No matter how smart you are, if you don’t exchange values, you’ll starve to death. For one thing, being self-sufficient enables survival, but self-sufficiency is only possible if you have your own assets and can borrow from others. However, even with existing assets, one can only survive through minimal labor and effort, which means engaging in productive activities. Thus, having great intelligence and applying that intelligence to productive activities are two different things. Even if you aren’t brilliant, you can survive if you are productive. It’s essential to identify the productive activities in which I excel and those where I need improvement. If I understand that, I must act without looking back. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”
The most difficult writing in the Bible that I’ve ever read is ‘Job.’ In introducing ‘Job,’ the Bible states that he was a rich man of strong faith and the head of a happy family, but it does not explain the origins of the blessings he enjoyed. As he endures indescribable hardships, the reasons for his suffering remain unclear. In other words, he was blessed without explanation and suffered without explanation. The first part of the book of Job, which describes his blessings, contrasts with the latter part, in which he loses everything and eventually recovers for the first time. Yet, there is no explanation for this recovery either. Job’s life serves as a profound example of human experience. For many, the most painful aspect is to enjoy blessings without reason and to lose those blessings without reason. Our lives compel us to confront this reality, and that is the essence of our existence. - Joseph’s “just my thoughts”