My parents had always encouraged me to be progressive, to never live in the past, to be a date and modern, and to embrace the future. We can only live in the present. In terms of the past, I’ll only reach as far back as the ’60s, that’s the late 60’s. I have to know where I came from in the past, but things or traditions have to evolve into new forms; the old techniques of the past are stepping stones for the future to make something unique so that artists, craftspeople, and technicians of all types can experiment with new forms and ways. I learned to accept that things would always change. I can be confident of one thing in my life, which is change; any change. Society can’t go back to living in the 1950s or 1960s or another time in the past; we can only take elements from the past to renew them for our time. If any spiritual tradition is to continue, it has to evolve. I have to develop myself by continuing to learn new things; learning doesn’t end by graduating from the university; higher education only gives me the keys to open up more doors in learning. What I’ve learned in school could be obsolete today. Yes, I’ll find I’m wrong or right, but this means I’m learning. I try to set my mind because life is fluid, and age has no barrier to learning.

My parents encouraged me to think outside the box; they encouraged me to read a lot but not to be enslaved by other people’s opinions on things. My father always said to think for myself and not to depend on authorities for my answers. But unfortunately, I was held prisoner by certain books; these were non-fiction books, and it became such a problem that I couldn’t create or move ahead, and I didn’t have confidence. I was encouraged to read more fiction stories; these books helped me to travel everywhere, even to places that didn’t exist. I wasn’t choosing non-fiction books that allowed me to think on my own; I have a little more sense now to pick and choose what I read, I try to find books that stimulate my mind and force me to think.

I think everything that exists and doesn’t exist has supposed, perhaps not thinking the way we believe, like a being with a physical brain. Plants don’t seem to have a biological brain, but to me, they seem to think the way creatures with brains process information from their environment. Still, in another way, they seem like inanimate objects that I believe appear to have some communication with their surroundings. I read once that light could be considered a life form; I thought this very intriguing; perhaps the weather on this planet is a life form of another type. This is what could be called “god,” sometimes, this word has a somewhat negative connotation for me; I prefer a more positive one, “thought,” which means individuals who broaden their minds beyond their confines soar beyond narrowly defined spiritual definitions. Metaphor in writing is sometimes misunderstood, all the world’s excellent spiritual papers are great to learn from, and I embrace them all; they are great works of literature and spirituality. A diversity of learning from all cultures, spiritual traditions, and schools of thought is needed to make a well-rounded individual.