Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, it is impossible for the character to be established.
Confucius
551 – 479 B.C.
You might remember Calvin and Hobbes, a wonderful comic strip from a few years back. Calvin was a young boy with a real streak of the devil in him. Hobbes was a stuffed tiger — except to Calvin. When they were alone, Hobbes came alive and was a real playmate; he and Calvin were best buddies.
In one strip, Calvin and Hobbes were playing a game of Calvinball. Hobbes said that Calvin had run into an invisible sector. Calvin countered by saying Hobbes was in a vortex spot — but Hobbes declared a boomerang zone, bouncing the vortex back to Calvin. When Calvin protested, Hobbes reminded him about the rules of Calvinball. Calvin replied, “Yeah, yeah. Anything we make up. You’ll pay for this.”
George Bernard Shaw once wrote, “When a thing is funny, search it for a hidden truth.” This comic strip was really funny. One of the things that make comic strips so funny is that they often reflect different aspects of life. When I search for the hidden truth in the Calvinball strip, one truth I find is that many people live life by Calvinball rules; that is, they have no structure: they simply make up the rules as they go.
Over a lifetime of observing people, I’ve discovered that the most successful people do not make up the rules as they go. They have a set of rules that they follow and they stick to them. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the most unsuccessful people play the game of life just like participants of Calvinball: they don’t have a set of rules they play by; they make up the rules as they go.
Fortunately, the rules of life are a lot less complicated than the rules of most ball games. The rules of life are the universal truths that people should use to guide their actions. If you just learn and live by two simple truths, I believe you’ll play the game of life much better than most.
The first rule is As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7). James Allen wrote a wonderful little book with the title, As a Man Thinketh
The second rule is Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Galatians 6:6). This summarizes the universal law of cause and effect: for every action, there is a reaction. We do not live in a vacuum. You will always reap the rewards or suffer the punishment of your actions. It’s funny, but rewards and punishment seem to grow at a compound rate over time. The longer it takes for you to reap your benefits, the larger the reward. And the more your consequences are delayed into the future, the greater the punishment.
The lesson to be learned here is to decide on your game plan for life, then follow that game plan. Again quoting from As a Man Thinketh, “Until thought is linked with purpose, there is no intelligent accomplishment. A man should conceive of a legitimate purpose in his heart, and set out to accomplish it. Only in this way can the thoughts be gathered and focused, and resolution and energy be developed, which being done, there is nothing which may not be accomplished.”
Life is too short to treat like Calvinball. Decide on the rules for your life and then play by the rules.
Don’t try to make your own rules. Conduct yourself in all matters, grand and public or small and domestic, in accordance with the laws of nature.
Epictetus
55 – 135 A.D.
Copyright © 2017 John Chancellor