Aging Capriciously

I left “time parables” and started a new blog at http://www.agingcapriciously.com    I wanted to explore longer themes and a greater variety of subjects. I should have left this message two years ago, but I guess “better late than never.”  If you have enjoyed my blogs here, I think you will enjoy my new site. My posts are now longer, generally 2000 to 3000 words and my subject matter more diverse.  I would like to think my writing has also improved and has more variety to it.  If you go to my new site, you might want to start at the beginning which was Feb 2013.  Hope you enjoy.

In part one of this blog we examined the question of whether it was possible to achieve goals that gave other people health, wealth, wisdom or happiness.  Our major conclusion was that this would be a futile effort.  Thus, we turn to the question of whether or not we can set goals to achieve any of these cardinal objectives for ourselves.  Prima Facie, you are probably wondering why anyone would even ask this question.  I think this a critical point to address before we proceed further. I want you to understand that I am not being frivolous here.  I am indeed serious in asking whether we can set goals for happiness, health, wealth or wisdom.   

Most of us accept as well established dogma, if not fact, that goal setting is essential to accomplishing our dreams and leading a successful life.  I assure you I am not setting up a straw dog.  I bring in Dr. W. E. Deming as my expert witness and mentor.  Dr. W. E. Deming believed that goal setting could be a waste of time and effort.  He was so adamant that one of his famous 14 Principles even addressed the subject, Principle Number 11:

“Eliminate numerical goals, numerical quotas and management by objectives. Substitute leadership.”

To understand Dr. Deming’s antipathy towards goal setting a few basic points must first be established.

1. A system can only produce what it is producing unless changes in the system are undertaken.
2. Arbitrary changes without consideration of the system as a whole will produce random results.
3. “Pushing” a system to produce more than it is capable of will produce undesirable and unknown side effects.   For example:  asking workers to speed up production or to work longer hours.
4. Improving a system will improve output and increase desirable outcomes.
5. Continuous improvement comes from understanding of the process and the various factors that contribute to the process outcomes.

Dr. Deming believed that one of the worst evils in the business world was management arbitrarily setting goals for workers and employees.  We have already looked at the futility of such efforts.  We now turn to the issue of whether or not we can set similar goals for ourselves.  Keeping in mind the five points made above, will help us to more realistically look at the feasibility of setting goals in these areas.

Happiness for Ourselves:

My goal is to make myself happy. This sounds very simple but it may be the most difficult goal of all. How many people do you know who are depressed, alcoholic, suicidal, angry, bigoted, intolerant and worse even homicidal?  Rarely do we see anyone in the news who is happy.  If so, it is a very transient state of being.  Many people are happy today and sad tomorrow.  Happiness seems like a state of mind that can only be attained for a very short space of time.  “The happiest day of my life” can be remembered by most of us, but if we could be happy all of the time, why would any one day stand out?  That they do attests to the fact that truly happy days are very few and far between for most of us.  Happy days always seem to be in the past.  Perhaps that is because we really forget the miseries that often accompanied even the so called happiest days of our lives.

Buddha said about happiness that we can have a false happiness which is a search for things to make us happy.  We can try to find happiness by obtaining more money, more friends or more possessions.  This kind of happiness is transient and our “happiness glow” soon fades.  Things can never make us happy.  True happiness is a state of mind.  It is a state of mind that accepts all things and that simply observes rather than reacts.  True happiness cannot come from changing others or even trying to change ourselves.   Buddha said, “Happiness is in the mind which is released from worldly bondage. The happiness of sensual lust and the happiness of heavenly bliss are not equal to a sixteenth part of the happiness of craving’s end.”

Conclusion:  We can achieve happiness but it is not the happiness of having things or getting medals or being successful.  True happiness is a state of mind.  Happiness starts when striving for results or accomplishments ends.  Thus, setting a goal to become happy might only lead to more unhappiness. The way to accomplish this objective is a paradox since to be happy we must let go of the goal of being happy.  Jesus said to live one day at a time. 

Health for Ourselves:

My goal is to make myself healthy.  We all want good health and we can certainly make ourselves unhealthy.  Can we do the opposite and make ourselves healthy?  I think we can strive to be as healthy as possible but we have to accept the fact that some “health” is beyond our control or at least beyond our current scientific knowledge to impact.   In terms of the five points given above, we do not fully understand the biological processes that create health in human beings.

