The death of the beautiful, June 10
You wake up in the morning, it’s raining. Pulled up by the enormous Earth, the water raindrops are drumming on the roof. Grey and gloomy weather , miserable people on the streets... I took a short walk around and all I saw was people frustrated with this day. All of a sudden I hear a crack! A huuuge crack! A tremendous clap of thunder boomed in the sky awakening the frustrated from torpor (with rain).
I looked up and thought of death, because, beautiful as it is, lightning can kill you at any time.
I intentionally compared lightning to death, because both these things are profoundly mysterious, they appear suddenly out of nowhere then disappear instantly and strike again.
Should we be afraid of death? Well, as the ancient saying goes: “Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.”
I have recently read a quotation by Steve Jobs, an Apple multimillionaire, who said that it was death that gave him enormous strength to act, to work, to break his comfort zone and to reach new heights! And he said this long before being diagnosed with cancer. The idea is that all the worst things you can produce through your actions mean nothing in the face of death. The fear of failure, of being ridiculed, of defeat – all come to nothing when confronted with a shadow-like death which is just lying in wait.
By way of reference to the previous post, Time is illusion,(the fact) that death can come at any time doesn’t necessarily mean that we do not have time, on the contrary, we have plenty of it -we can act, fulfill ourselves and our dreams, because in the zone of genius the real death will never come. (But) There’ll come a time when God welcomes us into His kingdom, a better world which we should long for and never be afraid of.
I promise to myself that I won’t be afraid to use my talents and that I’ll strive for great things for now is the time to share the goodness and to enkindle the hearts of those who will remain after we have gone.
Beautiful creatures, June 4
Today was a day of collision with reality, but it’s not what this post will be about. For a longer while, I have been considering shedding bitterness, but that would mean complaining. But what for? It’s cutting corners, so today I’ll write about… beauty.
At the moment I am sitting in a cafe in Stockholm, among old, but undamaged by wars, fascinating apartment houses and ubiquitous beautiful fountains. But what interests me is people, not bricks.
It was long ago when I last saw so many beauty canons among different people. It reminds me of New York or London, because instead of Western kitsch you can see Northern originality here.
When I was writing about the Northern originality I was passed by an Afro-American, a very tall man wearing huge sunglasses and brown cassock, looking like a monk from some Polish monastery. And that’s what I want to write about.
Throughout the centuries, the canons of beauty varied depending on an epoch. To exemplify: long time ago women were associated mainly with reproduction and motherhood, so curved shapes and dresses highlighting them were considered beautiful. By contrast, slender figures, and totally shaved female bodies, also heads, made a furore in the Ancient Egypt. Medieval asceticism promoted thin women whose asexuality corresponded to the trends of the epoch. ( I borrowed these thoughts from some blog, but unfortunately I can’t find it now.)
And what is beauty today? Today we have as many beauty canons as many people on this planet. There exists no one unquestionable model that would overpower all the others. Even the most popular celebrities are loved by some, but hated by others.
Diversity is what makes the contemporary world beautiful.
Today I run into an extraordinary couple of young people who astonished me with their distinctiveness to such a degree that I just stood there looking at them in amazement. As if in suspense, they were calmly looking back at me.
They both had very pretty slender faces, long brown dreadlocks, earrings and clothes which fused into a versatile one when they held each other’s hands. Wow. They were definitely beautiful. Not to me and not to the world, but certainly to each other.
You wake up in the morning, it’s raining. Pulled up by the enormous Earth, the water raindrops are drumming on the roof. Grey and gloomy weather , miserable people on the streets... I took a short walk around and all I saw was people frustrated with this day. All of a sudden I hear a crack! A huuuge crack! A tremendous clap of thunder boomed in the sky awakening the frustrated from torpor (with rain).
I looked up and thought of death, because, beautiful as it is, lightning can kill you at any time.
I intentionally compared lightning to death, because both these things are profoundly mysterious, they appear suddenly out of nowhere then disappear instantly and strike again.
Should we be afraid of death? Well, as the ancient saying goes: “Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not.”
I have recently read a quotation by Steve Jobs, an Apple multimillionaire, who said that it was death that gave him enormous strength to act, to work, to break his comfort zone and to reach new heights! And he said this long before being diagnosed with cancer. The idea is that all the worst things you can produce through your actions mean nothing in the face of death. The fear of failure, of being ridiculed, of defeat – all come to nothing when confronted with a shadow-like death which is just lying in wait.
By way of reference to the previous post, Time is illusion,(the fact) that death can come at any time doesn’t necessarily mean that we do not have time, on the contrary, we have plenty of it -we can act, fulfill ourselves and our dreams, because in the zone of genius the real death will never come. (But) There’ll come a time when God welcomes us into His kingdom, a better world which we should long for and never be afraid of.
I promise to myself that I won’t be afraid to use my talents and that I’ll strive for great things for now is the time to share the goodness and to enkindle the hearts of those who will remain after we have gone.
Beautiful creatures, June 4
Today was a day of collision with reality, but it’s not what this post will be about. For a longer while, I have been considering shedding bitterness, but that would mean complaining. But what for? It’s cutting corners, so today I’ll write about… beauty.
At the moment I am sitting in a cafe in Stockholm, among old, but undamaged by wars, fascinating apartment houses and ubiquitous beautiful fountains. But what interests me is people, not bricks.
It was long ago when I last saw so many beauty canons among different people. It reminds me of New York or London, because instead of Western kitsch you can see Northern originality here.
When I was writing about the Northern originality I was passed by an Afro-American, a very tall man wearing huge sunglasses and brown cassock, looking like a monk from some Polish monastery. And that’s what I want to write about.
Throughout the centuries, the canons of beauty varied depending on an epoch. To exemplify: long time ago women were associated mainly with reproduction and motherhood, so curved shapes and dresses highlighting them were considered beautiful. By contrast, slender figures, and totally shaved female bodies, also heads, made a furore in the Ancient Egypt. Medieval asceticism promoted thin women whose asexuality corresponded to the trends of the epoch. ( I borrowed these thoughts from some blog, but unfortunately I can’t find it now.)
And what is beauty today? Today we have as many beauty canons as many people on this planet. There exists no one unquestionable model that would overpower all the others. Even the most popular celebrities are loved by some, but hated by others.
Diversity is what makes the contemporary world beautiful.
Today I run into an extraordinary couple of young people who astonished me with their distinctiveness to such a degree that I just stood there looking at them in amazement. As if in suspense, they were calmly looking back at me.
They both had very pretty slender faces, long brown dreadlocks, earrings and clothes which fused into a versatile one when they held each other’s hands. Wow. They were definitely beautiful. Not to me and not to the world, but certainly to each other.
Time is an illusion, June 7
“I believe in a timeless universe for the childlike reason that time cannot be seen - the emperor has no clothes.” – Julian Barbour, The end of time.
In the above quotation Barbour refers to a well-known fairy tale by H.Ch. Andersen, however, it’s not fairy tales that I want to write about today, but time!
The most common complaint I hear from people is “I don’t have time for anything”. The other day I wrote a text titled “Market – an invisible monster ruling the world”. Today, I might as well title the present post “Time- an invisible monster ruling people’s lives”, which would be, of course, an ironic play of words, because how can you be ruled by something which is a result of your own actions- it’s irrational.
When I hear this, I feel like asking a question: if you feel so constrained by time, then what does time mean to you? Can you provide a definition?
Time really is an illusion, it’s merely an instrument to describe cause and effect relationships. Although nearly 300 years have passed since Isaac Newton’s death, we still live within the framework of absolute time; moreover, it now seems even more absolute and irrefutable than ever before. Time is time!- a clock ticking relentlessly and incessantly till death. Let’s not forget that at the beginning of the twentieth century a young, 26- year-old, physicist called Albert proved to us that time is relative, that is, that depending on the speed of an observer, gravity and some other factors, time can go faster or slower.
I want to make a point of using the famous ‘twin paradox’. Without dilating on their inertial frame of reference, I want to focus chiefly on the passing of time between the two brothers.
Let’s say we split them up and send one of them into space in a spaceship travelling at 75% the speed of light, while the other remains on Earth. After 12 years that have passed on Earth, the travelling twin comes back only 8 years older, so he’s 4 years younger than his brother. The reason for this is that, in a simplified way, according to the Einstein theory of relativity the closer to the speed of light, the slower time passes. What happens later? Does time stop? Probably not, but it must be something absolutely out of the ordinary.
Today after breakfast, instead of going to work where my time passes at the terrific speed of a French TGV train (one of the fastest trains in the world), struck down with cold, I decided to stay at home. The house without children became a completely strange place to me. Silence and peace, birds twittering outside the window. Staying home was all it took for me to feel the slowing down of time.
Hundreds of thoughts, tens of blinks and glances were running through my head every minute so, out of curiosity, I started to count them. I was counting them forever… I stopped at 30 and looked at the clock- not even one minute had passed! ‘Time drags so slowly’- I thought to myself, if there was no clock I would’ve thought that it just stood still.
These random couple of minutes in utter silence, without any stimuli demonstrate what Einstein stated already in 1905- time is relative, but not absolute! If it’s true, that would mean that we have an unlimited amount of time at our disposal, as we are its source. It is us who create time through our interactions with the world, and that’s how we should see it.
What will happen if we start living by relative time? We won’t be short of time anymore, because it is inexhaustible as long as we live. We’ll be aware that time can be like the above mentioned train: it can speed like the French TGV at 300 mph, but it can also slow down to half a mile a day (so its movement becomes unperceivable to the human eye), but we can still control it!
Now that you know that it is you, together with the world, who create time, maybe it’s time for you to realize that you can restrain this monster, because all the decisions you make each day are nothing more than the clothes. And they are created not by some invisible emperor, but by you yourself, through the power of your own decisions!
The next time someone tells you they don’t have time, you can quote Norman Peale, a specialist in positive thinking, who said ”The only person who doesn’t have time is the one thirty feet below the ground.”
Do you believe in reincarnation?, June 4
I was asked the above question by one of the blog readers, so I’ll try to answer briefly.
For those who don’t know, reincarnation is, so-called, the transmigration of the souls, which holds that a soul is immortal, so we can reincarnate into a cat, a dog, an elephant, or even a flower.
This doctrine is a basic tenet of Buddhism and Hinduism, but what about Christianity?
As it turns out, the apocryphal gospels (those rejected by the Church) suggested that at the beginning of Christianity people did believe in reincarnation. However, after the First Council of Constantinople in 533 the Church decisively rejected it.
Contemporary Christians often confuse reincarnation with, so-called, the preexistence of souls, which maintains that the human soul comes from God and it is already existent before conception. It seems somehow absurd, because it presumes that God in advance creates a number of souls to be distributed among people, which is a rather dubious idea.
Therefore, although I myself don’t believe in the concept of reincarnation, it is admittedly a very fascinating notion. It reminds me of the fact that respect is due not only to soulful humans, but also to soulless animals, plants and everything that God brought into existence!
Money does give happiness, May 28
By profession I am a businessman, and usually at the end of the day I’m so tired of money issues that I don’t write much about them on my blog. It’s a fact that my, and our, main duty is to work and bring home the bacon. I don’t like people who appreciate money more than other life values, yet it has to be remembered that those who completely depreciate the importance of money are simply hypocritical. People can’t do without material goods, a roof above their heads or food for more than a day or two. It would be wide of the truth to say that all we need to live is air, so money is not important for us at all.
“Money does not provide happiness”, but I guess everybody would want to experience that first hand. This attitude moves us, people whose priority is not to become the richest person in the world, forward towards multiplying material goods. Of course there are those who dream of making the biggest amount of money possible. Why? Because money gives you whatever you want, all material goods in the world, satisfies your every whim, and makes others envious of your possessions. Oh, sorry! It doesn’t concern you? You never envy? Envy is inherent in our nature, and yours, too.
