Gumption
In an early Spider-Man written by Stan Lee, Aunt May tells a
dejected and dismayed Peter Parker that one needs “gumption, the will to live,
to fight.” It’s the last thing you want to hear when the storm seems to be
raging out of control and you feel overwhelmed but that’s precisely when you
need to be reminded.
On another note: The human condition truly sucks but it’s
the only game in town.
Be Life
In Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace (by the way, the
best one of the 3 prequels but certainly not as good as any of the movies in
the original trilogy), Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) instructs Obi-Wan (or was it
Anakin) as follows: “Remember: Your focus determines your reality.”
Everyone believes in something, even if it’s nothing
(nihilism). You might be a sceptic and believe in accepting nothing without
good evidence; you might be a scientist and believe in the supremacy of the
scientific method. Just like life itself, belief is inescapable. You are
constrained to make a choice. It’s your belief which determines your reality,
the kind of life you will have, the person you will be.
It is very hard to gaze through the particular filter of
one’s own beliefs to appreciate the beliefs of others. At times when
irreconcilable differences block the way, it is good to know that all humans on
Earth when they look up, and their vision is unimpaired and it’s a beautiful
day, will without exception see the same blue sky and the same flock of birds
traversing it.
Fundamental things
Thankfully there are more self-help/ inspirational books
than any one person can do justice to, unless you plan to focus exclusively on
reading self-help books.
If you are reading such it probably means you’re a pilgrim
and not a cynic.*
Remember this, Pilgrim, that Eisenhower took one book with
him to war-ravaged Europe – and that was The
Bible.
A pilgrim of another flavour would take the Koran. A pilgrim
of yet another flavour, a zen pilgrim, could conceivably take all the
scriptures she needs in the empty palm of one hand.
Also, remember this: “A kiss is just a kiss; a sigh is just
a sigh. The fundamental things apply as time goes by.” : )
*Preface to ‘Wisdom of the Ages’
by Mark Gilbert.
“In our outlooks on life, I
suppose we all fall into either one of two categories: we regard life as
cynics, or as pilgrims.”
