ACQUIRE POWER THROUGH SELF DEVELOPMENT.

Romans 14:11King James Version (KJV)

¹¹ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

King James Version (KJV)


It is the natural right of every human being to be happy to escape all the miseries of life. Happiness is the normal condition, as natural as the landscapes and the seasons. It is unnatural to suffer and it is only because of our ignorance that we do suffer. Happiness is the product of wisdom. To attain perfect wisdom, to comprehend fully the purpose of life, to realize completely the relationship of human beings to each other, is to put an end to all suffering, to escape every ill and evil that afflicts us. Perfect wisdom is unshadowed joy.

Why do we suffer in life? Because in the scheme of nature we are being forced forward in evolution and we lack the spiritual illumination that alone can light the way and enable us to move safely among the obstacles that lie before us. Usually we do not even see or suspect the presence of trouble until it suddenly leaps upon us like a concealed tiger. One day our family circle is complete and happy. A week later death has come and gone and joy is replaced with agony. Today we have a friend. Tomorrow he will be an enemy and we do not know why. A little while ago we had wealth and all material luxuries. There was a sudden change and now we have only poverty and misery and yet we seek in vain for a reason why this should be. There was a time when we had health and strength; but they have both departed and no trace of a reason appears. Aside from these greater tragedies of life innumerable things of lesser consequence continually bring to us little miseries and minor heartaches. We most earnestly desire to avoid them but we never see them until they strike us, until in the darkness of our ignorance we blunder upon them. The thing we lack is the spiritual illumination that will enable us to look far and wide, finding the hidden causes of human suffering and revealing the method by which they may be avoided; and if we can but reach illumination the evolutionary journey can be made both comfortably and swiftly. It is as though we must pass through a long, dark room filled with furniture promiscuously scattered about. In the darkness our progress would be slow and painful and our bruises many. But if we could press a button that would turn on the electric light we could then make the same journey quickly and with perfect safety and comfort.

The old method of education was to store the mind with as many facts, or supposed facts, as could be accumulated and to give a certain exterior polish to the personality. The theory was that when a man was born he was a completed human being and that all that could be done for him was to load him up with information that would be used with more or less skill, according to the native ability he happened to be born with. The theosophical idea is that the physical man, and all that constitutes his life in the physical world, is but a very partial expression of the self; that in the ego of each there is practically unlimited power and wisdom; that these may be brought through into expression in the physical world as the physical body and its invisible counterparts, which together constitute the complex vehicle of the ego's manifestation, are evolved and adapted to the purpose; and that in exact proportion that conscious effort is given to such self-development will spiritual illumination be achieved and wisdom attained. Thus the light that leads to happiness is kindled from within and the evolutionary journey that all are making may be robbed of its suffering.

Why does death bring misery? Chiefly because it separates us from those we love. The only other reason why death brings grief or fear is  because we do not understand it and comprehend the part it plays in human evolution.  But the moment our ignorance gives way to comprehension such fear vanishes and a serene happiness takes its place.

Why do we have enemies from whose words or acts we suffer? Because in our limited physical consciousness we do not perceive the unity of all life and realize that our wrong thinking and doing must react upon us through other people a situation from which there is no possible escape except through ceasing to think evil and then patiently awaiting the time when the causes we have already generated are fully exhausted. When spiritual illumination comes, and we no longer stumble in the night of ignorance, the last enemy will disappear and we shall make no more forever.

Why do people suffer from poverty and disease? Only because of our blundering ignorance that makes their existence possible for us, and because we do not comprehend their meaning and their lessons, nor know the attitude to assume toward them. Had we but the wisdom to understand why they come to people, why they are necessary factors in their evolution, they would trouble us no longer. When nature's lesson is fully learned these mute teachers will vanish.

And so it is with all forms of suffering we experience. They are at once reactions from our ignorant blunderings and instructors that point out the better way. When we have comprehended the lessons they teach they are no longer necessary and disappear. It is not by the outward  acquirement of facts that men become wise and great. It is by developing the soul from within until it illuminates the brain with that flood of light called genius.

PREPARING FOR OLD AGE.

PREPARING FOR OLD AGE.

Socrates was once asked by a pupil, this question: "What kind of people shall we be when we reach Elysium?"

And the answer was this: "We shall be the same kind of people that we were here."

If there is a life after this, we are preparing for it now, just as I am today preparing for my life tomorrow.

