F.A.Q.

Email your questions and I will do my best to answer.

Is your real name "Christopher, Philosopher?"
What are you trying to do?
What if you fail?
I thought we were supposed to pursue happiness?
Do you have recorded music I can listen to?
Do you perform?
What is the meaning of Christopher, Philosopher?
Why do you have a comma in your name?  Is that a typo?
What is LWSTS™ and why should I care?
Is being a "Philosopher" a good job?
Are you for real?
Hey, wait, you're not black so what gives you the right to talk about any "black" issues?

Is your real name "Christopher, Philosopher?"
  Christopher really is my given name.  
  Most of the men and women in history who have made some of the greatest positive contributions to advancing societies have had some type of philosophical approach as a key foundation of who they were and what they wanted to accomplish. 
  In my past musical and performing experiences, I have had various producers and promoters suggest to me that I consider an "image" like some of the many  rappers and musicians who wear funny hats and choose funny names to brand themselves.  I noticed almost all of these names and images were highly negative, violent and/or destructive.  
   It really bothered me that so few people chose to use their artistic opportunity to promote a more positive and thoughtful vision of what the world could be.  
  I have chosen to use "Philosopher" as my performing stage name as both a symbolic and artistic statement I believe really needs to be made in our society today.  Especially when you look around and see so many "artists" and "musicians" choosing such negative and even vulgar  images to represent themselves. So artistically,  I'm here as Christopher, Philosopher to offer people a positive choice, in case they are tired of all the negative images that popular culture and media try to make them accept.
  I strongly feel that in today's society too many people have largely forgotten the hard work and high ideals of those who created the opportunity for all of us to live together in a free society.  With this opportunity comes a constant responsibility to sustain the society and seek to improve it where it is weak.  The Founders of America realized this nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, and so they did their best to create this country with a strong and well-thought out framework based on what they had studied, learned and experienced that today many of us take for granted.  I think it is vital to the stability of this society to have a Philosopher who serves to both lead and remind people of how good things are and the opportunities we all have to make things even better while we're here no matter our background or where we each may begin.

What are you trying to do?
I am interested in seeing if anyone out there still really cares about America, our society and culture, the ideas and ideals we represent, and the world at large, the way the philosophers and idealists who started America once did not so very long ago.  If people do care,  I am interested in if they're willing to stand up for their beliefs in a better future and the pursuit of satisfaction and join with me to make things better for all.  And because I'm a Thinker, Singer and Songwriter, I'd like to share my thoughts, singing and songs with people and have an enjoyable time while I'm here. 
  I love traveling and meeting new people. I try to take advantage of the opportunities to do so when they present themselves.  I am fortunate to have met a lot of great people in this world from so many different backgrounds. Many of them have expressed to me their deep frustration that there is so much promotion of negative images in our popular culture and that no one seems willing to stand up and do anything about it. 
  Rather than just complain, I wanted to see if I could do something about it.  That is how my idea of Christopher, Philosopher began.  This idea is constantly evolving as I am presented with new information.
  To me, Christopher, Philosopher is a platform for a positive representation of the best of what education,  freedom and the best of American and human ideals can be.

What if you fail?
The only way any of us can really fail is not to try.  We can fail by being the same as everyone else you are used to hearing from.  We can fail by being afraid to be ourselves and being a little different.  I've succeeded by just being here.  I can only improve on that.

Do you have recorded music I can listen to?
Yes.  The material I am creating for this project will be available here soon.  Advance copies are available for sale at my events.
  I have written nearly 1,000 songs so far over the course of my relatively brief life, and am almost always writing more material.  Some of course are better than others, but all are special to me to express a particular idea or different point of view or feeling. I do not  yet have the means to record them all, but I am choosing the best of the unrecorded ones for this project, and doing so as I gain the means.
  I have had a few bands that recorded in the past.  That material has been fun and interesting, but pretty different from the approach taken with this project, and so I do not present it here. I have dedicated this project separately to achieving a symbolic synthesis of all I have learned with new material created or remolded into the framework of the ideal of being an artist called Christopher, Philosopher.  As it is finished, it will be made available on this site.  This project  and its full presentation is a much more expensive way of doing things than I have tried in the past, so any help is appreciated.   If you like what I'm doing and have ideas or wish to offer assistance to bring this project to completion or can connect with someone who does you may contact me through this site.

