REALITY, PROCESS AND PROGRESS

Everything that happens in reality is a process, or part of a process and therefore the meaning of any thing that occurs in reality is because of processes and where they lead, or aim towards. Some of the processes in nature aim towards a situation in biological life which we call survival of the fittest, and this occurs because of various reasons, for example, conflict and struggle is inherent within nature and makes things advance and grow, and also the processes in biological life are progressive and they aim towards a raising of the standard of things, and this occurs because the pleasure principle in nature is a motivation of fundamental importance for biological life and is one of the main reasons why processes in biological life are progressive, because progress implies more pleasure, joy, happiness, possibilities, etc. And so therefore progress becomes a type of motivation, and meaningful process for biological life, the will in nature is also a fundamental aspect of survival of the fittest, it is the driving force behind it. The processes that occur in reality in general aim towards harmony, and refinement, and are usually progressive in most cases. It must be pointed out that our individual lives appear to be futile in the subjective sense of the way in which we feel about reality, but this occurs only because we are trying to find meaning in the wrong place, we are trying to find meaning in a subjective manner, and we also trying to find meaning in the way that we feel instead of looking for meaning in its rightful place which it must be added is in the objective aspects of the processes that exist in nature. Biological life evolves, and finds meaning only by being objective, and progressive, and by having intentions, aims, and designs that serve a purpose. Subjective feelings are only a way of attempting to understand reality. Reality is only as futile, or as meaningful as you choose it to be, but as processes in nature everything fulfills a purpose, eye's are developed to see with, hands, and fingers are developed to grasp things with etc. Purpose, and meaning is an exponential process within biological life in the sense that it leads to progress, and also in the raising of the standard of all things, states, and conditions. In regard to the concept of progress, one will find that progress only exists within biological life itself, and also in its workings, and activities and this is due to a long chain of events. The progressive states, or conditions which have been attained by biological life have occured because the chain of events that are progressive and have lead to biological life have only come about due to a continuance of the harmony that has already been attained due to the processes in nature that have lead to biological life in the first place. The processes, and events that have lead to the harmony that produced biological life are the following; our planet being at the correct distance from the sun, and our planet having an electo magnetic field due to the activity of the iron core mantle which is at the centre of our planet, and also in the fact that our planet has a moon orbiting it which creates movement in the sea which is a factor that aided the preliminary developments of biological life, and also in the fact that the planet we live on has the correct amount of elements, and chemicals which make our planet inhabitable, etc. The attainment of pleasure, joy, and happiness motivates the desire for progress within biological life and are states, or conditions which are only attained by overcoming conflict, struggle, and pain, and the fulfilment of these processes are a result that comes from the harmony that has already been in place due to the prior processes in nature, and all progress, and evolution in biological life is motivated as a result of these processes, or course of events. Progressive behaviour also involves the satisfaction one gets from improving the standard of things in oneself, and in one's activities. Diversity is a necessary part of evolution, and progress because it produces more options and continuance, whereas limited options or avenues could limit continuance in processes, and so this is why nature designs things, and people differently. The way people are, and most of what people do cannot be helped, because people are simply following their nature's in most cases and they should not be discriminated, or looked down upon for the way they are by nature. All meaning, and purpose in nature is progressive and unavoidable.

