Deductivism
Not that I want to be morbid,
but (jokes about taxes aside) the only thing that
will certainly happen to us all is that we will
die one day. The best we can hope for is to be
able to say “I’m ready”. If
we were to project ourselves, mentally, to the
last day of your lives, what would we say we were
glad we did, or didn’t do? What would we
regret having done or not having done? If you
have difficulty with this, just look inside yourself.
Consider your life's accomplishments on two planes:
the first has to do with your relationships to
other people; the second has more to do with something
within yourself. In either case, there seems to
be a goal to reach.
By some strange coincidence,
each of these goals can be described by a word
beginning with the letters “in”:
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"Layers and Layers"
Oil on Canvas
by Ron Clavier |
• Intimacy: Spend your time gaining and nurturing personal relationships with those you love, and those who love you.
• Integrity: Be true to yourself and to others.
Act ethically.
• Interest / Involvement: Contribute. Become involved
and passionate about things.
• Insecurity: Be willing to take an honest look
at yourself from time to time. Be open to the possibility
that others will view things differently from you and
that you may be wrong in many of your beliefs.
• Investment: Diversify your investment in yourself.
Don’t focus simply on accumulating material wealth.
It will prove to be of little value to you at the end
of your life.
• Independence: Take responsibility for your own
life. Don’t wait for forces beyond your control
to change
Keeping these goals in focus,
we can now work backwards (hence “DEDUCTIVISM”)
from them. In other words, since we already know what
we are trying to accomplish, we need never suffer the
anxiety of uncertainty or doubt. We need never be forced
into that uncomfortable position of wondering why nobody
told us, or saying “...If I only knew...now",
or "If only I’d had a crystal ball.”
Because “then”
is now. And we do have that crystal ball. And we already
know what we’ll wish we knew. The trick is not
to blow it by forgetting it or putting it off. And remember,
whenever the last day of our lives turns out to be,
we’ll be able to go peacefully, not because we
actually achieved all our goals, but because we were
on the correct pathway to achieving them. In my opinion,
that’s every bit as good. |
