What Do I Know?

Back when I was a boy of 15 years old, things were not going all that well in my life. My parents were newly divorced, my life was completely upended, and I was living in a whole new world that I did not grow up in.

Needless to say, I made some mistakes. I remember this one particular time when I had made a few bad decisions, I decided to climb into a tree in my yard. It was almost as if I was seeking protection from the tree from some dangerous animal that wanted to eat me. I cried a lot. 

While I was in the tree pouring out my soul, I was reminded of what I learned about King Solomon from my days spent in church and Sunday school. 

Basically, the story goes like this..

God offered King Solomon anything he requested of him. "Ask me for what you desire, and I will give it to you," God said. "If you want land, it is yours. If you want gold and treasures, you will have it."

I just remember that King Solomon ask God not for gold nor riches, land nor power, and he didn't ask Him for women and followers on social media. 

King Solomon asked God for wisdom and knowledge.

"Because you have asked this of Me, I will give you everything." said God.

As I sat up in that tree, crying,  I remember asking the same of God. "I want to know everything, please. Just like King Solomon."

Well, like that saying goes, be careful what you wish for. 

I don't know everything... yet! I don't think God works like that as far as I can tell by looking at my life.

**And before I continue, let me clarify one simple fact. It does not matter to me what you call God. If you say some other version of calling out the name of the Almighty God, Creator, Great Spirit, Allah, or Aheeyeh, that's probably fine as long as you know what WHO you are talking about and speak with a deep respect of His Name. To me, God has always been who or what I need Him to be, when I approach Him with respect and honor. I've always approached Him as a father, but He is not limited to that character. 

I'll continue. God hasn't really granted me wishes like a genie in a bottle. However, usually it's a form of direction, a small whisper in my ear, or a deep desire in my heart to move towards a particular call to action. If the whisper is something good, creative, and uplifting, I know that whisper comes from they Almighty Creator, God. 

I know that when I follow that "still small voice," usually great things happen. If I ignore it and do it my own way, usually things do not go very well. 

So what do I know? I know what my life experience has taught me. What do you know?

Knowledge is a loaded word. It means facts, information or skills that are gained through experience and education. 

Wisdom is also a loaded word. It describes the quality of having gained experience, knowledge, and GOOD  JUDGEMENT. 

Don't put your hand in the fire! That shit hurts! That's knowledge and wisdom wrapped up in a painful moment that for some reason, we all have to learn. But we all walk away from that experience a little different; a little more wise than before.

I think nothing of knowledge and wisdom if it is not for the use or good service of myself and others. To clarify that sentence, I do not think it is considered wisdom or knowledge if I cannot use it to help other people live in peace and happiness.

I have to say this so please forgive me. F**K your theories. Theories are ideas of what generally is thought of what might be the case. These could be considered stepping stones towards the truth of the matter, but the actual truth and facts have not conclusively been discovered yet. Theories can lead to confusion and disbelief altogether. 

I prefer universal laws. A universal law cannot be disproven and is timeless.  

Don't put your hand in the fire! That shit hurts! LAW

If you jump out of an airplane with no way to fly, you are going to fall. Usually a law is determined when one condition meets another particular condition. A high place, a jump, and no ability to fly, leads to a fall. That's a law. 

So, what do I know? Why even ask the question in the first place?

I used to antagonize my friends and family with the question, "Do you really believe the earth is round?" Then came the deadpan face and the response, "Are you freakin kidding me?" 

I probably shouldn't have, but I really enjoyed it. I don't care if the earth is round, or flat, or a disk, or a spheroid or a square. I don't care if it looks like a 3d pyramid. I really don't care. But what I did enjoy at the time (and I think it was foolish now for the record) was that nobody would really debate me on the subject. They would usually just get mad and the conversation never went anywhere positive. 

The knowledge I gained from antagonizing my friend and family with flat earth theory was this: 

1) That's a really immature way to irritate someone. 
2) Almost nobody was willing to debate and discover with me. 
3) Almost nobody had any interesting facts or experience to share that would conclusively shut me the f**k up! 
4) Almost everybody quoted things that they read from a book, were taught in school, or someone else told them was the way of things. 
5) Many people got irrationally angry and/or shut down completely.

