SAL Book: Universal Laws

LAW 6

Universal Laws exist to determine the price of Existential Growth.

The acquisition or achievement of anything comes with a price in time, effort, difficulty, pain, and/or money. The same is true of Existential Growth. The price of an individual achievement may differ from person to person based on each individual’s unique set of
SAL variables (benefits and limitations). As a result, what is easy and cheap for one person may be hard and expensive for another, and vice versa. Nevertheless, achieving the highest levels of Existential Growth is hard for anyone who undertakes the challenge.

SAL Mantra

Ease & Difficulty are Absolutely Relative to your ability, or lack thereof, to do.

COROLLARY 6.1: You cannot circumvent or cheat Universal Laws.

Universal Laws, like natural laws of science, must be respected and obeyed to avoid devastating consequences. For example, you can forget about the law of gravity, or choose to ignore it, but that does not change its presence in our world and universe, nor does it preclude the consequences that flow from disregarding it.

COROLLARY 6.2: Universal Laws apply to everyone; they do not play favorites.

Universal Laws do not care who you are. It doesn’t matter if you are the President of the United States, the Queen of England, or a homeless person on the street; the consequences of your thoughts, speech, and actions are determined by the omnipotent decrees of the Laws. No one is absolved of the consequences that flow from these decrees.

COROLLARY 6.3 (A PARADOX OF UNIVERSAL LAWS, PART 2): Universal Laws Create Limitations.

There are some things in this world that human beings simply cannot do, or at least cannot do yet. For example, we are currently unable to travel at the speed of light, fully cure cancer and AIDS, or scientifically answer questions like: “is there life on other planets,” “is there a God,” or “does life continue after death?” Furthermore, people are limited in what they can individually accomplish. In other words, no matter what the motivational speakers try and tell you, you can’t do absolutely anything you put your mind to. You can, no doubt, accomplish great things, but your extraordinary potential does not translate into human omnipotence.

One of life’s great challenges is differentiating between perceived and actual limitations and potential. While the concept of Existential Growth does provide a vision of your potential, it is ultimately a means of measuring what you have actually become, existentially speaking.

A key component of SAL is self-knowledge. The better you know yourself, the better you will understand your strengths and weaknesses. This knowledge will empower you to work to minimize or eliminate your weaknesses and to magnify and maximize your strengths. In this world, it does little good to cultivate the idea that you can accomplish anything you put your mind to. You are much wiser to recognize your particular aptitudes (or lack thereof) and then become laser-focused on realizing your true potential.

For example, I am tall and skinny, with small bones and lean muscles—an ectomorph. As a result, I will never be a world champion weight lifter—no matter how positively I think, what training techniques I apply, or how hard I try. I can always become stronger and improve my own weight lifting performance, but it’s unrealistic to expect that I could ever compete with a mesomorph—someone born with a body well suited for weight lifting. On the other hand, as an experienced and skilled middle-distance runner, no champion weight lifter will ever beat me in a mile race when I am in top shape. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

SAL Mantra

No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

Smart self-action leaders become acquainted early with who they are, and what they have to offer. Rather than living in a fairy-tale world of imaginary achievements, they dedicate their lives to maximizing their unique opportunities for success and achievement, while contributing meaningfully to others along the way.

COROLLARY 6.4 (A PARADOX OF UNIVERSAL LAWS, PART 2): Universal Laws Create Benefits.

Universal Laws paradoxically limit and empower you at the same time. For example, the law of gravity precludes you from jumping off of high cliffs without incurring serious injury or death. But respecting gravity opens up a variety of new opportunities that would be impossible without its presence. For example, without gravity you can’t fly, skydive, hang-glide, bungee jump, cliff jump into water, etc.

COROLLARY 6.5: Existential Growth requires humility before Universal Laws.

It’s possible to have short-term success while disregarding Universal Laws. But know that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction (and in the case of negative unintended consequences, they may not feel all that “equal” when the consequences come). Consequences find everybody at some point, because Universal Laws apply to everyone. So while short-term success might bring a measure of fulfillment now, their unfortunate long-term consequences will collect payment later—often with painful interest.

