Mika I
From Aryez
Introduction
Mika I is an Aryezi philosophical work. It is in conversation form, between Akhi the philosopher and some companions. It is named after one of them, Mika. This is considered one of the more deep and complex philosophical works. Topics covered include the division of men into those who have true, spiritual knowledge and those who do not, what to do with those who do not, why its important to discuss philosophy, why philosophy is important, what happens to those who don't live with any knowledge of religion, philosophy, or God, what justice in society is, and why you can't just live a random, carefree life.
Characters: Akhi, Mika, Mo, Darsh, Chazo
YOU ARE WELCOME TO DEBATE THIS PHILOSOPHY ON THE DISCUSSION PAGE (which is on the upper tab to the right of the tab labeled article and to the left of the tab labeled edit).
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Mika: Why do you like to discuss philosophy?
Akhi: Why not? I do it for both myself and the world. I do it for my own enlightenment. If the entire world scorned me, I would not stop. I do it for the world, because I hope I can find something important to share with others. By sharing with others, I hope to enlighten others. But I would never forcibly teach others, nor dictate to them: “this is right.” Everyone must find their own truth. It doesn’t matter what philosophy or religion they choose to pursue to this end, but they should pursue this end. For all people who have faith, devotion, belief, wisdom, and do good deeds, must do so with all their heart, because they want to be enlightened, and to this effect, all those people of different creeds, in reality worship the same thing. For that thing is a thing that puts one of the path to truth. And all paths lead to truth. And this path gives people answers to life.
Mika: Why are you so passionate about philosophy?
Akhi: Philosophy and religion together are a series of paths to finding truths about life. It is important to constantly search for answers. For we need the answers to life. Life has to have meaning, purpose, and a cause to make it meaningful. We should never do any deed without thinking about it philosophically, thinking whether it is right or wrong, whether it has meaning or not (not that all deeds have to have meaning, sometimes you can just have fun without meaning, but it’s still appropriate to know that it has no meaning), and so on. For life is a serious, real, important matter and we need to approach it as such, for it is a heavy duty laid upon us. We must understand the significance of everything to be enlightened, and enlightenment is the path to truth, and truth is the nectar of life. Thus, without religion and philosophy, there is no life, just a hollow shell without faith and belief.
Mika: I agree. I believe strongly in religion, and cannot comprehend living a fulfilling life without it. But sometimes it is hard to follow everything all the time or have religion pervade my life.
Akhi: Nobody can follow something exactly, all the time, in all ways. Only God can because he is perfect. If any man does that, he is perfect. Any being that is perfect is God. Thus a man who is perfect is not a man at all, but is God. But since we are all men, we are not perfect. Often, due to the human nature, we often forget our constant pursuit of truth and the higher, and have fun without thinking about anything else. This is harmless enough, for it is a very human, temporary lapse. As long as we do so knowingly as in “I don’t care about the higher, I will disregard that and forget it” we are not in any way diminished. But doing so purposely, by purposely going against the pursuit of the spirit for the sake of the pleasure of the body or emotions, we degrade ourselves and our souls, and invariable justify the sinful actions that are bound to come from this mental process. However, as long as one stays on the general path of goodness and tries to achieve knowledge of the truth, he is getting somewhere. Sometimes the effort counts more than the result.
Mika: Sometimes, I’m afraid of the secularism that’s rampant today. Nobody seems to care about God or anything anymore. Everyone is just having fun, going to orgies, and getting drunk. On the other hand, those who aren’t doing so are becoming unreasonable fanatics.
Akhi: In reality, the cult of the secular, atheist, or anything of that sort is as much as a religion as any established religion, because these are all ideologies. Religions are really just ideologies or philosophies with rituals. However, religion is an ideology of the spirit, while secularism is an ideology of the physical. Rituals are good for binding people together, as friends, family, or in a society, but do not add anything to the actual belief behind the religion. The heart of the religion is its philosophy, and what the philosophy has to say about God, the universe, ethics, morality, et cetera. But first let us talk about the fanatic before we discuss the cult of the secular.
Mo: What of the fanatic?
Akhi: A fanatic, though he professes to be the truest believer of his religion, is actually one who is not truly convinced of his religion. As a result of this inner doubt, he seeks to cling to his religion all the more harder, as though he hopes that the stricter and harder he follows the most minute practices of his religion, the more convinced of it, he will become. In reality, he is neither convinced, and as such, ends up not following the religion as a true believer would, with devotion and faith. Fanatics are a storm of inner anguish and torment and do not have happiness.
Chazo: What of the secular cult?
