# What is your philosophy for living.



## Akahige (Mar 31, 2011)

For the sake of a new topic: I enjoying hearing about what philosophies or "rules" people guide there lives by. Please be respectful if you do not agree with someones ideology.

Here is mine:

I believe in a few simple truths. These ideas are paramount to me and I live by them. I will elaborate on each one separately; My concepts for a good life are freewill, morality, virtue, truth and friends.

Freewill: I believe that man has freewill and it is our right to live and be free, and be free of other peoples will. Most modern American institutions seek to impose their will upon you, based on their usual misinterpretation of scripture, meant to fit there ideas and opinions of proper values and what is right and wrong. I will not impose my will upon you and would expect the same in return. All feelings and opinions will be considered with proper respect, of course. Once one person in a relationship or friendship imposes their will upon another, you are no longer equal and one will have power and control over the other and this will lead to the eventual demise of the integrity of the relationship or friendship.

Morality: Some call it "sin" but I prefer morality, I say:"If it brings no physical or emotional pain to yourself or another then It is not wrong. If it goes against nature it is not immoral, but not proper to the natural order of things". The consequences for immorality is the corruption of your soul (character, integrity, inner peace etc....).

Virtue: To find true happiness one must strive to live a virtuous life. Vices will provide temporary happiness, but when one cannot have a vice that they are accustomed to then the only response is grief and unhappiness. Living virtuously preserves the integrity of your soul (character, integrity, inner peace etc....), not longing after vices will bring contentment, living in virtue and not in vices will ultimately bring you true and consistent happiness.

Truth: Truth is a virtue, but it is paramount and deserves to be addressed separately. Being a truthful and honest person is the only way to have great friends and successful relationships. Trust is earned by truth, and trust is how you draw people near to you. I will not tolerate lies. I will not torment myself any more by trying to trust someone who has lied to me. If you find that being honest is difficult for you then please do not waste my time.

Friends: If you be yourself, and do not pretend to be something that your not; if you are truthful and you accept me as I am, the good with the bad then I will be in your life for as long as these things remain true.

This is how I live my life, It is condensed and concentrated to be as simple as possible and cover what really matters.


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## Lil BigginZ (Mar 31, 2011)

eat sleep game repeat...

for now anyways


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## toomuchspagett (Mar 31, 2011)

i say live free and live like a fucking animal because an animal is what you are.
you are your own god.
live your life exactly how you want it because it could end any day. people seem to forget too quickly, life and death walk side by side. 
so scratch your crotch like nobodys watching.

FUKKEN LIVE IT!


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## Zandoz (Mar 31, 2011)

Some snippets:

Above all else, do no harm.

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it." -- Buddha Siddhartha Gutama

Murphy was an optimist.

Deny no one their religeon, dream, kink, or beer...as long as they intend no harm.

In spit of all of our hopes and dreams, and even our schemes
There is no greater dichotomy
Than what is...and what ought to be.

Strive for the ideal, but deal with reality.

In my experience, if somethings too good to be true, its best to shoot it, just in case. -- Fiona Glenanne

If at first you don't succeed, get a bigger hammer.


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## Tad (Mar 31, 2011)

I’ve never articulated a general philosophy, although I no doubt have one. I have, at various times, given myself much more specific rules that I try to follow. These are not comprehensive (i.e. they are not the only things that guide me), just that these are the ones where I've made a specific commitment to myself around a specific rule.

0- The only person responsible for my happiness, contentment, and health is me. Make like a cat and figure out what works for me.

1- Don’t be “that guy.” (originally that was specifically about putting others down to make yourself look better, but I’ve broadened the definition since then)

2- Never buy cigarettes, even for someone else. (there are some associated general extrapolations about not enabling temptation)

3- Try to take into account the feelings of people around me--just because what I say or do isn’t about them, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect them.

4- Play hard. Leisure time is precious, so make sure it is enjoyed! Corollary is to work hard, to free up time to play hard. Worst is stalling on work, so that in the end the work is rushed and there is no time to play.


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## JenFromOC (Mar 31, 2011)

Live hard, play hard, and most of all, love hard.

Do good for the sake of doing good (ahh altruism...a lost art)

Try to find the humor in everything.


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## Ninja Glutton (Apr 2, 2011)

Life is an elaborate comedy and death is the punchline.

Every palpable moment of human experience is precious even if it doesn't seem so at the time.

Every perspective is a piece of the infinite tower card catalogue of perspectives and that there are no truths, but merely stories.