Yes, and this is why money, a human invention, captured its creator. A thousand and a half years b.c., Phoenicians substituted barter for metal money which until today remains an object of joy. But who, and why, earns more than others? There is one thing, in Poland called “arrangement”, in other parts of the world referred to as networking! What is it? People help others. From childhood we have been inculcated with the belief that we need to help each other, so it confirms their conviction that helping others makes them a better person. Although we sometimes help people whom we don’t even know, most of those who receive our help are our acquaintances and friends.
I know people say “I don’t owe anybody anything”, “I’ve accomplished it through my own hard work”, “you can only count on yourself”. In this way, they make excuses for themselves and clear their conscience. Unless they can gain something for themselves, they don’t help others. However, most people are likely to do something for the greater good, something to enhance one’ abilities and opportunities. Considering that watching others achieve success evokes two extreme reactions: either envy or an emphatic feeling of fulfillment, it seems that they do it for the sake of idea.
There is a school of thought that entails that you need to treat every person you meet as a possible networking opportunity. When I was a student in the US, I heard “live on friendly terms with everybody, because it may turn out one day that your former classmate is a Microsoft director”. Of course, it means that even if you are not very fond of this particular person, it should not prevent you from building a relationship, which may make it possible for you to benefit from this acquaintance. However, my up to date experience suggests otherwise. Such ‘mercenaries’ are not the people whom you need most in your network of contacts. People of this kind can be met anywhere and, moreover; they seem to be in majority.
It is a disinterested kind of people that can change your life. They can be your mentors and friends who provide, not necessarily financial, support. If you have a rich uncle who presents you with some amount of money it is not so obvious whether he really does you a favor. If you are careless about the money, you’ll spend it on something that, in a long run, won’t influence your life. But if the uncle gives you no money but remains your mentor that would mean a whole lots more.
Seeing the world through the eyes of someone who has saved a lot, you’ll discover that money is everywhere and so it can be earned anywhere. Money does not have to be of value. It is us who imbue it with magical power. I remember when I was a boy I happened to watch quite a tragic movie. There was a group of tourist travelling by ship who got lost in the ocean. Cut out from the world and devoid of food and clear water they soon realized that nourishment became of the greatest value for them. They could do without jackets, it was hot; drinking water was deficient. After some time they started to bribe one another. The one with the fullest wallet wanted to buy all the water left on the board. Although many passengers thought it absurd, he managed to buy some water. Were those dollars on board worth anything? Of course not, but they were deluding themselves that they’d be pulled to safety by a rescue boat and they’d come back to the world ruled by money… not water! This story, which in the end turned into a macabre, cannibalistic tale, illustrates the fact that money has no value in itself, it is people who give value to money.
I want you to have a cold look at money and start treating it as a means of exchanging your work or services for material items. Let’s imagine how it was like before. When the world moved around fulfilling hunger and simple existence people could just exchange their goods. Some milk for meat, a deer’s horn for a mink coat etc. Of course the development of mankind compelled us to case bartering at the cost of something more liquid.
Money is illusion. Try to remain aloof from the very term ”money”. Why should we think that money is intangible and imaginary? It’d be much easier for you to earn money when you focus on the very essence of earning it, and that’s not what money is. The essence of making money is providing services and selling items of value.
I’d like to make reference here to the Maslow pyramid. Its contents reflect various types of human needs. At the bottom of the pyramid there are physiological needs: sleep, food. Only after these needs are met can we move onto a higher layer represented by security, and morality and, finally, to the very top of the pyramid with life fulfillment and self-realization. There are days when the simplest activities are a source of greatest pleasures, enjoyment and relief. The beauty surrounding the world, a refreshing gust of wind, or even meeting physiological needs.
Just like in our lives, it is a material stabilization, as a supplement to the spiritual life that can help us to use the talents we’ve been blessed with and to develop our potential to the fullest. You can’t write poems when you’re hungry; you can’t write a novel worrying whether an enemy set your house on fire. Life must unite into one and only balance enables us to achieve goals most people won’t even dream of.
Is it worth dreaming?, May 31
I have read an article today on Buffer blog about our brain and how this wonderful instrument can hinder our development and prevent us from achieving great goals. Normally, we consider the brain the greatest of our resources and we concentrate on its endless abilities.
I used to think that, since the courage of positive thinking is fundamental to achieving anything in life, big dreams don’t affect the goals we pursue. However, it turns out that in the light of recent research fantasizing and dreaming can pull us away from an established goal. An author claims that focusing on the effects contributes to visualizing the emotions that accompany achieving great goals, which in turn can demotivate us. The goal may seem so wonderful, but at the same time so unreal and remote as ‘Star Wars’. Something we can forever dream of, but it can never come true.
But it is exactly the other way around. Actually there are few goals we can’t achieve; we are hindered motley by our brain, social pressures and lack of self-confidence.
It is good to know where we go and to feel excitement of achieving our dreams, but we should focus more on the road that enable us to achieve it, otherwise we may get discouraged by so called collision with reality. We need to understand that everything takes time, which only those most consistent win, not those with the biggest dreams.
We make up dreams which can’t be real, e.g. becoming a famous singer, and dreams which can be real, e.g. a big beautiful house with a garden, satisfying and fascinating job, travelling around the world etc. Lumping all this together and living the average life we head nowhere.
Sometimes I myself am surprised at how crazy ideas went through my head. But I am also happy that I can make a fair judgment of what is de facto real, and what is just my childhood dream. But how boring it is to think only of what you can do now, and not what may some true in the future.
But don’t think that only because you have some tangible fantasy in your head that it’ll come true today, at this very moment. Think of what you can do today for a start, what can bring you closer to the dreamed-of goal. At the end of each day, ask yourself: have I done anything that brings me closer to my dreams? Or did I let life overtake me, losing control and motivation?
Yesterday a friend of mine asked me why I started to write The Genius Zone. What for? I answered her that there’re so many streams of thoughts flowing through my head every day that I want to share them with others, most importantly- with my children, so that when they grow older they’ll know what I was thinking about at each stage of my life. Without this I’d never feel fulfilled.
But forgot to tell her about the most important reason. It is simply fulfilling my eternal dream which is also my greatest mission- inspiring others.
I love to inspire others, and inspiring means encouraging others to take action!
Sensation! , May 25
Today I have spent several hours in a car listening to one of Polish commercial radio stations.
I myself only listen to a few mellow ones, or, in the rest of my free time, audiobooks or mp3 music. But today I was made to listen to some sensational radio broadcasts for several hours. An aero plane accident, gas explosion in a family house, daylight murder of a soldier in the UK, political corruption affairs, fatal accident on the road, robbery of a jeweler’s shop, assault with machete in Krakow, and a lady from Bydgoszcz who sprang back to life shortly after... being pronounced dead by a physician.
Maybe they should have informed the listeners when it was exactly that they realized she was actually alive. Maybe after the coffin was lowered into the grave? Whatever . What matters is that the woman is alive.
I was born an optimist so I couldn’t wait to hear some positive news. The first good news was that Warsaw has been granted with a prestigious annual football tournament, the UEFA Europa League.
But they quickly added that...only in two years’ time.
The tragedies I’ve heard of on the radio today outnumber all the bad news I normally hear within months, which is somehow comforting because it shows I’m free from this torment and I have a sober perspective.
In order to make a sober judgment about what is happening in the media, you need to arise from the stupefaction caused by the sensations the media has been feeding us with for the last several years.
I have noticed some consistency- many people working in the television industry, such as actors etc., while off work, do not watch tv. They know the inside story, they can see what we can’t see. It’s like an eye to eye conversation with a butcher’s worker: “why don’t you eat sausages?”, the answer to which is” “because I know what they’re made from.”
OK, but sausages are tasty, and watching television is fun, too. You watch a really entertaining tv show and you think it’s absolutely a ‘must-see’ . The thing is that these shows are just countless, so if you really think you ‘must’ see them, be prepared that you’d never switch off your tv.
A year ago, having analyzed a pros and cons list, I decided that my life would be much more deeper and richer without the tv and radio chuff.
My perception of the world is shaped mainly by what I see for real, which may seem old- fashioned but in this way I see the real, not fantasy, world.
And what do I see? I see more positive things, acts, goodwill gestures, disinterested help and simply humanity. I strongly encourage you to check yourself into television rehab. Move your tv set to the attic, and start doing whatever you enjoy. Start talking with your wife, husband, children, go for a walk not worrying about the time, let the sunset tell you it’s time to go back home.
Not so long ago, 10 years or so, you would leave your house with nobody knowing where you were.
You were free from the ‘mobile leash’, you could focus on seizing the day, and unannounced visits were the healthiest form of human relationships. Today, like a physician in a surgery room, you make appointments with planners and diaries. Turn off you tv and you’ll get 20-30 hours a week that can really make you happier!
Conquer the evil with the good, John Paul II, May 22
Today would have been a bad day if it had ended earlier. The morning met me with job stress and successive phone calls only intensified my anxiety. Once again I thought to myself that people’s material position influences their behavior, namely, that people act more human-like during the times of prosperity, and more like animals when they find themselves in crisis. I have noticed that even those considered generous suddenly change their tactics and stick to the merciless fight for survival. The more insecure we are, the more susceptible to strange behavior we become. The trick is not to give or remit something in the good times, but to do this in the times of struggle.
In the evening, I went to the hospital to visit my sick brother. His legs have been paralyzed for several months and he is now receiving chemotherapy. I try to visit him often and we talk rather optimistically, because I really believe that it is only going to be better. Today, however, after a day full of disappointments, I decided to complain to my brother and his wife, Ewa, about the injustices of this world and to share my today’s doubts with them. Ewa told me with a big smile on her face that she has recently experienced disinterested spiritual support from many people. In particular, from people whom she doesn’t know or almost doesn’t know. With a radiant face, she also told me that with this kind of support and assurance of prayers she feels like jumping up as if lifted by wings. Admittedly, at that stage of the day I was deeply surprised with this confession, even the more that the last couple of days have been definitely the most difficult ever since the illness started. But it occurred to me how important it is to receive disinterested support and prayers that can really make miracles. The vision lifted my spirits, because it is something I truly believe in. I believe that there’s a little bit of good in everyone, although I don’t see that on a daily basis. Ewa told me that she had once heard someone say: “Goodness speaks in a whisper, evil shouts!”. And that is why where evil prevails, you won’t see the good, and where the good takes place, you’ll quite often hear the evil hiding in the distance.
How simple is that! This is precisely why the evil is omnipresent and tv information channels race against each other to deliver the worst, the most tragic and the saddest news. The evil shouts so it spreads faster that the good which calmly, but persistently, pursues its goals.
I honestly thank God for my wonderful family which can support me when I lose my strength.
Life in the universe – two worlds, May 19th
When I think about my existence I divide it into two states. The first is the world of a human being as a part of the universe, the second, on the other hand, is the world of a human being living on the Earth – flat Earth. Sometimes I enter a weeks-long cycle of living in the flat, earthy world. I wake up in the morning, wash my teeth, eat breakfast, go to work to make money, talk to people, eat dinner and go to sleep. I live as if our earthy world was separated from the rest of the universe. As if people lived like ants in a mound, oblivious to the fact that that they are components of the universe, not only of a little mound.
There is no denying that usually I feel good in this earthy mound where everything is known, discovered, the media drum about the development of civilization and science discoveries. I watch sports and marvel at the same football team all over again. Friends and family all tell the same old stories and jokes, the media shout about the same issues all the time and feature
the same shows. Adults, closed in their mounds, confine themselves to fulfilling their material needs and seeking for consolation in entertainment.
