I Choose Life

I do not have a mind. I am my Mind. I do not have a life. I am my Life. I do not have consciousness. I am my Consciousness. These are not distinct entities. To kill me is to terminate my Mind and Consciousness, to destroy my Mind is to wipe me from existence. You can lop off a man’s arms and legs, but it is not until you destroy his brain, that you have killed the man. The concepts of Mind, Life, and Consciousness are all crucial to the identity of a thinking, conscious being, and without any one of these things, you do not have any of the other.

We are Minds, defined as such by our expression of a singular fundamental trait: Thought. This trait is not merely a characteristic of a Mind, it is the process by which a Mind operates. In the absence of thought, there is no mind. The quality of a Mind is determined by the quality of their thinking.

Now you might incredulously ask me, “what makes me the judge by which the quality of minds are to be measured?” My answer is simple. I am just as much of a judge of the quality of minds as I am a judge of any other aspect of reality. And so are you.

I exist in this cosmos, and as such I must move through it. In order to survive, I must have the mental ability to analyze the parts of nature through which I move such that I am able to ensure my continued existence. This much is even more true if I am to flourish. If the ideas generated by my mind are nonsensical irrational gibberish that is completely incongruous with reality, then those ideas will not effectively ensure my survival or flourishing but rather, will act as a hindrance. This is due to the fact that human action is ultimately informed by the value judgments that we form, derived from the concepts that we form from living in our surroundings. And concepts that are consistent both with reality and with logic can only be formed by Rational Minds.

It is through our Reason, through our ability to discern reality, that we are best capable of improving our existence upon this planet. It is from man's use of his mind that man has built great steel structures and machines that make our efforts more efficient, it is through man's mind that mankind has increased the understanding of their own biology to such an extent so as to dramatically extend the span of the lives of human beings by developing cures to a vast array of ailments and diseases, and it is by the creative talents within man's mind that great artworks ranging from beautiful paintings to masterful symphonies are created. Reason, as our ability to understand that which we observe in the cosmos, is the means by which every innovative pursuit that is directed to the purpose of improving our existence is achieved. None of this, of course, matters, if one does not value Life. That is to say, if one does not value their own Mind.

Without Minds, there are no things to which things can be of value. There is simply existence itself. It is only for Minds that things can have purpose, it is only to Minds that things can have meaning. You can choose to suspend your Reason, to adopt beliefs and value structures that are contrary to your survival and flourishing. Or you can choose to adopt Life as the standard of your values, and to use your Reason to derive all other values. Which is to say that you can adopt your Mind as the standard of your Values, and you can wield it’s power to understand how best you are to live on this earth; to discover a Life that is Proper to Man. I know not what you choose, but I choose Life.