Intelligence is Overrated?
An old story.
A man was walking down the street at night, and under a streetlight was a second man on his hands and knees.
"What are you doing?" the first man asked.
"Looking for my keys" the second said.
The first guy, being a helpful type, got down on HIS hands and knees to help. After about five frustrating minutes, he asked: "are you sure you dropped them here?"
"Oh no," the first one said. "I dropped them across the street in the parking lot."
"What?" the first exclaimed in frustration. "Why aren't you looking there?"
"Because there is no light over there."
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The " a sentence a day to a book a year" works for the same reason that "just get your running shoes and sweats on and walk to the track" works for getting in shape.
In terms of relationships and self -love, hmmm. The FIVE MINUTE MIRACLE. And with one of those breaks, have a quiet meditation space, light a stick of incense and listen to/feel your heartbeat for sixty seconds, focusing on gratitude?
It would be the same thing.
90% of doing a thing is showing up.
When you reduce the amount of time and effort below a certain level, you can no longer lie to yourself and say you had no opportunity. Perhaps for the first time, you will be faced to deal with your real motivations.
That second one really resonates. Most of us are pretty smart. Intelligence is problem solving, or nothing at all. If that is true, why are so many smart people "stuck" in life?
Because while intelligence is problem solving, WISDOM is solving the right problems. WHY does this happen? Perhaps because facing the real challenges in life, the deep and meaningful challenges, will evolve you. You will change. If you advance 1% every week, run into an old friend in a year and they'll ask what is different. Advance 1% per day and they might not even recognize you.
The ego believes it is you. And real change destroys the ego shell (don't worry, it will swiftly reconstitute, as long as you have a body). The implication is that a REAL path is a threat to the ego, and it will do all in its power to stop you, convincing you that its too late, or that you have to be perfect, or that only people born with privilege or willing to cheat can succeed.
Decide to simply record everything you eat, and the exercise you do, EVEN IF YOU DON'T TRY TO CHANGE THEM will threaten your ego: it needs you to remain unconscious.
Decide to meditate, even just for five sixty-second breahs, and you will find that everything else in your life suddenly becomes more important. That you can spend five hours watching television and surfing the web, but don't have 300 seconds to save your life.
Decide to save just 1% of your income, and you will tell yourself you can't, or that it is a meaningless amount…when what you are really doing is establishing a habit you can expand later.
Decide to write a sentence a day, and you will learn very quickly whether you have internal permission to share your dreams with the world, and a belief it will bring you joy.
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The "atomic minimums" of life in the physical, emotional, financial and artistic arenas need to be SO SMALL that you DO have enough light to see. What remains then is the crawling horde of ego snakes, the Halahala "seal of poisoned milk" that has to be detoxified and calmed to touch the core of your being.
Once you have the WHAT and the WHY (to live an authentic life) all that remains is the HOW.
One way is to accept that the meaning of life, at the core, is simply the same as the definitions thereof. Trying to hold your breath until you pass out will put you in touch with your "life drive" in about thirty seconds.
It is the NEXT question that is worthy of deep lifetime consideration: HOW shall we live? THAT one is a bear. It is the source of all ethical speculation, all law and custom. And a very fine way to look at this is start with the animal truth: all animals seek to move away from pain and toward pleasure.
Then, if you can accept that (research it) you might consider the Dalai Lama's thoughts: the meaning of life is to escape suffering, embrace joy, and be of service.
THERE is a decade of study. The THREE CENTERS of belly brain, heart, and head are the "safety rails" that allow you to go full-out without destroying your life.
The THREE GATES are, in this sense, an entire philosophical system on the back of a stamp. They protect you, but also others FROM you.
The notion that our spiritual grown recapitulates our infancy makes a ton of sense as well: start with the body, connecting yourself to the physical world. And to your survival instincts. Then open your heart, bringing others close. Then master the financial arena, which is hunting and gathering, developing skils and networking with other human beings. Answering the "who am I?" and "what is true?" in different ways at every level. The single greatest error made by really smart people is that they build a model of the world so complex and solid they mistake it for reality. It is NEVER reality. Garbage In, Garbage Out.
If "escape suffering and embrace joy" is the meaning of life, such brilliant people will be out-performed by average intellects who are actually searching where the light is. Those brilliant folks can become leaders in their field, showered with money and honors…and still feel empty, because they made the mistake of thinking they could ignore the proper syntax of growth.
So simple. So powerful. And its never too late to begin the real journey.
Start with the breathing. Connect with your life force. Then open your heart. Then, serve your community in a way that generates money while providing service. Then…sing your own unique song to the world.
Body
Heart
Money
Art
There are other paths, but their effectiveness and efficiency have to be measured by some objective standard, or you'll spend your life saying you had no "luck" or no "talent" or that you were too ethical and honest to succeed. I see that crap every day, and always from very unhappy people. People who keep running the maze long after the cheese is gone.
Start searching where the light is, people. Its harder…but when you find them, you actually have something.
Namaste
Steve
