Random Thoughts in Sequence

The necessity for understanding our personal character and behavior is essential to our Moral and spiritual progress. It is not the natural province or right of the highborn, nor is it achieved by accident, luck or divine providence but by working on ourselves—daily.

The aggressive position-taking and defending and verbal pirouettes that unfortunately sometimes pass for “doing” philosophy in today’s society falls way short of what we need as individuals.  As one of succinct explanations, I am suspicious of the murky verbiage found in academic, philosophical, and other dry texts. In as much as I passionately denounce displays of cleverness for it’s own sake, I am committed to non-patronizing explanations of helpful ideas for living well. I consider myself successful when my ideas are easily grasped and put to use in either my life or someone else’s real life, where it could actually do some good elevating that person’s character or my own.

In trying to keep with my idea of a democratic and unstuffy spirit of doctrine, this volume encapsulates the key ideas and uses of down-to-earth language and imagery suited to your ears today. To present my principles in as straightforward and useful a manner as possible, I have done my share of selection, interpretation, and improvisation with the ideas contained in this book. My aim has been to communicate the authentic spirit of my thoughts. I have thus given what I think is a base for moral living, which is in tune with today.

I hope this will be well understood. I feel we should shun mere clever theorizing in favor of actively applying these concepts to the concrete circumstances of daily life.  Accordingly, I have tried to express the kernels of my thoughts in an up-to-date, provocative way, one that will inspire readers not only to contemplate, but also to make the small, successive changes that culminate in personal dignity and a meaning-full, noble life.