Continuing the line of thought from last week's post Tracking Happiness - I still maintain that the reality of experience and the pursuit of 'Higher Good' should be within sight of each other and interdependent, yet distinct, allowing for synergy and concurrent progress along parallel tracks. If an experience or an 'Ideal' merges and becomes an obstacle to the other, then one of them should be made 'more' (or 'less') important in order that one will fall safely behind, thus avoiding a dangerous and damaging collision.

Alternatively, (last week) I suggested widening the road or constructing a new parallel track for one of them to safely merge into. I'm not yet sure how to go about that, so I'll start with some initial (single-track) thoughts exploring apathy vs. acceptance as that may help. I think I may at times get the two confused; or perhaps there is some overlap; or perhaps I am just too stubborn (or stupid) to understand.

"Accept the things you cannot change." I have heard this my whole life and though it appears to be sound advice, what I hear is "stop caring - don't fight - give up." I have difficulty accepting difficulties no matter how difficult. The sentiment 'to accept things I cannot change' is typically followed by the encouragement to acquire 'the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.' In it's earliest incarnations some research says that 'the courage to change' was written/quoted before 'acceptance' which (to me) is more agreeable, for obvious reasons. We must first try change, and if unsuccessful, then (I believe) we should try, try again instead of moving right to acceptance. I have seldom (if ever) reached the 'acceptance' phase and as for that final phase, I will never Know enough to claim Wisdom.

So with this perspective (attitude?), I will never accept anything as is. Change is reality and reality is change, and though at times I may step back and re-evaluate I refuse to accept the status quo or stasis. I am realistic enough to know my piddling protestations may not have much impact and my search for Truth and Wisdom will always fall short, but I also know that there is some impact (especially with persistence) and I will continue to close the gap (though often only infinitesimally) on Truth and Wisdom; regardless, I am compelled.

Yet I can hear the masses clamoring in favor of acceptance. So what am I missing? I'll dig deeper ...

I have looked at this from several different angles, and I still may be missing something, but for me acceptance still means I stop caring so much by making something less important, or it means I have given up, making something inconsequential or lifeless. I am not saying I haven't done these things (I have) but every time I do stop caring so much or give something up, it seems a little piece of me dies along with it. Dramatic? ... Maybe. Childish? ... Perhaps. But I tend to agree with the 18th century philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who believed that civilization (and I would add maturity as a result) teaches us to pretend to think and feel all sorts of things we do not think and feel, and pretend not to think and feel all sorts of things we do think and feel. Acceptance inhibits uninhibited truthfulness.

So (at least for me) acceptance does nothing towards new construction, but simply makes one reality or Ideal artificially subordinate to another ... Which I guess creates an artificial reality lacking the depth provided by multiple parallel tracks synergistically connected and making concurrent progress.

So here I am - stuck in traffic. In my case a reality is blocking my pursuit of a 'Higher Good'. (And though this seem to be typical for me, in various circumstances I suppose it could be a bottleneck of any combination of empirical and/or transcendental aspirations.) So what happens if I ever-so-slightly increase my speed until I am nudging reality with a bit of uninhibited truthfulness. If the force of the uninhibited truthfulness is too great I could cause a crash with no survivors. But if I alternate between a little space, riding reality's bumper, and gentle nudges, perhaps reality will be encouraged to gradually slide over, naturally creating a wider track and (once we are side-by-side) ultimately two parallel tracks. (I realize this sounds a bit 'Sybil-ish' as it is my Ideal and my reality, but it does effectively and affably portray the internal and external perspectives of both transcendental and empirical experience.)

In theory this sounds good - Uninhibited truthfulness in moderate doses, to safely construct parallel tracks. In practice - we'll see ...

It doesn't feel though, like that's enough ...

Thinking about the situation, I realize that I cannot lose sight of the mutual respect necessary for any progress to be made. I have to ground my pursuit of an Ideal in the context of the current reality and the current perspective of history to help me understand (and respect) potential obstacles. (Some philosophical thought has suggested that history changes each day based on today's changing historical perspective and interpretation. I agree.)

Thoughts about mutual respect between the transcendental and the empirical lead to thoughts about inner peace, or at the very least, an inner calm - Perhaps this (inner calm) is also an acceptable definition of acceptance - biding one's time in a difficult situation, faithfully recognizing and acting on every opportunity, and thoughtfully creating opportunities, to perpetuate positive change. So maybe in this sense I could temporarily live with acceptance while waiting for and creating construction opportunities.

Additionally persistence must be mentioned once again as an aspect of the construction project that, along with skeptical scrutiny, will ensure structural stability. Skeptical scrutiny must be applied evenly to all considerations internal and external, while persistence should be applied as needed to fortify irresolute frailties.

Looking back, I have identified five essential components of construction:

1. Uninhibited Truthfulness.
2. Respect.
3. Inner Calm.
4. Persistence.
5. Skeptical Scrutiny.

I have previously stated (consistently in other posts) that I believe the transcendental trumps the empirical. After this week my thoughts may be evolving. Perhaps it is more accurate to say they support one another as they run side-by-side; and it is this 'side-by-side' that (for me) is critical for working towards the ultimate goal of interdependence and shared success between empirical reality and my relentless pursuit of (unattainable) perfections. By utilizing the five components above, with (productive) uninhibited truthfulness as the main building block, respect and inner calm as bonding agents, and persistence and skeptical scrutiny to maintain integrity, I believe we have a chance.