On management

The earlier repost dealt with the subject of Anger Management.  It was also a
joke.  Perhaps as a way to return to seriousness, which is always a hazard, because
seriousness leads to somewhere, but that somewhere may be nowhere.  It's nowhere
if you are lost.  Which leads to navigation, another form of management--- or so
I think.

Well, let's try not to get lost.  To stay on course, so to speak, one needs to be
aware of time management.  How to spend one's time will definitely determine how
one's life goes.  You may be what you think, but what you do is the outward
manifestation of your thoughts.

Now what is it that Suze Orman said?  Be careful what you think, because what you think, you may do.  Be careful what you do, because what you do determines your destiny.

Note how it all starts with one's thoughts.  Marcus Aurelius said something like
that:  Our lives are what our thoughts make it.  Thus, it all starts upstairs.

By the way, did you ever read "Four Witnesses"?  It was about the early Christian
church.  One of the witnesses tried to appeal to Marcus Aurelius with respect to
the Christians, who were being persecuted.  History refers to Marcus Aurelius as
one of the "Five Good Emperors" of Rome.  But even during this period, the Christians
were persecuted.  Actually, one of the witnesses was condemned to death in the
arena, as entertainment for the people of Rome--- during this time.  Think of
the Christians being fed to the lions right there.  So, it was still ongoing during
the time of the last good emperor--- Marcus Aurelius.

Today is Good Friday, so I don't want to forget one of the most, if not THE most
important days of the Christian calendar.  It's that time management thing.  One
gets absorbed into other matters, and one forgets.

Why does one believe or not believe, then?

Do you believe that you are nothing more than the molecules that make up your body?

Or do you believe that you are something more than that?

You can certainly divide up your thoughts into the temporal, which is the things
of this life, and the hereafter.  Talking about time management, there you go.

If you believe that there is nothing after life on this Earth, then what are the
consequences of that belief?  Is it not that life on this Earth is all there is,
and death is to be avoided at all costs?  Because once you die, that is it.

Once confronted with death, what do you do about it?  Beg for mercy?  What price
do you pay for continuing this life?  Anything, just so you don't die, because
once you die, and you believe that that is all there is, then it is over?

Or do you believe that death is the end of all things, and nothing happens
afterward?  It may determine what you do about death-- to fear or not fear it.

If fear is so, then how can you have anything that overrides your own life and
its continuance?  Nothing would be worth giving it up because your life is the
highest possible value, is it not?

If there is nothing more, then why would Jesus allow himself to be crucified?  It
seems such a useless gesture.  After all, Jesus could have saved himself by just
denying being the Messiah.  Nobody would have had a reason to want him dead if he
saved his own life.  But Jesus didn't do that.

Whatever you think of that, you have to say it is remarkable.

Who is lost then?  Those who think that this life is all there is, or is it
those who believe that Jesus' sacrifice meant something?

Because that is what determines your destiny-- no matter what you believe.

As for myself, I always believed that there was something more.  Lately, I have
come to believe it a bit stronger because of the sacrifices of others who
believed it so much, that they gave it all up for His sake.  It would have been
easier for the martyrs not to take such a path.  The easier path is not necessarily the
better path, though.  Indeed, it may be the worse.  The better things have to be
earned.

It is a better way because if you have to give it up for something, why not let it be
something more than the continuance of this life on Earth.  Could there not be a
better bargain than that?  Especially if you believe that there is "something more".