Introduction

Just an Intro

Introduction

 

The great thing in this world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.

 

                    -Oliver Wendell Holmes

 

 

 

      I don’t intend for this book to be a social remedy for what ails a nation that seems to me to be starved for a sense of well being and belonging.  I don’t intend that because I don’t think it a possible task.  I could relay one principle or a thousand principles, one pillar or a million pillars, a completely original paradigm or one that is only slightly modified and I don’t know what impact if any they might have. 

 

     I believe that there are too many variables to possibly think that a specific set of thoughts and opinions relayed by a common man such as myself with the same longings, concerns and problems as everyone else could affect a significant change over enough people to re-instill that sense of well being that I’m not so sure really ever existed in the first place.

 

     Don’t get me wrong, I’ve read hundreds and hundreds of principles, paradigms and pillars in my own personal search to fill the void and have been able to glean some very useful information.  You might say that they have changed my life.  No, not just one or two particular thoughts, but the whole of the body of work that I have encountered to date, good or bad, coupled with all of the other direct experiences that I have enjoyed or not enjoyed, have all had not just a profound impact on what I think, but, just like you, are all that I am. Good, bad or indifferent, time seems to have a way of making all experience useful and applicable to the ever-coveted state of being known as now. I keep hearing that we must live for the moment, enjoy our current state of being and everything will be all right.  Maybe, sounds good anyway.

 

     Many times I hear people say that life is too fast paced, too stressful.  We tend to reminisce about simpler times, times when we didn’t have to worry about two parents working and kids overburdened with homework and a million extracurricular activities.  I wonder to what specific nostalgic timeframe that people are referring.  Between lawlessness, starving, hangings, plagues, wars, lack of health and safety policy and procedure and a plethora of other historical nasties, I’m not sure that this simpler time existed and if it did, boredom may have killed a few more.  We may want to dial up a séance and ask a farmer who had to plow three hundred acres behind the horse every spring by hand how simple existence was, and if crops weren’t good that year, how he was going to feed his family.  Face it, little house on the prairie wasn’t even the half of it.

 

     Now, you may be thinking about putting this book down and moving on to something that might seem a little more positively motivated.  You can if you wish, but, I think that real change is based in individual reality and I had to start out with these few basic thoughts to prepare you for what I hope is at the very least an interesting trip. All I’m going to do is what writers, thinkers and other common men have done for eons.  I’m going to share some information.  Just like the statement of freedom said at the beginning of this book, it doesn’t matter whether what I’m thinking is wrong or right or what you are thinking is wrong or right, it only matters that we share, consider and compare.

Author's Note

Thanks for reading.

Reviews

[Jūdan FyreHeart]

Very interesting! Well put together in a simple, open and very honest manner. The beginnings of something to make people sit down and think about the reality of the situation. An open mind is a joy to behold and even more wonderous to belong to, it's something far more people could do with experiencing.

[Siddhartha]

open that window...and let some fresh air come in...for far too long we have shut ourselves...we hark back to older times... conveniently overlooking that nostalgia accentuates the good and attenuates the ugly...yes...its time for some thinking...open that window...

[Ice QueenJen]

I love that you speak your mind with this new project, and leave the rest to us readers. I look forward to your next set of inspiring words, so keep em coming.... I know I could use them. good writing too Corey!

[Tommy]

I think people draw on what they can relate to, when they pick up some information they try to fit it into how they can correlate it with old information, thus different people associate differently to values in life. I don't know if this makes sense, but I think the brain categorizes emotions and feeling, and when we experience new things it puts these expressions into classifications so we can identify and relate, thus people have a very different take on what life is, similar, but different to all, because of our different understandings of things. Take your words for instance, I relate to them, but do I get them in the same sense that you wish them to be expressed, sure I get a the gist of it, but to truly know what and how you feel, I would have to have seen the world through your eyes.

You touched on a subject about living in simper times; my friend simpler times were are only seen through the eyes of a child. Even the children who have seen nothing but destruction in life, tend to view the world as of what they could make of it, rather than being a product of their environment. In their minds they could possibly conquer the world someday.

I love this stuff Corey! Keep feeding my mind, show me the world from your eyes, I am ready to see....

Great Write!
RLG,
Tommy

[...]

. oh ... killer last line ... (weather-typo) ... truly inspirational! ...

we know not what we think
or what we aspire for
we know not our dreams
from our nightmares
you pause and reflect
and in your reflection
we realize with ease
we know not
what we know

[jenniewren (J.W. Bouwma..]

wow!! how did i never see this before? i feel like you are speaking to me over drinks - teaching me of how the view looks from your side of the window, and finding it remarkably similar to my own

[c.m.]

I like this...feels like a glimpse into the way your mind works, I love that. Your thoughts and views are really powerful...can't wait to read more.

[Doreen]

Very interesting thoughts and views in this intro. I like where this is going. I'd like to come on the journey that you're taking us on. :)

[emmajoy]

That's a finely executed introduction! It's stating your intention, inviting readers to travel a path with you or not .. their choice.

I'm going to enjoy your book, have a feeling there's going to be a great deal of thoughtful substance in it. As you write: ' No, not just one or two particular thoughts, but the whole of the body of work that I have encountered to date, good or bad, coupled with all of the other direct experiences that I have enjoyed or not enjoyed, have all had not just a profound impact on what I think, but, just like you, are all that I am.'

Information gleaned over the years influences thought, both good and bad. To consider whether or not life was better or worse in the past or whether or not our own experience or lack of it colours our viewpoints is really worth exploring. It's melding past and present .. leading to different future thought .. maybe.

As a Social History graduate EG know full well that history never has had its purely perfect eras; what beauty existed in the past, did so because people rose out of and above the bad things going on in their lifetimes. For example, in the UK we had the Victorian artists who painted rich ripe rustic scenes and writers who wrote of gentle romps at harvest times or witty social events with flickering fans, yet that period was one of the most hypocritical in this country's history

Oops I've written far too much. You've already set me thinking. Will move on to the next part. now.