The next episode in this feature will be list #500. It has taken nearly fourteen years to compile. At this rate, should I make it to episode 1,000, I will be 77 years old in 2039. A daunting thought, if ever there was one!
Next week, the list will be all 500 episodes listed with the odd sardonic comment. But this week, I thought I'd post a list of the principles by which I live my life. Until I was around 50 years old, I had no real core beliefs or principles. I was not a bad person, but I just drifted. I would see things that were wrong and react, this blog started as a reaction to bad things. I did not however, have a philosphy or set of values which I felt I had to conform to. When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, I did a stocktake of my life and I realised that although I was doing a lot, there was no focus or purpose to much of it. It was just existing for the sake of existing. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but I realised that there are things I do want to do and if I was to do them, I had to have goals, values aims and a purpose in life. I spent an indecently long period of time mulling over this. Eventually I realised that I was on a journey. I had boarded the train, but not bothered to ask where it was going. I was just sitting there looking out of the window, enjying the ride.
If I ever wanted to reach the places I wanted to get to I had to know what I wanted when I got there. The trouble was, I didn't really know what I wanted in life. I had labelled myself as many things. We all do. Some of these things, I was happy with. Some less so. So I thought "If I want to find out where I want to go in life, I need to start by defining my ten core beliefs" and then frame my plan around them. If I had a plan and things I wanted to do, I had to be happy in how I got there. So here are my ten core beliefs.
1. God made the universe because being lonely is the very worst thing imaginable, whatever you are. The cruellest thing anyone can do, be it a government, a carer, a family member, is to isolate people and force them to be lonely and cut off from love.
2. No possessession is worth hurting someone to acquire. Probably 95% of the woes of the world are caused by people getting just a little greedy and breaking this rule. We all sometimes want stuff we can't afford, land we are not entitled to, partners who are not available to us and plaudits we haven't earned. When we start hurting other people get it, we become the problem
3. All life is sacred and we should treat it as such. As individuals, we need to survive, which requires food, but we should never cause unneccessary pain and hurt to anything in the process of filling our bellies. I didn't eat meat for fourteen years, but I came to realise that it is perfectly natural for humans to eat meat and for some of us very beneficial to our health. We can however make the choice to avoid foods that are produced in a cruel manner. That, to me is the right thing to do. If you eat meat, but struggle with your conscience about it, eat less meat and when you do, eat good meat that is humanely produced. Generally it is higher quality and tastes better. Of all the points on the list, this is perhaps the one which has caused me most angst.
4. I only know what is going through my own mind, I have not lived your experience, so I have no idea why you have made the choices you have made, whether I agree with them or not. I do not have your perspective, and I have no right to judge you. However I do have the right, if necessary to defend myself and the people I love if you pose a threat to any of us. I will always try and choose a non violent route, but when this is not possible I will do what I have to do.
5. As a musician, my role on planet earth is to try and make people's life just a little bit better and make them just a little bit happier, if only for a short time. When people see my band I want them to leave feeling better and happier than when the arrived. It is a little known fact that when you sing, you acquire more oxygen in your lungs than you would normally have and this gives you a feeling of mild euphoria, which is why we try and get the audience to join in (if ever you see a band, give yourself permission to have fun). Aside from my family and personal life, I realised that this was where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do with my life. I am enjoying my music more than ever at the moment. Life has taught me that the wind can change direction very suddenly, but as a musician and as a band, the wind is in our sails and I am loving it.
6. God put the people in my life I need at the time I need them. Some are only in my life for far too short a time, so I try and appreciate them and make time for them.
7. Some people are evil and wish you ill intent. Sometimes you don't recognise this until it is too late. Always watch how people treat other people. If they are rude or aggressive towards people who are not in a position to respond in kind, they are probably not good people to be around. That is usually the first warning sign.
8. Winter follows summer, summer follows winter. Enjoy the Sun when it shines, play in the snow when it snows. When it rains and the wind blows, always remind yourself that this, like everything else will pass.
9. You will lose people you love in life and the hurt will be too much at times. Just tell yourself that the reason it hurts so much, is because you were lucky to have their friendship and love. They would not want tou to mourn, they would want you to celebrate the good times.
10. None of us can see the future and none of us can change the past. Whether we believe in God or not, whether we are evil or virtuous, we will all end up the same way. Whatever contributions we make are transient. Even the pyramids will disappear in the blink of an eyelid in the grander timescale of the universe. The universe is 14 billion years old. Civilisation is around 4-5,000 years old. Only our generation has had the ability to see friends on the other side of the world on our phones and chat to them. How amazing is that. Appreciate the fact that we live in a time where we can do such things, where we don't have to worry about smallpox, where every day new treatments for diseases emerge and new technology that makes life easier is developed. Be grateful and celebrate this and next time you are moaning because you can't get a phone signal, just remember,that wasn't even an option for every other generation of humanity. We are lucky. It's just a shame that we find it so hard to realise it and share the spoils of it with our brothers and sisters in the world who are less well off. We are where we are on the timeline of the Universe and we are the luckiest generation, unless we are stupid enough to spoil it!
I will share a little secret with you. When I first wrote this blog, I only included the first sentence of points 1-10. I then thought about point four and realised that as you haven't got a clue what is going through my head, it will probably seem meaningless. I thought this illustrates the point quite well. Here is the raw list
1. God made the universe because being lonely is the very worst thing imaginable, whatever you are.
2. No possessession is worth hurting someone to acquire.
3. All life is sacred and we should treat it as such.
4. I only know what is going through my own mind.
5. As a musician, my role on planet earth is to try and make people's life just a little bit better.
6. God put the people in my life I need at the time I need them.
7. Some people are evil and wish you ill intent.
8. Winter follows summer, summer follows winter.
9. You will lose people you love in life and the hurt will be too much at times.
10. None of us can see the future and none of us can change the past.
The Ten Commandments, it ain't, but it serves me well. And as per point five, I will leave you with a tune from The False Dots to put a smile on your face. There is an old saying "eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die".
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