-The words of the late psychoanalyst Erich Fromm

I am compelled to think. To enter into council with yourself is to enter into communion with all of the human race. When one probes the recesses of one’s mind it is there that we find that which links us to the rest of humanity: the primordial world of instincts, emotions, and of dreams. All men love, all men hurt, and all men must contend with that which is imposed upon them by the outer world. As if this whirlwind of stimulation weren’t enough, man must also contend with the world within. What are we to do?

It is my opinion that if one is to ever find any semblance of joy or peace in the world it is through the knowing, cultivation, and unfolding of one’s inner world so that one can reach a state where thought and action occur simultaneously. How are we to achieve such a state? By developing a sense of calm which gives one the necessary eyes with which to perceive the outside world. Otherwise we stumble about with veiled eyes; never knowing where we step or where we go. 

The world is filled with a myriad of phenomena and in order to not be overwhelmed one cannot rely solely on being reactive, we are not machines and sadly do not possess the ability to react to the environment in lawful ways. Instead we must rely on cultivating a sense of observance and of calm, directed action to supplement our more instinctual drives. The goal is not to deny the instincts and replace them with some misguided sense of reason (“higher” reason can mislead one just as easily as “baser” instinct) but to find and establish a harmony between the psychological world of the individual and the physical world of our perceived reality. Though in truth, the two not so different whatsoever, every man is a world unto himself but as such all of humanity is joined within this spiritual globe.

Release yourself of fear, anger, surprise and of confusion. The swordsmen of the east were very wise in recognizing these as the cardinal evils that plague our souls. You cannot concern yourself solely with the outside world as you will indeed become very saddened. Nor can you simply withdraw as you will become disconnected and empty. Strive to identify that one inch within you that makes up the true extent of your persona. It is small but within it you will find a voice to guide you through this increasingly exhausting and surprisingly wonderful world.

Nothing is certain. Everything is written. The road is hard but don’t give up, for the journey is great.

I don’t give a damn

The whole of human existence is to be found within the conundrum that is the human heart. It is constantly locked in battle between its primal evolutionary roots, the world around it, and the manifestations of vague phantasms, unformed thoughts, and feeble aspirations of the mind. We stand at a day and age where a man, regardless of biological, racial, and cultural background can etch his own will into the very fabric of the world if he would but will it. The tenuous struggle between our own self-perception and the world’s perception of who we are is undeniable. It constantly erodes away at our certainty and most importantly at our will to live happy and fulfilling lives. What then must the individual do to exist within this savage garden of unending strife and lush opportunity? It falls upon man to live out his own life. The answer lies in the simple fact that the only meaning one’s life will ever have is the meaning that one assigns it through the cultivation of our unbounded mind, the will to act, and belief that anything is accomplish-able so long as one is able to ignore the trivialities and idle seducers found in one’s interactions with fellow men.

The human race can no longer feign ignorance of the world around him based on lack of data or a fundamental misunderstanding of the operating principles of the physical world. Though many questions are still left unanswered, the works of the great minds of the ages have provided us with a foundation upon which we can begin one true great journey: the journey into one’s self. One must now turn inward; the external world no longer holds the uncertainty that it used to. To this point I must add that the majority of the human race, due to the discoveries of the past, now takes much of the external world for granted. Few people marvel at a lighting strike with supernatural awe or question the intricacies involved in the motion of a moving object. Rather, these past mysteries have been relegated to the history books and the remaining questions left to the minds of the dwindling population of astute minds. The focus of human existence has been turned to the pursuit of material wealth and physical security. The question beckons: What is one to do with the time one has been allotted in this infinitely twisting and winding world?

