From birth, we are indoctrinated in what to think, and perhaps even more devastating, how to feel. We are convinced that we belong to a nationality and a country.

If you can’t feel for yourself without the approval of others, then how can you create original work?

The terrain here is strewn with obstacles of all sorts. If you feel you are immune to mass social conditioning, then the hypnosis is working as planned by those who manipulate perceived power.

Remember, you don’t realize that the system is critically flawed until it fails you. But you don’t want to wait for that scenario. Begin now by asking yourself this question: When was the last time that I had an original thought, or an authentic emotional intelligent feeling?

Most us have heard this: everything happens for a reason.

Agree? Disagree?

Of course, everything does happen for a reason—from the light bulb burning out to a selfless act of bravery to things from the dark side of the force.

When something wonderful happens to us, we rarely say it happened for a reason—which is a passive phrase most often connected to difficulties.

I suggest this approach: when some event ensnares you in a drama, it is you who must provide the reason, the lesson, and the meaning. This is power; this is art; and this is a life worth living.

Without hyperbole, indoctrination, or the need for years of training in a monastery, the kiteflier takes the line and instantaneously becomes one with the kite.

This is the Tao of kites, the irreducible arrangement of opposing forces that connect the flier to nature—the source of all that is.

Fly High, Land Gently!

If you are already full of ideas and opinions, how will an enlightened thought enter this crowded space?

This is not a theoretical puzzle. Great art cannot be expressed from memory or conceptual machinations—although such art may have a following, and even win awards. It is up to you, the artist, to know the difference between advertising and art fueled from divine fire.

Test the limitations of your mind the next time you are confronted with something you don’t agree with—you could be blind to the very thing you are seeking.

As the Zen saying goes: the tighter you squeeze, the less you have. 

We’ve all heard this old chestnut: Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

We’ve also learned the importance of asking the right question instead of chasing red herrings.

I like what Alan Watts had to say in this regard: to paraphrase, maybe a chicken is an egg’s way of making more eggs.