Thinking Through Time

Truth reveals itself in time.  That -- which is false, will fail the test of time.  In all probability, it will just be forgotten and ignored, because there is no payoff for sustaining the belief-- with no facts to substantiate it -- until maybe some time in the future, when someone revives the old as the new -- for one more time, to those who haven't heard it before.

There is always a fresh class of recruits who will revive an old fallacious idea, thinking it merely failed before -- for the lack of trying, and not that it was recognized as a bad idea -- with good reason.  For that reason, many think the secret to youth, is doing the things one did as a youth -- with realizing, that is what caused them to lose that youth -- or they wouldn't be trying to regain it.  So one can't simply do what they did at their prime -- thinking that is all that is necessary to remain so -- indefinitely, because those peak performances, also have (had) a cost, even if it was one they were willing to pay at any price -- thinking that was all they needed to attain "immortality" -- in whatever hall of fame was important to them.

In that way, many sacrifice their health (and sanity) -- for that moment of fame and glory -- for as long as they can, which no matter how long, will only be momentarily in the greater scheme of things -- which is their greatest life, at every stage of it -- and not extinguishing it prematurely, in going beyond the point of no return or resuscitation.  That has always been a difficult balance for those trying to fine-tune to their optimal lives.

Youthful misjudgments, take the lives of many too soon, while many others are waylaid onto a path of lifelong dysfunction, criminal and antisocial behavior -- never seeing the light of what they are doing, seeing the consequences of their actions -- which requires other people to do it for them.  But the efforts of all the others, can never be enough, if one thinks their part, is to oppose all the others --  in a relentless struggle and competition -- as though that's what life was all about.

That may be so in prisons and restrictive cultures limiting one's choices -- but obviously not the case in a society and environment of the greatest choices and freedom to make those choices without duress and biases.  For many nurtured in an oppressive condition, the very thought that one can choose without limit -- was never a possibility they were prepared to encounter in life, and so their instinct, is to destroy it for everyone else also.  Only in that way, could they achieve a competitive advantage in playing the "only game in town" allowed.

Not that one has to buy every "latest, greatest thing," but one should be open to the possibility that there are other things, than just the one way they were thought -- and punished for thinking any other.  By that, some think that the only way they can win, is to cheat -- even when it is not necessary to gain that advantage.  That is the only way they know how to play the game -- which obviously has to result in chaos and anomie in society, as well as breakdowns and crises in individual lives, they even think is the normal process of aging -- rather than taking full responsibility for their bad choices, and resolve not to change.

Of course it is an untenable position to maintain and defend -- despite all the information to the contrary.  The only hope, is that one will change, and when they can't, their situation is hopeless and unsustainable.  So one asks, "What is a sustainable?" -- and not that, "It won't matter because I won't be here to see it -- so why should I care?"  That attitude allows them to evade the responsibility and ownership for everything going on in their world -- to which they are just a tourist, having no right to determine the course of that culture.  One's total responsibility, is to "Enjoy," as though that were an end in itself.

Such people are lost, and will never care about anything of significance and consequence -- because they are not producers of anything, but only consumers after all the work has been done.  And so they think it's always been there -- just for the taking, and become skilled and clever at "taking more than their fair share," as all they become good at.

If a person produces everything, or most of it, certainly they are entitled to all or most of it -- and not rather, that they should be in line like everybody else, or even as they now will insist, for that very reason, should stand in the back of the line because they are capable of producing even more.  That's how societies and individuals, begin to fail in time -- because that is not a sustainable society.

One ultimately will reap what they sow -- even if they don't like the results.  But rather than ignoring or denying the results, the wise individual, uses that information to determine what they do next -- and keep improving, as their way of life.

Going With The Flow (of Information)

Probably the greatest difference between the Old Mind and the New Mind of the 21st Century, is that the old mind was conditioned to work against the information presented -- as though it was in competition against it -- rather than allowing that information to work and manifest through them.  That old mind, was particularly conditioned to think that all the information of others, was also to be regarded as against them -- and never allowing that any information could be used mutually.

That is probably best expressed in the notion that one has to beat the market -- or beat all the other participants in the market (activity), because they were conditioned to believe that the only way they could win, was for everybody else to lose -- and never that what could be useful and valuable to one, might also benefit every other.

That mentality of course, sets one up against every other, at every opportunity -- whether the situation calls for it or not.  In such a framework, information is used only as a weapon against all the others, rather than as a tool for everyone to access as needed, and as such, does not needed to be accumulated and/or hoarded, but is abundant and reaffirmed in each use.

This particularly becomes a problem as one ages in this manner of thinking -- because it makes the world and environment one is operating in, invariably hostile, and so one's energies are increasingly and endlessly consumed in protecting one's "hoard," or "turf" -- with little remaining energy and resources available to take in any new information -- in that moment, which is of course, is the reality of the situation, and not merely the memory of a past situation (knowledge) and response.  Such people noticeably, are always living in the past, or even future, but never in the present -- even as much as they will frequently remind themselves, to live in the present (moment).

The very fact that they fragment their reality into the past, present and future, is already an indication that there is no perception of the totality of information with no such divisions.  The present information, implies the past and the future, and so is unnecessary to consider, as additional information -- rather distracting and detracting from their attention to the relevant -- which of course, is this particular moment -- unlike all the others.

Such an orientation, is a fresh mind -- allowing one to reach conclusions and responses one has never before -- instead of merely repeating only what they have done every time before -- whether the situation and/or information, merited it.  As such, their perceptions and therefore responses, are a private reality or fantasy they increasingly withdraw to -- in preference to increasing their exposure to whatever the outcome or information is now telling them -- and which now requires an adequate and appropriate response.  But that is frequently not forthcoming, because such minds are absorbed in the old, which has less and less to do with actual realities anymore -- so immersed has one become in their own thoughts and memories, which is not an inevitable part of aging, but certainly a certain path to it -- at any time and age.

One simply has made up their minds, and is determined never to change it -- no matter what information comes into view -- because that is one's intention, and not going with the flow of information and outcomes constantly monitoring and reassessing -- so as to actually improve the situation for increasing benefit -- and not despite and in spite of "no matter what" happens.  That is the distinguishing feature of the primitive (old) mind, from today's emerging fully-integrated, and integrating, actualizing healthy individual.  They are so by acting in concert with all the information -- and not just that small part that they would like to take as the whole -- in preference to it, which of course is reality -- and the only one that counts.

In simpler terms, that is going with what works -- rather than superimposing their idea of what should in preference to actual outcomes, and adopting mere repetition as their truth -- over any other feedback.  So it is enough to think that simply repeating what they have always done before, is doing all they can do, even if it is not working, or creating the desired (optimal) results -- rather than paying attention to the outcome, as the totality of what they now must respond to -- and in that manner, things greatly improve, rather than staying the same, or more than likely, getting immeasurably worse over time -- which they blame on "aging," rather than accept the truth that they need to change, and thus can improve, and continue to do so all their lives.

That is obviously the right approach -- and not simply doing what one has always done before, thinking there will be some miraculously different result.  Every outcome, is simply more information -- one should not ignore, in preference for only that they want to believe.  That "solves" the problem every time.  That aligns them with reality -- from which the truth is manifested through them, and flows.