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Untold amounts of evil have been done by those who declare that they are fighting evil. The question arises as to where to draw the line between good intentions and good acts directed toward fighting evil as opposed to good intentions and bad acts. In making this decision I must always consider whether or not the Extreme and the Moderate arrogant people are right. This is a possibility because, despite most everyone believing otherwise, no one knows anything thing for sure. The Arrogant who have had privilege handed to them or are "Self-Made" (i.e. worked their way up) believe they are superior human beings-and with absolutely no foundation for such a belief. Suppose that when you are dead that is it-meaning there is no Afterlife or no "Other life." If so, then the Arrogant would be right to do the Bad Guy's modification of the Boy Scout Oath: "On my honor, I will do my best, to take all I can, and steal the rest." There would be no point in having any connection with other human beings or having any cares about what happens to their untold numbers of victims around the world.

 Besides lacking compassion, they avoid intimate relationships and, instead, set up alliances where "every man for himself" reigns behind their efforts in increasing each other's riches. These very superficial people-and there are 1000 billionaires in the USA-have as their total focus in life the making of outrageous sums of money; possessing a degree of power that is above that of any other human being; and of displaying their property ownership as "conspicuous consumption." They live what appears to be the "Good Life"-and naïve people are sucked into this false belief-- by owning homes and estates all over the world and never visiting many of them; or greedily acquiring adult toys: "beautiful lovers," private jet airplanes, yachts, rare and expensive Art and jewelry; and pay 100,000 dollars to join a club and many thousands a year to maintain membership. The same amounts may be used to pay some one to simply set up "vacations" for them. To me, these are the opposite of possessing "class."

For "little gods," making money is a way of life and a way of keeping score to see how they are doing in life. It is a game about: "when you get to the top, see how much higher than the top you can go." It is a form of daily competition with themselves and with peers. If they do not continue to make more and more millions and billions a year then they feel they are not playing the game very well-and that strikes at their narcissism mindset. Yet, all of this striving indicates that they possess deep fears, deep insecurities, and have an intense need to prove that they are more than they really are. By lacking a sense of what life is about or where life comes from or where life is going-and by not caring, they are not happy. Their bottomless pit of materialism (as a substitute for Love) can never be satisfied. The fact that they struggle to decide what to do with their money upon their death is also a sign of them knowing that there is something more to life than money. Many choose not to leave all their money to their children because of their awareness that being in possession of so much money either destroys character or prevents good character from developing. Think about that! Thus the key to deciding whether to have a "little god" attitude and lifestyle may be to look at the effect it can have on you. I do not know if my way of living is right but I do know that life for me is quite good. I have emphasized things of Worth (e.g. Love, peace, harmony, helping the needy) and have worked much harder than most to achieve "enough" things of Value (i.e. the material creature comforts). Despite all of my lacks, losses, obstacles, struggles, and pains in life, I would not trade any of them for anything. To me, what I strive for in life-to have a sense of well-being and to help others--seems "natural" while what the Arrogant are about seems unnatural.

 website: www.jablifeskills.com

Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.

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