Quote:
Life is full of choices: what to eat, what to wear, what god to pray to, what to learn, etc. All of life is full of choices. Life is not inherently one thing or another. It is neither good, nor bad; it is not suffering and it is not happiness. Life is what you make of it. You can choose to wallow in misery and suffering, or you can choose to laugh in the face of all hardship and fight on. There is no right choice, there is only what will make you truly happy. If temporary misery will result in years of happiness later, there is nothing wrong with accepting that misery. And there is nothing wrong with accepting short term gain and pleasure.
Life is full of choices, and no one can take that from you. They can threaten you, they can threaten the people around you, but the choice is still yours. You can choose to bow to their threats to protect yourself or others, or you can choose to fight to the bitter end. It is up to you, and no one can steal that from you. When you say that someone has forced you, you give them power over you. You declare yourself less than human, and them a god. For it is only a god who could truly force anyone to take any action, without any choice.
So long as you make your choices and never give up that power to another you are a god. You control your world and how you experience it. You are free to make happiness, or sadness. To be a god is to have power over yourself. To have power is to accept responsibility, and to be truthful always in your own mind. When you accept that there is always a choice, regardless of whether you like the choice, you give yourself power.
To live as a god is to strengthen yourself whenever possible. It is to admit your choices, weigh them, and fearlessly walk down the path of happiness with no regard for the opinions of others. If they choose to speak ill of you behind your back, no action of yours could ever please them. They are not worth a single thought, and you would be wise to leave them far behind you. They will be chained by their own fear of others' words, and will never be able to catch up to you. Their opinions are of no consequence, as you can never know their thoughts; you might witness actions and hear words, but the secret thoughts are theirs alone. Being unknowable, these thoughts do not exist in your world. Why should you fear something that does not exist? There are many things worthy of fear in this world, but the thoughts of others are not counted among them.
So walk proudly, fearless of the secret thoughts and the whispered words of others, and move ever onward on the path of happiness. To fight those who would deny you happiness is an honourable battle, and to fight to defend the happiness of others more so. Knowing that the world is choice, and seeking to deny the choice and happiness of others is the lowest and most despicable action any human can take. Set yourself on the path to happiness and be ever watchful that you do not knowingly infringe on the choice and path of others.
Life is full of choices; it is the noblest path of all to walk the world and make your choices free of fear.
Life is full of choices, and no one can take that from you. They can threaten you, they can threaten the people around you, but the choice is still yours. You can choose to bow to their threats to protect yourself or others, or you can choose to fight to the bitter end. It is up to you, and no one can steal that from you. When you say that someone has forced you, you give them power over you. You declare yourself less than human, and them a god. For it is only a god who could truly force anyone to take any action, without any choice.
So long as you make your choices and never give up that power to another you are a god. You control your world and how you experience it. You are free to make happiness, or sadness. To be a god is to have power over yourself. To have power is to accept responsibility, and to be truthful always in your own mind. When you accept that there is always a choice, regardless of whether you like the choice, you give yourself power.
To live as a god is to strengthen yourself whenever possible. It is to admit your choices, weigh them, and fearlessly walk down the path of happiness with no regard for the opinions of others. If they choose to speak ill of you behind your back, no action of yours could ever please them. They are not worth a single thought, and you would be wise to leave them far behind you. They will be chained by their own fear of others' words, and will never be able to catch up to you. Their opinions are of no consequence, as you can never know their thoughts; you might witness actions and hear words, but the secret thoughts are theirs alone. Being unknowable, these thoughts do not exist in your world. Why should you fear something that does not exist? There are many things worthy of fear in this world, but the thoughts of others are not counted among them.
So walk proudly, fearless of the secret thoughts and the whispered words of others, and move ever onward on the path of happiness. To fight those who would deny you happiness is an honourable battle, and to fight to defend the happiness of others more so. Knowing that the world is choice, and seeking to deny the choice and happiness of others is the lowest and most despicable action any human can take. Set yourself on the path to happiness and be ever watchful that you do not knowingly infringe on the choice and path of others.
Life is full of choices; it is the noblest path of all to walk the world and make your choices free of fear.
As a small note, I use the word "god" in this essay not to refer to G-d, but to refer to a matter of control. Here being called a "god" is to be acknowledged as in control.
