<img alt="" src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.321155603259925871636393495345%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=d7a2c47e-a605-43fb-9fae-91a9b09eb5e7" > We must not chain the people in our lives. If we love them for who they are, we must accept that we are only a tiny part of it. There are multiple facets, roles, interests and responsibilities to a person. For them to remain wholesome, they must not be limited to one person or one roIe. If you clip a few feathers of a bird you love to make it fly only in one direction, you will render the bird unable to fly at all. You will lose the essence of the person that you wanted to keep for yourself. Birds look a lot better when they fly, and metaphorically so do humans. When you love someone, you want to be the centre of their universe. You want them to spend all their time with you, and you want them to give all their attention to you. You want them to hang out, eat, sleep only with you, and talk to only you. You feel jealous and betrayed when they spend this time with someone else or put up boundaries to keep that time for themselves. It is not limited to romantic relationships, but it is about any person you come close to, a cousin, friend, or a parent even. You feel like you want to put them in a cage and not let go so that it does not fly away. The intention is noble. You promise to reciprocate all of what they do and give. You give them your time and attention. Even then, you are still caging them. The difference is that the cage is a shiny golden one. We all do this. Sometimes knowingly and unknowingly at others. Take, for instance, how situations change after two people get married. Their personal and social lives shrink, they don&#39;t go out as much, their friends and hobbies take a back seat. They don&#39;t spend as much time alone as they used to. But people fail to realise that everything they did before marriage added to their personalities and made them appealing to their partners in the first place. Take those away, and you hear people saying, &quot;You have changed.&quot; It shouldn&#39;t come as a surprise. If you think that after being with you people have changed, notice the difference in the things they used to do before. If there is a stark contrast, you have your reason. Maybe they used to have a lot of solitude to process a lot more and be more articulate. But now they are so busy with you that they hardly ever get the time. And hence, they don&#39;t register as much or don&#39;t articulate as well. &quot;If you make someone&#39;s life all about you, you will lose them. If you make your life about all someone else, you will lose yourself.&quot; <img alt="" src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.321155603259925871636393495345%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=5147eedf-282c-4f2b-a807-26ef4be007b7" > Take the case of a parent that devotes their life to their kids. They give up everything they want to raise the child. They stop reading because they are always running after the child and stop going out since the child does not do well socially. They stop going on road trips they loved because the child gets claustrophobic in cars. In this process, they trade their identity as an individual for being a parent. But they deprive the child of the thing they deserve most, their parent. It is not to say that they don&#39;t get pleasure from raising their kid as best they can, but is it all there is to their life? Let&#39;s switch boats and think about the child. It is commonplace for the parent to get burned out. But they don&#39;t have a place to vent. They can&#39;t take a breather, so irritability, lack of patience, and uncontrolled temper start to fester. The parent might also begin to resent the child. Picking up on that irritability and anger, they become the child&rsquo;s default. By now, the child is also used to getting their way and being the centre of attention. Narcissistic tendencies start to develop. They create a sense of entitlement in their lives. Connect the dots. You have a child with narcissistic tendencies, irritability and anger as their default. Not a pretty picture. The parent destroyed the very thing they set out to build and nurture. You now understand the power of caging and clipping feathers. It can cause a lot of harm, even when it comes from a place of appreciation and love. But things are not always so sombre. Suppose the people you love are in the wrong circles, which is ultimately detrimental to them. In that case, you can use selective caging to protect your bird from metaphorical pollution. It is what you do with your children to prevent them from hanging out with the wrong peer group. If loving does not mean you should cage people, it also does not mean they should have free reign to do as they please. Balance is key. Have you ever caged the people you love, or have you ever been caged? Share your story in the comments.

Why Cage the People We Love?

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.067500485203443981630900523657%2FVirtue%20ethics%2CUtilitarianism%20and%20Deontology_1.webp?alt=media&token=e33a80b9-8b93-47b4-aeab-48fcb9e30288" alt="File preview" width="740" height="493" /> Morality is a term coined to separate the good or bad thoughts, the right and wrong actions. Morality is subjective; many great philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, and Kant have given us their approach.&nbsp; To understand the basics of morality, let us take an example, you find a 20 dollar note on the floor, the exact amount required for you to buy that pretty new top you saw yesterday. Here, morality will guide you to ask the people around if they lost a twenty, and if nobody claims it, you give it to the police. Even if it is just a twenty note, it is immoral to keep it with you and spend it. The three main approaches to morality are Virtue ethics, Utilitarianism and Deontology.&nbsp; 1.VIRTUE ETHICS: Virtue ethics theory was given to us by Aristotle. It emphasizes virtues and moral character. It says happiness is our highest goal, and it is achievable by cultivating moral virtues. Once we have developed moral integrity, they can be employed automatically. Let us get a deeper understanding by taking an example: You visit your friend's house for dinner, she has recently learnt how to cook, and wants your opinion. Upon taking the first bite, you feel like the flavour is very off; it is bitter and salty. She is looking at you with excitement, waiting for an opinion. You are in a dilemma; being a good friend, you believe if you are honest, she can work harder and improve, but it might end up hurting her feelings. If you lie, she will be happy, and it might make her day. After contemplating the consequences, you decide to be honest with her. You chose honesty; you took a moral decision. As per virtue ethics, it soon becomes a personality trait if you decide to be honest at times.&nbsp; Virtue ethics can also be summed up as "fake it till you make it." 2.DEONTOLOGY: "An action, to have moral worth, must be done from duty."- Immanuel Kant. Immanuel Kant is one of the most famous philosophers associated with this approach. In Deontology, one is given a set of duties based on what their intuition believes is right and wrong, and one obeys them. Deontology eradicates subjectivity by focusing only on following the duties and not weighing the consequences of one's action. For example, you are a software engineer, and only you know how to hack into the system to stop the missile launch. Hacking is unethical; even if it might save thousands of lives, Deontology will prevent you from hacking. As previously stated, it does not weigh the consequences of the action and only focuses on following the suitable duties. 3.UTILITARIANISM: In Deontology, we studied that we need to obey the duties irrespective of the consequences; however, in utilitarianism, it is otherwise. It believes in taking the action that has the outcome benefiting the majority. It is a species of consequentialism; It evaluates the activity on the possibility of its consequence. In utilitarianism, happiness or pleasure are the only things that have intrinsic value. Continuing the example from Deontology, if we apply the utilitarian approach to the situation, it would suggest that since the one immoral activity will allow thousands of lives to be happy, the software engineer should go ahead.&nbsp; However, the only limitation here is that we cannot always be accurate on the possible outcome. The engineer might hack into the system successfully but fails to prevent the missile launch.&nbsp;So which school of thought do you think we should live by?&nbsp; Share your thoughts in the comments.

