Great and Cheerful Philosophical Adventures

It is hard to define what makes a good Nature Walk,
but I do want to note some things just to enlighten those who are new.

Above all, you will need something Philosophically heavy,
and not just a question, as those are always too easy.

You need a powerful philosophical quest,
that will make the world better somehow.

And please don't be shy,
Real Philosophers love all good thoughts.

No Real Philosopher,
has ever belittled anyone.

Real Philosophers do not create borders,
they tear them down, so that you can come an join them.

People who divide, and shame, and dictate who is a philosopher and who is not,
are unwell, and yet to grow up to understand their place in the world.

Don't be scared of Love Of Wisdom,
it is yours, and it is for you to inspire the world with.

It is for you,
to make the world a better place with.

And let me pause right here,
just for a tiny moment.

To underline,
how important nature walks are.

They truly are,
as deeply philosophical as I make them out to be.

Allow me to give you an example of one of my heavy Philosophical Quests,
the story of how I discovered a lost virtue, the virtue of Cheerfulness.

I think this is something that people refer to as positive thinking,
as being positive, as living on the sunny side.

But my discovery was independent of that,
I was deep in the woods, with rays of sunshine everywhere.

And chipmunks were all over the place,
they were running around like crazy.

With me, in my thoughts was Dear Viktor Frankl, and Friedrich, and Socrates,
and a half remembered memory of someone saying: "Life Is What You Make Of It".

Socrates was asking Crito to be of Good Cheer,
and I was asking about meaning, and the chipmunks were asking why I was ruining their morning ways.

And it occurred to me, that when the Ancient Greeks spoke of the Four Virtues:
Wisdom, Courage, Moderation, and Justice...

And then Europe in the Middle Ages spoke of:
Chastity, Temperance, Charity, Diligence, Patience, Kindness, and Humility.

And the Knightly Virtues called for:
Courage, Justice, Mercy, Generosity, Faith, Nobility, and Hope.

And Bushido beautifully framed,
Sincerity, Responsibility, Frugality, Politeness, Modesty, Loyalty, Harmony, Tranquility, and Compassion.

and Aquinas underlined that it not only matters what a person does,
but how the person does it.

They didn't really mention Cheerfulness,
Cheerfulness is extremely powerful.

Friedrich for example said,
"He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how."

And Victor added, that when all is taken away, the last of the human freedoms is:
"to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."

But, I think that in modern days, we need more,
because finding meaning, is not just about finding meaning in suffering.

Meaning is about all the things that present a challenge,
and we need to formulate a good answer for all things, not just misery.

We need an answer that also works when nothing too terrible is going on,
like: "What the hell is the meaning of an Alarm Clock?", or "Why is the whole world poor, when there is always money for war."

And of course that big old question, of the meaning of life,
which is not a miserable question, at all.

And here I remembered Richard Dawkins talking about some questions being silly,
just because something is grammatically correct it does not make it a serious question.

I think he was in general talking about the question of "Why are we here?",
being grammatically correct, but not really a serious question.

But I turned the tables around,
and instead of asking the question, I cheerfully went on my way to answer it.

Cheerfulness is more than courage in this case,
it is unlike any of the virtues I note above.

Cheerfulness gives us the power of giving inspirational and somewhat silly answers to great questions,
here we don't need a Ph.D in anything, we just need to be Cheerful.

So on my little morning walk,
huge walking stick in hand, cheerful, surrounded by beauty and chipmunks...

I answered all my big questions,
in a single go.

Let me start with the big one,
meaning of life.

We have a talent for Art, Storytelling and Writing, Knowledge, and Wisdom, and Inspiration, and Greatness,
and these are all very difficult things, and they hint on the answer.

The meaning of life is found in becoming a Great Being,
exactly like Richard Dawkins, Friedrich NIetzsche, Viktor Frankl and Socrates, and all the other Knowledgable, Wise, Inspirational, Great Beings.

Do you see what I did?
I cheerfully answered the biggest question?

Why are we here?
Murray Gell-Mann CHEERFULLY answers that in his Beauty and Truth in Physics TED talk.

That of course deals with the science side of things, but also the cheerfulness of Murray Gell-Mann himself,
his laughter towards the end of the talk, and the love and understanding of his audience, perfectly, PERFECTLY, captures that other half.

We are here to be Human, to Share Wisdom, to Teach, to Admire, and Inspire, and Chuckle, and Laugh,
that Laughter in the end of his TED talk is a special kind of laughter.

My original discovery of this beautiful kind of laughter came from just about the time when I was packing for one of my great walks,
again sunny days, filled with cute little adventures, always packing to go somewhere, and wearing multiple fanny packs.

I was listening to Richard Dawkins giving one of his talks,
and the way the audience Loved Him, and adorned him with that laughter of understanding, made me speechless, made me appreciate and admire the students in the audience.

Their laughter was a sign of heights of intelligence that I have never seen before,
I sat down to pay more attention to the video and wait for the audience to display the appreciation of what Richard stands for, with that purity of laughter.

I can whole-hardheartedly say, we are here in great part to share in that kind of laughter of Wisdom, and Understanding, and Love of Science,
and admiration for the clear thinking of Great Beings like Richard Dawkins and his honest and beautiful answers.

Science and Laughter,
that is my cheerful answer.

Now why is there money for war, but they is the world poor?
because politics are primitive, they don't yet do the Humans Justice.

Politics have ways to go before they develop,
to become good enough for us.

Laws that structure a nation,
are like a computer program.

If that program is badly written,
and if it is lacking good programmers to fix that program.

Then there will be so many problems,
the whole system will be slow, and full of bugs, and corrupt things, and will require constant manual review, and repair, and it will never be enough.

A well designed political system, eliminates poverty, replaces prisons with schools and mental institutions,
makes sure that everyone gets a real education that they become proud of.

This requires great thinkers, generations of Great Beings,
redesigning politics all around the world.

The world is poor,
because politics are primitive.

Which brings us to the final question,
the question of the alarm clock.

The alarm clock, is a kind of a test, and reminder,
it exists for the purpose of one day being smashed to smithereens, by you.

It is a constant reminder, that you are supposed to smash it, or just turn it off if it is on your phone, or a family heirloom,
and instead of preparing for work that day, prepare for an adventure.

Go shopping, for really, really expensive, and colorful adventure shoes,
that have plenty of room for thick socks, nice and soft, and warm... thick socks.

And get a backpack, probably the bigger the better,
but it also has to be really sturdy.

And you will need a tent!
even if you are not planning the walk to last more than a day, it is still fun to have a tent.

Sometimes it is great to just set it up in your back yard,
or set it up in the middle of a woodland walk to lay down a little, and have a sandwich, or a nap, or just look out from if there is a nice view.

The first time you go on a walk,
bring a notepad, not just for philosophical thoughts, but to just make a list of all the stuff you wish you had with you.

While I never quite used it, I always carried a cowboy hat and a bug net,
that you pout over the hat just in case a fly start bothering you, presumably - stuff like that.

In short, the meaning of an alarm clock,
is to alarm you, when you are ready to smash it to smithereens and become a Professional Adventurer that goes on Great Many, Great and Cheerful Philosophical Adventures.