There are two general requirements that any adequate theory must attempt to meet. They are comprehensiveness and coherence. Comprehensiveness requires that all known facts must be taken into account. Coherence requires that such accounts should be systematically consistent. But given progressive character of human knowledge, these are tall orders that no theory is likely to fulfill on a permanent basis. What is considered adequate is always relative to knowledge context and intellectual climate of time. Any theory that falls short in any of these respects will sooner rather than later be relegated. The history of thought is littered with many once considered most comprehensive and coherent of explanations. This is true of philosophy as it is of science. History has shown that in shifting sand of knowledge and interpretation, even a relatively adequate theory of human reality is difficult to come by. This is why there have not been many who are able to dictate course of theoretical thought for hundreds of years. And if history is any guide, even these must in end also come to grief.

Looking back, it must be said that failure notwithstanding, dominant philosophy of an era is representative of metaphysical mentality of its time. It incorporates what era deems to be matters of fact as well as what it does not really know. For this reason, evaluation of past should always be accompanied by an appreciation for its knowledge and conceptual constraints. No generation should fall prey to illusion that it has theorized or philosophized any better than its predecessors. Criticism from benefit of hindsight alone is cheap. It is important to know where others were right and why they were right. It is just as important to understand where others had erred and why they had erred. What was it that made people reasoned way they did? Given what they then knew and conceptual bias they had, could they have thought otherwise? How could their theories be improved upon in light of what we now know? To answer such questions is basic function of philosophy. As understood by its ancient founders, philosophy means love of wisdom. It is not only desire to understand what is case and how it is case. It is also desire to understand what is not case, and why it could not possibly be case. The former leads to knowledge, latter to wisdom. A non-reflective life, as Socrates once said, is not worth living.

Author: Peter M.K. Chan http://www.geocities.com/themysteryofmind

The strange neighborhood of truth is always less comfortable than familiar circles of falsehood – PMKC. ========================================================================

Our belief systems around money definitely matter. What we think about ourselves and money is more powerful than many people realize. Most kids raised in wealthy families are not only taught how to make money, but also there's an underlying belief that they'll naturally carry on family tradition. Most kids raised in poverty are taught nothing whatsoever about how to amass wealth and are conditioned to believe that they'll never be rich anyway. Those are extremes. Most of us are somewhere in middle and so is our perceived earning potential.

Take some time and seriously dig through your thoughts about money. What were you taught? What was role modeled to you? Facing your self-limiting thoughts will help you to stop letting them run your life. You will have to work overtime guarding your every thought as you proceed down trail towards a life of abundance. A big piece of that will involve stating affirmations. It is a method of changing computer program running in your brain. Let's say that your original software was designed to believe that there isn't enough wealth to go around and therefore it's going to be next to impossible for you to get your hands on any of it. You want to upgrade to a newer program that helps you to manifest more money in your life. Unfortunately, human brain doesn't allow a program to be erased once it's put in place. So, you're going to have to put an overriding program overtop of original flawed program. Every time old program starts babbling about scarcity and lack of money to be found, you have to immediately tell your brain to stop and play new program that believes that there is more than enough to go around. You do that by telling yourself positive affirmations. Force your mind to really see tangible proof that there is enough money in world for you to live life that you dream of.

Affirmations are amazing and powerful, but all by themselves, they aren't going to do you a bit of good. Very few self-made millionaires did it be sitting in lotus position stating to cosmos that their bank account was magically growing all by itself. You still have to get up and do something. Sell something. Give away a service. Teach something. Make people feel something. Build something. Yes, you ought to pick something that you love doing because it'll be easier to become really good at it. Nobody wants to be an expert in a topic that bores them to death. It's kind of like that story of little engine trying to drag itself up over hill, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." At same time, he was working harder then he ever had in his entire life. Do that.

Copyright 2004, Skye Thomas, Tomorrow's Edge