Wisdom And Life

This is two postings that I am putting together. About wisdom and generally getting through life. More has been added to it.

POSITIVITY

Try to say what you can to be realistically positive. What you say and expect of people often has a way of being self-fulfilling. 

If someone is going through difficult times, always say whatever you can that is positive or constructive. What is the point in telling someone what a terrible situation they are in? They know that already. The person is looking to you for something uplifting.

If you visit someone in hospital always tell them how good they look. It has a way of becoming self-fulfilling.

One rule of getting along with each other is that you should never dislike anyone for anything that is cultural. You do not have to agree with it or go along with it, but you shouldn't dislike them personally because of it.

Learn how to read people. The world looks like a different place when you can read people. When people go to a great effort to cut you down it is actually a compliment. It is a negative compliment, but a compliment nonetheless. If you didn't really have something then they wouldn't be putting so much effort into cutting you down. It is a sign of their weakness.

Remember that when we like or dislike someone it depends not only on what they are but also on what we are.

One of the most destructive words is "talent". People who seem to be "talented" at something are really not "talented". It is not about talent, it is about improvement. A person without the same sense of improvement will say, "Oh, that person is so talented". Never mind how "talented" you are, just start from wherever you are and keep improving on it.

THE PEAK PATTERN

Remember that living things operate by the peak pattern. That means there is an optimum amount, that is better than too much or too little.

It is good to have respect. But having too much respect for the way that things have always been done can blind us to the fact that there might be better ways of doing things. Having too much respect for people can blind us to the fact that they are flawed human beings and that we might be putting too much trust in them. The people who run society are made of the same kind of flesh and blood as you are. They make mistakes and sometimes are vulnerable to corruption.

It is good to have people like us. But someone who everybody likes may not be doing that much to make the world a better place. Having everyone like us probably means that we are reinforcing the existing order of things. Really making the world a better place usually means replacing an old order with a superior new order. But that means the disenfranchisement of the old order, and thus ending up with a few people who don't like it.

It is good to be obedient, to fit in to society and do what it expects of us. But it can very easily be taken too far. Societies of obedient people have a way of becoming dictatorships. Dictators really like people who just fit in, follow the system, never question anything, and just do what they are told.

WISDOM

A wise person is one that will thank you when you prove them wrong.

A wise person realizes that, if everyone had anything material that they asked for, the world still would not really be a better place.

WHAT COMES NEXT

Finally if someone has all of the success and wealth in the world, they will still be just as dead as everyone else when they die. None of their wealth or worldly success will go with them, and when they stand in front of God it will all mean absolutely nothing.

EXAMPLES OF WISDOM

Here are a few of my favorite examples of wisdom.

THE PERSECUTION OF RELIGION

Few things make less sense than to persecute people for what they believe. When we really think about it, the persecution only concentrates the religious community by driving away those who are not fully committed and making it appear that the persecution is not because the beliefs are not true, but because the persecutors are afraid that they are true.

If the beliefs of those being persecuted are not true or valid, then what are their persecutors so worried about? The fact that they are going to so much trouble is actually a compliment to the beliefs.

If someone went around preaching that there really was a Santa Claus, some might laugh at them and some might feel sympathy for them. But it is highly doubtful if anyone would go to the trouble to organize a persecution against them. The reason is that their beliefs would not make anyone feel threatened.

The fact that the persecutors go to so much trouble to counteract the beliefs is actually a great compliment. It means that they fear the beliefs, or are weak enough that they need to have something to persecute to hold themselves together. Just as trying to cut someone down can actually be a great compliment.

THE MANAGER'S STRATEGY

I recall the story of a manager who had a remarkable record of taking ailing companies and turning them around.

The manager would usually be unfamiliar with the area and the workers, and it was usually necessary to cut the staff in order to return the company to profitability. It was a difficult undertaking but the manager developed a strategy that worked every time.

The manager would personally talk to everyone who worked there, closely listening to their suggestions. Workers were made to feel free to criticize the company or the way things were done.