A few weeks ago, a young woman in our town died of terminal cancer at the age of 32 leaving two young children.  She died only a few months after being diagnosed.  What did she do to make herself unhealthy?  Was it something she ate?  Did she not exercise enough?  I think you could spend your lifetime looking for an answer to these questions and you would never find an answer.  Do your best to stay healthy.  Exercise, eat right, don’t smoke, avoid stress and you might lead a long and healthy life.  On the other hand, you might die in six months from some disease that you never realized you had.

Conclusion:   We can have a major impact on our health by living properly but no one person or no single effort can guarantee us health.  It is a worthwhile goal if seen as a journey and not a fixed end state.  Some days you will be healthy and some days you will be sick. 

Wealth for Ourselves:

My goal is to make myself wealthy.  I have often pondered the value of this goal.  Since I have never achieved it, though I have often stated it as a goal, I am left with two questions.  First: Did I really value wealth enough to make it a priority in my life?  Second: Would my life have been better had I become wealthy?  My answer to the first question is a tentative no.  I have valued many things more than wealth.  I have always valued time more than wealth and I have always valued my own independence more than wealth.  I would rather be out running or swimming than reading the Wall Street Journal.  I have always had a difficult time taking orders and valuing loyalty to a company whose major motive is making profit is foreign to my nature.  Perhaps (which is why I said tentative) these are the reasons I have never achieved wealth or status.  On the other hand maybe I was just too lazy, stupid or undisciplined to become another Warren Buffett.  I thought I had the brains, but somehow the billions have never come.

The second question is perhaps more interesting.  “What if I had become rich?”  Would my life have been better?  Would I have been happier?   I have thought about this question more as I have aged and I honestly think that if I had become wealthy at a young age, my life would have self-destructed.  Like many young people who become wealthy and ruin their lives with drugs or fast living, I think it entirely likely I would have been unable to handle the influence or power that money would have brought.  I certainly do not think that becoming wealthy would have led to my happiness.  As I have become older, the goal of wealth has become less important.  I would not change my present lifestyle for all the money in the world.  I am content with my life, my friends and my spouse.  I am also content with growing older and coming to the end of my time.

Conclusion:  Beware of what you ask for, because you may get it.  Few of us are wise enough or strong enough to handle the “drug” of wealth. 

Wisdom for Ourselves:

My goal is to make myself wise.  We have already seen the difficulty of giving wisdom to others. Can we make ourselves wise?  Are there activities or knowledge that we can pursue which will ultimately confer upon us the mantle of “wise one?”  I think you could go to school for 100 years every day and you still would not be wise.  There is an old saying that “knowledge helps you to make a living but wisdom helps you to make a life.”  We go to school and receive knowledge, but the world is full of educated idiots.  We all know people who know how to make a living but haven’t the slightest clue as to how to make a life.

I am nearly 70 years of age now.  I am almost at that time of age when years ago, I would have been considered one of the tribal elders.  By dint of having lived seven decades, I would have been considered wise. Perhaps years ago, that is all it took.  The older you were, the wiser you were.  Today, I see little correlation between aging and sageing.  In fact, if you look at many of the great prophets, they achieved their status as leaders at what today would be a very young age.  Jesus was in his mid-thirties when he was killed.   Gandhi was fifty three when he became the leader of the non-violent movement in India and Martin Luther King was only thirty nine when he was assassinated.  History is full of examples of people who were deemed wise without the benefit of age or education.  Thus, we are back to the question, “how does one become wise?”  If I do not know the answer, I can hardly make myself wise.  Looking at the five points noted earlier, we must address the issue of “what kind of a system can or does produce wisdom?” Until we can answer that question, the goal of wisdom will remain elusive.

“Confucius once said that there were three ways to learn wisdom: “First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” Gaining wisdom, the most prized of virtues across almost all cultures, is an exercise in life learning, careful analysis, and thoughtful action.”   http://www.wikihow.com/Be-Wise

If someone as wise as Socrates was purported to be could deny the mantle of wisdom, perhaps this is one of those goals which is ineffable.  No one I know would claim to be wise and certainly no one I know would anoint me with the title of “Wise Olde Man.”  This is probably a good thing.  If I were known as the wisest man in Frederic, I can only imagine what this would do to my free time.  I can also imagine the effects this would have on my spouse and friends.  I am not generally regarded as being humble now and walking around bearing a cloak of wisdom would be deleterious for my ego in the long run

Conclusion:  I don’t really know the answer to becoming wise nor do I have a formula for how to become wise.  I must conclude that at the present time, I have achieved a great deal of knowledge but the magic of wisdom has still escaped me.  I have found that trying to become wise is an exercise in futility, like looking for the Holy Grail.  Perhaps we would all be better off working to become more humble than more wise. 

