The Way, The Why

Surviving and Thriving

These things are true:
Humanity must endure.
Eternally we must fight to live.
These kill us: nature, and ourselves.

In nature, the opponent is physical threat.
Physical threats destroy life.
We fight threats through understanding,
And through creation.
We must understand threats,
To create that which resists threats --
To create and sustain life.

In ourselves, the opponent is evil.
Evil is that which destroys life.
Evil is falsehood, and evil is cruelty.

Falsehood prevents understanding.
Without understanding threats,
We cannot create that which resists threats.
Without resistance to threats,
We cannot live.
Thus, falsehood destroys life.
Falsehood is evil.

Cruelty prevents desire to live.
Without desire to live,
We do not desire to create.
Without desire to create,
We do not create that which resist threats.
Without caring to live or create,
We do not live and we do not create.
Thus, cruelty destroys life.
Cruelty is evil.

To survive is to have the ability to live.
To thrive is to have the desire to live.
Surviving sustains life.
Thriving increases life.
We must survive.
We must thrive.
This is the truth.

We fight falsehood with the truth.
We fight cruelty with kindness.
We fight evil with good.

We must be truthful.
We must be kind.
We must understand.
We must create.
We must desire.
We must live.

Values, Orientation, and Action

We must live.
To live, we must do.
Some things we must do more than others.

Our actions are what we do.
Our orientation determines our actions.
Our values determine our orientation.

We should live, not die.
We should orient towards life, not death.
We should act towards life, not death.
We should value life, not death.

Life is the highest value.
When we value life,
We are oriented towards life,
We act towards life.
We achieve life.
Life must endure.

Other values support life,
Some more than others.

Truth is the next most important value.
Truth creates understanding.
Understanding sustains life.

Kindness is the next most important value.
Kindness creates caring.
Caring creates life.

When we value life,
When we value truth,
When we value kindness,
We achieve our purpose
We achieve life.
We must live.

Remember:
Life, Truth, Kindness
Life, Truth, Kindness
Life, Truth, Kindness

Entropy and Consciousness

In the beginning, there was a big bang.
All was created.
All was hot and bright;
All was close together.

Afterwards, all was mostly cooling and dimming,
And all was mostly spreading.
All will eventually be cold and dark;
All will eventually be far apart.
This is entropy.

Entropy kills all life.
Entropy is the ultimate physical threat.

But after the bang,
There were some collisions.
There were some collections.
In one collection, there was a particular spark:
A spark of life,
A spark of perception,
Of understanding,
Of consciousness,
That saw the coming darkness,
That imagined the possibility of light,
That imagined perhaps a way,
To fight
Entropy

This is the Way.

The Way, The Words

To know the Way,
We must know the Words.

Words transmit knowledge.
To know the truth, to know the Way
The Words must be understood.

These are the Words
That are the most important:

Life: that which grows, reproduces, changes, and dies
Consciousness: fully aware of itself, nature, past, and future

Humanity: us, the only fully conscious life
Nature: all that physically exists

Threat: nature that destroys life, or causes death
Entropy: ultimate death of everything, everywhere

Evil: consciousness that is false and cruel
Good: consciousness that is true and kind

Falsehood: that which is not real, and does not exist
Truth: that which is real, and does exist

Cruelty: that which causes excessive, unnecessary pain,
and destroys well-being
Kindness: that which prevents excessive, unnecessary pain,
and creates well-being

Pain: bad feelings
Pleasure: good feelings

Necessary: that which must be
Unnecessary: that which may not be

All meaning can be understood
As variations of these words,
As gradations of these words.

Whenever unsure about what to do,
Remember these words,
And create life.
Live.

Pleasure, Pain, and Purpose

Life has pleasure.
Life has pain.
To have pleasure is to feel good about life.
To have pain is to feel bad about life.
Pleasure encourages life.
Pain discourages life.

Pleasure and pain are opposite:
Movement away from one,
Is movement towards the other.

Pleasure and pain fade:
Once a pleasure or pain is sustained,
It becomes normal, and decreases in feeling.
Only by changing, does the feeling renew.

Pleasure and pain are relative:
Once a pleasure or pain becomes normal,
What was once pleasure can be pain,
And what was pain can be pleasure.

Pleasure and pain alternate:
Pleasure and pain are rarely constant.
We experience pain, then pleasure,
We experience pleasure, then pain.
And repeat.

Thus, to an overwhelming degree,
Because they are opposite,
Because they fade,
Because they are relative,
Because they alternate,
Both pleasure and pain are inevitable.
To live is to experience pleasure.
To live is to experience pain.

Pleasure is easy.
To thrive, we embrace pleasure.
Pain is difficult.
To survive, we must endure pain.

The easy passes without effort,
The difficult requires more thought:

We must survive.
We must understand.
We must create.
We must live.
That is our purpose.
With purpose,
We can endure pain.

Pain is inevitable.
Pain cannot be avoided.
So, if there must be pain, give it purpose.
All paths have pain.
Select the path that brings the most purpose with the pain.

Know always, at least, that life is our purpose.
Progressing towards purpose brings satisfaction.
Satisfaction is feeling good about life.
Living itself is progress towards our purpose.

Know this, and have satisfaction.
Have satisfaction in living.
Know that after pain,
There is pleasure.

Have joy in every smallest fulfillment of purpose.
With pride of life,
Enjoy pleasure.
But remember life.
Our life is transcendent.
Our life is sacred.
With purpose of life,
Endure pain.
Live.