To illustrate, a person without integrity, self-control, compassion, and honor—no matter how wealthy and polished they may seem—has very little to offer in the way of a positive legacy, healthy relationships, and personal fulfillment. You’re not likely to enjoy their company, or even seek them out (unless you need something). Such a person is more likely to suffer from crippling isolation and loneliness, locked in a cycle of dysfunctional selfishness.

On the other hand, a person living a lifetime of SAL, no matter how modest their means, is a person worth knowing. The contributions of these “good people” are meaningful and appreciated. Self-action leaders are powerful people by virtue of their hard work and dedication. This is all the more true because people around them recognize their intrinsic goodness and worth. They are at peace with themselves and others. A self-action leader is confident, not arrogant. Their very presence uplifts, attracts, and supports others naturally. A true self-action leader is a force to be reckoned with, and influences positive change in themselves, others, and their surroundings.

COROLLARY 6.6: Honesty, integrity, and accurate self-awareness constitute humility.

Humility requires that you:

• Seek out and embrace the truth about yourself and others (self-awareness)
• Respond accordingly to that truth (integrity)

Honesty, integrity, and self-awareness are essentially synonyms of humility. These terms combine to form the basic quality of teachability – a vital characteristic required for the exercise of Self-Action Leadership and the achievement of Existential Growth.

Next Blog Post: Wednesday, February 4, 2015 ~ SAL Case Study: The Charlie & Muriel Pierson Story

SAL Book: The Freedom to Change Part 4

A FORMULA FOR AUTHENTIC CHANGE

How is authentic change accomplished? 

Through five simple—but not easy—steps. 

1. A desire to change that is stronger than the desire not to change.
2. An understanding of the principles upon which change is predicated.
3. The willingness to do whatever is required to realize change.
4. The humility to seek out the help of others whenever and wherever needed throughout the process.
5. The maturity to acknowledge, and the willingness to accept, the gifts of Serendipity along the way.

SERENDIPITY: The felicitous aid of unseen forces.

There is not much I can do to help you with step one. Either you desire to change, or you don’t. If you do, then this book will be very helpful. If you don’t, there is nothing I, nor anyone else, can do for you until you do desire it.

There is a lot I can do to help you with step two, because outlining the principles of personal change is the purpose of this book.

Step three is entirely up to you. The strength of your will to work, and to be both persistent and patient throughout the process, will determine the extent of your long-term success.

Step four requires you to be humble enough to seek out the help of others as needed. Even my best personal efforts were insufficient to overcome OCD, depression, and other deep challenges I have faced in my life. The help of family, friends, and professionals were essential ingredients in my success.

Step five requires opening yourself up to, and then willingly accepting, the gifts of Serendipity. The most important SAL lesson I’ve ever had to learn is that I can’t solve all my problems by myself, even if I have access to the best available help from others. This is most humbling because I take great pride in my personal capacity for discipline, diligence, determination, persistence, proactivity, and achievement. Yet it seems that Serendipity saves me time and again after I, and others, have insufficiently done our very best to solve a perplexing personal problem. This is particularly true when dealing with issues like effectively managing mental illness, overcoming addiction, choosing life orientations that differ from your predetermined genetic or mimetic inclinations, and forgiving those who have abused or otherwise wronged you.

I can’t scientifically articulate exactly what Serendipity is, or how it works, although I do have deep spiritual and religious convictions concerning its ontology. I simply know It works—and that It’s powerful. If you desire to reach the highest levels of Existential Growth, you are going to need more than your own best efforts and the ablest assistance of others. The more open you are to Serendipity and Its seemingly coincidental, yet undeniably miraculous, power, the more it will open Itself up to you.

Acknowledging and accepting Serendipity does not require that you become a believer in a deity. It simply asks you to acknowledge and accept the reality that some things cannot be solved by human intervention alone. Science cannot identify what Serendipity is, but its existence – according to countless volumes of anecdotal affirmation – is clearly a real force in the world.

The three-fold purpose of this book, therefore, is to:

1. Proclaim the good news that personal change is possible.
2. Provide you with a toolbox of knowledge and skills to learn about and  then do what is required to realize change.
3. Share a message to help soften and inspire hearts to desire change, seek help, and accept the essential gifts of Serendipity along the way.

The possibility of, and freedom to, initiate personal change will create opportunities for some of your life’s greatest adventures and challenges. Self-Action Leadership provides a vehicle whereby you may proactively pursue and successfully tackle these adventures and challenges to become very happy, successful, and fulfilled in your life.