Akhi: Most people today, having acquired some education, feel as though they’re really smart. In reality, they’re not- they just have some facts in their heads, no wisdom. Even we know very little, for the world is wide and we are small. Anyhow, having acquired some education, most people feel proud of themselves and conclude rightly that most rituals are just mumbo-jumbo. Through a chain of reasoning, they then convince themselves that there is no God, that religion was created to suppress individuals, that values are relative, and that they should live lives of endless debauchery and fun, as long as nobody is harmed. They also believe that there is no punishment for their deeds.
Chazo: So what is the argument against this? For those of us who still have morals know all this is wrong, but it is hard to convince a person that their way of life is wrong. What is a good argument?
Akhi: As is fairly evident, there is a higher spiritual order. This is obvious, because those who truly know this have complete peace and happiness. In life, people must strive to understand and connect with the spiritual being, but first they must find the spiritual part within their own soul. Most people, while having an ethical part because they need to live in order with society, do not find their spiritual part. Nor do most people even care to find it, since they’re having fun in life without a care of God. But in their physical gratification, people just move from satisfaction to satisfaction, satisfying desires, boredoms, and anxieties that will never go away by physical means, and all the same becoming more dependent on these means after having a taste of them. Thus, the entire secular culture of today is built around justification for a system that promotes and makes it as easy and acceptable as possible to satisfy the self in this manner. But, all the while, the soul withers and remains sick. It needs a different kind of medicine. People need to understand this.
Mo: So is there hope for most people then?
Akhi: There is always the potential of hope for everyone, but in reality only few find the spiritual, and not even that many even want to. Nonetheless, those that do, while realizing that many petty things in live are worthless, should try to educate their fellow men, try to convince them of this truth, but not many will listen. This is the sad reality of life, wise men, joyful at finding wisdom, will nevertheless be condemned to know that few will join them. Nonetheless, they should try to help others. Most the majority of men are blind; when the blind lead the blind, both go to nowhere high.
Mika: So what do we do with the ordinary people?
Akhi: For ordinary people, society, laws, ethics, and so on were all created to govern them; at least most men can understand logic and reason and why some things are good, some are bad, some are allowed, some are not, even if they can’t attain even greater knowledge through spiritual enlightenment. Therefore, for ordinary people, it would be futile to try to mold them into some perfect society, for they will not truly understand or love it the way the spiritually wise would, and at the same time would be unhappy because they cannot satisfy their animal cravings or create a society in which they can gain honor and power through. Thus, since they cannot achieve the higher, they should not then be deprived of the lower, for then they would become like objects. But they are not objects, since they still have rational thought. So for ordinary men, societies should be established, based on laws, a general understanding of common good, and justice.
Mo: So what is the best society for people in general then?
Akhi: You know what I think, that those with the best ability to rule should rule, but that is a topic for another day.
Mo: I shall like to hear that one.
Akhi: You shall, soon.
Mika: So since this is a society of ordinary men, who fail to attain a spiritual level, is it then to be atheist, filled with orgies and the like?
Akhi: No, because most people still get an occasional glimpse of the spiritual and feel its power at times. Thus, during some times, especially when they’re feeling emotional, or want something, they think about God; they also see God as a useful way of giving rules to society or as a good social glue. Therefore, people in such societies are bound to have some sort of organized religion, although atheists still abound. But don’t forget that atheism and science are sorts of religions too. As for orgies, drunken parties, and the like, these will all depend on the mores of society; some societies accept those things, while others don’t, and in the majority of societies, most people just blindly follow the norm without thinking about it or accepting it, acknowledging it with a casual “that is what everyone does, I’m used to it, I guess I’ll do it too.” However, societies often create rules that prize rational behavior in line with social morals, vaguely glimpsed from the spiritual that they sometimes see. Those who follow their logic and rational minds the most, and those who obey rules and keep sober, sane, and in good standing are called honorable; honor is a good thing, because people with honor tend to have self-control and discipline and do not do low things, for even in societies where debauchery is permitted, it is considered a low thing for a variety of reasons. People with honor are the true nobility of society, they are most fit to do justice, make laws, and rule. They are best fit for this purpose, for being men of society, know how to handle society, but glimpsing much of the spirit, have higher understanding. They are close to connecting to the spirit, like higher men. However, higher men are not fit to rule, since they don’t care much about power, money, and such, don’t have people skills, and in general just seek and acquire wisdom instead of seeing to practical matters. This is why people should do their practical duties and fulfill them to their utmost before attempting to seek complete spiritual knowledge; let them enjoy life a bit before they give up wealth, family, and power. And if people who do not yet achieve the spirit live their lives with complete faith and devotion to their duty, job, honor, principle, or ethic, they are doing as much as those who know the spirit, and will have comparative inner peace. For all paths of faith lead to the same destination, ultimately.
