Because of strong influence from Star Wars and the teachings about
The force I started to read about the Zen budhism several years ago.
The Noble Eightfold Path is simular to
The Ten Commandments in Judaism and Christianity. It describes the way to the end of suffering, as it was laid out by
Siddhartha Gautama, aka Buddah. It is a practical guideline to ethical and mental development with the goal of freeing the individual from attachments and delusions; and it finally leads to understanding the truth about all things. I have in many ways adapted these rules and mixed them with my own as I believe it may help you to become a better person.
I do not believe you will become happy of living out others expectations of yourself. If you do not follow your heart you will become restless and perhaps even unhappy. When disrespecting or disliking yourself why would people respect you or like you at all? Follow your heart and be proud about the choices you make (and have made) in life. Then, and only then, you will be proud of yourself. Do what you feel like and follow your heart. If not you will regret lather in life that you did not give it a try. Experience makes you a wiser person and gives you a better insight of the world
around you. When you grow old you may regret what you did not do in your life and the chances you left behind. Be proud of what you have done. Time waits for no one. Spend the time you have in possession well. Death is no more than a heartbeat away.
Have faith in yourself and accept yourself for being the one you are. Then, and only then, people will be able to respect you and look up to you. If you want to change the world first change yourself. Do not be superficial but be true to yourself. How can you change the world if you can not change the one you are? The biggest mistake is to take and not give - from within. Share your knowledge with people around you. You are the only person that got your perspective on your surroundings.
Pass on what you have learned. The knowledge you have is unique. If any, few persons got the same knowledge and point of view as you do. Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try. Why bother half-finish anything? Instead of half-finish something why not complete it and do this properly? Whatever you do in life, be patience. In seeking your destiny patience
is you allied. Nothing gets any better if you hurry or rush things. This is also important in seeking your destiny. No one can choose your faith for you. You, and you alone must follow your own path. Let no one live your life and make important decisions in your life.
Keep your promises. This will bring you far. Why bother promise to do a task you will not complete? This will only make people loose faith in you. And when people are loosing faith in you, what kind of impression do you think they will get of you? Be honest and sincere about what you do in life. No one values false people.
Have faith in your friends. They are your strength, not your weakness. Your friends are the family you choose for yourself. They are the blood you choose. Remember that the truth you claim to depends of your own point of view. Ask your friends about things you have done together - I am sure all of you will remember things differently. Do not judge people for having other points of view than you - by doing that you may provoke intolerance which may strike back at you. When calling someone a fool, ask yourself: who is the fool? the fool himself or the fool who follows him? Accept and respect people for whom and what they are. Try to understand why people have the opinions they have.
Live every day as it could be your last. Death is no more than a heartbeat away. Death is smiling at us all, smile back when you have the chance. Life your life
today. Tomorrow it might be too late.
When you dance with the devil the devil doesn't change. You do. As a person you are a result of all your experiences combined. When you go to bed tonight you will have experiences you did not have when you woke up this morning. These experiences got a influence on you as a person and your point of view. Do not let your eyes and ears deceive you. They are there to fool you. What the eyes sees and the ears hear the brain believes, but is this the truth?
As a final word I would like to quote G'Kar who is a character in the science-fiction television series
Babylon 5:
If I take a lamp and shine toward the wall, a bright spot will appear on the wall. The lamp is our search for truth, for understanding.
Too often we assume the light on the wall is God, but the light is not the goal of the search, it is the result of the search. The more intense
the search, the brighter the light on the wall. The brighter the light on the wall, the greater the revelation upon seeing it. Similarly,
someone who does not search, who does not bring a lantern with him, sees nothing. What we perceive as God is the by-product of our search
for God. It may simply be an appreciation of the light, pure and unblemished. Not understanding that it comes from us, sometimes, we stand in
front of the light and assume we are the center of the universe. God looks astonishingly like we do. Or we turn to look at our shadow and
assume all is darkness. If we allow ourselves to get in the way, we defeat the purpose - which is use the light of our search to illuminate
the wall in all its beauty and all it flaws, and in so doing, better understand the world around us.
In Babylon 5 there is a race called Minbari, which in many ways can be compared to elves in the fantasy-genre. Even though they are a race in a science fiction-series I find their religious believes interesting. Here is an example:
