My Impressions of Some Famous People
Barry Kort
It is my very strong opinion that events in this world are related causally. It is merely our lack of understanding of where the causal relationships exist that prevents us from solving our problems. When there is a breakdown in communication, it must be the case that we have stumbled across the existence of yet another link in the chain of events. It merely requires that we go and look for it. Or, if one can think logically, it is even possible to discover it in your head, just by thinking about it. But if we cannot intuit the missing link, then it must be that we still have a way to go in our understanding of logical thought. And so an easier way would be to merely ask the other person what it was I said or did that upset them. If they can summon the courage to tell me this, then I can become aware of another missing link, and at the same time the other person can know that it was only my own lack of knowledge that led me to behave in a way other than that which would have been mutually beneficial.
Imagine if you will the existence of an arrow of time, pointing from one event to another. When two events appear to happen in succession, can it be that the first was the cause and the second was the effect? How can you know? How can you find out. If you do not seek, you cannot find. Go and discover, go and seek the knowledge. For if you do not, you can never know your world.
It is my very firm belief that on this earth, God’s work must surely be our own. If we are to discover ways to make the world safer for ourselves and our children, we must become aware of the sequence of events that lead to our insecurities. And if we search long enough, we are bound to discover better ways to manage our lives. Some men see things as they are and ask why, others dream things that never were and ask why not. And so my fellow citizens, ask not what others can do for you. Ask what you can do for others.
If you take as a goal that everything you do is calculated in advance to be beneficial both to yourself and to those around you, then it stands to reason that those around you will be pleased by what you do. But if you miscalculate then you must immediately conclude that you are not completely aware of what the others want. For if you give them something they do not wish to have, they will eventually repay you in kind. But when that happens you merely need to ask, "Pray, how did I offend you, won’t you let me make it up?" And if they deem to tell you what you didn’t know before, you will gain more perfect knowledge than you ever had before.
If you take as a goal that you want to care for others and combine it with a goal of mutual growth and sharing, and summon all your the skills at your joint disposal, then there’s nothing that prevents you from doing the most magical thing in the world: making people happy as they grow into what they want to be, when they want to be it. Beth can discern with perfect intuition what a person wants before they can be happy, and Barry has a storehouse of knowledge of the world to tap at his disposal. And if he lacks the knowledge that the other person wants, well that’s no real problem if you have the skill to seek and find out about anything you want to know. So if it’s knowledge you seek, there is just another skill to learn: learn to ask a question, learn to go and seek, learn the perfect method to discover what you want. So if you want to discover the perfect way to think and feel, to show your love and caring, to communicate and learn, to grow and to know, then remember that these are merely problems which you can solve when you want if you know the perfect method.
1.
Give and you shall receive. Give that which is wanted and needed, and you shall receive that which is wanted and needed (even love).
2.
Seek and you shall find. And if you get tired of seeking, you can always ask around.
3.
Make other people happy. But first find out what makes them happy.
4.
Do not do unto others that which is hateful to yourself. Do not do unto others that which you enjoy unless they also profess (and appear) to enjoy it.
5.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But if they don’t seem to like it, cut it out. (It means that they don’t have the knowledge of how to do it back. But if they would like to learn how, do your best to teach them.)
6.
Don’t be afraid to tell people your feelings. But don’t tell them unless they’re in a mood to know. (You can always ask beforehand.) In any event, do you feel there is a perfect way to tell people your feelings so they won’t mind too much? Now that I have suggested that a perfect way might exist, can you figure out what it must be? If you can’t figure it out right away, can you think of any other way to find out about it?