The Pursuit of Purpose

8/11/2019 The Pursuit of Purpose

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The Pursuit of Purpose1st Edition

By Craig SchoonoverSunnyvale

2011

Is there such a thing as Common Sense? Is it worth the pursuit? Isanyone capable of putting together a perspective of the truth, thatenough of us can recognize, to form a philosophy to live by. Is there an

understanding that can be applied across all cultures, and embracedby all religions? These are the perspectives I have gained from life,that I have written down for those times when I need guidance. I hopethat others may nd the same.

Technology has removed us from the arena of our natural instincts, expanding the gapet!een actions and conse"uences# In rst world nations, the struggle forsurvival that has primarily shaped our nature, has been primarilyreplaced by the drive to succeed, where mainly we as ourselves howmuch is enough.

In multicultural communities with constantly changing challenges, andthe growing in!uence of institutions on our lives, we need to learn howto identify those people we can rely upon for the truth, to maintain thetrust necessary for civilization to thrive.


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Tale of Contents

Presented Perspectives

P$%E

&ntroduction 1

1 'iving is defying inertia (

2 Truth is the only real currency 1)

* The struggle for survival is inherent to our nature 2+

) ou are the only person responsile for the life you live# *)

( -orality is the foundation necessary to estalish trust# *.

. /o one nor anything is perfect,except perhaps %od# (0

The parents that raise you and the children that you raise

are the est things you !ill ever have going for you# ((

The alance et!een !omen and men has greatly shifted# (+

+ irtues ta3e !or3 to develop, and patience is the 3ey# .)

10 4hen !e let others ta3e advantage of us, !e let them ta3e advantage

of the people !ho love us and everyone around us# 2

11 5ur lives depend upon the !orld !e live in# 1

12 $ddictions drain the 6oy out of life# 1

1* There !ill al!ays e 6er3s to deal !ith# *

1) 4e have to ta3e care of our minds and odies# .

1( &f !e !ant respect !e have to give respect#

1. 4hen !e must discriminate, it should e for the right reasons#

1 Charity enriches the !orld, 3eeps us going, !hile greed turns us into# 0

people !ho can not e trusted#

1 7umility ma3es us stronger# 2

1+ %etting things done is a matter of doing# (

20 7ypocrisy is the door through !hich all evil marches# 21 7ard !or3 teaches us discipline and tenacity# +

22 Boredom is a serious prolem# +

2* $n idea is a genie in a ottle, once released it has a life of its

o!n and can have the po!er to change the !orld# +0

2) 4e live in a !orld of tangents# +1

2( True, loyal, and trust!orthy friends are incredily valuale assets# +*


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2. 4e are predators y nature# +)

2 Time continuously marches for!ard# Things can8t e ta3en ac3,

once you say or do something, it can never e undone# +.

Conclusion +


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&ntroduction

%od created the !orld, and !e !o3e up in it# $ncient man, or more correctly, the ne! eings,discovered that the !orld existed eyond the moment, things !ere going on, that they did notunderstand, and that is proaly !hen they came up !ith the concept of %od, or god, or gods andgoddesses# 7ere they !ere, in this vast !orld that did not end, that !ent on forever, and never stopped#Some point of self a!areness, consciousness, must include recognition of one9s limits, the position ofself in the vast unending !orld# Even still, the !orld continues to gro!# Bac3 in ancient times, the!orld !as vie!ed as much smaller# The heavens evolved around the Earth, and the Earth !as held upy a giant ancient god, !ho stood on the ac3 of a turtle, and it !as turtles from there all the !ay do!n#

:onathan 'oc3e proposed that !e are orn a lan3 slate, and uild our perception of reality fromthe experiences !e gain# &t also follo!s that !e uild our emotional responses in the same manner# Thistype of understanding !e !ould uild of the !orld !e encounter !ould e entirely dependent on ourexperiences !hich define our perspectives, as !e develop a functional aility to navigate this !orld#4e uild this model in our heads created through our perceptions, !hich !e constantly test to determineif it is true, ma3ing ad6ustments, as our needs identify#

The aility to place a et is one of the critical s3ills needed to e developed, to succeed at life,ut it is seldom discussed as a s3ill to hone# 4hat are !e !illing to ris3 in order to get !hat !e !ant#The greater the desire, the perceived gain, the more !e are !illing to ris3# &t is all a matter ofperception, !here emotion and intellect collide and collude in compromise# This is the area !herecommon sense disappears# 4here the choices !e ma3e are most disparate# 4here the choices of othersma3e the least amount of sense# 7o! much !e are !illing to ris3 for !hat !e value, often goes eyondall logic or reason, it is emotion and intellect !or3ing together to get !hat ma3es us happy#

-odern technology has removed us from the natural arena, and placed us in this artificial

environment of our o!n creation# This has added a ne! and uni"ue t!ist to the !ay !e interact, and ispossily one of the greatest changes !e have ever faced# This ne! !orld created y technology seemsto have endless possiilities# &t is a place !here for!ard planning and automation increases the gapet!een actions and conse"uences, !here the gray areas et!een !hat is said and !hat is done haveexpanded to a point !here the connection is often almost untraceale#

The first half of the t!entieth century, !e put our ne! mastery of technology to use y fightingextremely violent !ars on a gloal scale# $mong the first lessons !e learned is ho! destructivetechnology can e# 4e released the po!er of nuclear fission, and at least !e !ere smart enough to eterrified of !hat !e had unleashed#

The second half of the t!entieth century !as an era of excess, not only of drugs, sex, and roc3;

n;roll, ut also of monster truc3s, giant mansions, and celerity !orship# 4e had "uic3ly developed intoa disposale society !here consumption !as necessary to 3eep the gears of our mar3et economyturning# &ndustrial pollutants threatened our environment, !hile poverty and ghetto violence isolatedand segregated us ehind our Ts and 6os# The alternative to our !orld of excess !as a !orld livingunder a totalitarian government !here opportunity had een vastly removed# The !orld9s super po!ers,divided et!een these extremes, engaged in a cold !ar rivalry ased on competing economicphilosophies, !here the people of the third !orld !ere often used as pa!ns#

7overing aove this conflict !as the very real threat of nuclear !ar and the destruction of lifeas !e 3ne! it# 5nce released from its ottle, the nuclear genie could not e put ac3# &t !as as if !e


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could not go for!ard, nor could !e go ac3#


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1. Living is defying inertia.

It is good to have drive, as long as you do not drive yourself to madness.

"ttitude and passion are more important than intellect, talent, or physicalprowess. These are traits absolutely necessary for consistent success. #ith thecorrect attitude, we are able to ride the waves of our passions into the world ofour dreams. $assion is the handle, attitude is the tool.

$oints to add in discussion % &rive, ambition.

Attitude

"ttitude is how we approach situations, our emotional balance, our willingnessto eep an open mind while at the same time remaining focused on our

commitment and our ability to recognize the point where we need to cut ourlosses. "ttitude speas louder than words. 'our body language, position, tellseveryone whether or not you are gliding along smoothly, or all discombobulated.&on(t let the turbulence put o) by others noc you o) of your attitude. *earn tolaugh at the chaotic positions, revel in the happiness and successes of others aswell as yourself, ride the winds, ride the waves.

Approach

*earn how to approach everything and everyone with the correct attitude.That which we now, we approach in the way we have learned to approach. #e

learn not pic up a sharp nife across the edge of the blade. That which is new,we must gure out how to approach. &o we go ahead straight on, full frontal, ordo we circle around to get a good loo at this new thing. +aybe we go to the left,or to the right, come at it sideways, or from behind, or dance around it. +aybewe snea up on it, or move in slowly and cautiously, or perhaps steady andcondent. "lways, attitude is critical, how we are balanced, physically andemotionally.

Control

#hen we loose attitude,we loose control, and the rst step to regaining

control, is to nd the correct attitude for the situation of the present reality. Inorder to maintain control, we must adust our attitude as the reality of thesituation changes. #e must adust as everything around us adusts. -nly byfollowing through with the correct attitude, the reuired position, can we achievethe desired outcome.

Control is not about dictating the situation, but doing what can be done withthe situation to reach the best possible outcome.


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The waves of passion.

$assion, the !ame of life that burns inside of us and animates the !esh, is liethe !ame of a re, that must be maintained with vigil, as anyone who has evertended a re through the long night nows. -ur hopes and dreams feed thepassion and desire that spar the res of our emotions that pour out into our

lives. This gives us the drive we need to do the great things that we are capableof doing."n important measure of a human being is their ability to temper their desires

and control our emotions, to not let ourselves go, to tae what is needed, and nomore. Instinct, from days when life was short, when world was e/tremelydangerous, and we did not now where or when we would get our ne/t meal, rawmotion often carried the day. In our modern world, allowing our raw emotions torun wild usually can often lead to our own embarrassment, and leave us moremiserable with our e/cesses, than if we had ept ourselves in chec.

