My Philosophy of Life

by Thomas R. Wiles

We are products of our environment to a large extent. However, it is not 100% the case. If we were 100% the product of our environment, we would be animals with no conscience whatsoever. There could be no right or wrong, because all of our behavior would be 100% natural. There would be no need for man-made laws.

 

I believe we are all born with an inborn potential, a small "seed" or soul if you like. We innately know the difference between right and wrong. However, in order to develop properly this "seed" must be exposed to good examples on the outside, akin to the way a plant seed must be exposed to the right environmental conditions in order to begin to sprout and grow into a plant. The trouble is that parents for the most part tend to be horrible examples. Children tend to look at parents as gods, and unfortunately they are usually horribly disappointed in many different ways. In other words, children look to their parents, their fathers in particular, to be God's representative and a good example. To be a good example, a good father must have little or no ego of his own so that the "light" can shine through.

 

Think of it this way. Our soul is a portal for "light" as it were. Either way, we have an ego, either an ego that's formed out of the "light" or an ego that is formed externally via our wrong responses towards external stimuli. The less personal ego we have, the more real "light" can shine through in our interactions with others. When we deviate from this inborn knowing from right and wrong, "miss the mark" or "sin" as it were, we feel natural guilt. Once we feel guilt, we begin to look for distractions and escapes to eliminate our awareness of guilt. Food and sex are two major distractions but anything in the world can be turned into a distraction.

 

There is a deliberate flaw in man. Animals have no choice but to be what they are. Therefore they cannot sin. They are what they are with no choice. The deliberate flaw in man is that we have the choice -- we can either choose to act as a portal of the "light" or we can run from it by burrowing into our emotions, intellect and external stimulation. If there were no free choice, there would be no right and wrong.

 

We know the "light" as our conscience. We all are born knowing the difference between right and wrong. We need examples on the outside as we grow up to remind us of what we already know. A good parent allows a kid to burn himself a little on the hot stove to allow him or her to experience it for themselves, but they will be there to stop them from jumping off a cliff or otherwise hurt or kill themselves. The parent is there to restrain the kid from harm until the kid's own internal compass has matured to the point where it will function well on it's own.

 

It's easy to corrupt and subvert society through children. All you've got to do is make them guilty by sexualizing them too soon. Hence, our modern school system and much of entertainment.

 

Man is born in sin. The Adam and Eve story is right on the money. When Adam did what his conscience told him not to do, and then blamed it on Eve, their progeny (us) were born in sin.

 

I believe that every Adam and Eve that God put out on a world would be destined to fail the test. It is in our very nature to want to be God. We come into the world, a tiny point of awareness, not seeing him who made us. We start sinning almost immediately as soon as our parents fail us in some way, and we secretly or overtly hold hatred in our heart towards them in the form of resentment, anger, upset, frustration, etc., etc. It always starts with parents and grows from there as we continue to respond wrongly to injustice (temptation).

 

We have a better choice than Adam and Eve had. Adam started out perfect but was destined to fail the choice test and made the wrong choice. We are born already condemned for Adam's sin. We have a better choice because we can choose to make the choice that Adam didn't, to follow the light of conscience and leave behind our own ego that's grown out of basking in it's own glory. The only way a wicked ego can grow is through some sort of judgment or sin.

 

This world is all about sin. We have the opportunity to really rub our noses in it, but conscience is always there pursuing us, making us aware that we are wrong. There are always a few people who are able to completely kill their conscience. There are a few of us who realize something is wrong with the way we live and we never give up looking for the way to eventually make that correct choice that Adam failed at.

 

I'm optimistic about the future. In the end God is in control. I am not foolish enough to think that I can in any way affect the outcome. The only thing that any of us can do is to learn to follow our own conscience and remain true to it. The world is God's experiment, not man's. To think otherwise is another form of human egotism.

 

I personally don't look to government to make my life better. If I want a happier life it's up to me to find the way. I've found the quickest shortcut to profound unhappiness is to go against my own conscience.

 

All employees are slaves, no matter how pretty the place of employment is made to look. Employers are becoming increasingly strident overall about what employees can and cannot do if they are to remain employed. That's just fine, but it's up to the employee to realize and agree to it up front. It depends on whether or not one is willing to sell one's soul.

 

One big problem is that it's SO easy to be a slave. "All who sin are slaves" says the Bible. Sinners are always looking for something to enslave themselves to, even if it's original intent was noble. The promise of enslavement dangles like a carrot dangling on a stick tied to it's back in front of a donkey. Once we realize we are enslaved, we look for some other distraction to enslave ourselves to in order to take that awareness away.

 

The reason I can be optimistic is that God controls it all. God can and will "wake up" as many people as necessary if He wants the USA to continue. He can also turn his back on us and let us go over the cliff. The sheer numbers of people who responded positively to Ronald Reagan's funeral made me realize that I'm not alone. There are plenty of people in American who are basically good and decent people. If there had been little reaction to Reagan's funeral it would have been time for decent people to head for the hills and hide in the caves.

 

Liberalism had a 40-year monopoly on the media and government control. The back of the liberal media monopoly has been broken. We now also have the Internet as a way to communicate directly with each other. Liberal influence is shrinking every day -- that's one reason why some of them are becoming increasingly shrill and almost hysterical. The Reagan funeral response gives me hope because it demonstrates the fact that all the history revisionism liberals engaged in after Reagan left office was instantly swept away in a week.