Website owner: James Miller
It is a hard world
We are all born into a world that can be very hard and cruel. We live in a highly technological, highly complicated, highly demanding world. The main, central problem of life for most of us is making a living. That means getting the right job. Those who put a lot of effort into life, study hard in school, and get advanced, specialized schooling in the right area have the best chance of doing well. However, there are many who do go to college, incur huge student debts in doing so, and end up working at “bottom of the ladder” type jobs. For them college was a huge investment in both money and time that paid them nothing. (One must choose a speciality for which there is a demand — you can’t get your degree in drama and expect to get a high paying job). And it is a fact of life that many people do put in many hard years of schooling, often 20 years or more (as in the case of medical doctors), and find themselves in jobs they are not happy in. Indeed I have read that there are many medical doctors who are unhappy in their jobs. For me, my school years were the hardest, most stressful years of my life. They represent the most unhappy time of my life. The reason? All of the pressure and stress of all of the tests, etc. I developed a lot of mental disturbance, depression, neurosis, instability etc. in those years. I am certain now that it was the pressure and stress of school that was the cause of it all. School can be hard. There are some subjects that are much harder than others. The most difficult subject of all, I think, is mathematics. It requires a lot of mental discipline and clear thinking. Its concepts can be quite difficult to understand and difficult to explain. In my opinion, most mathematics textbooks are very poor — most mathematical exposition is poor. The reason is probably the difficulty of the subject and its concepts and the difficulty of explaining the ideas clearly. Other difficult subjects are chemistry and physics, perhaps partially because they involve a lot of mathematics. Another very difficult subject for me is language. Learning a foreign language is very hard for me. So, depending on what you study in school, school can be very stressful.
We live in a world of tens of thousands of different technical specialities that have arisen due to the gigantic knowledge explosion that has occurred in the last four hundred years stemming from experimental science (beginning with the scientific method of experimentation that began back in the 1600's). These tens of thousands of specialized areas of knowledge, specialized technologies, have spawned their own technical vocabularies (technical jargon that only those schooled in a particular area can understand). People thus go to school and specialize in one of these thousands of specialities. Or they find some job where they learn some speciality from on-the-job training.
Modern life is stressful. Being bombarded with jargon that we don’t understand produces stress. People in the modern age are often forced to deal with areas of specialized knowledge and jargon. An example is the computer jargon that we all encounter. Thus modern living involves continual learning and continual challenge. And stress. Stress especially for the under-prepared. We are constantly interfacing with complicated technologies on the job and off. We are all forced into continually expanding our knowledge of different areas. We all do well to be humble for we are all continually needing to learn from others in one way or another.
I have often wondered, if I had it to do all over again, if I would pick the same profession. I then start thinking about all the different professions: Teacher, policeman, lawyer, doctor, etc. I end up thinking that I probably wouldn’t be very happy with any of them. How about a life out on a self-sufficient homestead in the country? That sounds about the best to me.
Jan 2019
Jesus Christ and His Teachings
Way of enlightenment, wisdom, and understanding
America, a corrupt, depraved, shameless country
On integrity and the lack of it
The test of a person's Christianity is what he is
Ninety five percent of the problems that most people have come from personal foolishness
Liberalism, socialism and the modern welfare state
The desire to harm, a motivation for conduct
On Self-sufficient Country Living, Homesteading
Topically Arranged Proverbs, Precepts, Quotations. Common Sayings. Poor Richard's Almanac.
Theory on the Formation of Character
People are like radio tuners --- they pick out and listen to one wavelength and ignore the rest
Cause of Character Traits --- According to Aristotle
We are what we eat --- living under the discipline of a diet
Avoiding problems and trouble in life
Role of habit in formation of character
Personal attributes of the true Christian
What determines a person's character?
Love of God and love of virtue are closely united
Intellectual disparities among people and the power in good habits
Tools of Satan. Tactics and Tricks used by the Devil.
The Natural Way -- The Unnatural Way
Wisdom, Reason and Virtue are closely related
Knowledge is one thing, wisdom is another
My views on Christianity in America
The most important thing in life is understanding
We are all examples --- for good or for bad
Television --- spiritual poison
The Prime Mover that decides "What We Are"
Where do our outlooks, attitudes and values come from?
Sin is serious business. The punishment for it is real. Hell is real.
Self-imposed discipline and regimentation
Achieving happiness in life --- a matter of the right strategies
Self-control, self-restraint, self-discipline basic to so much in life