Next Post: Friday, November 13, 2014; Chapter 3: The Freedom to Change (Part V): The Existence of Right & Wrong.

Reflecting on Two REALLY BIG Anniversaries ~ Kennedy & Lincoln

America celebrated two HUGE anniversaries in U.S. History this week.  The first occurred on Tuesday, November 19^th with the 150^th Anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s delivery of the Gettysburg Address.  The second occurs on Friday, November 22nd, with the 50^th Anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. 

There are a few, select dates in American History that virtually anyone alive at the time remembers.  Think April 14, 1865 and December 7, 1941, or November 22, 1963 and September 11, 2001. 

Where were you when President Kennedy was assassinated?  If you were alive and over the age of five in 1963, chances are you not only remember the day, but can recall where you were and what you were doing as well.  

While attending grade school in the late 1980s and early 1990s, I remember hearing teachers talk about their personal memories of that fateful day.  I recall my fascination that they were alive on such an important – albeit tragic – date in American History.  I recently e-mailed some family members querying their memories from the day Kennedy was shot, and each one that responded had memories to share. 

My generation's “Kennedy” moment came on 9-11.  Like those with memories of '63, I remember with crystal clarity where I was, and what I was doing that terrible day in '01.  

A 22-year old college freshman at Utah Valley University, I was on my way to attend an early morning worship service at the Provo, Utah LDS Temple. I recall a radio announcer somewhat flippantly announcing how a plane had apparently struck one of the towers of the World Trade Center.  Word had not yet spread accurately, and his assumption was that some crazy – perhaps drunk – pilot had gone and crashed a little plane into the mammoth building with little collateral damage.  Based on the tone, attitude, and misinformation of this uninformed radio announcer, I thought little of the news as I arrived at the Temple, parked my car, and turned off the radio.  

Two hours later, when I returned to my car and turned the radio back on, it was a very different story.  Nearly every channel was spreading the unthinkable news.  HELL had broken loose in Lower Manhattan and the World was watching as its pillars of power crumbled into a fiery plume of destruction.  When I returned to my apartment, I glued myself to the television screen.  Tears came to my eyes as I beheld the horror replayed over and over.  It was surreal – unearthly – like nothing I had ever experienced before.

That night, my roommate began running all around the neighborhood like Paul Revere warning of gas prices shooting to $5 a gallon, which, in 2001, would have been truly calamitous news.  His warnings turned out to be unnecessary, but I’ll never forget the sober pall that was cast over the nation in the days to come – the candlelight services, the prayers, and Enrique Iglesias’ song Hero playing repeatedly on the radio. 

While it is tragic that such events such as 11-22 and 9-11 occur in the first place, it always amazes me the profound effects  – some of them positive –  it has on those who experience them.  Indeed, the development of vital human qualities such as humility, reverence, sobriety, gratitude, and reflectiveness would be much more difficult without disappointments, failures, grief, and yes, even tragedy.  Such moments induce deep reflection, and invite us to ponder the meaning of life, and our individual purpose here on Earth.  They create an opportunity to consider things we normally wouldn’t amidst the hustle and bustle of our busy schedules, endless task lists, and the relatively meaningless minutia of life. 

Fortunately, such tragic moments don’t happen every day.  I would never wish such terrible events on any person or nation.  Yet I believe there is great value that can be found in both dealing with and reflecting back on such dates in our history – what they meant for the people who experienced the events, and what they mean to us now.

Taking time out to remember and memorialize the tragic events of yesteryear remind us how fragile human life is, and fill us with gratitude for its remarkable gift for which we are all partakers.  May this day of reflection and memorial be a day of personal reflection that will make you a better person made more grateful and compassionate by the time and effort you invest in reflection. 

To help in this reflection, I encourage perusal (click on link) of the following websites and/or other materials. 

The Gettysburg Address

Ken Burns’ Famous Person's Mash-up of the Gettysburg Address

The Battle of Gettysburg

Abraham Lincoln    John F. Kennedy

Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Kennedy

Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Lincoln

Bill O'Reilly's Lincoln/Kennedy Box Set

Ken Burns’ The Civil War

Ken Burns’ The War