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E D Phillips's
Success Story
What I Live For
I am an independent research scientist. I have no laboratory, no budget, and no-one to answer to but my conscience. That means I follow the scientific method in most of what I do, whenever I can, but on the cheap. I am answerable to myself first, to science second, and to humanity third. I’m also a believer in God, but not in the conventional way. I expect nothing more from God than what it takes to get by. I manage my own assets, and I am content to live at a “Living Wage” level as determined by the authors of the Living Wage Scales at MIT. That movable range of incomes is between $65,000 and $125,000 annually depending on the economic conditions in each of the 3,600 counties in the US.
Part of my moral compass consists of drawing from the wisdom of the ages. For example, Socrates was a very wise person who enjoined his followers that the “unexamined life is not worth living.” That pursuit is as close to the unchangeable truth as I ever hope to get. Galileo, another brilliant scientist proclaimed,. “I cannot believe that the same God who endowed us with senses, reason, and intellect intended us to forgo their use.” It reflects his belief in the importance of using human reason and observation to help us understand the universe. The shorter version is simply:. “God gave us a brain, and he [she] expects us to use it.” And then along came Horace Mann, the noted educator, who challenged all of us and himself to achieve at our best when he proclaimed, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”
Holding those three statements as guides, I also hold three good reasons for living: accountability for what I say and do; the need to be modest and objective in my findings; and when those statements are cradled in the words of Thomas Jefferson in our Constitution, I am on special grounds: “We hold these [truths] to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of freedom.” I am uncomfortable with the word “truth” as it relates to freedom, and offer Patrick Henry’s shorter statement with some reverence: “I know not what course others may take, but as for me give me liberty or give me death.”
Another part of a viable guiding sentiment is found in these incredible words: “The richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least” (author unknown). Very few scientists are also wealthy, so I am in good company.
Contrary to common beliefs, science is not involved in the search for truth. Science seeks only good answers to difficult issues. Answers that derive from facts, not from authority figures, or intuition. “Truth” is a troublesome term. It is often described as searching for a black cat, in a dark room...that isn’t there. Nevertheless it is used often in law, in religion, and in everyday conversation as if we all have the same notions of truth bouncing around in our heads. I simply ignore it when used by teachers, preachers, politicians, and those who like to be paid for making faulty conclusions from equally faulty assertions while calling that wobbly foundation “the truth.”
I stay in good enough shape to know when to fight and when to get the hell out of someone’s way. I know why some people are overpaid; and why greed is a sign of weakness; but I haven’t a clue about why some are strong, some are weak, some are smart, and others are stupid. If I had three wishes I would be: 1) younger (with what I know now); 2) I would have a lot of talent as a musician (I have none); and 3) I would be able to dance much better (I am a lousy dancer). And so, I am an introvert who likes his privacy; trustworthy, but nobody’s fool; and thankful for my wife, two daughters, three grand kids; and for my best friends (all five of them!).
Finally, the preceding narrative was inspired from a poem I wrote by the same name. Rather than repeat it, just click on What I Live For under My Poetry.
