Required Reading: Letter 13: On Groundless Fears
“The fool with all his other faults, has this also, he is always getting ready to live.”
Aren’t we all? Aren’t there things we wish to do that we are always putting off; with the saying “I don’t have time right now; I’ll do it later.”? When? Is it when you have completed everything else; which somehow this particular moment seems more important? Is anything that important that we delay and not live to the purpose?
We are invaded by the news; fear reigns daily; from morning to night! A long time ago, perhaps over ten years; I’ve stopped watching and reading the news. I get my information; my daily dose, from the second hand informant; the one who makes it his duty to seek out first thing in the morning and last thing at night what another person has fabricated is the “news” for today! What absurdity!
This was a long time in the making; for I used to swallow the pill; eat the bread of the daily news and boy! How it filled me with sadness, anger and resentment! Everything was bleak; like chicken little, the world was falling daily. It cried “wolf!” daily! Wow! This should be a crime! Lock the war mongers’s up! Put the rumor-miller in the asylum! Please!
The world is “beautifully and wonderfully made.” So what if it has bruises and aches? Don’t you have those naturally? Is the pimple on your nose put there by John? Did he strike you silly? Or is your body just naturally going through growing pains; whether it be the aches you seldom wake up to, or ones aided by a fall? Keep your fears in check! I have some pain too; daily! Yet, I’ve found like the thinker, “… equip yourself with maxims which are wholesome and potent to overcome obstacles.”
Without the daily dose of philosophy, life is lived in a state of agitation; for just as the electrons in the cell move in constant bouncy-like fashion; one off the other continuously; we as mortals, live within our world just the same. Here is a promise: someone today will cause you some anoyance, will tell you an unfortunate tale, will piss you plain off! And so what?! Laugh it off because I’ve forewarned you; and live everyday in expectation of; yet, in acceptance of; your reaction towards what Fortune has laid out to test you.
For we must not hide from life; live so as to not to be in the race—spectators. We must put on our running shoes, adorn the boxer’s glove; pick up the sword which is the Word; use maxims and march unflinchingly towards the purpose! Farewell.
Word of the day:
Maxim (noun): general truth or rule of conduct expressed in a sentence; saying, proverb, axiom, aphorism, adage, byword (The Oxford American Desk Dictionary and Thesaurus).
Quotations:
“For manliness gains more strength by being challenged.”
“There are more things Lucilius likely, to frighten us than there are to crush us; we suffer more often in imagination…”
“What I advise you to do is not to be unhappy before the crises comes.”
“We are tormented either by things present or by things to come, or by both.”
” No fear is so ruinous and so uncontrollable…”
Questions:
1) What do you currently fear?
2) Are these fears of your own doing, or did some one suggest them to you?
3) Did any of what you feared in the past come to pass?
Activity:
1) Begin today to not read the news or watch the news; if you must, read the entertainment section.
2) List all of your “fears”; now, cross them off while saying the maxims below.
3) Say these maxims 3x daily: “I am whole, perfect, strong, powerful, loving, harmonious, happy, and handsome (or beautiful).” – Charles Haanel (From The Master Key System).
“No weapon formed against me shall prosper; it won’t work!”
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
“I am beautifully and wonderfully made.”
“Day by day in every respect I’m getting better and better.” -Emile Coue.
