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▊INTRODUCTION. I once worked at a firm where there were the usual quota of envy, conflict and interpersonal friction in the office. For instance, one day a colleague came to me with the words: “The problem with old Herman (an alias) is that he thinks that the Universe revolves around him!”
▊THE PROBLEM TODAY. The tragedy is that many people today (if not most) are still behaving as if the Cosmos revolves around them; as if the entire Universe, billions of light-years across, has been created just for them; i.e., a giant, majestic carousel on beg and call to satisfy their every need in their mad dash for instant gratification, pleasure and non-negotiable satisfaction.
Sadly, for some the penny of the self-realisation of narcissist behaviour never seem to drop. We see it on social media, in public and also at home, e.g., especially when rivalry between siblings already had become irreparably toxic.
Now bear in mind that, having said that, I am not against the idea of a healthy, self-asserting ‘ego’. Without ‘ego’ no person on earth probably would ever get very far. We all need a ‘nutritious’ amount of ‘ego’, i.e., self-respect, a positive self-image, self-confidence or assertiveness, to stand up against bullies, criminals, tyrants and politicians. I am reminded of the guy who reportedly complained: "They say I am an incorrigible, insolent jerk, and those are my friends. What my enemies have had to say about me cannot be repeated here." [Quote: Anon].
So, sometimes lacking divine knowledge and wisdom we make many mistakes, incur many failures and waste a lot of time trying to reinvent a wheel that is already as round as it will ever get. Two current examples:
● The palaeontologist engaged in the painstaking excavation of fossils may, in his estimation, be under the blissful impression that he is collecting 'empirical evidence' for Darwin’s ‘Evolutionism’ while, in the meantime, he is only collecting geological evidence, as documented in sediment, for the affirming of the Biblical Flood of Noah.
● The scientist engaged in fighting ‘global warming’ trying to remedy the effects of ‘climate change’ may, in his estimation, be under the blissful impression that he is fixing the world while, in the meantime, he is only affirming the prophesies from the Book of Revelation and the fact that this world is echatologically being catapulted inexorably toward those natural, meteorological & political catastrophes that will eventually culminate in the Seven Vials Judgments and the Great White Throne Judgment of God. If only the penny for them will drop in time. [See Matthew24:1-51 and Revelation1 Chptrs 1-22].
▊INTRODUCTION. I once worked at a firm where there were the usual quota of envy, conflict and interpersonal friction in the office. For instance, one day a colleague came to me with the words: “The problem with old Herman (an alias) is that he thinks that the Universe revolves around him!”
On another occasion, the anecdote was told about the secretary of a manager who was engaged in trying to pacify an irate client, was reportedly told: "Don't mind him. He is just trying to cope with the Universe ... and it is one heck of a Universe!" [Quote: Anon].
▊DOES THE PENNY EVER DROP? So, after this charge against the ‘egomaniac’ Herman had been percolating in my mind for some time, I eventually began to recall, rather embarrassingly, the numerous times that I too have been perambulating through my life and days as if the world revolved around me.
In fact, it had taken the better part of seven decades (I am turning 76 in 2023) for me to realise how selfish, egotistical and selfseeking I had been all my life, and, had I been asked to count the number of incidents when I behaved like an uncouth cave-dwelling Neanderthal of an insolent and uncivil jerk, ten hands with 10 fingers on each probably would not have sufficed.
In fact, it had taken the better part of seven decades (I am turning 76 in 2023) for me to realise how selfish, egotistical and selfseeking I had been all my life, and, had I been asked to count the number of incidents when I behaved like an uncouth cave-dwelling Neanderthal of an insolent and uncivil jerk, ten hands with 10 fingers on each probably would not have sufficed.
▊THE PROBLEM TODAY. The tragedy is that many people today (if not most) are still behaving as if the Cosmos revolves around them; as if the entire Universe, billions of light-years across, has been created just for them; i.e., a giant, majestic carousel on beg and call to satisfy their every need in their mad dash for instant gratification, pleasure and non-negotiable satisfaction.
Sadly, for some the penny of the self-realisation of narcissist behaviour never seem to drop. We see it on social media, in public and also at home, e.g., especially when rivalry between siblings already had become irreparably toxic.
Now bear in mind that, having said that, I am not against the idea of a healthy, self-asserting ‘ego’. Without ‘ego’ no person on earth probably would ever get very far. We all need a ‘nutritious’ amount of ‘ego’, i.e., self-respect, a positive self-image, self-confidence or assertiveness, to stand up against bullies, criminals, tyrants and politicians. I am reminded of the guy who reportedly complained: "They say I am an incorrigible, insolent jerk, and those are my friends. What my enemies have had to say about me cannot be repeated here." [Quote: Anon].
▊WE ARE ALL BORN ‘BARBARIANS’. Every person that is born today is born a naked, illiterate and undomesticated little rascal that has to be subdued, tamed and disciplined. Some, especially those from the female gender, are sometimes even sent to ‘finishing school’ ... only to come back ‘finished’ for life, unless they remain level-headed and do not become so conceitedly openminded that their brain falls out.
Be that as it may ... while the atheist believes in his morbid religion of 'death-after-death' and that this life ('BIOS' life) is all there ever will be, Evangelical Christians know that this life probably is only a preview or dress-rehearsal, a preparation for the Hereafter, i.e., 'potty-training' for real life ('ZOE' life) in Eternity to come.
▊SCIENCE & ACADEMIA. So, it is also interesting how scientists have lately gotten involved in the mad rush to fix ‘climate change’, the term currently in vogue after it was downgraded from the earlier hysterical ‘global warming’ driven bandwagon. It is good to be intelligent, great to be well-educated and absolutely indispensable to be endowed with a sound work ethic, and that is who most scientists and experts hopefully are.
We must never, however, make the mistake of equating intelligence, education, innovativeness and entrepreneurship with ‘wisdom’. Never let your schooling come into the way of your education.
▊ WHERE WISDOM COMES FROM. ‘True’ wisdom and ‘true’ knowledge come from the fear of (i.e., reverential respect for) God. The Bible says:
”The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom! And to depart from evil is understanding … !”
[Proverbs1:7; Job28:28-MKJV].
● The palaeontologist engaged in the painstaking excavation of fossils may, in his estimation, be under the blissful impression that he is collecting 'empirical evidence' for Darwin’s ‘Evolutionism’ while, in the meantime, he is only collecting geological evidence, as documented in sediment, for the affirming of the Biblical Flood of Noah.
● The scientist engaged in fighting ‘global warming’ trying to remedy the effects of ‘climate change’ may, in his estimation, be under the blissful impression that he is fixing the world while, in the meantime, he is only affirming the prophesies from the Book of Revelation and the fact that this world is echatologically being catapulted inexorably toward those natural, meteorological & political catastrophes that will eventually culminate in the Seven Vials Judgments and the Great White Throne Judgment of God. If only the penny for them will drop in time. [See Matthew24:1-51 and Revelation1 Chptrs 1-22].
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