Month: December 2012

I met a someone at a yard sale the other day, and after buying a really neat wood carving that belonged to her father, she sent me the following note:

“I was curious about you … so I spent sometime reading a few pages of your blog. Forgive me if my perceptions are wrong, but this is the conclusion I came to. You are a lonely, confused, unhappy man who is desperately searching for the true meaning of life and what we are suppose to accomplish here on earth.”

She then went on with some tips on finding happiness, which are similar to others who have written me in the past.

Based on her conclusion, I thought I would update my about me page, to clarify the blog a bit and explain things a bit better since this not really the general take away I think people should have. Also, this perception might have a negative impact in a business and dating environment, so I feel it is the responsible action.

So here is what I wrote on that page:

“i should mention that most of these posts were written during a time of tremendous personal pain and turmoil, which lead to a deep questioning of all assumptions, extreme creativity, and ultimately, tremendous personal growth. for the reader, this means that you get an insight into struggling man, which i have left in the public domain for others to find solace from, should (a better word may be when) they find themselves in a similar life predicament. or perhaps even myself again someday, should i remember to look back.

for the seeker of truth, i hope that you, like myself, will find that through honest questioning, life will provide few complete answers, but that it will provide some very solid feedback. it is our task, should we accept the adventure of uncertainty, not to submit to easy answers, and carefully discern the truth that lies at the heart of each of the contradictions we see in life, which is that most truths are half-truths.

with this approach, we can discover the balanced truth of reality, which I would currently simply conclude is that ‘I exist as a whole part of a world greater than myself.'”

There are certain aspects of our nature which, while perhaps enable our ultimate survival, restrict our happiness.

One that seems to really impact things is our desire for perfection.  For utopia.  Which is really just a desire for completion.

The misnomer is that nothing in this world is ever really complete.  It is just in a different state of growth, or really evolution (not in the scientific sense).

The issue for us, is that as humans who desire completion, we are never satisfied with what is.  We focus on what remains to be done, and not on what has been accomplished already.  We focus on the infinitesimally small amount that we are missing, or is not in an optimum state, instead of what we already have.  And have in abundance.

I only really realized this tonight, when I said to myself, “if I only had x, I would be happy”.  However, the next thought that came to mind was, “wait a minute Josh, you are happy already”.  It was in reconciling these two disparate thoughts, that I really figured out that our nature really is what moves us away from our natural happy state, and it is this nature that we can safely ignore, and find a shortcut to the happiness that lies underneath.