Generally speaking, I would like to become a self-funded researcher/writer, working on several topics, including the antiquities, American politics, religion, and human character. My career goal, therefore, is to build enough streams of residual income so as to have the time and cash necessary for said research and writing.
Business wise, I have a few projects started already and am looking further into projects that concern a certain segment of the autobody repair industry, since I am already familiar with that. For me, business can be fun at times, but it can also be quite challenging. My problem is that the things I most want to do are simply not likely to be highly monetizeable. Thus must I raise my own support!
My Primary Goals
I have four primary goals. They are.
- To be an excellent person.
- To be an excellent help to my family.
- To leave the world better that it was when I found it.
- To inspire my own generation to aspire to #3 above.
As to the last, I am thus far an utter failure.
Projects
Of the making of many projects, there is no end. Without giving away proprietary information or trade secrets, here’s some of what I would like to get into.
- The authenticity of humans. What if we actually held to the paradigms and principles we say are worthy? That would make us authentic through and through.
- The dupable nature of humans. I’d like to bring awareness to this problem, as well as to provide some user-friendly tools for detecting dupery. The envisioned web project is fairly simply in nature, but is waiting in line behind current projects.
- Internet discussion. I have lots of ideas (and even a semi-functional prototype) on how to improve online discussions with a view toward searchability, efficiency, quality control, etc. This concept is simply awaiting the funding necessary to bring it to fruition.
- Bible/Christianity surveys. I am of the general opinion that most believers do not investigate and ponder their own source materials enough. I have in mind some websites that would facilitate this sort of investigation. These projects, being difficult to monetize, simply must wait their turn in favor of those that can produce some revenue!
- Public participation in the media. I have an idea on how to weaken the reign of the mega-media corporations on our news by involving citizen writers who are willing to follow some simple quality control rules on writing formats. This project is monetizeable, but is simply in line behind some others.
- Candidate information. I think that the voting public deserves an excellent way to vet their candidates. I have plans for a web project to do this very thing…and to do it better than is currently being done.
- Read the Constitution. While I definitely believe that the Constitution could be improved on several counts, I think that our country would be far better off if we adhered to it as written. Regrettably, however, most Americans do not understand the document…which may have something to do with the fact that they have never read it. I have an initiative in mind…and even partially developed. It is simply awaiting the scheduling/funding planets to line up in proper fashion.
- Organic Gardening for Everyone. Imagine if millions of Americans could manage to shake off the consumer mentality when it comes to food, and grow a great deal of their own (organic) food at home! Our health would improve, as would our mental health, our outlook, our relationships. Similarly, the time we would spend gardening would remove us (somewhat) from the constant influences we now lend ourselves to for entertainment. I’m quite interested in pursuing some collaborative efforts with others who are well-equipped to build such a “movement” in American thinking.
- Music. Years ago, I was fairly involved as a semi-professional musician. I have in mind at least to publish (on this site) some of the works I have written. Recently, however, I did write a new (short) piece and submitted it to a certain vocal ensemble for their use (should they like it). If I had the right outlet, it might be worth making the time to be involved.
Here are some books I want to write. (Some of these I may simply publish online as websites, or distribute for free as eBooks.)
- About the American Character. This book is currently in development and should be posted (for free) online this winter. It argues that our greatest American problem is that the citizens do not have the aggregate character necessary to be good overseers of our own government. UPDATE: The first installment of this book is now published online and can be read for free: Character Not Included: What America must fix before she can fix anything else
- Faith Used to Be Rational. This book will point out how biblical characters exercised their faith by obeying actual commands and expecting the fulfillment of actual promises from God. Today, however, “faith” is seen as the antithesis of logic and reason. Meanwhile, logic and reason are looked down upon as “unspiritual” by many.
- A Hundred Questions About Christianity that You Probably Can’t Answer. This unique book will seek to prompt people to think about their beliefs, simply by asking difficult questions. The book will be “safe” in that it doesn’t presume to give the answers. My hope is simply to stimulate a deeper and wider level of investigative thinking amongst believers.