Virtue Ethics, Deontology and Utilitarianism

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_1.webp?alt=media&token=492fd2a3-6df3-4bc5-850d-ba4b2dcfe727" alt="File preview" width="741" height="493" /> There have been times where words were not sufficient to convey a message; in such a situation, one sought help from art. Art is a constant, a means of communication for humans from the stone age to the twenty-first century. Art, along with humankind, has significantly evolved.&nbsp; We can broadly classify the different phases of evolution in the art world in eight periods: 1.STONE AGE ART(30,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE): The earliest art belongs to the stone age period. As the name suggests, stones were prominent. Petroglyphs, carving on hard protected surfaces like cave walls, were the most common. People refer to the period as prehistoric art as it existed before recorded history.&nbsp; We further divide the stone age into three periods; with development in tools observed over time: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Paleolithic period (30,000 BCE-10,000 BCE)</li> </ul> &nbsp;The term palaeolithic means old stone age. The artworks of this phase mainly consist of small sculptures, carvings on walls and paintings. In this period, people put stone tools to use for something other than survival for the first time. The structures were mainly figurines of animals, small but realistic.&nbsp; The primary materials used were ivory, bone, stone, and clay&mdash;Bhimbetka Petroglyphs, the oldest known prehistoric art discovered in India's quartzite caves.&nbsp; <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_2.webp?alt=media&token=28fd4ef4-f17d-4aed-9f73-9bc51049b768" alt="File preview" width="740" height="555" /> Bhimbetka Petroglyphs&nbsp;&nbsp; <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Mesolithic period (10,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE)</li> </ul> &nbsp;This period marked the end of the ice age and a switch to more temperate conditions. Due to this change, the humans had to adapt to a new type of living, leaving behind their caves. They switched to more settled agricultural communities. The art now provided keener details and better narration. Ceramics also started gaining popularity in this period. The most intriguing artwork of this time consists of rock art, similar to the palaeolithic period on vertical cliffs or natural rocks. <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Neolithic period (8,000 BCE- 3,000 BCE)</li> </ul> &nbsp;In this era, weaving and pottery became prominent as civilization settled and people shifted from nomadic to permanent settlements. The most exciting creations from this time were the architecture that featured large stone structures called the megaliths. This period, however, mainly focused on pottery, the majority found in the region of Mesopotamia.&nbsp; 2.BRONZE AGE ART (3,000 BCE-1,100 BCE)&nbsp; This period highlights the production of bronze, an alloy of copper and tin. With advancements in the production of metalwork, there was a rise in skilled workers. The use of stone became less popular. The art world saw some agile development as metals were more flexible, the sculptures and artefacts made were more detailed and charming. People observed the earliest art in the Mesopotamia region, Sumerian art. Writing first began in Mesopotamia as the nation greatly prospered, and people started focusing on art, literature, culture and religion. Egyptian art also rose in the form of monumental architecture. Lost wax casting was one of the most common ways used for making sculptures out of bronze. The oldest cast bronze sculpture is the 'DANCING GIRL' in Mohenjo Daro. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_3.webp?alt=media&token=73ec9296-48f2-4e19-9ecc-28561fbcbf7a" alt="File preview" width="400" height="776" /> The Dancing girl in Mohenjo Daro 3.IRON AGE ART (1,100 BCE-200 BCE) As the name suggests, the use of iron became more prominent in this period. It was the last phase of the prehistory period. It was more economical to mine iron than bronze, and it was more substantial, making it extremely popular and abundantly available. In this reign, greek art gained attention in the Mediterranean basin. However, near the end of the iron age, greek art started declining, and Persian and Egyptian art became more dominating. 4.MEDIEVAL ART (5th- 15th century) Medieval art was produced in Europe during the middle ages; it includes sculptures, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and metalwork.&nbsp; Based on time, we can classify medieval art into: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">The Romanesque (11th-12th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> Its name comes from the fact that its primary basis is on early Christian art in Rome. The architecture built in this reign, mainly churches, monasteries and temples, symbolized the growing wealth in Europe and the power of church monasteries. The characteristics of these buildings are thick stone walls, semi-circular arches with durable construction. Sculptures were also famous; made out of stone, based on the iconography of the bible. Thousands of artisans from Rome and Greek created an eastern, Christian image known as byzantine art. Other types of popular art include illuminated manuscripts and stained glass.&nbsp; <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_4.webp?alt=media&token=21720770-9d02-4897-a52c-fd2ce753cc65" alt="File preview" width="400" height="515" /> Chriatian Byzantine Art <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">The Gothic (12th-15th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> It derives its name from the Goths that ruled France. The gothic architecture offered revolutionary structural advancements such as flying buttresses, ribbed vaults(formed by two arches across diagonally) and decorative pinnacles, contributing to taller and lighter buildings. Sculptures in the gothic period were more realistic images; they characterized angels, saints and biblical figures.&nbsp; Paintings also became more lifelike, and with the gradual development in Europe, artists soon started taking an interest in non-religious subjects.&nbsp; 5.THE RENAISSANCE (14th-16th century) The renaissance dominated Italy and the majority of Europe; the people in this reign made their appearance different from that of the medieval period. There was a great revival of learning of ancient Greece and Rome. The artist started rejecting the byzantine form of art and preferred a more realistic depiction of humans and space. The art from this time also represented other aspects, such as mythology. Some of the most famous masters of this time are Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.&nbsp; 6.THE POST-RENAISSANCE (16th-18th century)&nbsp; This reign was followed by: <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Mannerism (16th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> Mannerism, opposed to naturalism in art, was notable for its artificiality. The mannerist artist took paintings established during the renaissance and added a twist by exaggerating them, giving them an extravagant aesthetic to classicism. <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Baroque (17th-18th century)&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> </ul> The main principles of art in this reign was extravagance, ornateness and decorated details. The link between the catholic church and this art form was inseparable.&nbsp; <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Rococo (mid 17th-18th century)&nbsp;</li> </ul> Rococo, unlike Baroque, emphasized opulence, gratefulness and lightness. It emerged in France. Unlike another art form, it depicted light-hearted romance and carefree aristocratic life.&nbsp; 7.MODERN ART (18th-19th century) The Industrial Revolution led to the birth of modern art. In previous art forms, the art depicted religion and mythology. However, in the 19th-century, artists created art based on their personal experience and their chosen topics. The art produced in this reign showcased the artists' interest in re-imagining, interpreting and rejecting previous art styles.&nbsp; Some famous artworks are Les Demoiselles d'Avignon by Pablo Picasso, The Large Bathers by Paul C&eacute;zanne and Impression, Sunrise by Claude Monet.&nbsp; The different types of modern art are:&nbsp; <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Impressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Post Impressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Fauvism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Expressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Cubism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Surrealism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Abstract Expressionism&nbsp;</li> </ul> &nbsp;8.CONTEMPORARY ART (21st century) Contemporary art means art; painting, sculpture, photography, video art, installation and production are performed today. It allows the artist to reflect upon the social issues related to humanity in today's world. High-end technology and cultural diversity globally surrounds artists in today's time. This form of art stands out because of its lack of organization, uniformity and ideology.&nbsp; The different types of contemporary art are: <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0321242839574068561628682884185%2FThe%20History%20of%20Art_5.webp?alt=media&token=460edc0d-69c6-4de1-a10a-74c749f22f79" alt="File preview" width="740" height="555" /> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Pop art&nbsp;&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Photorealism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Conceptualism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Minimalism&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Performance art&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Installation art&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Earth art&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li style="font-weight: 400;">Street art&nbsp;</li> </ul>

