Happiness - Einstein

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about."

Albert Einstein

Intelligent Life

"My theory is that the higher you go in an organization, the thinner the oxygen; hence the higher you go, the more difficult it is to support intelligent life."

Guy Kawasaki, author and entrepreneur.

Its a real nice way to put it, the rationale is that the people actually making a company work are the middles and the bottoms of an organisation. The suits just make the grandiose announcements. A good company appreciates ALL employees.

Capitalism.

“So you think that money is the root of all evil?” said Francisco d’Anconia. “Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?”

“But you say that money is made by the strong at the expense of the weak? What strength do you mean? It is not the strength of guns or muscles. Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think. Then is money made by the man who invents a motor at the expense of those who did not invent it? Is money made by the intelligent at the expense of the fools? By the able at the expense of the incompetent? By the ambitious at the expense of the lazy? Money is made – before it can be looted or mooched – made by the effort of every honest man, each to the extent of his ability. An honest man is one who knows that he can’t consume more than he has produced.”

“Or did you say that is the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know and love its nature. To love money is to know and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is the loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money – and he has good reason to hate it.”

“Money will always remain an effect and refuse to replace you as the cause. Money is the product of virtue, but it will not give you virtue and it will not redeem your vices. Money will not give you the unearned, neither in matter nor in spirit. Is this the root of your hatred for money?”

“Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another – their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.”

Ayn Rand, from her book, "Atlas Shrugged".

I've become a capitalist, ever since ive changed the way i see my world.
I no longer see a world where there isn't enough money, a world of fear and insecurity, discontent for not having enough, carrying beliefs of limitation, limiting yourself to "just getting by", holding Marxist thoughts where if some were to make a lot of money it means it is being taken from others and the like. All of it is just plainly a world of scarcity.

You cannot experience wealth when you see a world of scarcity. When i made my decision, i decided to no longer fear not having enough money. I decided to take the path of freedom. I decided to take control. I lived my whole life in this plague of fear. I was only able to see it when i took a chance to open my mind and step outside. Step outside into another reality. Step outside the thoughts that were fed to me all my life. The thoughts of fear that is driving so many people without them even realising it.

I put an end to that life. I'm sick of not having enough not to give. I want to give more. I want to create more. I want to be more. I can only give what i already have. I chose another path where i can make myself out to be what i want to be. I chose the path of freedom instead of security. All this happened to me because of one book. Just one book started to change my life. Only because i let it, and i'm glad i did.

ONE percent of the U.S. budget is $25 billion. There's more than enough money in the world for everyone if were to be distributed evenly. But in 5 five years, 10% of the population will once again control 90% of the world's money. Its not about how much you make or have, its what you do with it.

One

The measure of a man

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy."

– Martin Luther King, Jr., Clergyman, Civil Rights Leader

Enemy.

"The greatest enemy you could ever meet in your life is yourself."

People can call us whatever they want, label us, torment us, they can do anything they wish, to bring us down but nothing happens to us which we don't allow. There is a quote that goes, "No one can hurt you without your permission" and it is true. It is simple, for sensitive people, all they really need to learn is this. If you value yourself you will. Some people seem to be afraid to help themselves almost. "I have no time, i cant do it, it won't work, its useless"... urghh. If you placed your energy in the right places won't run out of resources.

Limit yourself if you really think it serves your purpose. Limitation serves inertia. The truth is there's nothing in the way of what we want but ourselves, our psychology. If someone else can do it so can i. Period. Take the excuses and shove it up some loser's ass. Thats what losers do, give excuses. When we get our psychology straight, we will realise the greatest obstacle, enemy, nemesis to our achievement, is ourselves.

What's really stopping you from getting what you want?

Live.

"When you live without your own goals, your own purpose, without passion, you're not really living at all."

This from a person who was titled a slacker. Some still do, because their worlds don't change, they expect the same of others. The poor souls. I found happiness from this plain principle. I didnt know about it, and it wasn't deliberate, my left brain didn't tell me to do it, my right brain did. I just got inspired to have goals for myself and the feelings that brought me down occasionally, died eventually. When i started to live with a purpose that means something to me.

"Many people have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." Helen Keller 1880-1968, American Blind/Deaf Author, Lecturer

I have yet to find a greater quote than this for happiness. Words can be over-rated. Its the thoughts and feelings that words can ignite within you that have power. This is how you don't need anything from others to be happy. As long as you're dependant, you can't be truly happy. Because you'll never be satisfied. And wonder why.

Whats your purpose?

Problems.

"If you don't have problems you dont have a life"

What would we be today if we never had a problem in our lives? I would guess, pretty much worthless. Problems suck, they make things so inconvenient, and make us have to practice our patience, strengthen our mental capacities, develop our creative faculties, build our character, problems are so uncool.

