What value means to me.
Posted by Spinkane 10 years, 9 months ago to Philosophy
Reading Tyranny of words has heightened my awareness of how words mean different things to different people. The sum of a person’s experience with some entity symbolized by a word defines that word for them. I have a sense there is a common understanding of the term value on this web site; it is used so frequently with high importance and great connotation, I don’t know what it means. I suspect the inference is often related to money and this makes me cautious; I don’t put a great value on money.
What does have high worth to me is my happiness, I have high self-esteem, (it is refreshing I don’t have to defend that here). I place high value on understanding. Learning or gaining insight gives me one of my most valuable feelings. I love the quote by Thomas Edison “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” The idea behind this quote has greatly shaped my life. It is important to note pursuing money doesn’t hold a fascination for me. To qualify, I pay all my bills, I am not in debt and I have savings enough for retirement. After necessities, I find money not only boring but potentially harmful. I have had many edifying experiences in life because I saw opportunity where others saw hard work. This idea occurred to me when an engineer where I work mentioned he needed his house painted. I was in my twenty’s, my wife was home with our two children and money was tight; I told him I’d paint his house, told him I’d done it before (white lie); told him I’d do it for $600.00 (way too low!); he said OK. My brain went on fire learning how to do this and spending all the money on tools. In the middle of the job he told me his roof leaked. I discovered the sheathing didn’t come all the way down to the fascia, the tar shingles sagged due to lack of support, water pooled there and slowly dripped into his house. I would slide flashing under the shingles bridging the gap and stopping the leak; thanks he said.
While I was on the roof I noticed flowers from a nearby tree had clogged the leader and his gutter was totally filled with water. I pulled the plug of flowers and took a rest on the roof. The water was splashing on rocks below making a nice waterfall sound; I could also hear children playing down the street. It was about seven PM on a night in July and the air had cooled from a hot day. It was one of the most peaceful experiences I’ve ever had.
I’ve had many such opportunities. One of the most difficult challenges I overcame was eradicating bed bugs (I’m practically a recluse I don’t know how I got them). Every night during the two week war I had to sleep in my bed so they wouldn’t follow me and spread around the house, or find my boys upstairs in their rooms. I was tempted to spend the three thousand dollars on an exterminator but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of beating them, which I did.
Yesterday I spent thirteen hours and forty five minutes building a ramp for my brother in law so he can get out of his house. He has leukemia and the chemo gave him a stroke. I spent two days designing it (I’m an electronic technician, not a carpenter). Having it come out just the way I designed it is of great value to me. I accept I was up all night with leg cramps, which I normally don’t get. Being in my fifties and losing all that water in the one hundred degree heat, that’s the price. I hope this wasn’t too long and I conveyed some of what value means to me. I have to go finish building a ramp.
What does have high worth to me is my happiness, I have high self-esteem, (it is refreshing I don’t have to defend that here). I place high value on understanding. Learning or gaining insight gives me one of my most valuable feelings. I love the quote by Thomas Edison “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” The idea behind this quote has greatly shaped my life. It is important to note pursuing money doesn’t hold a fascination for me. To qualify, I pay all my bills, I am not in debt and I have savings enough for retirement. After necessities, I find money not only boring but potentially harmful. I have had many edifying experiences in life because I saw opportunity where others saw hard work. This idea occurred to me when an engineer where I work mentioned he needed his house painted. I was in my twenty’s, my wife was home with our two children and money was tight; I told him I’d paint his house, told him I’d done it before (white lie); told him I’d do it for $600.00 (way too low!); he said OK. My brain went on fire learning how to do this and spending all the money on tools. In the middle of the job he told me his roof leaked. I discovered the sheathing didn’t come all the way down to the fascia, the tar shingles sagged due to lack of support, water pooled there and slowly dripped into his house. I would slide flashing under the shingles bridging the gap and stopping the leak; thanks he said.
While I was on the roof I noticed flowers from a nearby tree had clogged the leader and his gutter was totally filled with water. I pulled the plug of flowers and took a rest on the roof. The water was splashing on rocks below making a nice waterfall sound; I could also hear children playing down the street. It was about seven PM on a night in July and the air had cooled from a hot day. It was one of the most peaceful experiences I’ve ever had.
I’ve had many such opportunities. One of the most difficult challenges I overcame was eradicating bed bugs (I’m practically a recluse I don’t know how I got them). Every night during the two week war I had to sleep in my bed so they wouldn’t follow me and spread around the house, or find my boys upstairs in their rooms. I was tempted to spend the three thousand dollars on an exterminator but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity of beating them, which I did.
Yesterday I spent thirteen hours and forty five minutes building a ramp for my brother in law so he can get out of his house. He has leukemia and the chemo gave him a stroke. I spent two days designing it (I’m an electronic technician, not a carpenter). Having it come out just the way I designed it is of great value to me. I accept I was up all night with leg cramps, which I normally don’t get. Being in my fifties and losing all that water in the one hundred degree heat, that’s the price. I hope this wasn’t too long and I conveyed some of what value means to me. I have to go finish building a ramp.
"teleological measurement," the psychological process of evaluation. You have beautifully described evaluating time. Here is Rand on point.
"The simplest example of this process, which all men practice (with various degrees of precision and success), may be seen in the realm of material values—in the (implicit) principles that guide a man’s spending of money. On any level of income, a man’s money is a limited quantity; in spending it, he weighs the value of his purchase against the value of every other purchase open to him for the same amount of money, he weighs it against the hierarchy of all his other goals, desires and needs, then makes the purchase or not accordingly.
The same kind of measurement guides man’s actions in the wider realm of moral or spiritual values. (By “spiritual” I mean “pertaining to consciousness.” I say “wider” because it is man’s hierarchy of values in this realm that determines his hierarchy of values in the material or economic realm.) But the currency or medium of exchange is different. In the spiritual realm, the currency—which exists in limited quantity and must be teleologically measured in the pursuit of any value—is time, i.e., one’s life." Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology
Spin, good thoughts to your brother-in-law.
As well, I wanted to ask, a couple of weeks ago you posted about your family, but the way it was written, it seemed as if you were one of the boys in the scenario. Are you the father, then? I misunderstood and thought you were much younger. lol I have thought alot about that post and wondered what the father told the boys. You left us a cliff-hanger!
That’s where I’m at, that’s why I’m here. I appreciate your replies to me and posts.
This post was inspired by a post read here by … underdog or something; I didn’t agree with it, I wrote comment to it; but didn’t post it as it was too negative. I hope you have a pleasant surprise today! Sincerely.
Thank you for playing! When you are reading, watching or listening to Atlas Shrugged you’re understanding the nuances of the philosophy, (which you guys know better than me). My “objective” with this exercise is to point out something so obvious it’s often overlooked. Adversity brings out the best we can be, by 10-289 they were acutely “working harder.” I had to come up with something simple so my boys could remember, understand and practice it. The last line is all I needed to say. Thank You again sincerely:
“I have to work so it’s up to you to get yourself on the bus to school. I will not have time to check your homework or even if you went to school. If you fail you have nobody to blame but yourself, but if you succeed you get all the credit. If you get confused or don’t know what to do think of what will make me happy and what will make me mad. I love you unconditionally, no one else in the world does. I only want what’s good for you. If it makes me happy, it’s the right thing for you to do. If it’s going to make me unhappy it’s bad for you. Just remember, it’s your job to make me happy.”
Thank you for your consideration! I replied as a comment to the post you asked about. I copied my reply as a comment here. Most of the people I know don’t seem to have any kind of cohesive philosophy, this leaves me lonely in a frustrated sort of way. Adversity has forced me to decide what I believe and understand what is true. I figured it out for myself and realized I agreed with what I had read in atlas shrugged. As far as being younger, I’m fifty two. You might have thought I was younger for one of two reasons “Dude! Your making my head hurt” or I have very little formal education; technically I only completed the eight grade (starting out as an alcoholic can lead you down a different path) therefore my writing might not be formatted to what an intelligent educated person might expect. I agree with this quote by Nietzsche
the first line is:
“The excuse will hurt worse
as the bad plan goes wrong”. Where does that leave us?
Galt’s Gulch is only a virtual reality, are we to be stuck in a state of perpetual frustration? Do we spend our valuable time in negative emotion? “ I believe this dude was correct:
The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville
What really is the problem? What is the solution? Is the real problem we are going to hell in a hand basket? If the solution is the spread of Libertarian philosophy to establish a naturally healthy America that’s fine, but it’s going to take a minute. Let’s work toward these ends and be happy in the meantime. I contend the immediate problem is emotional equilibrium; once that’s established we can recognize nature more accurately. It would be unfortunate to live in a state of pissed offness. Do you agree? It’s OK if you don’t, I make lots of mistakes; that’s how I learned so much! Recently I was touched with a pang of resentment, it was an opportunity for me to ask myself “what’s wrong with my philosophy, that allowed me to feel this way?” I recognized I was practicing progressive ideology and it hurt. There was a party and I wasn’t invited. The answer, they are free to invite who they want as I want to be free. The point is to live a philosophy until it becomes second nature, before I get a resentment; I have room to grow. God granted me the right to pursue happiness, no man can take it away. Have Fun!