Do you perform?
Yes, I have been performing music in one form or another since my youngest days. As a boy I was a member of the Atlanta Boy Choir, under the direction of Fletcher Wolfe, and toured with the elite Chamber Ensemble in venues in America and around the world ranging from the White House in Washington, D.C. where we sang for the President of the United States of America, to European concert halls and Cathedrals singing contemporary and Classical works. 
  I have performed with rock bands in college and continue to do so.  Currently, I am creating new material for this specific project, periodically testing it in small bits in front of audiences at finer local venues.  A schedule of dates and tour will accompany the completion of this project.  My goal is to present the final project as a whole, completed work.

What is the meaning of Christopher, Philosopher?
SYMBOLISM and HOPE.  Symbols are all around us--everything we see and hear can be interpreted as a symbol.  Often it is studied in schools, especially when we are younger.  As we grow older, many of us forget the consciousness of the symbolism present in our lives.    WHAT DO WE REPRESENT?  WHAT DO WE STAND FOR? WHAT DO WE BELIEVE IS IMPORTANT?  These are the questions that the Founders of America lived and discussed every day of their lives. 
  America would not be here without great American Philosophers like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and later Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  None of them were perfect; all had human faults.  Yet each of them chose to not give up- to try to create the opportunity for a better world both in their present and for those who would one day live in the future.  Those men were more unselfish than many of us are today.  Can we bring some of those good ideals back today, and improve the areas that need work?  I'm interested in trying, and invite you to join with me to always look for a brighter tomorrow. 
  As a debt of gratitude to those framers of the Constitution of the United States of America, who believed in freedom and democracy with a sense of truth, love and responsibility, I stand to remind America and the world of how good life and freedom are and how good they can still be.  We need a reminder in today's culture where so many of our symbols rise from the negative.  I stand as Christopher, Philosopher to attempt to bring balance and hope, knowledge and freedom back to the front of what is truly important in our society in the world today. 
  "I am first and foremost a songwriter.  Everything I do comes off of that desire to keep getting up in the arena and put my ideas in front of people on stage, on a cd, wherever and whenever I can in front of all types of groups both small and large, people from all backgrounds who love true freedom, and America.
  For example, the important message that led to one particular song's creation is not to look at one's limitations or setbacks, but to pick oneself up and respond to the challenge faced by taking what one has inside and making it work despite the circumstances.
  Turning that which people may see as a liability into a positive expression of hope.  This is EXACTLY what I am doing as Christopher, Philosopher.  Working to make dreams possible by working within the system.
  My grandparents immigrated legally to America after WWII for the American Dream- not for the social slavery they left behind.
  "Today's society is constantly making us aware of what we cannot accomplish instead of encouraging us to accomplish that which is difficult or seemingly impossible.  That attitude flies against the American attitude I know and believe in. 
  Everyone is valuable, but some choose not to be a value to mankind.
  I use the name Christopher, Philosopher in order to symbolize a choice to continuously try to be a better person and rise above that which destroys our society.  I believe it is important to always have hope for a better today and tomorrow.  When you are down, you must remember that you can always PICK YOURSELF UP WHEN NECESSARY TO TRY AGAIN AND AGAIN AND NEVER GIVE UP ON THE DREAM FOR A BETTER AMERICA, FOR A BETTER WORLD.
Spread the word and join the cause for a better America and world for ALL.
  "The name Christopher, Philosopher stands for the True American Dream.  This is the shared American dream, and this dream is the world's hope for all to share in it by celebrating creativity and choosing to act constructively for the good of all mankind, leaving repression of freedoms and information behind."

