Let’s examine the concept of sharing the riches gained by switching worldly desires with eternal. Life isn’t about what you have. It’s about who you are. Who you are is what goes into eternity. What you have is an illusion. Just because something is real in the here and now and brings immediate gratification doesn’t mean that it is valuable. It’s like smoke. You can see it, taste it, feel it, smell it, and maybe even “hear” it. However, you can not grab and hold on to it. Yes, it has an effect on you and that effect for the moment might bring pleasure to your self. What doesn’t change is the fact that effects (or emotions if you prefer to call it) depend upon the conditions which create the response. It’s only as good as its input. To be at the mercy of the input is to lack self-control.
To be truly rich is to be independent and set free from the addiction to circumstances. Once this is done, one can sing joyously within one’s self regardless of whatever “storms” blow in from your outer atmosphere. Why bother to ask for things (or people) in life (which might even take a long wait) if you don’t have the greatest gift of life already? Life already is a gift, but being born and breathing is just the basic necessary ingredient. Without a sound driver behind the controls of this two-legged vehicle, only chaos is imminent. The chaos might not be apparent to everyone (especially self) and might take a lifetime to manifest, but where is the order if natural desires decide what turns to take in life’s road?
People, by nature, want to believe their perceptions of reality according to their self created gauges. They want this so desperately that the human mind can easily twist anything however far it wants. It’s all a matter of time. Little children haven’t had enough practice to be as good at it as older adults. Experience is necessary to fine-tune skills for any career. Part of what is (or should be) learned through life is the fact that you get good at whatever you dedicate yourself to persevere with. You fail when you quit trying to succeed. Now is the time to reflect upon and question just what it is that you’re trying to succeed at. If not now, then it’s obvious self-deception is at work.
What was Anthony Storr thinking when he wrote in his book Solitude: A Return to the Self, “It (the creative act) is a coping mechanism; a way of exercising control, as well as a way of expressing emotion. In fact, the act of expressing emotion itself gives the sufferer some sense of mastery, even if he or she is not particularly gifted.” I don’t doubt patients “lose the sense of being overwhelmed and regain some measure of control,” but that sense may be merely an illusion of control. It’s like having one more cookie, one more cigarette, or one more drug dose. One more of any lust only adds to the law of diminishing marginal returns.
When you act on satisfying your lust, you’ve just practiced losing more control. How can you gain control and lose control at the same time? How can a symptom be a cure at the same time? For example; focus on a man who lusts after women and has no respect for them. An outward sign of this “helplessness” would be pornography. Would more pornography be the answer to his gaining control over his lust?
Expression may possibly be slavery towards a master. Such things like punching a pillow to vent anger, wasting time painting idle pictures, or enjoying a temper tantrum by slapping bumpers stickers displaying your hatred towards people who hold a political position you oppose, reveals evidence of being mastered by the object expressed. It may feel good to create outlets for these pressures, but is a feeling trustworthy evidence of self-control? They can’t be when self-deception is so easy.
An alcoholic can sincerely believe s/he has drinking under control. An abusive spouse can sincerely believe he has self-control. A psychologist or psychiatrist can sincerely believe he/she has mastery over his/her patient. If a patient comes along who is of greater intelligence and has more knowledge about human behavior than his/her counselor, the reality then is the counselor unknowingly is the patient while the patient is actually the counselor. The difference however is that in this role reversal, the so-called patient is not trying to help his/her licensed therapist. Instead, he/she is probably having fun playing with this novel living toy.
Maybe we’re being shown an example of this in the move, “What About Bob?” with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Bob Wiley does sanity while being crazy and, Dr. Leo Marvin does crazy while being sane. The principle can be summed up in the nutshell by Bob Wiley when he said to Dr. Leo Marvin, “Well, if I fake it then I don’t have it.”
Believing the best in people sounds like something a con artist would desire others to do so they can use their victims. People can be manipulated easily into feeling guilty if they don’t comply to this. A con artist has much more difficulty to fool suspicious and non-credulous targets compared to unsuspecting and trusting ones. This is what makes children so easily taken advantage of while old folks see through cons faster. However, this is all generally speaking. There are plenty of old folks who get conned easily. Those are the ones who think they are good people because they think the best of others. Those who aged with wisdom aren’t sucked in quite so quickly.
Don’t trust yourself even if you think loving yourself is the best reason you are pursuing your goals. It’s actually the worst. As psychologically incorrect as it might sound due to tons of misinformation, the beginning of life’s best offers cannot happen until there becomes an abhorrence for self. Why and in what way?
Pride is a cruel slave master; it’s in love with self. A healthy self-esteem loves self just like the diseased type does. Unfortunately one of the symptoms of a diseased self-esteem is that it carries the most blind type of love that exists! It just might be the only terminal illness that’s actually enjoyed and embraced by humanity! Until the heart receives radiation treatment, its malignant activity will never permit a newly humbled one to beat with purity.
