Is the Soul Eternal? →

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  Is our soul eternal? How can we know for sure? Do those parents who give this advice know for sure?

“Be good, son, if you want to go to heaven.”

Being good is about your attitude. The world might slap you down, but keep smiling, and you will go to heaven.

Really?

Does the value of what I learn or the help I offer to others when they are in need matter? Is my willingness to help others reflect my growth, or is it solely because they need assistance? These questions lead us to a deeper understanding of our own spirituality.?

     In his advice to be good, the dad asks for attitude rather than action. Good thoughts, my son, because you will go to heaven if you do.

Rudyard Kipling offered his son a promise in the Poem “IF” advice on a stoic’s focus on goals.

“Yours is the Earth and everything in it,

and, what is more, you’ll be a Man, my son!” 

     Kipling’s promise is at least to offer that the son will be a man, and perhaps Kipling's definition of being a man was also Kipling's. What about the father’s promise that his son will go to heaven? That father can offer the promise but can’t provide the evidence.

If you, or at least your soul, does get to heaven, you must live with yourself for eternity. So the next question might be: then what?

Some religions believe the soul returns after death and reunites with a resurrected body, while others are unsure whether the soul exists without its original body. Either way, a spiritual existence for each of us should carry the experiences, knowledge, and skills we can from our current life journey.

     Philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and many others have long pondered the existence of the soul. Their writings have significantly influenced the ongoing debate. More recently, Will Durant, a philosopher of the 20th century, also shared the view that the soul is an integral part of human existence, a perspective echoed by many intellectuals.

Some, like Durant, are influenced by a belief that the universe brings about and creates life, taking matter and evolving it into living form. They even suggest this is the universe’s purpose. This view states that all matter has a spiritual essence.

     Durant was fond of his unique soul but did not expect it to survive the complete death of his body. Ironically, Fallen Leaves is the last of three posthumous titles, and he concludes that he felt the body’s death would likewise be the death of the soul. That conclusion seems at odds with his passion for life and views that energy exists within all things. It looks odd on several levels since he didn’t understand what the soul was.

     Durant said he wanted to bring the “future into focus,” and his method was to focus on the raw experience of history. This approach is brilliantly reflected in his extensive work writing the eleven volumes of The Story of Civilization. Durant believed that life flowed from what he thought was a mysterious source that moved like a river from an unknown beginning to an abrupt end with the body’s death. The sudden end of the soul is often the conclusion of intellectuals that seems to be tied to the concept of determinism: the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will.

When you place great value on individual experiences, it suggests that free will and agency are essential.

     In my opinion, Durant was on the right track. However, his conclusions on the nature of the soul were incomplete because he needed to live longer to experience and understand all the options, such as spatial dimension theory.

     We live in a world clearly defined by three spatial dimensions plus the further dimension of time. However, Durant needed more information about the fourth, fifth, and other dimensions. In 1919, mathematician Theodor Kaluza presented a new idea, stating that in addition to the three dimensions of location, objects occupied a position in time: the fourth dimension.

Today, string theorists present more complicated theories, saying it’s pretty easy to assume there are ten or eleven dimensions and more. Maybe these other dimensions include or await our participation with our spiritual soul.

     Seeing life metaphorically, like a river of influences and forces, is a poetic approach that ties things together, but it ignores where the river starts and assumes that it ends.

I conclude that the soul continues after death and that its life is eternal. Durant’s thoughts and what we have learned about string theory have compelling implications, but my religious teachings also make a great deal of difference for me.

     As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I believe Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose on the third day, and appeared again to his disciples. I also conclude that the soul leaves the body at death for all of us and, at some point, is resurrected again, regaining a physical body.

A moment at Bosque Del Apache with Expensive Cameras to Capture a Single Moment →

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The Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is about two hours south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. You drive to Socorro and another 11 miles to San Antonio, where an 8-mile loop road follows the Rio Grande River and the refuge.

"Woods of the Apache" means "The Bosque Del Apache.” "Bosque" is a word borrowed from Spanish, meaning the forest or woods, referring to the habitat found on both sides of the Rio Grande River.

