Priorities

I was going to write today, I wanted to write today. Frankly, more important things came up. I know, you'd think being a philosopher/writer that laying down my truth and searching for the truth would be most important.

It isn't.

Being the truth and living the truth are more important.

Because the truth is I'm still fighting. I want to be at peace and writing. I want to be in the season of plenty as in plenty of rest. I'm in the season of plenty of challenges. I'm taking my time finding my way through because if it's worth doing it is worth doing correctly.

Long story short (late): I love you guys, and if you could pray that the time of plenty and support would come soon I would be able to minister more. Heck if I actually got comments I would be able to tailor my ministry more. That's the honest from the gut facts of my life. I know I don't innately deserve a larger ministry than I have, but I have to tend my flock here before I tend the larger flock.

Which makes it sound like I have some big important ministry here. It's really 4-5 people whom I love very much and who love me. In the end that's all that matters. Recognition and success are great, but meaningless if the inner life doesn't support them.

Today is just another day, another day to live and another day to wait for the season to end.

Good morning!

Today is going to be amazing. I'm sorry that there wasn't time yesterday to fit in a Maslow moment. There's nothing to worry about as I am already thinking about my topic for today. I haven't forgotten.
Things are progressing well here at the Malcolm compound. We're cleaning, gardening and hustling for work.

A quick word about gardening:

For 15 years I forgot the wonder and magic of gardening. I grew up watching my mother and grandma garden. It was always a place of peace and joy for me. I particularly loved growing things that could be eaten. Yet adult life got in the way (as it often does) and  I forgot how much I love plants and to garden.

 Now I'm revamping the garden on this house I've been in for 6 years. The work that was done to it before I bought it is still very much clear. Also my compost heap I've been tending for 6 years is still a resource. I'm being given plants by neighbors. It is just a wonderful way for me to share the blessings of God with those around me.

Don't be overly anxious for me.

Guys, just so you know there is absolutely nothing to worry about in my department. I have some very promising leads that I am following up on. Further I keep finding odd jobs to fill the gap.

Yes, we are unemployed. However we are not helpless. I am applying the same energy I was applying to working to continue to provide for my family. I'm well educated, I have strong job skills and experience. If I don't follow up on an opportunity right this second it's because I'm getting so many opportunities. We are hungry, but it's a deeper hunger, a hunger for life which can only be satisfied by living life to the full.

Things are going to be okay. If I sound frantic during the day it's because I can't slow down. For over a year I have been giving my all to my work. Don't ask me to stop, this is a good thing.

If you are curious: Yes, I have changed. I decided to stop letting circumstances define me and to start defining my circumstances. I'm done being told to be scared of what can't hurt me. God is providing for me, he has always been providing for me. I have a 7 day project ahead managing and organizing his blessings for the last 6 years. He never stops, so now neither do I.

Let me bless you. Give me work if you got it, pay what you can, blessing you is my reward. I'm just not frightened anymore. I'm alive and that's enough for me.

‘What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization’ Maslow part 1

Today we lay the foundation of everything Maslow has to teach us.

For those of you who don't know Maslow let me explain his ethos. There are a number of approaches to the human mind and treating the sick. Maslow and a man named Rogers began what is known as the Fourth Movement of psychology. They began it almost 50 years ago, yet it still hasn't made inroads very far into therapy. Maslow learned all he could about psychology as it was at the time he came to the field, then attempted to improve.

Like many solutions his was simple and complex at the same time. His solution was to approach sickness not by seeking out the causes, but by motivating humans towards health. This in my opinion is the gold standard of philosophy: don't criticize others, be better, if you are better it will shine above.

Anyway on to the quote:
‘What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization’

Oh how long I have struggled with his concept of self actualization. I first read about it 4 years ago and have been trying to solve the puzzle that long. I want to try to shorten the time for others.

Self actualization is being all you can be. Did you ever see a really fantastic baseball player? They don't hit EVERY ball, but the ones they don't hit don't bother them. It's called being "in the zone". Christians call it a "mountaintop moment".

Maslow was revolutionary in approaching these brief beautiful moments scientifically. He was a great scientist. I am not, I am a philosopher. More to the shunning and disdain of my academic friends I am a practical philosopher. Most times that bothers people, however in this case I am perfectly in my element. See, even at this moment I am becoming more actualized.

