Every choice leads to a turn

Every choice we make turns us in a new direction.

My voyages into my own past are a psychic attempt to make sure that some version of my earlier self might find a sweeter future (not that I am whining about the version I lived) by donating an idea that might not have otherwise occurred to them. It is also a reason for my posts here, and my good wishes for some unknown gentle passerby.

I stay and blog because sometimes sharing an idea makes it clearer for me. I think of leaving because I wonder sometimes if the kind of learning that is happening here is helping me enough, and often because it is definitely time-consuming. There are other things I might do in that time.

It has been clear to me for a long time that if we do not influence ourselves, and give ourself the ideas we need, then someone or something will come along and influence us instead.

Some of the media has capitalized on this. There is too little space here, and way too much to say about how media has first of all found a way to turn off the impulse for quiet reflective thought in most of the humans on the planet, then, having done that, substitute their perversion of reality; fear, hatred, and whatever else they care to throw into their messages, overt and subliminal, that makes a person think their baser nature is really in tune with what is important in the world.

It amazes me that the few individuals who escape that influence are able to survive the loneliness, let alone be able to convince their comatose sisters and brothers that they should waken from it.

Am I preaching to the choir here? Well Duhhhh.. you are here, reading this instead of happily drowning in some soap opera reality offered to you by the television that is probably running in the background somewhere in your life.

Coincidentally, this morning two of my favourite bloggers have given us a window into the British newspaper scandal. If you are interested and have not already read Dru and Lucy's posts, I certainly learned something from them. It is bad enough that human nature is what it is, and people will not only fail to embrace those who will challenge a neat and tidy view of what everyone should be like, but will make fun of you and perhaps even try to end your life. In Britain it seems to have become institutionalized. As I suggest above, the media has tremendous power to persuade. They could choose to educate and bring the world out of the gutter. Instead, they choose the simple and quick and yes, dirty route. "Putting a fire out might be the right thing to do, but look, if I throw this bottle of gasoline (petrol) on it, look how high the flames dance! Hoorah!"

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Some who have been here before know that one of my favourite authors is Richard Bach. In his book "Illusions…" he introduced the "Messiah's Handbook". It is filled with sayings that charm me. Bach's idea is you hold a question in your mind, then open the book at random choosing left or right, then read what it has to say to you. He suggests that this works with any book, even a novel, if you open the page and point at random then start reading.

I decided this morning to check it out using my copy. The question was "would it be better for me to continue blogging my ideas, or should I stop and devote time to other pursuits?"  By the way, realizing how much I enjoy reading others' blogs, I am not likely to give this up any time soon (unless I find myself in an empty room, of course). So, I opened up my copy of the book, chose right side, and …

A big help isn't it? :)

We must not be afraid to think for ourselves, and more important, not be afraid of those turns that we must take because of the convictions those thoughts will bring to us.
That is what being true to myself means to me.