Mentality is Destiny

“Mentality is Destiny” is the first article on this website. I have asked my husband to write it and to include the best general advice he can think of after a long life as a sailor, actor, film director, film producer, and author. The result thrilled me; it’s so crystal-clear and simple. It touched something deep within me, and I will try to follow his advice the best way I can.

Here it is:

Living in the Philippines has taught me to understand how a strong belief in God creates small local miracles, and I admire the many everyday heroes who are struggling to help their families and never give up.

Faith can move mountains and create nations. Without a strong faith, the Jewish people would not have survived 1,900 years in exile and would not have attempted to build a new state surrounded by mighty enemies.

But faith has a gruesome face when it’s performed by fanatics.  We are often reminded of that through war reports from The Middle East. When you kill in the name of God, you are so far away from him as possible, and this leads to a very interesting question: Since faith in God can create complete opposite action, is the faith in Him most likely based on a need for a God, and tailored to fit the believer’s purpose?

The Christians believe that creation is a result of a will, and the atheists claim that it’s a result of chance.  But does it really matter if there is a God or not?  Our responsibilities as humans will remain the same regardless, and the meaning of life will always be to take care of it the best possible way.

Everybody knows that kindness and mercy prove to have good effects on human relations.  It’s a cosmic truth developed in all religions–the foundation of a just society–and has to be used more if we want a better world.  But why is this so difficult to achieve?

It probably has to do often with our egoistic mentality and the difficulties of changing that. But, our mindset becomes our destiny. So we have to do something and we have to start with ourselves (as many wise people all over the world have done for decades). But, the process is difficult and slow.

One thing all of us should focus more on is the concept of kindness and mercy. Jesus practiced wisdom that radically gave us insights on how to live together in peace and before him, Buddha, did a similar concept. Rightly understood, the Quran is full of insights into human behavior, just like the Bible. But both holy books are largely misused to build up hierarchies claiming the truth in order to rule. We must learn to see through this. We must learn to handle the locust of temptations and the false prophets permeating all societies. And get rid of the hypocrisy within ourselves.

This is not easy, though.  Hatred disguised as love is probably the most destructive power of them all. It misses the target of mercy completely and is a denial of the principles of life. When lies camouflaged as truth takes the lead, all civilizations will end in injustice and terror.

But by revealing our own comfort lies, taking steps to practice more kindness and mercy, and electing incorrupt leaders with good social profiles to represent us, we will have a greater chance to create a better world and to live a more meaningful life here and now.