We dont grow without problems, they are what makes us great. The great people in history became great because of the adversities they went through. If anything we should be welcoming problems. When we realise we are natually capable of solving problems from all our fucked up problematic experiences we will we become so great from within. We get something that the easy life can never give us.

Focusing 80% of our energy on the solution and 20% on the problem and recognizing problems as an opportunity to grow and learn much better can go a long way.


Do you have problems?

Relationships.

"You cant make another happy if you're not happy yourself"

I will stick by these words to the end of time. Like i've already said, you cant give what you don't have. If you don't even know how to be happy on your own, you're not going to know how to have a truly happy relationship. This is where problems come from. This is why most relationships always have problems. Dependancy, coming from Expectancy. Because one party, or both can't be happy induvidually they set expectations on the other, and all problems arise. All unhappiness comes from expectation. Think about that.

If you don't expect to have something you will not be unhappy when you don't get it. Period. It isn't easy not to expect from those you love, but if there is any secret formula to happiness this is it. Don't expect. Where do you think ignorance is bliss comes from? You dont know it, you dont expect it, you don't get pissed. Is that bliss? Maybe. Where does "Love is unconditional" come from? Doesn't that mean you have no expectations?

Happy couples are those you appreciate and love the person for what they give and what they are and dont expect too much from them. Or at the very least have their expectations known cleary and communicate well. And know how to make up for the "lacking". Reltionships ARE communication. If you can't communicate, you can't love. Start with puppies, they can teach humans a thing or 2 about unconditional love. You can't love me if you can't communicate, thats for sure.

Can you love unconditionally?

Self-Pity.

"Self Pity is a one-way ticket to Patheticville"

Spare yourself the torture of self pity. I know how messed up it is and how much it can take your life away from you because i've been there. When you feel sorry for yourself you hold a stupid belief that your life is being run by others. Or that you have little control over it. It isnt. I used to deny that i was feeling sorry for myself at times but only when the denial stops is there any hope. Lieing to yourself isn't very helpful. Thats where you stop even believing yourself, and when you don't even believe in yourself how much can you believe in others? A whole fucked up world develops and you don't realise you created it yourself. Take cpontrol of your life and be sovereign. Stop feeling sorry for yourself, get the fuck up and live your life like you want it to be.

People who have this disease find it hard to be happy, and hard to make others happy.
To cant give what you don't already have, including happiness.
Rid yourself completely of the disease of Self Pity.

Do you recognize the symptoms of this disease?

Death.

"If you were to die today and leave many disappointed and broken, you have yet to wake up."

This a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that i love very much, and it is this,

"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; To know at least one life breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."

Stephen R. Covey said to imagine that you were to walk into a funeral and see the glum faces and look into the coffin and see that it is you in the coffin one week from now. When you have that perspective, would you spend your life the same way? How would you live your life? How would you treat others? What would you like those people in the funeral who say their words to describe your life say about you?

These are 2 sources that give me inspiration on how to live my life, but my words are about making sure we're responsible not to let down the people we should feel responsible for. People like our parents, our siblings, and anyone at all whose lives we affect positively. People who commit sucide are selfish cowards. I will say that much, because it takes more guts to face this world than leave it.

One thing, is to look out for the financial well being of our people. If we're financially responsible we can look after your people even after you're gone. It's the least we can do for the people we spent our lives with.


Would you be alright with dying tomorrow?

You.

"You cannot become what you already aren't."

No one can turn you into a self loathing, self pitying, self defeating bum, you behave the way you do because its in your capacity to do so. No one can turn you into a high flying, super achieving, highly successful person either. You may end up one because its also in your capacity to do so.

Our personalities are not completely original. We made it up as we went along being influenced by our experiences and environment. We choose to be be "cute", "demure", "cool", "hot" because of our own metaprograms. We think it gives us something we desire consciuosly or unconsciuosly.

If you become an asshole because someone did something terrible to you, you are still an asshole because you know the asshole you can be, and you choose to be it. There IS that part of you, and you know it. There really isn't any point blaming others for your own behaviours or actions because you cannot be something you don't know how to be.

Nobody ever turns us into something, we do. Taking responsibility and course correcting will help us much more than hiding behind circumstances for our actions.

There is another side to these words, we can't become someone you want to become without "being" it ourselves. Arnold's quote i placed on "Happiness" explains it. If we can't even pretend it, we don't want it. On some level our mind is stopping us, probably because we want something else more. Metaprograms.


How did you become you?

Faith.

"Everything starts with faith. Everything."

You need faith to be using your computer to see this because you have faith it won't explode in your face. You are sitting down instead of standing up because you have faith that your chair will not fail and injure you. You live comfortable in your house because you have faith your home will not crash on you and kill you. You take a step because you have faith you will not fall or the ground beneath you won't break away. How did you build all that faith? Mostly experience, practice and blind trust.

