A Look Back Four Years

Author’s note: this is something I wrote several years ago; I found it today and the question  is still there.

May 2, 2009: This is the 1^st Saturday in May and the 135^th running of the Kentucky Derby.  It is cloudy and cool.  We will go out later.

Yesterday, the body of James Hotchkiss was put in the ground.  I arrived at the cemetery just in time to see it poised over the hole, and then lowered into the grave.  He ended his time on earth at age 71.  His wife, Ernestine, of 55 years, took good care of him for the past several years as one calamity after another besieged him.

This is the 40^th notebook.  The last on spanned from 2-11 until 4-20, or 79 days.  At two pages per, that’s 50 days, almost every day.  I don’t intend to write every day even though I have it on my daily task list but it usually works out that way. 

(There are robins nesting above me on a horizontal run of downspout under the deck and they are wondering how they will get to their nest with me sitting here.  That’s their problem, I’m sure they will figure it out.)

I didn’t set out to write 39 notebooks plus 100 pages or so of printed notes beforehand but that’s how it is.  I haven’t re-read any of them at a sitting; although I may have referred back from time to time.  It seems that if I do the review exercise at Bernheim, I should not only take the log but also the notebooks from 2004.  That would expand my recall of how it was and how I was thinking at the time. 

(The robin is still wondering.)

I seem to be at a point of practice.  I have deduced, pondered, rationalized, and examined; I’ve reasoned and analyzed; I’ve observed and studied; and now I am at a place where I must put into play those results.  I have begun to do so in many endeavors, especially in golf and pool.  I know what needs doing and I am working on doing it.  There is a gap between knowing and doing; it is an experience gap.

 

Yet, especially in moving activities, there is a level, a set of personae, or at least one who knows what to do, because he’s seen the pictures in imagination, and he may even do it from time to time.  But for some unknown reason he can’t be relied upon to do it every time.  Either another gets in the way, or he’s not up for it, or whatever, but he isn’t able to take charge and get it done. 

This is true especially in golf.  They are not such a simple set of movements that they can be repeated faithfully without a lot of practice; and I mean a lot.  Yet there is a set of them, that when peformed, result in a good shot. 

It is bringing that knowledge and control to the intellectual part of the golfing persona that practice enables.  To focus the entire golfing persona on the desired result, knowing what is desired, able to produce the movement to get it, and exclude all other influences from the scene.  This is what it is all about.  And it is the same for pool.  In both sports I am at about 30% of being able to do this.

All of the endeavors are similar in this regard.  They all have an underlying game strategy that has to be executed.  Some are more complex; some are not being pursued diligently, some could be excised from the list but I won’t.  Of all the things in the world to do, I keep coming back to these 18.  It is as though I am committed to them, as in most areas of my life, “I said I would do it, so I guess I’m stuck with it.”

I often think of doing other things but keep coming back to these.  Some are on the list but not really pursued.  Yet I keep them on my list to be reminded that if there is time this is what I’ll do.  Meanwhile I make time for golf, pool, and others.

I need to spend less time writing and more time doing.  Yet, from time to time, take the time to write just to keep some order in my thinking, to stay on course, to stay focused.

So my writing may delve deeper into endeavors and details of same in order to hone in on the necessary knowledge, theory, and imagination.  The amount of practice, performance, is to be a larger proportion of lifetime now that I have a good basis of understanding.

Lately I have been struggling with the concept of life.  It is difficult to define, although, I have described it previously and effectively.  But with all of its forms is it a biochemical process?  Well yes it is on the physical side but there is a non-physical side as well.  The biochemical is going on but it is directed, intentionally.  And this is the part that is giving me pause.  What is this other aspect?

The biochemical is enabled by the substances existing here on Earth.  The intentional is an added aspect that defies definition.  It is individual, yet it is also organizational.  At times it seems to spring from somewhere else, some other influence besides the individual, even besides the influence of others.