But there comes a moment when, driving an unknown road in the middle of a night, I decide to pull over, live the car, take three deep breaths and look upwards. And suddenly it turns out that I am not closed in a mound, but I am standing small and overpowered by a shining multitude of falling stars. These stars may actually no longer exist. It is just their light that reaches the pupils of my eyes, which only speeds my heart beat in a peculiar tribute to infinity. At that very moment, I realize that I don’t live in some little and boring world, but in a large, beautiful and mysterious universe! What a perspective. Billions of light years, millions of galaxies and the one and only Milky Way, the Solar System and a tiny Earth with a small creature on its surface, wide-eyed, smaller that a grain of sand, admiring the Universe! Unfortunately, however, I live in the city where there are no stars. Instead, there are skyscrapers, streetcars, traffic jams, blocks of flats and cameras on every street corner and people bemused by the lack of time.
After coming back to the city, I try for a while to feel as a part of infinity. I greet everybody with a smile, but nobody sees me. As if I was an invisible ghost walking among all those busy people. Suddenly I feel lost. How come a free man can be so enslaved with trifles, relationships, social issues, and finally a cruel fight for existence? I start to look and I don’t believe, I start to shout but nobody hears me. People walk by, some of them glancing ominously at me. Suddenly, I notice people who are staring at me. A group of little, several years’ old children... they don’t see the turmoil around, they don’t pursue anything important, the only thing they do pursue is a leaf hurled by the wind. Jumping up and down, they occasionally send me honest smiles saying “hey, we are with you, we see you, and you see us”.
The first world we are born in, worth living for and the happiest, is the world of a child. A gust of freshness, a luminosity of a star passing through the skies. Love not for the Earth, but for the Universe, an infatuation with its beauty reminiscent of an enchantment with the simple and pure beauty of a child’s love.
Interpersonal relationships, May 15th
Some time ago I wrote a post on people who become successful thanks to ‘human relationship engineering’. This is an exceptionally complex concept and the more I know about it, the more astonished I am.
I wrote that success belongs to people who can evoke enthusiasm in others. Not only are these people so combative and charismatic that they can inspire others to act, but, at the same time, they are also modest, objective and full of inner harmony. We all perfectly know that on the one hand, people admire pugnacity, but, on the other, we dislike people who flaunt their superiority.
Admiration and trust stem, first of all, from respect. Paradoxically, however, in our everyday lives, there is a personality trait that nobody talks about but everybody hates, namely, haughtiness.
Haughtiness is the key to this mystery, because, although we enjoy admiring people who achieved success in a given field, we dislike people who are showing off their success. We simply disdain them. We often feel sympathetic to people who, after committing wrong deeds, beat their breasts ashamed of their weaknesses.
But if we turn weaknesses or strengths against others, for example, to humiliate others simultaneously exalting ourselves, in a long term, we will find it difficult to achieve success, because people will turn away from us.
In that case, isn’t it better to keep your achievements for yourself and just sit quiet, so that you don’t offend anyone? – definitely not. Being ‘better’ than others always evokes mixed reactions and envy just the way being ‘worse’ than others arouses sympathy and pity. We are all just humans and we all have virtues and vices. People do not want to feel inferior to others. In terms of interpersonal relationships, the most effective communication occurs when you inspire others to act and follow your steps, as well as display an empathic attitude. By nature, we find it easier to look up to people who are modest and humble, which, of course, does not mean that they can’t be the best in what they do.
What is freedom? May, 13
Freedom consists in controlling and using one’s instincts, not fulfilling them.
If I don’t hamper my intrinsic nature it can intensify my dependency and captivity.
When I fulfill the instinct of possession, for example, the web of dependencies ramifies over me and I enter the system of addictions. But when I reduce my needs, I escape this mechanism and it becomes much more difficult to seize me. It means that I have more having less, because I retain my personal authenticity” – Kazimierz Brandys “Unreality”
After yesterday’s conversation with some affluent man I tried to find words that would precisely express the essence of freedom and happiness and that’s when I came across the above quotation.
The man, in his sixties, complained to ma that for the last thirty years his life had been entirely devoted to making money and enlarging the company. As he said, the development of his company constituted an end in itself. He started with 6 employees, now he has 106, and just as the employee can feel controlled by the employer, he feels controlled by his subordinates. He bear responsibility for the company, his subordinates’ decisions, credits but only now did it occur to him that the older he gets, the better he realizes that true freedom is not about having millions but being short of money, a student, taking a random train and going wherever he wanted.
Everybody who completely devotes himself or herself to fulfilling their needs as a way to achieve freedom, is going to be disappointed because almost everything good for us can lead to evil if it becomes our addiction. Lots of money, delicious meals, excellent wine, large tv set, fast access to the Internet- all this seems to be necessary and can make our lives more comfortable but if we devote ourselves completely to these things: we may become, respectively: depressed millioners, obese, alcoholics, tv maniacs, internet addicts, who immerse themselves in the virtual reality, losing contact with the real world.
However, we have to remember that many of the things we strive for are indeed necessary. As Jacek Salij wrote in “Decalogue”, we can’t survive even one day without material goods, because we need them to meet our biological needs. They’re dangerous only when they become an end in itself, because they’re only one of the ways to our “Self”.
No thing or sin is worth being enslaved.
As humans, we are meant to develop. Idleness, laziness and numbness may be considered sins. If multiplying material goods meets not only the needs of ourselves and our families but also of society, our work assumes a completely different dimension. Just as we use the work of others , so should our work be a part of ourselves that we give away to the world.
It’s not difficult to be a philanthropist. You give away to others what you can’t consume
yourself is only a natural act of goodwill. Giving a part of yourself in order to help others is an act of utmost goodness is to give away to othersLet’s share ourselves with others and let’s give away everything we have and our hearts will fill with peace, fulfillment and, most importantly, freedom!
The youth are all right!, May 9
“The young reflect the way the world truly is. If we say that they’re bad it has to be added that the world we live in is reflected by what the contemporary young represent”- Krzysztof Pawlina
Matura exams, the high school exit exams, is a time when we focus on the young generation.
I have spent some time today reading young people’s opinions on various portals and they made me positively surprised. And I don’t mean humiliating comments on some tawdry and sensation-oriented internet sites, written by attention-seeking teenagers, but decent portals where people write what they really feel. It seems that the contemporary youth, like the contemporary world in general, is torn between consumerism and minimalism.
On the one hand, the mass media endorse consumerism and cash credits, but in such insolent
and impudent manner that they backfire. Everybody is aware of the fact that the media lie and anything mainstream is rejected by the youth.
It doesn’t worry me that the contemporary youth will drown in the world of consumerism and marketing. It is fair to say that children are born already drown in consumerism and they learn it the hard way. By nature, children reject what the older generation has to offer, let it be for the sake of rebellion itself.
Let’s remember that the essence of its beauty lies in judging the world from the perspective of “now and here”, attributable to little life experience. What happened to all those people who, not longer than a couple of years ago, were unhappy consumerists? They came up with a trend as old as Christianity, because minimalism can be regarded as a derivative of the medieval asceticism.
I don’t hide that I’m not a minimalist. I am a boring, adult, pampered man. Still, you can become a minimalist at any stage of your material life, because you can specify the moment when anything more than you already have is redundant. Coming back to priest Pawlina’s statement, it can be assumed that there are two points of reference with regard to the youth. On the one hand placing our hopes in them by perceiving them as our future, on the other- depreciating them by claiming that the youth is a source of depravity and deprivation.
But if young people, by their very nature, criticize whatever is common (unbridled consumerism) it seems that the popularity of the minimalist trend,, which is now arising, can create some kind of a social schism - division between material and spiritual minimalists. A kind of healthy balance between the two would seem to be the trend of material- spiritual rationalists of which I would like to become a member.
The world is not bad because the youth we have are simply all right!
XI- do not complain!, May 6
I would like to express my strong opposition to the common stereotype about the Poles as grumblers. Just as in any other country, there are people who do complain, but there are also those who don’t, people busy with their jobs and other duties, who don’t have time to complain.
It is not the hopelessness of living in our country that causes complaining. I believe that, from a global perspective, Poland is an exceptionally nice place to live. First of all, at every turn we meet selfless people who’d always help us in need, feed or show the way. It’s not everywhere in the world that this comes as the norm. Honestly speaking, we are a very hospitable nation. Usually in Poland, when you come to visit someone, even if you just drop in for a tea you’ll be welcomed with a lavishly prepared table.
Poland has a particularly pleasant and friendly climate. Apart from floods, which strike only a small part of the country, we do not experience hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tropical diseases, tsunamis. Paradise on earth! The only potentially dangerous animal here is a common viper, but, as far as I remember, it’s becoming extinct. Instead, we have lots of storks, wild boars, deer, fallow deer, hares, pheasants and, of course, bison. Not far- within a couple hours’ driving distance- we have access to the plains and mountains, hills, lake lands and sea. How beautiful it is here! And everything within our reach!
I’m not saying this to breath fire into the hearts of the people living in a poor, post-communist country, but because Poland really is in every respect an outstanding country.
I do a lot of business travel around Europe so I can (gladly) enumerate the most common complaints I have noticed:
The Swedes complain about the weather and the influx of so-called “new Swedes”, i.e. emigrants mainly from the Balkans and Muslin countries
The Dutch- about excessively high taxes and bad weather
The Germans claim that everything is about to collapse soon, and sometimes it seems
odd that this well functioning country receives such a harsh judgment from its own
people
The French always put the blame on others, particularly on their clumsy country,
which should solve all their problems on a daily basis
The Italians complain that the whole country belongs to the mafia, whereas Italian
mafia complains that the best days are gone
The British complain about everything
The Poles are no different in their complaining from any other nations, but they can at
the same time laugh at everything, and in particular at their complaining
Despite all these similarities between various countries, there’s one substantial difference. In many of the above mentioned countries people complain because they feel they have the right to complain. In Poland, by contrast, many people complain even though they feel well and do well.
The poison of communism brought about the tendency to be ostentatiously cautious about letting others know about our wealth for fear of becoming objects of envy. However, our country is changing and young, modern generation ousts those contaminated with communism. Let’s start with ourselves and in a couple of decades, proud as ever, we will enjoy real happiness and wealth. I hope it’ll come true, and I feel like starting right now!
The Constitution of May 3, up before down; May 4
What’s the point of fighting for a country on the verge of collapse?- seems to be the first impulse felt when thinking about the Constitution of May 3. It was implemented by the Great Sejm in 1791, but remained in force only for several months until the Partitions of Poland, which deprived the country of its sovereignty for 123 years. While the neighboring countries were growing stronger, Polish gentry kept wrangling about their personal prerogatives, destabilizing the country.
For Americans, Constitution of the United States of America was an antechamber to the economic success and industrial era. Since the morning, I’ve been debating with myself over what it was for Poland.
But then, when I was listening to the sermon by a young vicar, it all became very clear to me. Those who gave rise to the Constitution were a small group of enlightened enthusiasts motivated enough to establish the fundamental upon which built. Even after the partition of Poland, these fundamentals were still alive in the hearts of our ancestors who believed against all odds that Poland would regain its freedom. Maybe they wouldn’t have been so hopeful if the Constitution had not been passed. It’s highly probable that in such case we would be now the districts of our neighboring countries.
But why do we need Poland at all? An old-fashioned patriotism and fighting for a homeland in a beautiful, globalized world?
I am wholeheartedly grateful to the Poles who fought for our independence, because I belong to the country which makes me proud. The wonderful country, which wouldn’t exist if thousands of our compatriots had lost their faith and obstinacy. Thanks to these people we can now enjoy our own culture, foster our tradition and simply living among our compatriots. Let’s go back to globalization and development. Isn’t that our future?
I’m a supporter of development but on one condition- that it has to be a change for the better. Unfortunately, the changes that occur worldwide do not always make things look up. We can benefit from all the blessing the contemporary world has to offer, but let’s not exchange thousands years of our cultural development and our tradition for some novelties that have just surfaced.
Fashion is like a cheap beer- it grows older quickly. Tradition is like a good wine- it takes time to create it, but it lasts forever and comes back in glory. Fashion is associated with novelty and elusiveness, tradition- with humility and eternity.
