Goodness Philosophy, some simplifications

Lumosity tells me my brain is best suited to be a mathematician.   I like this.  I am in actual fact a very poor mathematician–I never even got through Calculus, although it remains on my list of things to do–but ever since taking Geometry my freshman year in high school with Mrs.  Edwards I have loved the notion of building logical structures with terms I get to define.  An absolute bedrock principle with me is that any thought system that is worthwhile can be shrunk to a series of short bullet points, and expanded virtually indefinitely.  And the mathematical formula encapsulates this principle.  Think of the domain of F=MA.  It is all of visible reality, or all reality consisting in what we call “matter” or “mass” for simplicity.

Goodness is “sharing happiness gladly”.  Three words, but large possibilities.

I would, for example, differentiate goodness from duty.  Duty, in my view and experience, largely stems from a generally unconscious fear of negative consequences.  Duty is often beat into us, verbally and/or physically.  We do the right thing not because we instinctively empathize with or feel compassion for someone, but out of some combination of habit and fear.

And obviously you cannot SHARE happiness if you cannot feel it.  Happiness is the essence of love and connection.  Where they are present, happiness is present.  And where they are absent, happiness is absent.  Now, it may be me, alone, feeling love and connection with my higher self, with God, with the universe, and sharing that.  This is what holy men, when they actually warrant the term, do.  The grade of the holy man is the grade of happiness they can share.

Fanaticism in the NAME of some alleged higher good, obviously, cannot qualify here, because I have put consequences, concrete outcomes, into the definition.  If you say you want “social justice”, but everything you touches turns to shit, if people become disempowered, poorer, more disconnected, more violent, more resentful, less loving, less beautiful, then you have shared nothing.  You have in fact impressed upon the world your own LACK of love, lack of true happiness, lack of true purpose, lack of goodness.  This is the path of the left wing radical.

And I want to alter the fairly abstract “Perceptual Breathing” in favor of simply calling it curiosity.  I will remind you that neurologically, curiosity is the literal opposite of trauma.

My system, then:

Axiom: The purpose of life is to pursue Goodness.

Definition: Goodness is sharing happiness gladly (I should of course define happiness, but that will have to wait for another day).

Postulates: Three daily decisions most support this purpose:

1) Reject Self Pity
2) Persevere
3) Be curious

Geometrically, this may not be quite right.  It’s been many years since Freshman Geometry.  Still, I think what I am trying to do is obvious enough.