The Art of Philosophy

[Gary Childress]

If you could wish for one thing, would wisdom be that which you would wish for? However, what if you only had one wish (guaranteed to come true) and wisdom and happiness are not the same thing? Which is best to wish for? Or if neither of those is best, what is? I suppose such a question pertains most immediately to what ought to be focused on in life.

Is wisdom a thing someone can wish for? Or is it something only either possessed by someone or not possessed by them, and which one uses when making wishes for things that can be wished for? Or is the word "ought" not ultimately applicable to that which one decides to do?

For my part, I can't see very well how happiness should be subordinate to anything. Although, there is a sense in which happiness at all costs might not be an OK way to proceed in life. Christianity is well noted for the belief that a person cannot serve two masters and that which is their master is best to be God. I mean, maybe for a society to flourish and thrive, it's best to serve something other than the self. So we're told we should serve God. Then we hope that the reward is heaven or something in another world greater than happiness (at least happiness in this world).

Perhaps, there are problems banking entirely on this world. I mean, would it be fair if some people were screwed in this world and not compensated in some fashion. Would there not be more unrest? Is religion, then, the opium of the dispossessed or is it the justice of the dispossessed?

Next up: if your one wish is for happiness, how would you envision that wish coming true? Should it involve happiness that is least easily lost (happiness that doesn't depend on fleeting or temporary whims or on things that are of short duration)?

[Lacewing]

If you could wish for one thing, would wisdom be that which you would wish for? However, what if you only had one wish (guaranteed to come true) and wisdom and happiness are not the same thing? Which is best to wish for? Or if neither of those is best, what is?

Unconditional love for all-that-is...strong and true. Such love can't help but come with joy and understanding -- the ability to see behind the surface facade and accept the reasons why things appear and play out as they do. There is so much beauty amidst the horrors: the many faces of the divine, perhaps.

[Dontaskme]

“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.”

[Veritas Aequitas]

If you could wish for one thing, would wisdom be that which you would wish for? However, what if you only had one wish (guaranteed to come true) and wisdom and happiness are not the same thing? Which is best to wish for? Or if neither of those is best, what is? I suppose such a question pertains most immediately to what ought to be focused on in life.

Philosophy is the love of wisdom.

• Wisdom, sapience, or sagacity is the ability to contemplate and act productively using knowledge, experience, understanding, common sense and insight.[1]
  Wisdom is associated with attributes such as unbiased judgment, compassion, experiential self-knowledge, self-transcendence and non-attachment,[2] and virtues such as ethics and benevolence.
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisdom

What is excluded above is, wisdom is the ability to optimize one's knowledge and competences within current constraints and conditions to facilitate one's well-being and flourishing; plus correction of mistakes and strive for continuous improvements over one's current states.

What I see is,
-happiness is the fishes;
-wisdom [philosophy] is the ability to fish.

So rather than to be fed or promised with 'happiness' by God or others, it is better to have the ability to fish to feed oneself with the whatever that will result in optimal modulated happiness.

[Agent Smith]

Wisdom is what I would wish for, yeah! That's the only thing a philosopher would wish for and happiness too, if available that is.

i

[Gary Childress]

Wisdom is what I would wish for, yeah! That's the only thing a philosopher would wish for and happiness too, if available that is.

i

I guess another way of articulating the "one wish" formula, or rationalizing the scenario, is if push comes to shove and one goal in life were to come in conflict with or at the expense of other goals, which goal is the most important or which one would or should override all others?

[Agent Smith]

Wisdom is what I would wish for, yeah! That's the only thing a philosopher would wish for and happiness too, if available that is.

i

I guess another way of articulating the "one wish" formula, or rationalizing the scenario, is if push comes to shove and one goal in life were to come in conflict with or at the expense of other goals, which goal is the most important or which one would or should override all others?

That is, I fear, correct. Sophia is inscrutable.

[Veritas Aequitas]

Wisdom is what I would wish for, yeah! That's the only thing a philosopher would wish for and happiness too, if available that is.

The fishes [wisdom and happiness] don't come to you from thin air, you have to learn how to fish for them effectively.
'Wisdom' in a way is a skill.

[Agent Smith]

Wisdom is what I would wish for, yeah! That's the only thing a philosopher would wish for and happiness too, if available that is.

The fishes [wisdom and happiness] don't come to you from thin air, you have to learn how to fish for them effectively.
'Wisdom' in a way is a skill.

Indeed!

[Walker]

If you could wish for one thing, would wisdom be that which you would wish for? However, what if you only had one wish (guaranteed to come true) and wisdom and happiness are not the same thing? Which is best to wish for? Or if neither of those is best, what is? I suppose such a question pertains most immediately to what ought to be focused on in life.

Is wisdom a thing someone can wish for? Or is it something only either possessed by someone or not possessed by them, and which one uses when making wishes for things that can be wished for? Or is the word "ought" not ultimately applicable to that which one decides to do?

For my part, I can't see very well how happiness should be subordinate to anything. Although, there is a sense in which happiness at all costs might not be an OK way to proceed in life. Christianity is well noted for the belief that a person cannot serve two masters and that which is their master is best to be God. I mean, maybe for a society to flourish and thrive, it's best to serve something other than the self. So we're told we should serve God. Then we hope that the reward is heaven or something in another world greater than happiness (at least happiness in this world).

Perhaps, there are problems banking entirely on this world. I mean, would it be fair if some people were screwed in this world and not compensated in some fashion. Would there not be more unrest? Is religion, then, the opium of the dispossessed or is it the justice of the dispossessed?

Next up: if your one wish is for happiness, how would you envision that wish coming true? Should it involve happiness that is least easily lost (happiness that doesn't depend on fleeting or temporary whims or on things that are of short duration)?

Why talk to God? For the same reason you do everything else. For peace of mind. Seeking peace of mind compels all that you do, and all that you don’t do. Posting here pursues peace of mind, bottom line. When you say the way of things you find a ration of mind peace because saying the way of things requires saying truth. E-prime writing does not declare truth. E-prime writing describes truth. For example, the paragraph you just read. (Hint, try e-prime peace of mind).

Peace of mind brings wisdom.

Have a talk with God
Stevie Wonder: Composer, orchestrator, all instruments, all lyrics, all singing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQVeCxtuP14

Wonder talks to God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYQfWJNWe3I

[Walker]

E-prime takes you away from the known, comfortable crutch called “to be.” Find e-prime and you will find your road to phi-los-o-phy. Why? To write in e-prime about anything you must think objectively. This explains why science philosophers prefer e-prime. Voila, the art of philosophy. E-prime walks you away from belief and towards observation.