This short book by J. Martin Kohe was first published in the 1950s. Kohe argues that the ability to make conscious choices shapes every aspect of our lives. Kohe was an American author and psychologist born in 1908. This short series of excerpts highlights the concepts shared in this book. The reader is encouraged to purchase the book for the in depth explanations that it offers.
The Fifth Chapter – Choosing Happiness
"So many people have a little happiness and then try to hang on to it. Some people as soon as they find themselves a little happy, wonder what is wrong and especially begin to wonder if it will last. ... Is it any wonder that there is so little happiness? Those who have it are so afraid that they cannot hold on to it, that they lose it almost as fast at they find it."
"If you use your power to choose that nothing is too good to last, it is surprising, but true, that things will run along smoothly and beautifully for you, even beyond your fondest dreams. Here is the secret of keeping things running smoothly. But you must constantly remind yourself that when everything is going without trouble that that is the way it is supposed to be. The stars don't bump into the moon; the moon does not crash into the sun; the sun does not crash into the earth. Certainly, if the stars and the moon and the earth...don't conflict with one another, why can't our lives run along smoothly without the conflicting forces that so many people encounter. ... As one man said, 'our heaven on earth is right here, but the trouble with most of us is that we don't take advantage of it.'"
It is difficult for most of us to remain happy all of the time because of one simple reason. We choose to look at our problems and difficulties rather than staying focused on the one who can most help us with those problems and difficulties.
One of the most common problems in keeping our lives smoothly on track is "instead of thanking God for [our] good fortune and choosing to keep it that way, [we choose] to become [overconfident in our own abilities and] become careless and, not realizing, deliberately choose to do something to get back into trouble again."
Overconfidence, "when it happens...takes the spirit out of [our] lives....with the result that another life joins the great ranks of discouraged people. Most people cannot stand life when it runs along too smoothly. They crave excitement. They crave it because they choose it. This choice brings them into a troubled state and then they say this is life. Life did not produce the trouble. We bring it about ourselves with our bad choice of thought."
Doesn’t this sound like our action/adventure, video enraptured culture we find ourselves in today? Most DON’T seek contentment, most people are seeking problems to put adventure into their lives. Few realize that it is our own choices that are leading to the loss of our good fortune, our happiness.
Many go so far as to go through life having given up on any thought of achieving happiness. They go through life as a prisoner serving time rather than on exploring their world.
We hear people say "if [such and such happens], I don't care what happens. ...What a terrible choice of thought! ...can you see why there is so much trouble in the world, and why so few people are really happy? ... It is almost like going into a restaurant and saying, I don't care what you serve me as long as it is food. They may serve you food that is so badly burned that you can't even eat it. They may serve you meat that you can't even cut. They may serve a vegetable that is so badly rotted that you can't even eat look at it. BE CAREFUL. It is just as easy to be careful as it is to be careless. YOU DO CARE WHAT HAPPENS AND YOU KNOW IT. Keep thinking good thoughts ...thoughts that will help, not harm you. It is important, because through this greatest power, the power to choose, life becomes what you think and chose it to be."
"Let us choose to believe that something good can happen. Why must we always use the old model that something bad will happen? We begin to realize now that through the greatest power, the power to choose, that man has come a long way since the first man walked the face of the earth. The world... is reaching a point that it is gradually mastering the forces of nature. ... With this mastering of nature we begin to realize that we have a bigger job–mastering ourselves. We have gone through the Stone Age, the wood age, [the Copper Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, and the Silicon Age]; we are now entering the Mental Age."
This is more true now than in the 1950s. Kobe could not have foreseen the rise of Artificial Intelligence, its move into orbit around the Earth and generating virtually unlimited energy to power itself as literally 1 million AI satellites or more orbit the earth performing the calculations necessary to keep our modern societies functioning. Just as the Industrial Age was the result of the exploitation of the Iron Age, the exploitation of the Silicon Age is resulting in the rise of the Mental age. Mental means the characteristic of the intellect. Artificial Intelligence is certainly being positioned as being of superior intellect (the capacity for reasoning truth) to our old fashioned brains. Much as the Industrial Age led to the debilitation of artisan craftsmanship it could be that the Mental Age debilitates the remaining mental growth of humanity. BUT….
Humanity has been using the power to choose and not realizing it. "Now that we realize it, we make the great discovery that most of our troubles, our difficulties, and our miseries are man made. [Humanity] has been making a mechanical life of ease and pleasure; while at the same time ...making mental life more and more complicated. ... Now that [humanity] has discovered this greatest power, the power to choose, [we] can choose to live. No longer can [humanity] blame something outside of himself. ... [Humanity] does what he does because he chooses thus to do."
"As a result of modern inventions, [humanity] has more time for [themselves]. ... because [of] so much leisure time on [their] hands [humanity] must learn how to live...sensibly. If [they don't, they] will bring destruction upon [themselves]. [Humanity] has found that tasks that were difficult years ago, are now simplified by machinery. [Humanity] will now find time to learn how to live, [and] will recognize that the most important task is to learn how to live with himself. ... when he begins to use the greatest power that he possesses, the power to choose. ... [Humanity] will realize that life depends... upon his mind power of which he is a part, and through which all that he desires can come to pass."
Humanity must choose to retain the MIND power OF WHICH HE IS A PART. Mind is that which feels, wills, and thinks; the intellect; a state of being remembered. Humanity must choose to retain its feeling, wills, thought processes and remember from whence it came.
"[Humanity] must realize that the most important thing in life is LIFE. Therefore he owes his first duty to this LIFE which he possesses. If he takes care of his LIFE, it will be what he wants it to be. If he neglects his own LIFE it will be what he does not want it to be. After the universal power gives LIFE, then it is up to [the individual] to choose to do with it as he sees fit. ... We should choose to make a calm life rather than one of restlessness; we should choose to have poise rather than confusion ... we should choose to make the most of life for ourselves and those about us. We have the power to choose, let us use it to the best of our ability. As we use our minds to choose the best so we will find that the Universal MIND will come to our aid and assistance to help us choose the best. Together we cannot fail!
We must choose.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Be thoughtful, be helpful, be civil…