An Incomplete Philosophy

Here I'll try to figure out some things that help the world make sense or at least help navigate it.

The Problem ​

Life is confusing. It's hard to know what is worth spending time on. What is true or better or good?

The Goal ​

To improve life for myself and for others. To improve the world.

Intro ​

At some point I may try to explore the motivation for pursuing quality, but for now I'll start with that as a goal.

Some Core Ideas ​

• Everything is connected.
• High quality rewards deep participation.
  • a quality song or symphony or movie or literature or architecture or product gives a greater reward the deeper someone engages with it—in fact, it gets better with time
  • quality almost always requires something of the participant
    • knowledge
    • caretaking
    • practice
    • work
• Facades are easily and immediately appealing to the senses
  • visual, musical, comfortable to the touch, taste, etc.
  • I don’t think there’s anything wrong with facades
  • To only live with and engage with facades seems to dampen the human ability to experience the richness of quality
  • Facades can be enjoyed by anyone without prior or acquired experience
• To appreciate requires knowledge
  • For a facade to be enjoyable, it must
    • be immediately accessible
    • do all the work for the participant

Ideas from some Authors/Thinkers ​

Christopher Alexander ​

• patterns of life
• “it is possible to make something dead but not make it live—the best we can do is create an environment that nurtures life” (To do: get real quote)

Robert Pirsig ​

• Quality

The Tao ​

“The Tao that is spoken is not the true/eternal Tao” Once you name something, it is no longer that thing but just a summary of that thing.

Ludwig Wittgenstein ​

“The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” Until something is defined (named, see Tao), it can not be measured and therefore is not a thing that can be acted on. (To do: refine this description)