Life Sucks!: My Happy Book

By Lucifer VanDevender

Some people who are politically or religiously biased may find this book offensive. I’m a spiritual person but I’m not a big fan of organized religion.

Keep an open mind while reading this book. The title may sound funny but it isn’t a joke book. Life can suck sometimes. I wrote this book to give you the tools and knowledge to make life suck less for you.

Life Sucks! Is a distillation and summation of a lifetime of my research into the mind and life. If this book helps you to be happier and more successful in life, I’ve done my job. Life is a journey, not a destination. Enjoy the ride.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798369411810

Book preview

Copyright © 2023 by Lucifer VanDevender.

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.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

VanDevender Author Services, LLC

Boulder, CO

Rev. date: 12/01/2023

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

856988

CONTENTS

About The Author

Introduction

Chapter 1 A Higher Power

Chapter 2 To Bruce Lee

Chapter 3 Responsibility, Knowledge, and Control

Chapter 4 Investigate

Chapter 5 Communicate

Chapter 6 The Game of Life

Chapter 7 Understanding

Chapter 8 Rightness and Wrongness

Chapter 9 How to Find Your Soulmate (or at least get laid)

Chapter 10 Everything I’ve Learned About Women

Chapter 11 Problems and Solutions

Chapter 12 The Secrets of Life and the Universe

Chapter 13 Politics American Style

Chapter 14 My Religion

Chapter 15 True Greatness

Chapter 16 The Mechanics of not giving a shit

Chapter 17 Organized Religion and my case for Religious Heresy

Chapter 18 Regret

Chapter 19 Blame

Chapter 20 Liberal vs Conservative

Chapter 21 Hate

Chapter 22 Virgin Prostitutes?

Chapter 23 America vs Europe

Chapter 24 They made it all up

Chapter 25 My Life as a Scientologist

Chapter 26 In the beginning and Forever is the Decision

Chapter 27 Purposes and Goals

Chapter 28 Do something

Chapter 29 Why I believe in Reincarnation

Chapter 30 Tiredness and Failed Purposes

Chapter 31 Ethics vs Morals

Chapter 32 Order vs Chaos

Chapter 33 Self-Therapy

Chapter 34 Who are You?

Epilogue

Other Books by Lucifer VanDevender:

The Robin Hood Success Guide (1997)

The Legacy of Abraham: The Story of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (1999)

Lucifer’s Apple (2020)

The Reluctant Heretic (2021)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R everend VanDevender writes nonfiction books on Spirituality and Philosophy. He is an Ordained Universalist Unitarian Minister, Life Coach, Martial Arts Instructor, Marriage Counselor, Drug Rehab Case Supervisor, English and Grammar Teacher, Lecturer on Religious Philosophy and Theosophy*, Commodities Trader, pothead, and all around cool dude.

VanDevender Author Services

(*Theosophy includes many types of philosophies maintaining that a knowledge of God may be achieved through intuition and spiritual awareness and enlightenment)

For Ruthia

DedicationPhoto.jpg

If you see your neighbor working on the Sabbath, you should kill him.

Deuteronomy

INTRODUCTION

Please allow me to introduce myself. I’m a man of wealth and taste.

The Rolling Stones

H ello. I’m so happy that you are interested in this book. a few chapters in Life Sucks! are taken almost directly from one of my earlier books, The Reluctant Heretic (published 2021). If you’re interested in Spirituality and Logic as it applies to everyday life, I recommend that you read my earlier book after you finish this one since this book is kind of a prequel to my earlier book. This repeated data from The Reluctant Heretic is relevant to this book also because these chapters deal with helping you to possibly become a happier person.

Some people who are politically or religiously biased may find this book offensive and I do use profane language throughout this book. Please keep an open mind while reading Life Sucks!. I know the title of this book is kind of funny but this is not a joke book. I just chose the title to get your attention. And life can suck sometimes.

In this book, I rail against, and rant about, Organized Religion, Atheism, Humanism, and destructive political ideologies (like Conservatism, Communism, Anarchy, Fascism, and Libertarianism). I explain in detail in this book why I personally believe these religious beliefs, and political philosophies, are dangerous. This doesn’t mean that I’m a politically-biased person who doesn’t respect others’ right to their own religious and political beliefs generally. I have no problem with other people’s religions unless they try to force their beliefs on me in order to save my soul (which, as a Buddhist, I find offensive because I understand that only I, the spiritual being, can save myself through wisdom and spiritual enlightenment). My closest family members are Evangelical Christians, and my kids are Muslims (like their mom, who is from Kuwait) and I love them dearly and respect their right to believe whatever they choose.

