Whatever You Do Must Have A Means To An End

Everything we learn in life is only a means to an end. While the specifics of that
end, your personal goals, will vary from individual to individual, there are some
basic themes that tend to be very meaningful to most people.

Helping Others

Almost everyone can see the value in helping other people.
Those that can’t tend to end up with a great internal stockpile of misery. Why is
this? Possibly because helping others is inherently good for both the survival of
the species and the survival of a given society or sub-group.

When you help other people, there is an innate biological reward button that is
“pushed”. Which tends to make us feel better about ourselves and let’s us know
that we are doing something meaningful.

When we ignore such signals and focus on greed, jealousy or anger, we tend to
end up harming ourselves and others through incorrect action and harshness that
is unwarranted.

Protecting Resources 

This is similar to helping others, but has a different form. When we try to protect the planet, to conserve resources for later or even save
money, time or effort, we feel a little more complete as individuals.

Excitement

This is the most dangerous of natural drives. (I bet you thought that would be sex, but no, that comes in about third. Right behind, gluttony.) The need
for stimulation. It is basic and innate, but can lead people into increasingly bad decisions if not controlled well!

You will most likely still seek stimulation! So do so with care for the world and
compassion for others to use this source of energy well.

Most of the time this is expressed within us as interest! (Which is a good thing!)

So, what is the point of listing these things?

Everything we do in life needs to support a major theme in some way. Magic,
psychic abilities, will working, meditation…

These things are no different!

To have value in the long run, all of these things need to be used in a fashion
which supports a larger goal!

Think of power lifters for a moment. These men (and women) are very strong,
dedicating large amounts of time to their chosen sport. This isn’t a bad thing, but
what’s the point?

To be physically strong? That’s nice, but just being strong is an empty thing, if
that strength is not going to be used for something.

This is not to say that they shouldn’t be power lifters, just that each person should
seek a greater meaning for each skill and practice, a framework that will give
meaning to what they are doing!

If you learn to sing, and do so to uplift the spirits of others, there is greater power
in that than if you do so just to make money. BUT, there is greater power in trying
to make money (even if that is a bit of a selfish goal, it is good to remember that
everyone needs to eat and pay the rent…) than in learning to sing just to be good
at it.

So ask yourself, why do you want to learn to read minds, or foretell the future or
control your own body? If it is just to know how to do it, then such things may not
be the best way to spend your time.