When I was young, in the 90’s, I did not only read books on qi gong and yoga and spirituality. I also read many novels and playbooks from the 19th century. I was fascinated with the books at the library and also the personal library in my mother’s home.
I got the idea that in the 1800’s, people were much more physical and much more intense than they are now. And that is because they had to be to survive. In those days, there was none of the labor-saving technology of the modern era. And so, men had to do everything themselves and women had to be patient.
The literature of the 1800’s was intense and cryptic. Many great stories emerged from this time. It seemed that every great mind produced a work that lasted until the present day. I remember titles like The Jungle, Dracula, Frankenstein, Heart of Darkness, As I Lay Dying, and older titles by John Smith or William Shakespeare. This was before Hollywood and before the internet dumbed down our reading level and our attention span.
I also went to my local library and read many young adult mythology books from the different cultures I found interesting including the Celts and the Norsemen. When you read, you are not only entertaining yourself, you are also educating yourself for future endeavors, both business and private.
What I learned that the most fascinating thing in the world is not art or music, which is pop culture, but storytelling. And everybody, good or bad, has a story. But it is the stars that have an intriguing story to tell. And some masters can weave a thousand stories.
The shamans of north American Indian tribes are not really healers, they are storytellers who give people advice based on their knowledge base. The native Americans don’t have the job title ‘doctor’. There are no doctors in Appalachia.
So the real story is, bad people, similar to mice, just hiss and moan and tell lies. Good people have mastered their own personal narrative and publish a book to posterity. They record their life’s teaching and leave it to the future generations. I am encouraging good, smart people to write books.
Of Mice and Men is a story of frontier people and the courage it took to face the elements and the aborigines. But the title is evocative of the American ideal that you have to be courageous to be somebody. Only a man who is big can sire a family.
Life in America is fair. It is called a ‘meritocracy’ because you have to merit making enough money to visit Japan or Israel. And nowadays, very few have this much money.
There are many lyrics in classic rock that foretell that the western world is disintegrating and bad people are outnumbering good people. And that is a tragedy.
So I am not sad, I know how to manage. But these are dark times and I am here to offer advice to the lost. Everything happens for a reason.