In this modern world of in our articial environment,emotional control is more

important than ever.

That isn(t any reason not to give our emotions their reins now and then, weust have to be careful of the company we eep at those time.

The discipline and the struggle to maintain control of our emotions is a greattas. +ost of life is about regulating our emotions and putting them to wor. It isour failure to regulate our emotions that usually leads to our own self destruction,allowing us to become our own worst enemy. In the dance from hollowindi)erence to ery passion, from nirvana to despair, addiction to repulsion, worand play, we e/perience cycles that tend to be di0cult, if not impossible, to

ignore. $atterns of cycles can be observed, from the seasons, to the tides, to theups and downs of our own lives.

*earning to recognize these cycles determines how well we succeed at ridingour passions and navigating the seas of our emotions.

The Choppy seas of anger and resentment

The real danger is when we allow anger, fear, ealousy, and pettyresentments to get the best of us. #e allow our brains to suirm with insanefantasies. #e go beyond acting out. #e let petty obsessions tae control of our

lives, lose our sense of humor. It is important to see it, recognize it, and evenbetter to laugh at it. Cling to the humor, and let the anger bleed away. There isa considerable advantage to learning how to laugh at ourselves. 1rea awayfrom these negative emotions, before they eat you up. 2ind a healthy way toblow o) the steam.

Enjoy the ride

There is the perspective that the more you defy inertia, the harder you go


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after life, the more alive you are, but you can do a lot of damage in this world bygoing too far. #e should not allow our ambitions to override reason and losesight of conseuences. "t the same time, by being too careful and suppressingones desires too much in fear of doing something wrong, we can allow fears tooverride our sense of right and wrong and ill our sense of empathy, leading us tocommit far worse atrocities in an attempt to control that which we fear.

Supposedly we enoy more from the hunt, than from the ill, which maessense to me.

The world is what it is, and it will not be controlled, so why try.

How to catch the wave

#here do we nd the passion that enables us to shape the world? +ostly it isthe mental and physical pleasures that we discover, which drive our most erypassions. 2rom the innocent oy of play, to the burning lust of our loins, to the

peaceful embrace of a good day, to the spar of creativity, to victories andsuccess in our goals, we learn the tics that ticle our fancy.

The Tempest of passion.

#e learn that we must wor to eep enoying the pleasures of life, that wecan not always get what, or who, we want. 3nvy, ealousy, and hate can stir ouremotions as greatly as the dearest of a)ections or the pinnacles ofaccomplishment. #e strive to out do our competition for the fruits of life,because nature has presented these desires to ourselves, and all others as well.Thus the tempest boils in the teapot. +ischief steams out and dances wicedly

through long nights. $leasure and pain co4mingle in high freuency bursts as wedance between the two. #e nd that loss can create pain as sharp as anypleasure we may ever now, perhaps more. Thus the passions of our youth tendsto burn, and this is when we commit our most controversial of acts.

#e should toss our selves into the tumulus seas of passion and despair,because it is the only way we are ever going to learn to swim, or to catch thewaves of our passion. These con!icts, doubts, fears, and failures in our lives arethe realities of this world, and the only way we can learn to deal with theserealities is to wade out into the waters, and gain the e/periences necessary todeal with life. The lessons that we learn from these e/periences are never easy.#hat is right, what is wrong, what should we be proud of or embarrassed about?

#hat was ustied, and what should we feel guilty about? 5ow much can weforgive of ourselves, as well as others.

Control

These issues can cut deeply and create con!icts that resonate throughout ourlives. #e can be made or broen by these moments. In this modern era wherethere are more choices, a broad mi/ of cultures, pop media in!uence, and lessparental guidance, there should be better answers. 6ew role models are needed.


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There is considerable temptation to create laws that police our youth, setting upthe situation where the government becomes everyone(s parent, but this is avery dar path to descend, because it leads to government running our lives.

7ather than see out a government solution, the better answer is to provideyouth the opportunity to develop emotional maturity, with the understandingthat this is an important part of growing up. 'oung people need a place to go,

where they can escape from constant control, where they can e/perimentsocially, learn to deal with mistaes, and emotionally mature, learn to swim, andhopefully ride the waves of passion. &ealing with emotions in social situations islie anything we do, it taes practice, especially in dealing with life(s emotionallycharged moments. 3motional maturity is critical in learning how to deal withmore comple/ problems as adults, when we are on our own, and the staes aremuch higher. 1y woring to establish the right environments for youth to begiven the chance to e/periment, and develop their emotional maturity, we cangive future generations a better chance of developing better role models for thischanging world.

3ventually these tumultuous times that are primarily the stu) of youth wash

away, and we turn to more practical things, accomplishing things, building things,raising a family. 3ven with these deeper, more mature passions, the con!icts donot go away. 7emember, these con!icts can be the waves of our passions, thatwe are better o) riding.

Figuring out what we truly want out of life might e life!s greatestmystery.

This is where we place our bets.

True dreams and ambitions can be as di0cult to nd as they are to achieve.

'ou nd out how fast twenty years can go by. It is easy to do the absoluteminimum and ust let life slide along. "nything worth doing, taes e)ort, puttingthose emotionally charged moments to good use. #ith emotional maturity weharness our passions, our emotionally charged moments, to accomplish ourdreams and ambitions.

*ife happens in the here and now, because we have to do things to maethings happen, nd new ways to eep ourselves entertained and interested inlife. If we do not go at life and see out challenges and adventures, we setourselves up to get trapped in a bubble of indi)erence, poverty, dissatisfaction,and failure.

There is such a thing as going with the !ow. &oing something di)erent is

always more di0cult. #hat separates us from the animals more than anything isthat we do not do the minimum. #e do not settle with a meal and adeuateshelter8 we wor far longer to mae our living situations far better than theminimum to survive. #e ght against the stream, living the more di0cult life toreap the greater reward.

Flaws in the "ystem

#hat I don9t understand is why society seems to insist that we go to college


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interpreted as fate or destiny. +aybe life is nothing but an imbalance of electricalcharges at a molecular level, but this concept leaves out huge, gaping realities inthe interactions of living creatures, and it completely fails to e/plain why such abasic imbalance would not nd a simpler, static solution, in the form of inanimatematter.

There may be forces of this world, forces of fate if you will, that are huge in

relation to the passions burning in human beings that gives us our will andpurpose, but the duration of time is so much more immense than the physicalobects and forces of this world, that collude to create fate, that time is able togive us the leverage needed for the passions of human beings to defy inertia,and shape the events of the world.


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#. Truth is the only real currency

6obody nows the truth.

Loo$ing for the true angle on this world.

"t its raw essence, truth is how the pieces stac up, align, the interaction atthe rending moment of the present, where the scattered possibilities become thepast. The truth of the past, is not the truth of the present, and the truth of thepresent will not be the truth of the future, because the whole world is constantlychanging. #hile many truths, alignments of reality, remain over e/tendedperiods of time, the complete whole truth continues to change and evolve. #hatwe now of the truth is all we learn to perceive.

%ecogni&e that a complete understanding of truth is eyond anyone!scapacity.

#e spend our lives guessing at what we believe to be true. In so many wayswe are all fools with ust enough nowledge to get ourselves into trouble. 3ach ofus builds our own version of reality, interpretation based on our perspective ofthe world as we learn about it. #e circle the truth, hoping to latch on, but arenever successful, because there always remains a hidden piece. "t best, wedevelop a close relationship. 3isenberg(s ;ncertainty $rinciple is in so many waysthe guiding factor, I thin, in so many advancing ideas. #e can never be certainof anything, all beliefs are based on a reasonable degree of uncertainty, beliefwithin a reasonable doubt. $ossibilities must be given consideration in respect tothe weight of their probability, when looing for the truth.

%ecogni&ing truth is a life long endeavor

-ur ability to understand truth determines our ability to accomplish anythingin this world, and this is why truth is the only real currency. "lmost everything wedo is based on our perception of truth, even when we try to run or hide from it,our perception of the truth is the basis on which we ground our reality and maeour decisions. *ie in the calibration of a precise instrument, we should adustour perception of the world, as needed, to decrease the degree of our uncertainty.

#e mae our adustments based on a multitude of factors which emerge fromthe constant rendering of the present, where the realities of this world are forgedby where the marbles fall, and events create the past. Through this rendering,

we spin our threads of truth, to tie together an understanding of the events thathave occurred, how they unfolded, and why they di)er from what may havebeen, thus weaving our version of reality. This is why truth is so !uid, and sooften elusive. The scope is immense, beyond our ability to grasp, innite andnite at the macro and the micro. Thus those degrees of uncertainty eep us onour toes, ready to mae changes should the events that emerge lead us to feelthat we must change our plans.

