I’ve feared Immanuel Kant all my life. Feared him like I fear Calculus, as a venue and road of inquiry I believe I am unable to follow. I don’t enjoy discovering routes where I cannot go: like Mt. Everest or the moon or the center of Antarctica or the bottom of the sea—places I’ll never be and can never hope to see. So too the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant’s magnum-opus of thought. I’ve feared him all my life, like the God of the Old Testament—burning by night and smoking by day, all omniscient, impossible and out of reach.
But this weekend I gave Kant a try—at last after fifty-nine years. And he’s nothing like I thought. Kant was a real man like me, who enjoyed naps as a hobby, feared cockroaches and small talk, slept wrapped up in his sheets like a baby and lived a life of simple human folly just like the rest of us, nothing like any God or king or ancient hero of any sort.
Kant’s purpose in the Critique is simple, as he explains in the preface:
“I mean only to treat of reason itself and it’s pure thinking, comprehensive knowledge of which I do not have to look very far to find, considering that it is to be found within myself.”
There is nothing here for me to fear. No mystical truth requiring perception, no uncovering needing faith; just ideas borne of one man’s lifetime of hard work and inquiry, requiring only my time and careful attention to understand.
I no longer fear Kant… And I think I can do this. I think I can read his darn book. He’s just a man like me after all, with his ideas and his own story to tell. Nothing to be intimidated or afraid of. Perhaps I’ve at last found my way to the moon.
#GoingAlone#PrincipleOfReason
The Good Life Meditation is my daily recitation and reminder of personal objectives and principles used in pursuit of a purposeful life in spite of a universe of seeming indifference. Learn more about The Good Life at my website GoingAlone.org or by reading my book Going Alone. And visit our Discord at: https://lnkd.in/gFgfGmY6
OBJECTIVES: 1. Be Always Ready to Die 2. Make Good Use of Time and Resources 3. Develop Good and Sound Life Principles 4. Cultivate Good Emotional Reactions 5. Perform Good Actions 6. Recognize True Limits and Opportunity 7. One Thing Slowly
PRINCIPLES: 1. Principle of War 2. Principle of Reason 3. Homunculus 4. Anchorhold 5. Home of Good and Evil 6. Principle of Purpose 7. Atomic Principle 8. Principle of Nature 9. The Pirate Ride 10. Principle of Maturity 11. Social Principle
12. Principle of Family 13. Public Speaking 14. Temperance 15. Life Will Not Go Well 16. The Horror Show 17. That Which Must Be Borne 18. The Feast of Offal 19. Distraction 20. Agency and The Great Indifference 21. The Best Seat in the House 22. The Restless Man 23. The Path of Wildness 24. The Great Life Adventure 25. The Risk of Avoiding Risk 26. Sin and Damnation 27. Complete Oblivion 28. The Season of Philosophy
29. Scriptwriting 30. Bullseye Aim 31. The Uphill Climb 32. Arena and Utility 33. Nothing IS enough 34. The Principle of Fun
My name is Kurt Bell.
You can learn more about The Good Life in my book Going Alone.
Be safe... But not too safe.
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