HARD TIMES
I have not made a post for years on this channel, yet as I am now in my mid forties, I have witnessed society move in a direction which I find increasingly ominous.
The mental and social resolve of western societies in particular are, as far as I can see, corroding from the inside.
With my life experience and my viewpoints about the world, I have thought of whether I can perhaps contribute and improve or maybe just relieve some of the loneliness and hopelessness that younger men experience in the changing times we live in.
More than ever people seem to be craving serenity the same way as they crave air and water, I believe even more than people did in previous centuries.
I suggest that it is because we have moved up within Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs. We are no longer at the bottom of the pyramid – occupied in the physical world with moving around and using our body to find food, build shelters or fight whatever might threaten our family.
We are at the top of the pyramid now – we are in our minds, in a desert of freedom and opportunity to define ourselves, yet we don’t know what such a definition would look like. We are without the mental tools to find serenity and all we encounter is an occasional mirage of an oasis where we might have found rest and comfort.
AN OASIS IN THE DESERT
Where do we find solace?
Where can we rest our body and mind?
We could ask people who have known hardship through history.
How did they deal with a hard life?
It would seem that they remained stoic while still preserving the ability to portray the beauty of life and people through stories and music.
This is what I will look for on this channel; tools which you can use today to handle the challenges of a rapidly changing and treacherous environment.
I will do this by basing my information and messages on my own reflections and experiences as well as literature and philosophy, music and movies plus the knowledge of wiser and more experienced men than myself.
I will start with the Prayer of Serenity, I will make a video on its back story later.
HISTORY HAS THE CURE FOR OUR MODERN DISEASE
History holds the solutions to many of our problems, just like nature has the cure for many of our diseases.
Human beings have known hardship since mankind came into existence.
Dealing with pain and misery has been a challenge through human history. This means that you are not alone in suffering. Your place in history, along with the technological advances of our society, allows you to study it and learn from the pain of those who came before you – along with the way they dealt with it.
When caught up in the chaos of the moment, dive down into the memory of the past and listen to what those who are dead and gone want you to learn:
THE SERENITY PRAYER
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
That is all for this video, I hope to reach you with the next.