During Medical Schools days, a friend of mine—a really, really voluptuous female–and I were sitting on a porch swing. She said: “I made out a very detailed list of all the big and little traits I wanted in a marriage mate. Then, one day I found him—and you know what?—I didn’t like him!” My question for her then, as I now ask: “What do you want out of life?” Suppose you found a lamp containing a Genie—rubbed the lamp—and the Genie popped out and said: “I will give you anything you want—just ask for it!” Now, suppose you got it. Would you like it? If so, for how long? After that excitement wore off, what then? Perhaps you might start to think: “How can I continue to win without losing?” And suppose that happened to the point that having it all was normal. Yet, “normal” becomes boring. So, you would again feel dissatisfied just as you did before having “Stuff”. Something like this occurs with successful “me, me, me” humans. They appear to have all the glitz and glamour of “the Good Life” but in reality, they are miserable. To not do the investigation of what is really, really Significant in life as well as what is really, really destructive to ones life is to waste what could have been a Thriving, Happy Life. In that setting, to try to imitate the glitz and glamour of a SEEMINGLY “Good Life,” is like a child being deceived into believing there is something wonderful hiding inside a stranger’s fist. The child imagines all sorts of ‘whats’ able to cause ‘awe’, only to be bitterly disappointed when the stranger’s fist opens to show nothing is there. Similarly, to follow the Crowd’s “me, me, me” trend of grabbing all “Scarce” or “Exciting” (e.g. Flashing Light Gadgets) Material things available, at the end of “X” period of time one would again feel just as one did before having all the “Stuff”. Two paths can be taken from here.
First, realize all of ones life is not a failure. As defined by Europeans in their Adam and Eve borrowing and changing of an Ancient African Bible Myth, “Failure’s” core meaning derives from being Deceived–as their Supernatural Devil did to Eve. “Fail’s” other part is to fall short of having good success (as Adam did) from having been emptied of power. Just as the related Adam and Eve story never existed, neither can the idea of the European Bible saying God put a wayward spirit in Adam and Eve so as to create all present and yet unborn humans' "Original Sin" which is “eternal”. Yet, this is the basis for most of the major teachings in European Christianity, itself a 180 degree modification switch from Africans’ originated Christianity. Such cannot be known by those who refuse to do the reading research to discover the Truth—refuse to go through the trouble of learning how to do African Tradition’s Mathematical Rational and Critical Thinking–and, instead, take the lazy way of “following the stupid Crowd”—for purposes of “going along to get along”. The focus of the problem is that the Afflicted have chosen to replace their Real Public Self. It draws all power from its Private Selfhood’s Static Background–composed of the Spiritual Elements of Unconditional Love, Truth, Reality, and the Natural. The replacement is with a False Public Self created out of ones Self-Absorbed state and/or accepted from the External World. Either way, ones False Public Self is the Dynamic Foreground part that interacts with the Ignorant, the Stupid, the Fools, Con-Artists, and the Wicked.
A Second way is to live the African Proverb: “Because We are, Therefore I Am.” To really think about this means that if the “me, me, me” had everything, they would not know it because every human’s Soul is a natural part of a Cosmic “ME/WE”. Prove this to yourself by realizing you did not come into the Earth world solely on your own and you could not have survived alone. This is an Involuntary “ME/WE” state—and that is what enables one to voluntarily be Self-Reliant and choose. Hence, the Voluntary and the Involuntary are “One”. Note: the involuntary things in ones body (e.g. heart-beat) could not occur if one did not voluntarily take care of one Physical Human Nature Needs. Symbolizing the “ME/WE” is the word “Cleave”—i.e. to ‘stick together’ and ‘split’. An image of “Cleave” is the two opposite poles of a magnet, representing a continuity (unity in diversity). A reality is that Thriving and happiness only occur with “ME/WE” gift giving. The “Stuff” filled “me, me, me” do not know where they stand or how to stand. Being in mental chaos because of themselves, they do “Competitive Suffering”. Instant correction unifies ones Splintered Selfhood back to a Real Public Self. It then derives Cosmic powers out of ones Private Selfhood. So, live it! jabaileymd.com; JABLifeSkills; Theievoice.com