Life Is Short -My Friend: Why Be in the Passing Lane on Your Way to Death

Copyright © 2014 by Joseph Yurkin, Sr.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2014900329

ISBN:   Hardcover   978-1-4931-5977-2

Softcover   978-1-4931-5976-5

eBook   978-1-4931-5978-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 06/19/2014

To order additional copies of this book, contact:

Xlibris LLC

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

Orders@Xlibris.com

91070

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Meaning Of Life

Chapter 2 The Goodness Of Life

Chapter 3 The Purpose Of Life

Chapter 4 Searching For The Truth

Chapter 5 Does God Exist, And Is Jesus Christ God?

Chapter 6 Knowing Who You Can Be

Chapter 7 In Search Of Tranquility

Chapter 8 The Need For Change

Chapter 9 Basic Needs For Survival, Stability, And Existence

Chapter 10 Why Do We Need Spiritual Laws?

Chapter 11 Impact Of Karma On Your Thoughts And Emotions

Chapter 12 Your Power To Love, Forgive, And Overcome

Chapter 13 Happiness: The Fuel For A Meaningful Life

Chapter 14 Do Not Become A Victim To Your Fear

Chapter 15 Taking Life For Granted

Chapter 16 Later May Be Too Late

Chapter 17 Facing The Great Inevitable—Death

Chapter 18 Everlasting Life Follows Death

Chapter 19 Building And Leaving A Legacy Of Your Life

Chapter 20 The Pain We Leave Behind

Chapter 21 Closure

PREFACE

This early fall morning, I went for my usual stroll on our twelve acres with my dog, Buddy. In about two minutes, we felt the warm heavenly sun with a cool refreshing breeze, and we stopped and looked at each other in our normally loving way. I don’t know for sure what was going through his mind, but I kept thinking how wonderful it was to be alive and share these precious moments that God gave us. I sent Buddy, a beautiful Samoyed with that perfect Christmas smile, home to get Mom (my wife, Rose) to share these great moments in life. These are moments in life that should be sought and be relived and shared, for once you are gone, you will have wasted the nourishments for your mind and soul that made you an efficient cause. God put you in this earth to make a difference in your own life and those around you.

Life offers us so many wonderful things starting from our birth, and how we live that life will be counted at death. Many say that heaven and hell are experienced on this earth all depending on our will and ability to abstract the ingredients to live a meaningful life with a purpose and not have wasted many lives, including our own.

The precious and significant values in our lives are realized and missed only after we have lost them. It is human nature to first lose what we have or love to realize just how much it truly mattered to us.

Many of us meander through life, striving for meaningless objectives, wasting precious moments that can never be relived. We live our lives as if we will live forever, never realizing that life on this earth is limited and many of us will die prematurely without taking the opportunity to make a difference. Life is Short—My Friend Why be in the passing lane on your way to death places a priority on the value and meaning of life before it becomes too late!

How often have we heard the words How I wish that I had another chance to do it over again or Why have I been put on this earth? without ever putting reality, value, and action to the meaning of that request.

My book Winning in a Losing Culture points out that the deterioration of our American culture is linked to greed and the shortcomings of our corporations as well as our society in general. Life is Short—My Friend Why be in the passing lane on your way to death is intended to bridge from building immunity for survival in our eroding culture by believing in yourself to understanding the cycle and meaning of life. This book is intended to help us overcome the current world economic and moral catastrophe of greed, selfishness, and lack of brotherly love. We all should embrace the goodness of life before it is too late.

I am convinced that evil on this earth drives the predators and many of those that live as efficient causes become the victims, but only if we let it happen.

Inner Peace

Become aware and take action to help bring peace, harmony, and happiness to your fellow humans, yourself, and the world in general. Peace is dedicated to global and personal harmony, respect for Mother Earth, fellow human beings, and all of life. We all live on this planet together, with the plants and trees, the ocean and the atmosphere, and humans and all living creatures. We are all part of the creation. Inner peace is the feeling of tranquility and sharing the goodness of life that lightness all the meaningless heavy burdens that you place in the inside as well as the outside. God put on this earth to share is goodness with all that share life with us. The pleasure of given far exceed the pleasure of receiving that adds to your inner peace and the kindness you share with others. Feeling like God's disciple give you the purpose and the key to going home to God's garden when you become ready to join him.

