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In the entry on nutrition, I spoke about discipline and that it is a central concept for THW. Exercise and proper nutrition require discipline. Life requires discipline. However, while discipline is something that is part of being a successful human, modern consumerism is premised on abandoning all discipline in favour of indulging ourselves endlessly. There is no moderation in this era of contemporary consumer capitalism and this is a problem for physical health as I’ve already laid out and also for pyschological and emotional well being. This consumption mentality also produces social losses and environmental ones that are directly responsible for the erosion of public and planetary well being. This is a complicated issue. It is a vital one though for us as individuals, for the society we produce and the world we inhabit. 

 

THW is an attempt to seek out philosophical answers to how we live longer and better. It is also focused on how creating healthier individuals can be translated into a healthier society and planet. This is the mission of THW. 

 

The Ancients, especially the Ancient Greek philosophers understood that a healthy citizenry was the cornerstone of a healthy society. There are, of course, limitations to their world view that must be acknowledged such as women were rarely considered as important in this equation and slaves not at all. Also, this physical readiness for the Ancient Greeks was linked to preparedness for war which thankfully most of us do not need to give thought to today. Putting aside these qualifiers, the Greeks understood how poor physical health infiltrated other aspects of people’s lives:

 

“Many people’s minds are so invaded by forgetfulness, despondency, irritability, and insanity because of their poor physical condition that their knowledge is actually driven out of them.” Socrates

 

German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein makes a similar point about the body being the picture of the soul. This idea leads me to ask deeper questions about how we live and occupy the planet. Using the car less to get about, taking the stairs, cleaning after ourselves, how we shop and what we purchase, and so on is "embodied" and shown to the world. Our philosophy of life is evident in the way we walk, our facial expressions, our mannerisms and the way we hold ourselves. The pandemic of hunched over people because of excessive mobile phone use is just one contemporary example of this at work. Socrates said that an unexamined life is not worth living. How many of us have given proper thought to how we live? THW integrates questions on how we live with those of how we live properly. In other words, THW seeks to understand what is the "good" life and how it can be achieved. 

THW believes that life-lived well is a life well lived. There is more to a good life than exercise and nutrition. There are our values, our relationships, our mission and our commitments. There are the hundreds of daily little tasks, actions, exchanges that define who we are much more than the grand gestures, big promises, expensive clothes, or fast cars. THW does not preach against the grand gestures, promises, luxuries. However the THW suggests that it is not these things that make us or represent who we are. 

The number of leadership and motivational mentors or gurus out there have grown in recent years. I have spent a lot of time reading and thinking their work in recent years. I have learned something from lots of them. And, lots from some of them. Most, almost all, have something to offer. A very few, in my view, have not. As, I have read them and learned from them, a few key ideas keep popping up. Not surprisingly, these are ideas of how to live well found in the wisdom of the ancients. The more times change, the more that the fundamentals of human life stay the same. 

In THW, my aim is to discuss these ideas with you. I don't take any credit for authoring them. The very good leadership and motivational gurus will also likely credit others for their best ideas. Most are as old as the written word if not older. In a nutshell, if I can be so bold for a moment, they are: look after your health by exercising and consuming good foods and beverages in moderation, devote time to lifelong learning, work hard, persevere when faced with adversity, be true to your values, cherish those close to you and be respectful to the remainder. If only life was so easy. That said, on one level it is. 

There are some very big questions that must be thrown in here. The biggest of these is what is the meaning of life? This is a question worth contemplating as long as it does not send us down the proverbial rabbit hole. Or, at least, not too far down the rabbit hole. Some tunnelling in the dark is no waste of time. Answering this question might lead us to ask spiritual questions. This too is a worthy activity we should all undertake.

My last point here, and one that is very central to THW is that of contribution. What is the value of our life well-lived should be as important a question as any other we ask ourselves. THW believes each person in the world has a mission. Sadly, many choose not to look for it or to devote the time and energy needed to make it happen. In this day and age, many people succumb to instant gratification, anaesthetised by social media, endless access to entertainment and distracted by the appeal of consumerism and 'junk' consumption. It is a feature of contemporary society. It does not need to be so. 

My last point here is about the importance of thinking about contribution and what a good life might look like. For me, it is living with integrity, finding ways to improve myself and help those around me become "better", and striving every day to do good. These might comprise my every day, but alongside this, I also have thoughts about what I leave behind and how I want to be remembered. The fourth pillar of the THW is all about legacy. I hope you have found this entry illuminating and move on to the next one in your own time.