FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Why?
Have you ever feel the moment of hypocrisy?
The moment of “I know I should, but I don’t” or “Oh my, I said that, while I know I shouldn’t”.
It sucks. It sucks for not being honest to ourselves. It sucks when our life is miss-aligned with our worldview or — as most people called it — belief.
And vice versa, it’s good when both are aligned. For example: a criminal might be a happy criminal if she/he really deep-down-believes that her/his crimes are good — or at least inevitable.
It sucks to be a hypocrite.
So, how might we reduce our internal hypocrisy?
Let’s start small.
What if we just record all of our belief & life? What if we make it transparent by publishing it?
Maybe both of them will aligned themselves. Maybe our beliefs will adapt our life. Or our life will adapt our beliefs. Or both.
However — it’s getting more complicated — both of them can suddenly change due to any external influences. Belief are very contagious. And some part of life is out of our control.
Duh!
Will these two moving targets be aligned, if we start to record them?
I dunno. Let’s try! :)
What is Codex Vitae?
Codex Vitae is a self-development framework. The goal is a happier and more-aligned life.
The rule is quite simple. Write down your beliefs. Write down your interesting life moments. Make it a daily, weekly, monthly, yearly habit.
Maybe, your life will be more align with your belief (a.k.a worldview). Maybe, you will be happier.
Who is behind it?
It was invented by Buster Benson, and formalized a bit by Rizky Syaiful.
“To pour everything you’ve learned into a book, to be made public upon your death. A sort of immortality, a summary of your life’s meaning and learning.
We should all do this.” ~ Buster Benson
Buster started his Codex Vitae in 2012 — but write annual life recap since 2006. Mine started Codex Vitae in 2014.
Agreed with Buster, I hope in 2996, 100% of people will have their Codex Vitae.
We should all do this.
Possible side effects?
- Having a detailed history of your life a.k.a a time machine — there’s a chance future historians will read it, but sure some of your descendants will.
- A greater possibility to reconnect to your identity when you get amnesiac.
- Reading someone’s Codex Vitae will help can manage your expectation toward her/him.
- Vice versa. She/he will be better in managing their expectation toward you. If she/he reads your Codex Vitae.
What is a belief?
A belief is any statement that someone accept as true.
Any statement. Like. Anything.
From ‘earth is flat’ to ‘vegetarianism will save our environment’.
From ‘a good children should call his/her parents often’ to ‘I only be happy if I win American Idol’.
From ‘Donald Trump is a horrible president’ to ‘Indonesia is the best country to live’.
Whoa. The list of my beliefs would be very very long then? Yes. Might be.
But here’s a trick to make it shorter:
Remove the specific actor.
Don’t write ‘Donald Trump is a horrible president’ as a belief. Write ‘A narcissistic country leader is bad for global stability’ instead.
Don’t write ‘Indonesia is the best country to live’ as a belief. Write ‘Living in collective-helpful society is good for mental health’ and ‘Living near the rain forests is good for lungs’ instead.
What if someone have a belief ‘I should have six-pack abs’ ? Should she rewrites that belief to ‘A good person should have six-pack abs’ ?
No. We don’t have to remove ourselves as the specific actor of our own belief. Because we know ourselves. We might have personal preferences, that others don’t have. So,
remove the specific actor — except you.
Belief is invented by human — directly from our own brain or learnt from other’s brain.
Belief is a statement that, at a specific point in your life, you accept as truth. For whatever reason.
Your set of beliefs, is your rules of everything.
So could we un-believe our current belief?
Why not?
If you think your beliefs are absolute and unchangeable, that thinking is also a belief.
If you think there is a belief, that you always have since the day you born, and will always be true for you. Then, you forget that the definition of belief: “belief is a statement that you accept as truth.”
A life rule that we always have since the day we born is not a belief. It’s an instinct.
The connection with a happier life?
We all have a lot of beliefs. And we might fill the role of the actor at some of our beliefs.
For example. Amina, 31 y.o. mother who teach at elementary school at Bronx. In her head, she have many beliefs about a good teacher, a good friend, a good wife, a good mom, a good Muslim, a good USA citizen, a good person. Somehow, at this point of her life, she is also the actor of all those beliefs. Those sets of beliefs become more special for her. It gets personal.
We judge ourselves, based on our current beliefs.
There is an internal tension when we the judgement result is bad. A part of ourselves, couldn’t meet the expectations of other part of ourselves. At that point, we know we’re a hypocrite.
If somehow we could change our belief. Or we could change our action. We might turn the judgement result to good.
Because I believe “we can’t manage something that we can’t monitor”, for me the first strategic step of a happier life is “always writing down our belief and life action”.
