Recently I have been receiving messages and emails from people who have read the book The Impression of a Good Life: Philosophical Engineering or who have just begun reading, and their initial reaction is, “this is not what I expected! This is really good!” The element of surprise is in the fact that I did not intentionally set out to write anything in the traditional sense of “philosophy” or “engineering”. So as people quickly discover, this isn’t a book about “big fancy words” being used like a perception of philosophy might be. It isn’t a book talking like a text book explaining the scientific theory of something that you feel would go right over your head.
It’s a book about me and my struggle to understand why I felt my life was being designed by someone else other than me. The feeling of why I had to get a degree, get a job, and get married and my lack of fulfillment in trying to get these things. Instead, the book is the realization (the journey) I had of what I should be getting out of life, specific needs and values.
In essence, philosophical engineering is the practice of sorting out the inner dialogue towards a good life. It’s having the confidence in stepping up and taking control over yourself and your life. Not allowing someone to tell you what you should be getting out of it. It’s bringing clarity to what gives you fulfillment, what you makes you happy in what you need and value in life.