To be actualized fully means to be all you can be (and yes I'm aware that my american audience may roll their eyes at that phrase). There is a great peace to be had in understanding that you are what you are. It means that these mountaintop moments and being in the zone eventually never end. That was his dream, and mine as well.

A final note of the primary flaw in this quote, it's limited nature. Never forget that not only can a person only be all they can be, the same applies to objects. This is why an object will always ultimately fail as an object of worship. Though an object appreciates the attention you give it, and may give rewards (for all good things have rewards to give), when you start treating it as more than it can be you hurt it and yourself. An object cannot love you, only a human can. I am but one human and if you were patient enough to read this far and understand even a portion I love you all the more.

Please share comments, critique, concerns in the comments. If you have something personal to ask then you can email me at max.malcolm@outlook.com. I can't promise the answer you want, but I will answer as long as I have breath and ability. If I ever get backed up this blog is the place to watch. Check the most recent post, if it's more than a month old I'm away from my desk.

Self Challenge/new series intro

Abraham Maslow and Kurt Vonnegut made me who I am today. Kurt taught me sadness, Abraham taught me peace. I could go deep into their biographies, but I want to set off my new life by writing short pieces about wisdom from each man. Our first series will be:

Great Quotes by Maslow, explained and explored

Here is a summary of our topics:
1. ‘What a man can be, he must be. This need we call self-actualization’


2. ‘I was awfully curious to find out why I didn’t go insane’


3. ‘If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail’


4. ‘We may define therapy as a search for value’


5. ‘A first-rate soup is more creative than a second-rate painting’

6. ‘Dispassionate objectivity is itself a passion, for the real and for the truth’


7. ‘The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short’


8. ‘What is necessary to change a person is to change his awareness of himself’


9. ‘It isn’t normal to know what we want. It is a rare and difficult psychological achievement’


10. ‘The ability to be in the present moment is a major component of mental wellness’


11. ‘Be independent of the good opinion of other people’


12. ‘We fear to know the fearsome and unsavoury aspects of ourselves, but we fear even more to know the godlike in ourselves’


13. ‘If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I’d still swim. And I’d despise the one who gave up.’


14. ‘If you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you’ll be unhappy for the rest of your life.’


15. ‘A poet must write if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself’


I would talk more here, but I am excited to bite into our first topic. See you next post.

The well must work harder to write

It is no small thing that some of the greatest writers have been deeply troubled. The troubled man must fight like an animal to escape whatever he's running from. See I used to think it mattered what he is running from, it does not.

Ah so many years searching, and now I have found what I was looking for. This is the truth, and I could tell it to you and it would make no sense if you are within the machine. Here is the basic truth of the universe:

Nothing can innately be any more or any less than what it is. An object is an object. A person is a person. Size is meaningless, small objects can be more important than large when they are needed. Needing is the force on which it all runs. Are you hungry? Eat! The food is there, you just haven't learned to ask.

This is the truth. It is both simple and metaphorical. Let he who has ears hear.

I meditated for 10+ years trying to understand the basic machine code of the universe. There IS a grand unifying truth that ties it all together. I was just made in such a way that it bothered the living crap out of me. I mean that literally, in that the bullshit which the world and society kept trying to pour in kept being bothered right back out. I kept on going with the knowledge that what is good must come from what is good, and what is evil (that is damaging) must come from those who are innately wrong. In the end I boiled away all the doubletalk and the magical thinking and found out that fear and those who support it are the true enemy.

In the end there is nothing to fear, not even fear. Anything that frightens you has been introduced by someone more frightened than you. Eventually even THAT path leads to the truth. Because eventually you will be so burnt out on being afraid that you crave once again simple truth.

I am blessed today because I can love my fellow being again without reservations. I am still forced to draw lines and be stronger.

The day I can write more of this truth is coming still yet. The truth must be told, and may I be blessed enough to have it on my lips and in my words. Words are the rudder that turns mankind.

So tired

I'm talking about soul tired.... somewhere in this universe a God who loves me exists... every now and then it would be awfully nice for him to take more of an interest in me... my needs... my life.... honestly if he doesn't want to bother with me it would be a more efficient use of both our times if he'd let me die.... but that's his job. Mine is to do my job. Some days that isn't enough. I'm not.... I don't know; I lack some essential element. If God is doing his job, and everyone else is doing their job... the blame has to fall on someone. It must be me. I must be missing a key element. God help me.(both as a 3 word totally adequate prayer and a statement.)