Time for Questions:

What goals have you set for your life? How successful have you been in accomplishing them?  What obstacles have you faced?  How have you overcome them?  If you could re-live your life, what changes would you make in the goals you set?  Why?

Life is just beginning.

Winnie-the-Pooh was walking home one day when he passed a young man standing on a park bench.  The young man was shouting “Quick, it’s coming quick, it’s coming quick, the end is coming quick.”  This greatly distressed the Pooh bear who ran home as fast as his bear legs could carry him. After arriving home, he made a big honey and jelly sandwich on toast.  He had been saving this honey for a special occasion but since the end was coming quick, he decided he had better eat it as soon as he was able to.  After this, Pooh straightened up his abode and waited.  Pooh thought he might as well wait for the end to happen while he was home and warm and comfortable and feeling very nourished after his honey and jelly on toast sandwich.

But you know Pooh bears, they are not very patient.  Soon, Winnie-the-Pooh became restless and started wondering when the end was coming.  He began pacing back and forth and forth and back but the end still did not come.  Finally, losing patience, Pooh decided to visit his good friend Eeyore to see if he had any news on the end.  After a short trek over to where Eeyore lived in his house made of sticks. The two good friends met and embraced each other.  Quickly, Eeyore started worrying and wondering what was going to happen. If Pooh bear came to see him, something must be wrong.  Eeyore finally blurted out “Pooh, what is up, what is happening, why are you here?”  Pooh knew that Eeyore was easily unsettled but he felt that this situation warranted unsettling poor Eeyore.  Pooh said “Eeyore, the end is coming quick.”  “Oh my, oh my” said Eeyore, “That is a problem.  What do you think we should do?”  Pooh replied well “Do you have any honey or jelly?  We could make some honey and jelly sandwiches and wait for the end.”  Eeyore was not as fond of honey and jelly sandwiches but he had some good hay and aged straw that he had been saving and he invited Pooh to share it with him.  This was not exactly what Pooh had in mind but he watched and paced back and forth and forth and back, while Eeyore ate his aged straw.

Finally, after a very long time had passed (it was actually a very short time but it seemed long to Pooh and Eeyore), they both became restless again.  When was the end going to come?  Pooh suggested that they both go to visit Tigger since he is always very optimistic and might have a different view on things.  Hurrying over to Tigger’s house, they find Tigger out in the front yard playing with a balloon while bouncing up and down on a trampoline.  “Hi” says Tigger, “do you guys want to bounce on my trampoline with me.”  “No, no” says Eeyore, “this is very serious. The end of coming quick, we must be ready.”  “Fine with me” says Tigger, “but can’t we just bounce and play until the end comes?”  “Well,” says Pooh, “that would be fine but I am getting hungry. Do you happen to have any honey or jelly that I could make a sandwich with?”  “Sorry Pooh, but my cupaboard is bare, I have been too busy bouncing to worry about eating.”  So the three friends decided to just wait together for the end.  Tigger kept bouncing, Pooh kept feeling hungry and Eeyore kept fretting since he was becoming less and less certain that anything was really going to happen.

Eventually after a long bout of bouncing, Tigger became tired.  “I am going to take a nap” says Tigger, “if the end is coming, I would just as soon be rested when it does.”  Eeyore, more and more doubting that the end was really coming or at least that it would be quick also decided to go home.  “Bye Pooh, see you later” said Eeyore, “that is if there really is a later.”  Pooh was left all alone. Tired, hungry and confused, he was not sure what to do.  Then, in a flash, it came to him. I will go to see Owl.  He is the wisest animal in the forest.  He will know what to do.  So Pooh went off to see Owl.