First, it is very important to become aware of what’s really in our lives. The world generally is a reflection of our thoughts and beliefs on both individual and collective consciousness levels. In order to change the world around us, we must begin from within, by gaining knowledge and by changing our thoughts to love, peace, forgiveness, gratitude. I believe that people that live full lives, who have made a difference in their own and the lives of others, are prepared to meet their makers in the final stage of their life. As long as the current driving forces and measurements for corporate and personal success remain, we can only expect the future to bring more of what we see today (expect to see this phrase often throughout the book).

We need to commit to living a more meaningful

life driven by spiritual laws:

Once you live as an efficient cause, you establish peace within your heart and soul without any regrets when looking backward and forward.

So live your life as if the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others views, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, and beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long, and make its purpose in the service of people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and nothing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision.

When your time to die comes, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way.

To overcome this fear, we need to commit to spiritual laws.

In Chapter 5, I explain the verification of God’s creation of earth and the universe that coincides with portions of the Bible.

Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.

INTRODUCTION

When I started this book, I was about half finished and left it untouched for about eighteen months. A short time ago, I had a serious illness at the hospital for eleven days. This incident was a serious awakening for me, where I felt a compelling purpose to return full time to research and to write and complete this book.

More significant was that my whole attitude changed toward the contents of the original script. More than ever, I think about life, its meaning, purpose, and God’s role continuously. I felt a change coming over me during this time, and once I was finished, I realized that I had put more spirit in my life and that every moment will have more meaning. I realize that it is never too late to change the meaning and the values in your life. I no longer have the fear of facing the great inevitable death. I have always had a loving nature and affection toward people I loved or cared for, but now my desire to be an efficient cause and make a difference has totally taken over my life. I believe that the goodness of life has brought the spirit to me. I have now learned to care more for those who are selfish, greedy, and many others that are lost and live lives without meaning or purpose.

This book contains my heart and soul and what happened to me. I wish the same goodness will impact all who read it.

Why is it that we are so often caught up in our own misery and unhappiness and fail to give any thought to others that need them?

The goodness is what you make of it

The difference between a dreary day and a beautiful one is mainly in what you make of it. The difference between an impassable obstacle and a golden opportunity is primarily in what you make of it.

Bringing meaning into your life is up to you!

Each experience is largely raw and unformed until you actually experience it. Each circumstance and each encounter with life is yours to make of it what you will.

Your attitude is the filter through which the moments of your life are seen and known and valued. What gets through to you and what does not is largely up to you!

Life can be filled with unfairness and misery, or it can be full of invigorating challenge and opportunities for achievement. So much depends on how you take it, or what you make of what comes your way.

Some have been blessed with every advantage and end up with nothing to show for it all. Others have been saddled with unimaginable burdens, and yet have risen to magnificent heights in the past. The future has strange things in store for us. While many will suffer, your ability to adjust and accept what is on the table will determine the measure of pleasure or pain that you will experience.

As this day plays out, whatever the moments may bring, make the choice to look first for the positive possibilities. This day, this moment, this life is what you make of it.

Our great fortune

You are very fortunate. You are alive and free to create value with your thoughts and actions. You are aware and able to adapt effectively when conditions change. You live in a world where even the most difficult circumstances can bring great opportunities. If things are not going well today … wait… it will pass and you have the power to let go and open the door for tranquility and all the goodness around you… look… for sure you will find it. For some everything passes but you have the power ability to recall the moments that give your life a true meaning so the bottom line is your peace of mind that gives you the great fortune to prepare your future.

As you adjust your measure for success, you can live fully the life with which you’re so fortunately blessed.

It never ceases to amaze me how people can walk down the block every day and not look around them in amazement. We rush through our lives, never stopping for a second to think about how incredible it is that you actually have the ability to smell roses, let alone that roses actually exist! We run from job to job, from class to class, as though it’s a completely ordinary, random, terrible day. Why is it so rare that someone will open their eyes?

Perhaps if we looked at the billions of tiny miracles around us, we would better be able to appreciate the bigger miracles.

PAY THE PRICE

The sooner you pay the price, the lower that price will be, and the more you’ll receive in return. The more willingly and gratefully you pay the price, the more quickly you’ll realize the benefits. As mentioned in detail in my book Winning in a Losing Culture, the Epicures Society several thousand years ago measured life as a mixture of pleasure and pain. Pain brings you down to the reality that faith, food, and shelter are the most important priorities for man’s existence and survival. It is man’s nature to hold on tightly on those things that he suffered or struggled for. He tends to take easy things for granted, i.e., easy come, easy go.

When you attempt to gain value without paying the price, you’ll end up paying even more. Each effort you make to get something for nothing will just put you that much farther behind because you have not earned it.

