2. If you do smile every day, try to mean it.
3. Most religions claim to not be religion.
4. Buy organic.
5. Money equals votes, so allocate your funds wisely.
6. Don't have any kids--there are already too many mouths to feed,
and there are plenty of abandoned children to adopt. But if you do decide
to procreate, do it with someone of a different race--there are
already too many divisions in the world.
It's time to bridge the gap, and mend the fabric of humanity.
7. Write home more than you do. (With "snail mail.")
8. Overpay your credit cards. If you can't, then you're spending too much.
9. If you have a car, change the oil more frequently than recommended.
10. Be dignified and respectful in the presence of dignitaries and
v.i.p.'s,
but don't let their power impress you too much. More importantly, don't
try to impress them; just be what you are--what else can you be, after all?
11. Cut other people some slack--especially the very old and the very young.
12. Be kind to workers in the service sector--especially those in the food service industry.
13. Strive to learn history.
14. Strive to tend plants; the reasons for this are too many to go into now.
15. Respect all forms of life, even if you can't bring yourself to love
them, and if you must kill, don't do it casually.
16. If we make an enemy of the earth, we make an enemy of our own body.
17. How can you sell the wind?
18. It is best to cultivate peace in your heart, but yet anger is a fact
of human existence. Therefore, when you are angry, don't pretend to not
be angry. Let it pass through you as indigestible food passes through your
body.
Don't be afraid of your anger -- you've got to face your demons, so to speak.
At the same time, learn to clothe that anger with grace, respect, and love. Balanced
in this way, you will have true peace, and your feet will be planted firmly on solid ground.
19. In expounding principles, try to not be long-winded, but rather be brief.
If, however, the depth and complexity of the concept or concepts requires a
good deal
of explaining, don't hesitate to be lengthy. But make sure to be witty and eloquent,
or you'll bore people out of their skulls.
20. In hiring, base your decision upon what your spirit sees in
the applicant's spirit; don't focus on ridiculous nonsense like how they are
dressed,
how well the resume was prepared, who they know, etc. Even confidence level can be
deceptive. You've got to go to the spirit, Man! The spirit!
21. The honest working people, the true human beings, should rise up against
the jerks who came to power via nepotism and crony-ism.
22. If Marxism is really true, then the Proletariat should take over
naturally,
as a river dominates a valley. Revolution just leads to a lot of tragedies, heartbreak,
atrocities, and a bunch of old thugs, who turn out to also be old cronies.
Oh, God! If only we could have the perfect balance between true
democracy/capitalism, and socialism!
23. Even as the most we can see of the Earth at one time is 1/2,
even so cannot all knowledge be grasped at once. Flow with it, don't grasp for
it!
24. If there is any medical help available, it should be available to
everybody,
regardless of who they are.
25. Compromise, also known as "balance", the product of
negotiation,
is more affective than aggression.
26. What is known as "assertiveness" is often a thin veneer for
whiny "jerkdom", or "jerkhood".
27. No rule is immune to refutation or exception--and this rule
is no exception to itself! (think about it)(in other words,
there are absolutes--just don't ask me what they are!)
28. Be wary of trite and hackneyed sayings.
29. Sometimes focusing on the secular honors God more than religion and ritual.
30. On the other hand, ritual can serve to keep the mind balanced--both
the mind of an individual and that of a group or civilization.
31. We can't really say technology is evil per se, for though
it may be a "devil's bargain", survival itself is a devil's bargain,
and survival
is also a sort of technology. Life flows into death, and death into life;
existence flows into non-existence, and non-existence then in its turn
flows back into existence. Thus the true "Mandate of Heaven" is peace,
and it is not only a prescriptive law, but descriptive
as well. Balance is not an option, even though it may seem to take an eternity to reach it.
32. The pursuit of happiness more often than not results in torment,
whereas the practice of peace is naturally followed by a transcendent
happiness.
33. Vegetarianism as a protest is hypocrisy, as the consumption of
plant products entails the killing or violation of another life form.
On the other hand, if practiced properly, and for unpretentious reasons,
it can deliver a good deal of health benefits.
34. Don't pay your bills electronically--use a stamp (see also #7),
so that the Postal Service won't have as much reason to complain about
decreases in revenue. Then again, the obvious objection to this rule (see #27)
is the waste of paper involved here (unless the bill collectors still send
return envelopes to those who pay electronically or automatically).
35. Pick up coins you see on the ground--you may think
a penny is worthless, but if you found a million dollars, would you say,
"Forget it--it's just a hundred million nothings!"? In other words,
any number, no matter how big, multiplied by zero
is still zero, but behold the great, infinite power of one!
36. The duty of the élite is to be the guardians and servants
of The People, not the exploiters thereof.
37. Don't be ashamed to gaze in awe at the sky. The words
of God are written in the clouds and stars.
38. People who don't wish to be stared at should
not put themselves on display.
39. Parsley isn't just a decoration. It's a wonderful food!
40. Remember Armenia.
41. In translating poetry, don't make it rhyme. In doing
so, it is made obvious that the translation is inaccurate.
42. In making agricultural policy, promote sustainable and
biological diversity, and refrain from cruelty.
43. The desire to develop and promote genetic engineering
should be genetically engineered out of people.
44. There are many advantages to letting people think you
know less than you do. The same applies to wealth and physical strength.
45. Sport Utility Vehicles should be abolished.
46. Read the works of Carl Sagan.
47. Science is by its very nature subject to skepticism.
48. Food should be grown locally, and we should revive
the family farm, thus bringing the soul of humanity back to the
soil. This will also make our food supply less vulnerable, I believe. If you
live
off the land, you can still eat, even if the economic and
mass-distribution systems collapse.
49. The cathode ray tube format of computer monitor should
be replaced with a more eye-friendly display device.
50. It's good to laugh a lot, especially at oneself.
51. Burn candles.
52. Remember the Celts.
53. Remember the Hmong.
54. Remember the Hawaiians, and how they initially voted AGAINST becoming a State.
55. Remember the Inuit.
56. Remember all the other indigenous people I haven't mentioned here.
57. Learn at least one language other than your mother tongue in your lifetime.
58. Travel outside of your country at least once in your lifetime.
59. Understand the nomad.
60. Understand the tiller of soil.
61. Understand the warrior.
62. Understand the diplomat.
63. We should find a means of propulsion which is not destructive to our
environment, and which has a renewable energy source.
64. The electric automobile has been much touted as an environment-saver. But
this is not entirely true, if you think about it. Electric cars run on
batteries.
These batteries have to be recharged by plugging in to the power supply.
This extra draw of power requires an increase in the consumption
of whatever energy is used for generating this electricity, and extra
air pollution, if it is generated by burning. Now, one might at this point tout
the value of alternative sources of electricity, like solar, hydroelectric, wind,
and geothermal. As far as I can tell, solar and wind power are harmless ways
of gathering energy from the earth. However, hydroelectric power
requires the damming of rivers, which destroys natural habitats of human, animal,
and plant alike. Geothermal, I don't know. Nuclear--that's such a politically
charged issue, it's hard to see what the facts are....(but remember Chernobyl).
65. Temp workers should be allowed a health plan, provided by the
government. How should this be funded? By a 5% income tax on the
income of s.u.v. owners, a 4% income tax on the owners of halogen car headlights,
and a $1,000,000.00 one-time tax on corporate mergers.
66. Politics is the nuts and bolts of the power structures of human
society,
not just in government, but in all aspects of shared human experience.
This phenomenon is a tool, which can be used to fulfill one's
potential and purpose, and to bring good living to the group. But if not handled
wisely, it can destroy your soul, and bring suffering and heartbreak to the
people it was intended to help.
67. The International Date Line and the Prime Meridian should be rotated
on a yearly basis. These are, after all, only arbitrary constructs
of the feeble human mind used for grasping the fundamentals of the universe,
and they are also culturally biased.
68. An alternative worldwide standard of year numbering should be considered.
69. An alternative should be considered to the Latin alphabet, and to the
concept
of alphabet (and syllabary) itself.
70. The world should learn the Chinese system of writing numbers.
71. Space (including other planets and the Moon) should be colonized,
to decrease population pressure.
72. Herbal, traditional, and indigenous medicine should be given at least
equal weight as scientific medicine, which has no soul. The former
has a human context, and a compassionate soul.
73. Everything should be done in moderation.
But don't take moderation to extremes....
74. Honour your mother and father. After all, they gave you life.
You owe them practically everything.
75. Study maps.
76. Take vitamins.
77. Drink green tea regularly.
78. Don't worry; "Take the bull by the horns."
79. It has been said, "Strike while the iron's hot.", but I say, it depends
on the situation, whether you should strike or not. In
some situations, you should wait till the iron's cold. In some, you should
never
strike at all. In others, you should strike the iron, and then heat it up.
80. Laugh a lot, especially at yourself.
81. Got canker sores? Eat yogurt.
82. You know that white stuff on the inside of the peelings of citrus
fruits?
Eat it--it's rich in vitamins.
83. If you are able to, take a walk outside in the fresh air regularly.
84. A true engineer can take something that is essentially worthless,
and make something useful out of it (I must credit my father with this
concept).
85. See how tiny is the width of the edge of a sharp knife?
So tiny, yet so powerful to penetrate. Indeed, the sharpness is directly
proportional to the thinness of the edge.
86. We feel the need for wilderness to heal our psyches, but if too
many of us flock to the wilderness (especially with Sport Utility Vehicles),
we make the wilderness sick.
87. The "Evil Empire" of the Soviet Union has been brought
down--Gorbachov
has torn down that wall--but we have a new and more insidious, if not more evil,
tyrant to fear: the mega-corporation, which keeps getting bigger
and bigger like a snowball, and destined to become a juggernaut, crushing or
acquiring everything in its path. Goodbye, Freedom! Hello Big Money!
88. This juggernaut must be crushed. It will fall under its own weight. (see #1)
89. If Bob Barker thinks it's so humane to neuter pets, then maybe he
should
undergo the same procedure. (isn't it ironic how his name is
"Barker"?)
90. Poetry isn't just something you write. It's a way of life.
91. Too much sound will make you deaf. Too much light will blind you.
And too much preserving your own life will kill you.
92. We should learn to do as much as possible for and by ourselves,
so that when the services and infrastructures we depend on fail,
we have some hope of getting by.
93. Be thankful.
94. It is a sad thing to not enjoy one's work.
95. Justice should be administered by the spirit of the law, more than by the letter.
96. Lawyers, attorneys, barristers, and solicitors should perform their duties
with justice as their motivation, not money.
97. All jobs have their physical hazzards, largely due to repetitive
motion,
so do your best to vary and randomize your movement patterns
when you have the chance. The same applies to mental processes.
98. Consume a lot of chlorophyll. It's good for the blood.
99. There's no way to be 100% objective--it's impossible to observe
without effecting the observed. (I must credit Einstein with this sentiment.)
100. Live within your means (see #8)
101. "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you,
for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."--Jesus of Nazareth