The Use of Philosophy (1)

 don't dress for the job you have but for the job you want. by that i mean. what kind of philosophy do you have and what kind of philosophy do you want? is your philosophy a reflection of who you are or who you want to be? philosophy is usually a form of commands, precepts, tenets, that have a normative tone, they instruct you to do something. if i am a lazy person and i feel guilty about it, then my philosophy might be "carpe diem, seize the day": that would be a productive philosophy because it means that i am aspiring towards something which i am lacking in. on the other hand the opposite would be the self justifying philosophy which is "do not strive for more than you can achieve" or "know thy limitations"- that would be a philosophy of resignation. because it means that you have already accepted that you are lazy and the way you try to overcome the guilt of being lazy - the feelings of inadequacy - is by justifying it , by saying "look there is no nothing to achieve, why bother, be happy with what you have". the former is an active philosophy, the latter is a passive philosophy. it is ultimately a question of faith, good or bad, what are you making normative statements for? why are you setting out to derive a value system? 

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