The well-spring is from within somewhere.  The inspiration of artists and performers, and demons, i.e. the terrible, all seems to come from beyond the mere biochemical reaction that allows for the reversal of entropy.

(The robins are getting bolder.)

It is within this capability, allowed by the biochemical reactions, that the development of beauty and ugliness occurs.  It is the source of this that intrigues me.  It is the source of this that I can’t seem to fathom.  A ship floats, it sails, and it then proceeds on a course to a destination.  What/who sets the course?  Yes, there’s much more than I know but it is the wondering that interests me.

(I’ll go now and leave the robins in peace.)

Author, Author!

It’s time for a little introspection; what is going on with my writing?  Let’s start with what I would like it to be and work back from there.  My desires are to have plays produced and performed, philosophical essays that gain recognition, and stories and poems that are published and enjoyed by many thousands of people.

Where are we on this?  I’ve written three plays, submitted them for consideration and they weren’t.  I’ve published 140 philosophical blog entries of which 100 have been published in three printed volumes, and 18 posted since printing.  I’ve printed the 22 Philosophy 2x2 charts and have made just two copies of them, one for my son.

For stories and poems, I’ve published a large volume, Open Floodgate, consisting of all of the Open Floodgate postings, a booklet, The Linas in Troy Missouri, and Philosophical Poems, a booklet of 20 such poems. So I've done quite a bit in this regard.

The views on my blogs number more than 3500 and this is over about 4 years; there were more than 1500 of Open Floodgate, which makes the number of views more than 5000 in total.  A far cry from the millions it takes to be called a successful writer or author.

The John Lina blog grew out of the morning pages I wrote while pursuing The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.  She suggested writing a significant amount each morning in an unstructured expression of whatever is on one’s mind.  I filled more than 35 notebooks, writing three pages per day.  Then I settled on essays of about 1000 words to be posted on BlogSpot; primarily written for my benefit and that of anyone else who might enjoy them. 

The By John Lina blog grew out of Open Floodgate and is for stories, poems, and plays.  There is some overlap where I’ve pulled from Open Floodgate for this blog since Open Floodgate disappeared except for the printed version of my own submissions.

The Philosophical Poems and Philosophy 2x2 blogs are complete as written and for the edification and enjoyment of anyone who may want to read them.

I haven’t published the plays, except for The Coat, and could do this in the future but it is more important for me to write more plays than see to the publication of those already written.

So, this is where we are; now for where we want to be.  I am OK with the John Lina blog because it allows me to observe life and living and express my beliefs.  I am pleased with the entries in the By John Lina blog thus far but disappointed that there aren't more of them.  I’m not at all pleased with the lack of play scripts.

Writing takes time and patience.  The great writers spent their entire lives perfecting their craft.  I’m familiar with the paths taken by Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway as well as others.  There is the time spent writing and an even greater amount of time spent developing one’s place in the writing community.

Publishing blog entries is like putting your light under a bushel basket, yes it shines but only a very limited group of people see it.  One has to approach writing for the public in the same manner as one approaches acting on stage or in movies.   One has to become part of a community of writers and publishers with the aim of perfecting the craft as well as having one’s work recognized by those who make decisions based on what the public wants to read.

Finding the writing community is no mean feat.  For a while there I was associated with an amateur group of writers who met on Fridays to discuss their work.  It was little more than a mutual admiration society and there was only encouragement but no real growth or opportunity for publication.  Then I attended some readings, even read some of my poetry and aside from being an enjoyable experience it could not be seen as going anywhere.

It is my recollection that there is a Writer’s Market available where calls for articles are made; or at least specifications of desired work for this or that publication are published.  Yes, there is such a publication, I’ve seen it and I think it was at the public library.  This will have to be revisited.

Once found, the Writer’s Market is a vehicle for submitting work for publication.  I started down this path in the past and got bumped off by the feeling that if I made blog entries I was being published.  I see now the error of that thinking.  Blog entries assuage the desire to be read but don’t give the entre’ to the community of publishers that is necessary to reach the volumes of readers one would want.  This could be the answer to getting published for stories, articles, and poetry while leaving the John Lina (philosophical) blog as is.