I think the reason that is the case is because we simply don't know. Why don't we know that absolute truth of the matter in regards to the condition of our world?

Probably because we haven't seen it. Seeing is believing. Trusting in what somebody else told you isn't the same as actually believing it for yourself.

Why are we so willing to believe what someone else told us is TRUTH?

Probably because we're busy. 

When is the last time you asked someone, "How are you?" And their general response is, "Doing good, just busy."

Is that what are lives amount to? Busy? Busy doing what?

What are you doing with your life? And why are you doing it?

I absolutely hate that response when I ask someone how they are doing. It tells me absolutely nothing of the peace, happiness, and harmony they are living in their life. As a matter of fact, usually if someone gives me that answer, it quite the opposite. 

Are we busy like a beehive? Nature, order, teamwork, flowers, energy, flow, harmony and servitude towards a higher purpose (HONEY and LIFE) are things that you will observe from a beehive. 

Something tells me our busy looks way different. Jobs, relationships, homes, kids, school, chores, more chores, rush hours, errands, bills, and a laundry list of other shit that we absolutely have to accomplish or we won't achieve happiness. Usually we end up exhausted, irritated, and farther from peace and happiness than when we started the day. 

Yikes.

I think we should stop being busy. At least, we should stop being busy like that. 

When is the last time you stopped and read a book?

When is the last time you went for a walk in the woods?

When is the last time you prayed or meditated?

When is the last time you stopped and pondered on whether this life is the one you want to be living?

What's it gonna take for you to actually achieve happiness?

I don't know everything yet, but I do know that I have done quite a lot of busy work to try to achieve happiness. 

I've made a lot of money. Didn't last. 

I got a good job. I hated it.

I dated girls. It was superficial. 

I had nice things. They broke.

All of this failure lead to depression and sadness. I don't like depression and sadness. I like being happy. Beer was my happy pill. I got hooked and abused my happy pill until it was destructive. 

What's your happy pill? Beer? Drugs? Weed? Money? Sex? Cellphone? Business? Possessions? 

From my experience, none of those things will work. They will only be fleeting and then it's off to the next beer or off to the next possession. 

Possession. Interesting thought. The word possess means to have as a belonging; to own. The word possessed means to have complete power over someone and be manifested through speech and actions. 

I used to possess a twelve pack of beer. Now that twelve pack of beer has possessed me. That didn't work out so well for me. 

What do you possess that is now possessing you?

The Buddha speaks of this as a clinging or an attachment to something. Simply put, if you cling or attach yourself to anything in this world, it will lead you to unhappiness, chaos, and disharmony. 

Jesus said, "Don't worry about tomorrow. Today has enough worries of its own."

Other spiritual practices teach us to, "Let it go," and, "Nature has the answer to all things."

That all sounds like pretty good wisdom to me. 

So what do I know, really? 

I know that we have all played a hand in banging up this world pretty badly.

I know we didn't mean for it to happen. 

I know that we can change it. 

I know that we are all too busy, worry to much, are depressed and anxious because we exist in either the past or the future. Very few of us are in the present. This leads to mindlessness. 

I know that we all cling to something that is destroying us. 

I know that we all have gifts from the Almighty God, Creator, and that many of us are not living in our gifts.

I know that many of us are not looking for the truth of the matter. If you do not seek, you will not find. And no frickin' way is Google the be-all-end-all of information, facts, wisdom, and knowledge. 

I know that we all believe in things that we have not seen or discovered for ourselves. 

I know that not all of us are busy like the beehive. We are more busy like a wildfire. 

What do you know?

I pray for you all and my heart bleeds for the condition of this world. I truly want you to achieve happiness and peace. But it starts with your first choice when you get out of bed. I know that many of us will not make the necessary sacrifices to attain the level of peace and happiness I have discovered since I discarded alcoholism from my life. I know I had to experience my life up to this point for a divine purpose. That purpose was to bring you this message. 

If this message has blessed you and you would like to leave a blessing, you may do so by donating so that I can continue my mission. Thank you! Venmo: @gregwhitejr cashapp: $gregwhitejr or paypal.me/gregwhitejr

I'm also going to set up a mailbox so that I can receive other blessings that are not money. I love art, gardening, and many other creative works. Please feel free to share these things as well! God bless you all!