Hey, wait, you're not black so what gives you the right to talk about any "black" issues?
  When I listen to a speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., or I read about him, I am astounded that so many don't see the obvious way his ideas actually applied both ways to all people in society.  King's dream is actually the fulfillment of the American dream started, however incompletely, by the Founding Fathers themselves, advanced by Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, and still waiting for people today to truly listen to what was said and what it's all about.    There are no real "black" or "wite" issues, there are only issues that affect us all.  Is is best for all of us to stand up and do our part to try to solve the problems we all face, rather than just relegating them to a colour so they can be more easily ignored.  That attitude serves no one well in the long run, and only leaves the problems and divisions to fester and become worse.
  You cannot have King without also having George Washington and Abe Lincoln.  You cannot have a dream of all people being really equal in opportunity if you are concerned that I happen to be white and not black.  King's idea was that it should not matter, either way.  His hope was that someday it would not matter either way.  Problems are problems, no matter the colour. Truth is truth and knows no colour.  
  If you are seriously asking the above question, no matter who you are, then you establish the reason why it is necessary to have someone like me standing up as Christopher, Philosopher today.  We are not there yet.  And no government program or mandate will get us there.  The thing that will get us all to the society most of us want to live in is an adjustment in attitude for the better.  That is the primary reason I am standing against things which bring about destruction and destructive attitudes.  And, hey, I used to be a rap dj in college, back when rap was more a a new underground art form and communication vehicle than the shill for bad values and hate it has largely become today.  Same can be said for much rock music, an increasing amount of country music, and so forth.  What's so bad about good values and intelligent ideas?  Do we always have to seek our own or others' destrurction in the name of freedom or having a food time?  Don't those ideas actually imprison us and take away our liberty?  The very liberty people in the past fought so hard to give us ALL? 
We really seem to need an adjustment in attitude today, and I don't believe that people like Eminem or Ludacris or Bubba Sparxxx or Jessica Simpson are leading our society to the right attitudes to be our best and successful.
  The good news is that by making this adjustment we all can win.  It is cheaper to be good in the long run.  It is a more stable society if we really strive to be so.  There is more opportunity for everyone to grow, so there is more money available in the economy to use for building even more things.  About the only people who lose are people who you would want to lose: The purely greedy and the purely power-hungry despots and the purely negative.  People today forget what really shocked the world about the American Revolution the most did not come in 1776 or even 1787.  It came in 1797, when Washington actually had the audacity (and real courage) to willingly give up power to someone else that the people had elected.  That had never really happened in quite that way before. 
  This was truly an extraordinarily great lesson, from a man who almost always, though certainly ambitious, remembered the dangers and downsides of seeking or holding power too much for too long.  I believe many if not all of our politicians and company leaders could really learn a thing or two from Washington's lesson.  Most don't want to hear it or be reminded, and that's a real shame for all of us.

Is being a "Philosopher" a good job?
This project is probably the hardest thing I have attempted to do in my life.  But I am dedicated to the ideals it represents and convinced of the need for it in today's  world.
  Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones is famous for "not getting no (sic) satisfaction."  But Christopher, Philosopher CAN get you there! 
  With so many in our popular culture taking the easy way out for a quick buck, ask yourself this question:  "Don't YOU DESERVE someone who is willing to be Christopher, Philosopher and who is willing to work hard for you? Don't YOU DESERVE an artist and leader like Christopher, Philosopher to point to ways that can help make your life better and satisfying in new directions rather than take the easy way out and give you the same thing as everyone else does?  Don't YOU DESERVE an artist and leader like Christopher, Philosopher who can give you a break from so many of the negative images in the popular culture?  A culture that tries to get you to accept as "normal" or "just the way things are" the worst aspects of people when YOU KNOW people are better than that?  Don't YOU DESERVE BETTER?" 
  Christopher, Philosopher thinks you deserve better.  And I will try my best to give you something better, but I need your help to make it happen.  I'd rather be Christopher, Philosopher than any other artist out there today.  It represents the ideal of the best I think I can strive to be--a goal to work towards that is worth the effort.
  I know it would be far easier to give up and just act like yet another stereotype caricature rocker or rapper or singer-songwriter out there.  I just think there's more than enough of the same old same old out there already and I want to give people a choice of something different.
  It is a challenge to choose to be an artist like Christopher, Philosopher in today's world.  I choose to look to the Founding Fathers of America for inspiration, along with Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., etc...  if we give up on something just because it is difficult or hard or doesn't fit in with what people are used to being handed to them, then we never have the chance to achieve greatness or move our world forward. 