As for play writing, here I think the answer is like learning to play competitive pool.  It is a never ending search for the holy grail of playing the game; each attempt incrementally better than the last and the only lasting improvement comes from participating competitively, i.e. with a like-minded person or group of people who are of graduated capability and willing to share the knowledge and help develop the skill.

I have a couple of acquaintances who have successfully written scripts for a local production company.  They would, I think, be amenable to my approaching them to read and critique a play for that company.  But first I would have to write such a play.  This is, of course, a fundamental step in the direction of having a script accepted for production.  The specifications for such a script are in my possession but the script itself remains outside of my ken but not for long. 

Can all of this be done while continuing to pursue the craft/ art of acting?  I think so because I know there is enough time in the day to do it all.

Confident Performance-- Getting To It

When I am performing, I am rarely satisfied with the result.  What I do, i.e. every performance whether it is riding, golf, pool, or acting, seems to be inferior in some way.  This is because I have an ideal performance in mind and rarely, if ever, achieve it.  This is not true of analytic endeavors, I am confident of my ability to analyze and reach conclusions, agreeable to others or not.  My track record in the analytic arena is very good. 

When finishing an acting effort, whether a monologue or a scene in a  play or movie, I come away thinking that it was not very good because there is no objective measure for me to use for comparison.  There is, by definition, no objective measure of performance; it is always subjective.  Each member of the audience reacts in his own way.  Yet there is an overall feeling about a performance that members of the audience get, it is portrayal of the character in that situation and they discuss it afterwards.  I think it is this discussion phase that bothers me; I care very much what they say.

It is a bit different when participating in golf, pool, or riding; I know right away if my performance was good or not.  There are objective measures for these activities: good hits, sink the ball and gain shape,  clear the jumps in sequence.

“When in a competitive or conspicuous situation, I keep my mind on my objective and stay aware of my surroundings.”  This is one of my daily affirmations and it contains the wisdom necessary for this conundrum.  As has often happened in the past, writing out the feelings and the situation brings forth a conclusion, a prescription for success.

Aha!  The missing ingredient is an objective in every situation where I feel less than comfortable, less than confident.  And this is not just in the overall situation but in each increment of the situation from curtain to applause.

There may be many “beats” to the scene; each one has to have an objective to which it is played.  This is true in all performances, whenever I am engaged in doing anything that involves doing rather than thinking.  Just to be clear, it pertains to riding, golf, pool, and acting.

The art of managing the situation is in the ability to be able to decide on the objective without taking a lot of time to figure it out because when one is living (and acting) at the speed of life, one doesn't have the luxury of sitting back and analyzing the situation as it unfolds.  

A script affords some hints, this is a good thing, but on the stage the action may deviate from the script and spontaneity is required; the scene has to stay on track.  It is the same in the other endeavors, what happens isn't always what was planned so reacting, regrouping, and resetting is required.

The performance of an action may not be perfect and this must be forgiven but having an objective in mind before performing it is paramount.  Constantly minding the objective, reforming it,  and executing the act as consciously as possible will eventually bring the level of performance to higher levels, even stardom.

The beauty of this conclusion is astounding to me: the basic ingredient for my confidence is to have an objective for every action to be taken.

This Is Deep

The 4th Way by Ouspensky and books by and about Gurdjieff started me on my quest of exploring life and living and eventually, after more than thirty-five years, I’ve arrived where I am today.  My starting point was this lifetime and this brain-body and my thinking took me to definitions of life, organized life, its purpose, and the interdependency of all forms of it.

As an aside, a long time ago I deduced that there must be what I called a cross-over particle that vacillates between energy and matter; so small that the energy absorbed or released by it is not significant.  Now that particle has a scientific name, the god particle, and the search is on for it in particle theory physics.