How do we come to $now the truth'


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"s a young man, I learned to tae alternative routes to the places Ifreuented. I scouted the territory and became familiar with the creatures whoinhabited it. These were also the habits of many of my friends. #e befriendedthe dogs and some of the cats, learned the location of the best fruit trees, whereto swim, where to sh, e/plored the woods, learned to hunt and trac, and how to

scavenge. 2or me, the ages of eight to twelve were the golden years ofchildhood, and we learned more in our e/plorations of the world around us thanwe ever learned in school. This is where I learned how to develop a sense ofdirection, real world physical co4ordination, and a deeper understanding of theliving physical world.

1y taing the alternative routes and e/ploring the world around us, we wereable to gain broader perspectives, and therefore better perceptions, of the thingswe observed, moving us forward in our understanding of life. #e do not witnessthe vast maority of things in this world that impact our lives. Still, most of thethings that occur in this world are predictable, because they go through a naturalcycle. #e observe the same events over and over again, seemingly, gaining less

and less nowledge from each repetition. 5owever, by using our history with theevents that we e/perience and witness repeatedly, we are able to loo at thingsfrom a broader perspective, and e/amine the causes and e)ects of the eventsmore closely. Intellectual tools such as logic and reason allow us to understandthings beyond our normal powers of observation and e/perience. 1y using thesetools to build upon our nowledge, we are further enabled to develop advancedpowers of vision and wisdom. #isdom and vision allow us to recognize the cyclesof this world, the cycles of our own lives, and how the two mesh together. #ecan then uicly develop a deeper understanding of things that we can onlyglimpse or hear about, learn to loo around corners, predict events before theyoccur, and unravel the mysteries of the world.

How do we come up with a plan to study the truth'

Aspects to consider in oservation of the truth(#hat is our $erspective? 5ow far have we circled around the subect, obect,

matter, situation. 5ow familiar have we become with its noos and crannies, anddeep dar secrets? 5ow much have we e/plored?

#hat is our 7elationship with the subect? 2rom how far and how close havewe made our observations, how much of the big picture can we see, and howmuch detail can we gather? 5ow intimate are we with the subect?

#hat is our 2ocus? 5ave we given attention to the right aspects? 5ave we

succeeded in identifying that which is most important?#hat is the "ccuracy of our information, and how precise do we need it to be?5ow reliable are our observations, how good are our sources, how accurate areour instruments?

#e apply our "nalysis, using our senses of &esire, *ogic, 7eason and$robability. #hat conclusions can we draw from what we have learned?

This is a basic process of how we build our nowledge to in!uence theoutcome of events, that we continuously repeat.


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)ethods of gathering $nowledge

The advantage of e/perience is that it allows us to test our assumptions,instincts, intuition, and nowledge by e/ercising our in!uence and control in theworld around us, and observing the results. #e can e/periment, using the

scientic process. ;nfortunately, time and space limits what we are able toe/perience in life. #e are able to observe much more of this world than we areable to e/perience. #hat we witness up close or observe from a distance allowsus to gain a great deal of nowledge, and a certain level of e/perience, eventhough our interaction with what we witness or observe is limited. Throughcareful observation we can often put together an idea of things that occurred inthe past by e/amining the evidence left behind, even though we did not witnessthe actual events. The e/amination of evidence left behind gives us atremendous tool in e/panding our nowledge. Still, time limits our ability toe/perience or observe, and most of what we now about the world, comes fromthe information we gain from others, which we must evaluate for accuracy. -ur

ability to e/amine our e/periences and observations, provides us with thenowledge to evaluate the information we receive from others, critical in ouruest for truth.

The ey is to pay attention to others and try to grasp their perspectives andinsights. &esire leads us to see out the truth from others. -ur understanding ofour desires allows us to recognize the in!uence our own desires have on ourinterpretation of our perceptions. This is the basis of our relationship with theworld, and all that is in it. *ogic allows us to evaluate what others say, andreason allows us to gain their perspectives and insights. If we learn to empathizewith them and recognize what they are feeling and going through, it teaches usto understand the things that are going on with the people around us, enabling us

to better see and understand their perspectives. Continuing along this pathleads to a deeper understanding and awareness of self. Through empathy withothers we are also more able to see ourselves through the perspective of others."s a result, this leads to a better recognition of our own independence andidentity in relation to others, giving us a better understanding of our position inthis world. "ll of this enables us to better identify those things that we are failingto perceive. This is why gaining an insight into the perspective of others vastlye/pands our perspective of the world, and our ability to identify the truth, andwhy good friends are also good critics, willing to give a hard honest opinion.

Learning to recogni&e those who are good sources for the truth

6ot only did we learn about the world around us as young boys running theneighborhood, we also learned a great deal about personal relationships. -uradventures and con!icts taught us group dynamics, how to create and formteams, and how to identify who to trust and believe, and who not to trust or relyupon for good information.

6o one nows it all. This certainly is not any revelation to most of us, thoughit seems to be a point that some people would prefer to believe is a secret. 2ormany reasons, people insist that their version of the truth is only version, in spite


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of the evidence at hand. There are times when we all would prefer that thingsare ept secret, or ignored. Some people would rather not face that which theydo not now, and fear the truth. They refuse to recognize the gap between howthey perceive the world, and the reality of the world. $ersonally I feel that acritical measure of another human being is their ability to admit when they arewrong, or at least the possibility that they might be wrong. 2or someone to

concede that they are probably wrong when the evidence is staced againstthem, and to act accordingly, is critical for any solid grasp of the realities of thisworld. To fail to do this is to turn away from understanding.

The ways we turn from the truth

There seems to be three maor ways we turn from the truth. #e all fall intothese traps of self delusion, and sometimes need to tae these positions incertain situations. Ideally, we avoid trapping ourselves in delusion.

Sometimes we care more about proving that we are right, then we careabout the truth. -ur emotions override our intellect, eep us from obtaining the

proper attitude. It is more about ego and politics than seeing out the reality ofthe situation, and we are often willing to say anything to win. This is the leastpredictable and so the most problematic of the three categories.

Then there are those times when we are more concerned with manipulatingthe truth for our own ends, and are willing to say what ever to get our way,sometimes without even realizing that we are doing it. #e can easily foolsourselves. These situations are more predictable once the goals are understood,and we begin to bargain, and so are less problematic than the stubbornness ofconcentrating on proving that we are right.

There are times when the truth is more than we can handle, when our normalunderstanding isn(t woring, and we need to consider new alternatives. #e are

unwilling to consider concepts that e/ist outside of our world view, or to considerrelations which cross over between the way we choose to divide things. Typically,in this situation, we are honest in our view of the truth, and looing at the worldin this way can have some advantages in maing uic decisions, our actionstend to be predictable, but outside of our areas of comfort, we can be verydi0cult. This third way we can turn from the truth tends to be the mostunderstandable, because there are those times when we need to be morecautious in our assessment of situations, when we nd ourselves waling thatne line between being smart or foolish, in unusual situations where the normalpolicies do not seem to wor.

%ecogni&e our limitations

In those times when it is hard to face the truth, hard to admit that we do notnow the answers, that we are wrong, or do not now what to do, we shouldrealize that the uicer we admit our lac of nowledge, and mistaes, theuicer we get past the embarrassing moments, and fewer are the people whoremember. +ore importantly, our ability to identify that which we do not now,or can not see or understand, vastly improves our ability to eventually graspthose very same points and concepts. "n e/amination of one(s self, strengths,


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weanesses, motivations, capabilities, limitations, and so where one is wrong, iscritical. Sometimes we ust need time to deal with the truth. -ften, the problemis, most of us hate to be wrong.

*nderstand +eception

#e all hide the truth at times, and there are valid reasons for hiding the truth,to protect oneself, loved ones, allies, interests, privacy, and sometimes simply forpurposes of negotiation.


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&esire, logic, and reason are mental capabilities, tools, abstract concepts, andmore accurately, a sense that we must develop to process the nowledge that weobtain.

Through desire our body and subconscious tell us what we need, warmth,hunger, thirst, lust, and other physical desires, but we also see out morecomple/ desires. 2or e/ample, we desire to feel safe, because we now that

when we don(t have to worry about protecting ourselves and loved ones, we canconcentrate on other things, lie building or creating. These desires determineour relationship with the world.