What kind of a man shall I be tomorrow? Oh, about the same kind of a man that I am now. The kind of a man that I shall be next month depends upon the kind of a man that I have been this month.

If I am miserable today, it is not within the round of probabilities that I shall be supremely happy tomorrow. Heaven is a habit. And if we are going to Heaven we would better be getting used to it.

Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none.

We are preparing all the time for old age. The two things that make old age beautiful are resignation and a just consideration for the rights of others.

In the play of Ivan the Terrible, the interest centers around one man, the Czar Ivan. If anybody but Richard Mansfield played the part, there would be nothing in it. We simply get a glimpse into the life of a tyrant who has run the full gamut of goosedom, grumpiness, selfishness and grouch. Incidentally this man had the power to put other men to death, and this he does and has done as his whim and temper might dictate. He has been vindictive, cruel, quarrelsome, tyrannical and terrible. Now that he feels the approach of death, he would make his peace with God. But he has delayed that matter too long. He didn't realize in youth and middle life that he was then preparing for old age.

Man is the result of cause and effect, and the causes are to a degree in our hands. Life is a fluid, and well has it been called the stream of life we are going, flowing somewhere. Strip Ivan of his robes and crown, and he might be an old farmer and live in Ebenezer. Every town and village has its Ivan. To be an Ivan, just turn your temper loose and practise cruelty on any person or thing within your reach, and the result will be a sure preparation for a querulous, quarrelsome, pickety, snipity, fussy and foolish old age, accented with many outbursts of wrath that are terrible in their futility and ineffectiveness.

Babyhood has no monopoly on the tantrum. The characters of King Lear and Ivan the Terrible have much in common. One might almost believe that the writer of Ivan had felt the incompleteness of Lear, and had seen the absurdity of making a melodramatic bid for sympathy in behalf of this old man thrust out by his daughters.

Lear, the troublesome, Lear to whose limber tongue there was constantly leaping words unprintable and names of tar, deserves no soft pity at our hands. All his life he had been training his three daughters for exactly the treatment he was to receive. All his life Lear had been lubricating the chute that was to give him a quick ride out into that black midnight storm.

"Oh, how sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child," he cries.

There is something quite as bad as a thankless child, and that is a thankless parent an irate, irascible parent who possesses an underground vocabulary and a disposition to use it.

The false note in Lear lies in giving to him a daughter like Cordelia. Tolstoy and Mansfield ring true, and Ivan the Terrible is what he is without apology, excuse or explanation. Take it or leave it if you do not like plays of this kind, go to see Vaudeville.

Mansfield's Ivan is terrible. The Czar is not old in years not over seventy but you can see that Death is sniffing close upon his track. Ivan has lost the power of repose. He cannot listen, weigh and decide he has no thought or consideration for any man or thing this is his habit of life. His bony hands are never still the fingers open and shut, and pick at things eternally. He fumbles the cross on his breast, adjusts his jewels, scratches his cosmos, plays the devil's tattoo, gets up nervously and looks behind the throne, holds his breath to listen. When people address him, he damns them savagely if they kneel, and if they stand upright he accuses them of lack of respect. He asks that he be relieved from the cares of state, and then trembles for fear his people will take him at his word. When asked to remain ruler of Russia he proceeds to curse his councilors and accuses them of loading him with burdens that they themselves would not endeavor to bear.

He is a victim of amor senilis, and right here if Mansfield took one step more his realism would be appalling, but he stops in time and suggests what he dares not express. This tottering, doddering, slobbering, sniffling old man is in love he is about to wed a young, beautiful girl. He selects jewels for her he makes remarks about what would become her beauty, jeers and laughs in cracked falsetto. In the animality of youth there is something pleasing it is natural but the vices of an old man, when they have become only mental, are most revolting.

The people about Ivan are in mortal terror of him, for he is still the absolute monarch he has the power to promote or disgrace, to take their lives or let them go free. They laugh when he laughs, cry when he does, and watch his fleeting moods with thumping hearts.

He is intensely religious and affects the robe and cowl of a priest. Around his neck hangs the crucifix. His fear is that he will die with no opportunity of confession and absolution. He prays to High Heaven every moment, kisses the cross, and his toothless old mouth interjects prayers to God and curses on man in the same breath.

If any one is talking to him he looks the other way, slips down until his shoulders occupy the throne, scratches his leg, and keeps up a running comment of insult "Aye," "Oh," "Of course," "Certainly," "Ugh," "Listen to him now!" There is a comedy side to all this which relieves the tragedy and keeps the play from becoming disgusting.

