Welcome to Post 6 of my 72 Airman’s Writings.
I’m a tad surprised I’m already sitting here working on my 6th post for this project. I’ll be grumpier than ever and retired with some 144+ Field Grade Officer Dossiers before I know it!
Thank you for joining me as I take my brain out for a walk, ensuring that when I go back home it’s nice and worn out and so won’t wreak absolute mental havoc as my physical form succumbs to exhaustion but thereby fails to rest and recover…
That said, anyone that knows me knows that I am absolutely enthusiastic about thinking about stuff far longer than is necessary. As you may have guessed from the title, this penchant for thinking has prompted the topic of this post. While titled “Philosophy,” it would be just as accurate to call it “Thinking about Thinking.”
Of course, my thinking about thinking alone is not what brought me to this topic this month. Also, I apologize to anyone that was hoping that I would have possibly been covering Elephants or Accordions. I especially apologize to anyone with enough childlike fascination to have hoped for Elephants and Accordions.
No, over the course of the past several weeks, I’ve been considering how I approach life, how I’m already in my 30s, and how I have certain goals that never had action plans but lack any real reason for not having been addressed already.
I have asked myself such questions as “Why haven’t I written a book yet?” when I know I’ve wanted to write books at least since I was 13. I don’t owe my 13 year old self anything, mind you, but it’s still extremely frustrating to pause and observe my life without the distinguishing desirable achievement of “Wrote a Book, Good or Bad” listed among the other achievements.
Asking that question — Why haven’t I written a book yet? — prompted an avalanche of other questions that sort of boiled down to “Well, what are you waiting for?”
I recognize the irony of investigating my thought processes and writing this blog post instead of writing a book, but trust me, work is consistently progressing my novel now. It’s slowly, surely, actually happening.
But that said, there is clearly some underlying reason that my behavior and the way I live my life has not yet led me to wearing the title of Novel Author. I feel that my options are to either explore that underlying reason and see if I can intentionally adjust it or ignore it and just write the book. However, I think that adjusting my behavior is more likely to lead to successfully finishing writing This Book as well as The Next Books.
“Okay, got it, cool — so why is this titled Philosophy, exactly? And you’ve even got “Part 1” written next to it, so you’re going to talk a lot about philosophy?”
Right.
So, though we’re already 500 words into this post, I guess we should get started.
What is Philosophy?
I almost want to start explaining what philosophy is, here, but am afraid I won’t do any readers sufficient justice on the topic. Fortunately, plenty of explanations on what philosophy is have already been provided in various media. CrashCourse has this introductory video[1] that I would recommend you examine to understand how I kicked off my own exploration into philosophy from an academic approach as well as some of the terms I’ll be using in this post as we go forward. It’s also got a lot of follow-on videos if you’re interested in a deeper dive into philosophy.
As far as notes I took just from this first video, I believe that my investigation falls under the branch of Value Theory and more specifically into Ethics. Furthermore, I will Try to Understand what it is that I already do in a specific logical form that I can then Critically Evaluate.
I think the actions following Critical Evaluation are to reconfigure that specific logical form into a framework that I can then behaviorally adopt; before I actually adopt any changes in behavior, I’ll Critically Evaluate and reconfigure that logical form until I like What It Is I Intend to Do in that logical form.
Trying to Understand
In trying to understand what it is that I currently do, I think I just need to ask myself questions:
What activities do I do, Why do I do them, and How do I do them?
What activities do I not do, and Why don’t I do them?
Do I want to do the activities that I do, and Why?
Do I not want to do any of the activities that I do do (obligatory: Haha, I said doo doo!), and Why not?
Are the activities I do good? Why?
Are my goals good? Why?
Most of my weeks are pretty similar, so I can start looking at the activities I do from that approach.
Monday through Friday, I usually wake up between 0530 and 0700.
I may or may not exercise. If I do exercise, I usually shower.
I may or may not shave.
I write a note to my wife.
I usually moisturize before putting on the uniform of the day.
I usually prepare my breakfast, coffee, and lunch.
I usually go to work between 0745 and 0830 and leave work between 1530 and 1700.
I usually waste an hour on random distractions after I get home and doff my uniform.
I usually write or game for about two hours.
I usually eventually go through a ‘shutdown’ process starting around 2230. If my German language learning practice is not completed by this point in the day, I usually include it as part of this ‘shutdown’ process.
On the weekend, I write my journal entry for the week, reflecting on notes I’ve taken at random points throughout the week. This journal entry usually occurs on Fridays, sometimes Saturdays, or rarely on Sundays.
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, my exercise is cardio.
On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, I tell myself to but consistently do not do flexibility exercises.
Each day, I try to add about 600-2000 words to my novel draft or conduct research/ note-taking efforts toward my novel.
Work is its own variable of activities that I’ll need to explore somehow.
My distractions could probably do with some scrutiny, as well.