I am a very progressive-minded person but I’m not a Democrat. I’m not a person who fits into a particular political party exactly (My philosophy is most closely aligned with Democratic Socialism). I certainly don’t have a lot of love for establishment Democrats or crazy ass right-wing Republican nutcases.

I am a heterosexual man who supports gay marriage and trans rights. I support legalizing all drugs so they can be regulated. I believe in Religious freedom and freedom of speech, universal healthcare, tuition-free college, a minimum entry-level wage that is a living wage (at least $25 an hour), getting off all fossil fuels and using renewable energy sources and nuclear power instead so my kids will have a planet that is inhabitable in the future, workers rights, providing housing, food, clothing, job training, therapy, and drug rehab for the homeless, a path to citizenship and amnesty for immigrants who crossed our border illegally, finishing the border wall and policing the border to prevent drug smuggling and human trafficking, mandatory jail time and heavy fines for employers who hire undocumented people instead of focusing on the immigrants themselves (which would pretty much handle the immigration problem because they wouldn’t be able to work and make money so most of them would either come forward and apply for legal status or just self-deport), common sense gun reform that makes us safer without violating the 2nd amendment like universal background checks, raising the age to buy a gun to 21, and banning weapons of war like the AR-15, a minimum sentence of life without parole for people who have been found guilty of molesting children (this should apply only to adults who raped very young children and not include 18 to 20 year olds who had consentual sex with 16 or 17 year olds for example), Ranked-Choice voting, publicly-funded elections so a person doesn’t have to be rich to run for public office, term limits for Supreme Court Justices and enforcing an ethics code that they must follow, no more taxpayer money for financial aid and no weapons sales to developed countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia, withdrawing support and tough sanctions on countries that violate human rights, Closing all American Embassies and no American military prescense in foreign countries except for monitoring some countries with a few NGO or UN observers and a Navy ship or two to provide intelligence on terrorists, and using the trillions of dollars saved to end homelessness and poverty in our own country, Limited numbers of Special Forces troops to fight known terrorists in hostile countries but no major army presence in those countries, ending the cash bail system for people charged with non violent offenses so poor people don’t spend months, or even years, in jail before even being convicted of a crime, no censoring of speech even if it’s offensive; only censoring speech when someone threatens violence or there is clear evidence that the person is promoting or engaging in criminal activity, banning corporate and military-industrial complex lobbyists, the rich paying more taxes than a school teacher, and I’m Pro-Woman and Pro-Privacy (which is commonly referred to as Pro-Choice). Having these personal views doesn’t mean that I don’t respect people’s right to have their own political opinions as long as they are not harmful, violent, or politically-biased people who consider those with different opinions to be evil.

I’m a gun owner. I have a concealed carry permit and I carry my gun with me almost everywhere because it is a dangerous world we’re living in right now and I may need to defend myself or someone else at some point. It’s best to be prepared just in case. There are two things I own that I hope I never have to use, my gun and my fire extinguisher.

I don’t think the majority of Republicans, Libertarians, and Communists are evil. I just think they’re wrong. My girlfriend is a Republican (Conservative, but not MAGA) and she’s a beautiful, loving person. But she’s wrong. And I tell her that all the time which irritates her to no end so we usually end up just agreeing to disagree on politics and go straight to the sex.

The purpose of this book isn’t to convert you to Buddhism or to turn you into a Democratic Socialist. My only reason for writing this book is to give you the life hacks and tools you will need to lead a relatively happy life. I don’t insist that you believe as I do. All I ask is that you read the information I’m providing and see if it works for you. If it works, use it. If it doesn’t, don’t. I’m not making any promises here. I don’t claim to be an expert in philosophy or psychology (even though I do have degrees in those subjects). I’m just telling you in layman’s terms what works for me in life and makes me a happier, more successful person. And I hope that you will become a happier, more successful person using the principles I give in this book. My name is Lucifer which means Bringer of Light. It is my purpose in life to bring