tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10954184842968068172024-03-13T09:55:57.260-07:00The Most Important Thing to be doing right now...Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-65800350909156533152009-04-05T16:23:00.000-07:002009-04-05T18:06:10.183-07:00Do Good Now, Make It Better LaterIt was a time long ago, I was bankrupt, depressed, unemployed, no credit, no assets, no car. I had hit bottom. It was a liberating feeling, to know that things could only get better! But I still didn't know how I was going to make it happen. I did some serious introspection with the goal of getting my life headed in a better direction, and I gave a lot of thought to the question of "What to doMichael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-36641060021373989552009-03-24T11:04:00.000-07:002009-03-24T11:12:28.113-07:00The Importance of a Single Snowflake"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," an eagle asked a wild dove. "Nothing more than nothing," was the answer. "In that case, I must tell you a marvelous story," the eagle said. "I was standing on a branch of a fir tree, close to its trunk, when it began to snow - not heavily, not a raging blizzard - no, just like a dream, without any wind and without any violence. I counted the snowflakes Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-71768830111703980172009-03-24T10:45:00.001-07:002009-03-24T10:51:40.189-07:00NihilismIn the previous blog entry, the word I was looking for, but could not find in my head at the time, is Nihilism. Without clicking the link and reading up on it, the word indicates a conviction that there is no meaning to anything in life. So, if there is no meaning, then it would seem that there is no importance to anything except that which we give it, and that is simply an illusion. ThereforeMichael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-32988946074331687592009-03-22T09:39:00.000-07:002009-03-22T10:08:32.736-07:00Questioning ImportanceJust doing some Major Premise Validation here: Is it possible that there is no Most Important Thing? Is the opposite of the Most Important Thing that nothing is important, that everything is irrelevant? What proof is there that anything is important? Is the concept of "importance" purely subjective, and that if we consider the bigger picture, that nothing matters at all to anyone except Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-74222818025932812972009-03-18T19:49:00.000-07:002009-03-18T20:30:36.101-07:00Smart people thinking about "important"One should guard against preaching to young people success in the customary form as the main aim in life. The most important motive for work in school and in life is pleasure in work, pleasure in its result, and the knowledge of the value of the result to the community.Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955), On EducationThe most important thing in life is to learn how to give out love, and to let it come Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-83703545288148067842009-03-15T12:10:00.001-07:002009-03-15T12:25:38.889-07:00It could be worse...There has been a thought going round in my head since I started this inquiry: that as long as I keep working on this Discovery of the Most Important Thing To Do Right Now, that it is certain that I will not be doing anything Trivial. There is a certain sense of Assurance, Confidence, that I will always have something that I can do that is Important. It is a great Centering, a Balance Point.MyMichael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-81932591971167377452009-03-15T09:55:00.000-07:002009-03-15T12:29:51.820-07:00In Search of The Most Important Thing To Do Right NowIt's becoming interesting to me that there are so many ways to describe something so indefinite as The Most Important Thing To Do Right Now.Place - Is it Here, or There? If it is in a Place away from where we are Right Now, then we remove the Doing of the Thing until some time later than Right Now because it will take some time to move to the place. So, most likely, the Most Important Thing Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-13778242545039873552009-03-13T15:52:00.000-07:002009-03-15T12:30:33.379-07:00More attributes of The Most Important ThingIntentional - This rules out something involuntary such as flailing about trying to regain our balance, or reacting to a hot plate, etc. So now we can envision the Important thing to be one of Choice, something done according to some previous thought, and intended to be done as part of some Plan, something we have come to know as the Most Important Thing for ourselves alone and distinct from Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-58902559511313133922009-03-12T23:24:00.000-07:002009-03-15T12:43:00.890-07:00Who would know?If I wanted to learn what is Important, I think I would ask someone who had a lot of life experiences, someone who had survived a fair amount of years. Someone who had earned his way and been successful. Someone healthy and happy. I would definitely want to know what's Important to them, because I would want to be healthy and happy and successful. I found those Important things in a book Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-73710902504984038182009-03-12T20:40:00.000-07:002009-03-15T12:31:31.631-07:00The Most Important Thing Is:What is the nature of The Most Important Thing to do right now. How would we describe this Most Important Thing? Although we may not know exactly what the thing is, we can know some of its attributes, for example:1. Personal - one size does not fit all. We are all unique.2. Immediate - what we do right now builds who we become, and creates the world around us.3. Purpose - planning adds Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1095418484296806817.post-21430189742547502532009-03-12T16:46:00.000-07:002009-03-15T12:32:17.766-07:00The Importance of a bike ride...In several email conversations with a friend, Mike Wargo, who teaches at a university in Germany, we have talked of the importance of doing something to help make this world a better place, but with a surplus of negative news going around, and conditions being as bad as they are in so many places, and with little to no good news on the horizon, what could one individual possibly do?We discussed Michael McCaffertyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06551762165327568554noreply@blogger.com1