Lacking Values is Lacking Limits (BeFirst Course 134)

Right off the bat, I'm Dr. David King, husband, flower. All right, everybody, welcome back. We're going to switch it up today a little bit. It's going to be amazingly exciting. I'm using a green pen. So I want to talk about what I've written down here. Success without resistance is just existence, okay? And as we go through this, let's think about what that means to us individually. Success without resistance isn't really success. It's just existing, okay? There are many different images and metaphors we can use to consider how crucial having a foundation, a base, a structure as we strive for the act of creation. Again, creation, becoming, is an act. It requires effort. We have to do things. To quote Michael G. Scott, Michael Gary Scott, as he's resigning from Dunder Mifflin when David, his boss, forgot to attend his party, he said, you have no idea how high I can fly. And I'm sure many of you know what I'm talking about, right? In this case, it is absolutely true. We, each of us, have no idea how high we can fly, given our individual set of wings and capabilities. But we must remember how a bird flies and how a tree grows. Birds use lift created by their wings, either flapping or gliding on currents through the air. So they use lift. In order to have lift, we must have gravity. Birds use lift created by their wings, either flapping or gliding on currents through the air. Unfortunately for the bird, though, they cannot remain eternally in the sky. They must obey and give in to gravity at some point, gradually gliding down to the ground, hopefully, right? One of my mentors used to always say, remember boys, gravity is not just for fun, it's the law. I heard that all the time when we would fall and trip and stumble at Boy Scout camp and be bleeding everywhere. He'd say, remember, gravity is not just for fun, it's the law. Without gravity to restrict the bird's flight height, it would not be able to fly. And if you think about it, if we didn't have gravity or if gravity didn't exist, flying wouldn't exist, right? I mean, gravity is requisite for all of the stuff that we're doing on the Earth. I mean, if the Earth suddenly ceased to have gravity, we'd all go floating off into space and probably not exist very much longer, right? At least physically. The resistance from the wind coupled with the physical efforts involved in flapping and climbing through the air allow the bird to actually fly. So resistance from the wind combined with effort, okay? So this is a natural thing that happens in nature, combined with what the bird is doing, it allows flight or the conditions are right so that flight can happen. But it requires resistance. Success is not success without resistance. And as we've discussed here, success without resistance is just existence. So how many of you want to just exist? And sometimes we all have days like that where I just, just leave me alone. I just want to, you know, I just want to be me. Just stop. I don't want to do anything else. We all have days like that. Sometimes they're more frequent than they should be. But if we give in to the desire, or the lack of desire rather, to do anything, eventually we'll kind of slide down into nothingness, into just existence. So we need to do our best to make sure we have a drive and a motivation and a purpose and a focus, right? Let's explore briefly the image of a kite. Kites are a unique juxtaposition of a flying contraption that is tethered to the ground, or to a pilot holding on the string on the ground. It's the combination of the lift from the wind, again the wind that comes from a natural source, pulling the wings of the kite upward, plus the tether, which is the effort, if you will, which is orienting the kite correctly vis-a-vis the wind, which supports the kite in flight, despite the tethering of the kite downward. In our lives, this image can be very powerful. Resistance is required for success. But being firmly tethered to our base, to our core values, our base, our core values, provide us the strength that we need to fly higher and higher as the resistance and effort are amplified through adaptive creation, adaptive creation, right? So in review, the act of creation requires a foundation, a base, a structure. We've talked about values. We've talked about how values create a foundation, but they also create a sandbox and some limitations. The structure that we have in place defines how high we can go. Another quote from the office, you know, when they're building the card castle that Plop is building, and Kevin knocks it over and he starts rebuilding it, and then he makes the base wider the second time, and Kevin's like, no, don't make it tall this way, make it tall up, right? And then Plop says to him, okay, Kevin, you know, so he understands that we have to have a wide foundation, a good, solid base, otherwise we can't go up, right? Okay. Success without resistance is just existence. So don't give into apathy. We have to constantly have something that we're pushing against. Now, I'm not saying we need to be pushing against other people, but pushing against our own lack of motivation, lack of desire, our own desire to sleep in, you know, sometimes, once in a while, it's not a big deal. Moderation, limitation, you know, you're fine. But if it becomes overwhelming, then we the people around us, from those with more knowledge and experience, and do our best to move forward. Don't fall into the trap of just existing. There is so much more to life. And always, advancement and effort in becoming a better person requires some form of resistance. My mother used to always quote the old Amish saying, and I'm probably not going to say it exactly right. I'll write it in that secret language called cursive that we talked about before. Nothing that is worthwhile in life. Let's try that again. Worth. While. Ever came without effort. Effort. Okay? And the effort is the resistance, right? Effort is the resistance. So, we have to be willing to put ourselves out there, if you will. Step outside of that existence bubble, that four-foot bubble of personal space that's comfortable, and do. We have to be willing to do, right? To do. We all have a duty to do. I'm sorry. For those of you who are Friends fans, you'll get that reference. So, we need a base, a foundation, core values that are established firmly. They allow us to grow and climb and become a better version of ourself. But they also give us limitations, right? So, make sure that your base, your foundation, is established firmly and on the correct, the right, the true principles. And I have no doubt that we'll be able to move forward to become a better version of ourselves. But it requires effort, right? It requires effort. So, thanks again for watching. We'll catch you up in the next video.