Your life is like a ship, sailing in the world, sailing in the physical environment with all of its challenges and influences, and also sailing in the mental environment with all of its challenges and influences.
Work
Work is the essential activity of life. What you do for work, who you work with and for what purpose you work determine the essential value that you will experience in life. Work is natural. It is necessary, and it is the foundation of your existence here. To think otherwise is to miss the point about life. It is to misunderstand your purpose for coming here, the value that you bring with you and the opportunity for relationship that your work provides for you.
The Determination
You were born with a purpose and a mission in life – a service to perform given to you before you came, planted deep within you beneath the surface of your mind, planted deep beyond the reach of your worldly mind and intellect so that it could be preserved and not contaminated – only emerging when you are prepared and mature enough to recognize the true need for this, the true need to find your real direction in life.
Building the Foundation for a Greater Life
Facing a world of tremendous change and upheaval will require a greater Intelligence to guide you, a greater strength within you that is beyond you, but that you are a part of. It will require fortitude and compassion and patience. It will require that you relinquish what you think the world must have and your complaints against the world, no matter how deep set they may be.
Fear and Fearlessness
You have two fundamental aspects to your nature. You have a personal mind, which is associated with your body, a mind that has been conditioned by your cultures, your society, your families and by nature itself. This mind is driven by the need for survival. It is driven by the need for security and for resources. It is fundamentally fearful because it is so very aware of the risks and the prospect of loss in the future. It is haunted by this prospect of loss, and it is governed by the need to offset these risks.
The Pillar of Health
There is a great deal of conversation in the world about how to regain, enhance and maintain health. But let us look at a more fundamental question before we deal with these questions. That question is, What is health? What constitutes genuine health within a person?
Being Present in the World
Being still is being present with yourself and with whatever is going on in your environment. It is not about having happy or positive thoughts or fearful or negative thoughts. It is about looking, listening and feeling. This prepares you to know things.
The Pillar of Spiritual Development
You must bring the idea of spiritual development into a more complete approach. In order to have any kind of spiritual practice and understanding develop and bear fruit in your life, you must develop the other three Pillars of your life concurrently. All Four Pillars together must be in balance with the needs and demands of your life.