Nothing is permanent. Death is just another change in the infinite series of changes.

Everything is connected. Not in the figurative sense, but literally all energy exists within a string of molecules linking all things. There is no way of telling where your finger ends and the air begins.

Nietzsche sums it up nicely:



> Once upon a time, in some out of the way corner of that universe which is dispersed into numberless twinkling solar systems, there was a star upon which clever beasts invented knowing. That was the most arrogant and mendacious minute of "world history," but nevertheless, it was only a minute. After nature had drawn a few breaths, the star cooled and congealed, and the clever beasts had to die. One might invent such a fable, and yet he still would not have adequately illustrated how miserable, how shadowy and transient, how aimless and arbitrary the human intellect looks within nature. There were eternities during which it did not exist. And when it is all over with the human intellect, nothing will have happened.



I happen to find atheism really comforting when I sit down and think about it.


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## Geodetic_Effect (Apr 5, 2011)

The simplest I can explain my philosophy is that I am a Daoist Atheist Wu Wei Epicurean Hedonist Anarcho-Capitalist.

Few good quotes:

"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Dont resist them  that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like."
--Laozi

"The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas. Tolerant like the sky, all-pervading like sunlight, firm like a mountain, supple like a tree in the wind, he has no destination in view and makes use of anything life happens to bring his way."
--Laozi

"Failure is the foundation of success, and the means by which it is achieved."
--Laozi

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."
--Epicurus

"Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist."
--Epicurus

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom."
--Bertrand Russell

If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the answer, I would spend the first 55 minutes figuring out the proper questions to ask. For if I knew the proper questions, I could solve the problem in less than 5 minutes."
--Albert Einstein

A man should look for what is, and not for what he thinks should be.
--Albert Einstein

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."
--Thomas Paine 

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
--H. L. Mencken 

"If one rejects laissez faire on account of mans fallibility and moral weakness, one must for the same reason also reject every kind of government action."
--Ludwig Von Mises

"The more laws and order are made prominent, the more thieves and robbers there will be."
--Laozi

"The truth of things is the chief nutriment of superior intellects."
--Leonardo da Vinci


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## Dromond (Apr 5, 2011)

Be honest in all things.

Be tolerant of other beliefs and viewpoints, but do not suffer fools.

Be proud of your successes and own up to your mistakes.

Be aware that you really don't know everything and you actually understand very little.

Never say goodbye to a loved one without saying "I love you." You never know when a goodbye will be the last goodbye.

Skepticism is good.


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## BLUEeyedBanshee (Apr 5, 2011)

Be impeccable with your word.

Don't take anything personally.

Don't make assumptions.

Always do your best.

- The Four Agreements.

Sickeningly simple, incredibly difficult to do. But always remember #4 Always do your best. No matter what, things will work out in the end.

*Namaste*


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## CastingPearls (Apr 5, 2011)

Currently:

Ruin is the way to transformation - Eat, Pray, Love


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## imfree (Apr 5, 2011)

Live by Grace, extend Grace to others, don't be pious, avoid human injury, property damage, and arrests.


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## djudex (Apr 5, 2011)

Do not hurt where holding is enough, 
Do not wound where hurting is enough, 
Do not maim where wounding is enough, 
Do not kill where maiming is enough, 
The greatest warrior is he who does not have to kill.

I'll give an internet dollar to anyone who knows where that comes from without Googling it


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## Zandoz (Apr 5, 2011)

djudex said:


> Do not hurt where holding is enough,
> Do not wound where hurting is enough,
> Do not maim where wounding is enough,
> Do not kill where maiming is enough,
> ...



My guess would be Sun Tzu <shrug>


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## JulieD (Apr 5, 2011)

i dont lie... i never do, not even little white lies... there is no reason for it... if you did something bitch up and say you did it, dont lie about it... it makes you look stupid. i hate liers... they are the weakest form of a person imo...


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## BeerMe (Apr 6, 2011)

I'm pretty impressed so many people here have these well-thought-out belief systems. I just try to be friendly and polite and hope for the same in return. 

Oh, but I agree with Tad and say everyone should avoid being That Guy in more ways than one. That Guy sucks.


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## JenFromOC (Apr 6, 2011)

JulieD said:


> i dont lie... i never do, not even little white lies... there is no reason for it... if you did something bitch up and say you did it, dont lie about it... it makes you look stupid. i hate liers... they are the weakest form of a person imo...



Liars, cheaters and thieves...low, low, low...


