Moments of Forever: Discovering the True Power and Importance of Your Life

Acknowledgments

It can be both difficult and discouraging for a first time author when trying to get published. I can easily say that without the professional staff and services of iUniverse, this book may have never been completed. And I am deeply grateful to everyone at iUniverse who was involved with its development and publication. In particular, I would like to thank Liesl Schapker, my publishing services associate, for her steady and patient guidance throughout the entire publishing process. Additionally, the editorial department was invaluable to me and provided incredibly helpful appraisals that dramatically improved this work. Rachel Derowitsch was the content editor for this book and brought a remarkable eye for detail to the project. Sarah Disbrow served as my editorial consultant and was a source of tremendous encouragement. Carolyn Neal, Jesse Loudenbarger, and Savannah Payton skillfully guided this work during the STAR production phase. And finally, cover designer Alaa Fadag and all the members of the production department deserve recognition for taking my text manuscript and giving it the look and feel of a real book. They were instrumental in developing the cover copy and cover design as well as the layout of the book as you see it now. The combined talent and passion for their work at iUniverse made the whole book publishing experience, for this first-time author, an absolute pleasure.

The thoughts expressed in this book are my own but they have been influenced and shaped by the myriad of people with whom I have come in contact throughout my life. As a fellow student of humanity, I acknowledge that the essence of this work has been inspired by the teachers, friends, family, coworkers, and associates who have motivated me to become the person I am today.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Defining the Indefinable

Self-Discovery Journal

Chapter 1: Gaining a Forever Perspective

Authoring Your Life’s Story

Developing an Infinite Perspective

Measuring the Moments

Perceiving the Unseen

Focusing Your Perceptions

Seeing Forever

Self-Discovery Journal

Chapter 2: Recognizing Your Forever Worth

Contributing through Individuality

Overcoming Common Misconceptions

Learning the Value of Your Uniqueness

Adopting the Role of a Lifetime

Discovering Your Immense Importance

Acquiring Immeasurable Self-Worth

Self-Discovery Journal

Chapter 3: Comprehending Humanity’s Higher Callings

Becoming Part of the Bigger Picture

Humanity’s Pursuit of Knowledge

Humanity’s Pursuit of Truth

Humanity’s Pursuit of Justice

Living an Amazing Journey

Self-Discovery Journal

Chapter 4: Understanding Your Forever Connection

Tracing Life’s Stories

Building Legacies

Reconsidering History

Accepting Your Inheritance

Writing a Meaningful Epitaph

Listening to Echoes of the Past

Establishing Your Own Heritage

Self-Discovery Journal

Chapter 5: Cultivating Your Forever Character

Discerning the Integrity of Society

Fostering Incorruptible Character

Assessing Your Reputation

Instilling Humanity within Humanity

Concentrating Inwardly and Outwardly

Attaining Real Contentment

Self-Discovery Journal

Chapter 6: Joining the Quest for Higher Callings

Connecting the Dots

Humanity’s Pursuit of Relevance

Humanity’s Pursuit of Meaning

Humanity’s Pursuit of Purpose

Creating Balance in Your Life

Self-Discovery Journal

Chapter 7: Realizing Your Forever Potential

Inspiring Your Creativity

Achieving Enlightenment

Obtaining Your Aspirations

Exploring Your Unlimited Potential

Confronting Self-Sabotage

Reaching Farther and Higher

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Chapter 8: Finding Your Forever Moment

Contemplating the Boundaries of Life

Realizing Your Purpose

Influencing Forever

Charting the Depths of Humanity

Reflecting on the Ripples

Striding toward Higher Callings

Looking beyond the Moment

Self-Discovery Journal

Glossary

Further Reading

Preface

Have you ever wondered if your life really matters or how you fit into the grand scheme of things? If so, you are not alone—I have also wondered these things. Down through time, great thinkers have described our human existence in terms of philosophy, religion, science, and even mathematics. Many have provided commentary on our existence, both artistically and poetically, and have offered grand speculation about our consigned place within the universe. Numerous books describe the doctrines of religion and philosophical approaches to life, and there is a sea of self-help books that describe everything from planning for financial security to health and beauty tips. With so many books on the market that provide sound advice about improving our lives, why do so many of us continue to be overwhelmed with life’s struggles and deal with feelings of inadequacy? Why do so many people seem to lack purpose and direction in life?

As a college educator, I have counseled and advised people for years who were struggling to find their direction in life, and I have often wondered what makes one person more confident and more self-directed than another person. How can one person find his way so easily and another person become hopelessly lost? And from where does one’s sense of self-confidence and purpose come? For years, I pondered these questions until the thought occurred to me that when people need directions, they usually look for a map to guide them. It would thus make sense that people who are searching for direction in life would benefit from a map of humanity to guide them. It then occurred to me that if a map to understand humanity existed, it must exist within all of us and it would probably require all of us if we were to ever fully discern it.

Fortunately, we don’t need the whole map to find our way in life. All you and I need is a point of reference and perhaps some idea of scale. With this crucial revelation in mind, I sat down at my computer to write. I was compelled by my personal belief that there is something quite special inside every one of us, something of great and intrinsic value. Stated simply and honestly, I believe in you—in your remarkable ability to direct your life and to influence the lives of others around you. I believe that you make a difference in the world and that your life matters: what you think, say, and do is important. I recognize that there is an empowering sense of purpose that comes from the realization that you are an integral part of something much larger than yourself. Yes, I believe that there is something very special within you and you may not have yet even realized it. So when I sat down at my computer, I wrote this book for you, to help you discover the true power and importance of your life.

I hope you will find it to be a useful guide, and if it is beneficial to you, please tell someone else you know about it. And I would love to hear about your experience with the book. So, feel free to contact me through my author website: www.momentsofforeverbook.com.

Introduction

Many believe that we have a vertical connection between ourselves and our maker, but many also believe that we have a horizontal connection between ourselves and all of humankind. This book will attempt not to convince you of the former but to present a compelling case for the latter. My basic premise is that the common experience of human existence reaches out across the ages of the world and connects all of us—all of humanity—in one existence that we instinctively sense and subconsciously know. We have no agreed-upon word for this interconnectivity of humankind, but we all experience it every day of our lives. For the purpose of this book, and for lack of a conventional name, I will employ the term forever to reference this great human connection.

In no way do I claim to have all the answers to life’s questions. I offer these chapters in the hope that they will stir thoughts within you about a larger human existence and rouse your curiosity sufficiently for you to explore the significance of your life. I want to help you obtain a broader perspective of your existence and a greater appreciation for your inherent worth and relevance as a human being. Through such insight and with encouragement, I hope you will aspire to higher callings in life, seek principled character, and pursue your full potential and purpose. With each chapter of this book, I intend to lead you to a deeper understanding of the special commonalities of human existence that are unmistakably mapped out within each of us. I want to help you find direction in life by teaching you how to reference the shared characteristics of humanity that are within you.

Chapter 1, "Gaining a Forever Perspective," will establish a context for learning about yourself and your place within humanity. By having an infinite perspective on life, you will be able to perceive life in a broader way.

The next chapter, "Recognizing Your Forever Worth," will guide you to a better understanding of your immeasurable worth. Chapter 2 will teach you how to measure your true value as a human being.

We will turn our attention in chapter 3, Comprehending Humanity’s Higher Callings, to the nature of humanity itself and discover how, as a human species, we are progressing from the primitive to the enlightened.

Chapter 4, "Understanding Your Forever Connection," will explain your unbreakable link to humanity as a whole. This chapter will describe how you can gain strength and personal contentment from this vast, overarching relationship.

Chapter 5, "Cultivating Your Forever Character," will explain how virtuous character can strengthen and enrich your life and human experience. The influence of the individual on humanity as a whole will be examined.

In a continuation of the third chapter’s discourse on humanity’s progression from the primitive to the enlightened, chapter 6, Joining the Quest for Higher Callings, will offer an in-depth focus on three additional human pursuits.

Working from the assumption that we each have the ability to contribute in a meaningful way to humanity, chapter 7, "Realizing Your Forever Potential," will focus on the unlimited potential that is found within all of us.

Chapter 8, "Finding Your Forever Moment," will reveal how undeniable moments of significance and insight serve as epiphanies in life and help us realize the true power and importance of our lives.

Defining the Indefinable

In all of human thought and imagination, is there any one concept more comprehensive or far-reaching than forever? Is there any other term, in all the verbal utterances of humankind, as all-encompassing? It is a concept that for most of us is beyond our appreciation, if not our understanding. Our mortal existences by definition are finite—limited to the brief time that we are given between birth and death. For the most part, we live out our lives one day at a time, diligently attempting to get the most enjoyment out of every day and every hour—living our lives, working our jobs, engaging in our chosen pastimes, and never lifting our heads or really thinking about our consigned place in something as vast as forever.

Stop for a moment to ponder forever. Really think about it. Try to get your mind wrapped around it. Find its edges. Feel its surfaces in your mind. What is it made of? How far does it reach? How old is it? What supports it and what holds it together? Perhaps it requires more than a brief moment of reflection to consider such an all-inclusive concept. This enigma challenges and eludes us and seems to exist just outside our mental reach. It’s a puzzle to most—an unobtainable goal, deemed unworthy, therefore, of serious attention or study. It is bigger than we are and overshadows our existence and our ambitions.