Over 350 bird species have been observed in the Bosque del Apache, where vast flocks of wintering cranes and geese are the refuge's most exciting feature.

The Sand Hill Cranes are large tall birds with long legs and necks. They pair up for life and usually have one or two chicks. These birds migrate from Canada, Montana, and Utah in the winter, and they will fly a chick South for the winter to teach them the way and encourage the offspring to be independent.

November to late February is the best time to see large numbers of birds in the Bosque del Apache when typically over 10,000 Sandhill Cranes and 20,000 Ross's and Snow Geese can be seen. Sunrise and sunset is the best time to see the bird while they roost in the refuge before leaving in the morning to feed or after returning from the fields in the evening.

We spent a couple of days at this refuge a few years ago in the late fall. We had been told by a friend to watch the birds in the morning after sitting overnight roosting on the water and waiting for when the first ones take off. When the rest then all at once follow, the sky fills, and that is the time for the best pictures.

We were excited and hoped to see them all get up into the air at once, but it turned out that the birds flew in several groups, not just one.

The road edge near the roosting birds was lined with people holding big cameras with huge, expensive telescopic lenses. Plenty of tripods are topped with Nikon and Canon cameras where the lens alone can cost between $2500 and $12,000, and even more line the nearby road with professional bird watchers. Some had camouflage pants and jackets.

• “Photography is an austere and blazing poetry of the real.”

• – Ansel Adams

• “The negative is the equivalent of the composer’s score and the performance print.”

• – Ansel Adams

• “It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera... they are made with the eye, heart, and head.”

• -Henri Cartier-Bresson

• “A good snapshot keeps a moment that s gone from running away.”

• – Eudora Welty

Like birds, the people would move in groups up and down the road. One guy would break first from the group, and then it seemed like all the others would follow.

We did see some people, amateurs and first-timers, just watching, like we were doing, so we found our way into their little groups. So we folks with the smaller lens, and even just with iPhones, didn't fit in, and some walked around alone to avoid embarrassment.

It was mostly the men that had the "big" lens with extensions and tripods. The women appeared much later and stood in their groups.

We were one of the first on-site at "The Bosque Del Apache" that special fall day, arriving early morning before the sun rose. Then, when the light broke, it was amazing to see how many birds were there.

The birds, the professional photographers, and all those watching were a treat to us who watched them all.

If it really was my life story why does it change each time I tell it? →

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There is no one whose story I am as familiar with as my own. The same is true for you. This seems obvious, but what surprises me is how I see my story differently almost every time I tell it.

Connections that seemed important when I told my story seemed less critical over time. Coincidences and perspectives have become more apparent over time. When I see those changes, the story changes as I retell it, and I find that it changes me. I become different because of how I see the story differently. We continually create who we are but use the same events to shape our conclusions.

  Author Pat Conroy said: “The most powerful words in the English language tell me a story.”

I have witnessed others change their conclusions about themselves using the same facts from participating in an event at my local church.

Over about 35 years, a men's group I participated in met once a month, and each time one person would take about 45 minutes and tell the group their life story. 

The initial purpose of doing this was to help us get to know each other. We believed that men didn't get bonded quickly and were usually shy in this setting.  We felt it was essential to show appreciation and love for each other.

People moved in and moved away over this time, but somehow we were able to keep this going. After a few years, it led to recycling some of us by repeating our stories, and we would hear the life stories again. I have some memory issues, but I can usually remember the details of these stories clearly. What was interesting is that sometimes the events of a story heard before were viewed differently by the presenter when retold. I had my occasions of retelling my life experiences that I felt important, and it was clear that the same events looked different in the retelling. There were times when I wondered if a person who seemed to see the same event differently when retold was doing so because, having told the story, he then found different new connections to the events. I also wondered if the changes and different emphasis were on purpose, just reshaping an image.

