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| Carnac the Magnificent |
On
considering this question I have made several false starts. For
example, I have asked what are the best ways to happiness or what are
the surest ways to happiness? These questions won't do for obvious
reasons for happiness can derive from ignorant and destructive ends.
I have finally decided that the one question I would ask the wisest
person in the world is "What are the best ways to nurture
abundant life?” This question has wide applicability. It can
refer to the best ways to raise children, or the best ways to grow
throughout one's adult years, or it can refer to the best ways to
craft a society so that it will flourish. It is a loaded question for
the meaning of "abundant life" is reliant upon one's value
system. Thus, by asking this question, we will learn a lot about the
value structures of the wisest person in the world. Of course, in
part I anticipate answers. I assume that a society experiencing
"abundant life" is flourishing not only materialistically
but also spiritually – that it has found the best ways to structure
the economy, the best ways to explore and adapt to nature, the best
ways to nurture productivity and happiness for all of its citizens,
the best ways to educate, the best ways to ensure public health, the
best ways to structure institutions, the best ways to nurture
children and adults, the best ways to manage resources, the best ways
to motivate and inspire, the best ways to overcome the destructive
and addictive tendencies inherent in human nature. I would assume
that such a society could devote its resources largely to creative
and productive ends. In other words, in answer to this question the
wisest person in the world could be constrained to respond in a
lengthy treatise that could greatly enlighten the world. This
response no doubt would be highly controversial, endlessly disputed
and debated. This would be due in large part to the surfeit of
persons humbly considering themselves to be “the wisest person in
the world.”
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