Jun P. Espina 4 min read
Updated on June 21st, 2022
Important Life Principle.
One important life principle is to make sure we have the feeling of fulfillment and joy as we age. I heard about countless young people who did not have a sense of purpose as if life on earth will be young forever, and the grave is but a great storied fiction. Time is the utmost treasure of life. Hence, one important life principle is to focus our attention on the currency of time.
One precept that has caused me a bit of time reflecting is the so-called law of attraction. Is it true that the only way to get everything is to give everything? The most hospitable place where almost all are given for free (at least on the surface) is the Internet. Try to google the word “download,” and an extensive list of free downloads will appear on the screen. Is the law of attraction through the route of doing things for free an important life principle?
One important life principle is to make sure we have the feeling of fulfillment and joy as we age.
We bind our most important life principle to the proper and intelligent use of our little time on the earth. Writing a plugin or blog for free makes little sense, right? Isn’t it rather psychotic to sacrifice your talent and time for free, while your family is starving? Well, we associate our important life principle with a sense of fulfillment and joy as we age. We don’t celebrate with our friends while our family is sick and hungry. If we convert our teaching into a mathematical formula, it should look like this: life’s purpose + time + achievement = important life principle.
READ MORE: Is Kindness Becoming a Fake Virtue
Examining Our Key or Important Life Principle
I attended a seminar where the guest speaker started his lecture by saying, “When God created the universe, He created universal laws, and one of these laws is the law of attraction…give, and you’ll receive….”
The law of attraction works. Thus, it is one important life principle indeed—if we connect it with achievement, the variable of time, a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction! I followed more than a dozen vloggers who never returned to employment again. Giving free content that gives value to the world is a meaningful life principle and experience. And valuable free content always gets paid—if monetized!
He Who Scatters, Gathers
I have a book by Samuel Clarke (first published in 1750) titled “Precious Bible Promises.” It contains Bible verses that are arranged and connected so beautifully and so full of wisdom. I find the following Bible passage that supports our thesis that success attracts success; failure attracts failure; goodness attracts goodness, and crime draws near the prison cell—or Law of Attraction for short:
I experienced giving away my “talent, treasure, and time” for the Work of our Lord Jesus—serving Christ for free. And what happened? I experienced God’s promise that says, “for He Himself has said, ‘I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU.'” He who scatters gathers!
Of Time-Consciousness as a Principle of Life
Time-consciousness cannot be uncoupled from our important life principle. I read somewhere about a highly successful person who claimed his success was eased by his life principle of being five minutes ahead of time in all his schedules.
Wrote King Solomon: “A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.” (Eccl. 3:2) This Scripture stresses the value of time given the certainty of death. As an old man, I recalled a roommate in college making fun of me since I read my books every time I had the opportunity. After graduation, I landed a job easily, since I spent my precious time on self-improvement. My formula works for me: life’s purpose + time + achievement = important life principle.
Important Life Principle: Constant Application of What is Right.
I had the opportunity of interviewing one executive from a 50-year-old corporation. “What’s your company’s business principle in doing things?” I asked. “Constant application of what is right,” was the reply.
This philosophy will work even in our personal lives. We can now expand our life formula: life’s purpose + time + constant application of what is right + achievement = important life principle.
READ MORE: Crab Mentality: The Culture of Pulling Down
Integrity is an Important Life Principle
Never half-do things! It is another principle I learned. We need to aim for perfection in all our endeavors, instead of half-doing things. I experienced taking a government exam where I vowed to give my best answer for every question I thought I knew and skipped those I found myself clueless about. I passed the test because I was not careless about the things I was good at, so to say.
Never half-do things! It is another principle I learned. We need to aim for perfection in all our endeavors, instead of half-doing things.
The building of a pure sense of integrity is another superior life principle. Wrote someone that a certain manufacturer of private jet aircraft discovered a defect in his product, for which he ordered all of his sold-out jets grounded, costing him millions of dollars. Of course, we can include it as one important life principle, which is integrity!
Should we update our life formula, it would look like this: life’s purpose + time + constant application of what is right + integrity + achievement = important life principle.
Conclusion
Without a guiding, productive, and enlightening principle in life, people could end up growing old, but not growing up; smiling but unhappy deep inside; or dying without a trace of progress with the time God has given to them.
One poor farmer, for example, said he won’t send to school his seven children since the purpose of education is just to buy rice. So, he let his children work on the farm (for the sought-after rice) instead of giving them proper education. His unschooled attitude toward life became his guiding principle, which resulted in raising a huge but ignorant family.
