My Guide to a Meaningful And Moral Life

I believe that deep down we all have the same basic goal in life, that is, survival. Everything we do is just to try to continue on living. However, now that many of us have met our basic needs (e.g. food, shelter, clothing), we really should start focusing on what we can do to live a meaningful and moral life. Here’s my list of tenets that I try to live by. Tenet 1 – Be Nice It may be obvious, but we should all try to be nice to one another. Even from a purely y selfish point of view, if you are nice to others, you’re more likely to receive their favour. If you are a person who constantly goes around getting into arguments and disagreeing with everybody, you’re going to have a hard life. Make it easy on yourself and be nice! Tenet 2 – Stand up for What You Believe In Just because Tenet 1 was Be Nice, doesn’t mean you should always be nice, especially if somebody is doing something bad to you or someone else. If you are walking down the street and see somebody assaulting a young girl, it’s your duty to help out. If you can’t physically help out, at least you can call the police, take a video, call out for help – anything is better than nothing. Don’t be one of those people who just walk the other way and then kick themselves later. The only way the world gets better is when good people stand up for what they believe in. Don’t compromise your principles! Tenet 3 – Help Others (for Free If Possible) One of my friends has recently been having visa troubles here in Australia. The Australian government are threatening to kick him out despite him having lived here for almost 10 years! He’s had to resort to going to an immigration lawyer to help him with the process. What does the lawyer charge? A lot! For help to fill out a single three-page form, they wanted about $1600. That’s insane! ... Tenet 4 – Be Healthy If you’re unhealthy, it’s going to make it difficult to uphold the other tenets. If you are morbidly obese and can barely walk, it will be hard for you to help someone in need. Being healthy will also make you feel better. From purely a selfish view, people who are fit and healthy will probably have a better chance of getting a job, especially a physically intense one. They will probably live longer and will find it easier to attract a mate. For me, I stay healthy by exercising every day (even a 20 minute walk is enough) and eat a vegetarian diet. (See my post on Why I became a vegetarian - ****** Tenet 5 – Learn New Things To make your life feel meaningful, you should learn something new. It doesn’t matter what it is. For example, you could learn computer programming and create an Android app; You could learn to play the violin and play for your friends and family; Learn how to grow your own vegetables and make your wife a home-grown salad; Learn how to do a handstand; Learn a foreign language and talk to your friends in their own language ... Tenet 6 – Don’t Be Greedy Greed is rife in our current society. Rich people no longer want millions of dollars, they want billions of dollars ... By them not sharing their wealth, they are literally responsible for the deaths of others. Being rich is immoral (****** ... Please read my post Money Hides Wealth: Analogy of the Monkey Lord for a more detailed analysis (****** Tenet 7 – Forgive The most important Tenet, I believe, is forgiveness. Not just others, but forgive yourself as well. Some days, we wake up on the wrong side of bed and do something stupid, like yell at our loved ones, or ignore our friend in need. We’re only human after all. We must learn to say sorry and to forgive others. If we go around constantly holding grudges, then we will live a life of misery. Take a look at all the conflict in the Middle East. Most of it is due to people not being able to forgive. “You killed my brother, I’m going to kill your entire family!“. The never-ending circle of retribution. Don’t be one of those people – forgive others, forgive yourself, and say sorry to those you’ve wronged. We all make mistakes. A simple sorry is often enough. Live by these 7 tenets and you will hopefully be on the way to a more happy, meaningful, and most importantly, a moral life. Originally posted on Daily Rant Australia on May 10, 2017 by Andrew. ...