Life As...

Do you have a plan for your life-
which you may be thinking, "no,"
who has time to plan?  Or you
may find yourself thinking,
"used to, but it's changed so
many times,"  or you may find you
do have a plan but now you're wondering if
it's been followed, done as it was planned.  If
you have no plan, you are actually living out
a plan, just not one that you put in place, so in
some sense you've just taken your hands off
the wheel and you're saying to some mysterious
force, "I trust you to drive now, rather than me
to plan and steer the trip."  Does that seem to
make sense for you, to get in the car, start it
up and then not touch the steering wheel?

An acquaintance once told me that you have
to put the key in the lock and turn it before
you can open the door.
Not bad thinking,in fact it's going to
some day turn out to be
a writing; but in the meantime, think of how
funny it would look for someone to walk up
to a locked door, not put the key in and turn
it and expect the door to unlock?  That sort
of thinking doesn't make a whole lot of
sense at all, does it?

So as we wrap up this beginning session
with each other, let's think through two items,
one, you do need to plan and stick to your
plan, for your life.  Two you need to put
your hands on the steering wheel and guide
your life just like you guide a car.  Then
when you get ready to open new doors with
unfamiliar keys, you may not find the
experience so - ...well, we'll talk about that
one, next time...

Issue Based? How real - or unreal is that?

We live in a world where the reality
that we go through is defined for
us, and the tough part is, the defining
is done through powerful forces
of thought.  Thought, the process
of looking inward at what you
are coming to know, that can be
influenced, and is influenced by
the culture that you exist in.
We might like it, or not like it,
but the choice is often fronted
for us in forces we don't really get-
like comic book heroes that seem
to always come out on top- we
are led down a false trail that
says that things have to have a
happy ending, when in reality the
ending is often anything but.

You are probably familiar with
the idea that you control your
own reality.  That's a type of
thinking that is particularly strong
in our westernized view of how
things must be.  There are other
ways of thinking, though, even
though, those aren't presented
as often, or, in as nice a light,
let's say, as, you controlling your
own destiny is.  What that means
in your life is that media is very
powerful, but so is your mind.
When you put those two into
the same mix, I'm not real certain
that anyone really gets what comes
next, but my suspicion is pretty
strong that we're not ready for it.

While I don't agree at all with what
takes place in the plot, the movie
Lebanon PA is sneaky- it sneaks
up on you through some interesting
acting- it has a sense of being fairly
genuine, which is remarkable given
the extreme nature of cinema.  Yet
I've got to compare it to some other
shows I'm familiar with, but that's
my nature, it might not be yours,
but my suspicion is that you're
deeper than you let on, and quite
possibly - if you haven't seen
Lebanon PA - this review might
head you that way?  Can't say what
your conclusion will be, mine was
that I didn't like the plots axiom.