Applied Wisdom

DEATH and LIFE SIGNIFICANCE

Ernest Becker wrote "What is of paramount importance, what man really fears is not so much extinction but extinction with insignificance"

Often we find significance in our connection to generations of family. Some African cultures have two words for dead. One is simply dead, while the other means "really dead".  In the first instance the person has died, but there are those still alive who remember her. The second meaning is ta the person has been lost to living memory.

You may live as long as your grandchildren remember.   What if there are no grandchhildren or if now the grandchildren have grandchildren?  When there is no one to remember you, have you finally come to an end?

Let us use such wisdom to lead a life of meaning, purpose and significance.

Ethics and Values

"Ethics and what we care about are not by any means the same thing. ...Ethics are the rules yoou apply to get what you care about. What you care about - your values - is more basic than ethics."  -  Martin Seligman "Flourish".

Ethics are the standards we learn or think about. What we care about, our values, is how we live and what we do. 

The bottom line is that what we do is more important than what we think.  Using one to get to the other is applied wisdom.