There are more levels of this being than I understand but a macro picture of it would be a physical brain-body, which has developed incrementally over billions of years into a work of grand complexity that has been studied scientifically and almost understood.  Genetic history is another  part of the brain-body and has not been fathomed to any meaningful depth.  There is personality, which is not quite physical and has been observed and described but never really understood on more than an empirical basis.  Then there are personae that are formed to cope with specific situations and once formed never disappear.

Some situations are repeated and eventually these oft used personae along with the personality and physical appearance become what is recognized as the named person.  The combination of brain-body, genetic history, personality, and personae combine to form one principal component of the being.

The other part of the being co-exists on a different plane; I call this Master.  Master is that part of the being that recurs through lifetimes until he is perfected into permanence and becomes an entity that continues existence without the need for a physical body; an entity that exists as a part of Essence,  a spiritual congregation.  Since we don’t have a clue other than imagination about this level of existence it isn't productive to formulate more than recognition of it.  It could be that the congregation of Essence lends encouragement and guidance to Master as he pursues his development.

One common problem in thinking about this is caused by our insistence on using the noun, time.  There is no such thing outside of the physical world.  Our definition of time is based on planetary movement; it is a measurement that we use to reference past, present, and future events and activities.  It is meaningless when one leaves the physical realm.  Brain-bodies are formed, born, grow, develop, deteriorate, and die.  Time is irrelevant to Master; he uses brain-bodies for his development. 

Brain-bodies provide Master a means for his development but they can never know or find out what Master wants or needs for it; he is mute and patient.  It seems that he is able to intervene when the brain-body is engaged in activities that are contrary to his development and the primordial battle between brain-body’s desire to satisfy appetites and Master’s desire to develop takes place.  Master wins the battle by effecting changes in behavior, causing the premature death of the brain-body, or simply waiting for death to occur.

The being is active.  There seem to be several levels of activity available: automatic body functions, responses to sensations caused by senses, organs, and glands, such as hunger, thirst, evacuation, sexual pressures, to name a few; and the satisfaction of imagination.  Imagination is the source of voluntary action and such actions may be compatible with the development of Master. 

All activities are carried out by personae that have been inherited through genetic memory or developed to cope with situations encountered as the being lives in the world with other beings and other forms of organized life.

Who does what and when is the job of a driver persona.  In a theatrical analogy where there is a multitude as a cast of characters as well as costume, lighting, sound, and scenery technicians, the driver persona would be the director.  He calls out the appropriate persona to handle the situation at hand.

There is likewise an observing persona who rates the performance of the persona called forth.  This observing persona is the judge and critic that have been described in another essay.  The driver is objective, the observer is subjective.  The propriety of selection and the extent of judgment and criticism are likewise subject to evaluation.  This would be necessary to maintain control, make appropriate selections of personae, and keep judgments and criticisms constructive.

This suggests a superior persona, one who is closer to Master than the driver persona and the observing persona.  If driver and observer are objective and subjective and each has an important oversight function; then the superior persona is that which keeps them in sync, in constructive balance, provides the equanimity that allows the being to develop along the path necessary for Master’s development.  Because Master is mute, there is no definitive way of knowing what his needs are; thus success of the superior persona in this endeavor is never consciously known by the being, except Master.

Master is patient as well; there is no time factor in his existence.  Yet an indicator of the compatibility of actions taken by the rest of the being are incremental revelations that are seemingly not connected to Master, a certain peace that comes with doing his will, and physical well-being that can be seen as an absence of disease and angst.  The reverse is also true.

The being has to cope with life as it is experienced now; external factors may dictate actions that are on a side track from the development of Master.  It stands to reason that as long as such actions are not detrimental to his development, Master abides.

Another aside, there are some new revelations included in this essay that have only recently been allowed. 

Peace of Mind

The hero frequently encounters almost insurmountable barriers that must be overcome on the mythological path upon which he sets out  to reach the awaiting maiden in her father’s castle.  Often they take the form of a fire breathing dragon or an ogre giant.  He has to cross chasms and swollen rivers, fight off fierce opponents, and perform one final heroic task before being successful. 