People come and go in our lives, and it takes some time to see reasons. When a new person comes, we take the influence and unique perspective for granted as coincidence. When we look back and see the full impact of the people and recent events in our lives, we see our own experiences differently, and as a result, the past looks different, and our common destiny feels changed by the events.

How You See Yourself Changes, Then You Change →

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“How you arrange the plot points of your life into narrative shapes who you are and is a fundamental part of being human.” This is the subtitle in an interesting article titled Life’s Stories, published in The Atlantic in 2015. In that article, Monisha Pasupathi, a professor of developmental psychology at the University of Utah, offered much insight on this subject. She stated: “To have relationships, we’ve all had to tell little pieces of our story.”

We share our life stories daily as part of our small talk. In just our greetings to others, here are some examples: “Hi, where are you from?” “Where did you grow up?” “Which school did you attend?”

Recently, I watched a salesperson standing at the entrance of a store in a local mall, making eye contact and smiling as people passed by. A lady said hello back, and the two walked into the store together. I was nearby and overheard what happened next. The salesperson greeted the customer, asking where she was from, and received a smile and a reply in return. She mentioned a town in California where she grew up, and the salesperson replied enthusiastically as she knew the city well. They reminisced about a street they shared in common. Both women relaxed and enjoyed getting to know each other. It was clear they had made a connection by sharing part of their life story.

We see our own lives as a series of events, connecting the events with a narrative that then becomes a story, our story. To a large degree, the resulting report we constructed has a great deal to do with our self-identity.

In the last twenty-plus years, I had the opportunity to tell my life story in front of a church group of men at least twenty times. Each time I shared my story, it was a little different, as I added, changed, or withheld specific details or events. I had thought more about the story and had new experiences, and my memory altered as time passed. Yes, I recalled it differently because I would reflect on events and see them in a new light.

In that same time frame, I heard a few dozen men present their life stories and then often heard them tell their stories again after a few years. Their stories' emphasis, substance, and even conclusions changed, as my own had altered with each new telling.

Life stories are like books. They have plots, themes, timelines, and characters. We choose which are important to us and connect these events in a narrative, shaping and reshaping our self-identity. Art, music, poetry, literature, service, our heritage, and even food can influence us even to the point of being part of our life story.

People come and go in our lives, some becoming significant characters in our story as events unfold, but later in life seem less important. We look back at these people, filtering all we have been through with our memories. Indeed, the anonymous poem opening this book suggests, “Some people come into our lives for a reason, some for a season, and some for a lifetime.” Some feel God sends the people that are needed. Others may bring challenges and darkness. I believe we have a choice in putting together the narrative of who we are and who we become. We can pick which of the events we connect with, what we conclude about them, and then weave and reweave them into our story. Finding or choosing a better perspective later in life can make all the difference.

If we reject the case for being able to reshape who we are, we are left with a deterministic view of our identity. Some who embrace this belief claim that people are wired to be what they are. This view says that since we didn’t choose our parents or the time or place where we were born, we are therefore programmed by cause and effect, resulting in our current circumstances.

It seems clear that this deterministic view is false. All you have to do is tell your story to a friend or family member, write down how you see things now, and then do the same again in a year. Your account will be different.

Thoughts about the reintroduction of the gray wolf to places where they were extirpated →

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Wolf reintroduction involves reestablishing a portion of gray wolves in areas where native wolves have been extirpated. Reintroduction is only considered where large tracts of suitable wilderness still exist, and certain prey species are abundant enough to support a predetermined wolf population.

What about Yellowstone, was the reintroduction of wolves successful? Yes, after wolves were reintroduced into the park, the top predators helped parts of the ecosystem bounce back. They've significantly reduced elk herds, opening the door for willow, aspen, beaver, and songbird populations to recover.

An article in the Guardian on November 7th, 2020, reported that “Wolves win in Colorado after the vote for reintroduction by 2023” Coloradans voted to reintroduce wolves, hunted and trapped to extinction in the 1940s.

The proposition squeaked by with 50.4% of the total votes as of Thursday night. This is the first time American voters have ever weighed in on reintroducing a wildlife species, as that decision is usually left up to a state’s team of wildlife biologists.

