The Mind of Jason

All my life I have had to rely on ‘out thinking’ any opponents, using strategy and tactics rather than brute force. Why? Look at me; I am short, out of shape and over-weight. In a fight if I went toe to toe, I would get my ass whipped; however, physical fights are not the only place I rely on my intelligence. I use it in all aspects of life.

I try to stay a few steps ahead of everyone else. It keeps them off balance in some cases. We go back to ‘The Dance with Death’ where it reads: ‘cut from the void, not bewilderment. Stay a step ahead, catch them off guard and you have an advantage.

This is not just a physical tactic, but it can be psychological. Stay ahead of the person and you control how things play out. You can seize the mind, nudge it to where you want to take it. You can use it to keep a person off guard, have them looking the wrong way, then come from another direction.

Do it right and you own the mind. Once you are in their mind they are yours. At that point, you can bring euphoria or pain to the person. Once you are there, it allows control of one’s emotions. They think what you want them too. They feel what you want them too.

The other path for me is to get control directly of one’s emotions. Know what inspires what feelings, and then use that knowledge to bring about what you want. This is usually long term. You need to watch and listen. Take in everything, every visual cue, every inflection in the voice.

Emotions and thought patterns are so powerful. You can gain total control of a person with these two things and bend them anyway, you want. You can elevate them, enrich them, or you can destroy them. It can be very dangerous at times. It can bring a lot of pain and harm. Or it can bring about euphoria. Usually it is intent that decides which it is, but carelessness and lack of understanding are key factors too.
Lead the dance; do not let it lead you.

What is life? Life can be defined in many ways. The way it is defined depends on whom you ask to define it. For our purposes, we will look at a more spiritual definition, specifically a Christian view.

Since we are looking at what life is from a Christian point of view, we will simply define it as ‘A beautiful gift from God.’ Life is a gift that should never be wasted or squandered. Sadly, so many of do just that.

How do we so this? One way that we waste our life is by not making use of the gifts God has given us in our lives such as our unique combinations of talents. Some of the greatest talents we all have, and the ones we most neglect to use, are our capacity to love, to forgive and to show compassion. We were given these beautiful gifts for a reason, to help our fellow man. When we use these gifts to benefit others, it brings us closer to Him.

He was loving enough to not just give us these gifts, but when we struggled early on to learn how to use them, He sent His only Son to us.

Christ was sent to redeem us, lead us to salvation, and back to the Father. He showed us the way to the Father by teaching us how to use our gifts. He showed us not just by His words, but by His actions. He showed us how to live the way we were meant to live. He showed us how we should use the gifts we were given.

Life is something so precious because it is a gift. It is not a hollow gift either. It is a gift given out of love. Life is also a made up of many other gifts from God as we have seen.

The greatest gift though, is that of our immortal soul. This gift is so great because our bodies are only here for a short time, but our life does not end when our bodies die. Rather our lives truly begin then. When the body dies, it frees our soul to reunite with God, to return to its home, to its natural state and to bask in the light and grace of God for all eternity.

That is why life is a precious gift.

Note: This entry may contain severe triggers for some people. If you are severely depressed, having suicidal ideations or suicidal please do not read any further.

I sit here wondering, what is death, more specifically what death is.

There is of course the common idea and concept that it is the ending of life. But is that all death is or is it something much more Does death even really exist Is it an ending or a new beginning? Is it a doorway to something more? Does life end when the body ‘dies,’ is that really death?

Definitions of death that I was reading talked about the ‘end of life.’ However, is life only about this physical world? Most faiths tell us that the soul lives forever. If this is the case, and the soul is the higher being, so to speak, then does death really exist if we use the earlier definition? If the soul is our true being, our true nature, and it can never die then there is no real death, only the ending of our physical forms.

While the soul lives forever, does that mean that nothing can kill it? Or does it mean that if nothing kills it than it will live forever? If the soul can die, then what can kill it? Can years of pain, hurt and loss kill our souls? Does life end when our bodies expire?
If the soul lives beyond the ending our body’s existence, then death is the goal of life. We live to die. We live to die because it frees our souls of their prison. It lets them rejoin the ethereal realm, the realm of the spirits. In Christianity, we would think not of ‘spirits’ but being joined with God in heaven, or for the souls of those who were “evil” then being eternally punished in hell.
I am not afraid of death, in some ways I look forward to it. I do not plan to end my life by any means. I look forward to it as a way finally to find a final resolution to life, to finally achieve the goal of life.

Is the soul the same are thing as the spirit? If it is, then the soul can indeed die, our spirits can be crushed and destroyed. It is where I have been lately, my spirit destroyed and crushed. At times, I wonder if I can ever resurrect it. Lately I have been feeling a bit better, but far from my old self. I do not know what will happen, who I will be at the end of this fork in the road of life, but I know one thing, I will never be the same person again. Good or bad, I am forever changed. The Jason of last year is forever lost. I do not know if I will ever love again, if I will even try to find love or happiness. I do not know what strength will be there or if there is any left at all.

Like the dance with death says,

It is the balance of life. Death.