We live in an age of great informality. That said, I often wonder if it is really a choice on the part of most people. It certainly takes more time to strive for excellence than it does to accept inferiority. As a rule, however, we do not accept poor workmanship in the products that we buy or the services that we use. Can you imagine buying a Mercedes Benz and having it regularly break down or visiting a dentist only to find that he has done an inferior job fixing your teeth? I think not.
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We love our pets
Growing up, most of us had a pet: a dog, a cat, a bird, a fish, etc. The maintenance and well-being of our pets are often our first brush with social responsibility. It is hard to imagine someone learning cruelty or malice from the care of these well-loved creatures. These negative attributes of human nature are discovered at a later date.
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Children — the joy of the world!
It is one of the most perennial of sounds — children playing gleefully in a park. They romp and run, and screech, and cry — all without restraint — they are totally free. Soon, however, that liberty becomes significantly curtailed. We must be educated in the ways of the world, and in the values of our community.
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Creating our future
We are often buffeted by the headwinds of life. They swirl around and push us hither and yon. What keeps the self, figuratively, on the correct path toward peace and enlightenment? These are, undoubtedly, the plans we make for our future — the direction in which we see ourselves unfolding. These are often conflated with goals. I would like to draw a distinction between these two.
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Warmth and tenderness
We all need warmth and tenderness. It is the lotion that oils our emotional joints and makes us more psychologically supple and sensitive to the vagaries of life. How many times do we wonder whether those broken souls who reside in the hidden creases of buildings or lying prostrate in an underground pedestrian tunnel are simply devoid of love?
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The beginning
The beginning of anything is truly astounding, isn’t it? Whether this is the initiation of a project, the start of a longed-for vacation, or the dawning of my great adventure called life, there is a freshness and excitement in the air. Most beginnings are quite fleeting, but this is not true with consciousness. It realizes an endless series of commencements — each day actually being novel and original. The onset of the experience of sentience is quite apprehensive and confusing though, even with the most formulated of plans. Nothing is yet fully tried and tested.
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Answers
Is there a God or gods? This is a very difficult question for some. People never seem to question something bigger than the self until, in many cases, it is too late to form a final belief – life providing unexpected intrusions, a quickly occurring finality, for example. I feel, as a sensitive being, however, it is impossible not to question the “why.” Why for everything – for the bugs, the bees, the butterflies, for me, for that matter – just why? There is no empirical (1) answer to this existential question.
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Trivialities
It is so very easy to get caught up in the unimportant and inconsequential in life — in its trivialities – isn’t it? As young people, we are often filled with a sense of foreboding around exam time. This apprehension is further fueled by our parents, our teachers, and even our classmates. We seemingly are all focused on some mythical goal, the perfect test score. Herein lies nirvana, the passage to a higher celestial plane. Many a young person is driven to distraction, some even to suicide, (1) by something of virtually no value at all.
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How do I begin my great adventure?
I have, figuratively, read all the books and listened to every piece of advice but, though clever and thoughtful, none of the conversations fully apply to me — why not? This is because my life is unique. I can reach out and touch you and feel the warmth of your body, but who are you? I will not and cannot truly know.
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Take a chance
Just by the advent of being alive, I am truly a fortunate man. The universe took a chance on me. I won the celestial lottery by being born. It must be the same for all human beings. If valid, why then do most of us refuse to take a chance on our own lives — our own worthy and excellent qualities, why not? This is because of a preconceived concept of safety. I want to live a life without any risk. I think it would be fair to say that everyone is risk-averse. None of us, consciously, wants to put ourselves in harm’s way.
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