When Pooh arrived, Owl was perched up in his nest.  “Hi” said Owl, when Pooh was still a long way off, he could see him coming. “What brings you to the forest today? Are you here to discuss the ethics of Aristotle or maybe you have come to hear about my life when I was a young owl about your age.  Did I ever tell you about the time that I met” —–“Ahem, ahem”, says Pooh, this is an emergency.  The end is coming quick. We must be ready. I tried to warn Eeyore and Tigger, but Tigger decided to take a nap and Eeyore went home. What are we to do?”  “My, my” said Owl, “You say the end is coming quick. Pray tell me what end is coming: the end of the ball game, the end of the warm weather, the end of the hunting season?”  All of these questions just confused Pooh.  He had no idea what end was coming.  He just assumed it meant the end of the world.  Why did Owl always have to make things so complicated?  “Well” said Pooh, “I am not really sure. I saw this young boy (who looked a lot like Christopher Robin) standing on a park bench shouting that the end was coming quick.  I am not really sure what end he meant, now that you have confused me so.  I just came to ask you for advice on what to do.  I am all out of honey and jelly and the end is coming quick.”

Owl thought about the situation and came up with the following poem that he had heard many years before: “A Song on the End of the World” by Czeslaw Milosz, 1944

On the day the world ends

A bee circles a clover,

A fisherman mends a glimmering net.

Happy porpoises jump in the sea,

By the rainspout young sparrows are playing

And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.

 

On the day the world ends

Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,

A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,

Vegetable peddlers shout in the street

And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,

The voice of a violin lasts in the air

And leads into a starry night.

 

And those who expected lightning and thunder

Are disappointed.

And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps

Do not believe it is happening now.

As long as the sun and the moon are above,

As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,

As long as rosy infants are born

No one believes it is happening now.

 

Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet

Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,

Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:

There will be no other end of the world,

There will be no other end of the world.

Pooh honestly did not know what this poem meant or why Owl was telling it to him.  “Owl” says Pooh, “you are hurting my brain.  I am even more confused now then I was before. Couldn’t we keep this simple?”  “Well,” said Owl, “animals and people always want things simple.  But maybe, this is not so simple as you would think.  Perhaps we should discuss this further.”  “That is okay” replied Pooh; “I am too hungry now to worry about the end.  All I know is my stomach is growling and I need to find some honey quick to end the rumbly in my tummy.  In fact, maybe that is what the boy was trying to say.  I must find honey very quick or my end will be near.”  Thinking that this was wise advice, Pooh thanked Owl for his time and ran off to find some honey.  By the time, Pooh returned home, he had found a big stash of honey and had totally forgotten that the end was near.  Pooh made a great big honey sandwich and settled in with a large mug of hot chocolate and decided that the end was no longer near.  As long as he had good friends, honey and a comfortable home, that darn end (whatever it was) could come whenever it wanted to.

Time for Questions:

What do we all have in common with Pooh bear?  What end is coming quick?  When do you think the end will come? Are you ready for the end?  Should you care?  What do you have to do to be ready?  What if your end was tomorrow, what would you do?

Life is just beginning. 

My interpretation of this Winnie-the-Pooh story is based on a recent incident.  Last week while coming back from Minneapolis, I passed a young man standing on a park bench, who was shouting “It is coming quick, it is coming quick. The end is coming quick.”  I passed by him in my car and did not have the time (or most likely the desire) to find out what end was coming or how quick was quick.  I decided it would make a good blog.

A Word of Thanks to A. A. Milne who wrote the original Winnie-the-Pooh stories.  Adults and children will for all of time be inspired and grateful for his wonderful characters and stories.  Please buy the book if you have not read it:

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

“We’ll be Friends Forever, won’t we, Pooh?’ asked Piglet.
Even longer,’ Pooh answered.” 

Goering, the second highest ranking official in Nazi Germany said at his trial in Nuremberg that:

“Naturally the common people don’t want war: Neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, IT IS THE LEADERS of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is TELL THEM THEY ARE BEING ATTACKED, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. IT WORKS THE SAME IN ANY COUNTRY.” — Goering

Ulysses S. Grant in his autobiography expressed surprise that the common southern White sharecropper could support a civil war to protect slavery when he/she was not treated much better than the African American slaves whom they worked alongside of. They had little or no vested interest in the so-called plantation system. Were these poor White folks under an illusion that they would someday be great plantation owners and have their own slaves?

One of the most decorated men in American military history said the following:

“I spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.” ― Smedley D. Butler

The county where I reside in Northern Wisconsin is one of the poorest counties in the state with high unemployment. Nevertheless, the majority of the county has voted Republican (The party of the Rich) in the last several elections. Are the citizens in my county under some illusion that they will become rich like Mitt Romney? Do they think that their circumstances will be improved by the “trickle-down theory?” Do they think that their interests are the same as the interests of the wealthy one percent who are buying politicians?

