From Chapter 5:
It is essential, however that your purpose should harmonize with the purpose that is in All.
You must want real life, not mere pleasure of sensual gratification. Life is the performance of function; and the individual really lives only when he performs every function, physical, mental, and spiritual, of which he is capable, without excess in any.
If you want to get rich on the creative plane, your reason for it must be to improve the lives of everyone you deal with… it’s not in order to “get yours” while leaving others with less.
I’ve read that after reaching age 65, the typical retirement age in the United States, many people start to seriously decline unless they have something else in place that continues to give them purpose in life. The life of leisure can be the death of us, because if we don’t have a way to grow, we aren’t living.
We are only living when we are increasing the life of all, which, by the way, includes ourselves. He also warns in this chapter that “extreme altruism is no better an no nobler than extreme selfishness; both are mistakes.”
Part of living in the Certain Way is living with the idea of more life to all, and less to none… including ourselves.
December 19, 2007 at 7:14 pm
Lyman,
That was the dirty little secret of early social security. The average length of subsidized retirement was under two years, because people who had worked hard daily for 40-some years couldn’t just stop and continue to exist.
More life to all. That is the Certain Way test of our intentions, isn’t it? If what we want does not provide more life to all (or at least ‘less to none’), then we are not following the Certain Way. I’d never thought of things that way. Thank you!
Mike
December 19, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Fascinating, Mike… under 2 years!!! I knew it was short, but under 2 years! That’s an eye opener…