The History of Art

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.101079484322736061639590416753%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=e24a33d8-af14-4fde-aa89-49c15b0ddc7a" alt="File preview" width="700" /> When we hear the word peace, we associate it with ending a war or a nation going through a time of stability. We always look outward when looking for peace, but we forget to look out for ourselves. Are you at peace with yourself? Are you constantly troubled by past experiences or current predicaments? This article will serve as a guide to help you ascertain the importance of inner peace and the steps taken to begin the lifelong process of inner peace. Why is inner peace important? Inner peace keeps our mind and its negative thoughts at bay. It helps us view the path of life much clearer. A state of inner peace removes anxieties, the feeling of dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Instead, it is filled with confidence, inner strength, and understanding. Everyone essentially seeks out inner peace, just through different avenues, but the intended outcome is the same. Let&#39;s do a little exercise: as you read this, visualize the scenes I&#39;m about to describe; you are in your dream home, the air is clean, the house is clean, you fear nothing, you want for nothing. All you desire is in your possession or on its way. You have been through some tough challenges, but now that you look back on them, they are minuscule to the rewards they have reaped. You still face challenges, but it&#39;s nothing you can&rsquo;t handle. You are financially free, and all your relationships are flourishing. You can weed out the unnecessary and only attempt to change the things you can. Does that not sound appealing? Now let&#39;s talk about how to get that life you want to live and remember you are happy now and in that life you want. <h3>Goals</h3> <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.101079484322736061639590416753%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=188ccc53-9282-41e8-803d-688ec09e1c4d" alt="File preview" width="700" /> Start by setting clear goals of what you want to achieve. Goals serve as a compass through the storm of life to get to where we need to be. Your daily actions must be in line with your goals, this is the beginning of the self-development stage, and you must constantly seek to develop yourself. You are your greatest asset and most lucrative investment. <h3>Relaxation</h3> Find a form of mental relaxation that works for you. Some prefer to go out on runs, practice meditation or prayer. Focus on things in the sphere of your control; when you worry, ask yourself, &#39;is there anything I can do to change this?&#39; If you cannot change the outcome, you&#39;d rather accept and move on to change things you can. <h3>Do Good</h3> Do good deeds, help out a stranger in need, or check on a friend you have not talked to in a while. They will feel appreciated, and you will feel better. &ldquo;When we leave this earth, we cannot take what we have accumulated but rather what we have given.&rdquo; Ask and don&#39;t make unfound assumptions; you can spend the whole day overthinking, usually the worst when you can easily ask and receive a straight answer. <h3>Emotional Budget</h3> <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.101079484322736061639590416753%2Fimage3.webp?alt=media&token=06c4424f-820b-4b50-aeb0-451d57f4ab19" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> Evaluate those around you; are they adding to your life? Do you feel drained after spending time with them? If so, there is no need to subject yourself to that emotional torture. View yourself as a person on an emotional budget. Don&#39;t spend it on negative emotions. Spend time alone and quietly, French philosopher Blaise Pascal said, &quot;All of humanity&#39;s problems stem from man&#39;s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.&quot; Take the time to sort out your day, and you will realize you were making mountains out of molehills. <h3>Appreciation and Gratitude</h3> Lastly, practice gratitude for what you are going through and what you are not going through. Appreciation will lead you to happiness. Imagine deciding you will be happy or grateful when you&#39;re a billionaire, and only after working for years to reach that net worth do you realize you could&#39;ve been happy all along, and worse, you still aren&#39;t happy. Be grateful for the situations you are going through, good or bad. Be at peace with your past, leave it where it belongs and continue to work on yourself in the present and you will have no need to worry about the future.

Maintaining Inner Peace

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0202072586930484021635362946595%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=754af849-7759-4104-ad5a-eb79787e56b8" alt="File preview" width="500" /> In the final article in this 3 part series, we will discuss whether or not society really needs morals in order to function, as well as the principles of justice and equality when making moral considerations. <h3> Do We Really Need a Defined Set of Morals for Society to Function? </h3> No ethical or moral system is likely to be perfect in all cases. There are simply too many different possible scenarios along with their variables that can arise for any single value system to provide perfect solutions all of the time. If a set of moral principles is too vague, then the answers it offers become unclear. But if an ethical system becomes too precisely delineated, everyone becomes weighed down with expansive legalism that is difficult to follow. Human beings are social animals by nature, and there are currently 7.8 billion of us living together. Suppose certain classes of people acted only as ends unto themselves, such as the higher human beings that Nietzsche refers to. How would we collectively begin to achieve any sort of overall harmony of value judgments? How would this affect how we treat each other? For instance, would it be permissible for a &lsquo;higher man&rsquo; to treat other persons from the herd however they pleased - since their moral judgments are far beyond what lesser individuals can comprehend? Any student of 20th-century history quickly realizes how problematic and dangerous such ideas have the potential to become. Or are there universal moral principles that supersede the individual&rsquo;s will? While adhering to an established system of morals might diminish the individual&#39;s autonomous range, perhaps a different sort of freedom might arise. Would it be possible to free the self in service of a greater good instead of being slaves to our impulses or cyclically pursuing our own ends? Additionally, while the idea of great men creating their own values and pushing the envelope of morality sounds good in theory, how would it work relative to history? Since little is truly new under the sun, and everything that exists now has essentially come before in some form or another, how would someone trying to create their own values manage to do anything truly unique? Somewhere, sometime, someone on this planet has likely been confronted with a similar moral choice that mirrors almost any that we could face. And since the energy of life on this earth remains interconnected as it moves through time, it would seem that we are simply playing a temporary role in continuing a much larger cycle of cause and effect. Learning from life often involves making mistakes and trying not to repeat them. This process continues the cycle of growth that leads us away from stagnation or decay. To see clearly and learn from the mistakes of others without suffering the same fate is wisdom. Perhaps the moral insights that will become most valuable to us are those that we discover both from the real pain of our mistakes along with looking to the cumulative wisdom of others. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0202072586930484021635362946595%2Fimage3.webp?alt=media&token=093e5089-0370-4744-b7c9-10e334f29d6f" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3> The Moral Issues of Equality and Justice </h3> Finally, perhaps by considering the relationship of morality to other integral principles, we can better balance personal freedom and social responsibilities. One of the foundational principles of ethics is that of equality in regards to justice. Because while all human beings may not be physically, intellectually, socially, or financially equal, all are endowed with a basic set of rights. All are equally deserving of moral consideration. If you remove this fundamental principle from any ethical equation, it will likely result in some form of inequality and exploitation of a person (or group) by another. And a moral system based on exploitation isn&rsquo;t much of a moral system at all. <ul> <li> Any system that allows certain individuals the absolute freedom to ignore the rights of the larger, collective group or target the rights of other individuals is explicitly not ethical. </li> <li> But the systemic process of allowing groups in power to overreach and interfere with certain innate personal freedoms of individuals (thereby limiting their potential) is also harmful and unethical. </li> </ul> Is there some system that might better balance the rights of various individuals from all groups? &nbsp;No system will be perfect for all members since there are so many diverse situations and characteristics. But using universal principles of some kind to formulate a baseline of ethical standards applicable to all must occur to ensure fundamental rights. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0202072586930484021635362946595%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=645165b3-3f48-4c44-a0ff-d44e6ebf4138" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>Article Summary:</h3> <ul> <li> If we fail to thoroughly examine the validity of our most deeply held values, to recognize where they come from and why they are important, they become hollow and meaningless over time. When values lose their integrity, it leads to blind obedience, unquestioning conformity, and moral stagnation. </li> <li> However, suppose we set ourselves adrift in a sea of moral relativism or begin to say that there are no universal moral truths that are greater than our own free will. In that case, we risk becoming lost in ourselves and falling prey to our biases and desires. We risk creating a hell on earth while trying to fashion a paradise of our own design. </li> </ul>