Glimpses of Ivan's past are given in his jerky confessions he is the most miserable and unhappy of men, and you behold that he is reaping as he has sown.

All his life he has been preparing for this. Each day has been a preparation for the next. Ivan dies in a fit of wrath, hurling curses on his family and court dies in a fit of wrath into which he has been purposely taunted by a man who knows that the outburst is certain to kill the weakened monarch.

Where does Ivan the Terrible go when Death closes his eyes?

I know not. But this I believe: No confessional can absolve him no priest benefit him no God forgive him. He has damned himself, and he began the work in youth. He was getting ready all his life for this old age, and this old age was getting ready for the fifth act.

The playwright does not say so, Mansfield does not say so, but this is the lesson: Hate is a poison wrath is a toxin sensuality leads to death clutching selfishness is a lighting of the fires of hell. It is all a preparation cause and effect.

If you are ever absolved, you must absolve yourself, for no one else can. And the sooner you begin, the better.

We often hear of the beauties of old age, but the only old age that is beautiful is the one the man has long been preparing for by living a beautiful life. Every one of us are right now preparing for old age.

There may be a substitute somewhere in the world for Good Nature, but I do not know where it can be found.

The secret of salvation is this: Keep Sweet.

The worm

BEWARE THE WORM IN THE APPLE

In this day and time wee see and experience many harsh realities of life and we will deal with people who may truly not be very supportive of us. So it becomes vital that you show that you are a mature, responsible person by performing acts of responsibility with integrity and purpose. Making excuses or passing the buck on to others does not give the impression that you are accountable and can be trusted. Being supportive does. It show's you care enough to get involved and to take some positive action that will make a difference.

Just because you may feel that others are not polite or courteous does not mean you should not be respectful to others; rather than becoming rude and antagonistic you should strive for mutual respect for one another. You may not need to give in to accomplice this. One should strive to separate personalities from the problem and focus on what is in the best interest for each and not the “status” of the individuals involved. Try to attack the problem not the other person, this can be very difficult because of our natural instinct is to defend when we feel threatened, but using an objective standard can be much more fulfilling.

For others to be worthy of your trust you must feel their motives are pure, not selfish, devious or partisan. When put to the test will they respond reasonable? Viewing other as trustworthy means you are willing to take risk and be vulnerable. This is a vital dimension of productive social interaction. The three characteristics of the other person should. Ability, benevolence and integrity. These are are a major portion of trustworthiness.

Ability is a group of skill and experiences that show competencies to perform a task. Benevolence is wanting good things for the partnership and all that is involved and integrity is the observation that the other person adheres to a set of principles that are acceptable and honored to best seek justice.

When you are just you believe in treating others fairly and you strive to be impartial and to restrain personal biases. To show due appreciation and advocate appropriate consequences. Justice is based on appropriate measure and responses with actions. These are subjective ideas and you will always hear persons saying “life isn't fair”. But when people see you performing justice and act accordingly you will build a base of positive influence and others will trust you.

make the change self assessment

                                                  

SELF ASSESSMENT TOOL

You will need some materials to work with so gather a few good writing pens, a notebook a ruler and some correction fluid for mistakes, everybody makes them or maybe use your computer. The most important thing is for you to be objective and honest about the question you ask and the way you answer them, if you don't be completely honest you will only be lying to yourself and you may not get the desired results you seek.

What do you you want ?; you may think this is a given but so meany people run into problem because they do not have a clear decisive idea of what they really want to acquire or accomplish so your first and foremost purpose is to decide what do you want. It is always good to have some flexibility in the way you do things but there must be concrete goal and or end game you want to attain, other wise you will end up like a fish out of water.

What are you looking for?; ask yourself what “am I looking for in... “, this can be very complicated, start by asking what am I looking to do with my life, who am I trying to please, am I trying to gain acceptance, respect, adulation from family, friends or coworker or am I doing this for myself? Am I looking for independence, or am I just following a trend?

Next, determine which type of personality do you posses. A type “a” person may exhibit such as competitive, outgoing, ambitious, impatient, or aggressive; while a type”B” personality will be more relaxed. This doesn't mean that one is better than the other but if you are aware you maybe able to adjust you thinking to overcome obstacles that will arise, and they will arise for that is the nature of all things.

This is very important, you will need to determine how much time you are willing to implement to your endeavor. Since time is the one asset that nobody has in abundance do not take this lightly. You need to establish tangible time frames for things to get done, and as you see yourself meeting these deadline your confidence will grow.