Life is that mythological path, the accumulation of skills necessary to reach a permanent state of being.  This is the aim of our lifetime, that which is set out to be accomplished.

It occurred to me that pushing my comfort zone is what evokes the overzealous internal judge and critic in me because it is I who has had a strict judge and harsh critic impressed upon him.  Decisions made to move onward and upward feed into them but it is only during the pushing of the envelope and not when the skill has been assimilated and performance is in the Skilled quadrant. 

The following Performance Paradox 2x2 illustrates the point:

The judge and critic are very active all during the Training and Intern phases but when Skilled is reached they abate because performance occurs without it being necessary for Observing I to be aware of it.

Peace of mind may be achieved earlier if one is aware of what’s happening inside one’s head and discounts the internal comments and criticisms.  The importance of maintaining a favorable attitude, of being oblivious to one’s image, of remembering past accomplishments, of being certain of aim, of maintaining relationships, and dwelling on what is happening now cannot be overstated.

The performer rehearses, learns lines, and makes what seems to be frustratingly slow progress until, voila, one day he emotes according to the blocking and the script and carries away the audience with his performance; he convincingly becomes the character.

The player practices his shots and keeps missing until one day he doesn't miss any more.

In between there are the false starts of almost knowing only to have a miscue or a missed shot pop up and open the door to discouragement.  When this happens after the performer/player has reached the top of the learning curve, he can take it in stride, the judge and critic don’t comment.  If it happens before the confidence hump has been crossed, the player/performer may suffer setbacks in his progress.   This is when he has to call upon his base of past accomplishments, current direction, and current relationships to rally to go on.

From where or how is the strict judge and harsh critic developed?  It occurs when a sensitive child is criticized by adults in superior positions.  This can be a parent, teacher, pastor, or even a neighbor but it has to happen frequently and consistently for some period of time.  The impressionable youth is galvanized into judging himself to be inferior and criticizing his performance as being less than acceptable.

The judgment and criticism may seem benign, even necessary by the adult providing them but the result is the over development of an internal judge and critic who feed on the less than perfect performance of a neophyte.   It only abates when the desired skill is either abandoned or attained.  All too often it is abandoned when the pain of trying to achieve is too much to bear.

It isn't the occasional or infrequent judgment and criticism but constant nagging that finally causes frustration and a feeling of futility to be engendered in the subject.  And unfortunately, it cannot be reversed by praise and support.

All have judge and critic; they are essential and act as the arbiters of performance and in cases of morals and ethics they are sometimes called conscience.  The subject of this writing is the strict judge and harsh critic; these can range from being a big nuisance to pathological.

Once the internal judge and critic are established, they last a lifetime.  This is why it is so important to rationalize the existence of them and work through the tough times and get to the “skilled” level in spite of them.

The only alternative is to give up development in favor of vicariously enjoying life through imagination.  The imagined great things that could have been; the imagined shared success of heroes in performances or athletics, the imagined transformation of what one actually does to what one would like to have happen. 

If you’re like me, you have suffered the slings and arrows of the strict judge and harsh critic.  If you have likewise invested the time and psychic energy into figuring it out, you will have reached the same or similar conclusions about what to do about it.

Develop a sense of humor; it is absolutely essential, especially when dealing with the self.  And be reminded to take yourself and anyone else less seriously. It’s difficult but when accomplished successfully the benefits are worth the effort.  

Whither 2012 and On

Continuing with thinking about “The Wisdom of Dreams,” it follows that in order to dream about having something more than or different from what one currently is experiencing, one has to at least verbalize that dream.  Our minds communicate internally using language so in order for all the pertinent personae to be able to work towards the attainment of a Dream thoughts have to be transmitted to them; for this we use language as the basic means.

There are other means.  Since we experience environment through the five senses, then all of these can be, and should be used to qualify the dream so it can be understood by all.  Then there are the esoteric sources of Aim/Dream that have a great deal of influence on what we do; these are understood by a very few but available to all.