Part 3 of 3: The Development of Morality - Nietzsche vs Kohlberg

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.407706732157261831635848538707%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=6f7fb473-c4c1-482b-af3d-b16928f79d9fs" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> Would you kill one person to save ten? According to the Stanford School of Philosophy, morality is &ldquo;the most important code of conduct put forward and accepted by any group, or even by an individual.&rdquo; (Gert and Gert, 2020) This definition implies that morality is relative to a &lsquo;group of people or an &lsquo;individual.&rsquo; As long as you and your friends are okay with it, it is moral? After doing much research on the topic of why we need morality, I came across many reasons, but one seemed to recur multiple times,&rdquo; to make society better.&rdquo; One can convince themselves that they are moral. But this article will focus on morality in the pursuit of success. Questions like: Is it possible to achieve success while remaining moral? Is it acceptable to achieve success through immoral practices in the promise of doing better once successful? When one hears Vladimir Putin&rsquo;s name, negative thoughts, emotions, and controversial arguments come to mind. Putin, the ex-KGB spy and ex-FSB leader, has been in political power for twenty-one years, a stint only surpassed by the autocratic leader Joseph Stalin. Under Putin&rsquo;s leadership, Russia has grown notorious for cronyism, repression of domestic opponents, and repression of free speech (Tisdall, 2020). Putin&rsquo;s rise to power is one with stories of intimidation, assassinations, and backdoor dealings. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.407706732157261831635848538707%2Fimage3.webp?alt=media&token=15a3-790c-4d92-9898-8ffdd01cc516" alt="File preview" width="500" /> So, is Vladimir Putin moral, and do his good deeds cancel out his questionable ones? The topic of morality centres around perspective and circumstance. Of course, there are cases where actions are out of bounds, like rape, domestic abuse, and some instances of murder. It brings us to legality. The law guides society on how to behave or conduct itself. But rules set by humans can be corrupt. It is not to &lsquo;disregard the law and have free reign,&rsquo; but it offers a perspective on how immoral the concept of morality is. The paradigm brought about by morality could leave your head spinning for days on end. Standards of morality and legality themselves are based upon judgment. The fact that one can judge another without understanding the full gravity of their situation is immoral. The former &nbsp;American president &nbsp;Abraham Lincoln said &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t criticize them; they are just what we would be under similar circumstances.&rdquo; He encourages us not to judge others as they are only acting the way they are because of their situation. Not having the full picture and being unable to experience the range of emotions the person is going through at the time makes us unqualified to condemn them. So would it then be immoral to outrightly label one as lacking moral values based on one circumstance? Your success and the road to it are your own. No one can judge you but your conscience and personal moral compass. It is best to apply and use your discretion to make decisions you can live with and find peace. Again I ask you the question, Would you kill one person to save ten?

