I’ve had an unconventional mentor in my life. Someone who has answered many of my questions, but, never in-person.
It started with what I call the most philosophical dilemma of all time! It was my high school years and I had many questions about many things but this problem seemed the most unsolvable to me.
Here’s the question: What can be the basis for any decision making process?
In another word, what’s the reference for finding the best action in any situation?
It may not seem like a very hard question at first but it sure is a very fundamental one. Think about it. Let’s say you have a decision to make. Something very important. Like adopting a baby. How do you decide if that’s the right thing to do?
People use different decision making systems.
Some, rely solely on logic and reasoning.
Some, rely on asking other people’s opinion. Maybe friends or family.
If you’re a very religious person, you may seek the help of a religious figure like your priest.
In eastern cultures, some people seek advise from the elders. They reason that these people have seen everything and know the answers.
Some people go to tradition to find out what is customary or what does the society expect.
Or, you may seek the answer from the within.
Maybe you rely on your feelings. What do I feel like I should do?
Some, rely on their instincts. They do the first thing they like.
And there are many other references too. But which one is right? Which one is correct? You have to answer this, before making any decisions in your life.
The challenge though, is that like any genuine philosophical question, this one doesn’t have a clear answer either. The problem is, to choose between one of these decision-making systems, you need to make a “decision”! And that’s a paradox. If you start “reasoning” which one is better, you’ve already chosen the “method of reasoning” as the winner! It’s like if I participate in a tournament and my mom is the referee. I’d say there’s a good chance that I win!
So what should we do?
It’s still debatable but maybe we can compare the people who follow each of these systems. Fortunately there are millions of people in each of these camps! I have seen many of them but never crossed someone who had a well-developed worldview based on one of these systems. Most people seemed jumping from one to another whenever they had to make a decision.
That was until I saw my unconventional mentor. His name is Dr. Holakouee. A sociologist, economist, psychologist who had a TV show where he sit and answered callers questions.
What was different about him was that he was promoting a well-established and well-thought worldview based on logic, reasoning and science. His worldview didn’t have any contradictions or inconsistencies. What I saw in him was a decision-making system that either had answers for any problem or could propose a logical way to find the answer. That system seemed to work unexceptionally and reliably good.
You may call me biased but I decided that this is the answer!
Since then, I’ve have listened to hundreds of hours of him talking about different stuff and even today, I listen about 2-8 hours per week and I still learn new things. I’m proud to call him my mentor for my life and I hope some day I can do even a fraction of what he has done for me, for someone else.
::samic::