"The only way to knowing when something is good is through the heart; if you have no heart, then you'll never know whether or not something is truly good."
Heart never lies, but the head can tell you whatever you want to hear. It's a master of disguise and a predator of the good life. With it you can deny/negate the truth in order to open doors for yourself that really should remain shut. If you have heart, you'll know when you're doing something you shouldn't. Even when your head comes up with several reasons why you should do it anyway-- you'll know you shouldn't...well...you'll know if you have heart...and you'll know if you haven't allowed bad experiences/bad people to harden the heart you have.
Now someone out there is saying, "there are no bad people". I used to think that, too. I thought everyone had heart; I know better now. Sure everyone has a physical heart, but not everyone has heart. There's a difference. Heart means you will stand for what is right whether you like it or not. It also means that you possess the ability to stand down anything that isn't right. Not necessarily in full protest, but at least in your life. Heart means integrity. Having a heart just means that there is an organ beating in your chest, pumping blood from one end of the body to the other.
Not everyone is integral. In fact, most people are not. What's the gauge? Watch the people closest to you interact with other people. Listen to what they have to say about situations that don't involve you, and how they handle them. If the situation involves you, like they do to themselves, they will tell you whatever they need to in order to get from you the response they want. They have to "lie to kick it", and that doesn't bother them in the least. A can't-miss sign of heartlessness for me is the definition of "free" in the minds of others. I absolutely hate it when I'm forced to be around people who believe that "free" means you're entitled to some giveaway just because the giver said it was of no charge to you. They never stop to think about how much it costs the giver. If the government is giving out free cheese, that DOES NOT mean you have to go stand in line and get "yours"! It means that if there are families in need of food, a resource has been opened up for THEM to eat. If you don't need the cheese, don't take it from a family who does. If you don't need the help, don't take the opportunity away from that person who was unfortunate enough to end up in line behind you. There are plenty of people out there who really and truly need what you're taking advantage of, and because of people like you, the "free" will eventually run out. I heard recently about an entertainer who pulled up to a social services agency to collect food stamps in a limo. True story. How much sense does that make? If you can afford a limo, you don't need food stamps, but some person out there whose primary care giver died or left unexpectedly, or one who has more children than he/she can afford to feed, does. But here's the problem: not a lot of people can comprehend what I just said. It would appear that they are being selfish and greedy, but most people who think like that really don't know any better. Now before you put a race on this, let me stop you. There are people in every race who do this: white, black, Asian, Latino, Eskimo, bi-racial (and that is not limited to black and something, it could be Irish and Canadian, French and German, Latino and white, etc.!) It's a matter of upbringing, societal values (or the lack thereof) or true ignorance of how community works. If people have not been taught better, they don't know better. Worse than that, if people are heartless, you can't teach them anything--no matter how hard you try. Especially how to be integral.
Babies are born everyday, in all places of the world. The earth is constantly being populated, but without the knowledge to help the next generation to grow, the world is stunted. Without knowledge, right and wrong becomes relevant, and everyone develops their own criteria. But with knowledge, people are better able to see life globally. When that happens, we are able to see cause and effect. We are able to see the other side of things; not just the side that benefits us. For example, there are grown people in our society who believe that the government has the ability to print as much money as they need, whenever they need to, and should just shut up and do that. If they would, the government would never run out of money. Not so. Money is only as good as the products and services it represents. It started out that paper money was the alternative to carrying around heavy bricks of gold and silver. That meant the government agencies and banks stored your gold and silver for you and gave you paper dollars or gold/silver certificates that were the equivalent of what you gave them--an even trade. But when more paper money was printed than the gold and silver that was exchanged, the economic balance was messed up. The trade was no longer even and something needed to happen to balance the deficit. That's where we are now. Ultimately what happens is that the paper becomes useless and the value of the gold/silver (which is now, of course, global products and services, not just gold and silver bricks) goes down. So we really don't want the government to just print money. You probably don't remember when the penny had value by itself, but at one time, it did. Now it only has value in great numbers. Nickels are next, if we aren't careful! Without this knowledge, the babies being born are not going to be able to understand why life is about more than just money, and another generation of people believing that winning the lottery will solve all of life's problems will be born. When does it end? When people stop fantasizing life and start living it for real.
Money without knowledge/wisdom is like a fire in a forest; the more it grows, the more it will destroy, and before you know it, you will have lost everything. I could preach on/teach this concept forever, but if it falls on the ears of those without integrity, I will only be wasting my breath. It will just sound uppity and stuck-up to them.
As for you, ask yourself this question: Is my life for real or just fantasy? If you think money will answer all your problems, you are not for real. If you realize that a good life requires more than just being able to buy things to show your neighbors that you can have what they have because you're just as good as they are, your heart will open up and you will do something useful with your time here on earth that will benefit not just you, but the community around you. That's called "purpose". You will find your purpose and have a real sense of direction in life, making you a productive member of society. It will be then that you will be able to honestly say that your life is not fantasy. You will be able to say that you live life FOR REAL. The only path to FOR REAL is through a good heart, and that is how REAL people live a good life! Stay tuned for Part II: How you know when it's the heart talking and not your head.
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