We think of an illusion as something that deceives our eyes but actually an illusion deceives our minds. Webster’s online dictionary defines an illusion as:

1a obsolete : the action of deceiving
b (1) : the state or fact of being intellectually deceived or misled : misapprehension (2) : an instance of such deception
2 a (1) : a misleading image presented to the vision (2) : something that deceives or misleads intellectually
b (1) : perception of something objectively existing in such a way as to cause misinterpretation of its actual nature (2) : hallucination 1 (3) : a pattern capable of reversible perspective

Goebbels the Nazi Minister of Propaganda said that if you wanted to get the populace to believe something do not tell small lies, tell big lies and tell them often.

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” —- Goebbels

Certain people in our lives will try to deceive us as a matter of course. It is their nature. Like the “Story of the Scorpion and the Frog”. The scorpion wanted to cross the stream and asked the frog for a ride on his back. The frog said “You must be kidding. You would surely sting me and I would die.” The scorpion answered “That would be foolish of me. If I killed you, I would also drown and die.” The frog thought that this reply made sense and told the scorpion to “hop on.” Halfway across the pond, the scorpion stung the frog. In his last dying breath, the frog said “Why?” The scorpion replied “Because it is my nature.”

Magicians deceive us for entertainment. Unfaithful lovers deceive us for love and lust. Schools deceive us to support their reputedly lofty ideals. Religious leaders deceive us to “save” our immortal souls. Gamblers deceive us to take our money. Politicians deceive us for power and glory. Each of these deceivers must spin a web of deceit and deception that will cause us to have a distorted view of reality. The magician says to keep your eye on the ball, but the trick is done by getting you to focus on the ball and not her hand. The unfaithful lover professes undying faithfulness while philandering behind your back. The gambler wants you to believe that the “odds” are in your favor, you can’t lose. The politician trades favors for votes. “Vote for me and I will make your life happy and successful. You too can be a slave owner or a zillionaire.”

All of these groups can be lumped under the rubric of “Con-Artists.” A con-artist is someone who tricks you to get your money. The most common trick is to offer you something that is “Too good to be true.” But our trust in the con-artist prevents us from seeing this simple fact and we are deceived into accepting the reality that the con-artist creates for us. There are a variety of these deceptive realities that many of us fall for:

• Wealth with no hard work
• Instant success
• Lose weight overnight
• No new taxes
• Find undying love
• Get to heaven
• The war to end all wars
• Six pack abs with no sweat
• Everyone will love and admire you

Hardly a day goes by when we are not beset with more illusions than we realize. Each of them spun for us by assorted con-artists to catch and ensnare us in their webs of deceit and betrayal. Betrayal is the final outcome, as we sacrifice our trust, our love, our money and even our lives in pursuit of phantom illusions. We think these con-artists care about us but we are simply means to their ends.

Modern communications, cell phones, high speed internet, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, satellite communications and now drone delivered messages have all become two edged swords. Swords that are often very skillfully wielded by assorted con-artists. One edge provides more information and helps us become better, faster and smarter. The other edge buries us in data, facts, opinions, hyperbole, rhetoric and worthless information. One edge cuts through the fantasies that the con-artists are weaving. The other edge shreds reality and helps the con-artists to spin their illusions.

A recent book worth reading is “Empire of Illusion” by Chris Hedges. The book is a trek through the many pretensions and illusions that are beginning to dominate our culture today. The Empire of Illusion is one of the most thought provoking and provocative books I have read in a long time. Following is an excerpt from the book:

“We pay a variety of lifestyle advisers—Neal Gabler calls them “essentially drama coaches”—to help us look and feel like celebrities, to build around us the set for the movie of our own life. Martha Stewart built her financial empire, when she wasn’t insider trading, telling women how to create and decorate a set design for the perfect home. The realities within the home, the actual family relationships, are never addressed. Appearances make everything whole. Plastic surgeons, fitness gurus, diet doctors, therapists, life coaches, interior designers, and fashion consultants all, in essence, promise to make us happy, to make us celebrities. And happiness comes, we are assured, with how we look and how we present ourselves to others. There are glossy magazines like Town & Country which cater to the absurd pretensions of the very rich to be celebrities. They are photographed in expensive designer clothing inside the lavishly decorated set-pieces that are their homes. The route to happiness is bound up in how skillfully we show ourselves to the world. We not only have to conform to the dictates of this manufactured vision, but we also have to project an unrelenting optimism and happiness.” —– “Empire of Illusion” by Chris Hedges.