The next step is to get out your pen and paper and make to columns, at the top of the one on the left you may call it “my strengths” at the top of the one on the right label it “my weakness's”, this tool is to be known as the pros & cons of your character. The object of this exercise is for you to visibly recognize and acknowledge your strengths and weakness's so you can accentuate the positive and correct the negative by using corrective measures.

Being objective and taking this type of inventory of your character and ability's will also help you to figure out what you are willing to give up to achieve you goal because there are no free ride and free lunch's, you will have to give up something and make sacrifices if you are to move forward, this is inevitable. But armed with this knowledge you will have a good starting point of what you will need to give up. Another consideration is what do you stand to gain from success? There is nothing worse than to acquire success and then have that prosperity turn into a curse and devour you, to have it consume your very essence and then you find all you live for is the “thing” not the joy and freedom that it's acquisition should bring you so decide what do you want from success.

What if I fail? Should I have a backup plan? Ok so you may fail, but just like anything else in life you get up dust yourself off and get right back in there, it is natural to fail this is why your doing all this planning and homework now to minimize your failure but you will fail but the key is to learn from you failures and make adjustments. Almost all successful people fail time and time again but they

keep trying until they get it right. Yes, you should always have a plan “B”, I love this old saying , “Victory loves preparation”. So make plan's and prepare for anything you can imagine, can't hurt.

The purpose of this is to figure out what else you can learn and how can I grow from this knowledge. Always relish the opportunities to expand your thinking, strive to make a difference so you may have an effect on someone else as well as change your own circumstances so that life will have intrinsic meaning beyond the time you spend here

My last point I would like to make is how determined are you to do what it takes for you to achieve your objective? make a decision and stick by this decision no matter what happens, nobody like a wishy washy person so take a deep breath, take aim and fire. Good luck.

Make Tthe Change "Know yourself"

     

                                                                                         

Who are you? No the question is not about where you were born or who your parents or grandparents are, or where you were brought up or what school you went to the question is much deeper than that. I heard this saying once and it goes like this “ It's not who I am underneath It's what I do that defines me”. Put simple it is not where i was born or what family I belong to it is what I do that give my life purpose me.

 

My life, the choices I make that will determine what kind of person I become. Agreed our environment

plays a big part of our destiny but after a certain time in life you are handed the rein’s of your life and

you make the choice that will guide you on your path. A path that will leads you up the road to success

or down the road to destruction. In order to obtain any personal growth a person should practice being totally honest with there self because only in this way will you achieve true results that will bring a relevant change. Many people lie to themselves then they wonder why nothing changes, why they cant lose weight or why they cant finish a task, the problem is that their foundation is unstable and they are doomed to fail before they even start. So honesty is the best policy and a self assessment the best place to start. My point is, we all have philosophy's that we use in our day to day choice's, which we use to determine action's which cause's result. So in using the self-assessment tool the goal is to improve redefine or adjust your philosophy that will bring the desired result. Also a good thing to remember is that many time's you cant change the circumstance of a given situation or problem, but you can control yourself and the way you react or act to a problem and this starts with your mental state, you philosophy's your morals and ethics. These tool are not set in stone but just a few that can be used to point a person to the path of self accomplishment. Also you must realize that knowing which path to take is much different than actually walking it. Knowledge only has power when the instruction is put to some useful purpose to perform a needed task.

 

Therefor you must recognize that what matters is not what you should have done but what you do now that makes the difference and the best was to make effective change is to identify the problems or short comings, this will take some tools. When my uncle was teaching me how to do some minor repairs to my car when I was younger he would always tell me the right tool for the right job, so I think the right tool for us to begin our character tune-up should be the “Self Assessment tool “ . There are all kinds of self assessment tool out there but the one I am going to give you is for the sole purpose of the the individual to decided where they are in life, where they want to be in life and help you figure ways to get there. It is up to you and no one else. Remember this you can't always change the situation's you will face or peoples attitudes or even human nature but you can control the way you react to it thereby having a hand on the wheel of your destiny.

