Prescription for Being Perfect Like Me · Tuesday June 9, 2009 by Julie
This is a continuation of the previous post.
Other Bob asked, “What is your prescription for the lives and values of humanity, based on the previous answers? I’m not so much thinking of moral or philosophical values, but the more pragmatic values of economics [recycling? how/whether to cook what kind of food from where? etc] and locational [where do we live now, and when we have kids? etc] values.”
Like many people, I have ideas about how everyone else ought to live. Some of those ideas are related to what I’ve learned by living here.
Be Joyful: This, I think, is the most important. At any particular moment, most of us in the developed world are in a position to be perfectly happy. It’s only in thinking about past ills or future worries that we begin to shift around uncomfortably. It’s then that we’re likely to try to mask our unease by lusting after extravagances.
It’s not that I think extravagance is evil, far from it. It’s that, if its only purpose is to silence a troubled soul, then it will never satisfy.
Yes, joyous serenity is a moral value, but without it, any effort to live well will have the stink of righteousness.
Respect: Listen to yourself and respect what you hear. Listen to your neighbors and respect what you hear. Listen to the natural world and respect what you hear.
I think part of respect includes knowledge. Read appropriate self-help books, take a leadership class, become a Master Gardener or Beach Watcher.
Another part of respect includes action. Figure out how to get from where you are to where you’ve told yourself you want to be. Build relationships with your neighbors and strengthen ties with your family and friends. Do the things that best available science tells you will do least harm to the environment. If you don’t know what they are, find out.
I didn’t start with specific prescriptions because diversity is part of what I think of as a healthy human stance. On the other hand, I think that our billions, and the fact that our influence on the planet is leveraged so much by technology, means that there are certain things that can no longer be governed by culture, but should be practiced by almost everyone. These include:
1. Don’t have lots of children. If you like kids, adopt or teach. We should aim for one or two billion total people, nicely sprinkled amongst cultures.
2. Follow Michael Pollan’s dietary advice: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
3. Live close to your work. Bike or walk if you can.
4. Learn about nonviolent ways of solving problems and practice them.
5. Learn about environmental stewardship and practice it.
6. Learn about issues in social justice and work to help solve them.
More in next post.