The Morality of Immorality

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.069722072775078691635260788558%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=1ba4366e-2b0d-4bf4-8b09-4cd52786240a" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> Setting the Scene: Lawrence Kohlberg (1927-1987) was an American Psychologist who studied how people solved moral dilemmas. Kohlberg’s work often involved posing various moral questions to his research subjects. A famous example would be the ‘Heinz dilemma.’ It was a hypothetical question regarding a man who had the chance to steal life-saving drugs for his very sick wife and why he might decide to choose a specific course of action over another. To correctly classify these responses, Kohlberg proposed a basic construct for categorizing them that correspond to different moral developmental reasoning stages. Over the years, there has been some criticism of its limitations and legitimate questions about its scope and accuracy. However, it gives us an excellent starting point to begin our discussion on the topic of morality. <table style="width: 468pt; border-collapse: collapse; margin-left: 5pt"> <tr style="height: 27.25pt"> <td colspan="3" style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 2.25pt; padding-left: 5pt; padding-right: 5pt; padding-top: 5pt; padding-bottom: 3.88pt; vertical-align: bottom; " > The 6 Stages/Levels of Moral Development according to Kohlberg </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 21.25pt"></tr> <tr style="height: 25.75pt"> <td rowspan="2" style=" border-top-color: #000000; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1pt; border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Preconventional Morality </td> <td style=" border-top-color: #000000; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1pt; border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: 2em !important; " > 1 </td> <td style=" border-top-color: #000000; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1pt; border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Punishment and Obedience - Follow the rules to avoid punishment </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 27.25pt"> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: 2em !important; " > 2 </td> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Self Interest - How does complying with the rules benefit me? </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 25.75pt"> <td rowspan="2" style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Conventional Morality </td> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: 2em !important; " > 3 </td> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Social Norms - Conforming to others expectations of goodness </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 27.25pt"> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: 2em !important; " > 4 </td> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Law and Order - Submission to authority because it’s the law </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 25.75pt"> <td rowspan="3" style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; padding-left: 4.5pt; padding-right: 5pt; padding-top: 5pt; padding-bottom: 4.5pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Postconventional Morality </td> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: 2em !important; " > 5 </td> <td style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Social Contract - Do it for the greater common good </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 25.75pt"> <td rowspan="2" style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-left-color: #000000; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: 2em !important; " > 6 </td> <td rowspan="2" style=" border-bottom-color: #000000; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-right-color: #000000; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 5pt; width: fit-content !important; " > Universal Ethical Principles - moral code based on universal values greater than oneself takes precedence over lesser laws and social mores </td> </tr> <tr style="height: 35.5pt"></tr> </table> <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.069722072775078691635260788558%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=695eccc0-e08e-46c2-ba09-93c68f708d51" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was a German Philosopher and writer who often considered moral and ethical issues related to the concepts of personal identity and freedom. Nietzsche was a writer of great cleverness and wit. His work is still widely read and quoted to this day, and his ideas helped form the basis of many important discussions on cultural issues during the 20th century. Nietzsche’s writings often focused on the restrictive nature of morality used as a form of groupthink by the masses to suppress the creativity and originality of truly great individuals. Here are some of Nietzsche’s quotes regarding morality: “Morality is just a fiction used by the herd of inferior human beings to hold back the few superior men.” “Let us not underestimate this: we ourselves, we free spirits, are nothing less than a “revaluation of all values,” an incarnate declaration of war and triumph over all the ancient conceptions of “true” and “untrue.”” – The Antichrist “One becomes moral – not because one is moral. Submission to morality can be slavish or vain or selfish or resigned or obtusely enthusiastic or thoughtless or an act of desperation, like submission to a prince: in itself it is nothing moral.” – The Dawn “Convictions are more dangerous enemies of the truth than lies.” – Human, All Too Human For believe me! — the secret for harvesting from existence the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment is: to live dangerously! – The Gay Science While every noble morality develops from a triumphant affirmation of itself, slave morality from the outset says No to what is "outside," what is "different," what is "not itself"; and this No is its creative deed. – Genealogy of Morals The Presence of Conflicting Values: Moral debates often arise when conflicting values or goods are considered, and when we must make a choice between them. Moral debates can center around specific issues or concrete examples of conflict that exist in real life. Or, they can also center around broader or more abstract forms of reasoning in hypothetical scenarios. People debating a particular issue can come into conflict because one person is arguing about a single case based on its own specific merits. Another person may be extrapolating from the same data to formulate answers relevant to broader hypothetical situations. The debaters need to recognize the scope of their arguments to compare their conclusions effectively. In this article, we will be dealing with general ideas about morality rather than venturing into a discussion of specific cases. Here are two questions to consider before reading further: · How do we balance a sense of personal freedom and autonomy along with social responsibility and the universal principles of moral integrity? · And are there universal principles of morality that are truly greater than the individual? Or is the greatness of man the measure of all things? In Part 2 of this article, we will begin to compare and contrast some of the ideas of Nietzsche and Kohlberg. There will also be a series of questions for the reader to consider regarding this. Finally, in Part 3 of this article, we will consider the role of morality in building a functional society and how it all ties into the principles of equality and justice.

The Development of Morality - Nietzsche vs Kohlberg - Part 1 of 3

Alarming facts about the climate crisis are now emerging every day. We are now hearing calls to action to save the one and only Planet Earth. That generates anxiety, something that is coined Eco-Anxiety. Eco Anxiety or climate change anxiety&nbsp;is not a recent phenomenon. It&rsquo;s an anxiety about the future and trauma that we haven&#39;t faced yet, but it will come our way. Climate change can be overwhelming, especially while following a waterfall of news and science every day. When UN reports are published, a sense of doom or hopelessness settles on us. Fear and hopelessness about what is happening related to the climate and how it will impact us, our families, friends, and future generations. What elevates it from usual fears and stress about our planet to anxiety is hopelessness, feeling stuck, not knowing what to do, or feeling like there is nothing we could do. There is no psychiatric definition of eco-anxiety. It&rsquo;s not a type of disorder. Still, it is a new term that has come up to classify many of these fears. The American Psychological Association described Eco anxiety or climate anxiety in 2017 as a chronic fear of environmental doom. &nbsp;The hopelessness and worry associated with eco anxiety can affect our daily life; can stop us from doing the hard but vital work of reducing fossil fuel use and preparing for the consequences. It&rsquo;s harder when it comes to public health, preparedness and emergencies. We are wired to respond to what is happening right now, not what will happen 5, 10, or 20 years down the road. Climate change is real and is coming for all of us. One would be highly mistaken if they consider themselves exclusive of it. It may be later for some than others, but it is definite to happen. We could be mere spectators of the impending doom or the ones fighting for literally a better future. Small but significant changes that we can make in our lives could benefit the planet and us. The expected results could be miraculous and require us to take a step back and contemplate our actions and acknowledge the value of the environment. Eco anxiety is associated with the real trauma experienced by people living on the frontlines of climate change: people living in the areas with poor air quality or in the paths of hurricanes or experiencing extreme heat events without access to air conditioning. Anything that happens in the environment tends to impact our most vulnerable populations the most, kids, the elderly or people who don&rsquo;t have the means to relocate easily. It&rsquo;s those communities that take the hardest hit by natural disasters, changes in the water supply, drought or extreme heat or cold. People in those communities are experiencing higher rates of stress, anxiety or hopelessness. Eco-anxious people are aware of the consequences of the things that the planet earth and the environment are going through, drastically impacting their lives. <h3>Biodiversity loss</h3> <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.189088762619574751636274162024%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=dfe200ed-e45c-4783-8078-2118e60c0ccb" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> A million species are at risk of extinction from climate change, overfishing and pollution. The rate of biodiversity loss does justice to what makes us fear the destruction of our planet and our generation&rsquo;s future. The UN estimates&nbsp;that we have approximately 12 years to change everything to avoid complete climate catastrophe. The primary source of this stress is more from the fact that despite climate change being real, people don&rsquo;t care that the earth is on fire. Everything caused by climate change is going to get worse. <h3>The Latent Effect</h3> Eco anxiety isn&rsquo;t always the fear of an environmental incident that can happen in future. It can be what is going on right now as well. &nbsp;Due to selective environmental activism across the world, climate change impacts aren&rsquo;t felt the same by every community. Frontline communities are dealing with climate change right now. For instance, a person living in one of the small indigenous communities around the world that does not have safe access to drinking water, the level of anxiety associated with environmentalism is entirely different than someone who is just worried about the future state of our planet. &nbsp; <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.189088762619574751636274162024%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=6898b364-961c-4f33-a34a-bae837fe054f" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> <h3>Anxiety to Action</h3> For most, a renewed sense of community is vital. Shared responsibility about acting together for improving the planet&rsquo;s state is what could lead us out of this horror. <ol> <li> Facing Reality Facing the reality of climate change is the first step to working on it. Living in a state of denial has led the planet to what it is today. </li> <li> Analyzing the Impact We as humans are the ones to take the biggest hit from the climate catastrophe; thus, we have to analyse the impact of our daily actions leading to doomsday. We have to educate ourselves in this area to proceed towards damage control. It is blatant ignorance if we do not acknowledge our wrongdoings and dread the impact. </li> <li> Breaking the Socially Constructed Silence The stigma needs to be broken down. The primary sources of environmental pollutants are industrial by-products, which leave massive carbon footprints and emissions. We need to take precedence over the environment instead of promoting industries. </li> <li> Know the Reward The images that come to our minds when we think about the future of the environment are dystopian. That negates our spirits and will to fight for a better tomorrow. Knowing our reward would greatly uplift our morals in this challenge. We need to talk about thriving, not surviving. Journaling about and painting the world that we want to live in is one of the things that can help sail smoothly. </li> <li> Open to Change To steer the climate change process, we must change ourselves. The current situation has prevailed due to inappropriate and unfortunate changes that we made in our lives over the years. Lifestyle changes, as evident as plant-based diets and clean energy usage, are the accelerators of the good change we wish to bring. </li> </ol> <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.189088762619574751636274162024%2Fimage3.webp?alt=media&token=8558f3c6-d0ab-4919-b04e-cbf7cf1ba46d" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> Our fear is not irrational. The degrading environment can impact children&rsquo;s long-term physical and mental health in ways that don&rsquo;t impact adults. It is an existential fear not related to body looks or mid-life crisis. It&rsquo;s as bad as a fear of survival. Have you ever felt eco-anxious? Share with us in the comments.

