1001 Reasons to Stay Alive

By Jeff Katzman

The Top 10 Reasons to Read this Book
1how to learn from the lives of the masters of the art of living -- Jesus, Buddha, Socrates, Confucius, and more -- how to attain self-mastery and how to interpret rvents so that you get the maximum power and joy out of your life
2how to strategically employ the five grandest institutions -- the church, the economy, the state, the academy, and the family -- to win the power game of your life
3how to recognize that the kingdom of heaven lies within you and depends on your relationship with yourself and with everyone else around you
4how to ask yourself the questions and do the tasks and challenges necessary to embark on and succeed in the quest for enlightenment
5how to apply the timeless elements of the human condition to find peace with yourself, your life, and the world
6how to open up a clearing where you can find the path through life that fits you best
7how to finance the leisure time necessary to determine who you want to become
8how to align the life that you have imagined with the life you are actually living
9how to become a Philobios -- an individual so in love with life and with the world that he finds everyone and everything in it full of wonder
10how to learn that you win the game of life when you find happiness with yourself

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jeff Katzman
• Release date: Jun 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311369673

Jeff Katzman

Jeff Katzman is the founder of Prometheus Enterprises and has been working on The Prometheus Project for over 25 years. Jeff has been a writer, a public speaker, a professor, a Vice President of Operations, and an economist. His motto is read classics and travel. Jeff wrote the companion volumes The Power Game Volume I and The Power Game Volume II. He is also the author of the companion volumes Prometheus Bound and Prometheus Unbound, Parts I and II of The Prometheus Trilogy. He is currently working on Part III of The Prometheus Trilogy -- Prometheus Triumphs.

Book preview

1001 Reasons to Stay Alive

Copyright 2015 Jeff Katzman

Published by Jeff Katzman at Smashwords

Version 1.02

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Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: Art of Nature vs Art of Living

Chapter 2: Life vs Death

Chapter 3: Human vs Being

Chapter 4: Humanity vs Eternity

Chapter 5: The Church vs Enlightenment

Chapter 6: The Economy vs Economy

Chapter 7: The State vs Power

Chapter 8: The Academy vs Discovery

Chapter 9: The Family vs Individual

Chapter 10: The Power Game

About the author

Other books by the author

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my Mom, goddess of inspiration.

Acknowledgements

Most of all I would like to acknowledge Prometheus -- the Greek titan, god, and muse who represents the treasure trove of all past human achievement. When we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, we stand on the shoulders of Prometheus.

As a species, humanity still would not be all that interesting if each generation were only passing on its limited experience to the next verbally. We only became interesting when we switched from conversing amongst ourselves to conversing with the ancients. The best of these conversations are the ones in which the wisest men and women who ever lived followed the great chain of being and wrote collections of the best ideas of all time.

I too have followed this great chain of being starting with Homer and following it to the present. In particular, I would like to thank Nietzsche, Thoreau, Hesse, and Emerson for being the best guides in my life and providing me with the wisest ideas on the timeless elements of the human condition.

Cover art: Jeff Katzman’s 1001 Reasons to Stay Alive.

Eternity

Come sit with me

By the sea.

Feel the ebb and flow

Of eternity.

Bask in the glow of Apollo.

Let his warmth inspire,

Fan your flames,

And set your soul on fire!

A silhouetted seagull spirals

Round the sky, a solitary flyer.

Follow it in flight,

And soar ever higher!

Listen to the voice within;

Defy your defiers.

Chase your dreams;

Fulfill your desires!

Become who you are;

Set yourself free.

Immortalized in language,

you'll live infinitely!

Come sit with me

By the sea,

Where waves whisper your name

For eternity.

Introduction

The purpose of 1001 Reasons to Stay Alive is to learn from the past masters of the art of living -- Jesus, Socrates, Buddha, Confucius and many others -- how to achieve self-mastery and how to aim to get the maximum power and joy out of your life. The central assumption of the book is that you are dissatisfied with at least one area of your life -- your relationship to yourself or your relationship with others -- and that you want to make a meaningful transformation in yourself and in your life. The goal of this book is to help individuals traveling down the path of misdevelopment steer themselves to a normal path as productive members of society. This book will be a smashing success if it helps you find more joy, peace, happiness, and power in your life.