Former US President John F. Kennedy once said in a speech delivered in Houston, Texas:  "But why, some say, the moon? . . . And they may well ask why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly the Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas?

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon . . . and other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win."
Pres. John F. Kennedy, 9/12/62, at Rice Stadium

And finally, Former US President Ronald Wilson Reagan had inscribed on his gravesite the following inspirational message: "I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life."
Pres. Ronald W. Reagan

Are you for real?
Think about how many times you have said the following phrase: 'I wish someone would stand up and DO SOMETHING about all this!'  Well, I agree with you!  In all humility, I am tired of waiting for someone else to stand up to all the negative junk in society that pulls people down.  So I'll be that someone for you, for all of us.  I am making a strong statement by taking a radically different approach, but I believe what I am doing is no more unusual than what people like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others have done to lead society in their own times forward toward a better future for all.  I'm sure they must have seemed quite full of themselves to folks back then as well, but I'm thankful for my freedom that they took the chance and pursued what they thought was right despite the naysayers that always seem to lurk around people trying to accomplish some good in the world.
  I always want to learn and refine what I'm doing to help make make things better for all people, no matter their background or where they happen to start from.  But at some point, one has to stand up and be counted and not be afraid to be different if things are to change for the better.  If things were already perfect in this world then I'd just sing some songs and not worry about the rest of it.  But people deserve better, and someone's got to try a new approach or we'll just get the same old results.  Those men felt the same and did something about it.  I'm just following their example.

