(First Pass: “Chapter of the Week” 2011)
Prioritizing life is an important step in managing the demands of life, at least a civilized life. In the wild I suppose circumstance pretty much handle what and when animals do what they do. Having freed ourselves from the drudgery of hunting and gathering whenever we get hungry has left us with much free time to choose what to do.
I find putting those painful ‘must do’ items at the head of my priority list actually delivers a deepest sense of well being. I imagine that in the wild, the ‘must do’ necessities would not be a choice we would have to make.
Civilization has left us with some serious unintended consequences. Fortunately we have the ultimate in how-to-approach life manuals: The Tao Te Ching and Buddha’s Four Truths. By the way, wasn’t Buddha’s the ultimate life engineer! I’d say Lao Tzu was too, but it is doubtful he existed. I suppose Taoist views are a collaboration of clear minded observations from various people over time. That’s remarkable in its own right, I’d say.