• Stay with your principles. Once you deviate from them, you give the law
of unintended consequences room to operate.
• Choose to experience your own life unrestrainedly; to vigorously use all
of your talents, abilities, passions, and strengths; to move forward
without guilt or shame; to revel in what you do and can do; to do it
forcefully: To be, without apology.
• Learn to think about primary factors, and avoid categorization. For
example, don’t just apply the words ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to something; go
deeper, and consider the benefits and harms caused by the thing in
question. Know things for what they truly are, not as objects that fit in
certain categories.
• There is no purpose of life, as most people seek. The only meaning to
your life is what you give it. That scares many people, but it also means
that you get full credit for every good thing you do.
• Be valiant for the truth.
• Remember that we have all been negatively affected by life on Earth.
We have all been damaged to one extent or another. Remember also
that some of this was purely chance. Most of us in the FDE have been
less damaged than average. People born into worse situations (to
illiterate families, to violent families, to drug-addicted families, and so
on) may not escape their damage as quickly as we have. Don’t demean
them.
• Remember that the dominant culture of the 20th century featured a
continual effort to locate, glorify and manipulate the basest aspects of
human nature. Good was frequently dismissed simply because it was
good. It will take time for people to get over this.
• You have many powerful enemies.
• The freer you get, the more clearly you will see and understand life.
And, seeing more clearly means that you will perceive not only
387
wonderful new things you can do. You will also recognize, for the first
time, some very unpleasant things that are difficult to bear.
• Remember that the errors of logic and psychology you rightly oppose
are necessary for some people. They are the only cloak they have to
protect themselves from things too painful to face. Do not simply take
away their cloak. If you cannot replace the cloak with something better,
leave them alone until you can. Do not break the damaged person, heal
them.
• When we become truly healthy, there will be no need for
embarrassment, no need for shame. We will be happy about ourselves
and what we do. This will occur incrementally, as we re-value and
improve ourselves, and as we eliminate mystical and false standards of
morality. This will not happen instantly or without some pain. Like the
bound feet of ancient Chinese women, our souls have been bound by a
backwards morality. Do not think that simply removing the bindings will
be enough; there will be significant adjustment involved. But a warping
of the soul is not as permanent as the warping of bones. We may
always remake ourselves, though the process may require significant
effort.
• If you have been deeply damaged, and fear that you will never be able
to reach greatness, know that you may always do things that make
greatness possible for others. And know that this too is a form of
greatness, and not a minor one.• Your life is far too important not to be lived. Accept no substitutes, and
be leery of delays.
• Keep thinking, keep improving, keep creating. Remember that once
386
people leave their pursuit of the high and great, they are left to define
their happiness by comparison with their neighbors. That gets ugly in a
hurry.
• Stay with your principles. Once you deviate from them, you give the law
of unintended consequences room to operate.
• Choose to experience your own life unrestrainedly; to vigorously use all
of your talents, abilities, passions, and strengths; to move forward
without guilt or shame; to revel in what you do and can do; to do it
forcefully: To be, without apology.
• Learn to think about primary factors, and avoid categorization. For
example, don’t just apply the words ‘good’ or ‘bad’ to something; go
deeper, and consider the benefits and harms caused by the thing in
question. Know things for what they truly are, not as objects that fit in
certain categories.
• There is no purpose of life, as most people seek. The only meaning to
your life is what you give it. That scares many people, but it also means
that you get full credit for every good thing you do.
• Be valiant for the truth.
• Remember that we have all been negatively affected by life on Earth.
We have all been damaged to one extent or another. Remember also
that some of this was purely chance. Most of us in the FDE have been
less damaged than average. People born into worse situations (to
illiterate families, to violent families, to drug-addicted families, and so
on) may not escape their damage as quickly as we have. Don’t demean
them.
• Remember that the dominant culture of the 20th century featured a
continual effort to locate, glorify and manipulate the basest aspects of
human nature. Good was frequently dismissed simply because it was
good. It will take time for people to get over this.
• You have many powerful enemies.
• The freer you get, the more clearly you will see and understand life.
And, seeing more clearly means that you will perceive not only
387
wonderful new things you can do. You will also recognize, for the first
time, some very unpleasant things that are difficult to bear.
• Remember that the errors of logic and psychology you rightly oppose
are necessary for some people. They are the only cloak they have to
protect themselves from things too painful to face. Do not simply take
away their cloak. If you cannot replace the cloak with something better,
leave them alone until you can. Do not break the damaged person, heal
them.
• When we become truly healthy, there will be no need for
embarrassment, no need for shame. We will be happy about ourselves
and what we do. This will occur incrementally, as we re-value and
improve ourselves, and as we eliminate mystical and false standards of
morality. This will not happen instantly or without some pain. Like the
bound feet of ancient Chinese women, our souls have been bound by a
backwards morality. Do not think that simply removing the bindings will
be enough; there will be significant adjustment involved. But a warping
of the soul is not as permanent as the warping of bones. We may
always remake ourselves, though the process may require significant
effort.
• If you have been deeply damaged, and fear that you will never be able
to reach greatness, know that you may always do things that make
greatness possible for others. And know that this too is a form of
greatness, and not a minor one.