To concentrate, you must first give up. The choice lies in setting priorities, and to overcome the limits of concentration, you must boldly let go of things of low importance according to those priorities. Greed hinders the act of giving up. Not giving up is not merely about intelligence; it involves morality, values, and a person’s character. This is also why human beings do not succeed based on knowledge alone. Even if you decide to give up, concentration exists in another dimension. Choosing something means also giving up or rejecting something else. At this juncture, a value exchange occurs between what is chosen and what is discarded. Thus, our greed is linked to comparative values. The next choice and abandonment depend on the values I already possess. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
The most difficult writing in the Bible that I’ve ever read is ‘Job.’ In introducing ‘Job,’ the Bible states that he was a rich man of strong faith and the head of a happy family, but it does not explain the origins of the blessings he enjoyed. As he endures indescribable hardships, the reasons for his suffering remain unclear. In other words, he was blessed without explanation and suffered without explanation. The first part of the book of Job, which describes his blessings, contrasts with the latter part, in which he loses everything and eventually recovers for the first time. Yet, there is no explanation for this recovery either. Job’s life serves as a profound example of human experience. For many, the most painful aspect is to enjoy blessings without reason and to lose those blessings without reason. Our lives compel us to confront this reality, and that is the essence of our existence. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”