It is truly remarkable that the entire organization of plinyblog.com, the managers and editors, the technical and creative staff, the legal department, and the public relations office, unanimously agreed that the venerated classic philosopher, Socrates, was the actual inventor of the (human) GPS. Socrates famously stated, “Know thyself,” and all those who ascribed (and still ascribe) to such sage advice have uniformly found their way.
It has been our perception that people who have maturely and adequately developed a stable, referentially available self-image live more fulfilling lives than those hapless individuals who inhale and exhale without reflection on their personal identity or self- generated perceptions of their human and circumstantial environments. It is that waste of potential that enables inefficient or inappropriate action and renders them vulnerable to influencers and demagogues. It is our considered opinion that such vulnerability was the prime impactful element of the election and re-election of the worst Presidential Administration in its history.
It might be contextually appropriate, at this point in this brief writing, to hazard our views on the development of a mature and consistent stable self-image, one that is founded upon individually chosen principles, invulnerable to contrary influences.
Since every human being is born with a “tabula rasa” (a clean slate) ( John Locke), his knowledge of himself, like all his knowledge, is learned or acquired through his personal experience. As we perceive it, one’s self-image or personal identity is cumulatively acquired through interaction with other members of one’s society. The perceived nature of the response of others to the individual is elemental to the establishment of his personal nuance, conceivably colored by protective or defining self-indulgence. In any event, the empirical process of the development of a stable self-image is the personal guide, or “GPS,” to the nature of the response (save any other empirically impactful considerations).
The mature and healthy development of a stable, personally referable self-image renders one foundationally rooted, morally, politically, and personally at the time of presenting choice Such a mature and stable response to stimuli of every stripe is enhanced by a lifetime of useful introspection, guided by an open mind, a product of the desire for advancement, by reading and the arts, as well as interaction with informed and educated individuals. The examination of the lives of others, fictional and biographical, is a useful and instructive guide to the development of individual Man’s GPS, his Socratic adherence to his appropriate place and responses to ubiquitously presenting issues.
Self-understanding (“Know Thyself”) is an existentially indispensable guide to the aspirational journey to a fulfilled life and the utilitarian GPS guide to humanistic living.
-p.
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