- The way I see it:
It's really tempting. I can't deny I have considered, and I still am.
I am tempted to print out Sheldon Kopp's Eschatological Laundry list and hand it to every single one of my clients, even (or specially) before getting started in a coaching process.
Because this list summarizes one of the most significant pieces of wisdom I have encountered in my research. Sheldon Kopp, psychotherapist and author, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him (1972), not only has a realistic approach, but also an extremely empowering one by recognizing the responsibility that grows with freedom.
I highly recommend reading it till the end. If you want to give it away out as a Christmas gift, you can download it here, it's free but at the same time priceless.
- Compilation:
A Partial Register of the 927 (or was in 928?) Eternal Truths.
Sheldon Kopp.
- This is it !
- There are no hidden meanings.
- You can’t get from there to here, and besides there’s no place else to go.
- We are already dying, and we will be dead for a long time.
- Nothing lasts.
- There is no way of getting all you want.
- You can’t have anything unless you let go of it.
- You only get to keep what you give away.
- There is no particular reason why you lost out on some things.
- The world is not necessarily just. Being good often does not pay off and there is no compensation for misfortune.
- You have a responsibility to do your best nonetheless.
- It is a random universe to which we bring meaning.
- You don’t really control anything.
- You can’t make anyone love you.
- No one is any stronger or any weaker than anyone else.
- Everyone is in his own way, vulnerable.
- There are no great men.
- If you have a hero, look again: you have diminished yourself in some way.
- Everyone lies, cheats, pretends ( yes, you too, and most certainly I myself).
- All evil is potential vitality in need of transformation.
- All of you is worth something, if only you will own it.
- Progress is an illusion.
- Evil can be displaced but never eradicated, as all solutions breed new problems.
- Yet it us necessary to keep on struggling towards solution.
- Childhood is a nightmare.
- But it is s very hard to be an on-your-own, take-care- of -yourself-cause -there- is-no-one -else-to do-it-for-you-grown -up.
- Each of us is utimately alone.
- The most important things, each man must do for himself.
- Love is not enough, but it sure helps.
- We have only ourselves, and one another. That may ot be much, but thats all there is.
- How strange, that so often, it all seems worth it.
- We must live with the ambiguity of partial freedom, partial power, and partial knowledge.
- All important decisions must be made on the basis of insufficent data.
- Yet we are responsible for everything we do.
- No excuses will be accepted.
- You can run, but you can’t hide.
- It is most important to run out of scapegoats.
- We must learn the power of living with our helplessness.
- The only victory lies in surrender to oneself.
- All of the significant battles are waged within the self.
- You are free to do whatever you want. You need only face the consequences.
- What do you know…for sure…anyway ?
- Learn to forgive yourself, again and again and again and again.
- Source:
- The Therapeutic Care Journal, ,