Is change good?

I’ll leave this question open, but many people to whom I speak seem quite keen on it. I think that change is good in the sense of us learning more everyday, in bringing some new opportunities and challenges. On the other hand there is the nice old saying that one should not fix, what is not broken; but the question is whether it can be improved? Are there any large changes that occurred rapidly that were good (coming of the Lord)? Where there any that were bad (commies)?

Quantity and Quality

People seem to like ‘much/many’ nowadays. Everyone is running, to earn much money, have much sex (and there is always the fact of so many divorces... and other issues) or drink loads of alcohol (to be fair in most cases it is all of them). People eat loads of cheap, disgusting food and do not take proper care of themselves. It is their choice and thats fine, but I think they are loosing something from it and I think that we could all gain something if the situation would change. To reference back to the previous post, look at change that could occur if people did their jobs properly (quality), which would obviously result in less of them. There is probably a nice quality to quantity ration, which is most efficient (and most strategies tend to be about making things most efficient, not maximising a certain parameter), but with the wide range of skills different people would occupy different niches in the market. But if people want to do what they are already doing, let them, its their choice.

Alcohol is a other interesting example. Working in different venues across Scotland I noticed that people like to get pissed (apparently I do not get the wonders of not remembering the previous night, hang-overs - though I’m Polish, so I do not have much chance of experiencing them anyway; and vomiting). I prefer fine mead or vodka, enjoying the quality, the pureness, the taste, not even to mention the discussions in fine company (putting good lads aside, fine women are much more of a interesting company than as one of my friends said ‘sluts’). And the same holds true for food (joys of little things in life) and exercise (all those boys in the gym doing semi-pull-ups). The list goes on. And in the end, it will count how you lived your life, not how many days it lasted.

On pride, patience and calmness

A interesting conversation happened just over a week ago, on the topic of pride and I think I can share some of my thoughts. Firstly it seems, as if people lack pride in what they are doing, but on the other hand many have a whole supply of personal pride i.e. a large ego. So you might get the worlds worst carpenter, who will want to start a fight with you if you accidentally bump into him on the pavement.

The ego part, seems to be the case for a long time in history, but the media ‘macho’ vision is possibly aiding its development. The lack of pride in ones art is more of a interesting case, as it manifests itself in the low quality of many products and services (I will also discuss this in my next post). It seems like part of the problem lays in the lack of respect that people people have for their professions, everyone wants to be a manager but no one wants to start from the position of the manual worker (this is widely observed in the population of Non-Educated Deliquents who seem to despise of many jobs, even when un-employed, as they are either ‘jobs for emigrants’ or they want something better - but if you have 0 jobs on your CV it is logical to try to get something on it for a start, isn’t it???). Managers, doctors and lawyers seem to be the only REAL jobs for many people. But society needs good carpenters, as not everyone wants to buy cheap IKEA stuff, but wants the real deal! And how can people do their job efficiently if they do not have any motivation and people who take pride in their jobs, are more likely to pay attention to the details and be motivated to do their best. And as my friend said, a good garbage cleaner is of higher value to society than a rubbish doctor.

Part of the issue might lie in the general notion of lack of patience in modern times. People are in a hurry, as they want more (once more, this will be discussed in the next post); this results in the lack of quality - as there is no time for it. Being in such a rush, we are also unable to see the beauty of the world around us. We can’t appreciate neither the light breeze, nor the sound of the wind in the leaves and the movement of brunches in it. This takes away those small pleasures of our lives, the ones that can fill everyday, but people seem to want big stuff. Big stuff neither does happen often, neither it usually lasts long. Also in this race, people tend to stress, which has negative effects on our health and makes us more prone to mistakes.

The old sages new that patience and calmness are gold. Great knowledge takes time to be gained, great peaces of art take long to be made, they all require patience and calmness and pride in once creation. Such approach improves our everyday experience of life and our skill in it. So go and make yourself a cup of fine tea and bless the Lord for the beauty of the day.

Wisdom, love and general life management...

As it is written in the Bible: “wisdom is better than silver and gold” (yes Bob Marley was singing about that) and “and now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

What is the importance of those in relation to truth and freedom? Wisdom for me, in its purest sense, is the use of truth in a God pleasing manner. That is acting with justice and compassion. Love is (besides the fact that it is probably many things) the act of applied wisdom towards a other person from our own free will (i.e. a choice), with the highest manifestation of compassion being self-sacrifice. Acting with wisdom allows us to get the best for not only our selves, but also for others. It allows for a good relation with other people and builds a positive atmosphere. It is not the same as allowing the other party to do anything without critique, but it is helping other people to improve their own lives. It supports the best solutions, a humble life and encourages peace, but also remains ready for a rapid response to developing conflicts if necessary. Both require the freedom to express them; one must be able to express himself, so that he can freely make those decisions and put them into practise. That is one of the reasons why I believe that truth and freedom are so important and why we should incorporate wisdom and love into our everyday lives.