JUSTIFICATION
Contents:
The underlying idea is that life-affirmation involves two basic aspects: (1) the psychological aspect (i.e. the aspect that orients oneself to one’s values concretely, i.e. via concrete experience of value), and (2) the intellectual aspect (i.e. the aspect that orients one’s focus toward the relevant facts so as to the derive and validate one’s approach to reality with respect to one’s values). In other terms, the two branches are the two key aspects of human existence: (1) value-orientation and (2) truth-orientation.
In terms of one’s experience of life, the ultimate purpose of life-affirmation is happiness, which is the fullest, most flourishing experience of one’s life as a volitional being. In other words, the pursuit of happiness is the sole moral obligation, since the pursuit of happiness is the fullest realisation of a volitional being’s value-orientation. But while happiness through virtuous integrity can be expected long-range, such happiness cannot always be expected in the moment or short-range.
However, serenity, which is the basis of happiness, is also the basis of life-affirmation and rationality in the moment. By serenity, I do not mean calmness necessarily (indeed, my concept of serenity is compatible with a lack of calm, as in energy, excitement, agitation, etc,), but rather, the recognition of the facts, of one’s own causal efficacy and of the limits of one’s causal efficacy in the given context. Hence, serenity is the state of consciousness arising from objectivity. Thus, I regard serenity as the essence of value-orientation. Such a state can and must be pursued in the moment and/or the short-range, since it is the basis of happiness, be it in the present (if possible) or in the future. For more clarity, see: “Current focus in the pursuit of happiness” from “Key additional points” from The Pursuit of Happiness from Philosophy in Practice.
Thus, we have serenity as the first branch (the value-orientation branch).
The other branch is simpler to understand; rationality is essentially one’s awareness of reality to the fullest relevant extent (“relevant” here implies a purposeful, value-oriented approach to cognition). In other terms, consciously directed awareness is the essence of truth-orientation. This branch focuses more on the intellectual aspect of life-affirmation, but it is vital to note that the psychological and intellectual aspects are both parts of the same inseparable whole, and thus, are integrated and interconnected, neither existing apart from the other.
Thus, we have awareness as the second branch (the truth-orientation branch).
KEY INSIGHT: Serenity requires non-evasion and orientation toward virtue.
NOTE: Non-evasion in action is essentially orientation toward virtue.
Handling the virtue-orientation aspect:
Thanks to Dr. Tara Smith’s insights (see: (1) “Moral Ambition: Perfection and Pride, Part 1” by Tara Smith, (2) Pride and Moral Perfection from Philosophy in Practice) and also aligned with Aristotle, I hold pride as the crown of all virtues, not just as an end result of full virtuousness (as Aristotle identifies it) but also as the means to self-value and virtuousness (as Ayn Rand identifies it, especially through her definition of pride as “moral ambitiousness”).
Furthermore, along with rationality (which is focused on more explicitly in the “awareness” branch), I have recognised pride as the most practicable virtue, since it not only naturally integrates every other virtue but is also something that can be identified, pursued and achieved concretely. Below pride, I have given moral perfection, since moral perfection is both the end result of the full practice of pride and the basis for sustaining and advancing pride long-range.
Handling the non-evasion aspect:
Beside pride, I have identified a more obvious aspect of serenity, namely the acceptance of reality. Note that such acceptance is not passive resignation by any means, but rather, a recognition of the relevant facts, of one’s own causal efficacy and of the limits of one’s causal efficacy in the given context. In other words, it is the acceptance of what cannot be changed, the recognition of what can be changed, and the conviction for what must be changed.
This aspect of serenity is based on contextual clarity and hence serves as a more direct link between the “serenity” branch and the “awareness” branch. With regards to value-orientation (and thus serenity) have identified three relevant areas of contextual clarity: (1) wishfulness (i.e. a feeling arising from a desire for some state of affairs, be it past, present or future), (2) regret (i.e. a feeling arising from one’s view of the loss of one’s values in the past and/or present due to one’s own conscious action and/or inaction) and (3) emotion (i.e. the psychological responses to one’s value judgements). My reasons for choosing these sub-branches are mainly personal, i.e. in my personal experience, I have (1) found these to be the key factors in my motives and my mental state, and (2) found these to be based on internalised premises that, if lacking in contextual clarity, reflect a false or distorted judgement of truth and values, leading to ineffective and potentially (sometimes actually) self-destructive motives and mental states.
Net result of the serenity branch:
Since the serenity branch is about value-orientation, the fullest realisation of this branch would lead to integrity, i.e. a non-contradictory relationship between one’s value-judgements and one’s conscious actions. I regard integrity to be the value-based equivalent of objectivity, i.e. non-contradictory relationship between one’s grasp of the reality and one’s pursuit of further truth.
All cognition is contextual, hence contextual clarity is key. The other sub-branch is rationality in practice, which combines my understanding of rationality as applied to the purposeful functioning of a volitional being with finite capacities (mental and physical). The key aspects of rationality in practice are: consistency (i.e. rationality allows for no compromise with irrationality), relevance (i.e. given a finite capacity to focus and pursue time-bound and conditional values, rationality requires the pursuit of those values that best sustain, advance and thereby affirm one’s life) and efficiency (i.e. given a finite capacity to focus and pursue time-bound and conditional values, rationality requires a judicious use of one’s mental and physical resources).
The requirements for rationality in practice lead to three broad principles: (1) non-contradiction in contexts (allowing for contextual clarity, shifting between contexts and the recognition of essentials and non-essentials in narrower contexts based on a broader context that subsumes it), (2) identification of logical and causal relationships (which are the key material for knowledge and cognition beyond perception), and (3) essentialisation of focus (which is the only way to reduce conscious units logically without losing relevant information).
NOTE: The whole “awareness” branch leads to objectivity, which connects to the “acceptance of reality” in the “serenity” branch via integrity.