These means are beyond the scope of my understanding at the moment but are, however, understood to exist. Since they are neither rational nor sensual they may well be termed Spiritual, i.e., coming from sources that are not physical.  Some that come to mind are: influences from Universal Consciousness into which we tap from time to time and those that Master brings from past experiences that he wants to complete or experience again at a different level.

 These spiritual Aims are not necessarily verbalized nor sensed in any way but exist and their presence is evident from acts that seem random; efforts that take place but are not reasonably intended, places in which we find ourselves but have no reason for being, people we encounter in the course of events seemingly accidently, people to whom we are attracted, things to which we tend without rational intention.

There is little rational control over these Aims, they will be pursued in this lifetime or the next and so on; but pursued they will be until permanency is attained. When that happens, there is no longer a need for a physical presence to pursue aim and the Being moves on but to where, there is no clue. 

If one can accept that there is a Master inside this Brain-body that is bound to it but at the same time apart from it, then one is better able to understand the previous paragraph.  Meanwhile, in order to keep this Brain-body interested in the events of this lifetime, attempts need to be made to discover the esoteric Aim and work towards achieving it as the Brain-body verbalizes its own Dreams/ Aims.

As long as these are not in conflict with those of Master there is no dissonance and these Dreams/Aims can be pursued without causing angst.  It has been my experience that when pursuing s.t. that was later seen in conflict with the Aim of Master, all sorts of physical and emotional issues arose until it was abandoned and once again peace and harmony descended upon the Brain-body.  This could be confused with conscience but it is somewhat more than that.

This leads to the conclusion that one can do whatever he wants as long as it is not at cross-purposes with the Aim of Master.  Much of what we want and wind up doing may come from past life experiences where we participated in some activity/endeavor and it was pleasant and enjoyable and now those previous experiences are sought once again.  These can explain why we live in this or that location, this or that house, enjoy visiting this or that location, reading about this or that previous set of events, doing this or that activity, and/or having this or that possession.

Concurrency exists among the Master, past lifetimes, and the current lifetime as long as there is no major antimony of Aims.  A way to assure this harmony is to examine those Dreams/Aims that we can verbalize and make reasonable assurance that they are in harmony with the current status of the Brain-body.

A way to do this is to take the Planning Categories, Life Categories, and Traits and Features that are used and make a determination of how well satisfied one is with the current state of affairs; reaffirm this dream or change it to one that more completely, more appropriately leads one to where he would like to be or go.

In order to make this analysis, a sheet has been added to Planning Evolution that is an examination of each of these, starting with where I thought it would be now but made at the end of 2011; state whether to keep on this track or not; If not, to what would it change; if yes, what meaningful change is indicated; then assess the degree of desire and the degree of effort for achieving it.

The planning time is from the solstice to the New Year but this analysis may precede that by some weeks because it will take time and more than one pass to make it meaningful.  It stands to reason that planning for the year can only take place after these dreams/aims are put in place.

Concurrent with this effort is a similar examination of the twenty endeavors that allow one to choose from a variety of options that he would do right here, right now; while waiting.  The idea behind this would be to abandon any endeavor that is no longer desirable and replace it with another that may be more so.

It is often more convenient to stay with s.t. that is obsolete than make the changes necessary to embrace s.t. new.  I can tell that French and Sketching are two to which too little time is given but I don’t know what would take their place.  That is the point of making this analysis, is there s.t. else that would be more happily pursued than ignored and avoided?

Some endeavors are necessities, such as End Game, Financial, Fitness, Physical, and Yard and House, but all the others are “on the table” because examination and verification are the only way that one can be assured of moving towards what he wants.

The Wisdom of Dreaming

It’s the fourth day of November and we just adjusted the clocks for standard time; that always conjures up an image of things coming to an end, the season being over, the cycle at its apogee.   It seems that way because we are in the closing months of the year,  the days are getting shorter, the sun is lower in the sky, the daily temperatures are getting lower, trees have lost their leaves, plants are going dormant or dying.  It evokes a frame of mind, the end of a cycle.