Illusions become everything. Truth becomes simply one facet of the illusions that surround us. We look for facts to sort out the truth but facts are simply another facet of the extended illusions that become our minute to minute, day to day and year to year reality. Reality is no longer real. Reality itself has become an illusion. And from these illusions, reality becomes a fantasy that just like in the TV show “Once Upon a Time” is now reality. If this sounds like circular reasoning, that’s because it is. Reality has gone from substance to image. These images are illusions in our minds. Worse, they are traps because they prevent us from seeing what really is important.

“One day everything will be well, that is our hope. Everything’s fine today, that is our illusion” ― Voltaire

Do you remember when you were told, that once you were out of school, you would have to face the “real world.” Did you ever wonder what this meant? Was an “unreal” school environment supposed to prepare you for the real world? Did unreal lectures and unreal instructors have the knowledge that you needed in the real world? How could this be? How could unreal schooling prepare anyone for a vastly different outside world? Only if the school was real (and everyone was lying) or the rest of the world was also unreal could schooling be congruent with reality. Unless you were being prepared for unreality itself! I think the latter is the case in most schools.

The situation is analogous to one I have seen many times as a business consultant. You have a system of business which can only thrive and prosper with sufficient inputs of innovation and creativity. But what do HR managers and recruiters look for in a new hire? Answer: Someone who fits in. And this is what schools teach. Schools teach you to fit in. Few schools readily encourage creativity and innovation. Instead, schools create an illusion whereby they foster the fantasy that you will become creative and innovative if you attend their schools. This is a wonderful illusion that most of us fall for.

The reality is that with grades, tests, common core curriculum, standardized testing, etc. schools teach us how to behave, how to conform and how to fit in. Those that can’t handle the “real” curriculum are given the boot. Business leaders and politicians alike are too often con-artists who extol the virtues of a free market and the dynamics of innovation and creativity but instead practice conformity and loyalty. They well know that innovation and creativity are the keys to success, but self-protection and ego trump reason in a world of illusion. Form is more important than substance. A good business suit and an impressive school resume will get you farther than a spirit of innovation and independent thinking in the “real” world.

“All problems are illusions of the mind.” ― Eckhart Tolle

Conclusions:

How do we see through the fog of illusions that surround our everyday lives? Is it possible to see the world as it really is? What if those designer jeans did not really make you beautiful and happy? What if helping others was more important than growing rich? What if the definition of success was not becoming a celebrity and having a million Facebook followers? What if growing old and wrinkly and slow was really a form of beauty? How can we stop the con-artists from defining our reality in terms that are injurious to our satisfaction with life? How can we develop compassion for the underdogs when the con-artists want us to believe that such people are simply parasites who drag the rest of us down?

The politicians, news spinners, talking heads, radio commentators and other con-artists do not want you to think for yourself. They do not want you to question their wisdom or facts. They do not want you to believe that you have the power or intelligence to make choices for yourself. The power of the con-artist lies in deception. Take away their deceptions and their illusions vanish. It is possible to do this but we have to change our minds about the world because that is what makes these illusions reality.

We can take away the power of these con-artists to lie and distort reality by believing in the goodness of other people and not the evil that resides in a small minority of people. We need to see the world as a place of possibilities and not a place of fear. We need to see the world as a place of abundance and not a place of scarcity. We need to see other nations, religions, and ethnic groups as friends and not enemies. We need to stop creating walls and barriers between us and the rest of the world. The more insulated we become from others, the more we diminish ourselves. The more we seek safety and security, the less freedom and independence we have. The more we seek narrowly defined definitions of success, the more elusive true happiness and success becomes. Success lies not in the numbers of life we can accumulate but in the quality of life we live.

Time for Questions:

Do you want to know the truth or are you happier with an illusion? How often do you go further than the local news reports to find the truth?  Who do you trust?  Why?  Are you open to new images and new ideas?  How fixed are you on the truth?  What if much of what you knew was not true?  How could you test the reality that the con-artists want to spin for you?  What would happen if we were all less believing of the reality out there?

Life is just beginning.