Is It Time To Answer Nature’s Cry?

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.42913066472954831628072884005%2FAchieving%20happiness%20through%20stoicism_Gregory_1.webp?alt=media&token=6dc8fd7a-c359-4fee-99d3-ae7af241f3f7" alt="" width="763" height="509" />What is Stoicism? A school of Hellenistic philosophy of personal ethics informed by a system of logic and views on the natural world. The path to eudaimonia (happiness, or blessedness) accepts the moment as it presents itself by not allowing the desire for pleasure or fear of pain to control oneself. It guides us to use one's mind to understand the world and to do one's part in nature's plan, and by working together and treating others fairly and justly. The first principle of Stoicism states that only some things are in our control, and our frustration stems from attempting to control the things we cannot control.&nbsp;Epictetus, a stoic Greek philosopher, emphasizes that you can control very little. You can't control what the people around you say or do, and you can't even fully manage your own body, which gets sick and ultimately dies without regard for your preferences. The only thing that you can control is how you think about something. It leads us to the second foundational principle from Epictetus: It is not things that upset us, but how we think about things. We make judgments about what has happened. If you feel that something awful has happened, you might get upset, sad, or angry. If you believe that something terrible is likely to happen, then you get scared, fearful, or reluctant to pursue what you truly desire. These emotions are the products of your judgments. Things in themselves are value-neutral, for what might seem terrible to you might be a matter of indifference to someone else or even welcomed by others. For instance, the lesson behind "one man's trash is another man's treasure." The judgments introduce value into the picture, and it's those value judgments that generate your emotional responses.Things happen, none of which are inherently good or bad, and you decide how you value them. The paradox of Stoicism, as Epictetus formulates it, is that we have almost no control over anything, yet at the same time, we have potentially complete control over our happiness. Seneca (a stoic philosopher who was Rome's leading intellectual and statesman ) suffered multiple bereavements, exile and ultimately committed forced suicide after being accused of a conspiracy to assassinate the Emperor. He knew it was too easy to say, "I'm not going to let these external forces disturb me," but quite another to follow through.&nbsp;<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.42913066472954831628072884005%2FAchieving%20happiness%20through%20stoicism_Gregory_2.webp?alt=media&token=e9a82f54-e35a-4d90-8f0a-4bb54ced84eb" alt="" width="764" height="509" />To aid in this, the Stoics developed a series of exercises. Seneca, in particular, recommended taking stock at the end of each day, noting when you become irritated by something trivial or act angrily in response to someone who perhaps didn't deserve it. By registering his mistakes, he hoped to do better the next day. In Buddhism, one of the sources of all suffering is Desire: the desire to change things we cannot change, have things we cannot have, and do things we cannot do. Marcus Aurelius (a Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 and a stoic philosopher) was affectionately known as the last of the 'Five Good Emperors of Rome' after the leading age of peace and stability. Marcus Aurelius believed that there would always be ups and downs, not because your life is particularly hard, but because life itself is complex.&nbsp;He wrote, "External things are not the problem. It's your assessment of them. Which you can erase right now." The better you become at making accurate assessments of what has happened to you, the longer you'll be able to maintain a state of happiness. Living according to nature means valuing the truth over our emotions. It's not just that we should accept turmoil when it finds us. We should expect it or even welcome it. It will be difficult, but ultimately will be worth it.&nbsp;Marcus Aurelius also wrote, "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts," this is to say that the information you choose to entertain or meditate upon in your mind affects the health of your soul. It does not mean that we will always be positive no matter the situation, as some cases are tough to overcome. But think more positively than negatively. Another stoic critical practice is to take a step back in situations.&nbsp;Epictetus states, "Don't let the force of an impression when it first hits you knock you off your feet; just say to it, 'Hold on a moment; let me see who you are and what you represent. Let me put you to the test.'" Accurately identify what is happening to you at the moment and make decisions based on that assessment. Though difficult at first, it is possible.&nbsp;Stoicism is a difficult practice, but "difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations." Place the value of your happiness above the difficulty of obtaining it. The teachings of Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus often coincide with each other and provide tremendous amounts of wisdom. How you perceive a situation or event determines your emotional response to it. This response determines your happiness in it&mdash;drawing towards the fact that you are in control of your satisfaction. This exercise is not an easy one, but a worthy one nonetheless.&nbsp;

