What is a good life? How do I even attempt to live one? Is that question really important? Here’s how that doesn’t keep me awake at night.

It’s my personal belief that there is an absolute set of ethics, though that doesn’t mean I claim to know them. When presented with the option between the existence of such a set or not, it’s clear that their existence makes living a good life easier (as I can spend time discovering them). This also means there would need to be more evidence of their absence than their existence to sway my mind on this topic, because absence provides less benefits.

But what is a good life? I use the word “good” simply to mean as ethical as possible. To me, the word possible is actually more important than the word ethical. In this article, I’ll try to explain why, by giving you my solution to facing the trolley problem. From Wikipedia:

“There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two options: Do nothing, and the trolley kills the five people on the main track. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.”

A set of rules to live by

The main problem with ethics issues is that you need infinite time to comprehend and solve them (unless they turn out to be questions of logic in disguise). Personally, I don’t have infinite time. As I believe in the existence of absolute ethics and I do try to be a good person, I needed a way to devise a set of rules to live by.

The word try in “try to be a good person” is important. It means that you are bound by restrictions. As I pointed out, I think the main bottleneck is time. This restriction though, works in my favor. The rule I choose to live my life by is that if I spend part of my time contemplating personal ethics, then I trust I will later take the best decision to my abilities

If I spend part of my time contemplating personal ethics, then I trust I will later take the best decision to my abilities

You might be asking yourself if that’s not a cop-out. It’s not, but I did shift the problem around. If the driver of the trolley spend enough time thinking about core values and tries to react ethically to this problem, whatever decision he takes will be the right one, because he couldn’t make a better one. In fact, you could say that since time is finite, we can never act, we can only react to the set of circumstances we’re given.

Shifting the blame

Did you notice the shift in the problem? The problem shifted onto the words “if [he] spend enough time”. I reduced whole classes of ethics problems to trivial solutions, but I gain one big one: how much time should I spend thinking about all of this? Lots of problems suddenly become a question of trying to value time, of logistics, of trusting myself to react correctly.

Surely part of the solution is experience. Spend time with your loved ones, encourage yourself to care for them. You will encounter many practical applications of your deep questions. They will undoubtedly appreciate your attempts at trying to solve them.

I can’t answer how much time you should spend, but I did find a way for myself not to fret over it. Whenever I feel anxious, I can spend more time on contemplation. I can rest assured that this is the best way to solve my problems. I don’t need to feel anguish.

We can only react to the set of circumstances we’re given

Absolute chaos

If you are still reading, let’s try to tackle one more issue. Many of you will probably scoff at the idea of absolute values in life. There is no such thing as absolute ethics. Just remember that such a set does not need to be very complicated. Here’s a simple thought experiment:

If we assume we can’t know the importance of our own actions (how could we if we haven’t found a core set of values yet?), then that means you must assume everyone is equally important, thus it follows that all people are to be treated as equals.

You can build a really strong foundation of ethics, just with that principle. Notice that I didn’t say some people aren’t less important than others, just that we probably can’t ever know that (without circular reasoning). I find that most despicable ideologies stem, in some way, out of the belief that you belong to a group of people more important than another.

Conclusion

Thanks for spending your important time reading this. I hope that my article at least caused you to spend some time thinking. You now know why I value that so much. We are so much like animals in nature, reacting, but the difference is we get to prepare. And that’s a huge advantage. Cherish it. Use it. Be rational, it’s what makes you human.

If you know of other thinkers that reached similar conclusions, be sure to tell me in the comments. I probably don’t spend nearly enough time reading the musings of others. I do love to learn. Have a good day!