Have you ever thought about what complicated creatures we are?

• We want complete personal freedom...but we also can't live without stable relationships.

• We want to go on adventures and try new things...but we also hate uncertainty.

• We want to experience pleasure and enjoyment...but we also need the fulfillment that comes from engaging in difficult but worthwhile endeavors.

Why are we like this and what should we do about it?

I'll offer some brief thoughts here.

In my last post, I described two conflicting life philosophies: The Autonomy Ethic and The Connection Ethic.

In this post, I’ll cover two more conflicting life philosophies. I call them The Novelty Ethic and The Security Ethic.

The Novelty Ethic

The Novelty Ethic encourages people to explore and seek out new or unfamiliar experiences. Its core message is:

Think outside the box. Break the rules. Explore new and uncharted territory. Follow your intuition. Be creative. Experiment with different ways of doing things. Be open-minded.

(Obviously, I’m simplifying)

On the personal level, The Novelty Ethic drives us to make art, question beliefs, and engage in challenges of all sorts.

On the social level, it drives us to practice science, pursue progress, and start revolutions.

Einstein summed up this ethic perfectly in a 1929 interview:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”

This worldview makes perfect sense. After all, exploring new territory—both physical and mental—is how we obtain valuable resources and information.

The problem with the Novelty Ethic is that it leaves out the other side of the story: The fact that we are also creatures of habit who need a sense of order and predictability in our environment for both psychological and physical safety. This is the purview of The Security Ethic.

The Security Ethic

The core message of the The Security Ethic is:

Stick to what you know. Err on the side of caution. Follow the rules. Practice discipline. Embrace tradition. Establish habits, routines, and systems. Gain mastery. Implement tried and true solutions.

On the personal level, this ethic drives us to adopt habits and cling to our belief systems.

On the social level, it’s why we make and uphold laws and develop social customs and norms. It’s why we strive to conserve both our physical environment (nature) and also our social environment (culture).

Author Donald Kingsbury sums it up like this:

“Tradition is a set of solutions for which we have forgotten the problems. Throw away the solution and you get the problem back.”

This philosophy also makes perfect sense. After all, the world is an unpredictable place and we need a sense of stability in order to function within it effectively.

Creating Harmony

So which philosophy is correct?

It depends. Sometimes it pays to explore new territory, sometimes it pays to keep doing what works. Often, we need to toggle between both modes of being.

We need both change and stability, yet each has a potential downside. Too much security can become rigid and suffocating. Too much novelty can become chaotic and destabilizing.

We must have rules but be willing to break them when necessary.

We must hold beliefs but be able to update them in light of new information.

We must stick to what works but be open to new ways of doing things.

In other words, we must be stable yet flexible.