The worldview
What is Basisophy?
Basisophy is a way of understanding human life, one person at a time and all of us together, with peace at its center.
The name comes from the Greek básis, which means both "a base" and "a step". That is the whole idea in one word: start from a solid base, and climb one step at a time. People who live by it are Basisophists. The test, the book and this site are called Baseline Your Life.
Peace is the goal. The middle is the route. Specificity is the step.
Peace is the goal
Plenty of traditions talk about peace. Most of them put it somewhere else: after this life, at the end of history, or at the top of a ladder only a few will climb. Basisophy puts it here. Peace is the center of gravity that everything else falls toward, and it is meant to be reached in this life, in your own body, heart, mind and soul.
The middle is the route
Life is full of pairs that look like opposites: pain and pleasure, chaos and control, pride and humility, greed and generosity. Push too far toward either end and good things turn bad, and bad things can turn good. The safest place to stand is the middle. Not a lukewarm compromise, but a crossroads, the one spot where you can see both roads and choose.
Specificity is the step
Blanket thinking is how good people end up doing harm. "Good versus evil", "those people", "the enemy": labels like these let us stop looking at the person in front of us. Basisophy asks the opposite. Be specific about where we have been, where we are going, and who exactly is making each choice. Behind every uniform and every mask is a particular person making a particular decision.
There's no such thing as a Stormtrooper.
Damian Niolet
It starts with "I am the problem"
Basisophy starts with one person: you. It begins by admitting the one thing every one of us can know for certain: I am the problem. Not as guilt, but as a starting point. If I am the problem, I am also where the change begins, and it spreads outward from there.
One stepped system
None of the big questions here are new. Where did we come from? Do we have free will? Is anyone born good or evil? What happens when we die? What is new is answering them in order, in the light of one another. Each chapter of the book adds one more premise than the last, from paradox to the four realms, to our needs, our behavior and our ethics, until the conclusions are earned rather than announced. That is the Steps.
It can be measured
A philosophy you cannot check is hard to live by. Baseline Your Life comes with a test: 64 everyday sayings that show which of eight broad types you are living in right now. It is not a verdict. It is a baseline, so you can see your next step.
Its relatives
If Basisophy reminds you of anything, it may be Mohism, the ancient Chinese teaching of care for everyone and opposition to aggressive war, or secular pacifism. Those are honest relatives. The difference is the route: Basisophy does not start from its conclusions. It arrives at them through the steps, and invites you to check each one on the way.
Or start reading: Chapter 1 · The four realms · Glossary