In Pursuit of Balance

Ch. I: Philosophy, Psychology and Religion To understand my place in all of this (my life; you got the cliff’s notes) chaos, I mentally and emotionally travelled the paths of philosophers. It also helps that my son was pursuing a Philosophy major and I love to encourage him. Like most of you reading this book, I had the Existential question of WHY!? I was at my darkest and lowest point of my life. I had ruled out suicide after my first divorce, but this time I questioned my religion and embraced Nihilism- was Agnostic for three days. I was angry at the world, angry at my country and angry at myself. I had been a Deconstructive Empiricist; If I can clearly absorb the information then I can understand the situation and fix it. In that dark place, I followed “why” to Analytic Realism; I am tired of liars and misdirection, I will look at the information MYSELF. I began watching videos from disparate psychologists and therapists on YouTube about narcissist vs empath situations. If any of you/the people I reference receive this book- THANK YOU! You were my life raft when adrift in my sea of misery. Those videos led to emotional growth and relief at understanding what I was enduring. Then I went down the wormhole on types of empaths, types of narcissists to the point that I wasn’t getting substantial understanding growth such as when I began. Like every other muscle; the more you work it, the stronger it grows. My understanding had reached the point of diminishing returns so I changed directions. With Positive Scholastic Skepticism, I continued my self-study of the differing schools in philosophy- which is how I can understand and attempt to convey their meaning. If you’re a philosopher you get every bit of what I said. If you aren’t, I phrased it so that you probably would understand my meaning in layman’s terms. Other languages have much more descriptive words and I encourage everyone to learn a second or third language- preferably with a different alphabet. Keep reading to understand why I say that. The books in my home library, that I have amassed over my life, vary from a 1950’s “First-year Latin” to Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 and 5th Edition sets of books as well as GURPS and the Saga Edition Star Wars Role-Playing Game. I have “Living with the Taliban” next to “Raiders and Rebels: A Treatise on the Golden age of Piracy”, the “Norse Book of Runes” and Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends” stacked on top for easy reference. “Beowulf” and the “Divine Comedy” are on the far sides but the “Book of Sith” and my well-worn “The Jedi Path” are side by side in the center near “The Art of War”. “The Examined Life” (excerpts from Western Philosophers like Plato and Kant) and “The Story of Thought” (Greek Philosophers) have long been in my library. Tucked under the shorter books are my “Common Skills Handbooks” from the service. “It is better to draw your water from many wells rather than just one If a well goes dry or foul, you have other options.” If you don’t have options, maybe consider moving to a different mindset/routine/physical location/relationship dynamic/etc. for your personal health. The many sources concept is also true with sources of knowledge and styles or fields of learning. People always speak about looking at all sides of a situation and taking in other perspectives as a path to personal growth. I travelled the world literarily and learned from Western and Eastern philosophers, seeking an answer.