If you look up the definition of forever in a dictionary, you will find something like an endless or seemingly endless period of time. It is a common term with which we are all familiar, but how did humans ever develop such a concept as an endless period of time? None of us can live forever, so none of us could possibly have ever experienced or documented a forever in one of our lifetimes. In fact, all of our human lifetimes together still fall short of lasting forever. Worlds may come and go and still not fill the endless span of forever. We have no ability to verify or to authenticate an infinite period of time, yet forever appears to be an entirely human perception. It flows universally from our mortal minds and thoughts. This observation would lead us to conclude that though our human existence may be finite, our thoughts and our imaginations are infinite. How else can humanity bear witness to something that is beyond our own collective existences? The concept seems to exceed our comprehension and our known experiences, yet somehow we conceive of forever.

The dictionary definition seems incomplete because it fails to account for the many nuances that we associate with the word. We observe forever in the splendid cycles of nature: it is winter giving way to spring, as it has done year after year; it is the morning ritual of the dawn chasing the stars from the sky; and it is the unabated ebb and flow of the ocean tide against the rocky shore. We can feel the intense power of forever in our strongest emotions: it is the fervent love that a mother has for a child; it is the lasting bond between friends borne out of hardship; and it is the premature grief of young parents forced to gaze upon a tiny casket. We experience the complexities of forever in our mental processes: it is the routine communication of human thoughts and ideas; it is the student surpassing the teacher; and it is the memory of youth evoked by the laughter of a grandchild. There can be no doubt that forever is within us and it is all around us—it is far more than just an endless or seemingly endless period of time.

Forever…the collective existences and experiences of all people—of every man, woman, and child who has ever lived or who will ever live.

It is difficult to adequately define the effects of forever in our lives, but it appears to be a universally familiar perception that we would gravely miss if it were suddenly no longer there. Just try to imagine our mental and emotional isolation without the context provided by the ages. The absence of forever in our lives is nearly unthinkable—yet its true scope and importance remains nearly indefinable to us. Our recognition of the infinite must come, in some degree, through our conscious awareness that we are each part of a larger existence—an existence that is much bigger and more encompassing than we are as individuals. We are aware of our own limited mortality, but we are equally aware of the ostensive immortality of humanity. When we perceive forever, as it relates to our own existences and to our own interactions with the universe, we are referencing the span of human existence from beginning to end. We are referencing everything that is known or will be known by humankind. As humans, we perceive of life as a lifetime; as humanity, we perceive of life as perpetuity. Forever could therefore be defined as the collective existences and experiences of all people—of every man, woman, and child who has ever lived or who will ever live.

This is an unconventional definition, and it may be difficult to wrap your mind around it, but it is particularly well suited for our purposes. I say this because if you are going to gain anything meaningful from this study, you may need to redefine your life. You may need to consider your life in ways that you have never considered it before. Redefining a word in your vocabulary would seem a small first step. To fathom your place within the vastness of humanity, you need a name for something that has no other name—a word for that which has no other word. Forever is that conceptual name that we will use to express the all inclusive state of humankind and human existence. Understanding this philosophical concept, this alternate definition for the term forever, is essential before you continue any further with this study. Henceforth, the word forever will appear in an italicized form to indicate when the alternate definition related to a broader human existence is intended.

Self-Discovery Journal

Books sometimes inspire us and introduce us to new concepts or new ways of thinking, but books cannot change your life—you must do that yourself. If you are to alter any aspect of your life, you must desire it, and you must instigate it. So to get the most out of this study, keep a personal diary as you read. After each chapter, pause to collect your thoughts and to express yourself in writing, because what you think matters! In a separate notebook or diary make a journal of your own thoughts, discoveries, ideas, questions, or insights about the topics presented in each chapter. Be creative. Be argumentative. Draw your own conclusions. Articulate your own beliefs and opinions. Disagree with me or write your own theories. Allow this book to be an interactive experience. The point is for you to become aware of your unique mind and personal existence, because somewhere deep within you is a map that can help you direct or redirect your life.

In the final analysis, the book is what it is—a tool to be used by you, in your own way, and for your own understanding, and it will become much more useful to you if you will customize it to fit you. Each chapter in this book concludes with a series of questions and exercises under the heading of Self-Discovery Journal. Please use this vehicle as a discussion-starter to help you create your own journal of self-discovery. The personal notes that you create as you journal will be for your own benefit. You don’t have to share them with anyone else if you don’t wish to, or they may become the basis of your own book someday. Journaling is an important exercise, because you are important and your ideas are equally important. And you should consider this, how will you ever be able to share your unique thoughts and ideas with others, if you have never taken the time to first articulate them to yourself? So get your pencil ready and let