Achieving Happiness Through Stoicism

<img alt="" src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.452212468821719951636393820986%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=05ea52c3-5f7b-4c57-bd43-92583b2d8ecf" > So what are you using your time for? Are you making a positive impact or at least planning to? Is your life going to be average life of going through the stages of school, work, marriage, and death? Or are you a menace to those around you? All crucial questions with no right or wrong answers. The purpose of this article is to help you realize how short your time on earth is and how easy it is for your time here to be meaningless. Now that you recognize this, I will detail how you can manage your time to get the best out of it. At the time of writing, you are expected to live to seventy-two, which is the average human life expectancy. This number is lower if you live in a third-world country. Human life is put above all in typical situations, but what value can we put on a human life? Perhaps it&#39;s the impact that the human has made in the past, the impact that person may make in the future, or the number of years the human has left to live. It could be an explanation perhaps of why we value the lives of children over the lives of adults. The truth about time is that you and I are dying. There is only one destination, the grave, and what scares us most is that we don&#39;t know when that is. The purpose of this perspective is not to scare you but to show you that you are using a commodity that cannot be manufactured and therefore cannot be bought, sold or otherwise traded. No one to bargain with for more time and no one to ask how much time you have left. Others claim spiritual premonitions of when they will die, or someone will &#39;kick the bucket.&rsquo; As much as this may happen, there again is no sure way of knowing. Planning <img alt="" src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.452212468821719951636393820986%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=e7e0e4d1-fb43-4843-b3cd-68bcde39c9cc" > Time management is the conscious effort of planning and exercising control on the time you spend. This definition brings us to the first point, planning. Your time needs to be planned in such a way that helps you achieve a goal you desire. This goal can be anything. The small steps you take to accomplish this goal must be organized to keep you productive without compromising your health. In your planning phase, you will come across instances where you will have two or more things you wish to do simultaneously. Generally, this is not possible as you can&#39;t be in two different places at once, so you must prioritize. You look at the tasks and place them in an order of criteria of your choosing. This could be which takes the longest or provides the highest impact. After you know what you need to do and when you need to do it, you have to execute. This is usually the most challenging part; there needs to be discipline to stick to the schedule you have created for yourself. To fall in love with completing large tasks, you need to complete minor tasks, understand small victories lead to large ones. Motivation may be doing what you need to do when you feel like doing it, but discipline is doing that same thing even if you don&#39;t feel like it. You are now armed with a basic framework that will help you manage your time. It is now up to you to act on the information and add more to it per your goals. Remain grateful for the time you have. Just as you have finished reading this article, others have passed on, and their time has come to an end. What productivity tips do you have for others? Share with us in the comments

What Are You Doing With Your Finite Time

<img alt=""src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.074824149842566581638887435966%2Fimage1.webp?alt=media&token=201d9b90-989d-4d77-b83e-475416b66f0b">Privacy is a misconstrued concept. It is often confused with disguising information.News seekers and agenda makers always try to dig out information even when it needs to be safeguarded and kept unexposed. Sensitive data should be handled with caution and should not become a dinner table conversation.The media prevalent in the world today is doing more than just its only job, informing. It has opinions, digs out sensitive information, and invades privacy.A camera, the strongest tool at a media person’s disposal, is used as a means to justify their constant unethical and irrelevant interference in someone's life.There are countless incidents of media persons, especially in the paparazzi and tabloid culture, going out of their way to click photographs of events and persons.To get coverage, they miserably fail to respect the line drawn and identify the incident as news as per their convenience. These practices are loathed by those getting photographed.  It is one thing to generate content to inform, and a completely different thing doing it for mere sensationalism and garnering attention. This practice needs to be addressed not just by the people directly on its radar but also by those consuming that brand of content; the audience.Many celebrities have come out and spoken about how disturbing yellow journalism can be. The content is driven by what seems engaging enough to give it a read or a click. It doesn’t require much credibility, quality and accuracy.What is Yellow Journalism?Yellow journalism refers to the act of milking a story or news incident for sensational content to attract consumers.In this practice, the main focus of the newsmaker shifts from identifying and disseminating newsworthy content to sensationalized media and exaggerated headlines.Yellow journalism is mostly practised in tabloid culture and Page 3 content.Is it okay to step into boundaries in lieu of reporting using a camera?Tabloid culture becomes unhealthy and toxic when it starts to interfere with the daily functioning of the people it covers. These visuals often start butchering personal spaces, even in times of crisis. Of late, paparazzi have been known to be highly insensitive towards those in distress.Lately, the media has also been known for bombarding people with cameras to get clear shots and high definition pictures. None of them qualifies for reporting the incident. Disturbing video content has surfaced where the celebrities and kin were photographed, filmed and even interviewed by the news seekers in rather unfortunate times.It is not relevant at all. Nobody deserves this type of interference in their lives, irrespective of their popularity status.The Instances There have been incidents where paparazzi have faced backlash and were held answerable for their behavior and violation of civic decency.Case in point, when Princess Diana took Harry and William on holiday to Austria. She wanted a quiet family skiing holiday and didn’t even want any bodyguards. Diana wished to be free from the constraints associated with the British Royal System, including the press. Diana frequently took control of the press relations herself. She came out of lunch, walked up to the camera persons and said that the lenses are very daunting to her children and can they please respect her children’s space and leave them alone.We see paparazzi intrusion in the lives of famous people every day. The situation seems even worse here. With a large number of people that are low on jobs but loaded with cheap internet access, the fascination of getting a glimpse into a celebrity’s life is much higher. Be it the hysterical obsession of clicking a celebrity child’s photographs or the agonizing video coverage of a celebrity’s personal life.<img alt=""src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.074824149842566581638887435966%2Fimage2.webp?alt=media&token=411a4e1b-5945-4aa6-b14c-323ce7cff156">Why should this bother you, even when you are not in the public eye?  Being an ordinary person, you might never face such a situation and thus, not understand its repercussions. But you do understand privacy. It is a fundamental right that is also innate in humans.The invasion of personal space causes a normal human mind to get perturbed by insensitive media trespassing. It is the psychology of the human mind that makes us empathize with the person. These acts have the power to weaken an individual’s belief in the companionship that society has to offer.The whole narrative of incident reporting rests upon the curiosity of the news seekers and serving the facts with opinions, viewpoints and selective perception. We, as the audience, do not generally get to witness the source of every incident or news. Thus the media that emerges from the place of the incident becomes our source.The media’s job is to decide what is newsworthy and what is not before generating audio-visual content about it. It's their responsibility to generate and circulate actual news and facts and not use the incident to attract consumption.Your share in easing the situationStating the problem is just the first step of solving it. The practice of digging out sensitive information about someone in the name of news coverage is also fuelled profusely by the audience’s curiosity. We are that audience.The only way such practices can be stopped is if we as the audience stop pedestalizing famous people and stop keep a keen eye on their personal lives.What we can do is merely overlook the everyday routine of the rich and famous and try to focus on their work to reach where they are, if we want to take an interest at all.Have you ever pondered the implications of such treatment on the human mind?