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## FishCharming (Apr 6, 2011)

wow... uh, That's Life by Sinatra pretty much sums it up for me, lol


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## Dromond (Apr 6, 2011)

BeerMe said:


> I'm pretty impressed so many people here have these well-thought-out belief systems. I just try to be friendly and polite and hope for the same in return.
> 
> Oh, but I agree with Tad and say everyone should avoid being That Guy in more ways than one. That Guy sucks.



I don't have a well thought out philosophy of life. I just wrote down what I do.


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## WillSpark (Apr 6, 2011)

Be respectful to people, but only if they deserve it.

Be honest to people, even if they don't want it.

Give people the benefit of the doubt, and be prepared for them to lose it.

Be kind to people, but only as long as they keep that benefit.

Brace for the worst, hope for the best.

Strive for the greater good and consider the whole before self or individual.

Don't believe until proven believable.

Live honestly, and as close to the truth as you can be, and be flexible enough to change your views so as to become closer to the truth, if you're shown to be false.

Stand firm to what you know and trust in, and if you know and trust in it you best come with good reason.

You only have one life. After that, you're dead. No sense wasting it doing things you'll regret. Do something that matters to you. It's okay to fulfill a selfish deisre, as long as it isn't to the detriment of others.

Doing something that matters to you SHOULD include caring for the future and helping for a better time long after you're gone. This shouldn't eb something you could possibly regret.

My entire philosophy is about acknowledging reality for what it is, helping, not hurting, working for the improvement of things, and ultimately gaining an existence that is satisfactory for me and gives me security in having done my part to help the future to be better, while being able to say I did things that made my life what I wanted it to be, even some of the selfish ones, within the only life I'm going to have. No afterlife, no second chances, no redos, that stuff doesn't exist. I want to do the most I can before I'm gone for good.


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## Sasquatch! (Apr 6, 2011)

That's why people love you so much, Will.


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## WillSpark (Apr 6, 2011)

Sasquatch! said:


> That's why people love you so much, Will.



I'm actually not sure if that's sarcasm or not, since I've come to expect it from you Sassy, but I think I'm just gonna go ahead and snog you for it anyway. :kiss2:


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## Durin (Apr 6, 2011)

"Shared Joy is Increased, Shared Sorrow Diminished"-Spider Robinson

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord"- Romans 8:38-39


Rudyard Kipling
If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream -- and not make dreams your master;
If you can think -- and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings -- nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run --
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And -- which is more -- you'll be a Man, my son!


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## Vageta (Apr 8, 2011)

If it's crunchy, eat it, unless theres rocks in there, then dont eat it.


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## Freedumb (Apr 8, 2011)

be humble, yet proud.

be reckless, yet cautious.

and always be thankful for the little things.


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## Sasquatch! (Apr 11, 2011)

Mine's simple.



Love.


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## littlefairywren (Apr 11, 2011)

To always treat others the way I like to be treated. 

This may sound morbid, but when I consider the way people are in the world or the decisions I make in life, I imagine my last thoughts before I die. And when it all boils down, the things we will focus on just before we go are the things we hold dear to our hearts. Not that our neighbours had more, not that my ass was fat, not that I didn't live in a mansion...but that I lived life fully, loved completely and was a good human being.

Don't sweat the small stuff.


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## JenFromOC (Apr 11, 2011)

Sasquatch! said:


> Mine's simple.
> 
> 
> 
> Love.



All you need is love....all you need is love, love....love is all you need :wubu:


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## luvbigfellas (Apr 12, 2011)

Love others as you'd like to be loved.

As long as you're not hurting yourself or anyone else, who gives a flying f#$% what you do. And if they do, f#$% 'em.

Smile and do nice things for people, even if they are strangers. It might just make their day, or their life.

A dream is a wish your heart makes, except sometimes you're not asleep.


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## johniav (Apr 13, 2011)

As long as no animanls or humans are harmed in the making of life,do what you will intil you are fine.
(AND I'M FINE LET ME TELL YA)


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## Surlysomething (Apr 13, 2011)

Freedumb said:


> be humble, yet proud.
> 
> be reckless, yet cautious.
> 
> and always be thankful for the little things.


 

That's good stuff up there.


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## Surlysomething (Apr 13, 2011)

Believe in yourself.

Call your friends and family more often.

Be present.

Always give people personal respect until they give you a reason to take it away.

Work smart, not hard.

Music CAN save your soul.

