The Man I SHOULD Be and Why

I value things that are truly valuable...not the evanescent and base. I love beauty and truth and wisdom for their own sakes. I seek them above all else because what else is there worth my life? I live my life one moment at a time, and I will not give my life to the banal and worthless.

I love others as Christ did...fully aware of their flaws yet unconditionally loving. I'm not sure exactly where I stand with God and Christ, but what an example! I act as if my children are watching and mimicking me...as if they see everything, even my thoughts. I strive constantly to improve, because I can! And who wants to look back on their life and see unfulfilled potential?

I live every moment in the best manner I am able, learn from my failures, and pave the way for the future. I waste no time on regret or foreboding...I cannot change the past and can only affect the future through what I do RIGHT NOW.

I show others the way and leave telling to the preachers. To the extent I am successful in my aims, I will draw followers. First my children, then others. To the extent I am unsuccessful, I will not draw others and will not lead them in a wrong direction.

I fill my mind with good things; wonder, joy, beauty, wisdom, truth, kindness, peace, forgiveness, and love. I care for my body as the chariot of my soul.

Your days are numbered. Use them to throw open the windows of your soul to the sun. If you do not, the sun will soon set, and you with it.
--Marcus Aurelius

Why do I live this way? Because I learn from my own experience and that of others. Solomon knew it. Marcus knew it. A million others prove the point by succeeding at what does not last or matter. They succeed in a million ways, yet are not successes. What is outside a man does not bring satisfaction and fulfillment. These come from living as you know you should.

I do not seek physical pleasure or avoid it unnecessarily. I have the power of reason, and I will not be controlled by nerve impulses and chemicals, like an unreasoning animal. The body serves the mind, not vice versa.

I think and do only those things of which I can be proud. The truth will out. "As a man thinketh, so is he." I will be a true philosopher and shun masks and makeup. Only then will I be truly confident and unshakeable.

This is all a work in progress and success is not easy. Yet I only have to live one moment at a time. But what a reward! To know that I have nothing to hide! To know that those things I value most cannot be taken away!