- The Bible is Not “Complete”. This work will examine at least 169 references in the Bible to other writings that do not appear within the Bible collection. It also examines a number of “one liners” in the Bible accounts that raise questions not answered in the remainder of the Bible. (Example: Paul’s “third heaven” is nowhere else mentioned or explained.) The goal of this work is to dash the common-yet-often-unspoken notion that “the Bible is complete”. Nothing here seeks to discount the texts or their authority, but simply to face the observable truth about the nature of the texts that are extant in this generation. In my view, our hermeneutic rules simply must be adjusted if we don’t believe that God himself has orchestrated this exact collection of works, and has deliberate excluded other works, as well as other pertinent facts.
- Public Corruption in US History. When my own research is more complete, I’d like to write a book showing how both governmental corruption and the unfit nature of the public to be good overseers of the government has always existed in the US.
- Kings of the Earth. My investigation is presently in its infant state, but I have enough data to suggest that the phrase “Kings of the Earth” (as used in the Bible) may not have always (or ever) referred to human beings. In some cases, at least, it is fairly obvious that it referred to angelic beings (with some being good and some being evil). The similarity of this to the mythologies of the world is striking, and there is ample evidence of it in the Bible itself to make it clear to me that something unlike today’s activities was going on in the past.
- Why Are the Churches Failing? Every church I know of bemoans (to one degree or another) the sad state of its membership and their failures to achieve the goals that they naturally assume for themselves after reading about the original ekklesia in the Bible. Many attempt to explain a great deal of this by simply claiming that the other churches aren’t “real” churches, or that their members aren’t “real” Christians. Others, meanwhile, try to pass off their own church’s failure as a simple matter of having the right system, but not implementing it in optimal fashion. In short, I find all of these answers logically lacking. I’m preparing to roll out a new theory that explains all of this, and yet, at the end of which, God still exists unchanged and people are still supposed to be well-behaved.
- On Self Correction. Imagine how different the Earth would be if most people routinely corrected themselves! I’d like to write a simple and easy-to-read book in promotion of this vision. Whether it’s as simple as dropping the word “hot” from “hot water heater” (the device heats cold water, not hot water), or as difficult as mustering the will power to change our behavior in matters of morality, great freedom can be attained once one gets the hang of correcting himself routinely.
- The Devotional Trap. Too many believers overlook the idea of reading the Bible to understand the original intent of its various authors. Instead, they read with a view toward determining, “What is God saying to me in this passage?”. This has a nasty tendency of skewing the entire Bible for them, and turning it into something of a crystal ball, rather than a finite and fixed record of what happened in the past. I submit that this manner of Bible interpretation is an endless trap from which few ever manage to escape philosophically.
- When Grace Was Effective. Paul taught a grace that: 1) caused him to work very hard, and that 2) taught people to say “no” to ungodliness. A great many believers today, however, have a notion of “grace” that seems to reward and even to encourage personal weakness and failure, and with which they congratulate themselves over the most dubious of spiritual accomplishments—even including mere good intentions or wishful thinking.
- The Gap Trap. One frequent phenomenon in Christian living is this: Joe Christian learns something new and realizes that he and his peers have been in error. Joe embraces his new learning and begins to redefine his life in terms of the before and after of this new epiphany. Encountering some resistance from his peers who do not accept his new epiphany as valid, Joe bemoans their low state and develops a me-versus-them attitude, in which he is naturally the superior by nature of the fact that he understands the new epiphany and “they” don’t. Joe then spends years of his life in this status. Meanwhile, however, Joe is himself caught in the gap between where he once was in his understanding and where he would be if he rightly understood everything about his religion. So rather than progressing through a series of one meaningful epiphany after another, along the way to the fullest-possible level of knowledge, Joe has (without even realizing it) devoted years of his life to but a single differentiation between himself and his past peers. Read more here.