ON THE CONCEPTS OF THE "I" AND THE "EGO" AND THEIR MEANING

The concepts of the "I" and the "ego" are labels that are used to encompass what we consider to be "our sense of self" and our sense of self is the identity that we have and give to our "being", it is also a combination of the character that one has as well as the character one develops and is in the process of developing for oneself in the sense of future goals to work towards, so the concepts of the "I" and the ego are parts of a process that is partly fixed and partly changeable as an identity in our consciousness and being. The concept of the "I" is a simplification of the many aspects of being that this concept encompasses and it consists of some of the following; the will, our character traits, our sense of self, our insecurities, our moral values, our virtues, what we think we represent, our desires, our needs, etc. In the ego insecurities appear as a defensive attitude and also as an inflation of one's attitude and estimate of oneself due to arrogance, arrogance is usually a result of a feeling of insecurity, and emptiness, and the feeling of arrogance attempts to make up for and cover up this defecit of feeling in the ego by appearing to fill the gap of what the ego feels it lacks. As part of the ego the mental abilities and also the character abilities of a person as well as the security of mind one has appears as a type of calm modesty, and it presents itself as a form of congeniality of character, for instance, modesty is always a sign of ability and security of mind and this occurs because you cannot cover up what you do not lack, which is what arrogance attempts to do, modesty is basically an attempt to tone down one's feeling of ability and security. In many cases insecurity is usually ill-founded and is the result of doubt and ignorance about reality. A tendency to want to always be right, and correct appears in the ego's of those who are amongst the ignorant and unwise and this attitude is always fully enforced by the will, the highly intelligent and wise amongst us on the other hand tend to be more unsure of themselves, and are more likely to compromise, and avoid conflict in most cases. The concept of the "I" by itself without reference to the ego represents our true selves whereas the ego is our false self or the part of ourselves that acts and pretends and that takes on a separate image from the subjective "I". In a sense the ego is just as much a part of ourselves as the "I" because you cannot have one thing without another, for instance, the "I" would feel fragmented by itself so it needs the ego to present itself in a simpler and more adaptable form that can act and deal with circumstances quickly in our every day situations of dealing with others aswell as with most objective goals. I will now endeavour to explain and describe what this subjective inner "I" is in which if it is anything at all constitutes our true self. It can first be pointed out that the subjective inner "I" that is ourselves is in a sense a process of composite elements which ultimately lead to a perception or intentionality which has an objective direction leading outwardly in the sense of looking out at the world and this is so because the will is the true essence and driving force of the "I". This subjective "I" is partly fixed in the sense of consisting of those aspects of our character that don't really change and if they do it happens rarely and these represent our true motives, desires, needs, traits and will and this is due to our nature, custom, habit and our actions because our true motives come out in our acts and not in our opinions. We always do the things that mean something to us and we tend to ignore and neglect the things that don't mean much to us. Our deepest motives are subconscious and so we are not always aware of them. The subjective perception of the "I" has no choice but to face intentionality whether enthusiastically or more apathetically but in so doing will encounter objective ideals and values that it follows and these usually play a huge part in our evolving and progressive natures. The final part of the "I" that I am to explain as being part of its content is the fact that we as dynamic beings need change and progress so therefore the inner "I" evolves and progresses and makes the required adaptations due to its inner needs and desires. All the internal dialogue that occurs in our being happens between the "I" and the ego and being truthful to ourselves usually means being truthful to the "I" and not the "ego". The ego sometimes alienates us and leads us into inauthenticity in the sense that the ego exists as an image which is capable of dividing us away from the "I" in our consciousness and this can create neurotic behaviour. It is the ego which represses the "I" and causes problems when we are not being truthful to ourselves, but the "I" always wants to be truthful to itself and this process happens in all of us. Many of the motives, desires, needs, wishes, ambitions, feelings and ideals of the "I" are latent and deep within the subconscious and this is why our passions and feelings are very dynamic and can seem mysterious and even overwhelming at times and so it is a bad thing to repress the subconscious aspects of the "I". The ego on the other hand can be very superficial and petty because the ego is imaginary and maintains a false appearance of coherence and completness. According to the philosopher Slavoj Zizek the concept of the "I" is an empty shell unless filled with the contents of the world (i.e., the stimuli and ideas of the outside world as sense data to fill us as subjective or inner content). Zizek's observation is correct to a certain extent, but we can still have a sort of basic "I" or underdeveloped character without much sense input, because this can be found in nature in animals that live under the ground, such as mole's and other types of rodents. The concept of the "I" is not a fixed thing and is in a constant change or flux, but yet part of its behaviour is consistent and predictable. Thinkers like Zizek claim that the "I" does not exist within us at all, he claims that it exist outside of us, to him it exist only in our behaviour and in a sense its non locality gets lost in our outer behaviour, according Zizek it can never be found within us. What Zizek fails to mention is that outer behaviour originates from our inner behaviour or inner consistencies, you cannot have outer behaviour without the inner behaviour conducting it. It is safe to say that Zizek's analysis is incomplete. Inner behaviour completes the outer behaviour and vice versa. The "I" exists as "potentiality" and as "actuality" due to the essence of the potentialities and possibilities inherent within vital organisms. Our thoughts, feelings and our behaviour are responses and choices that shape our potentiality and actuality of existence because of external stimuli. It is our thoughts, feelings and our behaviour that is either good or bad or good or evil due to our choices, not our potentiality. Good or bad, etc., are also relative terms. We are our intentions, choices and behaviour, it is this that represents who we are and shapes the actuality of the "I". The potentiality aspect of our being is neutral, it is the choices and intentions of our behaviour and our decisions generally that shape who we are. Potentiality and actuality exist together within our being, one pushes forward the other, one comes from the other, yet they exist together and shape the "I". The "will" or choice and decision making aspect of our being that exists as potentiality, is the most mysterious aspect of our being, it ultimately has the choice to do what it wants, regardless of the consequences. Behavioural psychology and science prove that we can largely be shaped by conditioning and education whether internal or external, we can even recondition ourselves, i.e., will a new self.