Yet we must recall that it is indeed a cycle and that this is neither an end nor a beginning but a natural progression of the passing of the present.  The game analogy doesn't fit because the game (life) isn't over, it isn’t finished,  the final reckoning hasn't taken place but it goes on and in a larger sense the cycle is eternal.

As I sit here and write this I am forcing myself to examine a process that I put in place about the time we went to Houston in 1985.  It consisted of making plans and setting goals on an annual basis and looking at it weekly to formulate objectives that would move toward the accomplishment of the larger annual goals.

It has been successful and after 25 or more years I can say it with confidence.  And yet one has to ask, to what degree has it been successful?  When one looks at an absolute scale of accomplishment, one can say that much more could have been done, more accomplishments, more fame, more fortune, more, more, more.  It is safe to say that what limits this one is his thinking.

The important realization that is being experienced here and now is that there is no end of the year.  There is no time limit set on what one wants to accomplish except those set by regulation and agreement with others, such as performance dates, tax reporting, license renewals, and start and end times of various events.

Our dreams, as we establish and pursue them, are a personal matter and not a matter of Goals, Objectives, Tasks, and the performance thereof; that comes later.  Rather they are stated desired end results  that become so well understood by the complete being that any and all pertinent personae are aware of them and working on them all the time.

We are part of the universal consciousness, which is collectively all of organized life, and things happen for us because we are tapped into it.  The clearer the dream, the more easily it is realized because we are more receptive to prompts from this universal consciousness. 

This phenomenon has been postulated as “The Secret” and the adherents of that as the complete answer would have one rely totally on concentration on dreams as the means of realizing them.  There are many examples of this and they are powerful endorsements of this concept. 

The setting of goals according to dreams, then plans and strategies to accomplish them is a cognitive process that adds to the probability of realizing dreams.  It is not, however, the only process that is in play.  There are other activities going on all around us that are also working toward the achievement of dreams.

Yet I look at the Ohio River and I can dream and concentrate from now on and there will never be a bridge over it.  The bridge comes when the dream is quantified, planned, and a viable strategy is put in place to accomplish it.  The same is true of individual dreams.  Universal consciousness may present opportunities for realizing them but the individual still has to do the work.

For dreams that don’t require quantification, that don’t require others to be involved on a conscious and rational basis, that are more of “state of being” rather than tangible results, they can be realized without an objective planning method.  As I look back on statements made over the years, it is obvious that I achieved that dream and went on, or achieved it and continue to enjoy it, or am still working to achieve it.  Then there are many more dreams that were achieved by setting specific goals, objectives, tasks, and accomplishing them according to some timetable.

While it is reaffirmed that there is no end of year in the cycle of life, it is still a good framework for reaffirming dreams and planning.  It must, however, be tempered with some judgment; such as staying open to opportunities that come one’s way and not be hidebound by statements made up to twelve months ago.

Such a framework also provides the basis for adjudging opportunities and the changes they may represent.  Without a well-constructed plan based on dreams and desires one could begin to meander through life with a new set of dreams and goals every other day.  When one has the aforementioned framework in place and is presented with what would seem to be a dramatic change of plan, one can quickly assess the possibilities that it represents and either embrace or refuse it.

Staying busy while waiting for opportunity to knock is also important.  It is to this end that one can develop a set of endeavors to be pursued; I have eighteen of them and they provide more than enough opportunity to be involved in doing something constructive as the present passes.  The only caveat that is necessary is that the priority of endeavors be maintained and Acting and Writing are more important than the others; in other words playing pool instead of going to rehearsal is not acceptable.

This has been a good exercise in examining what was considered to be ipso facto. Yet when questioned it came apart then back together again reaffirming what has been the practice but with some improvement.  The year is not the same as a game with a beginning and end of play but a continuing saga.  The realization of the pragmatic truth of realizing dreams; that a planning period is useful for reminding one of what he has set out to do and also be reminded to be flexible to embrace opportunities that arise.