I thought we were supposed to pursue happiness?
  In the great documents of American Democracy, there is one word I'd change because this word's misinterpretation has continued to cause so many to lose so much for so little.
  When Thomas Jefferson wrote about the pursuit of happiness in the Declaration of Independence in 1776, he understood a few things about that word that many people have either forgotten or never learned, to their own peril. At the very least, any reasonable person who reads the entire document would understand that one cannot uncouple the word 'happiness' in this context with the word 'pursuit.'  Therefore, in order to help people see, understand and better live the true intent of this great idea, I would change this word to the pursuit of Satisfaction.
  First, the pursuit of happiness was never meant to be a guarantee or even imply that everyone immediately and from that day forward would always live forever happy at every moment of their lives.  First of all, we understand that we are human, and humans by definition are not perfect beings, so it would be impossible for any human to live every second of every one of their lives as perfectly happy while here in the physical universe.  Yet, knowing this to be rationally true, each day we are confronted with people and situations where the expectation is that with this guarantee to be blissfully happy at every moment is actually an irrevocable right.  Oftentimes, it is our own selves that are the purveyors of this idea.
  Now, please be sure, I am not saying that people don't have the right to pursue that which they feel might make them happy, but they must merely know that it is impossible for any human to be happy all the time here in this world, and the acceptance of this idea makes the pursuit of true happiness much more attainable for everyone.  I am only pointing out that most people in the world behave like something which is impossible in the physical universe is actually possible, and this is a primary cause of most of the negative things in human life.  If people thought about this rationally for a moment or two once in a while, and especially in heated moments (which, SURPRISE, is one of the main things I am trying to encourage people to do in my role as Christopher, Philosopher!) they would almost without exception come to this very simple and obvious conclusion.  Yet, well, just take a look around and my point is well-proven.
  Second, not only do people seem to more often than not act like it is possible to have uninterrupted happiness at all times in every moment of their lives, but they go even further into the delusion and pervert the idea of happiness itself by increasingly insisting that their happiness must also always be a state of blissful, perfect happiness heretofore unknown to any human person who ever has lived, is now living, or will ever live in the future in the course of human events and/or lives in this physical universe.  If the first point was irrational, the second point is decidedly more so, given human experience as far as recorded history goes!  (Please note, it is vitally important to pay attention to the phrase "in this physical universe," as I am most certainly leaving open the possibility of such a state of bliss existing in another state of being not defined by what we agree is the physical universe experienced by humans.  I'll leave it to each individual to pursue figuring out the exact dimensions of that!) 
  The idea that stands out clearly to me is if we take the word "happiness" in the phrase "pursuit of happiness"  and instead use the word "satisfaction," all the original ideas and intents of the phrase are restored nicely if it is read as "pursuit of satisfaction."  As a bonus, there are additional benefits for everyone in the world that using the word "happiness' could never give.
  If one is engaged in the pursuit of happiness, one runs the danger of getting lost in things that can appear to temporarily make one "happy," but in reality cost the same person their true happiness in the long run.  The pursuit of happiness is like a band-aid trying to cover a gushing wound- it will not work in the long run, and it takes increasing levels just to try to achieve the same initial effect.  Now if we look at the pursuit of satisfaction, we see that it can certainly contain happiness as a subset or component of that satisfaction.  Yet, there is an important additional difference.  Pursuing satisfaction allow for the fact that in the short term, or as part of the effort needed to achieve satisfaction, there might be some times or experiences which do not necessarily make one happy.  There might be some times or experiences that make one downright unhappy for a while, yet the idea is that in working through these difficult times, one has the opportunity to become truly satisfied, even if not always truly happy.
  For example, think of a baseball player, or other athlete whose goal is to become a professional player, earning a living at the chosen sport.  It may take many years of practice, repetition and yes, times of frustration and regression i.e. times when the person is "unhappy" on the way to the ultimate goal of being satisfied as a baseball player or other athlete.  Yet, that athlete may be offered a "shortcut" to his goal that stems from the idea of happiness as immediate gratification, for example, the athlete could choose to take and use some artificial substances to give him or her an "edge" over others who are pursuing their satisfaction in a normal course of action.  The athlete may then find that his shortcut to happiness ends up having side-effects that shorten his or her career, or that require increasing amounts of the "enhancement" to be effective.
  The same idea can be clearly seen in the recent financial scandals of Enron and Worldcom, where top executives lied and stole millions upon millions of dollars from people and patted themselves on the back because they were just being "smarter."  For Kenneth Lay, former CEO, it led to an early death by heart attack in the midst of an ugly trial.  Was it worth all the money, Kenneth?  You can't take it with you, so what did you do with it while you were here?  Or perhaps none of those things happen, and the athlete or business executive  faces no consequences, other than the fact he/she has cheated.  If someone is of the belief that they can be truly satisfied by cheating, then that person has an incorrect idea of happiness and satisfaction.  Cheating one's way to happiness is never the same as finding one's way to happiness legitimately, even when that way involves some pain. Artificial happiness, no matter how much marketers, politicians, athletes and teachers want to wish it were true, will never, never be the same thing as real true happiness.  True happiness comes from being satisfied as often as possible with who one is and the sacrifices one makes along the way.  Instant gratification is a lie, and it always will be.
