Balancing the Past with the Future

Concern for the future makes cowards of us and the burden of the past weighs us down. ~Munsi Premchand

Any sensible person must have some focus on the future so as not to sacrifice the long term for the now…just enough now so as not to sacrifice joy in the near term or the long term. Obsession with the future can lead to sacrificing all joy in the present, recklessly existing at the cost of health, at the cost of relationships (a fling today will shatter the foundational trust on which a marriage is built), at the cost of a lost or joyless future

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Serving Supreme Causes Means Serving People

Those who serve supreme causes must not consider what they can get but what they can give. ~Winston Churchill

Question: At what point does a cause reach the level to be considered supreme thus service become requisite?
Answer: Any cause wherein a leaders is necessary to see it through to successful completion.

The implication being people are involved. For an individual or group needing to move from here to there, they must have a driving purpose, a pulling purpose, a reason to overcome comfort inertia and choose to struggle to achieve a goal, fight to reach a destination.

Slaying the Empathy Troll

A great conversationalist and rapport builder will put the entire focus on the other individual. ~Robin Dreeke

Following years of embodying the social adeptness of an internally focused Engineer uncomfortable with verbal human interaction, I believed I broke out of the mold and was making solid human connections through dynamic dialogue. Until, much to my dismay, I was informed by my wife following a dinner party that I have a tendency toward narcissistic communication patterns, that is, a tendency to turn every interaction toward a focus on me.

Coward or Believer in my Own Mythology?

Mythology is not a lie, mythology is poetry, it is metaphorical. ~Joseph Campbell

I have created a personal mythology in my head. It is the mythology of “David” with a foundational underpinning that I am a man of peace, a brave man advocating for the disenfranchised. It is a mythology buttressed by a lack of concern for my own welfare where others, especially the vulnerable, are involved particularly when corrupt governments (they are all corrupt) attempt to take advantage of the citizenry. Viva La Gente! Viva La Patria! Honesty! Righteousness! Bravery!

Life is a Work of Art

It takes time to live. Like any work of art, life needs to be thought about. ~Albert Camus

My life, your life, all human life is a work of art continually in progress, continually evolving, brush strokes on a canvas of humanity laying a continually developing imprint of who we are. Hopefully, our art grows to higher states of beauty but sometimes, sadly, it manifests as tragedy. The art of our lives is never stagnant like a painting or a poem. It is never complete while breath has the opportunity to blow new paint onto the image. Our art is interactive.

Understanding Opens The Heart To Loving

When you understand, you cannot help but love. And when you love, you naturally act in a way that can relieve the suffering of others. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I see two causes of the fear permeating society and driving hate wedges between all strata of society. The first is people lack compassion for themselves and project their internal anger into the world. The second is a deep misunderstanding of anyone ‘not like us’, anyone with different customs, values, skin tone, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. The misunderstanding manifests as fear preventing the ability to see beyond differences…eventually devolving into hate.

World Peace Grows From Self Love

Working for peace in the future is to work for peace in the present moment. ~Thich Nhat Hanh

I so wish everyone in the world, dead, living, yet to be born, for just a few simultaneous minutes, could direct their hearts toward the manifestation of peace on Earth. To bathe in an aura of loving kindness. Everyone. Everywhere. All at once. Collective Consciousness focused on a single thought. Sing the Mantra, “I Love Myself.“. Deep meditation.