EPIPHANY

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” Lao Tzu

MY EPIPHANY

According to the Buddhist, there is a thing called "The beginners mind", in this concept you should assume nothing and with humility and inquiry look for the most meaning and importance in the smallest thing. When I was around eight years old and I had made myself a slingshot and i wanted to test it out, but i didn't want to break anything and have my mother kill me so I got up early in the morning and went to the park a couple of blocks from my house. Everybody was still asleep that's how early it was plus it was the weekend and the sun was just coming up, the dew was still on the ground, now that I think about it, it was a perfect Indian summer morning, anyway I am ready to test my new home made device so I find a pretty good size bottle and set it on top of a tunnel thing that kids play in, this is a park in a major inner city so there is some litter around, definitely not Mayburry RFD. So I set it up and moved away about ten to twelve feet,Then I find a smooth oval shaped rock just shy of the size of a penny, then for some reason I said to myself , "The smallest stone can shatter the biggest bottle", I take aim and fire and hit it dead center. I swear at the time at it seemed to be happening in slow motion, the bottle exploded into million pieces, I couldn't believe it. That was a moment of enlightenment that I will never forget. A detail of how the smallest of things can change the greater of things with the right circumstances.

Have you ever see a newborn baby jump out of the mothers arms and start doing lap around the neighborhood? I don't think you have if so get pictures and call Ripley, anyway just as a baby must become secure and confident like crawling then standing and falling then one step and fall get up another step and fall, they hold on to furniture and take steps then finally they find their balance and faith and start to walk and run. This same concept run true in most of my research. Very, very few can jump in with both feet into any situation with help and training and succeed. That why I want to share with you some of the principals I have studied and still work with because they have at some point or another help me, but every one is different you know, but we are similar to a degree right? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Make The Change...

CAN WE TALK?

Recently I had done some research on personal development, I felt that I wasn't getting any younger so it was time to make myself “a better person”, I did some serious research which I will be sharing with you again, but I think I put it out there not in the proper order, I thought no one was really reading my blog but after I reclaimed my work and took it off the air I guess I was wrong, it would have been nice if someone would have dropped me a note or something I would have done that a different way.

Irregardless what I am going to do is go over my material and sources and republish it, I doubt if my talent has progressed to the point of a E-book which I could market so if you want to help make a donation or make a comment or something either way that would be helpful for me to keep working on this. I started this because I had some issues and I knew the only person who could solve them was me. The Bible say's take the beam out of your own eye before you condemn someone else and that was my mane objective.

In my writings you will notice I reference to the Bible, I think this is the greatest book ever written in the history of mankind, but that is just my opinion, but you have to admit there is some serious knowledge there for us to use, anyway that will not be my only source of reference, and I will do my very best to give each author all the “props” that is do them, like I said I am just trying to be the best I can and hope that I can bring you along for the ride. I will do my best to keep it as simple as I can after all I don't have a PHD, or a masters in Psychology but what I do have is some formal training from the school of hard knocks and I just want to be the best I can be for myself, for my family and for my country, which by the way needs some serious help and you know where it starts ? You and me.

I don't do gimmick so don't look for any from me what I do is put the theory to test and tell you what I have learned or not you can take it from their because if there is one thing I have learned in life is that there is no one size fit's all approach , something may work for one person while doing nothing to help another while somebody else get on nominal results, this is why before you try anything you have to understand the person on the other side of that mirror or you may find yourself being just like this dog I saw once running around in a circle chasing his tail until he feel over and went to sleep.

Well I guess that is enough for now, I be back soon with the first installment of MAKE THE CHANGE”. SEE YA. Jerry...

THE MUSTARD SEED

THE MUSTARD SEED

In the The new Testament of the bible ( ) we are told by Jesus Christ that the faith of a mustard can move mountains and that if we have the faith of a grain of seed () we will be able to tell the mountains in our life to be thrown into the sea and they will obey that if we have faith we will be able to cast out spirits and cause the lame to walk and the blind to see but it all starts with that minute bit of faith. First I want to say that faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things not seen meaning that you have such a strong belief that God himself will honor you faith, but if you don’t have the mustered seed of faith all that is for nothing so lets look at the mustered seed itself.

Many cannot forgive themselves for the way they live or the things they may have done in the past to themselves or other therefor they cannot truly release the love that we all have inside of us. I believe that the mustered seed is love and if we cannot forgive our self for mistake than we cannot release our love, because we all no if you don’t love yourself you cant love anyone else, you may pretend but the truth will come eventual,so not loving one self means we cannot completely release our faith unto God. The word says If we trust in him he is faithful to forgive our sins( ). So the bottom line is this you have to first forgive your self, then you can start to love your self, then you release what ever it is to God and be patient In faith and he will honor your prayers. I believe this is the secret of the mustered seed.