Starting Course - Section 5
Creating Together

Me and my power

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The first 4 sections or this course are designed to help you

learn about yourself and your power.

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This section begins the discussion of how to develop this power

and use it to create a flourishing world for you and me.

 

About Me

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As discussed in Section 1:

The universe begins with me.  I am.

and

The only thing in the universe I know with 100% certainty is I exist.

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These two facts are known by every person 

who has, does or will exist.

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Every human being began from one cell,

and is equal to every other human being.

 

However, my first cell did not just appear from nowhere.

 

I know that there are other people

and they are necessary in order for me to have come into existence,

and to continue to exist.

 

That is the nature of the universe.

 

Yet all of this is known only within me.

 

The nature of the universe

is that it happens to only one person at a time,

and that person is me, and that person is you,

and that person is every person.

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Thus, I am the center of the universe.

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However,

you are also the center of the universe.

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Every human being is equally the center of the universe

and can validly make that claim.

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The claim that I am the center of the universe

is true for everyone, every human being 

who was, who is and who will be.

 

The fundamental fact that I am the center of the universe,

that I am self-centered, or rather that the universe is self-centered,

which is true of you and of every human being,

is the starting place for morality,

and the social world.

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Starting Place: I am self-centered (selfish).

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There are many, many things which guide and motivate me.

 

Stop and think about what motivates you:

love, religion, money, family, fame, hunger, emotional needs and desires and more.

 

Underlying all the various things which guide or motivate me is self-interest.  

 

Why? 

Because I exist.  Because “I am”.  

 

Another way of saying self-interest, might be to say,

“because I wish to continue to exist”.  

 

That may be rather simplistic and, in a sense, redundant, 

but it adds to the notion of self-interest.  

 

As I ponder my existence, I am “existing”.  

 

The future arrives in each moment.  

By my very nature, I sustain myself.  

As you read this, you sustain yourself, you exist.  

 

When I cease to exist, well, there is no more present

in which to ponder a future for me or have a memory of a past.  

There is no self-interest if there is no self.  

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I must continually exist, or there is nothing.  

Life is as simple as that.  

 

My existence is the foundation of my self-interest.  

 

My existence is the foundation of the universe.  

 

Once I cease to exist, there is nothing.

 

Every moral, economic, social, political and, well, every and any human principle, 

is built on the foundation of my existence.  

 

Without me, there is nothing.  

 

Say or think it to yourself:  Without me there is nothing.  

 

Anyone can argue, lay claim to, expound upon, or pontificate 

for as long as they like

about the “objective” universe outside of me, or outside of them.  

 

If I do not exist to hear it, or they do not exist to think or say it, 

nothing exists in the known universe.

 

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Building blocks or each and every me!

 

The fundamental building block of the universe is not some exotic particle, 

or some unified force.  

It is the thought “I am”.  

 

I understand this self-centered feeling well.  

So often it seems to be about me.  

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When I read what I have written about “I am” 

it sounds like I should focus on me, myself and I.

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That is correct and that is NOT correct.  

 

The focus on me leads to two places, 

both of which contain wonderful, and very simple, paradoxes.  

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First, there it the critical understanding of what takes to “be”, 

or what is involved in existing in the sense of “I am” or any other sense of existence.

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Second, it leads to a path upon which we can find happiness and flourishing.  

 

Both of these originate in, and emanate from, “I am”

and carry nearly the same strength of certainty.  

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Consider the following:

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To be:  While I seem to exist in and of myself, it is obvious to me that someone and something needed to exist before me, and certainly needs to exist around me.  So, there is a paradox.  While it seems that “I am” is all that I am able to know with 100% certainty, there appears to be no way I exist without something outside of me.  At times, it seems that I just am, but I could not have appeared out of nowhere.  

 

Therefore, I am beholden to things outside of me in order for me to know that “I am”. Reason and logic challenge me to understand that this appears to be as certain as “I am”, but at the same time they taunt me with the challenge “prove it”.  Sensory input can be wrong.  How can I know with certainty that what I see is the same as what another sees?  

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This makes the existence of others and the external world, in general, the next highest probability of certainty for me.  In particular, it the simple fact that I, like every other living thing, have needs.  Without food, water, clothing and shelter, there is no “I am” to experience.  I am 100% dependent on the outside world, as are you.   

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So, the paradox is that I cannot be 100% certain that the outside world exists 

but I am 100% certain that without the outside world,

and in particular without others, 

I would not exist.  

 

“I am” and to continue to be, 

“I need others” to continue to be, therefore 

“I am” and “I need others” are equal.
 

The certainty of my need of others is equal to the certainty of my own existence.

 

“You are” is as important as “I am”.  

 

While all individuals are self-centered,

there are no self-creating and self-sustaining individuals.  

 

You and I need each other to “be”, for our individual existence. 

 

In our dependence on each other, 

every person in the world is equal,

every person in the world is interconnected.

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Together, we create and sustain each other

individually and together we create the world around us.

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Because of this connection every human has with every other human,

none of us can be truly and completely happy alone,

by ourselves.

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I need you in order to be happy.

You need me in order to be happy.

We need to create happiness together.   

 

I have the power to create.

You have the power to create.

 

 

Not creation in the biblical or scientific sense.  

Rather, the power I have, and you have, is to create happiness in the social world.  

Together, we have the power to create a flourishing world.

 

This is the foundation for morality.

 

Ethics and Happiness

The more technical term for the study of morality is ethics.

 

In other words 

ethics is study of the human power to create happiness,

for themselves and others,

and the study and practice of how to use that power

to create a flourishing world.

 

Ethics is not about being good or bad

or what is right or wrong.

Those are important components of the field.

 

Ethics is all about happiness and flourishing,

as individuals and as a society

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Ethics is about what we should do with our power of creation.

 

Ethics is the science of creating the social world.

 

It is the study of my power to create.

 

Ethics is about how to use my power to make the social world work.

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Knowledge is power!

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Consider how we generally think of some of the things humans study.

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Think about the field of medicine.

It is the study of the human body,

and the use that knowledge, that power,

to fix broken bones and other parts of people,

to cure disease and illness,

and bring a person to good health.

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The fields of physics and chemistry

are the study of the material and energy in the universe,

and the use of that knowledge, that power,

to make life better for people.

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The field of ethics is like an umbrella

which covers all areas of human study and action.

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Medical knowledge can be used to cure or kill a person.

Knowledge from physics can be used

to build a power plant or a nuclear bomb.

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Every field of human interaction and activity has a moral element.  

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Please continue this journey with me

as we explore how to develop and use your power

to make the world a better place.​

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This whole website is designed to help you

create happiness and flourishing for yourself

and those around you. 

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