*Laugh a lot.*

*Love a lot.*


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## Bearsy (Apr 13, 2011)

1. Eat twat
2. Smoke pot
3. Smile a lot


Addendums:
1. Twat is an ugly word but it rhymes.
2. In moderation
3. Seriously, just smile a lot more than you already do.


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## Amaranthine (Apr 14, 2011)

Mine's pretty existential I suppose. 

- Existence comes before essence. So basically, we're totally responsible for creating our identity and the meaning of our lives. 

-Never accept anything just because someone told you it was right. Think about it yourself, and come up with your own answer. But don't get the idea that you've discovered some ultimate truth and try to shove it on other people.

-As a continuation of the last point, your life is your life. Someone else's life is someone else's life. Do you really think what works for you is going to be what works for everyone else?

-Moral relativism isn't an excuse to do whatever the hell you want. And people who are aren't lazy. I just happen to think morality is evolutionary and subjective. It doesn't mean I'm going to kill someone.

-Be nice to people in customer service jobs. Really...I'm sure they get enough shit. A smile and friendly attitude never hurts. BUT, it doesn't mean I want to date you...Are people so unfriendly these days that being nice automatically means I want to date you? Cause I don't. 

-Don't sacrifice who you are or want to be. So what if it's different? You may not fit in, but take a look at society. Do you WANT to fit in?


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## thatgirl08 (Apr 14, 2011)

Bearsy said:


> 1. Eat twat
> 2. Smoke pot
> 3. Smile a lot



HA. I love this.


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## Goreki (Apr 14, 2011)

In the scheme of things, what you do doesn't really matter. So live for what makes you happy, try to better yourself, and ignore the opinions of people who aren't worth your time.


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## JulieD (Apr 14, 2011)

Goreki said:


> In the scheme of things, what you do doesn't really matter. So live for what makes you happy, try to better yourself, and ignore the opinions of people who aren't worth your time.



Its funny, I read this and took it more as what you do is the only thing that matters...

Also, you know the idea that if you view the glass as half full you're an optimistic-ish person, and half empty you're a pessimistic-ish person? I say bullshit to both... Your glass is either full or empty, and stop half assing everything. All or nothing imo...poo or get off the pot, otherwise you're just full of hot stinkers, you know?


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## Buffetbelly (Apr 14, 2011)

I learned my philosophy from a shoe saleswoman:

"Big men need a rigid sole."


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## Goreki (Apr 14, 2011)

JulieD said:


> Its funny, I read this and took it more as what you do is the only thing that matters...
> 
> Also, you know the idea that if you view the glass as half full you're an optimistic-ish person, and half empty you're a pessimistic-ish person? I say bullshit to both... Your glass is either full or empty, and stop half assing everything. All or nothing imo...poo or get off the pot, otherwise you're just full of hot stinkers, you know?


I more meant it as not worrying about what other people think. Who cares if you whistle dixie in the supermarket, or wear tshirts with cartoom characters on them when you're ninety, you know?


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## GentleSavage (Apr 16, 2011)

Make an impression on someone. Hopefully good. Because the day will come where you longer exist, but those memories will allow you to be immortal. 

Find out who you are, and stick with it. You can change, but make sure you are changing for the right reasons. Always hold on to "you".

And most importantly, just try. Nothing was ever succeeded by someone sitting in front of his computer whining about the world. To do something you first have to attempt it. Otherwise you are doomed to fail.

And because Epicurus is the man, I'll end with this. 

Don't fear god,
Don't worry about death;
What is good is easy to get, and
What is terrible is easy to endure.


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## Bearsy (Apr 17, 2011)

thatgirl08 said:


> HA. I love this.



Thank you, thank you 
They're my three favorite things!


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## chicken legs (Apr 17, 2011)

Learn from the past, enjoy the moment, and prepare for the future.


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## Creepy (Apr 17, 2011)




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## Mordecai (Apr 21, 2011)

Maa'Lesh

Oh, ten characters and I was one short.


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## FemFAtail (Apr 24, 2011)

Buffetbelly said:


> I learned my philosophy from a shoe saleswoman:
> 
> "Big men need a rigid sole."



That's really profound. If by rigid sole/soul you mean confidence then one should exude that. All negativity bounces off a confident soul. But a soul that is truly rigid and won't bend is destined to break. Other than that, all outer edges should be quite soft and squishy save one which should always be rigid at the appropriate time and place :smitten:


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## ITheFire (Apr 24, 2011)

If you're insulted, ignore it. If you can't ignore it, top it. If you can't top it, laugh at it. If you can't laugh at it, you probably deserved it.*


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