Constant changes and their virtue.

I decided to start writing a bit again today after some encouragement from a friend. I used to think I was working toward some kind of grand scale theory, but these days I feel the desire to write a philosophical thought as it happens to come to mind, and if in time those thoughts happen to coalesce into something greater so be it.

Today I am writing about the changing facets of life. The argument I intend to make here is that change in not only inevitable but change is good. We base most of our evolutionary models on the idea that life is always changing. In older western philosophical thought there was this desire to find things constant and objective that we could not understand at the level we normally exist at everyday here and now. I do believe that things in fact have an essence or basic form, but only at the material level we exist at and not on some supernatural level we cannot comprehend. All dogs have a basic form. All trees have a general form. Within each basic and general category there are more specific forms such as a type of species. All humans too have a basic form. All forms exist relative to other forms and because of this we categorize and distinguish them in order to more easily understand them. It is because of these differences there is competition for each form's survival in the world, and it is because of this competition that forms slowly change over time. The forms that fail in their pursuit for survival disappear while the stronger live on. Those forms that change very slowly to many ancients were thought to be constants but they change so slowly that they only appeared that way on the surface. Everything in life is constantly changing into something else even though our senses may not be able to perceive such directly.

The reason this idea is important is because some things change much faster than others and these things are events that take place within our current lives while we are still here. If survival is attained through constant competition then the only way to potentially be the best at something is to observe ourselves relative to others we come into contact with. There are some philosophers who believed we could have true power and control if we spent time alone in the wilderness or a reflective state where we have no other human competition. I take this with a grain of salt on the stance that I agree we have much less competition when in seclusion, but will eventually develop new habits for this environment. I believe Socrates was one of the best philosophers because he continually interacted with the public environment by questioning it and making others ask questions. A philosopher that secludes themselves do have more control in their environment, but when they lack the competition of other humans in certain realms such as intellectual thinking or physical fitness they become sluggish after some time, but in return they may become more productive at other tings. Spending time in public is good and stepping away from it is just as good because they create constant changes. You can see the foreshadowing taking place as combine the word constant with competition and changes.

This works itself into the point I am going toward. The problem with the ancients seeking constants is that a constant lacks competition and without competition there is no desire to become greater at anything, because a constant is already at its destination. I will however argue that there are some kinds of constants that are changing and these constants are the best kind. How can a constant change? I would say the same way water can change to ice or vapor. It is the same way a tree can get stronger or wilt. They remain the same in basic form but they exist different relative to others in their environment, because there were certain constants that were necessary in order to make them change in more specific form. For example the tree regularly needs sunlight and water to survive. These are constants but too much of either would kill the tree just as too little would also. It is the ability of the tree to get the right balance that allows it to be its strongest possible relative to the other trees of its kind. All the trees are competing for resources like water to become stronger but resources are scarce which causes nature to innovate the basic forms of the trees over time to better survive. Those better suited to survive with less or more will fair better in their life and as long as the environment stays the same their offspring will fair that way too who are similar to the parents who survived.

As humans in a “civilized” society there are many kinds of competition too. Resources are just one of many kinds of competition. In a society like this there is an abundance of many resources that cause us to choose to work less where we otherwise would have in nature, but that does not mean many other kinds of competition are not taking place. Just like the example of the tree we are now in a position to choose moderation like limiting our food intake but not so much we become emaciated or too much where we become obese. Food is a constant we need throughout our lives, but in order to eat the right amount to have a certain kind of body that will be desirable to others we have to struggle to control this constant. This is an example of a constant that is always changing. It is changing because as we move through life into different environments the temptations change and well as the availability of foods. This constant changing makes us feel good as long as we have a feeling of control over the constants in our environment. The best way to do this is to put ourselves in environments that are conducive to how we want to be until we develop habits we can carry into other environments, and return to those environments we developed those habits in on occasion to keep them steady. It is the constant changing of environments by choice that keep life interesting and the struggle of maintaining the old habits we prefer that make life feel exciting.

In many cases we have an ideal life that involves ideal people, such as a mate, career, or lifestyle, but when we actually attain these things they eventually become old and dull just as the places we came from, but if we can take constants with us that keep us struggling no matter where we are in most cases we can struggle with these virtuous constants. I call them virtuous because life feels bad without a struggle, and after a struggle we seek another struggle to keep life interesting, but many struggles only cause us pain. The struggles that come with the constants are struggles that are those that produce eustress instead of distress. It is to continually work at being better at the same thing throughout life. I already gave the example of food control. Things we can control at a given place and time and have to struggle to maintain give us a rush on some level when we want to maintain a habit we approve of, and these things we can control on some level help us ignore the things we cannot control in the same environments.

More examples of constants I have found in life are music, art, exercise and intellectual thought. John Stuart Mill argued that the mental pleasures were higher than the physical pleasures. I disagree because things like music, art, and exercise are all physical and we can struggle at these too while receiving great pleasure that can keep reproducing itself. I would also add the argument that the mind and body are connected and the plasticity of the mind changes with actions of the body. We can take on these hobbies and continually try to improve on them over time. As we struggle to improve these things that remain constant but remain a struggle we produce eustress, and these things are constants we in many cases struggle with in private where we have more control of our environment, and then move to compete with them in the public and then back again. This continuous moving of constant habits into changing environments causes stress on the habits to become improved or die off. This constant struggle of habits we approve of is what will keep life exciting even when many of the environments and people we choose become dull and old.