A Manual For Living

Within our control are our own opinions, aspi-rations, desires, and the things that repel us. These areas are quite rightly our concern, because they are directly subject to our influence. We always have a choice about the contents and character of our inner lives.

Now is the time to get serious about living your ideals. Once you have determined the principles you wish to exemplify, abide by these rules as if they were laws, as if it were indeed sinful to compromise them. The longer you wait, the more you will be vulnerable to mediocrity and feel filled with shame and regret, because you know you are capable of better.

The life of wisdom begins with learning how to put principles, such as "we ought not to lie," into prac-tice. The second step is to demonstrate the truth of the principles, such as why it is that we ought not to lie. The third step, which connects the first two, is to indicate why the explanations suffice to justify the principles. While the second and third steps are valuable, it is the first step that matters most. For it is all too easy and common to lie while cleverly demonstrating that lying is wrong.

Call Things by Their Right Names: When we name things correctly, we comprehend them correctly, without adding information or judgments that aren't there. Does someone bathe quickly? Don't say he bathes poorly, but quickly. Name the situation as it is; don't filter it through your judgments.

examples of faulty logic: "I am richer than you; therefore, I am better than you. One encounters such absurd assertions as this all the time, but they are completely fal-lacious. The valid inference that can be drawn is this: "I am richer than you; therefore, I have more possessions or money than you do." Another example: "I speak more persuasively than you; therefore, I am better than you." From this we can only conclude, "I speak more persuasively than you; therefore, my speech carries more effect than yours."

If another person reaches conclusions based on false impressions, he or she is the one hurt rather than you, because it is that person who is misguided. When someone interprets a true proposition as a false one, the proposition itself isn't hurt; only the person who holds the wrong view is deceived, and thus damaged.

It is right to accept challenges. This is how we progress to the next level of intellectual, physical, or moral devel opment. Still, don't kid yourself: if you try to be something or someone you are not, you belittle your true self and end up not developing in those areas that you would have excelled at quite naturally.