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	importance and nature of caring gary e. davis	August 14, 2023

Who doesn’t agree that caring is important? Yet, who remembers to always care aptly (in timely degree), always relate genuinely (relative to engagement with the other, who is appreciated singularly), and be there reliably because one is living authentically (irt one’s whole life engaging to reliably be well)? (My convoluted questioning is “too much,” I know.) Of course, time may be too often constrained, and capability never enough. “I do the best I can,” we say (which may be true). But one doesn’t usually wonder about the “nature” of that: why time management stays so constrained (less than best organized); or why we let our value topography stay confused (inasmuch as one’s life finds a holistic notion as value topography useful, though anyone would agree that some kind of holism about one’s life is good). Is every day a chance for learning? Is capability an ever-developing mode of life? What’s the best way of thinking about timeliness of there being genuine presence?: What is genuine enough, reliable enough? Parenting is exemplary: Wise parenting knows that caring well enough for oneself serves children well; children don’t need perfection. “Good enough” parenting serves thriving children well enough (though concerted parenting can be a rich way of being). Know that parenting is teaching (beyond custodial); that all education for capability is health education, and that early opportunity yields lasting engagements. Appreciate that genuine care in flourishing is integral to better conceptions of ethical life, and a gracious spirit of teaching (which is always learning oneself!) may be how persons best let others appreciate who one is, as neighbor, friend, and intimate. Care to sensitively make  yourself understood. Welcome creative flourishing all around, while enabling as best you can. The “nature” of care is that: one’s way of being one Self (authentically oneSelf) in good balance with genuine interpersonal life: a “best” balance of what I call “self/[inter]personal” differentiations: from civility through solidarity, friendship, and family to manifold intimacies, all to apt degree in possibly complex engage- ments (“thin” to “thick” belonging), given clarity and fairness of situations. So, the nature of caring derives from the character of being well. To my mind, caring well expresses a good enough balance of authentic fidelity to oneSelf and genuine belonging in flexible interpersonal engagements. Fascinating, as a matter of conceptual prospecting, is how differential balancing—differentiated selfidentity—is best understood. There is no ultimate Best in ever-developing lives, of course, in open cultural evolving; but wanting “better” to be aspiring for Best—one’s “personal best,” we say—is intrinsically good. Further pursuing fascination with differentiated selfidentity (proteany) will be a recurring topic (in various ways).

 

Be fair. © 2023, gary e. davis