Darshan Chande Lexicon

Free Will

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 02:02:00 +0000

Free will is our ability to choose through reflection.

Determinism implies that we don't have free will, because everything in the universe exists through a chain of causality. While I don't refute determinism, I hold that we do have free will.

My proof of free will:

Assuming that a bird is not self-aware (which is probably right), when it is flying, we can say that the flying is happening. The bird as an autonomous agent is not flying. Only the physical body of bird, a heteronomous living object, is being driven by the laws of the universe. Without self-awareness and thought processes, the bird won't know what's happening. The bird as an autonomous agent is not, i.e. does not exist. (If it is self-aware/conscious, then it would be said to have free will to the degree of its consciousness. Most animals and birds have too little or no self-awareness.)

In the same way, if the thinking in our brains was just happening, then we, as autonomous agents, wouldn't exist; only our physical bodies were being driven by the laws of the universe. But the fact that we "choose" what to think means we exist as self-aware and autonomous agents, unlike birds (and other creatures for that matter). Autonomy is free will.

I think, therefore I am. (Descartes). "I" is self-aware and autonomous, therefore I have free will.

Blog post(s):

Worthwhile Living

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 05:26:00 +0000

That lifestyle which would make the world a better place is worthwhile living.

We measure the betterment of the world in terms of human wellbeing. Therefore, that living which purports to increase the collective human wellbeing is worthwhile living.

Since it is not always easy to run the exact measurements of what would or would not contribute to the collective wellbeing it's good to simply think of it as: how we would like others to live.

Blog post(s):

What Is Worthwhile Living?

Societal Collapse

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 04:55:00 +0000

Societal collapse is a phenomenon brought about by such undesirable changes* in the society that rapidly undo what is built over a long period of time. Societal collapse can be of the economy, political system, culture etc., and/or combination of those.

There can be many reasons for societal collapse depending on the area or the type of collapse.

*Includes changes which are undesirable in themselves (direct harm perceived), and also those changes whose chain-effects would be undesirable if the connection could be known prior to the change taking place (indirect harm).

Also see: Failed Society

Comforts-Happiness Relationship

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:38:00 +0000

Comforts-happiness relationship describes the effect of comforts on general wellbeing.

Happiness has purely positive relationship with comforts (meaning, as comforts increase, so does general wellbeing) till the point of basic comforts, after which the relationship is only temporarily positive; meaning, comforts beyond the point of basic comforts have no lasting bearing on happiness. Rather interestingly, beyond the point of basic comforts, the comforts-happiness relationship may even become negative in a mishandled life.

Basic Comforts

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 07:33:00 +0000

One is said to have the basic comforts of life if one is in good health, and is able to earn enough money for a modest (as opposed to luxurious) lifestyle.

Contentment

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 05:41:00 +0000

In the short-run, contentment is a neutral state of mind wherein one feels neither happiness nor suffering. In my spirituality days, I believed this state to be the ideal state to be in, but no more. Happiness/suffering is a part of the healthy life. Contentment is not a bad state as long as one isn't avoiding happiness/suffering to always remain contented.

Over the long-run, contentment is a sense of saticfaction with the way one's life has been. Note that unlike the first meaning above, here contentment does not mean "no happiness and suffering", but suggests a healthy life of fulfillment and is something to wish for.

Spirituality

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:20:00 +0000

Spirituality is truth-seeking with the goal of getting rid of the suffering of human life.

There are many versions of spirituality, some involving a belief in God, others atheistic. It is hard to understand how truth-seeking and a belief in theistic God can be in one system of living – because the truth is, there is no God. However, and hence, the defining feature of spirituality, I would say, is the pursuit of enlightenment – the state of permanent and everlasting happiness, IOW, elimination of suffering. Stripped of this goal, the system is anything but spirituality.

Some modern spiritualists concede the impossibility of enlightenment or everlasting happiness. But even so, their main focus is always on the inner/self, and how to protect the self from every form of suffering, which nontheless follows from the main ideal of hardcore spirituality.

Earlier I have been into a personalized version of atheistic spirituality, but no more. Spirituality – more precisely the goal of eliminating suffering (or pursuit of unending happiness) – is by nature a narcissistic system of living.

Blog post(s):

How Spirituality Makes Narcissist of Man

Failed Society

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:16:00 +0000

Society's failure is collapsing of a society on account of relentless pursuit of individual goals (as opposed to common goals or social goals) by all or most people in a particular society. Failed society is a society thus collapsed.

In modern times, instances of society's failure at the level of family unit have become normal. The same may take place at a wider level if the philosophy of individualism (which is getting much popularity today) coupled with amorality or lack of moral conscience (which is another feature of pop culture) proliferates.

Society's failure may also happen due to the complexity of the structure of society. If the increasing complexity of the society outpaces its members' capacity to keep track of their progression, eventually a point comes when despite good intentions, 1) it is difficult to figure out the best actions for the society's interest, 2) it is impossible to reverse the progress even if the doom lies ahead.

Also see: Societal Collapse

Law

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:36:00 +0000

Legislation

Legislation is a formal code of conduct (IOW, rules for living) which is usually and mostly agreed upon by the effective majority in a particular society or region.