The article added that “Colorado’s decision was complicated by the fact that just last week, the Trump administration delisted gray wolves from the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) after announcing the species’ “successful recovery.” Hundreds of biologists dispute this partly because wolves still only occupy a sliver of their historic range.”

When you Retell your Life Stories, You Reinvent Yourself →

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We are each the authors of our own life stories because the events happened to us, and no one else experienced or can remember the events and connect them to the same conclusions as well as we can.

A question might be, how can we edit and change how we tell the story facts just because we are retelling it? Isn’t it the case that facts are just that, facts? The events that previously happened are part of our history; isn’t that the point?

Well, yes and no. The facts happened, and we finished the event they represented when they happened. Still, those conclusions depended on our viewpoint of the event at the time.

Each time we consider a past event the lens we see it through filters of other and newer experiences that had not happened when the original experience or event happened. The lens of thoughts and recollection always filter to the “now,” adding in all the new experiences.  We see the past through the prism of newer events and experiences.

 Our lives change constantly, adding to our life stories and enabling us to see past events differently.

 Creating a narrative about the events in our lives triggers the conclusions that new experiences and knowledge have brought to us. We could conclude that all we did was add clarity to what happened, but new insights offer more than clarity, and the events themselves take on new meaning.

 To test this for yourself, ask someone to tell you their life story, listen closely, and note what you feel the overall conclusion is from the events discussed. Then, go back in a few weeks or months, ask again, and listen closely, making notes. The story will sound different and the conclusions about the event change somewhat.

#Retelling #Reinventing. #Life.Stories #Personal.Development

It is what is inside us that motivates us and keeps us going →

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by Brent M. Jones

Starting at about four, my mother would have me kneel at my bedside and say my prayers. The importance of that part of my life story has changed over the years, and I see it differently. I value this experience, and I am grateful for it.

The early assumption that God was listening and that taking problems to him would be helpful has been a comfort, even without confirmation of having been heard at times. This sentiment is summed up well in a quote by C. S. Lewis: “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.”

Others have shared how they were taught similar lessons at a very young age by saying a prayer many are familiar with: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” I have thought about this often: If a person dies and his soul is taken, what is the soul, and what exactly is taken?

 If the soul is eternal and lives on when the body dies, it must be made of different materials. If that substance is spiritual, then where does it reside within our living bodies? Is it separate or part of our living flesh?

Some have referred to the soul as the seat or location of our character and emotions. It is sometimes explained as the spirit within a person and the person’s mental abilities, personality, feelings, memories, perception, thinking, and even skills. Wherever our soul goes, if our particular skills are needed, perhaps our work ethic learned in obtaining those skills is part of the package.

Whatever it is that will go with me, if I die before I wake, I want to understand as much about everything as possible and make sure my knowledge is worth taking along.

Louis Armstrong once said, “Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them,” and “What we play is life.” What, then, is that music if you are not a musician? How did that music, or that passion, get to be inside us?

Armstrong is saying that music is a part of his work ethic and life and is needed to exist. This leaves the question of what our music might be and how we keep from losing it. I conclude that my “music - passion” and what makes me feel alive are family, reading, writing, and service, but these items have evolved g and changed as I look back over my life story.

Music can be a connection between our physical selves and our very souls. We feel the music. It reflects our hearts. Music with scriptures are hymns, and we worship through hymns. The feelings of our hearts are conveyed in prayer with music.

Our bodies and faces reflect the images of happiness and sadness. Music and singing open up those feelings. Sometimes we sing for what we long for, using music to help us get by without the necessary things.

What do we long for? What do we have a passion for? Love and kindness are passions that can focus on us and drive our actions. We lose ourselves in those feelings; for some, opportunities for service to others reflect their hearts. When applicable passions fill our minds, we have a little place to worry about ourselves.

For us, what we play, rather than music, can be whatever we love. It can be anything we choose, but we need to feel passionate about it. If you’re lucky enough to love knowledge, learning, or service, then you are indeed blessed. That, like the music for Louis, never stops being an option.

