IX. GOALS AND OBSTACLES

The Five Elemental Goals

Personal liberation involves the ability to function independently in the balanced attainment of what are here termed the Five Elemental Goals. These are wealth, health, pleasure, intellect, and spirit. There is a specific mentality which should be developed in each instance.

1. Wealth

Rugged Self-Sustenance

Eliminates the tendency to unjustly blame others in ways which might encourage underlying feelings about some alleged right to be sustained by the efforts of other people. The individual is then shown in very simple fashion how to proceed systematically towards economic goals.

2. Health

Proactive Self-Esteem

The premise here is that people who abuse their health do not esteem themselves highly enough. Most such individuals would not vandalizw a church, but would render their body, the temple of their own spirit, sickly through unhealthy practices. Problems here usually come from too much emotional reaction to the opinions of others and not enough analytical thinking about simple health goals.

3. Pleasure

Focused Productive Enjoyment

This is concerned with eliminating the kind of compulsive simian gregariousness that keeps people embroiled in activities which, decades later, may well come to be viewed as worthless and unproductive. The axiom here is that life's best pleasures are the ones where something wholesome and new is being learned or mastered. This can be done in large or small groups, or alone.

4. Intellect

Courageous Independent Knowledge

Here is the goal of total open-mindedness in seeking truth. The individual bypasses all pre-packaged opinions and seeks only facts, even from strange or "forbidden" sources. He then forms his own opinions without feeling that he must necessarily discuss or validate anything that he has learned with anyone else.

5. Spirit

Viable Rooted Spirituality

This involves taking an eclectic approach to the study of many spiritual systems (23). When this is done, the seeker will find that for every idea in any one system, their is usually a parallel idea in every other system. Differences usually involve only practical emphasis. The individual, no longer parochial in his understanding, is now free to explore all the more deeply his own ancient heritage. In this way he can reap the benefits of being both worldly and rooted. For moral excellence to prevail in society nobody needs to be converted to anybody else's national tradition. Cosmopolitan tolerance between separate indigenous traditions is superior to the bland, faceless beehive spirituality of global universalism.

The Actualization of Goals

You are the sum total of what you produce. If you produce nothing, you are nothing, except perhaps a poignant bundle of excuses.

1. A goal is simply a desire which we have decided can, and will, be actualized.

2. The one overriding personal goal should be to live happily and well. Begin now. Since life is an ongoing daily process, the journey itself is the goal.

3. The highest actualization of evolutionary expression can only be attained in liberty through self-determination.

4. Learn thoroughly a diverse knowledge of the way the world truly is. Your goals for society may or may not be revolutionary, but it is best to plan your personal goals based upon going somewhat with the tides of history rather than completely against them. Be careful to listen to your conscience in doing this.

5. The individual may give or receive help from others, but it is wrong for him to expect the total overall impact of others in his life to be more than a break-even proposition. The ways one gains in life should be achieved incidentally to the inevitable involvement with others.

6. When bemoaning the amount that you are encroached upon by others, be equally as cognizant of the ways in which others benefit you. Everyone else is pursuing their hopes and dreams too. Over time, the amount of encroachment is usually balanced by the amount of benefit. It is helpful of course, if you can structure your affairs so that you can gain more than you lose in this regard (24).

7. If one has many and large goals, even if they are never achieved, he will usually accomplish far more than if he has "down to Earth" or "attainable" goals. Priority sequencing and proper time allocation is necessary of course, to avoid spreading oneself too thinly.

8. The Five Elemental Goals correspond to the five elements of ancient science: wealth to earth, health to air, pleasure to water, intellect to fire, and spirit to ether. These are the five categories of human attainment. Each is "higher" than the preceding, but dependent for it's foundation upon the preceding. There is no overlap between the categories, but everything in life falls into at least one of the five.

9. A good balance in attainment among the Five Elemental Goals is far more important than a high degree of attainment in any one. Contemplation of specific instances will reveal that there are no exceptions to this. Happily, this proper balance is also a sure path to a satisfactory degree of attainment in all five.

10. True adoration of the Totality of All comes naturally only when one attains mastery in sufficient degree of the Five Elemental Goals.

11. When at a crossroads in life and trying to decide what to do next, try the following: Set aside an entire day, or two if necessary. Get pencil and paper, then first meditate upon what you would do if you had almost unlimited means, as you would for instance, after wining a very large lottery. Think deeply into this and write your ideas down. Relative to proposed daily activities, make this idealized list a very balanced one in terms of the Five Elemental Goals. In doing this you have explored the true self or what the self would be if unhampered by the constraints of situation. Next contemplate how, with your more limited means you can come as close as possible to actualizing this more ideal scenario, but on a smaller scale. Within each of the Five Elemental Goals sequence your priorities, eliminating as many things as possible in the process. Scale down the entire construct to accommodate actuality. Remember that quality is more important than quantity. Be sure to keep a proper balance as you do this.

12. For wealth, try getting systematic. Decide what you want, write it down, plus what you will do to get it, and by what date. Be realistic, then double the time or half the amount to accommodate the inevitable intervention of fate (25). Program your subconscious by visualizing yourself in the future with the goal attained, enjoying the fruits of your labor. Do this with intense emotion and pictures, not language. Then begin implementing your plan.  

13. Make four lists of the things of this world that you desire. First list the things you cannot live without. Second, the things you cannot be happy without. Third, the things you want very much. Fourth, the things that it would also be nice to have. Once this is done, you will be very surprised how quickly you can cross things off the lists. Feel free to delete any item on any list or to relocate things from one list to another. It is easiest to simply delete as many items as possible, if this can be done without the kind of rationalization which arises from negativity or laziness.

14. Any true goal must be based on an overriding first premise embodying an important ideal which will not be compromised at any cost. Mere technical problems will then be seen simply as points to be resolved rather than as stumbling blocks which can be used as an excuse to alter the basic nature of the goal itself. When a system is internally coherent and has long term workability, then all opposing elements will, by persistence, be eliminated.

15. Think consciously of what you want only when you are in position to get it. Subconsciously be always ready. Time allocation will adjust automatically and resource utilization will be maximized.

16. In every situation always do what is effective towards the desired end. Keep your mind on your goal. In this way you will be worthy of respect. When visiting your banker don't necessarily feel compelled to comment upon his necktie or his secretary's voluptuousness.

17. One should have firm values so as to deal completely with situations at the time they occur, in a stalwart but never foolhardy manner. One should not have to think later about the situation and how it should have been handled.

18. The fewer one's goals, the easier their attainment. Make as many goal related elements as possible work within, cancel out, or disappear within the total system.

19. It is usually best not to discuss goal related activities with anyone not directly involved in advancing the goal. In this way we avoid frivolous chit-chat and other negative elements. It is far better to pleasantly surprise people with positive results once they are achieved.

20. He who would steal time from you in part murders you, because time is what life is made up of. Idleness therefore, is suicide.

21. Always procrastinate, but only that which can truly be done better at a more opportune time. Be very careful to avoid self-deception in this. Unpleasant tasks are no worry once they are behind you.

22. Interest is far mightier than reluctant will power. He who works under will alone will watch the clock. He who works with interest may miss his lunch hour. A means of livelihood embodying one's highest ideals will provide intense interest and a great joy in living.

23. Once a goal is achieved, we usually find a new goal. Having goals it seems is just as important as goal objects themselves. Again, the journey is the goal.