Wednesday, July 19, 2006
BATTLE CRY:
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
FIGHTIN' WORDS:
It is so easy to be a critic. It is so easy to point out another's faults. All someone must do is open his mouth and speak. That's it! Nothing more is required. It takes no skill, no training, and no education to be a critic. Just a mouth full of words. So don't listen to 'em. Who cares what they say: their opinion is tarred to begin with. Be proud that you have the guts to even get into the arena. So few others will. It's lonely at the top, as you probably already know from the criticism you have no doubt had to deal with from the day you decided to go after your dreams. After all is said and done, though, it's better to die trying than to die crying in regret. Be never more timid. Get up, stand up, and run out that door. Take those actions you know you have to make. --Monroe Mann
"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat." Theodore Roosevelt
FIGHTIN' WORDS:
It is so easy to be a critic. It is so easy to point out another's faults. All someone must do is open his mouth and speak. That's it! Nothing more is required. It takes no skill, no training, and no education to be a critic. Just a mouth full of words. So don't listen to 'em. Who cares what they say: their opinion is tarred to begin with. Be proud that you have the guts to even get into the arena. So few others will. It's lonely at the top, as you probably already know from the criticism you have no doubt had to deal with from the day you decided to go after your dreams. After all is said and done, though, it's better to die trying than to die crying in regret. Be never more timid. Get up, stand up, and run out that door. Take those actions you know you have to make. --Monroe Mann
Friday, July 07, 2006
myth of the little king
About the time the Industrial Revolution was really getting into gear, political revolutions were everywhere replacing kings with parliaments, presidents, and promises. The key promise was that the common man would one day soon be king. He would possess for his own the kingly prerogatives of power, leisure, and security - power over his station in life, the liberty of leisure, and the security of property. - Zen and the Art of Making a Living
It would seem that many things have gone wrong with this promise, or dream. One thing it has done is separate me from my 'work'. Work has become something I must do in order to create the life I believe I should have, the life my society is geared toward. My leisure time, and the benefits I want from work, enable me to spend more time away from work. hmmmm. What about creating a life where my work is my life and my life is my work, and viewing work as a life passion?
Leisure, and the promise of the kingly life, has been dangled in front of our noses since the Industrial Revolution. It is always just around the corner. "We were promised that we would be little kings, and yet it seems we have so little control over the direction of our lives. The little king is a prisoner of his own 'freedom' - from responsibility and conscience. His inner life is barren and hollow; his humanity, atrophied; his creativity, flat."
(Victor Frankl) For too long we have been dreaming a dream from which we are now waking up; the dream that if we improve the socio-economic situation of people, everything will be okay, people will become happy. The truth is that as the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: Survival for what?
The myth of the little king and the values that it inculcates - ambition (power), consumerism (leisure), and security in conformity - give us a prescription for how we are supposed to live our lives. To want something different from this is to enter the dark forest of uncharted experience. Joseph Campbell put it like this, "You don't have to go very far off the interpreted path to find yourself in very difficult situations. The courage to face the trials and to bring a whole new body of possibilities into the field of interpreted experience for other people to experience - that is the hero's deed."
The hero, in living her own life, in being true to herself - radiates a light by which others may see their own way!
Here's to living truth, and living the hero deed!
About the time the Industrial Revolution was really getting into gear, political revolutions were everywhere replacing kings with parliaments, presidents, and promises. The key promise was that the common man would one day soon be king. He would possess for his own the kingly prerogatives of power, leisure, and security - power over his station in life, the liberty of leisure, and the security of property. - Zen and the Art of Making a Living
It would seem that many things have gone wrong with this promise, or dream. One thing it has done is separate me from my 'work'. Work has become something I must do in order to create the life I believe I should have, the life my society is geared toward. My leisure time, and the benefits I want from work, enable me to spend more time away from work. hmmmm. What about creating a life where my work is my life and my life is my work, and viewing work as a life passion?
Leisure, and the promise of the kingly life, has been dangled in front of our noses since the Industrial Revolution. It is always just around the corner. "We were promised that we would be little kings, and yet it seems we have so little control over the direction of our lives. The little king is a prisoner of his own 'freedom' - from responsibility and conscience. His inner life is barren and hollow; his humanity, atrophied; his creativity, flat."
(Victor Frankl) For too long we have been dreaming a dream from which we are now waking up; the dream that if we improve the socio-economic situation of people, everything will be okay, people will become happy. The truth is that as the struggle for survival has subsided, the question has emerged: Survival for what?
The myth of the little king and the values that it inculcates - ambition (power), consumerism (leisure), and security in conformity - give us a prescription for how we are supposed to live our lives. To want something different from this is to enter the dark forest of uncharted experience. Joseph Campbell put it like this, "You don't have to go very far off the interpreted path to find yourself in very difficult situations. The courage to face the trials and to bring a whole new body of possibilities into the field of interpreted experience for other people to experience - that is the hero's deed."
The hero, in living her own life, in being true to herself - radiates a light by which others may see their own way!
Here's to living truth, and living the hero deed!
