Perhaps the greatest lesson a guru/leader/luminary can impart is to fail us and have us turn away from him/her…and in doing so, perhaps inspire us to refine our OWN mastery rather than depending on another to bring it out of us.
Musings
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10 responses to “Musings”
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If you choose to use it as a lesson. I think a lot of people see it as a punishment.
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I try! Sometimes I’ve gotten in some snits with people, but as Joe Rogan says, I think it’s like snake venom: you take in a bit at a time, and in the future, (hopefully) you figure out how to avoid snakes or you’ve been inoculated! (this isn’t concerning our exchanges, I’ve had a few trolls throw me some curveballs. Not recently, though). 🙂
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Reminds me of something Ezio said at the end of the “Bonfire of the Vanities” bonus sequence in Assassin’s Creed II, just after he assassinates Savonarola to free him from the suffering of being burned at the stake. (You see, Savonarola was a monk who had basically conducted a hostile takeover of Florence following the death of ruler Lorenzo de Medici and started a campaign of anti-intellectualism which culminated in a “Bonfire of the Vanities”, the burning of books and materials seen as going against the word and will of God.)
Ezio basically tells the people of Florence, whom he had just freed from Savonarola’s rule and influence, *not* to follow him or anyone else. It takes a strong person to remove themselves from the influence of someone who may (in the end) be taking advantage of them, and the strongest are able to forge their own path. Now granted, the Assassin’s Creed series is a work of fiction, but the historical events that inspire the games can teach us a lot. The people of Florence weren’t free of Savonarola’s tyranny until they took it in their own hands: they rose up and deposed him, and he was eventually executed by burning at the stake. The people of Florence used their inner strength to take down a man who had taken advantage of them for his own personal reasons of wanting to control people in the name of his god.
Kent Wayne 
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