This world isabout me! Without me the world doesn’t matter (for me). Therefore, the only
practical use of this world is to make me happy! Unfortunately, based on recent
observations that is not entirely true. Something is wrong. I don’t know how to
fix it and that is driving me crazy.
On the other
hand, that is not entirely true. There are so many things to be grateful for…
I am alive. I am
healthy. I have a loving and happy family. We are striving towards our goals
and we are all helping each other.
Also I appreciate
that I have this blog, I have your attention, I have a job and … the internet.
Therefore, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself? **
But I don’t agree
with the above even though I understand it. We don’t need to be rendered
helpless by fear because that will play in the hands of our enemies and lead to
our (and our loved ones and those close to us) destruction. On the other hand
we have to fear the unknown and strive to understand it because arrogance is
the path to ignorance and ignorance is the path to hell!
There are two
ways to acquire knowledge – through experience – you learn better but it may
take some time could be expensive and even painful if not outright dangerous,
and through the shared experience of others. The main goal of knowledge being –
how to make the environment more cooperative to the pursuit of our desires. Or
in other words how to increase our personal power.
One obvious way
is through better knowledge – the other through the cooperation of others. That
is why we, the people form associations of which the government is the most powerful
one. Unfortunately, that power comes with it being most prone to be corrupted
and turned against us - the people. And that is not because power corrupts (it
actually does) but because we, the people are not careful enough to use it
correctly and establish the necessary checks and balances to keep it from
slipping into dictatorship. The history of the USA is proof that the nation
with the best (not perfect but still the best) system of checks and balances is
the most developed (again not perfect – but still number one for the foreseeable
future).
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gettysburg_Address
**https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_inauguration_of_Franklin_D._Roosevelt