Expediency
Acting politically: using words to manipulate the world into delivering what you want, so that only some narrowly desired and pre-defined outcome is allowed to exist. It means to become possessed by some ill-formed desire, and then to craft speech and action in a manner that appears likely, rationally, to bring about that end. It means living a “life-lie.”
→ Based on two assumptions: that current knowledge is enough to define what is good far into the future, and that reality would be unbearable if left to its own devices.
→ Some people define their utopia early, and then spend their lives trying to make it real. It is an oversimplification typical of ideologues, who adopt a single axiom (government, capitalism, patriarchy is bad). They believe, narcissitically, underneath all that bad theory, that the world could be put right, if only they held the controls.
Listening to your conscience
If you cease to utter falsehoods and abide, truthfully and courageously, by the highest of ideals, you will be provided with a security, strength, meaning so profound that it protects from the fear of death - greater protection than a focus on safety would ever give.
→ One of Socrates’s distinguishing characteristics was his absolute willingness to follow his internal spirit - his voice, or daemon - and to stop speaking and cease acting when it objected. Because this voice objected to fleeing (or defending himself) when faced with a trial for crimes against the city-state of Athens, Socrates radically altered his view of the significance of his trial.
→ Two responses to not getting your way: the voice of authenticity (my aim/methods were wrong. I still have something to learn), or that of inauthenticity (the world is unfair, someone else’s fault). The sins of the inauthentic individual compound and corrupt the state.
Tell the truth...
→ What should you do, when you don’t know what to do? Tell the truth.
Requires faith: If existence is good, then the clearest and cleanest and most correct relationship with it is also good. But is existence good? You have to take a terrible risk to find out. Live in truth, or live in deceit, and face the consequences, and draw your conclusions. This is the “act of faith” - you have to risk your particular, individual life to find out.
Changes you: When you explore boldly, when you voluntarily confront the unknown, you gather information and build your renewed self out of that information. This is mirrored between the theoretical as well as the biological - a lot of you is still nascent, physically, and cannot be called forth by stasis. If you say no to small instances of tyranny (a boss, a spouse, a mother), you transform yourself into someone who can say no when it needs to be said. C.G. Jung knew that moral problems plagued his patients, which were caused by untruth. Nietzsche said that a man’s worth was determined by how much truth he could tolerate.
→ Telling the truth is a completely different pathway from taking the easy way out - a different way of existing. In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That is what makes it Paradise.
Who are you?
Maybe you don’t fully know. What do you truly want? Treat yourself as a stranger. Don’t say “I shouldn’t need x to motivate me.” Don’t overestimate your self-knowledge. Negotiate with yourself to entice yourself into sustainable, productive activity.
→ Don’t take the role of obedient and harmless lap-dog. Dare, instead, to be dangerous. Dare to be truthful. Resentment either means you are immature, or that tyranny is afoot, in which case you have a moral obligation to speak up. When you have something to say, silence is a lie - and tyranny feeds on lies. Dare to articulate yourself, and express (or at least become aware of) what would really justify your life.
Decay is the status quo
Culture is always in a near-dead state, even though it was established by the greats of the past. But the wisdom of the past inevitably deteriorates, in proportion to the genuine difference between the conditions of the present and the past.
The inevitable functional decline of the institutions granted to us by our ancestors is accelerated by our misbehavior in the present.
For example, there is little in a marriage that is so little that it is not worth fighting about. You may avoid the fight, as you convince yourself that it’s because you are a good, peace-loving, patient person (nothing could be further from the truth). But nothing but a fight with peace as the goal will reveal the truth. All it takes for a marriage to devolve is nothing: don’t notice, don’t react, don’t attend, don’t discuss, don’t consider, don’t work for peace, don’t take responsibility.
The myth tells of Horus doing something unexpected: he journeyed voluntarily to the underworld to give his eye to his father. There is a powerful lesson in this: the attentive son can restore the vision of his father. We have inherited the great machinery of state and culture from our forefathers, but they are dead, and cannot deal with the changes of the day. The living can. We can open our eyes and modify what we have where necessary and keep the machinery running smoothly.