If the body acts as a machine, rolling on by,
And the mind the rudder, making slight adjustments,
What is the source of those adjustments?
Our values, which are instilled in us, may be the true source of the Guide
Which is precisely why education is so important.
In many languages, you do not say someone is well mannered…
you say they are well educated.
Now you might pretend, and say you do not know what the Good is…
How can anyone?
But you do know, it is the way that you judge your own choices, day in and day out.
For many of us, the Good is told to us by society, external to us.
Some philosophers go even further, and try to find a singular source of the Good.
You might retort: “the good is what is good in the body”,
but then is this hedonism?
You might retort: “there is no singular Good”, “anything goes!”
But then there is religion, attempting to define the Good.
A book that attempts to be this guide, and provide a Complete Guide to the pursuit of the Good.
Now if you are not yet there, and our bodies are stuck in the Incomplete,
we can merely say: “I am man, and incomplete, flawed or full of Sin” which can be defined as a man not yet fully Good or Complete.
But by what measure? Who’s to say what exactly the Good looks like?
Again, you can be the one that provides this measure. But there are of course external yardsticks or Properties to judge the Completeness of your being or Education or Value System.
Are you happy? Do you feel great!? And not the hedonistic Great that lasts for a minute or a couple hours, but something even more…
The reason why Buddhism wins out in many ways, is that the Properties of the Good are in many ways shown. Your own individual being or lightness in being. The Good reflected in the society… And the Good reflected on the Planet.
Any guide, shows you the way, so you can achieve something…
The Gym guide shows you the way to Completeness, so you can look and be strong and functional.
The Investment Guide shows you a way, so your savings can Grow.
And the religious Guide, if done well, shows you a way, so you can achieve inner peace.
But who is the Good reflected upon? If the Investment Guide gets rich, yet you stay poor, if the Gym goer gets weaker, yet the teacher stronger, and the Religious guide more powerful, and you more empty…
So the Good then can be defined by the Properties of the Good.
And the Value System the education, or the way to get to the Good.
And Completeness, the achievement of the Good.
I like being High, and feeling dumb all the time, to me, that is the Good.
But what if you don’t yet know the Real Awesomeness that comes with sobriety.
I like eating a bunch of junk, and feeling like shit the next day.
But have you ever felt the vibrance of a well had meal, and a painless body?
Therefore, the Good is also an experiential Property…
Until you’ve felt the Good, it’s all well and good to talk about it,
So let’s touch upon the feeling of Completeness, and then, let’s work backwards, and discover how we can achieve it, through a system of education, and Practice, to guide the Body to Completeness.
Another way of framing this again is the Gym Goer. The Greeks had literal objective definitions of the Look of Perfection of the Body geometrically. These proportions were well defined. So then, this is Picture of Perfection. The way to achieve this Picture, is the Education. And achievement of it, is Completeness.
In a religious sense, the attainment of the Picture is Nirvana, the way is the Path. The problem with many of us, is we do not even have a clear picture of what attainment looks like.
So we meander about. Going off of minute to minute, day to day impulses. But the body only knows what its been trained on, not the reality of the Good.
For some alchoholics, taking another drinks makes them feel pretty good. So they take the sip, but the problem is that the body has been trained on this. Only through education, can we show them the true picture of what life could be.
The Education then, is two fold. Firstly, by painting a picture of what Completeness looks like. And 2, the way or Path for achievement of Completeness.
Now, is this Religion?
In my view no.
This is simply a defining of a Picture of Perfection (which are in essence values based on what your view of Perfection is), and a set of principles or points to achieving it.
It does not aim to define a Creator or why the Universe is the way it is.
Now back to the machinations of the Body, and the movement towards the Good.
What is most fascinating about all this, is that once the Picture of the End State or Compleness is shown, we are then shown a path or set of Actions that then lead to the Ultimate Good.
I’ll say that again. From the Gym Goer.
The Greeks laid out a set of Proportions that defined the Perfect Body from a purely Geometric Perspective.
Once you lay out the Picture of Completeness, and follow the steps or the Guide completely, you then get to Completeness.
What is most fascinating, is that your daily actions, even without a singular guide, are in fact leading to an end state. Even if you do not believe in all this, and simply live day to day, we are heading towards an end state.
So even without a Guide, a system of Values that defined the Good or Completeness, we are in fact heading day by day towards an end state!
Society used to be good in defining both the Picture of the Good, and the way in which we achieve it (Cultural Values). These values / daily machinations, and the Picture of the Good, were all well defined by a singular Religion that the entirety of the society believed in and followed. Now there were of course minor differences in belief. And major differences in the following of the Way or Path because usually, the Path is difficult.
Unless the training or Education commences extremely early, much of the path is then concerned with the eradication of old teachings and learnings rather than continued growth towards the end state defined by the Teachers.
The Greeks were interesting, in that they looked at the final Picture, and said there was a Universal final Picture, defined by Nature, that would show us what Completeness looked like.
Later religions were concerned with day to day rituals, that would send the person to this final Place.
For many of these religions, the final Place, Completeness, Perfection, is not even in this lifetime. How fascinating. It is reflected, in a belief system, that Perfection will be given, achieved, and seen, only in the next lifetime. Now that’s a doozy.
The Gym Goer can barely be convinced to live the Path, as he will see the product of it, and gain something, in this lifetime.
How in the hell can we convince someone that the Path they live, if done well and to the exact dot laid out, will be given in the next lifetime?
In many ways, if the Fruits of the Path are so outlandish, it is actually simpler to tell them they will achieve them in the next lifetime. Why? Because logically speaking, if they are never to be achieved by everyone in this lifetime (let’s say material wealth that is simply impossible for everyone to gain), then of course, logically, the only possible place, this could be given, is in the next one.
Okay i think i properly defined Religion, the Path, Nirvana, the way, Completeness, and a full logical history on the need and definition of Religion.
I hope you have a good day too!