When new management takes over a company, workers will often talk each other down. This is what the new manager watched for closely. If a worker talked others down, unless there turned out to be a good reason for it which there usually didn't, those are the workers that you let go when it is necessary to cut the staff.

Follow that strategy and you will always end up with a better company.

THE DEFENDANT'S CIGARETTES

Learn how to read people, particularly to notice signs of weakness in their position.

I read about a trial in which the prosecutor, upon finding that all of the jurors were nonsmokers, informed them that the defendant was a two packs a day smoker, even though this had absolutely nothing to do with the case.

The prosecutor was just trying to start the trial off by getting the jurors to dislike the defendant.

There was another trial in which the prosecutor told the jurors that the defendant was in the habit of going for a walk in the middle of the night, although that also had nothing to do with the case.

If I had been on either of these juries I would have taken this as a sign of weakness. If the prosecutor really had a strong case against the defendant, it wouldn't be necessary to resort to tactics like this.

THE MAN FROM NEW YORK CITY

I recall reading a story that went something like this. There was a man from New York City. As New Yorkers sometimes do, he reminded other people that New York was the greatest city in the world.

The man invited some guests over for dinner, telling them he had a slide show of news clippings that would prove New York was the greatest city in the world. The guests expected that the news clippings would be of New York boasting about itself, but anyway it would mean a free dinner.

Much to their surprise none of the news clippings was from New York City, and none had much of anything good to say about it.

A news article from Boston was about how superior the Red Sox were to the New York Yankees and how much better of a football player Tom Brady was compared to New York's Joe Namath.

From Washington D.C. was an article about how much better it's night life was than New York's.

An article from Philadelphia explained why that city was more important to American history than New York.

A clipping from Dallas described how it was a better representation of what America is all about today than New York.

There was one from New Orleans detailing how much more "charm" it had than New York.

A news report from Phoenix was about how much better it's dry climate was for medical ailments than New York's.

Warm cities like Los Angeles and Miami explained how they had everything that New York had to offer, but with palm trees and sun.

From San Francisco came an article about how "laid back" that city was compared to New York and how much more important to the world nearby Silicon Valley was than anything in New York.

The litany of articles continued from overseas cities. How much cleaner and more efficient their subways were, and how much better their WiFi connections were than New York's.

When the presentation had ended the dinner guests were really confused. Their host told them he was going to prove that New York was the greatest city in the world. But the slideshow made it look like the worst city, rather than the greatest.

Then the man from New York City spoke to his guests:

"Now stop and think. When a city tries to promote itself, in all of these articles, it compares itself to New York. This makes New York the standard for cities. Even though these other cities are not about to admit it, they show by their actions that New York is the greatest city in the world".

THE MOTTO OF MY STATE

This is being written from New York State and I would like to tell readers about the motto of my state. The state's motto is "Excelsior", which means "Ever Upward". I find this to be an ideal motto to live by.

The state has certainly lived up to it's motto in terms of building. Skyscrapers were pioneered here and the Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world for about forty years.

Excelsior means always learning and improving. I don't watch television so that I can spend more time reading and learning.

Excelsior means striving to be the best that you can be with regard to health and fitness. This is the way to be a patriot as it will likely make you less of a burden on your country's health care system. Those who think we should stop exercising when we get older should remember that the motto isn't "Upward For A While" but "Ever Upward", meaning all of our lives.

Excelsior means that the city where I live, since it has a world-famous name, should be a truly great city by now. Let's live up to being New Yorkers.

Excelsior means that we should build up other people. Encourage someone when you get the chance. When someone looks to you for advice or encouragement always say something that is realistically positive. The positive things that you say to people have a way of becoming self-fulfilling.

Excelsior means going to Heaven. Nothing is more upward than going to Heaven. This brief life will be over before we know it. No matter what you have in life if you go to Heaven your life is a success and if you don't go to Heaven your life is a failure. Whatever this world has to offer is tinsel by comparison. If your life hasn't been a great success it's not as important as you may think. When everyone stands in front of God who we were in this world, and what we have accumulated, will mean absolutely nothing.