Mika: So, one cannot really get away with this ideology, because even if there is nothing to judge them for every action (which there is), the person will be punished by the spiritual within them by torment, doubt, and other disharmonious feelings.
Akhi: I concur. I couldn’t have put it any better myself. And also remember that faith without actions are empty, as is ethical belief without action. Action- good deeds prove and contribute to faith and devotion. Those who do not perform good actions in accordance with their professed faith have no faith and are either liars or cowards and thus hypocrites.
Mo: A wise statement.
Chazo: I wonder how do you define goodness, justice, and all to a society such as this?
Akhi: Justice is the punishment of bad deeds and the reward or encouraging of good deeds. Justice’s purpose is to lead to harmony and balance between both the self and society. Bad deeds are any deeds that deliberately hurt a person physically, emotionally, intellectually, or spiritually. Good deeds are the opposite of this; they don’t hurt a person in these ways; ideally, they help a person achieve growth in these areas. Likewise, justice looks out for the good of society, and individuals that threaten this are considered bad in this system. Some societies thus have harsher justice than other ones, dependent on many factors. The rights of the individual should not just be casually disregarded, and justice must protect the individual. But ultimately, society and humanity is the ultimate goal of justice’s protection. But the most important thing is to do good deeds as a person, and administer justice impartially as a ruler.
Mika: What about those who say that one should disregard others and only care about themselves?
Akhi: Society depends on altruism- people caring for each other. It is what makes us human and not animal. It goes against animal nature to give up something for others, yet humans do it. By helping others, people help others, and they also help themselves, because they feed their spirit when they do that. They gain some peace from doing a good deed. So, it is both common and good to help others. However, it is obvious that people must take care of themselves as well, lest they die or something. This is a very natural thing to do, so people should take care of themselves as well as helping others, but never do so much of one of these two things, so that they cannot do the other thing. Those people, who are not in good places in life, should not remain complacent like that; they should try to work out of their situation; those who are in good places in life should realize that nothing is permanent and thus not sit comfortably. In many ways, life is like a game; people should play wisely and make good moves so they can advance themselves; to this end, sometimes cunning is needed. That is also human nature, but as long as the cunning doesn’t lead to evil deeds, it is actually a good thing, because it shows the triumph of the mental, the intellectual to solve life’s problems in a logical way. But money and power in life, while benefiting the individual, should also be used to benefit others. Thus, the ends justify the means, as long as the ends are not immoral. But those who stick to principles are the most noble, those who do not give up ethics to achieve their means. These people are better, but what can we say: humans are the way they are, and sometimes we must accept the reality of things. Nonetheless, those with true understanding, spirit, or nobility are the best, for their hearts and spirits are the most satisfied and they have more true wisdom (which once acquired, nobody would want anything else) and are thus more rich than others.
Chazo: This may take some time to understand, but I think I agree with most of it.
Mo: I think that one can’t do good things in some part of life, and then do bad deeds in another. Or be religious when it suits him, and not so when it doesn’t suit him. Because the entire human works as a whole, as a system, you can’t compartmentalize life. You have to be good throughout; otherwise the rot will start somewhere and spread throughout. Conversely, starting to do good deeds in some part of life will lead to good deeds overall. Likewise, it’s this way with society. Some people doing bad deeds will quickly spread it throughout while some people doing good deeds will quickly spread it throughout. In a way, people are like a herd of animals in this manner, but also this means that it is impossible to lock good up in some compartment, it must spread.
Mika: Mo, your wisdom grows every day. Thus it follows that a bad society produces bad individuals, so societies with a lot of bad people are in fact bad societies that need correcting. Not only must people look into themselves to make themselves better, but societies must do likewise. Societies should be hospitable and compassionate towards their members (stern but merciful when it comes to justice), for otherwise societies will become bad. Thus societies should not degenerate and make men bad. On the other hand, once in a while, through human nature, bad men come from good societies; societies should be careful not to let such bad men make society bad. Therefore let everyone be wary and do good deeds.
Chazo: Amen, let us all do good deeds, so to be ethical, noble, and so that one day we may be in total knowledge of the spirit.
Darsh: That was a very interesting conversation. I learned a lot and was enlightened in many ways. I have a lot to ponder for many days. But just like the soul needs food, the body needs food too, and all the more when the mental part of the human is in action.
Akhi: Come then, let us go eat and drink. Let us walk today, so we can also exercise the body and feel the cool uplifting, wind blowing against us. For it is now the season of fall, the most beautiful season of them all, with the leaves falling and changing color. One’s entire being feels truly awakened by this feeling, for it is cool and refreshing. Come, let’s go.