Rust is a Passionate Color →

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Rust is a vibrant color, rich with warm orange, brick-red, and mustard-yellow, and the combinations seem endless as one’s emotions are stimulated when fond memories come front and center. Rust let us know that a  d and perhaps the otherwise worthless car has a history and a story to share if you're willing to listen. 

When a great restored old car is found, you may think, "Wow, That car is so cool; that era was so cool." As you caress the vehicle with your eyes, remembering "back in the days" floods your memories and sends you back in time. When you see the same type of car all rusted out, you may think of the time and place, but your thoughts will be more profound and perhaps longing with nostalgia.

The car seems to be still alive, if only in the remembering. Will a rusted 55 Chevy take you back to that time any faster than a restored one? The restored one may take you back to a particular car and time, but perhaps the rusted version leaves your mind open to looking deeper.

The rusted-out car doesn't smell new. The doors (if they work at all) sound different if they close. The surface of rust may break and crumble if you rub your hands over it. Is it a car, or is it a spirit of a car?

The spirit of the car brings back feelings, memories, and emotions and allows for that moment in time to transfer to the "now." 

Rust is beautiful. Rust is the color of timelessness.

Our Memory Lane is Modified by Frequent Trips →

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As your life unfolds, the power of experience reshapes your memory lane, allowing you to craft a new narrative. Each time you retell your life story, you are not just recounting but reinventing yourself.

Our past, often envisioned as a metaphorical' memory lane,' is not fixed. It is subject to change, influenced by our present perspective and experiences. Each time we revisit a memory, our brain has the potential to reinterpret or edit it, offering us a fresh understanding.

Professor Elizabeth Phelps, a professor of psychology and neuroscience at NY University, presented this thought. Senior Editor Mark Fischetti quoted her in a 2017 Scientific American article, “Why Do Our Memories Change? "

Professor Phelps said, “Our memories can change because they become vulnerable each time we revisit them. When we first lay down a memory, it takes the brain a little while to solidly store the information—consolidation. And every time we subsequently recall that memory, it has to go through a new storage process—another slight delay for another consolidation.”

The book Why Life Stories Change: As You Look At Your Own Life Story, You See Yourself Differently states that who we are is the total of the events in our lives, especially those we connect with. We choose the circumstances we connect with each time we tell our life stories. We do just that by putting together the narrative of who we are in our life stories.

As we retell the story, we can pick which events we connect with and what we conclude about them, weaving and reweaving the narrative about them into our story.

As my story changes with the retelling, it changes me. I become different because of how I see the story.

A person’s connections include those who have come into their lives, but even events we experience through fiction and fantasy can contribute to our conclusions about life. For example, George R.R. Martin presents this idea in a quote: " A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies,” and all those lives influence us.  

A poem by an unknown author suggests it focuses on the influence of those people in our lives.

"Some people come into our lives for a reason, some for a season, and some for a lifetime.”

Some believe God sends the people needed into your life, and others may bring challenges and darkness.

Each time we go down Memory Lane, it is different, but we become different with time and look back through the filter of new experiences.

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Both books below show the value of using the past and learning from it to re-invent ourselves.

Why Life Stories Change: As You Look At Your Own Life Story, You See Yourself Differently

This book states that who we are is the total of the events in our lives, especially those we connect with. We choose the events that connect each time we tell our life stories. We do just that, putting together the narrative of who we are in our life stories.

&

Embrace Life’s Randomness: Breathe in the Amazing

Our journeys through life follow unexpected paths. Sometimes, looking back offers clarity and understanding, while other times, you find yourself at an unforeseen junction, and it takes your breath away.

How is Existence Subjective, and Is It For Everyone? →

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Existence is subjective, a unique experience for each individual. What one person experiences is always different from another's, making it always particular and individual—always my existence, your existence, her existence.

