Until this point, I have rarely expressed my actual views on a given subject.
The primary reason for this is that I want to help you develop your own views. If I express my views too strongly, there is a good chance that you will be influenced by what I think.
Today, I will be more open about my views.
Bedrock Claim
The world is a complex system composed of complex systems.
One of those complex systems is each of us, as an individual person.
Epistemological Implication
Complex systems, by their nature, are unpredictable and always in flux.
Thus, the world is unpredictable and always in flux.
So are we.
The best we can hope for are approximations that are always, in some sense, wrong.
We can call these always-incorrect approximations models.
Although models are always wrong, they can sometimes be useful in helping us examine the world.
Ethical Implication
Since the best we can hope for is a model, if we want to know how to lead a good life, we should seek out a model.
The model I propose is this:
We should think of our lives as gardens, and we are the gardeners cultivating that life.
Questions to Develop This Model
-
Models are meant to share underlying features with the thing they model, which we can call the target system. What underlying features do gardens share with life? In other words, why might gardens be a good model of life?
-
If life is a garden, what would the various parts of a garden represent in life? What would plants, soil, weeds, seasons, tools, compost, pests, and weather represent?
-
Models are meant to be helpful. One way a model can be helpful is by uncovering something we did not know about the target system. Another way is by uncovering new questions we can ask about the target system. What is something about life that we learn from thinking about it as a garden? What further questions does the garden model allow us to ask?
-
Models are also helpful because they help us think about how a system does not work. What is the opposite way of thinking like a gardener? What is the opposite of a garden? Do we exhibit this opposite kind of thinking in our lives? Should we?
-
I said that the world is a complex system full of other complex systems, one of which is each individual person. Other complex systems include families, societies, corporations, clubs, schools, and communities. Does the garden model work for these other complex systems?
-
All models are merely approximations of reality, and thus all models are wrong. In what ways does the gardening model fail to capture reality? Are there any other models that might capture those parts of reality better?