ON THE AUTHENTIC AND INAUTHENTIC ASPECTS OF BEING

How many times have you heard the old saying "I was not myself ", which as a convenient thing to say has been used innumerable times as an excuse to cover up all types of behaviour, this old saying is no longer valid in a modern, and rational age in which society increasingly becomes as it progresses, for example, all behaviour comes from oneself, and all the behaviour that emanates from one's "being" is a process, and is an expression of one's will, and is intentional, and is therefore neither fixed, or accidental. To be authentic requires that we be 100% truthful to our own natures at every moment, and in every situation, and is an extremely difficult thing to keep up and going for a long period of time, because by conforming to what society and other people expect is inauthentic behaviour, but seems unavoidable, and is a sign of uncertainty and conformity. The process of being truthful to oneself is an instinctual urge and desire to follow one's natural thoughts and feelings to their conclusion, and to develop them fully. Sometimes other peoples ego's prevent them from accepting our behaviour when we are being truthful to ourselves because they take it as a threat to their so-called authority that we are not doing what they expect of us. A lot of the trouble, and futility in the world appears to be created by people who cannot think for themselves and who expect others to conform to societal, religious, economic, cultural, political , and national dogmas and beliefs, and also by so many other types of conformities and customs none of which have any real authentic meaning or purpose, they are simply hollow rituals that have been passed down from generation to generation. It is the authentic and original thinkers of the world who contribute to the progress of evolution, and it is they who give purpose to biological life in general by leading others by example. In modern society it can be difficult to find mutual ground with other people, there is nearly always a dance to be performed, in this dance we are under constant scrutiny from each others gaze, we are constantly wondering whether the other person is being authentic, or whether we can trust them, we wonder if they will accept us, or whether we will see them again, etc. Acting and pretending is something that a lot of people do in everyday life and they do it for sociological reasons as a means to see how far we can take the situations we are in in a certain direction, one could even suggest that it is part of adaptation, and evolution. It must be pointed out that acting and pretending is not an inauthentic form of behaviour but can be considered as a creative and natural thing to do seeing as though "being" is not a fixed entity, essence, or thing and so therefore acting is a form of adaptation, and is also a creative type of growth, and expansion of being, and personality. Whether a persons behaviour be authentic or inauthentic does not alter the fact that their behaviour comes from them and is partly influenced by society and other people, humans are social animals who need each other for various reasons so in a sense it can be hard to avoid conforming to the wishes of society and other peoples expectations. People should be aware at all times of their own authentic and inauthentic behaviour, and they should also be aware of when they are acting, and pretending, and also they should come to learn and also to understand their own behaviour, and motives, and the reasons for it, and also where it leads, one should also be able to discern these things in other people.
One day the meaning, purpose, behaviour, motives, and the progressive processes of biological life will be a science in itself and there will be no doubt why a person chooses to do anything. Meaning, rationality, and certainty are part of progress and become exponential over a period of time. There is an aspect of being in which a persons behaviour is influenced by a desire to impress other people by whatever means. Even in so-called acting, or pretending one is still being oneself, because without one's own abilities to act, or pretend that one understands things in general it would not be possible to persuade others whatsoever of the many things in society that do not have anything to do with oneself , so acting can viewed as an expression of one's own abilities to adapt in a sociological setting.

FREEDOM, LIBERTY AND FREE WILL

"Freedom" as a concept in its truest sense it must be pointed out exists only as an ideal, because even though we may appear to be born with freedom at the moment of our birth, we are yet fully dependant on the care and love of our parents, or whomsoever it was that raised us from the moment we were born onwards. When people speak, or write about freedom as a concept, or thing to be pursued in the real world, they usually mean a freedom from other people as well as specific aspects of society, rather than from anything else in most cases. If it was not for other people, and society we would not have to mention freedom, or fighting for freedom, we would simply exist to do what we chose at any given point in time. Violence can be an outcome of the desire for freedom especially if one's liberty is being curbed. Freedom is always associated to growth, because as people we cannot grow without freedom, and liberty, and therefore these are ideals which are associated to progress, and the ideals of freedom, and liberty can be considered to be important for all people and their desire for meaning, and purpose in this world. There are many ways a person can behave in any given situation because one has the liberty and freedom to do so, but in general we are really just trying to be truthful to ourselves, so I suppose this is what true freedom is (i.e., the act of being truthful to oneself). "Free will" is a form of self mastery and is an extension of the "will"in nature that exists in us, and therefore one follows from the other, the whole point about "free will" is that you can control and shape your "willpower" in such a way as to truly have "free will", and this occurs in a relative sense, and not in absolute sense. It will be noticed by most people that it is at the moments when we feel happiness, and joy which are amongst some of the times in our lives that we feel the most free psychologically, whereas when we are feeling sad, and depressed it gives us the feeling that we are trapped, and limited by this condition. The concept of freedom is always connected to the pleasure principle in biological life, and so one of them always indicates the other and vice versa. Reason, truth, and freedom are always connected also because as concepts they liberate people from ignorance, and irrationality. Freedom of the mind is a condition that is harder to attain to than physical freedom, because as I have mentioned earlier we are conditioned by the people who have raised us from the moment we are born, and also society conditions us.