Straighten Up & Fly Right
What Does Orientation Mean?
The word “orientation” is in wide and various use. What does it mean?
Orientation describes the relationship between one thing and another. In the world of aviation where I work, the concept is taken pretty seriously. Indeed, a dangerous situation results anytime a pilot misinterprets the information available to them and becomes disoriented to the facts. The inevitable result is called an unusual-attitude.
When this happens, the pilot has become confused about their relationship to their aircraft, and their aircraft’s relationship to the rest of the world. In short, they have become lost. They can’t even be sure that they are right-side up anymore. A physical chain reaction is underway, and if it’s not quickly interrupted there will be a total loss of control and a fiery crash. There is only one solution to the pilot’s loss of orientation.
They must be oriented again.
How is a renewed orientation achieved? With every recovery program, Step-1 is to recognize that there is in fact a problem. Then the disoriented pilot must gather true information from trustworthy sources about the reality of their position and trajectory. Then they must apply their knowledge and training to act on that information in an appropriate way. After all, different situations require different control inputs to correct them. If the pilot guesses and is wrong, they will make their situation worse instead of better.
Time is a luxury the disoriented pilot can’t afford. Instead of a lifetime to find themselves, they have just a few seconds. To become oriented again, they must quickly identify a reliable source of truth, and then rightly perceive their actual relationship to reality. Only then can they apply their training and skills to restore a safe-attitude. When they do, they won’t be lost anymore—they’ll be saved.
What has saved them?
It’s simple! They have succeeded in orienting “their truth” to the Truth.
Indeed, the safety of every pilot and their passengers depends utterly on the pilot’s subjective orientation to a shared objective reality. This really isn’t a controversial concept. If it were, you wouldn’t set foot in an airliner ever again!
I wonder…is the world of aviation the only place that Truth like this exists? Might it exist everywhere—even in “your world”?
When a pilot questions their relationships to themselves, their crew, the aircraft around them, and the world as a whole to achieve and maintain orientation, they are doing good-philosophy. A good-philosopher pursues an accurate orientation to reality by asking good questions of themselves, of others, and of their world. So don’t go flying unless the pilot is first and foremost—a good-philosopher.
You are the pilot of your life. What kind of philosopher are you?
Good Philosophy
The word “philosophy” means loving wisdom. Of course, this begs an important question. What is wisdom?
Wisdom is the practical knowledge we use to successfully orient our lives to reality. Having and gaining wisdom enables us to live our lives with increasing accuracy and skill. Wisdom comes to us from three sources: our common-sense; revelation from a trustworthy source of truth; and experience—usually the bad ones we’re lucky enough to survive.
Are you afraid of heights, spiders, snakes, or some other thing that gives you the creeps? That’s common-sense keeping you safe by helping you avoid potentially dangerous things.
Do you drive in the correct lanes and obey traffic signals? If you do, it’s because a parent or drivers-ed teacher “revealed” that doing so keeps you and others safe on the road. If you foolishly test the truth-value of that revelation and live to tell about it, then you hopefully will gain wisdom by the most popular method: experience.
The Preliminary Questions
Good-philosophy is the project of integrating all of our sources of meaning in an effort to gain as much wisdom as we can. The goal of every good-philosopher is to become oriented to Reality as it really is, and to live a skillful life. With this noble goal always in mind, a good-philosopher spends their life studying the following questions.
What is my orientation to myself (identity)? What exactly am I? Do facts exist about me? Am I free to invent my own facts? Should my facts integrate with the facts of others? What is a fact? Should I care?
What is my source of meaning (philosophy)? Is it objectively meaningful? Does it explain the world as it really is, or only as I would like it to be? Can my subjective beliefs integrate with the lives of others in the real world?
What is my orientation to Reality (worldview)? What is my relationship to the rest of the world? If I speak my truth, do the facts obey me? Am I in control of Reality? Or am I one person among many, each influencing the lives of others in big and small ways? Is there a purpose for the world? Am I part of that purpose?
What is my orientation to other beings (religion)? What is my relationship to my Creator? What is my relationship to other creatures? Do they have as much value and importance as I do? What makes me special? I’m different from every other person, and perceive the world from my own unique perspective. Even so, I can come together with others and share meaning in a community. How is that possible? What is my role in a community? Do I exist for others? Do they exist for me? Am I any good all by myself—or do I need relationships to make me whole.
The brilliant psychologist and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl writes: “Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human.”
Have you ever challenged the meaning of yours? If you would like to land safely upon the ground of Human-Meaning someday, then doing so is Step-1.
Where is your life headed? You’re the pilot—are you oriented? Should your passengers relax and have confidence in a good landing?
Straighten up and fly right. Pursue a right-orientation to Reality as it really is. Orient your life so that you can share Meaning in goodwill with others. Be a lover of Wisdom.
Be a good-philosopher.