This uniqueness is encapsulated in Martin Heidegger's phrase, Dasein, “there being,” which defines humans by the fact that they exist or are in the world and inhabit it. Dasein, a key concept in Heidegger's philosophy, refers to human existence’s unique mode of being, characterized by its temporal nature and its relation to the world. This understanding of existence requires investigating the meaning of “Being.” *

Many problems arise because people believe that their subjective experience of the world is objectively actual for everyone.

Existentialism is a philosophical theory that empowers individuals as free agents who control their choices and actions. This belief in personal agency is a cornerstone of existentialism, emphasizing the importance of taking responsibility for one's life and decisions, fostering a sense of accountability and engagement.

Existentialists believe that society's restrictions should not hinder an individual's life or actions. These limitations not only inhibit free will but also stifle the development of a person’s potential. However, the belief in existentialism offers a beacon of hope, suggesting that it is crucial to break free from such constraints to fully realize one's potential, fostering a sense of optimism and hope for the future.

*Being and Time by Martin Heidegger - This book tries to answer the question of what it is to live.

Because he asks these questions, he exists as a being.

What is Life's Purpose, why were we born, and why are we here? →

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Those who consistently help others are happy and less likely to be overcome by obstacles in their lives because they are less stressed, and their experiences have improved mental health. So the question is whether our purpose is to help others or be happy.

Newborns seek happiness, which is their primary purpose. As they grow older, they recognize that others provide the things that lead to joy, and at that point, it is expected that some gratitude starts to become familiar to them. A child loves because he is loved first and feels the love from others before understanding it. Higher self-esteem, improved academic performance, better parent-child communication, and fewer psychological and behavioral problems have been linked to this affection. On the other hand, children who do not have affectionate parents tend to have less favorable outcomes on these measures. Over a lifetime, it seems clear that “gratitude precedes happiness and is required if we want to achieve it.” (see link)

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful. It results in being willing and ready to show appreciation for and return kindness. This suggests that the purpose of life is to be happy, but it requires serving others to do so as adults.

When serving others, happiness is found when your service is performed, not expecting something in return, and you intend to help and lessen other people’s misery. The good news is those who consistently help others are happy and less likely to overcome obstacles in their lives because they are less stressed, and their experiences have improved mental health.

Mark Twain said, “The two most important days in your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why.” The day many people feel like they have discovered why usually involves someone else they are helping.

On the day you are born, and from then on, happiness is everyone’s goal, but at some point. Another day is needed to show you how happiness can be sustained and meaningful.

Humble People spend more time thinking about others more than themselves →

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Humble people care about others and don’t spend most of their time thinking about themselves. Their concern for others is selfless; they don’t measure what they do by what they can gain.

They acknowledge they don't have it all together.

They know the difference between self-confidence and pride.

They seek to add value to others.

They take responsibility for their actions.

They are filled with gratitude for what they have.

Life is a humbling experience. It tests you along the trip. Humble people appreciate the value of all things, including and especially other people. They are open to new ideas and continue to learn throughout their lives. The final analysis takes humility to make sense of the world around us and our role in it.

What is True Happiness in Life? →

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Gratitude precedes happiness, and true happiness is felt when you can respond to your appreciation and help others.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “The purpose of life is not to be happy: It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”

Happiness, in the ancient noble sense, means self-fulfillment, bringing a different focus to the word happiness.

Thomas Carlyle doubted that Emerson was accurately quoted and added these thoughts:

… “It was only cheap, easy happiness that Carlyle railed against. He taught that there was higher happiness, namely, blessedness — the spiritual fruition that comes through renunciation of self, the happiness of heroes that comes from putting thoughts of happiness out of sight, and that the direct and persistent wooing of fortune for her good gifts was selfish and unmanly, — a timely lesson at all seasons.”

"Poverty exists not because we cannot feed the poor, but because we cannot satisfy the rich.”

The reason that the rich can’t be satisfied may offer some confirmation as to what the true nature of happiness is, suggesting that for true happiness, one needs to be helpful, to be honorable, to be compassionate to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well”.

Fiction brings experiences that the reader would have never expected to have. →

by Brent M. Jones

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Fiction enables us to step into a new reality where all our beliefs can be set aside, and we can meet new people who inspire or even terrify us when we read.

