Nothing is so important to a man as his own state, nothing is so formidable to him as eternity; and thus it is not natural that there should be men indifferent to the loss of their existence…
– Blaise Pascal Pensées
“Where ever you go, there you are.” Not the most eloquent words ever written but truth has little regard for dressed up trappings. Truth likes to get to the point. If you find out you don’t like Truth’s company, you shouldn’t have gone a’knockin.
Truth will tell you pointed things such as this: “Son, don’t look at me for an explanation. In life if you’re gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough.”
I suspect Truth is stately in appearance, wise, and speaks in careful and measured sentences. He probably has a hint of sadness around the eyes. I can imagine the burden of always being right may be a little troubling for anyone.
I’m amused and admittedly captivated by our options in today’s world. We have engineered a society built on expediency, upgrades, and change. Everyone is in search for something but after interpreting our societal calamities, it seems we rarely find anything. That doesn’t stop many of us from pursuing chance in the hopes it becomes reality, however. Of course, when we fail in doing so, or rather when reality does its thing, some of us become despondent and feel cheated.
It was us who tried to cheat, though. We tried to uncreate what has already been given to us based from our own potential and good chance, and then tried to recreate a new reality for ourselves. It is a phenomenon that is as perplexing as it is widespread. More importantly, Reality never stands for this nonsense from mortal men.
This isn’t to say we are lost or doomed. We’ve only forgotten the wonderful examples that came before us, and ignore the ones who are here. This country, and mankind in a larger context, is full of self-made men. Do you know their secret? I’ll tell you. They didn’t go off in search of a contrived reality. They understood their true nature and developed their talents. They didn’t need to change reality or attempt to cheat fate, they became their actual being, a fully mature representation of their external self.
They understood the rules. They let time and effort play to the development of their talents. As result they came as close to winning as anyone else who ever lived. I say “close” because there are no known survivors in the game of life. But that’s best left for another post.
The Mind's Cabin 
I suggest you read Walden by Thoreau. Your blog and your thoughts suggest you may find a kindred soul.
Jeff,
I’ll do that, seriously.
That is exactly the problem with our society, in my opinion. Everyone is searching for a way to boosts themselves, to be “self-made”, and they do indeed forget “wonderful examples who came before us.” The one Example people forget most is the very One who can show us what we are searching for, Jesus Christ. We weren’t created to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps or be self-made. We were created to rely on God and give our lives over to Him so that we can live to our fullest potential. We feel cheated, but we are cheating ourselves. We are too arrogant to submit our lives to the only One who can keep us from failure.
Along this same vein, I’ve casually observed that people will put more effort in to “get rich quick” schemes, than they will trying to “get rich” the old-fashioned way (Education, effort, calculated risk-taking). Cases in point? Check out the gold-mining “reality TV” shows on Discovery…