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end all answer. #hile using a scientic approach is often the best approach, thelimits of science should not be ignored. " great deal of what happens in this worldis a result of things set in motion long ago. The obects and forces of this worldare great and our ability to in!uence them is usually very limited. 1y improvingour concept of the truth, we sharpen our vision and increase the scope of ourwisdom, learning to manipulate around and through these great forces. This also

gives us the ability travel through our imagination and gain an even greatere/pansion of our nowledge beyond that which we e/perience, observe, or learnfrom others. These abilities give us a far greater chance of in!uencing forces fargreater than ourselves.

The power of the comination of truth and passion

Truth is current, desire is potential, and the ability to combine the two allowsus to mae things happen, power. In science, there is a direct relationshipbetween current, potential, and power. The more potential there is, the morecurrent that can be moved, the two multiply to create power. The less potential

you have, the more current you need, and the less current you have, the morepotential you need. " little truth reuires a great deal of emotion to mae thingshappen. " great deal of truth, reuires very little emotion to mae thingshappen.


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. The struggle for survival is inherent to our nature

It isn(t that far to our barbaric past.

/illing is a reality of all $nown life.

Technologically removes much of the struggle for survival from our dailye/istence. This also removes us from the arena of our natural instincts. It isreasonable to recognize that many people who are born into an economicallysound position, or who have achieved a level of success that guarantees theirsurvival, have the struggle for survival essentially eliminated from their lives.#hat is needed to replace this struggle for survival, that has guided our speciesthroughout the history of our e/istence, can be incredibly di0cult to nd.

It wasn(t that long ago that men were raised to ght bloody horric wars.This physical battle for territory and domination is universal throughout all livingspecies on 3arth, even including plants. 5uman beings are no di)erent. In thedays of old, often the men would plow the elds, plant the crops, and march o) to

war, maybe return to harvest in the fall. The cycle wasn(t that repetitive, butwars have been fought throughout history on a regular basis, throughout allcivilizations. 2ighting for survival is a large part of our genetic structure, and wecan(t change that uicly in a few generations, and if we do, we might besacricing something critical to continue our survival. 1ut a mere century ago, inthe >@@s, most people lived on a farm where they raised their livestoc, caringfor the animals that they raised from birth, to ill and eat them for food in orderto survive.


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today9s middle class nds itself with a similar dilemma. The si/ties broughtabout a whole generation which perceived a level of lifestyle that allowed themto feel lie nobility, able to live a life of leisure without having to face thecertainty of death, and a large disconnect developed between actions and theultimate conseuence. 2rom the si/ties on, minimal survival in the ;.S. hasreuired very little e)ort on the part of the individual. #ith available charity

organizations and government assistance, it is possible to survive living on thestreets in the rst world nations with little e)ort.

Filling the void

Survival is still a critical factor in our lives, but now it is mainly about whatind of life we want to live, what ind of success we want to achieve, and thenmaing plans and sticing with them. #e have to gure out what we want to be,nd our position, niche, goal, place, self. #e worry about the future, education,money, ids, the ne/t generation, protecting the country, saving the whales,

saving the world. The end is way down the road as long as we don9t do anythingreally stupid or ust run up against the odds and become a statistic."ll too easily survival becomes merely a matter of blending in, doing the

absolute minimal, playing the odds, and adding to the illusions. #e ust eepdoing whatever it is to eep the money !owing. #e give up on ghting theunyielding gravity of indi)erence until we nd we have san, and then we stopcaring and start letting things go. #e drift until we nd some urgency again inlife, something to pric the bubble, and hopefully escape. #e develop badhabits, lose passion, fall into traps, addictions, a)airs. The process repeats.

-f course humanity must act responsibly if it is to continue to survive, but theactions we must tae are usually not immediate, and therefore do not have the

pressing urgency that they carried in the past. #hat obfuscates the situationeven more, is that for the individual, survival in the modern world is completelydi)erent than the battle for survival that pushed us up out of the primordial dust.

In the struggle for survival it is Ado or dieB, and life is continually tested, inwhat those of us who live in the modern world view as e/treme. These tests ofdo or die are what forged our nature, gave us condence in our abilities, ouredge. This edge to reality gave us our reference in life, and without it, withoutthat sharpness, we lose sight, trying to ll the big hole left by the loss of thestruggle.

Emracing "truggle

#e need con!ict, a way to nd victory, conuest, domination, because this ahuge part of what shaped us into what we are. -ur ability to defeat our enemiesand command the world around us is what has allowed us to reach the levels ofsuccess that we enoy. Struggles shape our character and forge us into betterhuman beings.

#e lust for power, because that is our nature. The ey we should see is howto embrace this part of our nature, without letting it control us, to harness thispart of nature, and use it to forge a better world, rather than as a destructive


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force.#e need to nd ways to eep challenge in our lives, because con!ict and

confrontation are have shaped us throughout the history of our species. It mayeven be reasonable to suggest that we need enemies, or at least great struggles,to continue to advance. #e might be better o) if we grow beyond the need forstruggle, and if that is the case, then we will most liely, eventually, out grow this

need. 2or now, in my observation, the e/istence of struggle in our lives continuesto improve who we are and continues to be a necessary element in ourenvironment.

2. 3ou are the only person responsile for the life you live.

It is that simple.

3ou have to play the cards you were dealt.

6o matter what barriers, what problems, what horric circumstances one hasto face8 in the end, everyone must tae charge of their life. 5ow they play thecards they have been given is their choice and only their choice. Thining aboutwhether or not the odds have been staced against us is only good for improvingour perspective of the world, while dwelling on the di0culties that need to beovercome is e/tremely counterproductive, doing far more harm than good. It is

our ability to deal with the problems life throws at us that determines our successin life. #e are all victims at some level. Those who learn to overcome theobstacles life throws at them, and get on with life, are the ones who succeed.

Learn to use your instincts.

5ow do we now what to do when we don(t have the answers, when we looat what we now about the truth of the situation, and it is uite apparent that wedon( t have a clue what to do? Then we have to learn to rely upon our instincts.The intellect must turn to what the heart feels is best, while eeping aware of thewarnings that come from the baser instincts we get from the gut. There are a

great many times in life where we don(t now what to do, and we have to learn totrust our instincts. There are even times when our instincts tell us to do or not dothings which are the opposite of what logic and reason tells us to do. These arethe moments when we tae our chances and place our bets in life. Sometimesyou have to roll the dice, and tae what fate deals out. 'ou tae what you canget, and you move on. -nly as long as you eep woring at life, can you getanother chance. #hether we win or lose, it doesn(t change the realities of thisworld.


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wisdom and vision, it is also the basis on which we are able to determine who wecan or can not trust, what behavior we are able to identify as acceptable or not,by how we dene our morality.

3veryone lies now and then. It is my observation that we teach ourselves tolie as toddlers, as soon as we learn that the truth can be a two edged sword, thatcan sometimes punish us when things go wrong, whether we are responsible or

not. Therein lies the dangers of interpretation, recognition of responsibility,blame. #hat we say can and will be used against us, and many are those whosee to de!ect blame from themselves and assign it to others.

This is where our sill at identifying those who can be trusted becomes mostimportant. +any are those who will say anything to get their way. They willportray themselves as the victims, when the rst to cry foul is often the rst tohave committed a foul. They will nd allies in those who also only care aboutgetting their way, and they will often stoop to any level to get their way. Thusthe forces of evil are mustered, and the lines between good and evil are drawn.These are the ind of people that no one wants as an ally, partner, co4worer,associate, or even a competitor.

Competition -ntegrity and 6olitics

#hile relationships between competitors can be cut throat, where honesty isnot e/pected, and even dirty trics can be e/pected, there is such a thing ashealthy competition, which is constructive, as opposed to unhealthy competition,that is destructive. Constructive competition improves e0ciency, innovation, anduality, while destructive competition pushes things o) trac, underminescapabilities, and wastes resources. In reality, good competitors are allies whoeep you on your toes, with whom you maintain a level of respect and integrity.

Identifying competitors who have integrity, from those who only create an

illusion of integrity, again, comes down to your own relationship with the truth.This is where people wor the gray areas between actions and conseuences,e/panding these gray areas into the arena of right and wrong. ;nfortunately,there are many people silled at deluding others, and taing advantage ofsituations. #e are often forced to deal with those who we would rather not dealwith, but when we learn that their own selsh concerns tae precedence, we canmore easily predict what they are planning, and stay one step ahead of them.Thus e/ists the origins of politics, where people vie to establish their version ofreality as the correct interpretation. Thus these di)ering interpretations of thetruth are where the gray areas are formed. 2actual evidence can be di0cultenough to interpret. Concepts such as intent and the denition of the borders

between individual responsibilities mae these interpretations all the moredi0cult. $eople mae udgments on incomplete evidence, they choose to holdgrudges whether they are ustied or not. $eople also consciously choose to getby with whatever they feel they can.