Why am I an expert in these ideas and ways of life -- because I made myself an expert. My adolescent period was hell on earth -- I was clearly traveling the path of misdevelopment without any role models. Neither of my parents was fit to serve as a role model for me. I decided that it was necessary for me to search elsewhere for role models in my life, and I determined that seeking the best ideas from the wisest men and women who ever lived would be the best way for me to make the transition to a wise and productive adult.

Originally, I had no intention of writing a book summarizing these ideas. I simply applied these ideas to my life and steered myself along a more adventurous, creative, productive, and successful path. This book represents the executive summary of my entire research and education -- it is the one book I wish I had access to when I first set out on my quest for role models years ago.

My research took me through the great chain of being -- the string of ideas linking the distant past like Homer's The Odyssey or The Old Testament up to the current prevailing wisdom of our age. While in graduate school I observed that I had a comparative advantage over my fellow students in providing executive summaries of the books, journal articles, and models that we read. Oftentimes I felt that I could summarize a writer's book even more cogently and succinctly than the writer could. So, rather than you having to read hundreds of books containing the best ideas of the wisest men and women who ever lived, you can read this brief executive summary of all of my executive summaries of those books.

The motivation for me to write a book summarizing these ideas came to me when my Mom, who was mentally ill, committed suicide. I loved my Mom, and she was my number one fan, expecting me to do something magical with my life. This is the book I wish I could have read to her the night before she killed herself -- during that moment of truth -- to remind her of the 1001 reasons to stay alive. I dedicate this book to my Mom.

1001 Reasons to Stay Alive is not for the lucky ones -- those fortunate to have lives that have remained smooth and worry-free. However, this book proves invaluable for those who want to undergo a meaningful and lasting transformation in themselves -- individuals who want a fresh start. This book calls for a revolution -- not against the ruling class, or the powers that be, or against any other authority. This revolutionist's handbook calls for a revolutionary transformation in yourself and in the way you view the world.

This book is for those of us traveling the path of social or psychological misdevelopment, for example: those who have been forced to deal with crazy parents, mental illness, mood disorders, abuse, drug and alcohol addition, juvenile delinquency, prison, prostitution, premature loss of friends or family members, or even worse events and paths through life. This book defines the questions, the tasks, and the challenges that you must answer and resolve to embark on and succeed in the quest for an enlightened way of life.

As individuals wind their way through the maze of life and the events that happen to them, this book helps them get on the path that fits them best. You and only you have the power to free yourself. This book demands and commands a radical psychological transformation about how you feel about you -- to recognize that the kingdom of heaven lies within you and depends on your relationship with yourself and with everyone else around you. This book defines success as doing what you truly love to do as often as you can while simultaneously serving society as best you can. You will arrive at the point where you align the life that you have imagined with the life you are actually living, so much so that you become a philobios -- an individual so in love with life and with the world that he finds everyone and everything in it full of wonder. If you complete your quest and come to live decisively and resolutely, then you will reach the point where you affirm your entire life as it is -- that you would love to live this life over and over again for eternity.

Do you know what life is to me? Life is a game in which you explore the labyrinth lying within you -- the labyrinth that is you. You journey inside the deepest, darkest recesses of your mind and body to explore the mystery that you are. You travel further and further along the forking paths until you discover who you are. Once you discover who you are, then you aim to find happiness with who you are. Once you find happiness with who you are, your journey is complete and your mission fulfilled. Once you fulfill your mission, you win the game of life and the power game.

Life is also a gift, and 1001 Reasons to Stay Alive is my gift to life and to you. May you too fare well on your journey through life as you master the art of living and yourself.

Love,

Jeff

Chapter 1: Art of Nature vs Art of Living

What exactly are you waiting for -- your next lifetime, to be reincarnated, some sort of afterlife, for someone else to do it for you? It is high time to stop dreaming and to start living your ideal life -- for the only purpose in your life is the one you assign to it. Unless you start looking for it, you will never find it.

The goal of your life is to find happiness with who you are, and the time to start finding it is now. The first step in reaching this goal -- your sole goal -- is to determine who you are. This is the hardest task you will ever assign yourself -- anyone who tells you otherwise is just selling something. Though it is easy to memorize and to regurgitate these ideas, it is tremendously difficult to apply them to your life and all the more challenging to bring them to fruition -- for somehow every institution that man has ever created is designed to thwart you in this quest.

Still, the sooner you start, the sooner you will become the person you have always wanted to be -- for you become what you