My own personal philosophy to life. This handbook on how to live freely expresses my own personal views, values and how I deal with my own shortcoming, I am no psychologist nor do I claim to be one, the goal of this handbook is to merely outline the various methods and values that have proven to be highly helpful and effective in achieving and maintaining contentment within my own mind and my day to day life.

1. THE WAYFARER'S GUIDE TO LIVING
FREE
Ranen H. K. Trudgett

2. INTRODUCTION
“The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be
conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.”
– Plato, founding father of Western philosophy
Both Plato and Aristotle saw Reason as inherently superior to the
Emotions, with Aristotle arguing that human happiness depends on
the exercise of Reason. This idea of the superiority of Reason
influenced philosophers for centuries.
This handbook on how to live freely expresses my own personal
views, values and how I deal with my own shortcomings, I am no
psychologist nor do I claim to be one, the goal of this handbook is to
merely outline the various methods and values that have proven to
be highly helpful and effective in achieving and maintaining
contentment within my own mind and my day to day life.
I view happiness as the absence of pain, if you are free from pain,
suffering, or any destructive negative states of the mind then deep
long lasting happiness will in turn naturally present itself in your
favour.
The following series of notes have been divided into three (3)
sections and were written and published by Ranen H. K. Trudgett.
1

3. Section 1
A PERFECT PREDICAMENT
'perfect' / p f kt/
ˈ əː ɪ
adjective: having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or
characteristics; as good as it is possible to be. (from Oxford
Languages.)
-
Perfection.
Is it possible? Or is being flawed an inevitable result of existence?
What does it mean to be perfect?
If you went around to ask what it means to be perfect, you'll
probably find out that everyone has their own different view or
opinion on what is perfection, if you're an individual concerned with
health, perhaps a doctor, then perfection might be the absence of
illness (although doctors rely on ill people for a living.), if you're a
Christian then you probably define God as the epitome of perfection.
There is no objective measurement for being “perfect”, everyone's
idea of perfection stems from what they want or desire to be,
therefore naturally most people aren't going to state that being
perfect is to be destructive, damaging and generally a bad person to
everyone including themselves, unless you want that, then in that
case you probably think perfection is a world of suffering and
anguish, or in other words a very unlikable person, unless he has
godly good looks then perhaps teenage girls will love him
regardless.
Forming the most reasonable idea of living perfectly has been at the
2

4. forefront of constructing a pragmatic foundation for my views,
values and personal goals.
I've formulated that perfection is the mental state of freedom, free
from depression, free from anxiety, free from stress, free from any
negative emotional state that could and will harm your well-being.
The presence of these negative states are the result of possessing
certain mental flaws, and achieving freedom is the process of
removing these flaws.
Defining a flaw as reasonably as possible requires removing as much
subjectivity as possible from the judgement.
As much as I hate men wearing skinny jeans and no-show socks, I
cannot state that a man who chooses to wear such things as being
“flawed” since the subjectivity of my opinion would be a factor in
such judgement.
Objective flaws would then have to be limited to logical errors,
fallacies and cognitive biases.
Negative emotions serve their purpose, they have evolved to solve
certain survival problems, they only present a problem themselves
when they become destructive.
All destructive emotions are caused by faulty reasoning; Anxiety
manifests as excessive worrying, but what is excessive? If you have a
reasonable belief that something in particular will bring about bad
outcomes, is worrying over that 'excessive'? Wouldn't anyone worry
about that? Worrying is not bad in and of itself, worrying helps us to
be better prepared for what is about to happen, it helps us fix
problems and to behave cautiously.
Destructive worrying is when we think irrationally, unrealistically,
or in an impractical manner. Worrying over something that is either
factually incorrect, has no objective evidence, not logical, not
reasonable or something that you have no control over is a mental
flaw and will contribute to the detriment of your mental health.
Living in agreement with nature, accepting what is objectively true,
reasoning on the basis of Truth and Reason, and not trying to control
the uncontrollable is paramount for your journey to achieving a
3

5. mental state of freedom.
Why do we tend to follow our feeling rather than reason? This occurs
when we are faced with a situation where what we want contradicts
with reality, and since a lot of people prefer ignorant bliss over
reality it doesn't come as a surprise as to why people would choose
the route of feelings over rationality, another reason can be blamed
partly on how we were brought up as a child, from bad parenting, to
flawed education systems rewarding and encouraging emotional
reasoning and emotional problem solving, this associative learning
through years of conditioning continues well into adulthood.
Like addiction, we repeat behaviour that give us positive,
pleasurable rewards even if it ultimately comes to the detriment of
our everyday living, the only difference is that most people are not
aware of the detrimental effects of reasoning through emotion as it is
not a singular and specific substance that you put into your body,
moreover, it is done mostly subconsciously but yet the mind only
notices the immediate short term positive effects through the
production of dopamine.
Removing emotion from decision making is a helpful and effective
way in finding the truth of a matter and/or realistic solutions for a
problem, emotional reasoning is a dangerous and difficult habit to
conquer, although not all emotion is harmful (in fact it is necessary.),
it only becomes harmful when it is given priority over rationality.
One situation where a problem arises when you live in an ignorantly
blissful world is that you don't expect others to offend you in your
day to day life, so when you're inevitably confronted with the
opposite you start stressing out or you'll begin to panic and feel
anxious because it's a problem you don't know how to fix and
something that you believe ought to be fixed.
Living in accordance with the truth and knowing that some things
you can't control or fix will remove any negative adverse effects that
you may feel when confronted with something you don't like, simply
because you have changed your perspective, you now not only are
aware but you also expect that life comes with many difficulties that
4

6. you cannot change or do anything about.
Of course when confronted with a problem you should always do
your best to fix it or improve it if it is within your power, but if it is
something you know you cannot control then it is better off left alone
and not to be worried about.
Furthermore, focusing only on what is true will remove any instance
of offence, being offended comes from one's own inner insecurities,
either someone is telling the truth, or they're not, in either
circumstance why should you be offended? Would you be offended
if I told you that the Moon is larger than the Sun? What about 2+2=6?
Or what if I told you that Mars is a planet? Or 2+2=4? Do you feel
offended? No, of course not (well, you never know these days)
because you don't have your feelings attached to those statements,
remove how you feel when judging a statement and in turn you will
not feel offended.
Depression is another destructive mental state caused by faulty
reasoning.
One reason may be loneliness, as a social species it is only natural to
to feel this way when we have nobody to talk to or share ideas with,
but to reach the extent of complete dependency on others where you
are no longer able to live alone, that is a sign of a mental flaw, similar
to if you believe nobody loves you and you feel as though there's no
reason to live, these are things you cannot control, there may be
ways to prevent it but you can never fully control how other people
feel towards you.
Knowing what you cannot control while accepting that life has it's
difficulties will help you make the best out of a difficult situation,
a perfect predicament.
5

7. Section 2
THE BLIGHTS OF HEDONISM
'hedonism' / hi d( )n z( )m, h d( )n z( )m/
ˈ ː ə ɪ ə ˈ ɛː ə ɪ ə
noun: the pursuit of pleasure; sensual self-indulgence. (from Oxford
Languages)
-
By strict definition, every person on Earth is to some extent
hedonistic by nature, not only that, but finding meaning, purpose
and freedom in life (which is necessary for a fulfilling life.) is a form
of pursuing pleasure.
Epicurus, the highly influential ancient Greek philosopher puts it in
his own words to his letter to Menoeceus (c. 341 – 271 BC)
“When, therefore, we maintain that pleasure is the end, we do not
mean the pleasures of profligates and those that consist in sensuality,
as is supposed by some who are either ignorant or disagree with us
or do not understand, but freedom from pain in the body and from
trouble in the mind. For it is not continuous drinkings and revellings,
nor the satisfaction of lusts, nor the enjoyment of fish and other
luxuries of the wealthy table, which produce a pleasant life, but
sober reasoning, searching out the motives for all choice and
avoidance, and banishing mere opinions, to which are due the
greatest disturbance of the spirit.”
The dangers of hedonistic behaviour arises when certain personality
traits manifest which ultimately result in the hindrance to your
freedom to seek fulfilment. I call these Blights.
The difference of the blight from other more helpful traits is that it is
formed through emotional reasoning for the purpose of self-
indulgence. Helpful traits are formed through rational and prudent
6

8. reasoning and exist for the purpose of avoiding unnecessary pain or
suffering for the purpose of gifting freedom, or more freedom, for
one to seek fulfilment.
Helpful traits use rationality as the tool, whereas Blights use pleasure
as the tool.
Both trait types have pleasure as it's purpose (although different
kinds of pleasure) but differ in the way to get there.
Blights focus on momentary pleasure as it's purpose whereas helpful
traits focus on freedom as it's purpose.
Since every decision you make is to some extent hedonistic, many
people are not even aware of their hedonistic behaviour.
I'm not saying if you had a gun pointed to your head and the
gunman said “rob that store or die” and you choose to rob the store
that you get pleasure out of robbing that store, I mean you get
pleasure in comparison to the alternative, you chose to rob the store
because you value your life and you value living because it is a
pleasant feeling.
There is no such thing as truly selfless behaviour because every
conscious decision you make either brings about a benefit to yourself
or you believe it will bring a benefit to yourself, even those acts that
are considered “selfless” like giving money to the homeless, whether
they lead to pleasant feelings of pride and satisfaction, the
expectation of honour or reciprocation, or the greater likelihood of a
place in heaven; and even if none of the above, then at least because
they alleviate unpleasant feelings such as the guilt or shame of not
having acted, all of which are pleasurable.
When people think of acting in accordance with what is pleasurable,
we think of lust, drinking, drugs, we all know these things can easily
be destructive and so we know when and how to avoid them, but the
hidden danger arises when people are unaware of the hedonistic
nature of typically “selfless” acts and what is pleasurable is not
always what is good for us or what is best for the common good.
Though pleasure is the underlying foundation for a fulfilling life, it
7