Fairness

+ost of the decisions we mae about what is right or wrong do not rise to thelevel of a criminal o)ense, mainly we deal with what is considered to be fair.


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Should a person in a position of power be obligated to surrender their position ofadvantage for the sae of fairness? #hen people are not being fair, and taeadvantage of situations where they have the upper hand, they often brea awayfrom what people are willing to accept and then lose the trust of those people.$eople will put up with unfair treatment for short periods of time, but most willavoid individuals who do not act fairly in their interactions with others. In such

instances, is the person, forced into a situation that they do not consider to befair, obligated to act in fairness? "ctions are not independent. "s long as unfairpractices are allowed to continue the hostilities and divisions grow, and acts ofdishonesty to regain an eual position often multiply, sometimes until severe actsof dishonesty8 bloodshed, death, destruction, and wars occur. These gray areasbetween right and wrong in our interpretation of what is fair, lead to broadinterpretations of morality.

Honesty

#e often choose not to be honest. 5onesty is more than not lying8 it also

reuires that the truth not be intentionally concealed. #hen people do things tohide the truth, they are not being honest. There are times when it is e/pectedthat the truth will not be openly displayed, as in negotiations or contests, buteven these situations reuire a certain protocol, and agreed upon sets of rulesbefore people will voluntarily engage in these situations. $eople will often decidethat there is no reason for them to mae an e)ort to be honest with others, formany reasons that they may choose, and especially when they feel that othersare not honest with them. $eople often form invisible circles of trust, choosingnot to be honest with those outside of their circles. -nce outside of these circlesof trust, it is e/tremely di0cult to get bac in. -ur denitions of trust, andtherefore morality, can isolate groups from the main of society. -utside of these

circles of trust, the world becomes grayer, darer and darer gray, to the pointwhere the denitions between right and wrong become ever more di0cult todetermine.

Circles of Trust

There are clear problems that e/ist in establishing and maintaining the trustthat establishes civil order and allows a society to !ourish. Circles of trust creategroups and divisions that naturally lead to con!ict, which often impedes the !owof society, and sometimes leads to complete breadown. #hat is our moralresponsibility to those outside of our circles of trust, those we have decided not

to trust, who have not committed any acts which can be identied as violations oftrust, who have not given us ust cause not to trust them? "t the very least weowe strangers a chance to prove that they are worthy of trust.

:roup dynamics are forged with alliances and compromises. These types ofrelationships allow the group to function, establishing patterns of e/pectedbehavior that become important to peoples lives in order for them to function.#hen outside groups or individuals threaten these established routines, thegroup reacts to protect its environment, thus we have the con!ict. Still, thecreation of groups to form circles of trust is a necessary step in comple/ social


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structures,while at the same time, group con!icts can create far larger scalecon!icts, that are often the roots of nationalism, racism, tribalism, and manyother dangerous ideologies.

)ulticulturalism

In a world of D>

st

century politics, people are forced to deal with constantlychanging social environments. The struggle for economic success, maretcompetition, has led to a complete loss of economic stability for many people.3verything, from the ownership of property to maretable sills has becomedisposable in a disposable society. This creates a tremendous sense of insecurity,of fragility, and this fragility creates fear. This fear created by growing an/ietyover the lac of stability causes a brea down in public trust, and this loss of trustleads to a breadown in society. This is a large phase shift in human awareness.It is change created by an accumulation of the e)ects of modern technologicaladvances. Throughout human history, change has been a normal occurrence.3nvironmental shifts and disasters, cultural shifts and conuests, and

technological advancements have all forced unwanted and sometimes very rapidchanges, e/changes of property, and obsolescence of sills, but the rate ofchange we are currently facing seems to be perpetual, and accelerating. Theimportant thing is that we can not allow this natural sense of fear, that we face indealing with this environment of change, to overcome us.

#e nd ourselves living in multicultural communities which place barriers toestablishing trust. #hile many people want to believe in multiculturalism, manypeople do not. #hen it comes to economics, the method and means of successin our modern world, the split between idealism and reality becomes blatantlyevident. #hether we are taling about San ose California ;S", Singapore,"msterdam,


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move our understanding of morality beyond religion, towards a universalunderstanding of the importance of trust, rather than one(s belief in a :od.&i)erences that create barriers that destroy trust will be resisted and opposed, asthey will always ultimately lead to a brea down in communal trust, and socivilized behavior. In multicultural societies there are limits to what the maorityshould accept from groups whose beliefs wind up imposing their controls over

others. "t some time, the community will have to arrive at a mutually agreedupon acceptable set of behaviors for that society to continue to function.

-nstitutions and )orality

Topping o) these challenges to public trust is dealing with bureaucracy inlarge institutions such as Corporations, :overnments, 7eligions, and ;niversities,that seem to inevitably rely on bureaucracy in their communications. Theseinstitutions are faceless identities that wield enormous power, where theindividuals, acting behind the mas of institutional identity, are hard to identifyand hold responsible for their actions. These institutions introduce another

aspect of human behavior, in how people are willing to do terrible things toothers, while hiding behind the authority of an institution. It is almost anaberration of human behavior how cruel people can be when they can claim thatthey are only doing what they have been told to do. This disconnect betweenones actions and ones responsibility, where people allow themselves to act as ifthey can disconnect themselves from what they do, because they are acting inaccordance to the directions of the institution, is a parado/ of modern civilization,morality, and civil trust. #ars have always been fought, where this behavior isevident, and of course there are the actions taen in the name of religionthroughout history where this same behavior comes into play. #e have seen themachination of newer types of institutions, taen to new levels in their e0ciency

at destroying people(s lives. This maes trusting these powerful organizations,we are essentially forced to deal with, practically impossible. This is an arenawhere we should use representative government to protect the individual fromunscrupulous acts by these institutions. Criminal actions that destroy peopleslives should not be tolerated by an institution any more than an individual,especially when the actions of these institutions impact far greater numbers ofpeople.

It is in these institutions where the largest gap between what is said and donee/ists. The gap between planning and action is huge, and numerous people areinvolved in the planning and e/ecution processes, where the decisions whichdetermine the outcome are made continuously. This process is rife with politics,

and the dealings of those who see to avoid responsibility for any failure, byavoiding taing ris, while positioning themselves to tae credit for any success.Those willing to tae reasonable ris in order to move things forward ndthemselves being waylaid by politics. &eeply wrapped up in these decisionmaing processes are group dynamics. This is where group dynamics forged withalliances and compromises come heavily into play. This is where responsibility iscovered up, and trust in the system is often broen.

The 7arriers of Trust


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It is only natural that people tend to be less inclined to trust those who do nottrust them. The more restrictive we are in choosing whether or not we trustothers, the greater we restrict our access to information, and the less we are ableto accurately absorb and process the information that we gain. The less willingwe are to trust others, the more barriers we have to build and maintain between

ourselves and the larger portions of our society that we are not willing to trust.The more barriers we build the less energy and time we have to enoy life, toe/pand our horizons and our perspectives, develop our wisdom and vision, andharness our imaginations. +any would interpret this as an e/change betweensecurity and advancement, but the truer reality is that the more information weare able to absorb and process, the more power we have to better determine whowe should trust and how to protect ourselves and those whom we love.

#hat civilization has done to solve these problems of trust is developconcepts of virtue and vice. " person in a position of power should not have tosurrender his advantages in order to be fair, and a person of virtue nows how tobe fair without having to surrender their advantages. The ability to be honest,

truthful, and fair is often di0cult, because these concepts reuire virtues thathave to be learned and tae discipline to practice. It is often too easy to fall intothe traps set by vices that lead us in the wrong direction.

Civili&ation

The real reason that people should act morally is not simply to avoidpunishment or an eternity of damnation, but to avoid e/clusion from society.#hen people brea the bounds of trust and alienate themselves, they ndthemselves e/cluded from people who are trustworthy, people of honor, withwhom they would be better o) surrounding themselves. 3ven people who are

criminally minded prefer to be around people who are morally sound and can betrusted. #hile woring the system, irregardless of what is fair to others, maylead to material success, it often leads to loss of close relationships and the lossof deeper emotional satisfaction with life. #hatever may come in life, withoutsomeone to turn to, without someone to trust, we are truly lost.

+orality is the foundation upon which civilization is built. +orality is based onthe perception of trust, and trust itself is based on the perception of truth. Theability to feel safe in the community where one lives, where one nows that thepeople who inhabit that community can be trusted to do the things that we allhope others will do, our communal sense of morality, is what we need to e/ist ona normal basis. #hen morality breas down, when ustice does not prevail and

dishonesty and unfairness are allowed to become the norm, civilization faltersand stagnates, or even disappears.

