The greatest philosopher of the twentieth century was Ludwig Wittgenstein
Most of us haven’t heard of him, because we’re not interested in philosophers anymore.
But this guy was good. In a nutshell he said, “Humans think in pictures.” If that wasn’t good enough, he followed with this gem, “Humans have agendas when they engage other humans.” And they are constantly playing “chess with those agendas to get their way.”
I believe him.
So I’ve tried to boil down the basic agendas I’ve had during my lifetime. I ‘ve come up with four:
First agenda: age 4 – 18.
Epicurean delight. My agenda was to have fun. Above all else, it was a time to play and have friendships. Above my studies (and I worked hard to finally make scholarship society my senior year in high school – finally), fun overshadowed it. When I wasn’t having fun, I was sad. When I was sad, I was highly motivated to go out and dig up some fun.
That’s it. I don’t think it got much more complicated than that.
So if you were to have interacted with me during that time, my agenda was simple: it was to have fun. If per chance I thought I was going to be left out, I would actively seek to be included. If I failed, I was disappointed until I could talk someone into doing something exciting.
Second agenda: age 18- 37.
Religious orthodoxy. Around eighteen, I became serious. I needed meaning and discipline in my life. I needed to have a cause into which I could pour my energy.
Mormonism gave me all of that and more. I married, and my wife and I had five children. (My wife and I have been married for over fifty three years.) I became a religion teacher in the church’s education system. I delivered for Adonai, and Adonai delivered for me. It was a two way contract that each party honored. To this day I have very positive feelings about the idea of deity. Every need I could think of has been met within my religious context. That is, until it didn’t.
My agenda, when interacting with others, was always tied to a religious motive. I either wanted to move a person’s thinking toward a Mormon perspective. Or, I wanted to make sure I was advancing in order to have a larger impact within Mormonism’s structure.
Third agenda: age 37 – 55.
Worldly dude. I needed to get out into the secular world, and test my value. I was willing to take great risks as an entrepreneur. It paid off. I became wealthy. I worked hard, and did it my way. I was happier than I had ever been. Not only that, but I was given a public platform in radio broadcasting to comment on my new found philosophy on the value of creating your own wealth through executing on ideas that come to you. My assumption was that we all have ideas that if worked on create economic value. To my knowledge I was the first person to use the term “Idea Economy”, and follow on terms like ideaprenuer, ideation, etc. I became a composite of the Eagles’ songs – a “desperado” of independence, living in the “fast lane.” The irony of all this was that I experienced deep spiritual moments that accompanied this exciting life.
My agenda was to seek out those who saw my value and would pay for my services. In that regard I was as clear minded as I have ever been. My interactions were straightforward. I wanted nothing more than an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work. I valued my services fairly and expected to be treated fairly. Almost all of my interactions were consummated with a hand shake. My services were requested internationally as well as nationally.
At the same time, I was balancing my deep spiritual experiences with my positive life in a secular world. I was vocal about the former and private about the latter, which I confined to six thousand pages on small loose leaf notebooks.
Fourth agenda: age 55-present (75)
Getting it right. Like light hitting my brain, I decided to put square pegs in square holes. I decided to stop explaining issues that didn’t deserve to be explained. I was prepared to face my own hypocrisy. I asked myself, when was I going to have the courage to publicly disagree with my church’s continuous negative policies on social issues that mattered to me. I did. It came slowly. I realized I had to be willing to sacrifice every outward appearance of success I had attained in my religious community for the sake of my personal social views. I did it. My intellectual building block became: for every thought there is an opposite and equal thought. I was diving into my private thoughts becoming my public thoughts and actions. I look back over these four agendas and see that there are almost twenty years in each phase. So,with this fourth phase, I’m either writing my epitaph, or coming to an end of this period and about to start one last phase. If so, I have no idea what it will be, but believe me, it might be the opposite of the spring of this enlightenment period of my life. My life became dedicated to investing in my children’s desires to create value from their ideas.
My agenda with those who interact with me is to cut down on small talk and speak the truth with as much personal authenticity and honesty of which I am possible.