Personal fraud: I am absolutely fascinated with those individuals who I have met in my life who have created a totally bogus personality: a completely contrived reality. These are, of course, sociopaths: but they are titillating and somewhat psychologically voyeuristic. They have made and lost millions, courted presidents and kings, been purveyors of the greatest financial empires, only to have been brought to a level of humility by that common curse: fate and just plain bad luck. They regale us with the life that we want to lead. They are especially attractive to the young and impressionable: to my story.
We are responsible for the creation of our own peace.
To my friends, I might appear to be a bit of a curmudgeon. I feel that this is a well-deserved honorific by the time you are over sixty years old. In my heart, however, I am a peaceful, loving man. This misinterpretation of my actions has probably to do with the fact that I am relatively “straight forward.” In any given situation, I always look for the worst possible result to occur. It, of course, never does, but I am ready nonetheless.
Continue reading We are responsible for the creation of our own peace.
Let us show our style
Do you ever wonder why people look so disheveled and poorly dressed? I do. It is puzzling and perplexing, to say the least. Does that exterior informality mirror a confused and baffled interior? I would think many times, yes. The vast majority of mankind does not know it is alive. This means having the realization that we are capable of controlling and directing our lives. This is not a novel point of view. Since the beginning of recorded time, illustrious poets and thoughtful sages have begged human beings to come awake and realize that they are alive! “With … awakening and enlightenment comes a dramatic reduction of the inner noise of our thought-chatter. In our normal state, this streams through our mind almost constantly — a whirl of associations and images, worries and daydreams that only usually stops when our attention is absorbed in external things.
The time is mine
That little moment in time catches you quite unprepared. What shall I do with it? Shall I shape it into a pleasant and magnificent thought? Should I allow it to plunge me into the greatest depths of despair and frustration? Or, most commonly, could it just flicker and fall away, totally unused – another lost moment in time – my time? I have always been filled with curiosity. It is the same with most of us, I am sure. This fabulous gift of consciousness, we come to find, is not free, unfortunately. It obligates us to discover our purpose — my purpose. Why in the trillions of movements in the heavens was I given life: why me? The answer is because I have a reason for being alive. My individual existence, therefore, has value. But I must unearth my own true path. It is a phenomenal challenge that the weaker folks opt not to accept. They, quite comfortably, settle back into a life of mediocrity, a life that does not question. That is totally all right. Some of us, however, just can’t – you know who you are.
Why am I, my own teacher?
This is most certainly one of the more perplexing questions of our time. It is a perennial one having been with us, I would think, since time immemorial. Socrates (470-399 BC), for example, tells us (to paraphrase) that “to know your self is the beginning of all wisdom.” (1) We are shocked when we realize that we have consciousness and exist in the world. This is comfortable in our adolescence, but as we age, we stumble upon that pervasive and lingering question. “Is everyone like me? Do they think like me? Do they feel like me? Am I awake?” We are then forced to conclude “I only know what I know.” My empirical world is only known to me. I cannot verify the reality of another person. I can guess at what they think or how they feel, but I cannot confirm that others perceive existence in the same way I do. My thoughts, feelings, and intelligence are my own.