8. 9o one nor anything is perfecte0cept perhaps 5od

#hich is what maes a sense of humor so important.


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The %eality aout 6erfection

This is a necessary concept to recognize in developing a realistic understanding ofthe world. I understand the concepts behind perfectionists. Striving for perfection iscertainly a noble cause, when perfection can be pursued, but even the most astuteperfectionist should realize that everything has its limits. There is no reason to try to live

in constant perfection. There are times when things need to be done as perfectly aspossible, and all the e/tra e)ort needed to mae these things happen as perfectly aspossible are ustied, but in most cases, striving for unrealistic perfection is a waste oftime. It is rare that we nd ourselves in a perfection situation. +ost of the time we mustchoose between one set of challenges or another, between what conditions dictate andwhat would be best. #e must learn to mae do with what is at hand to get the ob done.-ften, when we do, things turn out better than e/pected. Imperfections force us toimprovise, to be creative, to overcome.

&o not forget that the world, everyone and everything in it, does not see you oranything else the way that you see it. 3ven though two people may agree in discussionabout e/actly what they want to do, when it comes down to doing, they nd they havedi)erent versions. Somehow things manage to get done in this world, but it is far from

perfect.

5ames

2or reasons covered, you cannot always rely on the information that you are given.+ore often than not, you are dealing with various games that people and organizationsprefer to play. Civilization is based on games where the results are measured in winningor losing and euate to advancing or falling behind. -utside of civilization, losing resultsin the ultimate sacrice, death8 it is no game. #e all play games to get what we want.#e have to learn to hold certain information secret, reveal that information only at theright moment, and negotiate our way through life. These areas, where we must playthese games, that blur the distinction between right and wrong, are the natural results ofliving in an imperfect world. In this world of political arenas, deceptions, hidden loyalties,and hidden agendas, we must mae deals as best we can for our own providence. #ehave to strie bargains with the powers that be. They will try to bend you to their will,and this is where you nd out if you are capable of being your own person. In this arenawe are tempted the most to do the things we feel to be wrong. In this arena we aretested the most, and at the same time this is where we are capable of learning the most.It is a bit of another parado/ that in these imperfect arenas we can also forge imperfectalliances, with those who are our opponents, that we can not trust, but with whom wedevelop a code. There is a beauty to con!ict, and it comes out in the respect andadmiration competitors can have for each other. +y best recommendation is toremember that the road of life is long, and so too are the reverberations of the actions we

tae. It is important to compare the long term rewards with the long term conseuences."ll too often we nd that once we get what we wanted, it is not so special after all, in thisimperfect world.

5od

+aybe :od is perfect, if you believe in :od it seems to be a reasonable concept. Iam a Christian and I believe in :od, but I9m not sure that :od is perfect nor am I surethat it matters for my faith in :od. "ll powerful, yes, perfect, maybe. In my opinion, :oddid not create us to be perfect. +any believe that :od desires us to strive towards


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perfection. I9m not sure if that is a reasonable goal. Should you obtain perfection, thenwhat? &oes this mean we also become static? If we are prefect, and change, are westill perfect? 3ven if you could become perfect, could you remain perfect? The moreimportant reason to recognize the reality of why we are not perfect is that ourimperfections and the imperfections of the world around us, force us to nd ways tosurvive. This is the mechanism by which we evolve. This is how the struggle shapes us,and why the struggle is such an important part of our lives. If there is a reason why we

are here, why :od created us, I thin it would be to evolve, to become better creatures,to be artistically and technologically creative, to e/plore our world to the farthestreaches. To become better creatures.

+y ability to perceive :od depends entirely on my faith in :od. "s I believe in :od,he is beyond my comprehension. Therefore his actions are entirely beyond mycomprehension and understanding, therefore it does not matter whether or not I believe:od is perfect, I could not possibly begin to comprehend, and so it does not a)ect myfaith in :od. I consider it possible that our imperfections, and the evolution that theyenable, allow :od to continue to grow, or at least, to eep him amused.

#hat I do now is that I certainly do not put my faith in the perfection of anyone oranything that I am capable of understanding. #hat I do not understand I can not predictaccurately, so it does not matter. #hat I am able to accurately perceive within reason,

understand, and often predict, depends on my understanding that no one or any thing isperfect. "ll things change, and nothing is completely reliable. The best things that youcan do are trust, hope, and have faith for the best, but do not forget to plan for the worstas well.

:. The parents that raise you andthe children that you raise are the est things

you will ever have going for you.

"nd the stirrings of our dreams.

Family

2amily remains the essence of the cohesion for modern society. 2amily is asimportant in the modern world as it has been throughout human history. Thebond between parents and children are the foundation of the family, but thestructure of modern life greatly strains those bonds.

In agrarian societies, where most people lived up until a century ago, andeven in the cities of the past, when industry was based in cottages, children

wored with their parents from a very young age, being e/pected to contribute tothe family farm or business, and the bond between family members was muchstronger. In this environment, children dealt with real world conseuences. Theirmistaes and failures could easily result in serious conseuences for themselves,their family members, or the family business. In these family settings, childrenhad a great deal more e/posure to the importance of their parents and theirparents in!uence, wisdom, attitudes, morality, and ways of dealing with theworld outside of the family.

In our modern world, we isolate children from parents and wor, and place


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them in a safe and protected environment, which also isolates them from realworld actions and conseuences. It is hard to teach children about the realities ofthis world, when all they now is living in a highly controlled environment, whereall results come from an articially imposed set of rules, with very wea, oftenabstract, ties to the real world. This environment in which we are raising ourchildren only wors to widen the gap between actions and conseuences, cause

and e)ect, creating ambiguity that maes it ever more di0cult to properly teachchildren. This greatly increases the way the rapid changes we face, shapes usand warps us in our relations with everyone and everything, and especially withinour families. Introducing children to wor within the family atmosphere has beenthe normal route for childhood development for most people throughout thehistory of humanity. It wouldn(t surprise me to see a movement bac towardsmore traditional roles in the education of our children at home, with a better mi/between teaching concepts and putting them to use, and a pulling more awayfrom our current state of institutionalized education. There should be morestandard methods of granting accreditation than the current system whereinstitutions have far too much control.

)edia

#ith competition from the media and so little time to spend with our children,it is very hard to pass down the basics of what maes us good human beings.-ur roles as parents are greatly undermined. &ue to the uic advancement oftechnology, many sills su)er from obsolescence, and this reduces respect forolder people. *ife moves much faster, and this current leads culture towards ageneral worship of youth.

Constantly e/posed to a barrage of media, most of us are heavily in!uencedby pop culture, whether or not we recognize it. +edia, and the pop culture it

creates, is driven by money, prot, whatever sells, whatever entertains, andwhatever outrageous behavior attracts attention. In many ways, pop culture is are!ection of ourselves, however distorted and e/aggerated. This gives popculture tremendous in!uence over our basic attitudes towards life.;nfortunately, due to the reduced e/posure children have with their parents, popculture continues to e/ert more in!uence than many of us would lie. This largedegree of in!uence that pop culture has over ourselves and our children adds agreat deal of distortion to everyone(s perceptions of the world.

In many ways the children of today have to gure out their own way to dealwith the world evolving around them. Their world may very well be even moredi)erent from our world, than our world was from our parents world. #e can only

pass on what we learned from our parents, and what we have learned in ouradaption to this rapidly changing world.

Technologies E;ects on Family

3ven though the survival rate for our children is much higher, we are havingfewer children, so birthrates decline. 7aising children reuires sacrice, and whilein the past children developed more uicly into worers to help support thefamily and assist the parents, this incentive no longer e/ists. "ll of this adds


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together to create serious uestions about our survival.This way, that technology has scattered the principles that guide us, has hit

the family structure the hardest. #e need changes in this area more than anyother, changes in our wor ethnic that places family on a much higher priority. Ina society of planned obsolescence, where things are built to be disposed of aftera desired period, because we are able to produce more than we can consume, it

is absurd that we are caught up in a rat race, to the point where we forced toneglect our families to compete in an economic system that e/ists only toperpetuate itself.


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-ne of the huge factors that has changed in relationships, is how adultery,promiscuity, and se/uality are viewed and dealt with. In many cultures, womenwere and are viewed as property. This view towards women has changed,adultery is no longer a crime in most places. The reason for not cheating is tomaintain trust. Se/ is an incredible source of pleasure, and as such, a great and

prime motivator, but the emotional pangs of a broen heart can wound as deepas any weapon. *ie everything else, common sense and discretion are the bestapproaches. $romiscuity can create many problems, venereal diseases,unwanted pregnancies, low self esteem, as well as a loss of trust among otherthings.

