This is actually something I wrote a few years ago that I just rediscovered and thought it was something worth posting here. If I re-wrote it now I wouldn't change anything - except I'd probably add a little less 'preachy'. Read and consider, and please keep in mind that any hint of the afforementioned preachy comes from the enthusiasm I was buzzing with rather than arrogance as I was emerging through a stage of my life when I actually started to understand myself. Enjoy!
(i) "The key to resisting the will of others is knowledge of thyself". To say this came from the pen of a great philosopher would be an outright lie, however it was spoken in a pretty decent TV show. What grasp can you have on your own opinions, thoughts and passions if you cannot distinguish between those which are genuine and those which have been impressed upon you by a profit-driven agenda? Companies throughout the world are not interested in the individual but instead what’s in their wallets, and a free-thinking individual with no interest in their product is no good to their business. So what better way is there to subdue the free-thinking mind than by conditioning them to think a certain way, and what better way is there to control the masses than by subduing the free-thinking mind? How many times have you bought something that you have not needed nor particularly wanted before, only to regret it the minute you get home? Disconnect yourself from this lie of a reality - do not put yourself in their field of Pavlovian conditioning, instead discover yourself through experience, experimentation and debating. A fool is the man who allows himself to be sucked in! To repeat the opening quote, "The key to resisting the will of others is knowledge of thyself".
(ii) A healthy diet! Much has been made of health and fitness in the last decade or so - we've arrived at a point where Britain (and not only Britain!) is plagued by fat families having fat children, and virtually every media source you can think of contains at the very least a handful of recent "Health and Fitness" guides attempting to cash in on this self inflicted ailment - and yet a dominating attitude amongst a large percentage of people that healthy eating should always give in to tastier, fattier treats counteracts this. And why should it be any different? Having once had this mindset myself it's easy to understand why you might take this stance, but it is not based on any kind of rewarding philosophy but rather self-denial - like a way of diverting your attention away from the fact that you have not looked after your body. It is no coincidence that natural foods can be proven to have positive effects on the human body - and it takes no leap of faith to determine that a healthier body equals a happier person. It raises self-confidence, it raises your physical abilities and it raises your life expectancy. These are all important stepping stones towards the next point.
(iii) Love yourself! I am a strong believer in the philosophy that your life is what you make it, and surely a key element to living a healthy, happy life is respecting yourself enough to do so. The best method i have found to attaining this self-respect (although i am in NO WAY claiming to be an expert!) is to accept yourself for what you are. A good quote here would be, "If life gives you lemons, make Lemonade". There is no point wishing you were someone or something else when you could be finding a way to make the best out of what you are. Why wish you were good at Football when you're a damn fine Musician? Why focus on the negative and then complain that you're never happy? How can somebody ever be anywhere near happy when they channel all of their energies into self-inflicted misery? And how can you ever let anybody else love you, and enjoy the bliss of this emotion, if you refuse to let yourself feel the same emotion?
(iv) Companionship. Whilst time alone can be spent happily and satisfactory, there is a point in everyones life when perhaps the last piece of the jigsaw is partnership with a similar soul. There seems to be this stance nowerdays that that the general direction of a relationship is to fall in love, and then fall steadily into an inactive, work-driven life which leaves little time for much else due to fatigue and stress. This idea to me is an abomination! A future in which the ray of light awaiting me at the end of this generation-expanding period are a pair of slippers and a pipe is like metaphorically staring into the gates of hell. To me, a reltionship should never have to lose the initial spark and should never have to be held together for the sake of being together. A partner should be an expansion of yourself and, like the individual, continue to grow with time. It is also through others that we learn more of ourselves and it is in this sense that a relationship should be about mutual spiritual growth.
Notice how not one of these points can be achieved without all three of the rest!
(i) "The key to resisting the will of others is knowledge of thyself". To say this came from the pen of a great philosopher would be an outright lie, however it was spoken in a pretty decent TV show. What grasp can you have on your own opinions, thoughts and passions if you cannot distinguish between those which are genuine and those which have been impressed upon you by a profit-driven agenda? Companies throughout the world are not interested in the individual but instead what’s in their wallets, and a free-thinking individual with no interest in their product is no good to their business. So what better way is there to subdue the free-thinking mind than by conditioning them to think a certain way, and what better way is there to control the masses than by subduing the free-thinking mind? How many times have you bought something that you have not needed nor particularly wanted before, only to regret it the minute you get home? Disconnect yourself from this lie of a reality - do not put yourself in their field of Pavlovian conditioning, instead discover yourself through experience, experimentation and debating. A fool is the man who allows himself to be sucked in! To repeat the opening quote, "The key to resisting the will of others is knowledge of thyself".
(ii) A healthy diet! Much has been made of health and fitness in the last decade or so - we've arrived at a point where Britain (and not only Britain!) is plagued by fat families having fat children, and virtually every media source you can think of contains at the very least a handful of recent "Health and Fitness" guides attempting to cash in on this self inflicted ailment - and yet a dominating attitude amongst a large percentage of people that healthy eating should always give in to tastier, fattier treats counteracts this. And why should it be any different? Having once had this mindset myself it's easy to understand why you might take this stance, but it is not based on any kind of rewarding philosophy but rather self-denial - like a way of diverting your attention away from the fact that you have not looked after your body. It is no coincidence that natural foods can be proven to have positive effects on the human body - and it takes no leap of faith to determine that a healthier body equals a happier person. It raises self-confidence, it raises your physical abilities and it raises your life expectancy. These are all important stepping stones towards the next point.
(iii) Love yourself! I am a strong believer in the philosophy that your life is what you make it, and surely a key element to living a healthy, happy life is respecting yourself enough to do so. The best method i have found to attaining this self-respect (although i am in NO WAY claiming to be an expert!) is to accept yourself for what you are. A good quote here would be, "If life gives you lemons, make Lemonade". There is no point wishing you were someone or something else when you could be finding a way to make the best out of what you are. Why wish you were good at Football when you're a damn fine Musician? Why focus on the negative and then complain that you're never happy? How can somebody ever be anywhere near happy when they channel all of their energies into self-inflicted misery? And how can you ever let anybody else love you, and enjoy the bliss of this emotion, if you refuse to let yourself feel the same emotion?
(iv) Companionship. Whilst time alone can be spent happily and satisfactory, there is a point in everyones life when perhaps the last piece of the jigsaw is partnership with a similar soul. There seems to be this stance nowerdays that that the general direction of a relationship is to fall in love, and then fall steadily into an inactive, work-driven life which leaves little time for much else due to fatigue and stress. This idea to me is an abomination! A future in which the ray of light awaiting me at the end of this generation-expanding period are a pair of slippers and a pipe is like metaphorically staring into the gates of hell. To me, a reltionship should never have to lose the initial spark and should never have to be held together for the sake of being together. A partner should be an expansion of yourself and, like the individual, continue to grow with time. It is also through others that we learn more of ourselves and it is in this sense that a relationship should be about mutual spiritual growth.
Notice how not one of these points can be achieved without all three of the rest!
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