A few more thoughts, as I watch more people I know accept 2nd best.

1. Bad therapy teaches us that it is ok to be where you are and to accept it, be ok with it, and is a nicer euphemism for suck it up. Drugs help people cope with their inability to move from a place they do not wish to be. This is the “Matrix” cliche.
2. Good therapy helps hone your tools to change and grow and get what you want out of life. It shows you the mediocrity in the world.
3. Surrounding yourself with anti-mediocrity forces you, by some kind of relational osmosis, to no longer be mediocre. People in this position seem to rise up with the tide.
4. Boy-o-boy is the opposite true, when you spend time around slum dwellers - I mean this mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and beyond, there are many kinds of slums - you start to think and see the world as they do.
5. The ability to lift a slum dweller out of the slum is reserved for a very few. Keep in mind literature and film are replete with examples of the do-gooder who falls. It is impossible to be unchanged by a journey into a slum. Just watch Star Wars already!

And do I find my self regurgitating Zen and The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance…

What is it with people and being ok with mediocrity? I look all around me and I hear people accepting what they see in front of them as good enough! This is not some rant about national issues or even pot holes in the road. I am talking about the way people treat each other in interpersonal relationships.

It would seem that we have become so attached to psychobabel we have forgotten that behind buzz words and jargon there are real people doing some really fucked up things to each other! But instead of putting a foot down and saying, “wow this is fucked up, I am not going to let this happen to me anymore,” people seems to say, “eh, as if I can do better, it isn’t so bad.” Worse yet, people blindly accept platitudes with zero perspicacity.

I am certain there are some parents that sit there and think to themselves that they are so happy their kid grew up to be mediocre, because at least he isn’t in jail. That, may indeed be the case, he may be lucky he isn’t in jail. I am the first to admit that the inequality in society gives us each a somewhat relative sense of achievement. Or to put it bluntly, you have a messed up childhood and you managed to go to school, get a job, and eek out a living? That can be a HUGE and respectable achievement under your circumstances. I get it. I respect it.

That said, I am thankful that the parents I have were some what engaged enough to raise me to want the stars and figure out how to get them - even as I watched both of them do some pretty mediocre things. As my father points out, he taught me sometimes by negative example.

Indeed we have the reverse as well. The guy who is a zero but thinks he is ‘all that’ and deserves the stars but hasn’t made one iota of effort to get them.

We can all think of people we know who are in either state and more to the point: we can think of times when we ourselves are in either state.

The new year is coming, it is time for reflection on the year past and the year next. I challenge you to think about how you fall into either states throughout your life and to become more humble when you are the winner and more driven when you are the looser.

I am an expert at just about nothing. I know something about how to maintain a Ducati, run a saltwater fish tank, a bit about philosophy. I even was once pretty well versed in the state of the art in neurological research. There are also the computer systems I have built. But I always have something to learn, lots and lots to learn. Always room for improvement.

But there is something I know about and it is the deep philosophical implication of cyclic tolling and reinvestment that occurs to the human soul as viewed by just about every major religion and some minor ones as well. This is something that I truly enjoy studying.

To this end I am going to correct 2 things I read about so much and hear people say. I am going to lift this from Wikipedia, because, well, it saves me from having to rewrite it.

1. Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. The results or “fruits” of actions are called karma-phala. Karma is not about retribution, vengeance, punishment or reward. Karma simply deals with what is. The effects of all deeds actively create past, present and future experiences, thus making one responsible for one’s own life, and the pain and joy it brings to others.
2. The process view of release (moksha) from ego-consciousness (ahamkar) through individual responsibility for the totality of action with its inherent karma can be contrasted with the soteriological view of mainstream denominations of Christianity: grace given by faith in the suffering, death and resurrection of a singular savior.

I want you to think about this very carefully: it is saying that karma is all that you ever do and will do in your soul’s life and acceptance of what you have done will release you from ego-eccentricities which are preventing you form obtaining a higher state. That is my redux.

So statements like, oh that is bad karma are just blatant misunderstandings of a centuries old theological tradition.

But MORE IMPORTANTLY this aspect is something that is key to the teaching of Christ (not Christianity as it is see today) and Judaism in a non-orthodox form: reduction of egocentric behaviors creates good.

I am certain we can think of all the ego-driven things we do in our life, like lie to people, lie to ourselves, cheat on trusting others, lie to our families, change our appearance, be deceitful to our coworkers, mislead friends of our intentions, not properly compensate people for their work, take things that do not belong to us, speak ill of others, and on and on and on.

I am going to end this post by quoting something from the Amidah:

My God, keep my tongue and my lips from speaking deceit, and to them that curse me let my soul be silent, and like dust to all…As for those that think evil of [against] me speedily thwart their counsel and destroy their plots…May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight…

As long as I try to live up to my part of this I will be protected from those that try to do me harm through their words and deeds.