Poor democracy, May 2
The term „democracy” originates from the Greek word meaning “rule of the people”. Theoretically, it is an excellent political system, which enables all citizens to participate in the governing of a country.
However, as it happens in life, the theory does not work into practice. Because in practice, in order to become a politician and set up a political party that would enter the government, we need to organize money and find sponsors to finance the party’s activities and election campaign.
Does that mean that anybody can govern a country? No, only those who have the money. But is a politician’s wealth directly proportional to his ability to govern a country and to pass bills that will suit most of the people? Unfortunately, there is no connection here.
Admittedly, anybody could become a congressman. But once in government, they become puppets in the hands of the party leaders. In order to obtain funding, these people allow lobbying by businessmen who, in turn, intend to pass bills facilitating making money.
To exemplify: Poland has not, as yet, developed a coherent anti-lobbying bill, without which it is impossible to diminish the influence of business circles on the way the country is governed.
In contemporary democracy, our decision making is limited to supporting a prime minister or opposition leader. And I’m not talking only about Poland, because the same pattern occurs in almost all democratic countries. The choice between left and right. Everybody who has ever walked knows that, depending which way you turn around, you can head to different directions. How would it make us feel to move only either left or right? Like a clown drawn on a two-dimensional paper. It’s a pity our democracy has as much in common with personal choice as a child who can only choose between a red lollipop and a green one. The child thinks it has a choice but it is actually parents who make this choice for him or her.
Politics would be much more transparent if it was devoid of election thresholds, government would consist of a dozen or so of smaller political parties which would together draw bills and reforms promoting a long-term development. Politics does not need politicians, but specialists in relevant fields, because a country is simply like a big corporation.
Late spring, April 30
A couple of years ago, in L.A., I visited my distant relative, who had been living in California in many years. We are sitting in her house, it’s more than 25 degrees outside. My first question is: “Isn’t that wonderful to live in such a sunny place? Almost 200 sunny days per year, the rest – half-sunny”.
And she goes: „The truth is that it’s very boring, every day looks just the same. Before you Draw back the window curtain you already know what’s the weather like”.
I was taken aback by this answer and I always remember it when drawing back the window curtain in the temperate climate. Indeed, the weather in Poland can be grey, cloudy and damp, but you can never accuse it of predictability.
Spring is my favorite season. The world comes to life. Birds start to sing. People start to smile!
The clouds!
Once again I fly above the white snow clouds, which look like soft puffs of cotton wool. Looking through the eyes of a child, I see myself jumping from one cloud to another, like on a springboard sparkling in the sun. The gusts of wind cool my happy face, my radiant eyes look out for the depths of the universe, spread over above my head. How beautiful that world is! these shapes, sunbeams and drops of moisture on my cheeks. Suddenly I close my eyes, dive into a thick cloud and feel a bitter taste in my mouth. I open my eyes, I am sitting on a plane with cold Heineken in my hand! What a surprise.
The bitterness of beer brings me round. Now I run on an open field, touching rough hop leaves with my fingers. I look up and I see clouds again, but I touch the earth... my Earth.
We have betrayal and cannibalism in our genes, April 28
I read an article in the latest edition of Polish Newsweek with great curiosity. The provocative article “We have betrayal and cannibalism in our genes”. At first glance, it is a perfect way of rationalizing betrayal. If we already have betrayal in our genes, it’s no wonder that it’s so hard to be faithful; after all, it’s acting against our instincts.
As it is the case in the scientific world, in order to prove this lofty thesis, tests on creatures that are the most similar to people when it comes to abstract thinking, social norms, and system of values and decision making were conducted. These impressive creatures are voles, small animals resembling mice.
Mountain voles had a tendency to betray, whereas praire voles turned out to be faithful. The key turned out to be vasopressin. At the same time, the authors proved that V1AR genes, which produce vasopressin, are to be blamed for our misdemeanors. It’s the produced hormones and not our strong will that force us to lose control over our behavior and to be driven only by our instincts.
Let’s stop for a moment and think what would two voles do when closed in the same cage for weeks and months. Would they both starve to death at the same time? I’m afraid they wouldn’t. I think that at some point the power of the survival gene would produce a hormone which would force the two specimens to fight and, in effect, to bite-eat the weaker specimen, thus, to cannibalism. It is caused by the fact that mice are driven by instinct only and don’t possess a number of human traits which give people the power to act against instincts. Furthermore, what would happen if we closed two civilized people for many weeks in a bigger cage? I think that for the first few days the trauma of the whole situation would bring them so close that until death they would disinterestedly help and support each other, dressing the other’s wounds. But why? After all, it explains the survival gene, in the same way as the betrayal gene causes that the stronger one should eat the smaller one alive in order to increase his chances of survival.
Do the authors share this opinion? Why do we offend people by comparing them to mice? Yes, I agree that people have a tendency to betray, but also to kill, steal, lie, etc. But for some reasons we don’t do these things.
I will also mention the authors’ argument explaining the reason for development of monogamous relationships. According to them, at some point men decided that if they go to war and hunting it just isn’t worth-wile to fight over women and it is better to live in monogamous relationships.
But what about closeness? What about the human tendency to support each other, to attach? People moved away from polygamy not because it was easier but because a real home based on love and support from father and mother is the only right way to the development of our civilization. A civilization based not only on material matters and animal instinct but also on love for one’s neighbor and spirituality!
There is nothing more beautiful in human life than just being human, but being human means being different than the animal world.
I sincerely hope that the modest and tendentious article from Newsweek, whose aim was to persuade people to buy the weekly using a “Fakt”-style controversy, will only be another example of decline of the journalist world and of closing us in a proverbial mouse spinning wheel!
The market- an invisible monster ruling the world, April 28
I can’t help but comment on G.K. Chesterton’s essay The wind and the Trees from Tremendous Trifles collection.
Chesterton creates the most beautiful metaphor revealing the effect that wind has on trees. In the metaphor he uses, the trees stand for all visible things, whereas the wind stands for the invisible.
The wind is like a spirit, like emotions and thoughts, everything that is invisible but can influence the material word – trees. Just like in the woods, we see the enormous power of the wind, moving twigs, rustle of leaves, but it is caused by the invisible force called wind.
This metaphor captured my feeble imagination so much because we are driven by material things as if they were the most important engines of the word, economy or civilization in general. As if they were shaping our morality and constituted a reference point for all changes. In fact, just like the visible Trees don’t move the invisible Wind, material things aren’t more important than spiritual matters.
The science is trying to prove us at any cost that all, even our thoughts and emotions, can be closed in a chemical box of impulses that manage our brains. In reality, only specific preference for the abstract mind as a spiritual authority may once and for all isolate the world of humans from the world of animals.
As I wrote in the title, the invisible is a ruler. Every day we hear that “the Market” rules the world as if it was a giant, strong monster sitting on a throne and making all decisions. In reality, there is no such thing as Market with the capital “M”. There is only the immensity of human Wind: our thoughts, decisions, fear and anxiety. We are the market and we are the economy. The stock exchange listings depend on our barometers of happiness and it is us, people, who control this world almost entirely.
The problem of the contemporary world is the fact that everything revolves around the value and, as we all know, material things have no value until we give them a price according to the demand and supply. If the price list of the world is based on invisible emotions, we will always be surprised alternately by periods of unimaginable boom and periods of unimaginable crisis. This is how the biggest herd of this world functions, the world of people, which we call the Market.
Despair and suicide
I received an e-mail from a man who lives in fear, is afraid of the future, and now also has suicidal ideations.
There’s only one invariable and permanent no 1 thing in our lives. Ennobling other things (money, family, homeland, children, house) make our lives worthwhile only when we do have them and can lead to the situation in which, when we lose them, our lives become devoid of any sense whatsoever. That number 1 value is GOD.
There was a time when, as a young boy, I was cheated on by my friends, left by my girlfriend and the only thing filling my heart was despair and senselessness. In such moments, nothing can make you happy, the happiness of others only deepens your sadness.
After a couple of days of wandering, on the verge of emotional breakdown, I was walking on the street when I saw on a nearby hill a small church with its doors wide open. At that
moment those doors seem to me like a huge gate, which, like arms wide open, invite me to come in.
I went inside, the church was completely empty and extremely quiet, even though the doors were open. I kneeled for hours, contemplating the hopelessness of the situation. I did not expect anything, I just wanted to be present. Minute after minute my heart was filling with calm. I felt how the fear which was hunting me goes away. It was the first time when I realized that God is the only absolute, whom you can trust and whom you can love wholeheartedly. And loving God embraces you with strength, which enables you to love and forgive and to accept adversities.
Putting Jesus first does not mean making others inferior, because the belief in God is the belief in love, in the good on a completely different level. The belief in honest relations with wife, children, and other people.
Rafał, I know you may think I talk nonsence and that nobody will ever heal you from depression, not to say God, who maybe doesn’t even exist. But if you have nothing to lose, open yourself fully, stop being afraid! Recover you happiness and joy of life, regardless of life's adversities you may have to face. I think that you can mentally commit suicide everyday and still be alive. All those lonely, lost and confused and entangled with sins people commit suicide over and over again. They mistreat themselves and don’t believe in better tomorrow.
Don’t do this because it depends on us how we perceive the world!
Only by accepting the world for what it truly is, from the prism of afterlife, gives sense to our earthly existence.
„You are like health How much you must be valued, will only discover The one who has lost you” April 26
The above citation comes from the national epic of Poland. I don’t know exactly when it is read at school, but I remember reading these particular lines from the invocation and thinking nothing special of them. I did not think they differ in any way from the rest of the book. Now, from the perspective of time, I see how blind youth is, how beautiful and naïve, and, at the same time, how wise Mickiewicz was starting his epic poem with these lines.
Every life is wonderful, when in health. We tend to exaggerate our problems, which are there only to fill an empty space. They are in fact completely insignificant. If we’re down with illness, everything becomes worthless, particularly, that what seems to be valued the most, that is, the money.
Health is the greatest value, and the older you are, the more you appreciate it. It’s like with the air whose importance you don’t appreciate unless you’re locked in a small room without the access to oxygen. The same thing is with health. When we are young, we have an unlimited access to oxygen, but then, somebody gradually reduces the dosage of oxygen. At some point it is the oxygen (health) that becomes the only absolute of our earthly existence. Health is a great blessing.
The trick is not to appreciate health when you need it, but to appreciate it when you are healthy.
Why do people steal?, April 25
I don’t believe that the people who steal and lie think that what they do is wrong. If they did realize it, the world would be completely different, and there’d be less evil.
Those who commit sins strive to rationalize their wrong deeds. Rationalization is a peculiar justifications of one’s sins. For example, by saying that “everybody does this, everybody cheats, and what counts in life is to muddle through”.
In this way, if we steel something that may be useful to our family, we persuade ourselves that what we do is rather good than bad, since our family is happy, and those who are not are the people whom we don’t know or don’t like. Analogously, the poor tend to rationalize stealing from the rich: “they’ve got so much money that it won’t do harm to them anyway” or “it’s a rich company, they won’t even notice that the money is missing”.
The thing is that there will always be people richer than us, and people poorer than us so for them, we’ll be those successful wealthy ones..
Conservative defense of religious and ethic fundamentals makes us free from the shackles of sin and confusing between black and white. Only calling things by their proper names, that is admitting that cheating and stealing are wrong, even if they aim at good, can let us avoid lying to ourselves.
The second stage is the denial of wrongdoing. For example, if in a given situation we are only partially responsible, we tend to absolve ourselves from responsibility. It seems that denial prevents us from avoiding sins, we focus too much on changing and instructing everybody else, and not ourselves. If we shift the blame on others, we will never escape embitterment and injustice.
Negating sins can be dangerous, because we won’t stop sinning if we don’t realize that what we do is sinning. Saints, who live in sanctifying grace, are conscious of sins. They do not negate the fact that we are all prone to sin and temptations are natural – Jesus himself was tempted. We shouldn’t blame ourselves for susceptibility to sins and temptations, because, by nature people are doomed to a constant fight with, also an inner, evil.