The passions of love and lust overwhelm us more often than any otherpassion. The res issuing from our loins turn us inside out and drive us to dothings that we would not normally do. 6othing builds or saps our strength orcontrols the concentration of our thoughts more than our se/ drive, especiallywhen we are young. -ften many of our best and worst moments come whilecaught in the throes of passion of love or lust. 2ar too many of the manipulations

and hang4ups of society evolve around se/uality. 1eauty has great power andmany want to control it for their own personal desires and ealousies. There isnothing else capable of bringing out the fools, clowns, and ers in ourselves aswell as in others. Still, I have yet to nd a greater source of passion or pleasure,or a better obect of desire. 2rom our lust and love springs forth family.

%eligion and "e0

The arrangements that people mae between themselves and in theirrelationships should be their own business, and a matter of privacy, but society ingeneral seems to want to meddle into people(s relationships. "ll too many

people feel it is their right to interfere with other peoples( se/ lives. Control ofpeople(s se/ual practices seems to be one of the greatest ambitions of mostreligions. It has been my observation that when social institutions get involved incontrolling people9s se/uality, beyond protecting people from coerciverelationships, they only succeed in maing things worse. "gain, because naturehas presented these desires to ourselves, and all others as well, we compete forwhat, and mostly for whom, we desire. ust because we can(t get what we want,doesn(t mean that we stop wanting it. Some people would rather deny others,what they can not have for themselves. #hen institutions get involved incontrolling the se/uality of people, these powerful, reactionary passions are fartoo great of a temptation for abuse, and so abuse taes place.

+any may claim that we are far more se/ually liberated in this modern era,but history paints a di)erent picture. +any cultures embraced very broadinterpretations of se/ual norms. #hile some cultures claim a morally higherground, these same cultures usually have very biased rules in place that many inour modern era would consider to be far more perverse in nature.

+uality

The con!ict between the se/es and the duality necessary for procreation, that


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e/ists in most of nature, has a critical role in the survival of the species. I nd ithard to believe that this delicate balance that has been so necessary for ourevolution is still not critical. The bonds of love and the balance between men andwomen that allows them to create families, when achieved, is very powerful, andcreates the environment necessary for the upbringing of children, and our futureas a species. It is crucial that we recognize the important roles men and women

serve in our society, and that children need a father and a mother. "lthough thedi)erences between the se/es are not universal, overall, the roles of the se/esare distinct, and in general the roles that men and women serve in our societytend to be di)erent. #e are going through a period in which these roles arechanging. It taes time for these changes to develop, but there are plenty ofsigns that modern relationships are evolving. To observe the commondi)erences between the se/es is not the same as claiming that one role is moreimportant than another. The demands of the modern world are far less physical,and far more mental than the demands of pre4computer age society. Thus,because the roles of men as providers and protectors have changed, considerableadustments will continue to have to be made.

=. >irtues ta$e wor$ to developand patience is the $ey.

:ood things come to those who wait, but it seems sometimes that the waitwill ill you.

#hen things are going well, it is easy to be virtuous8 it is when things gowrong and problems develop, that remaining virtuous becomes a challenge. This

is why patience is the ey. The denition of patience is to be a good patient.2irst we must learn to turn o) our pain and discomfort with the problem, stepbac from our fears, and then we can start to deal with things. In my opinion themodern denition of patience is the ability to wait for things to happen. #hen wehear someone calling for patience, this is what they are asing for. #aiting forthings to happen reuires that we must stop running our thoughts through ourheads, our wants, our desires, our discomfort, and pay attention to what is goingon, and what others are saying, and what needs to be done for what is at hand.-nce we learn to get past our own annoyance at not being able to impose our willand stop concentrating on our desires, we can step bac and start to understandand learn. Then, and only then, are we able to properly deal with the situation at

hand. -nly then can we learn to pay attention, concentrate, and developdiscipline, along with the other virtues. -nly then can we establish the properattitude.

Eirtues are critical for advancement to higher arenas of learning. +anyvirtues overlap, and development of some certainly maes it easier to developothers. Still, we can not be everything at once. +ore often, the ability to changewith the situation, and adopt di)erent virtues as they are needed, is the betterapproach. It is hard to live with zeal when trying to be disciplined, and it is hardto partae in celebration while practicing fortitude. There is a balance, which is a


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virtue, that we must all maintain. This is all easier said than done. $atience isalso the ey to nding the right virtue for the right situation.

Culture and >irtue

+any cultures have recognized virtues that enable us to become a better

people. There are many codes of conduct, lie the code of chivalry practiced bythe nights of the +iddle "ges, apanese 1ushido code for warriors, and the+asonic rituals based on the philosophy of erecting structures with the goal ofbuilding good character. The 3gyptian goddess +aat, who udged the souls of thedead, looed at what was true, ordered, and balanced. The ancient 7omansconsidered celebration of life as a virtue. deal with the situation at hand. -nlythen can we learn to pay attention, concentrate, and develop discipline, alongwith the other virtues. -nly then can we establish the proper attitude.

Eirtues are critical for advancement to higher arenas of learning. +anyvirtues overlap, and development of some certainly maes it easier to developothers. Still, we can not be everything at once. +ore often, the ability to change

with the situation, and adopt di)erent virtues as they are needed, is the betterapproach. It is hard to live with zeal when trying to be disciplined, and it is hardto partae in celebration while practicing fortitude. There is a balance, which is avirtue, that we must all maintain. This is all easier said than done. $atience isalso the ey to nding the right virtue for the right situation.

+any cultures have recognized virtues that enable us to become a betterpeople. There are many codes of conduct, lie the code of chivalry practiced bythe nights of the +iddle "ges, apanese 1ushido code for warriors, and the+asonic rituals based on the philosophy of erecting structures with the goal ofbuilding good character. The 3gyptian goddess +aat, who udged the souls of thedead, looed at what was true, ordered, and balanced. The ancient 7omans

considered celebration of life as a virtue.There are many virtues that can be identied, as the denition is very broad.2rom my research, personal habits that mae one a better person include, but arenot limited to the following8 patience, empathy, attentionFawareness,concentration, discipline, tenacity, drive, adventurousness, conscientiousness,curiosity,balance, propriety, order, self control, detachment, non4violence,prudence, temperance, courage, ustice, humility, indness, abstinence, chastity,liberality, conservation, diligence, faith, hope, charity, fortitude, piety, honesty,willingness to communicate, intelligence, nowledge of good and evil,trustworthiness, tolerance, zeal, moderation, sincerity, earnestness, indness,loyalty, charisma, purity, honor, graciousness, respect, responsibility, humor,

mercy, dignity, perspective, frugality, gravity, sophistication, industriousness,wholesomeness, prosperity, fairness, appreciation, recognition, harmonization,celebration, openness, nobility, modesty, condence, carefulness, fertility,determination, endurance, perseverance, etiuette, relief, neighborly love, unity,self4determination, GH

Surprisingly, I did not nd the rst virtues I listed, in any of the lists of virtuesfrom various cultures of the past empathy, attentionFawareness, concentration,discipline, tenacity, drive, adventurousness, conscientiousness, curiosity, which Ind surprising. #hat I found in my research, is that patience is listed under


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7oman virtues where is it dened as Athe ability to weather crisisB. The nightlyvirtues in the codes of chivalry also list patience, but I do not feel that patiencewas nearly as important in the past as it is today. 1uddhism is deeply engrainedwith the sympathy for all living things, but that is not the same as empathy,where one tries to see the world through the perspectives of others. I would callthese A+odern EirtuesB, which are more important in our modern world than they

were in the past, because we are less concerned with survival, and moreconcerned with success, with following plans, and nishing the many courses thatwe must complete in order to advance in our advanced world.

The four classic :ree virtues were far more concerned with survival. Therst listed is A$rudenceB, the ability to be cautious and mae good udgments,rather than wisdom or intellect. AusticeB is ne/t, which in the more violent timesof the past often came very uicly. Then ACourageB, in a world were life wascheap. *astly, ATemperanceB, in a time when loss of control could easily result indeath. The Christian emphasis on faith and hope is even more closely related tosurvival, in a world where often all one could do is have faith and hope thatthings turned out for the better. The Islamic cardinal virtues also start with

prudence, and include willingness to communicate, being trustworthy, and smart.apanese 1ushido placed loyalty above all else. These are virtues necessary forsurvival in a more brutal time. In our world, patience, discipline, attention todetail, and tenacity are more often preached. These are virtues more concernedwith accomplishing long term goals rather than survival.