Will fictional characters and experiences influence our self-identity? I think they will. Do they play a role in the narrative of how you see your life story? Again, I think they do. Does fiction have any redeeming value? Will its influence raise or lower our intelligence? There is plenty of evidence that it increases it.

Numerous suggestions exist on how to increase intelligence, but one common one is hanging around with intelligent, educated people. You can talk to them about a wide range of subjects and new ideas, and you can gain different perspectives. It sounds a lot like opening a book of fiction.

The journal Science published an extraordinary study showing that reading literary fiction can improve people's theory of mind (ToM) – their ability to understand others' mental states.

"Fluid intelligence" is the ability to solve problems, understand things and detect meaningful patterns. In today's world, fluid intelligence and reading go hand in hand.

The first time I read William Faulkner’s fictional story, As I Lay Dying, it took me by surprise. I expected to enter a unique storyline and learn about the people in Faulkner’s fictional Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, during the 1920s. Yet the conversation's language, tone, and sound were a surprise. The way the characters spoke to each other was different than anything I would ever have expected, and I knew I was in a different place. The way the characters interacted and sounded contributed to letting me see life differently.

I read Lia Genova’s book, Still Alice, because I wanted to learn more about what it was like to have Alzheimer’s disease. I hoped to never experience this for myself and saw this story as a way to understand the condition further. The story did much more than I expected, as I learned but also felt the impact of the disease. When Alice, a linguistics expert, began to lose her words and thoughts, I felt how hard it was for her.

Einstein suggested, “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

Neil Gaiman is a writer of fantasy and fiction, and in his book The View from the Cheap Seats, he wrote about attending a meeting for fiction writers in China. In previous years, China didn’t allow fairy tales and fiction in their schools, so he was surprised to learn of this invitation. He asked an official what had changed and was told, off the record, that they had toured all the big companies they did outsourcing work for in the United States and asked those they met what they read. The resounding answer was science fiction. The officials then began to understand the connection of invention with creativity. (I guess it took a random event for them to figure this out.)

Einstein also said that creative imagination is the essential element in the intellectual equipment of the true scientist and that fairy tales are the childhood stimuli to this quality. I guess the Chinese officials didn’t read that before their trip.

There are good and bad guys in fiction, fairy tales, and horror stories. For some, the “Force” in Star Wars might represent the goodness in the universe, but what about that goodness? Will it reaffirm our beliefs while seeing them as an element of a fictional plot; does it make the fiction more believable? The bigger question is, can we really step out of our world, or are we just going always to view things through the lens of our experience?

Random events in books free me and leave me thinking I have escaped concluding my lens of experience.

As you look at your own life story your narrative changes and you see yourself differently →

by Brent M. Jones

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Creating a narrative about the events of your life brings clarity and helps you understand how you became you.

As your life continues, experience changes how you see past events, and you find a new narrative. Retell your life story and reinvent yourself as you do.

Book Focus

Your Life’s Narrative, The Story you tell yourself, Your life story is your reality, Reinvent Yourself, Create your narrative as you look back, Connect the events of your life, Stories change with the retelling

Make Yourself a Rag Doll Friend →

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A handmade rag doll has a lot of ways to bring you peace and comfort. It is always there for you and always listening. Its material might be former shirts, blouses, drapes, and just anything from the past with special memories. The doll becomes a collection of memories. The memories chosen are also friends.

The most significant and most lasting toys are made, not bought.

When the Music Runs Out (what if your too young to retire?) →

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What happens when the music runs out? Do musicians retire when that happens?  Louis Armstrong said musicians don't retire; they only stop when no more music is left in them. Is it possible that we may reach the point when we have no more pieces left in us? Joan Baez will retire at the end of 2018. Will "her" ability to make music be gone? Of course not, but maybe the sound changes?

Music is a connection between our physical self and our very souls. We feel the music. It reflects our hearts and deepest feelings. 

Music with scriptures is hymns. We worship through hymns. The feelings of our heart are conveyed in verbal prayer, so perhaps prayer is a form of music? 

