1) Believe In Your Own Star (Form An Unshakable Attachment To Life)

“With life, no matter what you do, you are all in.” — Jordan Peterson

In some sense, I was always very attached to life. I had a lot of life in me, and a very vague, dim, but also rather lofty and grand — extremely so perhaps — lingering hope for the future somewhere deep inside me. At a more conscious level, I was lost for years in doubt, nihilism and despair. I was a like a farmer who had been given a plot of land to tend and sow, but instead was just standing there, sighing ‘What is the point of sowing these seeds? What does it all matter anyway’. Then, suddenly, this plot came under attack and became highly threatened by wild beasts — a marauding herd — and, suddenly, I became highly, highly concerned and motivated with holding on with all my might to this once seemingly accursed and almost pointless plot of land, the only property I had — the only slim chance I had at anything. My very life. The sooner you realize that this is the way it is, the better. As Martin Heidegger said, the way to embrace life to the fullest is to face squarely your own mortality. Then grab Being by the horns. There’s nothing else & you can’t make it go away or otherwise by demuring from life. You won’t remain free from sin by avoiding embracing life in all its injustice & cruelty; you will only sin a thousand times worse. To reject life is to fail to ‘Love Your God’. God is the Universe. To fail to love it is to go through the motions and avoid your responsibilities, avoid facing reality. Nietzsche & Jesus meant exactly the same thing. What you are most afraid of is usually not your own troubles, but your own possibilities; that if you allow yourself to begin to rise & achieve your dreams, others will try tear you down. Which they often do. But always remember, when you give yourself license to believe in yourself & shoot for the stars, far from being ‘narcisistic’, you are actually unconsciously communicating to others that they have license to do the same, which is the most philanthropic of gestures. ( Zizek on False Modesty: On Sabbath, Jewish believers meet in a synagogue and each of them says something. First, a big Rabbi says ‘Oh my Gd, I am not worthy of your attention G-d.’ Then, a rich Jewish merchant comes and says ‘Oh my G-d, I am also nobody, don’t even consider me, I am also not worthy of your attention.’ Then, I hope you know the joke, a poor Jew stands up and stands up and says: ‘G-d, I am also a nobody.’ The rich merchant kicks the Rabbi and says: ‘who is this guy that he thinks he can also say that he is a nobody! ) Do not feel over-run by the Group; the Truth, the Power all lies within the single, fully activated human mind, & there alone. The Group is just a miracle army or rescue-brigade you can utilize. Furtherfore, if you begin to have confidence, faith, that good things will happen to you, & focus on them, they are much more likely to occur. By all means be wary, but only within the context of a fundamental faith in the safety of your own actions & affirmation of life. Believe in your own Star.