Potential for Happiness

At conception we are a single cell. Nothing more. Yet that one cell has the potential to become anyone in the world, good, bad or indifferent. It's an extraordinary thing when you think about it. The process of life begins with that one cell and proceeds until the end of life, sometimes as much as 100 years later.

A bottle of wine can be manufactured in a single growing season, but certain wines take years to mature, to reach their full potential in flavor, aroma and color. A cheese similarly matures in a certain amount of time. Let's hope that nobody tries to mature cheeses for years on end.

Maturing a human being also takes time, but it's not something that we can accomplish by just sitting around like a bottle of wine or a wheel of cheese. We will certainly mature to a certain extent by simply going about our business, day after day, but that will only get us so far.

Consider yourself at conception. You were that single cell, full of potential. Potential to do what? That is the question that faces us when we consider the process of maturation. When we mature, we realize our potential, we become as complete as we can be. Grapes realize their potential in wine when they have been fermented, casked, bottled and processed with just the right ingredients and for the right times. The single cell of a human embryo realizes its potential in becoming the finest human being that they possibly can.

As you can tell from my articles, I'm very much the idealist. I'd like the entire world, or at least America, to become filled with what I call Philosopher Kings. People of such vast wisdom and power that they can only be referred to with that rather high-minded title. In America, however, there has been a sense of people being just fine the way they are. While I can accept that notion to the degree that everyone needs a sense of self-esteem, I reject it when it tells people to turn their backs on realizing their potential; to mature.

I believe that all our lives, we should be examining our philosophy of life and our manner of applying it in an effort to become the greatest people that the world has ever known. We have the opportunity to do that as no civilization ever has before us. I'm not suggesting this out of some ivory tower sense of idealism. My idealistic pursuit is firmly rooted in the idea that to pursue a world of philosopher kings is to pursue nirvana, or heaven, or paradise - whatever you want to call it.

This is the source of inspiration for Opinion Dump: to encourage others to see the world as I do, ever mindful of the goal of creating as heavenly a situation on Earth as we can. America is the best that the world has ever seen, and it serves as an example to the world of what is possible. But we're not perfect, and we know that. The imperfections are what we can be working on.

As you work your way through life on your path from embryo to centenarian, think of the process of maturation. How can you become a better man or woman, to realize your full potential here on planet Earth. It is my fervent hope that you can mature more completely than a humble bottle of wine.