Infamous

To what horrible depths the tormented soul will descend only to win infamy!

Translation

It is very dangerous to translate the truth in terms of your own egotism.

Desire

A desire with the purest intent is often savagely twisted to diabolical ends.

Responsibility

What we hate most is the truth that we are miserable, helpless, and responsible for all the suffering and evil in the world.

Presumption

THE PRETENSIONS OF POVERTY

                "Thou dost presume too much, poor needy wretch,

                To claim a station in the firmament,

                Because thy humble cottage, or thy tub,

                Nurses some lazy or pedantic virtue

                In the cheap sunshine or by shady springs,

                With roots and pot-herbs; where thy right hand,

                Tearing those humane passions from the mind,

                Upon whose stocks fair blooming virtues flourish,

                Degradeth nature, and benumbeth sense,

                And, Gorgon-like, turns active men to stone.

                We not require the dull society

                Of your necessitated temperance,

                Or that unnatural stupidity

                That knows nor joy nor sorrow; nor your forc'd

                Falsely exalted passive fortitude

                Above the active.  This low abject brood,

                That fix their seats in mediocrity,

                Become your servile minds; but we advance

                Such virtues only as admit excess,

                Brave, bounteous acts, regal magnificence,

                All-seeing prudence, magnanimity

                That knows no bound, and that heroic virtue

                For which antiquity hath left no name,

                But patterns only, such as Hercules,

                Achilles, Theseus.  Back to thy loath'd cell;

                And when thou seest the new enlightened sphere,

                Study to know but what those worthies were."

                                                                        --T. Carew

Reason

Reason, uninformed by Truth and enslaved by pride, often misleads the soul of man.

Conclusion

Before cultivating talent in an individual, there must be a willingness to make an effort and the opportunity to do so. If either of these two conditions are missing, the result will be existential frustration.

We should expect to find rampant escapism in a society where individuals lack the will to do something worthwhile and where the social milieu fails to provide opportunities for creative, useful work.

In fact, you do not need to be a close observer of American society to discover that most people are bored stiff. Most see work as a biblical curse, a necessary evil.

Even when people are not working, they are still very busy trying to forget how miserable they are. If they experience happiness at all, it is in its negative and ephemeral form as when you experience pleasure from the cessation of pain.

It is not likely that the capitalist system will conform to our wish for meaningful work anytime soon. The good news is that you do not have to wait for a utopian society to arrive at your doorstep.

You can begin to make your own way and to discover for yourself how to live a full life. If you awaken your true desire for a meaningful existence, society will grow out of you.

As you walk along the road toward happiness, taking advantage of the opportunities to live a full life in each moment, you will find that you do not have to wait to reach your destination in order to find happiness. Happiness will find you and, like a good friend, she will accompany you on your journey home.

New Project

Recently, I have been cornering all my family members, friends, and associates: Do you have a minute?

I usually do not wait for a reply. I bellow, "Good!" and then plug in my laptop and start my presentation.

The economic act takes up a good part of our lives. I could not help noticing, however, that I seemed to have struck a Mephistophelian bargain with most of my employers. In exchange for 51 weeks of labor, I was entitled to 1 week of leisure. Sometimes when working even two jobs, I was paid just enough for a bare level of subsistence.

I seriously considered Thoreau's solution of heading out to the woods and squatting on a piece of land. I would build a yurt, not a cabin--for I have limited carpentry skills--and plant beans and potatoes.

Then it dawned on me that I never enjoyed mowing the lawn, much less gardening, and that a diet of beans and potatoes was too close to prison fare.

There must be a better way. The joys of Capitalism notwithstanding, there must be a way to get more out of a job than just the means of subsistence and a yearly jaunt to the Hawaiian Islands.

I am currently employed as a manager in the hospitality industry. I am now entitled to three weeks of vacation and I can afford to travel more frequently. I have come to appreciate the finer things in life. As much as anyone, I enjoy sitting in the lap of luxury.

And yet I must confess that I was not truly happy. I could no longer blame Capitalism entirely. The problem seemed to lie within.

A colleague suggested that I read Daniel Pink's book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. The ideas presented resonated within me.

Since a manager must find a way to motivate his employees to work for him, I began to look at the workplace as a laboratory. I wanted to discover a way to tap into an employee's true potential.

If the theories outlined in Drive were true, I should be able to create a work environment that encouraged employees to find their own way. The result would be a motivated work force that would effectively accomplish the task at hand.

So, do you have a minute?

GOOD!