Sometimes also envy can cause negation. Envy is discomfort experienced when others are more successful than us. It is an extremely destructive emotion which becomes increasingly common due to more and more apparent social divisions. Envy is a poison. As long as we are infected with it, we’ll be frustrated and unhappy. Envy is self-destructive, it does not affect the objects of our resentment, but ourselves. Envy is a disease, because it disrupts and destroys interpersonal relationships and it distorts the natural state of affairs, which is self- reconciliation and the ability to appreciate others’ happiness.
I have recently read an article written by Dale Carnegie who referred to the research conducted in the US, which indicate that even the worst criminals, serial killers and rapists do not realize they do something wrong, conversely, they’re convinced they act right.
A good example from recent history is the figure of Anders Breivik, a man who in 2011 killed 77 people in Oslo and on Utoya island. According to his beliefs, he had to do it to fight the evil. He believes that he is the only righteous so he decided to declare war on Islam and feminism and defend Norway from the wave of immigrants.
Such examples show how dangerous an unstable moral system can be and make us rethink our own values. Don’t we rationalize way too often? Don’t we make excuses? Don’t we act like Breivik by claiming that our opinion is only our argument is the plausible one, and the rest of the world must be wrong?
We all commit sins and only our awareness of the inclination to sins can prevent us from these sins.
Right and popular, April 22
Yesterday I received an e-mail from a nice woman who also writes a blog about positive thinking, mostly with words of wisdom and inspirational citations (mwyrwas.blogspot.com).I found one citation whose message I’ve had on my brain for the last couple of days: „“What is right is not always popular and what is popular is not always right.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr Sometimes when I listen to politicians, celebrities and their conversations I get the impression that my posts here are so unpopular that they won’t reach a wider audience, they won’t change anything
But on the other hand, I deeply believe that all these is right. That life in good conscience is the only way to fulfillment. I know that because, although the last few months have been really difficult to me, marked by sadness and pain, my heart is filled with love and benevolence, and it’s free from bitterness and hatred. I know that it is right to help other, to share enthusiasm with them and to fight with the tawdry windmills of contemporary world.
I believe in people, I believe that one day I’ll reverse the meaning of the above quotation. People want the truth and what they want deep down in their hearts is right, but popular!
Why are you poor?
In order to answer this question, it is necessary to ask another question first: who, and why, is rich? I don’t want to delve into the social issues, inheritance etc. but into the very essence of richness. In this post, I refer to richness in a material sense.
The vast majority of us come into adulthood not with assets and liabilities, but with financial commitments. At this stage, it is necessary to realize what assets and liabilities are, because, although they’re relatively easy to understand, they’re also hardly ever mentioned.
In a simplified way: assets are whatever brings profit (also money itself, e.g. invested in the market), whereas liabilities refer to whatever we spend money on. To exemplify: for most of us our houses are liabilities, but if we leave only one room for ourselves, and rent out the rest, then our houses become assets bringing profits. On the whole, the people who invest assets, multiply their resources, by contrast, the people who invest in liabilities, increase their commitments, which ultimately makes them poorer.
When it comes to richness, a prerequisite to being rich is capital, which is the money coming from a surplus of economic resources. All the money we don’t spend is our capital. If we spend all we earn, or- what’s even worse- we spend more than we earn, we will never be rich. How can we put some money aside of we can’t even afford to cover our basic expenses? We have to work more and longer, until we don’t earn more than we spend or, alternately, to drastically lower our expenses so that a part of our resources become surplus.
When we finally reach the higher level and start investing the surplus, we’ll see something amazing. We’ll realize that making money is the hardest at the lowest level, because we don’t take advantage of what’s best (but at the same time the least fair) about money, namely that it multiplies itself, as if in bloom, and the bigger the amount, the faster it multiplies.
And that is where it becomes absurd. By definition, money should come proportionally with work, but at some point it starts to multiply by itself. All you have to do is to invest in assets (not liabilities), not to increase your expenses and it’ll turn out that it can provide for you for the rest of your life. But, de facto, this is not money, but the people who will never reach this stage for the reason that their actual expenses always exceed their income.
We shouldn’t picture money with solely devilish attributes, just as we shouldn’t assign only
angelic features to poverty. There’s no amount of money that could not be spend. Even if you
earn good money, you should force yourself to save some. It means the end of debauchery and conceit. It means saving up every cent you earn.
Theoretically, it can be assumed that poverty comes from debauchery and extravagance, and wealth from minimalism and hard work.
Practically, however, the truth is utterly different. Poverty brings harm, but it also teaches humility and minimalist approach to life, so that you learn to appreciate what you have. It is in fact the surplus of that can lead to debauchery and extravagance, and, ultimately, to depravity What is better than? The answer is simple. Implement theory into practice!
How to break the over thinking habit! , April 21
Worrying is a habit which we should convert into thinking about positive things.
This morning, my 6,5 year daughter asked if she could go to the choir classes on her own. The church in which they’re held is not very far- several hundred meters straight down the street in a safe district. I went with her but then I let her walk on her own. She got there too early so she had to wait for her friends. Back home, I started to analyze this situation.
I imagined my daughter walking with curiosity towards a busy road, and wandering around the city. But I erased these thoughts and decided she’s alright. But then suddenly I began to worry again: how can I know she’s alright? Maybe the classes were cancelled and she went with some stranger?
Many people tend to see the world in dark hues. What’s worse, usually the imagined worst- case scenarios never come truth. If we consciously decide that the ‘threat’ is unrealistic, there’s no point worrying.
My worrying lasted just a while. Then I redirected the flow of my thought using a technique from so called motivational books. I substituted the dark thoughts with the happy ones. I imagined my daughter smiling and playing with her friends. I thought to myself that she’d appreciate the fact that I let her be independent.
Every time my brain started to worry, I try to feed my imagination with only positive images. I saw her singing, and my heart filled with peace and happiness. It does work in all circumstances. Do not let our imagination have a negative effect on our frame of mind. Thinking, for example, about our friends and families we should imagine them smiling, playing their favorite sports or relaxing in the garden. It does not mean that should tear away from reality, and create an unrealistic world. It’s rather about an optimistic perception of the world.
Are black scenarios, made up in our minds, ever come true? No! almost never. Our well-being depends on how we perceive the world.
In order to be happy, we have to focus our attention on positive things that happen in our lives. Bad things happen to everyone but they influence different people in different ways.
We can think about the things we can control, which result from our decisions and mistakes. Worrying about things which are beyond our control won’t change the fact that we can’t influence them in any way. But they can influence us in a negative way.
The choice is yours!
Evil wins, April 20
I believe in humanity as long as I remember that it is not always the best that wins. The best, meaning the best, not those who cheat.
Surely, the politicians who run the nation aren’t the best specialists in our country. The richest businessmen aren’t necessarily the most hones ones. The most popular bishops are not the humblest shepherds. The best sportsmen do not always owe their medals purely to talent and hard work.
It proves that in our earthly lives you don’t need to be the best to achieve success. But is it worth wasting you life for this kind of success? I have recently noticed that in business everybody is able to find his or her niche to become distinguished from others. In our times, this niche consists in being loyal and honest. If we focus only on this, we may create something which will definitely be noticed.
What can you say about people in general if you believe that this particular person running the country, organizations and companies is the best of all? Why is he or she there...?
Life shows that it may be a good person, but it doesn’t have to be. Rather than good they’d rather be consistent, clever, brilliant, and... they’ll stop at nothing.
Our world is not fair, even the more it becomes difficult to rationalize justice. Why should I be a fair freak? What for? If others keep putting a spoke in my wheel.
Evil wins often, good- sometimes. If we believe in the Day of Judgment, then all evil will be judged after death. If we don’t, then what’s left is a sad visions of a depressed world ruled by the strongest.
Inspired by „The Illustrated London News” 2.11.1907 by G.K.C.
Kill the pain with enthusiasm!, April 19
Who makes most money? Not geniuses at physics, astronomy or mathematics etc.
Although they do earn a decent salary, there are those who get even more.
This exceptional group of successful money makers is comprised of so-called “human relationships engineers”. These are the people we look up to, the people we want to keep company with, the people who arouse enthusiasm wherever they appear, the people who make others feel better and appreciated. Charles M. Schwab once said that he considered the ability to arouse enthusiasm among people to be his greatest asset. At the age of 35, Schwab became president of Carnegie Steel Company and made a killing, as he believed, through winning the favor of others and appreciating their work.
Sometimes when I have a bad day, I feel as if I lived in some kind of a surrealistic world created by my imagination. In a world where every, even the worst, human being has an element of the good. In a world where people are rather good than bad. Maybe I am too optimistic in my perception of the world, even when the dice are loaded against me ...But what’s on the other side of the barricade? Sadness, bitterness, fear, complaint, self-pity, hatred, envy and jealousy. Failing to believe in people discloses all these negative qualities. A frightening perspective that might even destroy one’s life. Let’s not be afraid of telling people about the good things that have happened to us. Let’s try to muster a little bit of enthusiasm
even for an utter pessimist. Every human being naturally strives to avoid pain, but, at the same
time, he or she unnaturally strives to talk about this pain.
Does God exist? Church and hypocrisy, April 18
From a scientific perspective, it’s impossible to prove that God exists, but it is also impossible to prove that He is non-existent. For this reason, science remains in the realm of reason, whereas God’s existence- in the realm of faith.
To me, the best evidence for the existence of God is the world itself. The nature with all its beauty, the leaving creatures, oceans, stars and galaxies. This only reinforces my faith, because I believe it’s impossible for all these to come into existence accidentally.
A human being is wonderful, but also imperfect. We can’t imagine something that has no boundaries or the universe that spreads into infinity. It has to come to an end at some point. But where? And what’s beyond? Big, remote „NOTHING”. Most probably.
I once read a statement by some monk, who said „I don’t know if God exists, but I believe that He does. Even if there’s no God, my life will be much happier than that of a non- believer.”
This quotation can be interpreted in different ways. But I think that everyone has a need to believe in God. On each continent, in each culture there is some religion.
Even the staunchest atheists I know, somewhere deep in their hearts do believe in some god. For some, this god might be the nature, for others, money or simply their EGOs. Those who don’t believe in any god, believe in themselves, which is a religion in its own way.
I have a friend who never misses an opportunity to criticize my Christian belief. He claims that all the evil in this world has been caused by religions, just as depicted in a book by Christopher Hitchens, „God in not great”. I had a chance to read this book, and I think it’s boring and tendentious. As far as I know, all wars in the history of mankind, supposedly with religion in the background, were in fact ignited by other factors. Wars were declared in the name of religion to cover up the real motive, such as, for example, oil, gas, new territories etc. If there is a religion that puts Love first, then how to call killings in its name?
Hypocrisy.
If somebody tells us he sells organic eggs and shows us a couple of hens walking around, but he sells them on an industrial scale, then we wonder: where he takes all these eggs from? One day we sneak to his window and what we see is him wiping off red serial numbers from the cheapest supermarket eggs.
Who’s that man? Is he still a distinguished farmer, an organic agriculturist? Or a liar and swindler? The same can be sad about those who use Christianity to steal, rape, grow rich. Does that make the whole Church hypocrites? No, but it puts it in such a light.
Jesus set up the Church, consisting of sinners. We are sin, so it’d be abnormal (but at the same time wonderful) if the clergy didn’t. do not judge the whole community of Church by isolated cases. The message the church sends is: love, forgive, help and praise the Lord, who created the world. So let’s help to clean the church from corruption, and let’s start with ourselves!
A priest and God, April 16
I feel a strong need to express my considerations about God and the Church. Recently, a couple of people told me that they had turned away from God because off the corruption in church as well as church’s intolerance for those who hold different opinions.
But the essence of faith lies in the relationship with God, not with the priest. What rock did Jesus build His church upon? The one which thrice recanted its faith. Despite this, however, Jesus forgave Peter and entrusted to him the mission of leading His church.
