"...if you only applied yourself."

Image courtesy of janusz l on Flickr

I think that most people want to be viewed favorably by everyone else.   I would probably not be far off to say that most want to be viewed as superior to the masses.  People tend to view life as a game and rate everyone according to how well they are doing.   At the very least nobody likes to be low man on the totem pole, always looking up.  I believe that those that are enlightened still compare in their head, even though they realize that life is not a competition.

Marcus Cicero warned us to take the high road over two thousand years ago when he wrote The Six Mistakes Of Man.  The very first mistake that he defined was…

“The illusion that personal gain is made up of crushing others.”

In other words there are two methods of elevating oneself.  A person can grow, or stand on the back of others to look as though they have grown.  Both methods produce similar results by making the person taller.  They produce those results in two distinctly different ways, using dramatically different mindsets.  There are also two ways to have the biggest house on the block.  You can plan, and work hard building a grand home.  You could also destroy the other homes on the block to make your shack appear to be a mansion.  There are specific tools for construction and destruction.

If one decides to destroy the other homes in the area, there are certain tools required.  Explosives, wrecking balls, and crowbars come to mind.  There are also similar tools for crushing others in order to make personal gain.  Crowbars come in the form of condescending, disrespecting, and discounting attitudes toward others.  This tends to tear down smaller pieces of the person and at times the damage is hard to see.  Given enough time entire buildings can be demolished with a crowbar, one piece at a time.  It is impractical to use only “crowbars” in a demolition project.  Wrecking balls do much more damage with each swing and hasten the process of dismantling a building.  Being judgmental is a wrecking ball.  Gossip or talking badly about someone to a third party are too.  With each swing, damage is publicly visible.  It takes mush less time to tear down with a wrecking ball.  There are times when these methods are not drastic enough.  That is when explosives are used.  It goes without saying that explosives are dangerous and produce destruction that is absolute.  We have emotional explosives.  They can come in the form of belittling others publicly and pointing out their shortcomings. for all to see.  The results are definite, deliberate and devastating.

If construction is your choice, there are also certain tools and methods that are needed. The very first step in construction is a good blueprint.  You must have a plan that is well thought out, which is unlike most demolition projects.  People and things are often torn apart without any plan.  After studing the prints a solid foundation is needed.  In personal development this takes the form of self actualization.  Once the foundation is in place, construction can begin. Balance is required to reach great heights in construction. If a level is used often, uneven areas of the building can be balanced and the integrity of the building stays in tact.  Emotional levels need to be used often to maintain balance in ourselves and to check our integrity.  The sky is the limit with a good plan, a solid foundation, and balance.

For years I chose destruction.  It was much easier to belittle and discount others to make myself look better.  Saccasm comes easily for me as does passing judement.  Things in my neighborhood are ugly because I have torn down so many homes.  I need to help rebuild as much as I am allowed to rebuild.  I need to continue on my own house, making it bigger and better.  I am sure the neighborhood will be beautiful once more construction has been done.  One more thing, I need to make sure that my construction projects get  finished…