BECOMING YOU

Morals + Knowledge (& Ignorance) = You

Regardless the exact state of mind and body that we're in upon birth, we spend the early years of our lives being taught how to conduct ourselves in this world in various faculties. Those around us, namely adult figures that help to raise us, have a great influence on how we view the world. They instill in us many of their beliefs regardless of their validity and/or justification and/or intent. As we gain knowledge regarding the different facets of life, we also begin to harbor ignorance. As generations come and go, this transfer of knowledge and ignorance recapitulates.

Ignorance occupies a vast space in the human mind. And with preconceived notions that fill our minds before we're old enough to analyze them prior to acceptance—at what point do we become ourselves? We have to focus on life as we age: school, work, relationships, raising children, etc. Responsibilities begin to stack up. At what point do we stop to figure out who we are instead of accepting who we inadvertently became as a result of our environment? Most of us don't. Is this something we can change? Maybe. But it requires giving up who you think you are now and what you think you know. We have to start by understanding what it means to know something in the first place. Then we can begin to acquire information in a more strategic way—starting with morality and principle.

After you've defined morality and your principles (which I plan to write about soon—it's a tricky one), understand where they come from and make a promise to yourself to live by those principles. Then you can begin to understand who you are and act out your true self. This is where we begin to acquire knowledge. We cannot let knowledge and experience manipulate our morality, but rather, we want to build our character on top of it. It's like signing a contract before getting into any business dealing. Ask any lawyer: you sign the contract for worst case scenario. The last thing you want to do is wait to figure out how to handle a dealing that went wrong when emotions are at an all time high. This is no different for your morales. Life is going to test your morales and principles. You need to have set very specific parameters and outlined how you will handle different life situations. When you find yourself in these situations you can simply refer to your morality contract as to how the situation needs to be handled. Knowledge acquired will then stack nicely onto your morals and principles to build a cohesive individual that has no internal cognitive or moral dissonance.

So, unlearn a few things, sign your morality contract, become you.

At least that's how I look at it...