Is there no sin in church? There is. Do priests, bishops and popes commit sins? They do. Are there any people who don’t sin? No. Does that prevent the Church community from bringing us close to God? No
The role of priests is to preach the Holy Bible the best they can and to live the best they can. It does not mean that they’re not contaminated with sin, there’re all people after all. I reminded myself of an old Buddhist proverb saying that a vacuum cleaner does not have to be clean to clean.The Church is a signpost and, for most of the way, it points out the right road. However,
sometimes one of the members turns the sign amiss so we turn into the wrong direction.
The belief in the Trinity is not the belief in yourself, God or a priest. We can’t turn away from God just because we dislike priests. I know many wonderful priests who devoted their lives to preaching the Bible. “Do not judge and you shall not be judged”.
Worrying numbs the mind, April 15
What’s easier: to think positively, or to think negatively? Of course, it is better to think positively, but it’s easier to worry, that is, to think negatively. Dark thoughts are like dark clouds- they overcome our mind, so we forget about the beautiful sun shining above them. Sometimes, during the Polish winter, when I get into the car and after a while driving I soon discover that it’s always shining above the clouds. Even the greyest of days can be beautiful, but we can’t perceive it. The clouds we see are in fact faint steam, which covers a huge, beautiful and hot star.
Worry is our mind playing tricks on us. Without any particular focus, our thoughts move towards any potential threats, that is, things that make us worry. This in turn makes us NUMB, lifeless. We consciously do away with ourselves.
Our mind is a superb instrument, but in operates schematically.
The burst of endorphins and adrenaline can make us feel omnipotent. But it also paralyzes us with its creativity in making up black scenarios that may come true one day.
Euphoria and excessive optimism are definitely not as harmful as worrying. It is usually the people prone to excessive optimism who go from one extreme to the other and the decline in mood leads to incessant worrying.
The key to success is balance. The world is at once wonderful and cruel. Beautiful and disgusting. People love and people hate. People are born in pain and people die in pain.
I have read some websites on positive thinking today. I think that the motivation they provide is short lived, and that, in a long term, it can’t make us happy.
Positive thinking is seeing the glass half full, not half empty. Positive thinking is simultaneously loving the world and people, as well as accepting ubiquitous evil and suffering.
Positive thinking is the bliss that comes from knowing that when the last cloud disappears from the sky it uncovers... the Light.
The love backbone, April 14
How is a so-called moral backbone created?
Undoubtedly, we are born with the instinct which tells us what is right and wrong. However, it is the upbringing that plays the most crucial role in the creation of a value system.
Arduous, hard work which is raising children may be compared to drops of water that by hitting the rock for many years can sculpt an exceptional work of art.
Undoubtedly, raising a child to be just a good and honest person has a similar, amazing effect. Respect is one of the most important things in human relationships. You can’t just tell your children to respect other people without giving them an example. Children are better or worse copies of their parents. It is important to talk with children, but empty words will be completely useless if not supported by solid actions.
I have to mention the role of a healthy and strong family in raising children. Just as grain won’t grow on rocks or sand, a child will not become a good person without having a foundation – fertile soil on which he or she can grow up. Undoubtedly, a family is such a foundation. A father, mother, grandparents, cousins, as well as family friends.
Unfortunately, creating a hearth which is a healthy family requires a lot of hard work; work on yourself, on your relationship, relations with others, on your weaknesses and temptations. However, we are constantly bombarded with evidence that selfless dedication to others is for losers. After all, self-realization is our only goal on this Earth. Through realizing our needs we can climb to the top of the ladder of human existence. Is that so?
Because it seems to me that on the top of egoistic complacency is only emptiness and lack of meaning in life.
The point is that focusing only on one’s own needs is a road to nowhere.
A human will never achieve fulfillment through egoism, however, it is possible through altruism. We were all created to do good, and good that we give to others will smooth our souls like balm.
Once I’ve heard that you can’t love others if you don’t love yourself.
But maybe we can’t love ourselves if we don’t love others first?
By loving others with reciprocated love, we will notice that it is possible to love people for nothing. Let’s put an end to the obsession of selfishness.
After all, the good comes back to us and if we don’t expect anything in return, we will get everything!
Everybody is important
What does it mean that everybody is important?
I seems that the contemporary world pigeonholes people into categories. That in the West material status determines one’s worth. For example, in the English language, there’s this popular question – “How much is he worth?”. In other words, how much does he have in his
bank account? Indeed, everything can be capitalized now. You assess one’s assets and
liabilities to find out how much that person is “worth”.
But how can you judge a man through the prism of his bank account or debt? A man is not a company, but a human being that deserves respect and dignity.
Democracy is based on social equality, but you don’t need to be a sociologist to know that people are not equal. Some are smarter than others, some more stupid. Tall and short. Entrepreneurial and stick in the mud. Hard working and lazy.
I think that equality in a democratic sense is to be understood in terms of dignity and uniqueness. We are all equally important and necessary in the community we comprise. Each act of work assumes importance only when defined in relation to others.
But the world is beautiful, April 10
You don’t need to make sacrifices to be happy. All you need to do is to take the best from the world. We live in excellent times. Technology is on a high (but not too high) level.
We should enjoy our freedom, peace and stability. The truth is that the economic crisis that everybody talks about is not the end of the world. It is a consequence of wrong political and economic decisions – huge debts and unsettled financial speculations.
But there’re also positive sides to the crisis, which we don’t talk about.
First of all, it makes the economy more realistic. It brings out the world’s problems that would be otherwise neglected, and, consequently, could entail far more serious consequences, for example, global wars threatening the future of civilization.
Be yourself- that’s all that matters, April 7
Two weeks ago I went to the zoo and saw a huge gorilla. He was observed by a group of about 200 people from various countries, dressed in their strange colorful outfits. The gorilla was sitting a few meters from the window, watching weird reactions of the audience. He must have been wondering what they were there for. Suddenly, Mr Gorilla put his index finger into his anus and started to lick it like a lollypop. The audience was taken aback by his disgusting behavior.
The moral to be drawn from this story is “be yourself and don’t bother what others think”.
The crowds often treat people acting differently like this gorilla. I don’t mean exactly the same behavior, but any behavior that evades commonly accepted models.
To give an example, sometimes when I give a big smile to the shop lady, I see exactly the same surprised face expression as on the faces of the people watching the gorilla.
Work to buy; buy to live; live to die! April,6
Does this kind of life make sense? In spring 2012 I completely turned myself off from mass
media. I stopped watching television and sports, I deleted my facebook account. I started to read books and work on myself, on the peace of mind, internal fulfillment and relationship with God. I did everything to tear away from reality and to regain the balance I had lost somewhere in the turmoil of this worlds.
We live in the era of information overload. We need to know all about everything, the news increasingly often features pain and suffering, increasingly seldom- happiness and the already mentioned brotherhood. Happiness, in contrast to tragedy, won’t sell. Yet we all pursuit happiness. So what’s the problem?
The problem is that in fact people do not pursuit happiness, but misery. Why do they watch all the tragedies on a 24h news channel? To feel better because it has not happened to you? Why does the media show mostly sex, entertainment and products? Because these are the things you can sell and make big profit from. If they talked about friendship, disinterested love and poetry, what would happen to our economy?
I don’t know about you, but in this chaos I can’t hear myself. I hear experts, celebrities, politicians, media who impose their lifestyle on me.
Our bust days are filled with work and surfing on the net, watching tv soap operas and reading newspapers which instruct us how to live our lives. They tell us what to but to reach a higher level, which, by itself, should satisfy us. But once we have reached this higher level, new doors open and together with them opens another sea of needs to meet. Now, we need to earn more money, so we work extra hours in the evenings and at the weekends, and we become more and more lonely. We grow apart from our partners, families to the point that we realize our lives have no sense!
Indeed, such kind of life has no sense. We came to believe that a human is a monkey and that s/he can work like a monkey till death when given new gadgets to play with. We lose ourselves, we believe that the lives of celebrities are the highest possible level of human development. Why do we make them our idols, if deep down they’re the most lost people in the world, who, instead of fascination, should attract sympathy. Hollywood serves us a show titled “beautiful and rich are happy”. But at the same time newspapers and gossip portals show that the lust for money and power lead to destruction. As far as I’m concerned, it’s more like “Beautiful and rich are unhappy”... .
Boring media „Zośka was gay!”, April 5
Today, first time in several weeks, I’ve read the whole newspaper.
I didn’t learn much.
I don’t know why but I like old newspapers better. When I see faded newspapers somewhere I immediately start reading. Recently, I came across some nice ones from 2008, so economy- wise from the end of the boom era. At least in an old newspaper it is visible who says the truth. For example, I’ve learned that 2012 is still a possible date of Poland’s adoption of euro, whereas today I read that for now 2018 seems to be a realistic date.
I agree that five years is long enough for all today newspapers to disappear. I understand that in 2018, 2023 will be a quite realistic date... Going back to the newspaper, there are constantly the same subjects: the split of Law and Justice, the split of Civic Platform, another split of the birch in Smolensk, corruption in church, threats in Korea, bribery in the world – and that’s it.
One more thing, I’ve learned that „Zośka” from Stones for the Rampart was really gay and the proof isn’t at all his pseudonym.
So maybe I’ll write a few sentences about civil partnerships after all. I think that the case of civil partnerships should be solved the democratic way – fairly – by majority vote.
But for me, as an unconcerned person, it looks like an attempt to stir our Polish pot. It’s a good subject for a scandal and getting publicity, to divide Poland into two parts or even several parts again.
A human is a really special creature and can’t be reduced to the sexual sphere only. This is why I’ll defend “Zośka” because in that world brotherhood and friendship were big virtues, and that’s what this book is about. If closeness of two men, even on a friendly footing, has to end with a sexual act, maybe we should go further – to Four tank-men, and prove that there was something more between Szarik and Janek...
( I know this article doesn't mean much sense in English. However, Zośka was a hero of a well-known polish novel from 1920s, however their friendship was so strong till the death, that nowadays people say.. that they might have been gay. The last sentence states that the other well-know polish character from a movie serious concerning II world war, was making up with... his dog Szarik)
My Perfect World, April 4
What is your world like? The ideal one? Referring to Nietzsche, you can say that people make up ideal worlds to tear away from the reality they live in.
The vision of life on a beautiful tropical Island or in a small forest chalet by the lake – every has his/her own ideal that they want to pursuit.
Years pass by each day is the same as the one before? Getting up, brushing your teeth and hair, shower, getting dressed, commuting, job, commuting back home, dinner, sleep, getting up- and it starts all over.
Not pursuing your ideals means weakness, lack of faith and numbness. According to the doctrine of two worlds we only have two choices. We need to make our ideal reality or the other way around. As Robert R. Smith wrote in “Breakfast with Socrates” we need to imagine that we live our lives one more time with all its details, and then think how much of it we could go through again. The point at which we decide we’d like to live every moment of our lives again, is when the two world – real and imagined- blend together.
Crazy world of prosperity, April 3
The contemporary world is doing well. Decades of driven prosperity and the culmination which is a crisis in the form of debt.
I often ask myself: did the world had its last word in the hedonistic battle for affluence? Is it true that a human being can be reduced to the role of a mindless receiver of sensations and pleasures driven by advertisements?
Or maybe there will be some new twist? A turn towards general spirituality. Is there going to be a time when people instead of mass-shopping for TV sets will start mass-throwing them away?
The world is going in the wrong direction. The growth of GDP can’t be the most important thing. It’s a bit like giving a strong 5+ to a child in primary school when the school runs into debt and spends more than the previous year. In our private conversations we come to the conclusion that more money doesn’t really mean more life; that the social classification in Poland in accordance with the possessed amount of money is an exceptionally poor source of information about a given citizen.
