| Introduction and
Dedication
Heaven and hell are within, yet the multitude imagine them to be in another world beyond life and death. Are there other worlds beyond life and death? There is no evidence that these things exist. We create our own worlds in the here and now by the choices we make. How could it be otherwise?
True happiness lies in choosing the positive over the negative and optimism over pessimism. True happiness is a state of mind, and those who know this are truly enlightened. The secret is: to accept who you are, to be at ease with yourself, and to work for the realization of your true potential.
Life is a continuous struggle to survive and to continue to evolve. Unfortunately, the average person spends so much time in trivial pursuits -- chasing after things that are not truly important in the long run. This is a major human weakness: to not be able to tell the difference between the important and the unimportant, and modern commerce thrives on ignorant consumers.
What is an "ignorant consumer"? A person who thinks their real worth depends on what they buy and which products they consume. They are obsessed with the facade and fail to consider true substance. As a result, they do not find either pleasure or utility in the things they buy and they always are disappointed and feel "cheated". Consequently, this stimulates another cycle of consumerism -- ad infinitum.
Things cannot make us happy. Material possessions can become a heavy burden that can hinder and restrict, and keep us chained down working to pay for them, and taking care of them. Material possessions should be used as tools, servants, to enhance our lives and help us to achieve our goals. When we become their servants it is time to let them go.
We cannot faithfully serve two masters. To succeed we must commit ourselves to excellence and be faithful to the idea. A Table of Values hangs over all people and makes them who and what they are. To be somebody in this world, other than a consumer, requires a belief in something other than the act of adding extraneous decorations to our lives, or clinging to material objects like a wet cat. If we serve the cause of excellence we shall become excellent! If we serve the cause of illumination we shall become illuminated! In life, we become what we seek!
At their core, how simple the "mysteries" of life really are. Truth is found in simplicity and can be universally applied. Beware of complex philosophical arguments -- they can only lead to confusion of thought. Complicated arguments are, more often than not, a smokescreen used to cover up fallacious propositions. Simplicity is always best -- because it is uncomplicated and uncluttered it has the greatest chance of becoming the most efficient vehicle.
On the most basic level, life is centered in and around the body. Take care of your body, and your health, and all things will be possible for you. Proper food, clothing, shelter, diet and exercise, are the prerequisites for physical survival. In olden times, man spent most of his time obtaining these things. As human society became more organized humans gained more free time to spend in the embellishment of their lives and surroundings, in leisure, in thought, in boredom, in vice, etc.
How one spends one's "free time" reveals what kind of person he (or she) is. An abundance of free time can lead to the heights of creative genius, and great leaps in human progress, or the depths of vice and depravity which ultimately produce stagnation and decay. Which brings us to the question: Why is one person "good" while another is "bad"?
Good and bad are value judgments that we place on people, places, things, events, etc., based on their value to us or to society. They are important because they simplify our choices in life and promote, as far as society is concerned, harmony and progress. Obviously, those people and things that are harmful to us, or to our community, we immediately regard as "bad", and rightfully so. The survival of an individual, or group, often depends on how he, she, or it, responds to threats or danger.
Only a fool tries to reason with a mad dog, a poisonous serpent, or a wild beast. Those things which pose a clear and present physical danger must be promptly and ruthlessly eliminated. If it is impossible to eliminate the danger then we must flee from it, or avoid it entirely.
One of the purposes of the community is to be a repository for the collected wisdom of the ages. Without which, each generation would have to "reinvent the wheel" over and over again, wasting precious resources, and slowing human progress. Another function of the community is educating its children so that they may survive and prosper in this world.
I was once a child and I did everything that children do: I depended on my parents, family, community, to take care of me and protect me from harm. In return, they wanted to impress their ideas, beliefs, prejudices, etc., on me. They wanted to see, in their children, a mirror-image of themselves.
The thing that they did not understand is that everything is in a constant state of change; each generation has its own trials and tribulations. To raise children correctly we must focus on what is constant and unchanging, and not waste time on the latest fads and trends. From the chaos we come and to the chaos we must return. In between is the brief interlude we call life. In the birth and death of the individual we can see and recognize the unbroken chain that spans eternity. One dies and another is born -- world without end, forever and ever, through all eternity!
The Law of the Universe is the Circle of God: I am the leaf, God is the tree. The circle is complete. The streams flow into the rivers, the rivers into the sea, the sea into the clouds, the clouds into the streams. The rich earth into the tree, the tree to the leaf, the leaf to the earth. All life forms the Circle of God.
I pass this torch onto you my sons and daughters: Grow strong, my companions that you may stand unshaken when I fall; that I may know the shattered fragments of my song will come at last to finer melody in you; that I may tell my heart that you begin where passing I leave off, and fathom more.
  
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