Rather than dive into the How and Why of every What that I do above, I’ll simply explore the first one: I usually wake up between 0530 and 0700…
Waking up usually occurs as a response to the alarm I’ve set for myself. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, that alarm is set for 0530. Otherwise, it’s usually set for 0630. The audio I’ve set for my alarm — warning, there is vulgar language for those that care — is a clip from Marc Rebillet’s “YOUR NEW MORNING ALARM”.[2]
Sometimes I wake up and proceed to my task: this is not necessarily with enthusiasm, but I recognize that getting moving often leads to momentum that can be taken advantage of to do things I do not necessarily enjoy but feel I must do.
Other mornings, I do not accept my own call to action and simply return to sleep, often until 0700 as a latest rollout.
As for Why: I intend to be up earlier to exercise. I intend to exercise not out of pleasure, but from a sense of personal obligation to my future self. I feel this sense of obligation to my future self because I decided to focus more of my younger years on trying to secure a comfortable, earlier-than-typical retirement and would like to be able-bodied after I retire. I would like to be younger than a typical retiree and remain able-bodied so I can enjoy more of my life without feeling like I must work. On days I do not intend to be up to exercise, I wake up no later than 0700 to get to work. I go to work to fulfill my duties on the premise that fulfilling my duties over a certain period of time will eventually lead to retirement…
Is it good to work with the hopes of retiring in my 40s? If that seems like an ineffective question (and I ask this with the implication that it strikes me so at this time), then is it a good goal to retire in my 40s? Why?
I think it is neither here nor there whether I retire in my 40s. I demonstrate no particular virtue by working, nor by retiring in my 40s. I expect/ intend to find new and different work upon retiring from active duty. Is that a good goal?
I intend to become a JROTC instructor after I retire, putting myself in a role to educate high school aged people with the particular focus on motivating young people to become better citizens, or specifically “Develop citizens of character dedicated to serving their nation and community.”[3]
I think that’s a good thing, but how do I know? Or, more pointedly, why do I think that?
I think that it is a good thing to encourage other people to be good citizens and to serve their communities because I think that developing young people in this way would hopefully make them better communicators, better team builders, better problem solvers, and better versions of themselves. I think that is good because that would result in better communities with people with better education, better health, and overall better lives with a positive, future-flowing effect.
I think that’s good because I think it would help more people be happy.
And I think it’s good to help more people be happy because I think being happy is good.
…so in a long, roundabout way of thinking — or from thinking about thinking — that’s why I wake up between 0530 and 0700 most weekdays.
I do not always remember this chain, but now that I took this time to think it through, maybe I will.
Let’s not forget why we’re here, though. I’m Trying to Understand, and I said that this should get me to a point where I have a specific logical form to demonstrate my understanding.
Here’s the first attempt at that specific logical form:
Premise 1: I wake up between 0530 and 0700 to pursue work.
Premise 2: I pursue work in pursuit of retirement.
Premise 3: I pursue retirement to pursue specific work.
Premise 4: I pursue that specific work to develop citizens of character.
Premise 5: I pursue the development of citizens of character because I think it will make more people happier.
Conclusion: I pursue improved happiness for others.
We’re not yet at Critical Evaluation — do I agree that what I asked and answered myself is accurate? Do I understand where I am coming from?
It’s difficult to look at premise 1 and immediately jump to the conclusion I’ve established, but I do at least believe it’s true. I also feel like jumping back and looking at other things I do in the day all more or less funnel themselves toward this conclusion, too — they either support work or recreation so I can maintain my sanity and humanity when I take breaks from work.
I think I do agree, though it may not be super clear. I understand, but that understanding might require a little flexibility. For the sake of this blog post, we’ll press on to Critical Evaluation.
Critical Evaluation
Does eliminating any of these premises make the conclusion false?
Does eliminating any of these premises make the conclusion impossible to be true?
Is this valuable?
I would definitely lose some context if I eliminated some of the premises, but it does seem like I could logically pull the knots of these premises into a single line of thought: I wake up to work to retire to become an instructor to develop citizens to improve communities and promote the happiness of others.
And… while I do think that is valuable, I think I could smooth it out a little.
I believe I will personally continue to pursue this particular path, but I think it’s important to recognize that I do not have to wait to retire to develop citizens to improve communities and promote the happiness of others. I can already begin to do that. This kind of mixes the often idealistic nature of philosophy and the raw reality of … well, reality.
Instant gratification of results from my exercise involving thinking about thinking! Woo!
…but how?
I think this will take a bit of a back seat in my next post, but this next post will definitely still be in the same car.
Thanks for reading this post — hopefully you’re intrigued about the next one!
That said, did this prompt any ideas for you? Wanna talk about them?
More pointedly:
> Did you think of any goals you might have and why they are your goals?
> Did you think of any habits you have that seem more significant all of a sudden?
> Do you find yourself interested in trying to develop more personal purpose?
References
[1] YouTube Video. CrashCourse: “What is Philosophy?: Crash Course Philosophy #1”
[2] YouTube Video. YOUR NEW MORNING ALARM[3] Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps Website. Hyperlink.
72 Airman's Writings 