Such a being of faith sometimes lacks faith in itself. It shouldn't be the case, because faith is the essense of life for us humans. When you have faith in your self and challenge yourself constantly you will live a great, fulfilling life. People who are generally unhappy, discontent or feel empty or something missing just havent tested their true capacity of faith through challenge.

How much do faith do you want to have in yourself?

Happiness.

Happiness isn't a result of circumstance, it is a choice.

Happiness doesn't come from objects or people or anything at all but you. It comes from how you choose to represent your experiences. Happiness will not come from "having a life", it will come from being grateful for your life, and recognizing that you do have a life, and you're painting it right now.

There's a direct link between gratitude and happiness. You will find that those who have much but are not happy simply don't feel as grateful for what they have. They are not ungrateful people, they just unconsciously focus on what they dont have instead of what they do.

There's also a direct link between your physiology and your state. If you get all slouched and put your head down and take shallow breaths you find it difficult to be happy. You've programmed your body for certain psysiology to be associated to certain feelings. Your state is a result of your internal representations + your psysiology. You dont dance because you feel happy, you feel happy because you dance. You don't sing because you're happy, you're happy because you sing. Body and mind are one. Our bodies are made for movement. If you can't think it, move it.

People may focus on what they dont want to have instead of what they want to. If you focused on what you wanted to have, you will have it. Your sub conscious will bring it to you, because it is constantly on your mind. If in your mind, there are repeat telecasts of "i am lonely" then that is what you will have, because that is in your mind all the time. And it must become real. Changing it to "i am not lonely" will not help because thats denial and the subconscious is subjective, it just brings what you give it.

Focus on what you want and pretend as though you already have it. Negativity brings negativity. Positivity brings positivity. Its not rocket science, its the law of cause and effect. The "pretending" won't last if you have faith.

“Create a vision of who you want to be, and then live into that picture as if it were already true.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger

Are you happy or are you waiting for a ship that isn't coming?

Self.

How you see yourself should never be confused with how others see you. It often is.

Self-consciousness can be helpful. At most times it is a disease. It can cripple your self expression, dwindle your communication and drain your motivation. To be too self conscious takes away the peace of mind, which is the very reason for which it is there. A contradiction.

Some let how other see them sculpt the way they see themselves. Consciously and Unconsciously. Gross permissiveness shows weakness, which comes from self-ignorance. Some obsess their whole lives over reputation and prestige. If they have much respect for themselves it would not be too great a concern, how others see them. Unconscious programming is sad, and thats why i believe its paramount to yourself, so you can guard yourself from being programmed by your T.V set, your parents or your best friends. If someone kept telling you you're unlucky every single day of your life one day you will start to believe it. Thats programming. Brain-washing isnt "sci-fi", it happens everyday. Just turn on your TV set for your daily dose.

Many do not truly know themselves. Not in the sense of preferences, more in the sense of what they truly stand for. What their true purpose is. The reason most don't know it is because you can't get it from the T.V set, and people rarely talk about it.

If there was a word you wanted to stand for what would it be? Strength? Love? Passion? Art? Peace? If there is a meaning, the major purpose of your life what is it? There is no right or wrong answer, there is only your answer. Someone should be able to wake you up in the middle of your sleep to ask you and you should be able to tell them immediately what it is. And slap the person and go back to sleep. That, is when you truly know yourself. "I like ice cream" isn't it. That's when you start to live as you, because you have defined yourself. That's soveriegnty. Without a goal there is no destination. If you don't know where you're going you're going nowhere. I'm saying where you're going is who you are. Without your purpose you're not you.

Do you know your self?

Confidence.

"You don't need to know much at all to be confident. You simply need to truly know yourself."

Where does confidence come from? It has nothing to do with your achievements. It has nothing to do with the things you have. It has nothing to do with the things you've seen. It has to do with your self-concept. You may have won an academic award but have a lower-self esteem than that of a street punk.

I learnt where it comes from from Anthony Robbins, he says it comes from doing difficult things. I believe it. It doesn't even matter even if what you did was really difficult at all, as long as you think it was. As long as it was difficult to you.

Sometimes you feel uncomfortable not knowing some things, but it can't be helped.
Confidence wouldn't be necessary without doubtful scenarios would it? Let go. Be free. It doesn't matter how much you know, to be confident. If you know yourself, and trust yourself to be able to handle things well no matter hard, or embarrassing it gets, thats confidence.

Do you trust yourself?

Destiny.

You either create your destiny, or watch it being created for you.

This is my "truth", in a world where people get most of their definitions of reality and life from a television box and hearsay.

What's the use of autonomy when a button does it all?

A quote from the song "idiot box" by incubus. I couldn't get the meaning of that phrase before, but the day that it did hit me, i was elated. Could've been because i reduced idiot box time. What it means to me, is that Brandon Boyd is asking, "What's the use of being autonomous (self rule) when a remote button does all the decision making for you? In the sense that you can apparently have all the advice and influence from the press of the button your remote. To put it differently, When you are so influenced by the T.V, what's the use of autonomy?