In contrast to this, morality is an informal code of conduct. There's usually a "gap" between law and morality mainly due to human limits at objectively evaluating causes and effects of human actions with high accuracy (called subjectivity). Law, therefore, does not fully represent morality. The corollary is: all that is legal is not necessarily morally flawless too.

Infatuation

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 03:14:00 +0000

Romantic love, infatuation, attraction

Infatuation (also called attraction) is hormone-induced, romantic, love. Since it is only based on hormone-induced liking/attraction, it is also called physical attraction.

One's liking for some person is hormone-induced when there are no "good reasons" (like matching thoughts and ideologies, similar goals, interests and passions etc.) for liking the person but is mainly just because of the sex difference and call of instincts.

Infatuation in this sense is active mating package.

Blog post(s):

What Is the Difference Between Love and Attraction (or Infatuation)?

Happiness

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 04:52:00 +0000

Two types of happiness:

Excitement-happiness is happiness characterized by excitement, ripples. Examples: Partying with friends, buying a desired thing and being excited about it, any activity involving high amount of fun and pleasure. It being short-lived by nature, I formerly called this happiness a temporary insanity.

Contentment-happiness is happiness characterized by contentment, tranquility. It means being satisfied with the present state. Not particularly excited about something and not sad too.

Generally, I simply use the word happiness to suggest wellbeing. The context should explain whether it's the first type or the latter that I mean.

Additional note: In my spirituality days I believed the former kind was bad (and was to be avoided) and the latter kind good (and was to be preserved). Now I believe excitement-happiness is not to be avoided; it is healthy in appropriate doses. Contentment-happiness is always good. Also, in a developed person contentment-happiness over a long-run is not at odds with having short-run excitement-happiness.

True Partnership

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 06:46:00 +0000

True partnership is a relationship based mainly on reason, with appropriate emotional involvement, which is not easily threatened by emotional (or instinctual) upheavals.

Morality

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:46:00 +0000

Morality is an informal code of conduct for healthy coexistence in a society.

At an individual level morality is striving for survival and wellness. At a social level, it is striving for the same goals for a greater entity called society of which an individual is a part.

Indecency

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 09:37:00 +0000

Indecency is any behavior which is not conducive to good health of a society.

Egoism

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:49:00 +0000

Egoism is when a person is only concerned with his pleasures without any regard for the effects of his actions on others' wellbeing.

As against this, altruism is when one finds pleasure acting for others' wellbeing

Altruism

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 07:47:00 +0000

Altruism is a tendency of deriving emotional pleasure by enabling others' wellbeing.

When someone derives emotional pleasure by helping others, s/he is being altruist. It is true that the acts of altruism are also, in a way, self-directed (to get emotional pleasure for oneself); but still it's wrong to put it in the same category of egoism/selfishness.

Human Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Human nature, or human side, is the rational side of a human being. That behavior which one can control through reason and autonomy pertains to one's human side.

Human nature is contrasted with animal nature.

Animal Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

That part of one's behavior on which one doesn't have autonomous control pertains to one's animal nature, or animal side. Examples: Sexual urges, romantic love, intense emotional responses like uncontrollable anger. That's the reason when one behaves in overly irrational way without being able to even control it s/he is said to be acting like an animal.

Animal nature is contrasted with human nature.

Effective Majority

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:12:00 +0000

When Person1 and Person2 are in favor of X, and Person3 is in favor of Y, we say that the majority is in favor of X. (Two against one.) But in the same example if Person3 has, say, a weapon* which makes him more powerful than Person1 and Person2 put together, the effective majority is in favor of Y.

*Weapon is a metaphor for physical or social (nowadays, mostly social) power and/or authority.

Mating Package

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:21:00 +0000

Mating package is a biological arrangement, which includes elements of romantic love (obsession, attachment, euphoria) and sexual desire, for the purpose of mating in humans.

Mating package is a term used to refer to romantic love. Usually when one says one is in love, it's mating package that is "active". That's the reason one falls in love only with a person of the opposite sex.

Mating package = romance + sexual desire

Crime

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:13:00 +0000

Crime is a highly selfish act which is considered punishable by the effective majority (thereby, law) in a given society. A criminal act is mostly, but not always, directly harmful to one or more members of the society.

Love

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:27:00 +0000

1) Romantic love: See this entry.

2) Conditional liking-love: It means liking something or someone very much for certain quality(-ies) possessed by the object or the person being loved. When felt for a person, this kind of love is characterized by respect, empathy and compassion for the person.

3) Unconditional love: Unconditional love is an absence of hatred and infinite compassion towards the world. It can not be directed towards any particular person or object. Unconditional love can only be directed towards the whole world at the same time. The ideal of unconditional love is humanly impossible to hold up to. Additional note: Romantic love can't be unconditional love.

Romantic Love

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:15:00 +0000

Romantic love which is characterized by obsession and attachment with the person of fixation, and euphoria, is mating drive. It is experienced when mating package is active.

Also see: Love

Individual Freedom

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:33:00 +0000

Individualism

In the civilized world, individual freedom is a delusion which has to be enjoyed within certain boundaries.

Society

noreply@blogger.com (Darshan Chande) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:16:00 +0000

Human Society

Society is a group of interdependent individuals who have aligned each-other's self-interests to maximize their welfare.

Society is a system of interdependence for optimum welfare.