In my almost seventy years on Earth, I’ve learned a few things which I have a great deal of confidence in. These are ten of them:
1. While it most certainly is in our best interest to learn from the lives and teachings of wise and illumined individuals, any person or institution which tells us that we require that person’s or institution’s intercession, or anyone’s intercession, in order to have a personal, intimate relationship with God, the Universal Creative Spirit, is lying.
2. Any person or institution which wants us to go to war against an entity from which we perceive no personal threat, is most likely trying to manipulate us in order to acquire some worldly wealth for themselves. Any call to war should be examined with immense skepticism, with the same attitude as you would regard a carnival barker. If, without the contribution of those calling you to war, you feel a real, personal, and imminent threat, then maybe the threat is real. But be very sure before you move to take another human being’s life that there is no other possible path to a solution.
3. If the love of money isn’t the root of all evil, it certainly is one of the major contributors.
4. Use things, love people. Not the other way around. I saw this in a Facebook post. However, truth may even come from Facebook posts and this is a profound one.
5. When a person’s words and actions disagree, the truth of that person is to be found in their actions, not their words.
6. We live in a reciprocating universe. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If for no other reason, that makes the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you., truly golden. However, we may break a chain of injurious reciprocity with forgiveness.
7. Anyone who is exorbitantly wealthy relative to the world around them, has acquired that wealth through scheming; through finding a way to unfairly benefit from the work of others.
8. We never, ever “get away with” any immoral act. There is always a witness: our self. And we always, ultimately, desire justice.
9. Wisdom comes with age. If a younger person exhibits profound wisdom, they are an older soul come again to this Earth. If an older person exhibits little wisdom, they are a younger soul in an older body. If a younger person exhibits little wisdom, well, that’s life.
10. We are social beings. Without a healthy society as a context for our lives, our lives will not be healthy and we will not develop to our fullest potential. Your genuine well-being benefits me and vice versa.
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