We all live in a world of make believe and like children, we don’t want to leave the theme park.

Philosophy is make believe until you own it. Then it becomes experience. It’s like the late Dr. Dave Dobson said, “Theory is Bullshit. Defending your theory is bullshit squared.”

It’s amusing to hear other peoples’ unsubstantiated philosophies; it becomes enlightening when you discover your own.

You’re pretending if you ascribe to the philosophy of “Love thy neighbor” and then disparagingly talk about them on the church steps.

You’re pretending if you offer advice to another that you are unwilling to follow yourself.

You’re pretending if you believe something will fix itself without any effort on your part.

If you’re preaching without practicing, you’re pretending.

What are you pretending about? It’s a question worth asking yourself on a regular basis. It’s the question that leads us away from the land of philosophical fairy dust and into a world rich with experience.

If you own your experience, your philosophy will advertise itself through your actions; you don’t have to sell it.

Experience is something you won’t find window shopping on eBay.

The way to find your experience is to begin telling the truth. Here’s the one step to success: The next time you are about to lie, pause.

It’s the pause that really refreshes. It’s a practice that will calibrate you back to zero. Then you can describe your actual experience, without embellishment, and discover your current true philosophy.

When you stop pretending, life becomes real. It’s from this authentic base of experiential reality that we can build a philosophy that we can preach without compunction.

The moment of truth begins when pretending ends.

Who wants to be the next person to tell the truth?

All the best,

John