Because of several decades of communism which delayed our development, there was an economic false start in the 1990s, without an integrated plan. It was just conducted without preparation. This is why we shouldn’t associate status with prosperity. Human dignity is overriding but it is so easy to notice that more money doesn’t equal more dignity.
I believe in the depth of the human being and its inherent drive to development in terms of spirituality, brotherhood and love for people.
I believe that economies function in order because many people have utilitarian approaches to everyday life and everyday work.
I look with so much respect at people who clean our streets, collect garbage or do the hardest physical jobs, which in the same time are the lowest-paying jobs. These people do it also for money but primarily for us. They do something good for others. For the whole society.
Hard physical work has always been respected, so let’s not turn away from this tradition of respect because on the other side are contempt and hate towards people who serve the community. After all, the biggest need of the contemporary world is work for the good of others and not for the good of individuals.
How beautifully is our country constructed. Everyone does their job and with humility performs their duties and work they do best.
„No job is beneath you” but contempt towards another person is beneath you and we should disapprove of it.
I believe in people. The people respecting family and respecting others, who sometimes just like us make wrong decisions, choose wrong paths.
Let’s not let the most important question that we ask ourselves every day to be about the brand of washing powder that we have to buy or about the color of the car that we dream of. Let’s go back a few steps. Technology is beautiful because it serves people. But it is only a delightful foam on coffee, which stays on the surface for a very brief moment. Only a soft blow suffices for it to fly away like a feather moved by the wind.
Only beneath is something more important, the depth of our creation. The depth of relationships, love for wife, husband, or even openness and friendliness towards people we don’t know. How nice it is to hear kind words from a stranger, who with just one sentence can set our barometer of happiness for the whole day. Let’s change our day! Let’s give a free smile to strangers and confirm the belief that the best things in life are those we can’t buy!
Dirty Cairo,
(business trip to Cairo)
Self-development gives satisfaction of expanding one’s horizons. At the same time, it shows sharply and mercilessly the range of places we don’t know yet, and also the ones we will never know.
So why look for them? To realize how little we know and how small we are in comparison with the vastness of the universe?
Dirty, noisy Cairo streets. So different than the resorts we are used to. I feel different refusing a beggar in the center of Warsaw; I know that except for a sad look he won’t do anything. Here it’s different. A woman whom I refused to give a baksheesh went after me for hundreds of meters, yelling something in Arabic. I felt like she was cursing me for not helping her. What would Jesus do? Would he give her his whole wallet?
After a few minutes I saw a beautiful Egyptian woman sitting on the street with her several month old daughter. They were both asleep so they didn’t know I was passing by. Suddenly, I felt an internal need to share the content of my pocket. I bent, threw a note next to her bag and
quickly marched towards the hotel.
I had a vision of the woman’s awakening, her running after me for kilometers with a beautiful, dirty child looking at me with its big black eyes.
I think I know what my God would say. “Give all you have away, sit on the street and beg for bread and you will fill yourself with humility that will bring you closer to the kingdom of God”. But is that right? After all, people in such predicament often fall into addictions, steal and sin because of the need and hopelessness of the position they are in.
Recently, when I talked to a friend, I told her that the accumulation of wealth leads to nowhere and that people who love materialism ruin their inner selves. I was trying to show how much evil is in the money mysticism. After a while she said: “Why do you concentrate on the bad things caused by wealth? Look how much evil poverty causes every day”.
I agree, in contrast to her, I know nothing about poverty. I’ve always had everything and my poor times were only seemingly poor. I think that I will not understand that until I experience it myself.
Money, just as life, is neither good nor bad. However, when I see that people who don’t believe in God attribute divine power to authority and money, I come to conclusion that there is something wrong here.
Massive Action., April 2
If you have already made a decision and you are determined to pursuit a given goal, there’s only one thing that you need to do: “Take massive action!”, in other words, start acting holistically!
If we do know what we want, but we don’t know why we want to do it, we may err. But if we specify the motives for certain actions, we should pull out all the stops.
Acting slowly means that the results come slowly, if they do at all. It means stalling, procrastinating and making excuses.
I am here and now, I want to move ahead, that’s why I start now, not tomorrow.
I’m sorry, I have to go now... from my mediocrity zone (which I enter from time to time) through massive action straight to the genius zone! Come with me.
A dog’s life, April 1
The owner says to his dog: „What time is it?”
The dog responds:
„Now! Now! Now!”
It may not be the best joke but one that’s very deep in its simplicity.
Life of a dog shouldn’t be associated only with lying on the couch and lack of responsibilities. Hearing that, I realized that a dog is so happy because it lives in the present. It’s HERE and NOW. It doesn’t think about what happened yesterday, it doesn’t think about tomorrow, next month and year. It’s beside you, it looks at you and simply enjoys the moment! Yes, for sure it was a dog and not Horace which said the famous: Carpe diem.
Epicureans believed that the present is more important than the future. Of course it is – ask your dog :-) Without hesitation it will tell you that your present can only exist without the future but the future can’t exist without the present.
If we have logically stated that our thesis is true, why do we talk with people mainly about the past or the future? Maybe it’s because the present is the most boring of the three, because it is always now.
Or maybe it’s because we like things that are important and what we are going to do is always more important than what we are doing at the moment?
Anyway, in order to live in happiness, firstly we have to be present. It just so happens that all the things that touch us, make us laugh, excite us or make us sad... all of it happens in the present. So as our dog says: now, now, now!
Prima Aprilis – An Honesty Day!
My first thoughts today are, of course, about Prima Aprilis. I came up with a brilliant idea! Today the media should surprise us with something different than implausible news.
On this day, for a change, they should tell the truth and only the truth. My face beams at the very thought of a commercial slogan saying “Our washing powder has exactly the same ingredients and purpose as twenty other washing powders on the market. It is not better than them, it does not smell better than them. Unfortunately, you have to pay for it 20% more, because our company has over 100 years of tradition, enjoys a good reputation and it spends a lot on marketing.
I’d like to see a tv presenter saying: “Considering that nothing interesting has happened today, neither in the country, nor in Europe, we had to try really hard to find something for the program. Thus, we’ll feature the story of a bus accident in Turkmenistan. What do you think?”
Next, we’d open a newspaper featuring P.M. Tusk, with disarming honesty announcing that “Our economy requires profound reforms and extreme workload, and I wouldn’t dare to undertake the reconstruction of the country. But I’d gladly continue my job for a couple more years. After all, that’s my profession, that’s what you pay my for”.
Yes, yes, my darlings. I postulate that this day should become a “lie-free day”. You can lie throughout the year, but this one day. People will definitely find it more shocking to once a year hear the pure truth.
"A year of debauchery", March 31
I have recently read some letters by John Lennon. He’s a very vivid character and even more eccentric and crazy than I’d expected. I loved sending Christmas card, also to strangers and fans. One time he wrote “ May the new year be the year of debauchery”.
I find it hard to imagine such a year. I spend all I earn, I live my life to the fullest and I don’t worry about tomorrow. How simple, naïve and beautiful that is! Cool or terrifying? Splendid, but only artists can afford such spontaneity. The rest of society is either unreliable so every year is a year of debauchery for them, or so serious, self-conscious and organized that they’d never act this way.
Another thing is that we are pigeon holed in our own lives. Can we undertake such drastic steps? You need to be very flexible to achieve something in life. Torpor causes pathology. And that is why a little debauchery will paint your life with colour of youthful joy!
Korea rules/rocks (?). Kim Jong Un !, March 31
With reference to my previous posts (those from a couple of days ago, not the Easter ones;)), that young Korean communist takes advantage of what works out best, namely fear and anxiety! He follows in the footsteps of his father, who, for many decades, was intimidating his subjects.
What’s left to do when the country is on the verge of collapse, and the army won’t listen to an undersized leader with inferiority complex. It’s best to show that you have the balls... and declaring war on the US is indicative either of his sick psyche or of total helplessness and hopelessness of the situation.
If it is the helplessness of Korea’s critical situation, then these are in fact harmless threats, which lead only to credit negotiations with developed countries.
Worse than that is a mental illness. In such case, the chances for success are of no significance at the moment of making a decision. He may be attacked and razed to the ground, but what counts is that he will go down in history. Still, it is better to die fighting than to commit suicide in a dark room.
Time will tell. At least journalists have something to write about, something other than ‘global warming’ turning into global „climate cooling”.
Hallelujah! , March 31
Easter and a great morning. A beautiful moment, when Jesus shows us that there is life after life and He came to earth to give this life also to us, despite our weak faith and perpetual sins.
Let’s rejoice! Let’s celebrate with our dearest ones.
Death as salvation. Memento Mori , March 30
Humans seem to think that “immorality” is a way of salvation. But the truth is that salvation/ redemption can be accomplished only through death.
Socrates centuries ago noticed that death is the cure to all diseases. That it is a permanent sleep, and who doesn’t like to dream? Certainly, this is an extremely radical approach, but having in mind all those desperate cases and lost causes, it seems a fairly reasonable statement.
But let’s say that we have just discovered the cure to aging. Almost overnight we become in possession of the elixir of immortality ( and I don’t mean immortality from computer games, but prevention of aging processes.
I’d like to refer to an excellent book by Drew Magary, Immortality will kill us all.
Social structures would break down, the earth would be overcrowded, and humans, who would start playing God and give immortality, would also have to take away lives. All serious crimes would have to be punished with death penalty, because eternal prisons would be uneconomical. People would enter into contractual temporary marriages, so they won’t have to stay with their partners forever.
People bored with life, the world, polluted climate would have to commit crimes, and the world would not move forward. The rich, leaders and artists would control the world devoid of any values, plutocratic and boring. A terrifying perspective.
Extending human lives into immortality would definitely bring a lot. Wouldn’t it bring a lot more pain and suffering to the world in which we would no longer want to live?
Death is a part of life. It is neither good, nor bad. Just as life, which is not only good or only bad. Fear of death is, above all, fear of loneliness. For atheists- of annihilation. For believers – of the hell or annihilation, because if Jesus himself was tempted, then each and every human being on earth has a tiny “non-believer” element. I have noticed that the closer to death you are, the more scared of it you become. It is said that we are always afraid of great things, and we are not afraid of insignificant things... Death must be great! Is annihilation (THE end- eternal emptiness) great? Definitely not. That’s why we should believe in eternal life in another world, where it is possible to live forever.
Life is simply like a voyage around the world. One day basking in a beautiful sunshine, the other day caught in a terrible storm. Let’s not want to swim forever in the same boat.
Let’s complete this voyage the best we can, helping others. And, as Jesus, when our day comes, leave with glory to another world.
Carpe diem & Memento Mori
Forgiveness. A poem, March 30
You cruel, uncompromising ruthlessness
Do have mercy, disappear in nothingness
Give me faith, love and strength,
To slay this anger and go the length
Human stubbornness just won’t go away
So it’s not forgiveness that calls the tune today
Eternal despair will continue to swell
turning the world with guilty conscience into hell
God and pain, March 29
Why do accidents happen? Why do they happen to some people, and not others?
The Old Testament gives examples of God sending down suffering upon people. But it is never unfounded and the people concerned are aware of it. I think that generally we are not responsible for the accidents that befall us. Jesus said clearly that earthly suffering does not
26
have to be a direct consequence of wrong deeds. Sometimes bad things happen to good people, that is the worlds that we live in.
God speaks to us through suffering, but He does not have to cause that suffering. People will not be judged in this life. That’s why there are so many criminals and thieves who live in luxury and health. But on the other side, there are good people constantly haunted by accidents.
Do not try to detect conspiracy of heaven in everything. It is enough to remember that people bring suffering upon themselves, e.g. due to recklessness, stupidity, unhealthy lifestyle or naivety.
A human like God , March 28
Humans are similar to God for they can think and they have free will, they can distinguish the good from the evil.
Why did Jesus, the Son of God, come to the world? To fulfill His words.
But why didn’t he just say what he had to say and walk away?