The answer lies in one’s work. To live a life of purpose one must first contemplate upon one’s character and strive to refine it in order to decide what one’s purpose will be in life. Do not look up to the heavens for inspiration. God as an ethereal, omnipresent, and removed entity is dead. What was once equated as God is now only present within the hearts of men and within nature itself. This fire smolders deep within our being, waiting to be fed and tended to so that it may burn with the full brilliance of an awakened individual. Look to the great sages of the past. These men were possessed by an almost ravenous passion to achieve greatness in their lives regardless of their contemporary atmosphere. Persecuted, defamed, and even killed in some cases, they pushed on in their pursuit because they were driven by a single idea. An idea that once embedded in the mind grows its tendrils into the deepest crevices of one’s being until it compels one to live a life of greatness regardless of the cost, or burns one to cinders if the call goes unheard. This idea is simply that man is a means to his own end. Nothing else can dictate the course of one’s life. No code of morality, societal convention, or transcending principle governs the life of the individual other than one’s own directive and conviction. This is the one thing that one can ever truly own and that will follow him to the grave.

The vicissitudes of fate hold no sway and the monstrosity that is collective society has no power other than that which is given to it. One’s work has priority over any interaction with other men or any other meaningless pursuit. Happiness is attainable through one’s own effort, not through the supposed equitable works of men holding aloft the aspirations and lives of others. One can only live one’s own life and no one else’s. It seems however that this idea has been submerged in the idea that only as a unified collective can the human race continue to survive. This idea, although provocative in its arguments, is nonetheless a mechanism of control forged by an aggregate of minds too frightened by a world they perceive as hostile and unforgiving. Man is a social animal only in the sense that he is compelled to engage in the free exchange of ideas and is united to his fellow men by the drive to live a fulfilled life. This in no way implies that man is obligated to hold another’s hand. One’s obligation to his fellow men ends at establishing a platform upon which all can pursue their own ends, not to describe and dictate those ends themselves.

One must dedicate his life to the unfolding his self which is the greatest gift that has been handed to him. Each individual is a walking near statistical improbability that is the result of a process billions of years in the making. The stars themselves are within the body of each human being walking this planet that was fortunate enough to be in a position where it could harbor life. The one goal any man should have is to be himself, wholly and truly, and to discover what that means. The whole of one’s life amounts to a piece of art that will only be made once. As such one must continually work to make his life his own masterpiece, another work shining with brilliance in the gallery of human accomplishment and endeavor. <span> </span>

Each individual is born into a world crying because for nine months he had known the quiet comfort and harmony of the warm darkness within the womb, accompanied only by the steady heartbeat of his mother only to be violently removed from this state of symbiotic oneness. Once thrust into the outside world one is seemingly trapped within the prison of his own solitude and for the rest of the course of his life is constantly assailed by outside forces attempting to bend him into impossible and grotesque forms. What one doesn’t realize is that within that solitude lays the resolution to all his irrational and shapeless fears. It is this very state of aloneness that separates man from the brute beast, it is a state of removal from the outside world which grants one the ability to act as a free agent. Nothing holds jurisdiction over the individual self other than forces that have been imprinted on us in our youth or that which we allow into the chapel of our inner self. As powerful as childhood influences may be, one must strive to dissect them to their source and examine their worth, remove that which isn’t part of the true self, and strengthen the parts that are. Once these eldritch shackles are removed the way ahead lies clear and ready to be traversed. One need only believes, commit, and take the first step.

Happiness is thus found when the individual commits to live out its own existence, under its own principles, and through its own mechanisms. Ultimately what awaits any man on his deathbed is what he takes with him. Anything is possible, every height surmountable, no obstacle too large.

With these ideas in mind, I solemnly swear to:

1. Constantly strive towards the development of who I am and to give this infiniteness sphere of possibility form and purpose.

2. Give my own life purpose and not let anyone or anything influence, shape, dictate, or hinder that purpose in any way

3.Realize that my life is mine, and mine alone to live, and that this idea constitutes something that is more important than any interaction or perceived responsibility to my fellow men

4.Realize that the only responsibility I have towards anyone else besides my self is that which in no way hinders my own life’s work and that in reality the most that I can hope for is to inspire others to live their own lives and providing someone to speak with and help them look for the answers they seek within themselves.

5. Always work towards my own end, through my own volition and not fall prey to the herd.

6. Make an effort that if at points I do not hold myself completely to this contract I will not fall into despair, lethargy, or apathy

7. And finally, to believe that regardless of the events that occur, the people that I meet, and any other occurrences in my life that at the end of the day I, and I alone, hold the power to make myself happy.