9. should in no way be your mentor.
Moreover, constructing your values based on what feels good, or
what feels right, rather than a logical thought process will result in
Blights, like being Agreeable or Altruistic.
Altruism, in the sense of acting to promote someone else's welfare at
a risk or cost to ourselves is a flawed personality trait, not only from
a purely survival perspective because it shifts the focus from
cooperation to forfeit, but also from a purely logical perspective.
The man who jumps off a bridge to rescue a woman struggling in the
freezing water below is viewed as a hero, not a fool, and the extreme
risk to his own life, incurred for a stranger, is completely admirable
because it feels good, it is something we would like others to do for
ourselves.
The person who does not stop to think, who rushes to rescue, is the
person what most of us would like to be. We honour such behaviour
that precedes reason even when we cannot explain it.
In these situations we may not have time to think whether or not
helping another is worth the risk so we have no choice but to follow
our instinct; of course we should honour courageous acts, but the
problem arises when people argue that you should never stop to
think; you should always help others, regardless of the nature of the
outcome.
We enjoy being Altruistic because it is emotionally rewarding, the
same reason why we tend to enjoy being agreeable, we instinctively
prefer emotional rewards rather than practical rewards.
When a couple in a relationship get into an argument, it is common
behaviour for one to apologise to make things right (usually the
male) even when the one apologising has done nothing wrong,
simply for the purpose of retaining the peace of the relationship and
being in one makes the individual feel good, or perhaps they
apologise to alleviate the hurt of their partner's feelings, and doing so
makes him/her feel better. Whatever the specific reason may be for
the apology it is done through emotional means rather than practical
or truthful means.
8

10. This of course is the wrong way of dealing with your problems,
procrastinating feels good because you don't have to worry about
whatever that should be done, but that thing that needs to be done
still needs to be done, you didn't fix it, you just postponed it.
All destructive traits rely on emotional reasoning that give emotional
rewards, being agreeable comes from the desire for other people to
like you, and other people liking you makes you feel good.
If your goal is for somebody to like you, you have to remove
whatever may be required to get that outcome, one being honesty,
another being your own well-being.
When your ultimate goal relies on others then you become
dependent, and dependency leads to uncertainty and uncertainty
leads to anxiety, a destructive emotional state that not only
inherently harms yourself but also opens you up to more harm from
others through the means of manipulation or abuse if others know
you are dependent on them.
Another problem with being agreeable is that it often leads to what is
called as 'groupthink', which is an occurrence when making
decisions among a group of people with the desire for harmony,
resulting in irrational or dysfunctional outcomes.
Not all agreeable people may experience all of these negative results
of such a trait but not all people who develop cancer die either
(probably not the best example). People with mild agreeableness
may think nothing of it, but the recipe for harm is there and it is
doing them more damage than good.
Ultimately, pursuing emotional rewards and following what feels
good as a way of life will eventually and inevitably lead to the
development of harmful character traits, be wary of the blights of
Hedonism.
9

11. SECTION 3
FREEDOM
'freedom' / fri d m/
ˈ ː ə
noun: the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants. (from
Oxford Languages)
-
Liberty as a fundamental Human Right is undeniably a Western
ideal. The concept of natural law was documented in ancient Greek
philosophy, the Old and New testaments of the Bible, and were later
expounded upon in the Middle Ages by Christian Philosophers.
Liberalism and natural rights then became a distinct movement
during the Age of Enlightenment when it became popular among
Western philosophers such as John Locke who famously argued that
each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property and
governments must not violate these rights.
The importance of Locke's ideas were indispensable, later
influencing the Constitution of the United States and the nature of
governance across the world.
“Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has a
right to, but himself.” - John Locke
By 'property', Locke meant more than land and goods, property also
referred to self-ownership, he understood that to completely control
one self, Liberty was a prerequisite.
Freedom has been the overarching theme of this handbook, it is the
most important ingredient for achieving true happiness, a very much
underappreciated principle many people overlook.
10

12. Most people should know the right to external freedom is important,
but inner freedom is just as important.
Inner freedom, detailed in this handbook is described as freedom
from destructive emotional states that negatively affect your life and
well-being.
Nobody is born truly free, freedom is learnt and developed through
the proper exercise of reason, young children are naturally ruled by
their emotions as the result of not being able to rationalise.
A young child's short lived happiness is easily destroyed, they cry,
whinge and complain over almost anything, they're only happy
when they either get their way or entertained by some arbitrary
external source, their mind is never at peace, always at the extremes.
Exhibiting qualities of true happiness include tranquillity, rational
thought, and gratitude. None of which exist within young children.
Greater freedom will always result in greater responsibility, once
grown you shall no longer rely on your parents or guardians to bless
you with happiness, some turn to their friends, some turn to the
government, but in the end the only place where you will find true
meaningful happiness is from within yourself, otherwise you will
always remain a slave.
The earlier you understand this truth, the quicker you will achieve a
meaningful and fulfilling life.
Hence it is within your responsibility and in your best interest to free
yourself, or the alternative could very well result in misery and
despair.
The journey for true temperance and self-control may be swift for
some, onerous for others who are deeper into the cesspool, but
always know that such invaluable rewards can only come from one
aim, and one aim only,
freedom.
11