The Duty of Understanding Right to Privacy

<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0142054683348544761631040060663%2FThe%20Non-Pursuit%20of%20Happiness_1.webp?alt=media&token=432a9687-e01d-48b4-8d14-45c85fd54726" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> It doesn&rsquo;t take much looking around to find overly sentimental or simplistic quotes about happiness. Everybody seems to have something to share with us about the subject. Here are a few examples:&nbsp; <ul> <li> &nbsp; &nbsp; &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t let anything get in the way of your happiness.&rdquo;&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li> &nbsp; &nbsp; "To be happy, you must be your own sunshine."&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li> &nbsp; &nbsp; &ldquo;Whatever you decide to do, make sure it makes you happy.&rdquo;&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li> &nbsp; &nbsp; &ldquo;Life is full of choices. Choose to be happy!&rdquo;&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li> &nbsp; &nbsp; &ldquo;Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness!&rdquo;&nbsp;</li> </ul> <ul> <li> &nbsp; &nbsp; &ldquo;Act the way you want to feel.&rdquo;&nbsp;</li> </ul> Having my mind soiled by slogans like this used to infuriate me. Now I find them so ridiculous that they seem to take on more of a comic quality instead. It&rsquo;s not even the triteness of any particular message that I find so obnoxious; it's more about the overall condescending tone and not-so-subtle hints of bullshit.&nbsp; Happiness IS essential to us all. Silly quotes and toxic positivity aside, we need to manage our psychological health and well-being to derive some sense of satisfaction from this life. Or else why keep going on? If I had the chance to go back in time and share one idea about happiness with my younger self, it would be this: The concept of happiness covers a broad spectrum of meanings, and it&rsquo;s certainly not the same for all people. There is a big difference between constantly chasing an elevated quality of happiness based on always grasping for &lsquo;better&rsquo; or &lsquo;more&rsquo; versus letting your happiness arise spontaneously from a well-grounded and consistent practice of daily living. If I consistently strive for happiness and treat it as an end unto itself, then typically, reaching and sustaining it becomes dependent on meeting various external conditions, often beyond my locus of control. If most of my conditions for things to be 'good' are met, I will be happy. If just some of my many conditions are met, then my happiness will begin to fade. If few or none of my conditions are met, then I will be miserable. Time factors into the equation as well, since it&rsquo;s never quite enough just getting what we need right now to make us happy. We find that we will also always need more of whatever it is for the future. And so, there is always another carrot (reward) dangling in front of us that we must keep moving towards. &nbsp;Now we find ourselves on the hedonic treadmill of life, constantly pursuing some externally conditioned version of happiness. Economies rely heavily on it. Social relationships often build around it. Most of all, we are convinced that we need it to live, and if we don't get it, then the entire world is an awful place. The relentless pursuit of a conditional ideal of happiness has the potential to become one of the most significant sources of existential frustration and misery in our lives. It makes us regret the past, leaves us discontent with the present, and creates a sense of fear and anxiety about the future. &nbsp;The thing about life is that it goes on regardless of whether we are happy or not. I keep breathing, whether I'm ecstatic or dejected. The sun rises and sets whether I'm morose or elated. The universe is indifferent to our happiness or suffering. But to us, it seems essential &ndash; often the most important thing in our lives.&nbsp; &nbsp;If things tend to break your way a lot in life, if you are lucky, or won the genetic/birth lottery, so to speak, then it's often relatively easy to maintain a consistent state of conditional happiness. You had it all along, it was never really taken away from you, and you go along in life feeling quite satisfied with yourself. And there is nothing inherently wrong with living a basic or superficial life like that. If it makes you happy and you can get away with it, then, by all means, do it!&nbsp; &nbsp;The problem is, we also live in a universe that is impermanent and constantly changing. Statistically speaking, the odds of a person making it unscathed by some misfortune are fairly slim. Some &lsquo;lucky&rsquo; individuals seem to skate through life without a scratch &ndash; but most of us suffer at least a little, or sadly, a lot. <img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0142054683348544761631040060663%2FThe%20Non-Pursuit%20of%20Happiness_2.webp?alt=media&token=fe16337f-e2c8-4ae8-bb83-2450853e189e" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> So how can we try to be happy then?&nbsp; &nbsp;First - Quit obsessing about it. Stop chasing after happiness like it&rsquo;s some kind of life goal to be achieved. It can&rsquo;t and won&rsquo;t be possessed or held by us forever. Happiness comes; it stays for a while, then it leaves. Hopefully, it returns in some new form or another, and preferably soon. It's essential to cultivate things in life that are likely to lead to long-term satisfaction. But they still generally follow the same pattern of coming and going, rising and falling over time. The sooner we make peace with the entropy that permeates everything around us and inside of us, the less time we will spend fighting in vain against the current. &nbsp;Second - Since we aren't spending our days and nights in the constant pursuit (obsession) over conditional happiness, what do we do with ourselves with all of our free time instead? The answer is that we take that time to build character and get to know ourselves. We cultivate the ability to withstand the bad times better when they come, learn not to waste energy clinging to the good times when they inevitably depart and develop a sense of gratitude for when the beautiful things in life do finally arrive. &nbsp;Easier said than done, I know.&nbsp; Because honestly, it seems like a lot more fun to gamble and play the game than to spend time doing the heavy lifting and asking difficult questions. Plus, it might make you seem a little different to others &ndash; perhaps even weird. Most people are already on a happiness treadmill of some kind, and they are convinced that you should be too if you want to get the best of what the world offers. The world is filled with dangling carrots. Quite often, nobody wants to hear about someone else who has disavowed chasing these types of prizes &ndash; and taking this sort of position amplifies the lack of common ground between them. &nbsp;I tried chasing happiness in my life for a long time. Some people that I have known have had much better luck than me, others far worse. But in the end, I found that the whole game was exhausting &ndash; and it often seemed rigged. So, I decided that I needed to explore some alternate pathways in life instead. And the greater amount of time that I spent away from the happiness treadmill, the less I found that I missed it.&nbsp; &nbsp;Because when your happiness isn&rsquo;t as dependent on conditional things, it makes it a lot harder for the world to snatch it away from you. And the low-hanging fruit in life often has a way of being the first to spoil - even when you manage to store some of it up. &nbsp;This choice isn't an all-or-nothing scenario. It&rsquo;s a balancing act. Your life choices will trend in one direction or another. You could shift the balance of your life's satisfaction to external and conditional things outside of yourself. Or you could focus on developing resilience and making peace with life on its own terms. Either way, you choose a path daily, and you have to keep walking it. &nbsp;<img src="https://firebasestorage.googleapis.com/v0/b/creed-community.appspot.com/o/images%2F0.0142054683348544761631040060663%2FThe%20Non-Pursuit%20of%20Happiness_3.webp?alt=media&token=33769263-9481-4a61-8edc-848dec0def93" alt="File preview" width="700" height="466" /> &nbsp;It&rsquo;s important to understand from the start that it&rsquo;s unlikely you will ever arrive at some fixed destination in life where you suddenly release all of these conditional attachments to happiness and gain enlightenment. But you can start by taking care of one thing in your life at a time, do it to the best of your current ability, and then move on to the next thing - similar to weeding a garden. This process of releasing long-held goals to root around in the dirt of the self can be pretty painful at first, but in time, you will grow more accustomed to it. Considering these ideas today, I&rsquo;m not entirely sure if my younger self would have fully embraced them or laughed at them and tossed them away. The dangling carrots were both plentiful and far more novel back then. At this point in life, I suppose I'm just content to be fortunate enough to have done my time on the happiness treadmill and still had a chance to jump off and look for something different. &nbsp;I&rsquo;m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round. I really love to watch them roll. No longer riding on the merry-go-round, I just had to let it go. - &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; John Lennon

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