>irtues

I feel that you can sort the virtues that I have listed by these ve virtues that Iam emphasizing in the following

6atience4 carefulness, concentration, courage, detachment, discipline,endurance, fortitude, moderation, order8

Charity4 adventurousness, celebration, creativity, curiosity, determination,drive, faith, fertility, hope, industriousness, perseverance, prosperity, purpose,sophistication, tenacity, zeal, sharing8

Empathy4 attentionFawareness, charisma, humor, loyalty, mercy, modesty,nobility, non4violence, perspective, sincerity, tolerance, unity8

Humility4 abstinence, appreciation, chastity, condence, frugality, honor,

graciousness, piety, propriety, purity, recognition, self4determination,temperance, wholesomeness8

Forgiveness ,balance, conscientiousness, conservation, dignity, diligence,earnestness, etiuette, fairness, gravity, harmonization, honesty, intelligence,ustice, indness, nowledge of good and evil, liberality, logic, openness,prudence, respect, reason, responsibility, trustworthiness, willingness tocommunicate, wisdom.


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>ices

"ny discussion of virtues should include a discussion of vices. #hile lac ofvirtue can eep us from e/celling, developing vices certainly sins us, creatingnumerous problems and often leading to our own destruction. Ideally, weshouldn(t have vices, but we do, and it might be argued that we need some vices

ust to eep us interesting. It is as important to recognize our vices as it is torecognize our virtues, so that we are able to navigate through life without lettingany of these vices tae too much of a hold on our lives.

Eices I dene that seemingly e/ist in opposition to the primary virtuesidentied above are paranoia, greed, indi)erence, arrogance, and hypocrisy. Ithas been said, that you can now a person by their vices, even better than theynow themselves.

If I were to consider them under categories as I have listed virtues, I wouldorganize them in the following manner

6aranoia% phobias, denial, gossip mongering, close mindedness, mob

mentality, striing out in fear, rush to udgement, racism, predudice, unwillingessto commit, e/tremism, facism85reed % addiction, selsness, self destruction, short4sightedness, lazyness,

sloth, slovleness, deception, sadism, masochism, perversion, dishonesty8-ndi;erence 4 insincerity, pretensiousness, unreasonable opportunism,

isolation, unscrupulous, moral disconnect, absence of principals8Arrogance% brutality, bullying, obstinance, unreasonable, revengeful,

scornful8Hypocrisy 4 pettyness, ruthless, viscous, spiteful, udgemental.

The 6ath of >irtue and the 6ath of >ice

The development of virtues and vices is progressive. #e learn patience, andwith patience we grow the capabilities that allow us to share and be charitable.1eing charitable encourages us to be more industrious, and more aware of theworld and others, enabling us to develop empathy and grow in wisdom andvision. -ur understanding of others helps us to understand ourselves, develop aclear understanding of our strengths and weanesses, successes and failuresthrough humility. -ur ability to see our place in this world enables us to ndforgiveness for others and thus ourselves for the mistaes we mae in life, whichhelps us in establishing a ust society capable of accomplishing great things. Thisis the road to a better world, but it is not an easy path to stay on.

The paths to vice are many, straying comes all too easy, and the direction issometimes very di0cult to determine. -ur fears often get the best of us, and ourappetites help to ease our fears. #e become more self absorbed, stop caringabout the rest of the world. #hen we stop caring about the world, our sense ofself worth fades, and we try to compensate with e/aggerated opinions ofourselves. -ur need to feel superior drives our desire to see others broen downto prove our own self worth. 2inally we see to brea the perceived rules placingour own personal agendas above all else, irregardless of the conseuences tosociety.


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1?. @hen we let others ta$e advantage of us we let them ta$eadvantage of the people who love us and everyone around us.

Stand up for yourself, it feels good.

It is hard to accomplish anything, or do any good, if we constantly let otherstae advantage of us. #e have to learn to stand up for ourselves before we canever stand up for others. Self defense is a right we are all entitled to. "t thesame time, self defense should not be used as an e/cuse to tae advantage ofothers, or to hurt others, e/cept when it is absolutely necessary to protectoneself.

#hat is worse is that when we let others tae advantage of us, we also letthem tae advantage of those who care about us, and in a group dynamic, other

members of the group are seriously a)ected when one member is allowed to taeadvantage of other members. In addition, when we stand by while someonetaes advantage of another, we are only setting ourselves up to be taenadvantage of.

11. ur lives depend upon the world we live in.

#e are all in the same boat.

#hat we do with the environment is as important as the lives we lead. -urability to shape our environment is what allows us to advance as a species.3ither we are a deadly virus to the 3arth, illing it with over population andpoisonous practices, or we use our intelligence and become good stewards of thebiosphere that we are lucy enough to enoy.

1#. Addictions drain the joy out of life.

*earning to control ones appetites is that slippery slope down which we mostoften slide.

#e are often our own worst enemies, and those not willing to admit this areusually the most self destructive of all. 'ou will most liely die young and or


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su)er greatly in life if you let your appetites get the best of you, whether thoseappetites are for drugs, se/, food, ego, money, power or anything else. " pointthat does not get made often enough, is that addictions, and especially drugusage, can destroy our ability to enoy life. "ll those periods of intense pleasurefrom the high will result in eually intense periods of agony and despair, andthese lows last longer than the highs. It is a very bad path to descend. Stay

away from the powders.There is nothing wrong with enoying life. There is such a thing as getting tootightly wound, and being too obsessed with control. :etting a little into/icatednow and then can be a very good way to unwind and let loose. It is important torelease pent up an/ieties, desires, and emotions that need to be vented now andthen, and enoy life. #e ust need to be careful not to let ourselves go too far,especially in public. 'ou should never let yourself get more than a little buzzed inpublic. -nce you feel the high coming on, it is time to cut bac.

There is nothing wrong with wetting your appetite. :ood food, good se/, anda good buzz, are all great ways to celebrate victory and success in ones worldlyendeavors. To celebrate life is an important virtue, ust do not become obsessed

with constantly enoying the fruits of living. I suspect many addictions andobsessions are a way of lling in for the void left by the lac of a struggle forsurvival in our daily lives.

1. There will always e jer$s to deal with.

#e all play the er now and then, some more often than others.

I thin this should be written down somewhere. It needs to be said.Sometimes we have to spoil people9s fun, but it should be for good reasons.

#hat most often turns people into ers is a lac of understanding, combined witha degree of ealousy. The best thing is ust do what we have to do and not letthem spoil our fun.

There are many ways to deal with someone who is acting lie a er. -ften,the most e)ective way to deal with a er is to ignore their bad behavior, andtreat them with a level of sympathy. -ften people do not realize that they areacting lie a er, and a little e/tra e)ort by the people who are being o)endedcan clear up an uncomfortable situation, and sometimes turn a bad situation intoa good one. Sometimes people are ust having a bad day, and a little indnesscan di)use the hostility that is bubbling out of them. Sometimes we thinsomeone else is the er, and then we nd out that we are the ones who are

acting lie a er. *earning how to deal with ers, and learning how not to be theer, can mae life a whole lot better, and sometimes open doors to relationshipsthat turn out to be very valuable and rewarding.


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12. @e have to ta$e care of our minds and odies.

I now you now.

In our modern world our bodies are massively under utilized. #e muste/ercise, and eat right if we want to be healthy and happy. #e are designed forlong hours of hard wor and physical e/ertion. "ll physical e/ertion should bewelcomed to mae up for the lac of physical e/ertion in the modern world. If weapproach all activities as an opportunity to e/ercise we can get a lot moreenoyment out of life9s daily tass. Taing good care of ourselves is important forour overall attitude and well being in life. #hen we tae good care of ourselves,everything else ust gets that much easier.

The same is true for the mind. The mind, lie the body, gets better the more

we wor it, and the more it wors. 1y constantly using our minds, constantlylearning and evaluating, we can mae the mind stronger, mae ourselvessmarter, and preserve our minds strength for a longer time.

14. -f we want respect we have to give respect.

"nother ne mess we get ourselves into.

#e should treat others the way we want others to treat the members of our

family and ourselves, at least until they give us a reason to treat them otherwise.This is an important part of living in civilization. $eople can be the greatestassets or the worst obstacles, and how we treat them maes all the di)erence inthe world. 3ssentially, it is about being nice to others. This is more subtle thantrust and morality. 7espect is being ind and patient, and often times it meansoverlooing the faults and failures of others, and giving people a fair chance evenwhen it means giving them a second or third chance or more. #e all have ourbad days and mae our fair share of mistaes. #hen people show us a littlerespect and indness, a little forgiveness, it allows us to get through the roughdays,

The Pursuit of Purpose

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