He didn’t have to suffer on the cross. Suffering in agony, he felt abandoned by His Father.
I think that he did not fully realize what he got himself into and what hell on earth people will create. And all this in the name of the good...
Humans are equipped with free will and can make decisions on their own account.
Is a human life in the hands of God or humans? If everybody can kill another man in the street at any time, then a human life is in the hands of humans. Those humans, who write their own history. Those, who naively believe that such great and beautiful universe could come to life out of nothing and go in no direction.
The universe was created after a big bang of „nothing”. As everybody knows, “nothing” is a thing that may blow once again at any time, and create another universe. Even atheists should realize that only some transcendental being from another world could bring our universe to existence.
It seems that the existing world is the best that could be created, for it gives people the choice between the good and evil. If we did not have such choice, we would be just puppets in the hands of fate.
We would never understand the substance of the good and evil. Jesus did not condemn himself to death. He was condemned to death by people. He came and showed us that the road to infinity is through pain. That our lives are beds of roses with thorns.
He showed us that this suffering proves trivial when compared with the life in heaven. In heaven, where there is not the good and the evil, but only pure goodness. But before reaching the splendor of heaven we must first go through our earthy lives. Without this phase, when already in heaven, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate knowing the difference between the good and evil.
I hope that after such a crazy ride as our lives, nobody will come up with the idea to pick this horrible apple again...
These are just my little thoughts in connection with tomorrow’s Way of the Cross.
The Poet and the Lunatics, March 28
The Poet and the Lunatics by G.K. Chesterton:
“In one way his own mind and self seem to be colossal and cosmic and everything outside them small or distant. In another way the world is much too big for him, and his thoughts are fragile things to be hidden away.”
"There was a row", March 28
Lying alone when my heart longs for you Is to live with no water, no air-
Life full of despair
You and I in one body united
My beloved Dreamer
Life grinds us down, but we’ll fight it Love tried and true,
Fruitfully prolific.
Sorrows separate fates misgive
And this short life
Our everlasting Love will both outlive
Decisions are most important, March 27
The most important in life are decisions. Where we are or where we are not results from our previous decisions. It seems that we often let the flow of life carry us and, as a result, lose control over our lives.
It is so easy to stop and decide which way to go. What is it that I really want? Is this idea mine, or somebody else’s? I’ll ask one more time: what do I want?
Yes. If you want to live your life to the fullest, you need to look into the deepest part of your soul. Don’t let others persuade you that average is the norm and that average is safe. It is dangerous and abnormal. Only natural pursuit ahead, towards perfection, is right.
Look into the mirror. What do you see? The depth of your eyes will show you the depth of your souls. And the turmoil in your pupils will show the turmoil in your heart.
A human without humanity , March 26
“Without understanding their value, freedom, solidarity and humanity mean nothing” Moral values are the core of self-realization. Freedom without morals leads to enslavement.
What is freedom? If we are from all sides pressured to make decisions, which have nothing to the with the greater good then our freedom is severely constrained. By the government, principals, even by our nearest and dearest. It seems to be nothing more but a meaningless slogan.
I am not saying I do not love freedom. I think it is an exceptional value, but it belongs to the world of ideals rather than the world of realities. For many years, our compatriots fought for freedom, sometimes against common sense, in uprisings doomed to failure. And still, this fighting brought results and, for more than two decades now, we have lived in freedom in Poland.
Let’s be free in our own minds, let’s make decisions consistent with our conscience. While reason helps us think, it also helps others to influence us. Solidarity, on the other hand, is oriented towards the common good, which renders it easier identifiable. It’s hard to imagine solidarity without humanity.
But why is ‘humanity’ synonymous with the good, while ‘a man’ seems to define impersonality? The answer seems to be that, as a matter of fact, a human is designed to do good. The ‘human-like” humanity brings to mind more positive connotations than “a human” itself. A human who, somewhere in the chaos of life, has lost his or her... humanity.
And this is what Lech Walesa, whose citation I used at the beginning, writes about.
Fear paralyzes me. So does stupidity. March 26
The main reasons for problems are stupidity and fear. Stupidity abides by its own rules, people keep repeating the same myths, which are not true, but are multiplied. As far as I remember, Albert Einstein once said that human stupidity knows no boundaries. Does that mean that human wisdom knows no boundaries, too? Absolutely yes.
The other thing that torments the world is fear. It prevents us from making decisions about which I have written in earlier posts. Fear causes stagnation and making up excuses. But there are also positive sides of fear – it warns against activities that may entail negative consequences. Obviously, not all actions bring positive outcomes, but recognition of potential consequences seems to be cautionary enough.
There is one more important aspect left. Things in our life can be divided into those over which we have control and those which happen beyond our control. We will never free ourselves from fear if we worry about thing which we can’t control. If every day we see misfortunes happening to others, don’t be surprise when one day they happen to us- unfortunately, it never rains but it pours.
Citing an American specialist in positive thinking: “ We’re not driven by the reality, but by our perception of reality”. That is why the same event experienced by two different people might influence them in different ways. Some people treat failures like a nail in the coffin, while others as a motivating factor. What about you?
How much does the world cost ?, March 26
I’m flying over the clouds, the sun is beautiful, and so are the clouds and views.
I’m wondering how much the whole earth costs at the market price. Has anybody ever wondered? I’ll be delighted to find out. Do I even know such number?
Capitalism- a necessary evil , March 24
„The whole atmosphere of all capitalism contributes to the fact that people are constantly inoculated with selfishness, starting from childhood, through upbringing and social conditions, competition, earning one’s bread, lust for money and the entire system of enslavement. It nurtures and teaches egoism”- Edward Abramowski.
As much as I respect and adore history, I try to perceive it as “the past present” . Not as the legacy of our fathers and grandfathers, but as something irretrievably gone. Something that may initially seem to have nothing in common with the present day. The world without planes, cars, the Internet, iPhones and television. But people in the past were just the same as us. They lived in the time when respect and tradition constituted superior values, not just empty slogans.
People tend to idealize the time they live in, which is not surprising, taking into account the state of knowledge and education in their times. When I read works by thinkers and philosophers living at the turn of 19th and 20th centuries, I come to the conclusion that only this generation could objectively judge advantages and disadvantages of capitalism.
It was when feudalism was displaced by early forms of capitalism and private property. It was time when many influential people believed that only the socialist system can run the country and that it can replace egocentric and bloodthirsty ideas of capitalism.
I know that success can be achieved by one person, one businessman, a few ideas and the capital to implement these ideas into life. On the other hand, I also believe that only team work can lead to great things.
In order to appreciate the power of a group, it is necessary to understand that money should not be treated as the main motivating factor. It helps to meet our more or less sophisticated life needs, but there is more to life than money: a sense of belonging, satisfaction, understanding and support. If money was the absolute, our society would consist mainly of prostitutes and thieves. Fortunately, that is not the case, which only confirms the assumption that there are greater values in life than money.
To get back to the issue, yes- capitalism is a good stimulus, but not a system. In its pure form, capitalism leads to plutocracy, in other words, diving society into masters and servants.
There seems to be a solution: distributive capitalism which, by law, promotes the spreading of private properties among citizens. This idea is attributed to Mr Bellock, but it can also be created on the fundamentals of capitalism. Businesses such as Starbucks award their employees with the company’s shares. In this way, people work as hard and effectively as if the company was their own.
Pleasure is pain, March 23
People try to pursue pleasure and avoid pain- that’s what life is about. Each of our decisions stems from this simple statement.
The matter gets complicated, however, when we can’t unanimously decide whether a given thing will result in greater pleasure, or greater pain. A double portion of dinner, followed by a dessert – definitely pleasurable. Unfortunately, shortly after the meal you start to feel stuffed and uncomfortably full. Compulsive eating results in weight gain and deterioration of health, meaning pain.
It is important to predict the consequences of our decisions, it is better to act consciously. Unfortunately, material pleasures bring nothing good if they serve as the base of a cake, and not a cherry on its top.
Personally, I went through many different scenarios, also extended hedonistic episodes, after which I inevitably always ended up on the desert of egocentrism.
The contemporary hedonistic culture makes us believe that this is the only and the best way to take. That material issues determine a happy life. I’m afraid they do not. Materialism distorts moral values cherished for thousands of years of civilization. It might seem that commercials impose tough decisions: which washing powder to buy? which car insurance to choose? Deciding on which products to buy seems to constitute the essence of our lives. As if it made the world a better place and us, better people.
That’s the impression I sometimes get.
Caramel, life with poetry, not prose, March 22
Finally, after months of considerations, thoughts and experiences everything turned into as one. Everything starts with Caramel and ends with a summary in Caramel, which for the last few years has been so close that I couldn’t discover it. They are so close that we can’t see them, like a nose on a face.
I was searching for the goal of my life in the daily rush of routines and imposed untrue outlooks. Do I want to be a respected businessman? Or maybe a politician or a poet? Or maybe I want my company to become the largest of its category in Europe and in the world?
I set aside something which, in my heart of hearts, I consider the most important thing – a life in unity with God and striving for being a good person, a saint.
Sounds serious, but wouldn’t you like to find yourself in heaven?
Yes, me too.
Living in unity with God and myself make me love people, forgive, admire and teach, but not instruct.
I have a talent in winning the favor of people and I want to use it so that I can be happy and share my happiness with others. I want to exercise my talents in helping others in need and to strive for being great.
Today I completed my life jigsaw puzzle with the last, but very important element: ascribing the status equaling to sins and addictions such traits as: worrying, complaining, going sentimental as well as pointless criticism and conceit.
We are all humans, but with elements of divinity. That is why establishing upper boundaries is unnecessary, if not futile.
Long before I became fascinated by money I was fascinated by faith as well as philosophy and poetry of life.
As uncle G.K. Chesterton used to say: „life is poetry, not prose, history is fiction, and the real and authentic thing in its message is the present”
31
Words and deeds, March 19
By saying, that God is above everything we don’t mean to place Him everywhere - in every sentence. Let’s talk about him every time when words come straight from the heart, not from the throat. Let’s convert by means of our own testimonies, not platitudes closing doors before they even had a chance to open. Only words that lead to deeds can change the world.
What is the Genius Zone?, March 19
The genius zone is a physical and mental state, to which everybody should aspire. It is a state in which you live in unity with yourself. It is a state in which your conscience is your best friend, not the worst enemy. It is a state of striving for perfection, respect for all people, the world, animals, nature. It is a state where you meet each day with a smile on your face, or when beat your breast, clench your teeth with pain. It is a state where complaining and worrying are considered mortal sins. It is a state where you create the world you live in.
The world we live in is our mirror. If you run into a big room with 100 mirrors with a smile on your face you will see 100 smiling happy faces. If you run into the same room with a hostile look on your face, you will most probably run away from that room. The same occurs in our everyday lives. It is us who create our reality. It is us who decide whether we want to see only happy faces. As simple as that, to love people asking nothing in return- and achieving everything. This is what the Genius Zone is.
Modern manipulation, March 19
How beautiful it is to be a free man, who either does something out of his/her own will, or consciously follows somebody else’s instructions. Unfortunately, nowadays, manipulating others seem to create a sensation. Television, through subliminal advertising, tries to affect our decision-making system. The more we believe that we are impervious to its influence, the more controlled by it we become. An awareness of the fact that advertising exerts an influence on all of us makes it possible to understand that the only defense is to... switch off the brain, or the tv set. Alternately, turning the volume down during commercials, which turns on our consciousness, by turning off one of the senses.
Modernly, we are also manipulated by the politics. Why is it so difficult for us to respect politicians? Because we are convinced that every respected and fair person who could lead a country has already found a job. There are also types of people whose job is not to rule wisely, but it acquires votes. People do not want to know the truth. It is easier to believe politician, knowing that they do no tell the truth, than to find out the truth, in which you have to believe.
32
Life will surprise us, March 18
[Cytat]
Brak komentarzy:
Prześlij komentarz