Philosophers have forever been interested in how one can live a 'good life'. From Aristotle's theory of flourishing ( called 'Eudaemonia') in Ancient Greece to Confucius' governing rules for behaviour in Ancient China, and from the lessons of Christianity set out in the New Testament right through to today's Secularism, we have tried to find out what makes humans healthy, well, and happy. We have tried to discover the key to wellbeing.
These philosophical ideas attempt to give some theory or understanding on what wellbeing means and how one can achieve it. However, I believe that just ‘doing philosophy’ can improve our sense of wellbeing. Further, the two styles of philosophy I presented in my first post also gives us two different ways of doing this.
Initially it would sound odd to claim that brick philosophy would be good for our wellbeing. In my first post I described ‘brick philosophy’ as our tendency to name and explain the things the world and try and bring them together under a theory where all the parts fit together sensibly. Thus, ‘doing brick philosophy’ involves comparing and contrasting these theories to see which works best. When we think of this we might be drawn to the word debate: where two sides have their opinions and they fight over which opinion is best. The political stage is a great example of this, but I think most of us would agree that this is detrimental to our wellbeing! However, this is also not philosophy. Philosophy, in my opinion at least, involves not debate, but discussion: where two sides have their opinions and they work together improve their own ideas.
For example we may compare the Descartes' ideas or brick walls to the scientific method. Descartes argues that if we want to reach true knowledge then we must start from statements which we cannot doubt; statements that are certain. Since we cannot fully trust our senses (because we could be dreaming!) then we must rely on pure rationality and logic for these statements. Their most fundamental truth being: I think, I exist. The scientist disagrees with this and says instead that if we want to reach true knowledge our statements we must be supported by evidence. Their most fundamental truth being something like: it can be measured, it exists. A debate between these two ways of thinking could be quite an ugly affair, but a discussion could be something very enriching. After all, scientists are often faced with evidence that suggest logical paradoxes and Descartes still lived an uncertain life but trusted what he could see and touch.
Illustration by Jen Webster (instagram: heartless.jen)
The results from this sort of discussion are almost always positive and we especially see this in the children’s classroom. Apart from giving all participants an opportunity to rethink and develop their own ideas, we also see an impact on their ability to think and communicate. The discussion has a way of preventing overly rigid thinking and getting too stuck or obsessed on one idea. It also promotes openness and a willingness to try and see ideas from another point of view. Above all, participants know its ok to change their mind and that they will not get judged for doing so.
These are all fantastic tools for promoting good mental health and wellbeing. Too often I see people who are afraid to assert their own thoughts out of a fear of being judged, or people who may even choose to avoid talking to people have a different view points to them. Philosophical discussions like these to prevent this The programmes found at The Philosophy Foundation and in P4C run discussions like this for children and I highly recommend looking them up if you are more interested in finding out more (see links below).
Although we often shy away from subjects that really matter for wellbeing and mental health topics like relationships, self-worth, comparison, and happiness can be the topic of brick discussions. The tools of brick thinking can apply this to our deepest concerns and gives us ways to help ourselves. Saying that, this style of philosophy is limited when it comes to matters of the heart and feelings. This is because we have come across something that is very hard to turn into bricks that easily fit together: human emotion.
How many times have you seen someone or yourself feeling absolutely tired, exhausted, maybe even depressed and said: ‘I shouldn’t be feeling this way right now, I got plenty of sleep last night’. Or feeling the throb of anxiety and stress and thinking: ‘But there isn’t anything to worry about, everything is fine right now’. You then carry out your day on the basis of what you think, by ‘getting on with it’, and not what you feel. This probably prompts feelings of guilt or regret for not feeling the ‘right way’, and attempts at trying to change your emotions.
I suspect for many this just sounds like the ‘normal thing to do’ because 'it’s the way it has alway been done'. You may also think it’s the ‘right thing to do’ because to act on the emotion (depression, tiredness, stress, anxiety etc) will take you in the wrong direction. Indeed, this may be true, but surely this opposition and tension between what one feels and what one thinks is not good for our wellbeing. In fact, I would argue that this lack of coordination is one of the most fundamental causes of poor wellbeing and bad mental health.
This is where I think flow philosophy comes in handy. In my first post I described flow philosophy as a way of thinking that doesn’t break down the world into smaller discernible pieces because the whole world is the most fundamental part. So when it comes to our emotional experience it asks us to completely scrap any attempt at saying what an emotion is (eg. sadness or anger), to stop theorising about its cause (eg. lack of sleep or bad day at work), and simply accept our experience as another part of a constantly moving and changing non-static world.
This is hard to do because our emotions often give us a sense of great uncertainty. To let emotions 'just be' can feel like you are letting go of a stable rock in fast flowing river that is about to send you over a waterfall or down some extremely bumpy rapids. Not only does it feel like you are drowning, but you are also very likely to get some bumps and bruises on the way. But in letting go of a the theory about the way your emotions should be you are giving yourself a real chance to experience the entire river that makes up your emotional landscape and therefore more of your internal being and personality. Perhaps this sound horrid at first, but remember that the totality for ever-changing river courses have as many moments of slow moving serenity and calmness as they do of waterfalls and rapids.
Illustration by Jen Webster (instagram: heartless.jen)
Once you get a better grasp of what your entire river looks like then you can start developing appropriate theories that apply to it. By 'doing the emotions' in the first place you will have a much better chance of building up thoughts that will coordinate with your feelings. Which will also give us a far better foundation for wellbeing. This could involve a range of thoughts right from ‘I slept well last night, but I am still exhausted - this is because dealing with x yesterday wares me out a lot more than other things’ right to ‘I feel anxious and I still have no idea why, I will take care today and try to explore more of my river tomorrow’. Both of which are far better and more honest than ‘I feel x, but I will ignore that and do this other thing instead’. This approach will surely give us a far better foundation for wellbeing.
I should note here that when I suggest that our thoughts or theories of emotion should follow our ‘doing the emotion', I do not necessarily mean we should act on the basis of our immediate feeling. This can often be unwise because the feeling (eg. anger) can lead to very unhelpful or destructive actions. What I do mean is to try and take time to feel and appreciate the feeling for what it is in itself, and without an interpretation or judgement what do to with it (eg. thinking ‘this is a bad emotion’, ‘this isn’t the right time to feel this emotion’). It sounds paradoxical, but the reason why some of us might act in an angry way (eg. want to hit something or shout at someone) is because we are acting on some inner theory that says ‘when you feel angry, just let it out’ or ‘get rid of it’ which actually prevents us from feeling it at all. This doesn’t help when the inner theory for others might be the complete opposite: ‘when you feel angry, just keep it in’, which might require the opposite act of ‘letting it out’ in some way in order to feel it all! This is a great frustration of flow philosophy, but it is also its great insight. It appreciates that no two rivers are the same and therefore that there is no ‘one-size’ fits all theory.
A standard response to this is ‘but what if I never find a theory that helps me better understand my emotions?’ Well then I say we are right into the philosophical conundrum that flow philosophy presents us with: ‘is there ever a theory?’. Flow philosophers will often ask these questions because they will always push us to try and see the world in non-reductionistic and non-static way (always changing and always flowing!), but that is not the end-goal for wellbeing. It certainly helps to try and understand why our rivers are shaped the way they are, but our primary interest is to find theories that just help us to live a more balanced and healthier life. This doesn’t necessarily involve finding a theory for everything. In fact, being able to say ‘I don’t know why’ may just be part of the wellbeing-package. The only real dilemma flow philosophy leaves us with is the in any moment is very personal choice of whether we should hang on to the rock or take the plunge into the rapids.
The flow approach may come across as a lonely venture, and in some ways it is because everyone’s river is different, but there there is some helpful safety equipment that will help us on our way. There are theories of emotion and human feeling in a way that can at least provide a set of guide lines to help us on our own journeys. I personally think that Buddhism, psychotherapy and even some good old philosophical existentialism are some good places to start. The sciences are also making headway in understanding how and why emotion, body and mind are linked. Just always remember that these theories can only really help us when we are able to match our own subjective experience to their objective theories, and this cannot happen or even make sense unless we are able to get n touch with our own emotional landscapes!
In the end we may even find we can apply some brick-discussion to our own inner experience that helps us further make out our emotional landscapes (eg. asking ourselves if Nietzsche’s existentialism is more or less helpful that Freudian psychotherapy). Such a process may also make us more able to engage in emotional discussions with others, thus giving us the chance to work out not just a better individual sense of wellbeing, but a better community sense to wellbeing too.
Links:
The Philosophy Foundation: https://www.philosophy-foundation.org/about-us //Twitter: @philosophyfound
P4C: https://p4c.com/
My own website: https://www.wyephilosophy.com/philosophy-discussions
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