  The value of pursuing happiness by cheating others is seen by far too many people today as the ultimate expression of American capitalism. They are dead wrong. In reality, this idea is nearly the opposite of the ideals of many of the great Founding Fathers and others who have shaped the history of this country for the better.  They wanted to build a nation where people would have a chance, but not a guarantee.  As our country struggled with issues of slavery, women's suffrage and civil rights, we have seen over and over how when we go back to the essence of what the Founding Fathers gave us with their ideals, society has moved forward and more people have a true chance at taking their shot at the American dream.  It will never be perfect, and anyone that wants to give you a guarantee is lying to you, so watch out!  All I can do is give you the truth and let you know that I will fight so you have a chance, not a guarantee.  Guarantees are socialism given by despots who do not have your best intentions at heart. 
  A really glaring example of this mandate of lies of  guarantees today is in health care.  The people pushing the government guarantee of government health care for all are socialists and despots who want to control your freedom and choice in exchange for power and the lie of a "guarantee."  Don't believe that?  Then try to get a kidney transplant at age 60 in Canada.  Can't do it.  The government " health care" won't pay for it.  They've decided that your life is not worth the money if you're that old and need a kidney transplant.  But I guarantee you the people who need the kidney think their lives are worth it.  Many of them end up coming to the US to have it done instead.  Why?  Because here they can still get it if they pay.
  Wouldn't it be nice to have a health care plan where most all waste is eliminated and the incentive is to only get medical care that is actually needed, and the INDIVIDUAL gets to determine what is actually needed themselves, rather than be told "no" or limited by their company or their doctor; where costs for coverage are low (say 25%-50% of a typical present day company-issued or government-issued policy); the plan is open to everyone regardless of where they worked, or if they worked for themselves or part-time a plan where everyone only paid for what they actually used, and the rest was given back to them each year, with interest, and allowed to be tax-deducted and used for savings or even retirement; where the individual got to choose their own doctor, and they didn't have to get approval from some HMO gatekeeper who only says "no" when people wanted another opinion or different coverage or care; where any reasonable ailment or medical need was covered, including things like eyeglasses, contacts, chiropractic care, physical therapy, psychiatric, drug and alcohol rehab, etc... like in the present tax code; where the maximum lifetime coverage per person was $10million each rather than $1 or $2 million each like almost all plans today are?  Wouldn't it be nice if something like that was available to all now, and no one had to give up control or more money to a government agency or a company or HMO?  Guess what, I have just described to you the Health Savings Account, available and signed into law in December, 2003, and still available no thanks to some very powerful people who want to take them away from you in place of government-controlled non-coverage with no money back to you and more for them.
  Look up a search for Health Savings Account on the web and you will find hundreds of plans from hundreds of different companies that are finally starting to see the light and provide them.  True, the companies make less extra profit on them than traditional insurance plans (ever notice that sport stadiums are sponsored by a lot of big insurance companies?  Where do they get those millions for advertisement?  That's you money!  And I'd rather you kept it yourself, since they obviously don't need it to provide better coverage to you.) But in the end, even the companies win because their costs are lowered dramatically by not having to cover so much waste.
  People and societies do best when they are encouraged to work and build and risk, not fall back on the overabundance of government control and socialism, tribalism and monarchism that still to this day plague much of the world.  It's not perfect here, but we at least have a chance to be headed in the right direction.
  If more people chose to view their lives and activities in terms of the pursuit of satisfaction instead of the pursuit of the guarantees of immediate gratification of happiness, then a couple of very positive things happen quickly:  People are more honest about their lives and how they live them; crime is reduced (never eliminated- there will always be some when you deal with humans); costs for enforcing the rules and punishments are reduced- government costs less and taxes can go down- you keep more of your money for YOU; people really begin to live in reality, and accept that reality is better than some artificially created state of false bliss; true equality of opportunity is more easily achieved- you still have to work hard, and sometimes things don't work out, but the chance is more evenly available for all so more boats are lifted; people desire to work hard again over the long haul- so successes have a better chance to be sustained- society moves forward faster; society is more stable, secure and less volatile, and on and on. 
  When we look at problem countries around the world, many of the biggest problems are directly due to the oppressiveness of lack of freedom of information and lack of freedom to innovate and risk, and the artificial redistribution of responsibility for bad decisions or despotic control and power.  A few people at the top benefit disproportionately from the willingness of the many at the bottom to give up freedom and control for a little guarantee.  This is still the fundamental problem in many societies in the world.  Humans were never meant to be treated like cattle.  Humans are not like ants.  To the extent humans give up their freedom and control for a little bit of guarantee of false happiness rather than the more difficult but more rewarding labor to the possibility of satisfaction, is the extent that human problems and dissatisfaction are exacerbated and multiplied.  Ask yourself if you are tired of constantly paying the cost.  The get involved in your freedom and take positive action and do something good about it.  That's why I am singing my songs, having these conversations and discussions, and putting on these events.  For you and your freedom.  Because the more satisfied I can help you to be, the better all of our lives are, including mine.  So we are all acting in our own self interest by admitting that satisfaction is what we are all really after.  And the nice thing about that is that the Pursuit of Satisfaction works far more efficiently and benefits far more equally than the pursuit of happiness ever can or will.  So, Thomas Jefferson, you were close, but you knew you didn't have it exactly right back then, and I'd like to help us all get it right today!  Come on out to one of my events, talks or shows and join with us in the true pursuit of satisfaction for all.  See you there!

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