Our bodies and faces reflect images of happiness and sadness, and music opens those feelings. Singing makes us better. Sometimes we sing for what we long for. We use music to help us get by without things wanted.

When the music is gone, maybe we have left and gone somewhere with us, hopefully, to find the piece.

Thoughts about Intuition: listen to your broccoli example →

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Author Anne Lamott is known for saying, “Listen to your broccoli, and it will tell you what to do.” She inspired this quote from one of Mel Brook’s routines in which a psychiatrist tells a patient, “Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it.” In her book, “Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life,” she explains that you listen to the object of your interest to gain intuition.

Lamott’s explanation of the quote suggests that intuition can be created by listening and reminds me of another quote I heard in a sales training meeting: “Listen to the Marketplace, and it will tell you what to do.” These quotes don’t mention what you specifically listen to but imply that you find the parts of the whole to learn about and listen to.  

The quotes make me think of other writing advice explaining that character development is more important than plot development, explaining that the characters in a story interact and create the plot. According to this approach, the first step is to develop the characters, the individual parts of the property. They need to be believable with their personality, appearance, history, and mannerisms and will have their emotional baggage. Some characters may not like some of the other characters, and how they interact with each other and with events will be the result of who they are individually.  

Listening to the character’s interactions with each other and knowing how they feel about the things that happen to them gives the writer intuition about the plot and outcome.  Impulse is created by listening to the object of your interest and profoundly understanding the facts relating to that object.

Social Media isn’t real life portrayed: It often is just fantasy →

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Social media isn’t portrayed in real life; it is often just fantasy. Research shows that people had a false sense of belonging and connection that wasn't real-world based. One big reason is that all those "assumed connections" people check in on out of habit several times a day look like they have a perfect life. What seems to be just often isn't real, and if your life isn't perfect, it can be depressing.

Social Media doesn't give you a real sense of the world around you or what other people are. People can be whoever they want to be on those sites. Whatever they do, it can be a staged situation, not a shared life. Our lives can look dull in comparison, leading to a lot of stress and anxiety. Not good things. Other people’s passions can be polarizing.

Depression, in part, is a state of not caring. The world turns "black and cold" all around us when we’re depressed.  Things don't matter. Anxiety may be the other end of this same spectrum. On that side, you care "far too much about everything," and there is no way to accomplish everything you care about. 

Connecting with people can help with either problem. Getting "out of ourselves" helps. People, books, art, poetry, service, ancestors, and music can all help us get out of ourselves. If people are going to pull us out, they need to pull us into the real world, not a made-up fantasy online reality show.

Having said this, I have to acknowledge the real world. I may use these social media sites to offer some very short encouragement and pull people to this site.  I don't think I originated this, so I hope you don't want to hang the messenger.

Is Bob Dylan’s song "Blowin in the Wind" literature" →

This essay was posted in this site’s newsletter section and also on LinkedIn

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The song “Blowin' in the Wind” by Bob Dylan raises questions. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom but is it literature?

Both songs and poems often bring out human emotions, and both have patterns of sounds, which bring melody to the verses. Some say poetry is more literary because it uses words better and conveys deeper feelings and emotions. Both reflect the same social concerns as literature.

Before you dismiss this post and the question it presents, don’t forget, or if you never knew, let me tell you that the Noble Prize for literature in 2016 was awarded to Bob Dylan for "having created new poetic expression within the great American song tradition.” 

Another big thing, assuming you like Bob Dylan, is that Harper’s Magazine, after this award was given, said that “literary means not only what is written but what is voiced, what is expressed, what is invented, in whatever form.”  More restrictively, writing is considered an art form or any report deemed to have artistic or intellectual value, often due to deploying language in ways that differ from ordinary usage.

"Blowin' in the Wind" was written and performed by Bob Dylan in 1962. The song became a symbolic song of fighting for people’s rights and equality in society and an anti-war song. It poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom.

Lyrics

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, 'n' how many years can a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, 'n' how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind