The Essays on Meaning
If about 2000 years ago, a guy walked up to Jesus and said, “Look, I’m a busy man. I don’t want to listen to your talks if they aren’t any good. Can you tell me, what they are about in a couple of sentences? Surely you have an elevator pitch.”
What is Jesus going to say? “Well, it all comes down to love. Don’t worry about all those religious rules, just love people.” Maybe if you know Jesus’ story, heard him speak or have read the gospels, maybe then those sentences might have meaning, but to anyone else, it sounds trite.
I suppose the guy would say in response, “Oh, ok, sounds good, but I have heard that before. I think the Beatles did something on that.” And he moves on.
To understand Jesus’ message(s) you have to have heard him speak, or have read the books, and learned what he preached and how he lived. It all fits together. You get a more complete picture that is more compelling. Three lines won’t do it.
How would da Vinci explain the Mona Lisa? “It is a painting of a woman smiling. She knows something and you don’t know what it is.” Anyone can say that. But not anyone could have painted a picture of that quality. The description does not do the painting justice. You have to see it.
The problem is that many profound things cannot be condensed into a few sentences. The most profound things cannot even be put into words, but we won’t go there.
I am not comparing myself to Jesus or da Vinci. That would be stupid. I am just trying to explain why it is difficult to explain what my book is about. But I will try anyway…here goes.
You know how some people are just wrong about everything? For example, there are those who think that they can never win, that they are ugly, stupid, etc. And they are not ugly or stupid, but they insist on believing so. They are losing in life because they expect to lose. They are carrying around a fundamental assumption that is wrong, and it hinders them from ever winning in life. In the same way there are people who think it is a dog-eat-dog world, and they will happily screw everyone over to get ahead and then they wonder why they feel alone. Wrong assumption and you cannot convince them otherwise.
It is the same with societies, or in a broader scale, humanity in general. We, as a massive group, carry within us assumptions that are wrong, and the entirety of our world outlook is based on these wrong assumptions. We are wed to them. Bad assumptions usually lead to bad conclusions. And here we have societies, all humanity really, that is blinded by bad assumptions.
The first half of my book points out assumptions that most all of us have that are wrong. The second half of the book leads you to what I think is the major untruth that really has set humanity back, and I suggests a replacement that could change everything.
As The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) used to say “Know your role!” Read this book and you will know your role, and you will probably approach your life differently.
If you were planning on purchasing my ebook, you have until September 30. After that, the price goes up to 9.99.
Here is a link to the ebook:
Some of you don’t have a kindle and don’t want to deal with all of that. There is a hard copy available at Amazon. It is more spendy, at $25. I didn’t want to make that ask. But if you have the cash and want to hold the book in your hands, buy it. Here is a link.