Why You Should Create Your Own Philosophy

Everyone already has a personal philosophy that they live by. The problem is that most people never got to choose exactly what it is. I'm here to change that...

Everyone already has a personal philosophy that they live by.

The problem is that most people never got to choose what it is.

When we are born, we are all handed a random collection of personal beliefs, values, and worldviews and told what to think for years before we are even old enough to choose anything for ourselves.

It get’s worse…

When we finally are old enough to think ourselves, we realize that no one taught us the actual skills necessary to think independently — that part is supposed to be up to us to figure out.

Unfortunately, not everyone is able to figure out how to think independently about their beliefs, values, and worldview, and end up stuck with what was handed to them.

At its worst, individuals are forced to live their lives on “hard’“ mode because they are constantly being undermined by toxic beliefs that cause self-doubt, shame, and a lack of confidence. Sadly, such individuals might spend years blaming everyone and everything outside of themselves, without realizing that there have been negative toxic beliefs living inside of them for years.

Examples include:

• The belief that human beings are fundamentally selfish

• The belief that bodily pleasure is evil

• The belief that money is evil

• The belief that there is no meaning in life

Beliefs like this can secretly operate as background assumptions in someone’s life without them even realizing it.

Why?

Because our minds play endless tricks on us to soothe and satisfy our ego, and will do anything to get us to avoid the painful work of uncovering the limitations and harmful assumptions of our own personal belief system.

What most people fail to realize is that philosophical beliefs and worldviews bring them with a whole package of implicit assumptions that can have genuinely harmful (or helpful) effects on someone’s life.

So even though a belief system sounds appealing on its surface, it may contain hidden messages that require critical thinking and deep introspection to uncover.

The most extreme cases of this are found in toxic religion.

Jim Palmer writes powerfully about the harmful messages of a toxic religious belief system in his article “When you’re in an absuive relationship … with God”.

Here is an except:

I recently received an email that started like this:

“My first abusive relationship was with God.”

This person went on to describe the dynamics that were emblematic of her “relationship with God” as she learned it in her toxic religious environment, which included:

• conditioned not to trust herself or think for herself

• taught not to listen to her needs

• learned to repress her natural desires and feelings

• indoctrinated to believe she was worthless, broken and sinful

• required to submit to God’s will as a condition for salvation

• instilled with fear of questioning God

• bound to deny herself in order to please God

The strategy of maintaining relationships through the denial and loss of self in order to please others is destructive and codependent. Is it any wonder that codependency is so widespread in human relationships when it’s the underlying premise of how relationship with God is often taught, namely self-denial as the hallmark of spiritual maturity and striving to be someone different or better in order to please God.

Not all religion or spirituality is toxic.

The truth is, pretty much any belief system has the potential to limit human potential.

The lesson here is that if you lack the ability to really think for yourself about your personal beliefs and values, then you are highly vulnerable to the passive acceptance of belief systems that can actively harm you, or prevent you from growing as a person.

The bottom line is that what we believe really matters.

It likely matters more than anything else in our lives because it sets the conditions for what we think, what we desire, how we talk to ourselves, how we talk to others, and what we think is possible in life.

Imagine that there was a philosophy called Defeatism.

According to Defeatism, there is no point in striving for anything because any attempt to get something ends up failing. In fact, one of the fundamental beliefs of Defeatism is that the world is designed such that no matter what you do, you will fail.

Obviously, if you believe in Defeatism, you are going to fail.

Defeatism is a bad philosophy and not just because it isn’t true.

The scary thing is that if you don’t know what your current philosophy is, then you don’t even know what all of your most important beliefs are. And if you don’t know what your most important beliefs are, you might have some aspect of Defeatism quietly embedded into your current worldview without realizing it.

I know that in the last year and a half, I have personally uncovered several deeply hidden assumptions in my life that had prevented me from realizing my potential for years. I only became aware of these assumptions through a combination of taking action, gaining life experience, and trying to construct my own personal philosophy and life vision.

You either know what your current philosophy is or you don’t.

If you know what your current philosophy is, then you also know what your important beliefs are and how they shape your life.

If you don’t, then you are placing a bet that the beliefs you inherited as a child and teenager, as well as the beliefs you acquired throughout your life from other people, cultural conditioning, and school, are the right beliefs you need to live well.

You are betting that society has succeeded in philosophically educating you to live well.

I don’t think most people should take that bet.

The odds are that the current philosophy you are living by is more like a patchwork of generic ideas and traditional bits of wisdom which are meant to provide the bare minimum foundation you need to become a contributing member of society.

There are (at least) two problems with this:

• First, these beliefs weren’t specifically designed for you, they were designed to help society function.

• Second, a random collection of different philosophies and belief systems is likely to contain many internal tensions and contradictions which make it harder for you to act in alignment with a clear vision

This leaves millions of people stuck never really feeling sure of themselves and who they want to become.

What most people don’t realize is that they have the ability to create a philosophy for themselves.

You don’t have to be some kind of rare genius to create your own philosophy of life.

The goal isn’t to create a universal theory of everything that solves life’s deepest mysteries.

That’s not what I am talking about.

What I am talking about is transforming yourself from a consumer or student of general philosophies and belief systems to a creator of your own personal philosophy.

A personal philosophy is something that any average person can create for themselves if they ask the right questions and have the right approach.

At the end of the day, thinking philosophically really comes down to one thing:

Whenever you encounter some philosophical belief you just ask yourself whether you agree or disagree with it and why.

Most of the most complex philosophy in the world is just people doing this at increasingly high levels of sophistication.

So in order to create a personal philosophy, you just need to figure out what your beliefs are and ask why you believe in them.

It really is that simple.

So why do so few people sit down and actually do this?

The main reason is that no one is ever taught how to do this.

We don’t teach philosophy in schools, and if you want to study it in a university, there is an insane paywall.

I had to go $80,000 into debt as an undergraduate to study philosophy.

That probably sounds crazy, but I actually think it was worth it.

It was worth it not because I learned about a bunch of crazy theories or answers to life’s big questions.

It was worth it because of the intellectual skills it taught me.

In hindsight, philosophy empowered me to become an independent thinker who had the intellectual self-confidence that I could learn almost anything and articulate my own personal beliefs that had real weight behind them.

It gave that to someone who did not read an entire book until they were 17, lacked self-confidence, and wasn’t planning on going to college.

In hindsight, what I gained was worth far more than $80,0000.

But it should not cost that much for anyone.

-Paul

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If you want to join a community of genuine thinkers who are working together to build their own micro-philosophies, I just released a completely revamped version of my Micro-Philosophy: Foundations course.

Micro-Philosophy: Foundations is the only online philosophy course specifically dedicated to teaching adults how to create their own personal philosophy of life.

If you’re interested, the course is available for pre-sale until February 22 here.