What you hoard, hide, and hold back from life will only serve to hold you back. Instead, be generous with your time, your spirit, your love, and your efforts, and life will be fulfilled. We treat life as if we are on a stage and act out the role that we want to be seen rather than what we really are. It is truly a privilege to pay the price. For that is how value gets created. It is truly a blessing to make the effort, for that is where fulfillment begins.

Step forward with enthusiasm and pay the price and realize how much value it will surely bring. Paying the price makes an impact on understanding the meaning of life and death, and what follows this physical life can give priceless comfort and hope in the face of death. It should also have a great impact on the kind of person you are, motivating you to live carefully and make wise choices.

Knowing that the purpose of this life is to prepare you for an eternal life of power and ability beyond anything you can imagine should encourage you to turn to God so He can begin to fulfill His purpose in you!

Take a hard look at what you truly expect to get out of life because that’s what you’ll get. You won’t get what you want; you’ll get what you expect. Seldom do we exceed our expectations, and when we do, we’re surprised.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

God gave me the gift of insight. After many years of paying the price in the industry and years of giving seminars, I have seen our culture deteriorate to an alarming level of greed, creating a society consisting of predators and victims. I believe that I was created as an efficient cause, and through seminars and counseling, I will make a difference by caring and helping those that lose their jobs. I want to contribute to keep the poor souls from taking drastic action, such as taking their own lives, as their executives put fortunes in their pockets.

I studied theology and philosophy in school some years ago and studied the Bible, but I do not claim to be an expert in theology or the Bible. My intentions were to do research and bring in scriptures and verses to support my effort for man to bring God and Jesus back into our lives. We need to rekindle the values, purpose, and meaning of our lives by accepting a spiritual life to keep from slipping into an immoral world that is driven by evil.

CHAPTER 1

The Meaning of Life

There are two dates—birth and death, and what occurs between them is unique and, therefore, precious. Our gift of consciousness is a two-edged sword. While this intelligence may be the evolutionary cutting edge for human survival, growth, and happiness, it also brings a sharp awareness of life’s terrors. We are the victims to the knowledge of sorrow and the sorrow of knowledge. Ignorance is bliss, and suffering is the price of consciousness. We may become painfully aware of the apparent fact that we were born into this existence without our consent. We are confronted by a world with conditions we did not choose, such as limitations, injustice, and violence we did not design, and a genetic time clock of aging and death.

WE CAME INTO THE WORLD IN PAIN,

AND WE LEAVE IN PAIN.

As soon as we are born, we are old enough to die. While every cell in our body pulsates with the instinct to survive, we humans are conscious that we are going to die. Whether we are ready or not, life will roll in on us at full speed. Whatever questions we may have about reality, life doesn’t stop. We can’t say, Wait, I’m not ready! Life drives us at full force and regardless of the pain and suffering, we hold on without understanding it’s meaning, but survival becomes our quest.

THERE IS A DRIVING PURPOSE,

THAT IS, YOUR LIFE.

You have the opportunity, right now, to make today mean something. Instead of just getting through this day, you can live it in such a way that it positively transforms your life and your world. There is an essential part of you that longs to make a difference. Underneath all the superficial comings and goings of daily life, there is a driving purpose, that is, your life.

Whatever you may be doing on the outside, there is a way to express the purpose that lives on the inside. The more you discover, explore and stay connected to that purpose, the more rich and fulfilling your life will be. You can make real and lasting meaning out of the smallest, most seemingly insignificant moment. In this day, there are countless chances to do so.

Remember often the wondrous miracle that is your life. Let your thoughts, words, and actions flow freely from the valuable, authentic person you are, and great things will surely happen. This is a day to be filled with meaning and positive purpose. Now is your chance to make it a true treasure. There are only two dozen hours in this beautiful day. Do you wish to waste any of them on anger or spite or resentment or despair?

THE MEANING OF LIFE IS BEYOND WORDS

If you approach the understanding of the meaning of life. intellectually, you might correlate it with the understanding of the meaning of infinity, which is beyond the comprehension of man.

The understanding of the meaning of life is beyond words; it is best comprehended by rephrasing it to say life with meaning. The main focus is now on the word meaning, which now contains the ingredients of time, quality, and quantity. The meaning of life is better understood in a divine (order) nomenclature that is linked to creation and existence. However, we can understand it better when applied to the personal quest of understanding your own existence and the purpose of that existence. The meaning of life to the individual is very valuable because it brings in the significance and the purpose of that existence. The meaning of my life is eternal and infinitely great because it is my existence, and without it, I am nothing and do not exist.

It can best be experienced through emotions and sensations and the realization that it’s