People are unconsciuosly being programmed by their own television sets. They don't realise how much of the things they watch really are entertainingly useless, and are giving them the wrong beliefs and ideas through repetition. There are good programs, and the majority arent. You grow a lot more without the negative programming the fear/hype driven media.

People also don't realise the power of the peers. The words of your peers program you just as much as the television does. You hang with negative people and watch what you become. Its only natural to be what you're surrounded with. If you don't reject the garbage thats being fed to you, become a part of it. Because you have to be a part of something. If you don't decide what you're going to be, people will.

Are you holding the paintbrush?

Know.

The more you know, the more you don't.

It doesn't matter what i really am, because you will never know. What matters is what we think we are. This is perception, and every word i speak is, because life is perception. I am not speaking the truth or am i lying. I am simply expressing my perception, and it is up to your perception to analyse, classify and associate it.

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing ~ Socrates"

People don't really know anything. People used to know we couldn't fly, know the earth was flat, know the world was going to end, know oh so much without even knowing themselves. The more you know, the more limited and shallow your world is.

People make judgements automatically. It takes a lot of effort to change a person's first impression of you. It doesnt matter to a girl if her boyfriend is the biggest jerk in the world. Its what she represents him as, and what she associates him to that makes a difference. There are many reasons why she may not see the clearest thing in the world. She may not like the abuse because of her fear of pain. She may also love the attention because of her fear of loneliness. The greater fear always wins, it is the law of cause and effect. She may never know these things and herself because, people will only see what they want to see.

Don't think you know your partner. Love your partner, for what you see in him. The more you know him, the more you don't. Don't turn yourself into stone by holding on to beliefs too tightly. You only become rigid, and just stop growing. Especially, beliefs that don't serve you well.

Do you really want to know so much?

Perception.

What is the meaning of life? Perception. Your life is your perception, plain and simple.

If you think you don't have a life, you dont. If you think your life sucks, it does. If you think you need a partner for you to be happy, you do. If you think you are completely useless, you are. If you think you can't go on without smoking, you can't. If you think you will never succeed, you won't.

Is it all true? It doesn't matter if it is true. There is no truth. What you believe with emotion is your life, your reality. Rationality plays no part in the illusion of life. What you believe, is the truth. What you perceive to be true, is true. Understand that its your perception to what is happening around you that matters and you will be invincible.

How do you want to perception to be?

Change.

"You can change yourself to become whatever it is you want to become. Do not be surprised at all if the old you resurfaces when you least expect it, though. Your core you will be the person you spent the most of your life as."

This is quite easy to understand, and it will go down as my first bathroom quote. It comes from my self reflection, as i try to change myself for the better constantly. But i surprise myself with the apparent inertia or resistance of my past. Somethings tend to become automatic, and those are the damaging ones, becuase you have no control over whats unconscious. But i think that your core can be changed, and it takes time. The only other way is the intensity of emotion.

Even if you do spend more time as the new you, i do not think you can completely erase the past. And you shouldn't want to. Where would the journey be if you did? There is a virtue in everything. You shouldn't be looking to become an angel, or becoming an devil. You should be seeking balance.

Balance may seem that you're neither this or that, but i reckon balance means you're everything. If you want your life you change you have to change. Insanity is to expect different results from doing the same thing.

Do you want your life to stay the same?

The Birth Of Philosophy.

I will no longer continue writing the journal, as i have so far, i have decided to change this into a place for philosophy. Lately i have been coming up with these thoughts that come to me, especially in the middle of the night, and last night these thoughts kept me up till 4am, only because i respected them. Not because i'm in love with myself, although i do, but not in that way.

It's because i no longer throw away my ideas as people usually do, i've been learning more about creativity. I'm creating a program based on creativity and if i'm not creative myself that would be the greatest irony in the world, in my opinion. Although its not a requirement, i've always wanted to be more creative.

What i've learnt so far is that creativity is generative. In the sense that something defined and beautiful doesn't just get created at an instant, it takes time. And for an artist, that "great" idea may the one after a hundred mundane ones. You can't get critical on your ideas immediately i now relate it to aborting children.

Sometimes a bad idea can be worked into something or may be worth something in the future when things have changed or your mindset has.


I don't fear the notion of originality because i've come to realise that nothing is intrinsically pure by itself. Every creation comes off of something. As long as you know that it came from you, that's all that matters as a creator of anything. So i will write philosophy, because it inspires me deep inside. I don't want to keep it all inside, there's this part of me that wants to share everything i learn.

I hope it can inspire in some way, because that is what philosophy does to me, and its the purpose of this beautiful form of art, to me.


Would you kill your babies?