it.
- Time the inexorable, controls the stage. All actions happen in the present, the past is gone and the future is yet to be. The following two myrmidons of Time help/hinder Self-Effort in his interactions with Time.
- Cause and Effect. He is the unconditional follower of Time.
- Randomness and Chance. He is capricious but still obeys Time.
- All organisms/effort/events are Created at a point in time, Sustained for a period of time and is Destroyed at a point in time. This happens in an Environment i.e. the set of everything (material and non-material) enveloping the organism. Thus it could be considered a function of Time i.e. Environment changes with Time and affects Self-Effort.
We start with the
Motivation(the driving force) behind
Self-Effort. While the
Active Motivation is the one which gets us to act, it itself comes from/is an amalgamation of many from two broad categories.
- Intrinsic Motivation: This could be thought of as a consequence of what Nature has provided for us. It manifests as "the desire for survival", "the desire to pursue our own self-interest", "the desire to have some measure of autonomy/control over our destiny", "the desire for power" etc. It is innate but could be strengthened or weakened.
- Extrinsic Motivation: This is due to the Environment enveloping the organism and comes into effect from the moment the organism has been biologically conceived. It is manifested in innumerable ways, the most important of which is "the desire for reward" and "the aversion towards punishment". Since it originates from an external Environment which varies with Time, it stands to reason motivations in this category ebb and flow over time and also new motivations added, and existing motivations removed.
The Intrinsic and Extrinsic motivations have a synergy between them leading to a
conditioning of the organism. Sometimes the Intrinsic ones (innate) are dominant while at other times the Extrinsic ones (environmentally controlled). This eventually leads to the problem of
whether or not we believe there is a Free Will (in an absolute sense). I claim that Free Will in a given Environment is well-bounded and if every single aspect in the Environment is allowed to be controlled it can be made non-existent. The Science of Human Behaviour, Behaviourism, Operant Conditioning shows us why it must be so.
Next
Self-Effort itself consists of three stages;
Thought, Action and
Result, which follow upon each other sequenced in Time and obeying the Law of Cause and Effect. Of these the first two are under our control whereas the last is not always under our control. Randomness and Chance can affect us at any stage thus changing the subsequent stages.
- Thought: This is the intent before the effort. It is fired off by some Active Motivation either Intrinsic, Extrinsic or a combination of both. As an example let us consider the thought, "I need a vacation". This is obviously a combination of both types of motivations; the organism realizing a need to replenish itself i.e. desire for self-interest and a desire to avoid the negative effects if not replenished.
- Action: This is the action consequent to the intent and is the essence of Self-Effort. Why? Because it is by action in the present that one can nullify the effects of the past and shape the future (remember we have control only over the present). Action itself is of three types; Mental, Verbal and Physical. They have the most important characteristic that the Degree of Intensity of the action determines whether or not the subsequent stage Result can be brought under our control and shaped to our liking. They can occur by themselves or in some combination. During/After the action one can revisit the original thought behind the intent and if needed modify the thought thus affecting the current action. One could also give birth to a new thought modifying the current action or give birth to a new action. These are all under our control.
- Mental: This is the planning thought process which follows the intent. Thus following the above example, one plans the number of days for a vacation, the desired destination, the people and goods involved etc.
- Verbal: This is unique to the Human species since language allows us a degree of complexity not found in the rest of the animal kingdom. It is mainly used to interface with other Humans in the Environment conveying our intentions and plans, gathering knowledge, generating a consensus, maintaining social equilibrium etc. Thus in the example one would talk to people who would join us in the vacation plan, convey responsibilities, elaborating and acting on the plan etc.
- Physical: This is the physical acting out of the plan thus impinging on and if reqd. changing the environment. Thus in the vacation example this would be the actual physical activities involved in the process. Note that the Verbal and Physical actions are the only way to affect the environment.
- Result: This is the effect arising from a cause which was our Action in the past. It can be immediate after the action (eg. tipping a glass over) or spread further along in time over years (eg. global warming). But it is not always that the result and its effects arise directly from "our" actions. Why? Because there are other objects in the environment which participate in the event on which we have expended our "Action". If they are the dominant force they can nullify our effort thus skewing the results. Randomness and Chance also play a key role here. Thus we have to distinguish between what is under our control (i.e. we are the dominant force affecting the outcome) and what is not under our control (i.e. we are not the dominant force affecting the outcome). This situation may change over time as we gain more scientific knowledge about Nature and devise new Technologies to master it. For example, ancient people lived with the vagaries of nature like bad weather and floods, considering them not under their control whereas modern man has tamed and controlled them (to an extent). Thus more of the effects could be brought about as a direct result of self-effort. The results in turn affect subsequent self-efforts.
We now have a framework with Self-Effort occupying center-stage and as the means to providing meaning to life.
