https://youtubetranscript.com/?v=tOZx1595kOo
People wish upon stars, that’s like a little ritual, right? Why do they do that? Well, And what exactly is a star? That’s another question, because there are stars that shine in the heavens, and there are people who are stars. And so, why are people stars? Well, they’re usually famous people, right? They’re people that who attract a lot of attention, and maybe there are people who have a lot of talent. That’s another possibility. Maybe they’re models. I don’t mean, you know, clothing models, although sometimes they are, but they’re models for emulation. That’s what being a star means. That’s why People magazine is full of stars. It’s like they’re like heroes brought to earth, and of course, you know nothing about them. All you know is their public persona. And of course, they’re usually very attractive, and so that allows you to project upon them all the things that would go along with ideal humanity. And so they’re stars. But still, why stars? Well, stars beckon in the darkness, right? And they’re otherworldly. That’s the thing that’s cool. They’re not of this earth. And I mean that, technically, because obviously, they’re not of this earth, but I also mean it, I mean it, phenomenologically. I mean it as an element of human experience. So, most of you are urban, and so you’ve not had the experience of, perhaps, of the full night sky, you know, and that’s really too bad because the full night sky is one of those experiences that actually induces awe, naturally, you know, and no wonder you look up there and there’s just stars everywhere, right? You’re looking at the edge of the galaxy. That’s actually, that’s the Milky Way, right? It’s the edge of the galaxy. It’s like, wow, there’s the edge of the galaxy. And there’s just so many of them. And it’s such an expanse. You’re looking into infinity. You’re looking into the unknown. You’re looking beyond yourself. That’s for sure. And you know, that produces a sense of awe in people, like looking at the Grand Canyon or something like that. And it’s, you’re looking at something that transcends yourself. But that feeling of awe, that seems to be something that’s, that’s, that’s a natural part of our response. You know, you might feel awe when you meet someone that you regard as particularly admirable as well, because you feel that there’s something transcendent about them. So here’s an interesting thing to think about. There are people you admire. And there are people that you don’t admire. And that’s a clue, right? That’s a clue as to your value system. It might be not really something you can even put your finger on. It’s like you find this person captivating. You find this person admirable. And it’s as if there’s something inside of you that’s looking for what’s admirable, you know, assuming that you are. And that person who’s admirable has a, has a faculty, some faculty, that you would like to have for yourself. And so they’re a model for emulation. And that’s part of how people develop, you know, like little kids often develop little hero crushes on older kids. You know, not that much older, but sort of the the person that’s sort of just within their grasp, and then they follow them around and imitate them. And you know, so they’re imitating what they find admirable. Well, the fact that you find something admirable is a hint as to the structure of your unconscious value system. And so you could think even, as an exercise, you could think, well, what qualities of a human being do I find admirable? You have to ask yourself that in a sense. You can’t really think about it. There is a difference between asking yourself a question and thinking about it. You know, because it’s more like when you’re asking yourself a question, it’s contemplative. It’s like, well, what do I find admirable? It’s a question. You don’t know. And if you’re fortunate, and this happens quite regularly, an answer will float up from wherever the hell answers float up. And you know, oh, yeah, that’s one. You can write that down. You get some idea of what your ideal is, you know, and you have one, likely, and what your counter ideal is. Star. Well, to wish upon a star is to raise your eyes above the horizon, and to focus on something transcendent that’s beyond you. To focus on the absolute, we could say, to focus on the light that shines in the darkness. Now, a star is… People wear diamonds because they’re like stars, or they’re like the sun, and they’re pure and perfect, and they glitter. And so there’s something about the light, too. There’s something about a source of light. It’s a source of illumination and enlightenment, and the light that shines in the darkness is a deep metaphor, right? It’s what you want. You want a light to shine in the darkness. And so the star has all that, and so people wish upon a star because they have some intuition that aiming above the mundane has the potential to transform themselves. They make a wish. Well, if you’re gonna make a wish, you should aim at something high, and even just aiming at that is more likely to make the wish come true, and this is not metaphor. You know, I have this program, which you guys are going to do, called the Future Authoring Program. It’s one of two assignments. One is that you write an autobiography. That’s the past authoring. The other is that you write a plan for the future. That’s the future authoring. I would recommend that you get started on those right now. Like, not right now, but like really soon, because they’re harder than you think, and some of you are going to write like 15,000 words. You’re going to get sucked right in. This happens all the time. You’re going to get sucked right into it. And so you write an autobiography because you need to know where you are and who you are right now, because how the hell are you going to plot a pathway to the future unless you know where you are? And then you need to write about the future because you aren’t going to hit something unless you aim at it. That’s for sure. And lots of times people won’t aim at what they want because they’re afraid. The reason they’re afraid is because if you specify what you want, you’ve specified your conditions of failure. You know when you fail. And it’s better just to keep it foggy. It’s like, well, I don’t know if I’m succeeding or failing, but you know, I can’t really tell. Well, great. Except you can’t hit anything you don’t aim at. And so the future authoring program is like a it’s an attempt to have you articulate your character. And so is the past authoring program. Who are you? And you know, the past authoring program asks you to break your life into epochs and then to write about the emotional, you know, the things that you regard as important. Important events that have shaped who you are. And you know, you may find that some of those some of that writing makes you emotional, I would say. If you have a memory that’s more than 18 months old, roughly speaking, and when you bring it to mind, it has an emotional impact, especially a negative emotional impact. It’s like part of your soul is stuck back there. And I know that’s a metaphorical way of thinking about it, but what I mean is that but what I mean is that the reason that you still experience the emotion is because you have not solved the problem that that situation faced you with. It might be a real problem, like maybe you got tangled up with someone who was really bad, and that’s rough, man, because you’ve got to come up with a theory of malevolence to deal with something like that, and that’s no joke. But if it still produces emotion, it means you haven’t solved the problem, and your brain is still tagging it as threat. It’s a part of your territory that you did not master. Threat, threat, threat, threat, threat. And until you take it apart, and articulation really helps that, writing really helps that, then you’re not going to free yourself from its grip. And that might not be that pleasant. I mean, this is one of those situations where doing it tends to produce a decrement in people’s mood in the short term, but quite radical improvements three to six months down the road. You know, and it’s often the case that you unfortunately have to do something you don’t want to do in order to progress. It’s very, very common.