What is the best way to live one’s own life – the examined life, the fulfilled life, achieving eudaimonia, becoming self-actualized, developing character, living with integrity and authenticity, and acting morally? I cannot and will not tell you what to do. I suggest that nobody can give you an answer to these questions other than you yourself, engaged in your own pursuits of knowing yourself, and being and becoming the best person you are meant to be.

I will explain the areas of inquiry that worked for me personally to answer these questions and be comfortable with my own answers. I will explain my personal ethic and then hope that some of it will inspire you. My answers came after studying development psychology, western ethical philosophy (ancient Greek through modern), Asian ethical philosophies (Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism), temperament and personality, and faith. There is no overt or dogmatic religious or theistic component to my ethic; I was not raised in any religion, but I was raised in a family with expectations of integrity and morality at all times.

There are four parts to my personal ethic and each will be explained in a number of pages and sub-pages. Here is the synopsis of each:

1. be: knowing who you are fundamentally and temperamentally, and living sustainably with balance and moderation; understanding you roles and duties, and how to undertake action in concert with all that surrounds you; flourishing and living the fulfilled life
2. attend: honor your intuitive, instinctual side and pay attention to your own flashes of insight; balance truths offered to you as givens (revealed, dogmatic, published) with truths self-given from your own authentic nature
3. become: develop yourself toward your higher potential
4. respect: act with perspective and humility toward every individual, every group that seems to be different, and toward the universe itself

You are reading an early version of this introductory page, before I’ve finished posting all of the sub-content. Please keep up with my blog entries to know when new content is published.