The Best Investment for Life


Xuefeng
(Translated by Transn and Edited by Kaer)


Life is just a short trip of LIFE in the mortal world. Since different travel routes lead to different experiences, we each arrive at different destinations. At this point, it is not "All roads lead to Rome", but it is branching out in different directions where any mistake can result in long-lasting regret.



How many regrets and how much remorse, bitterness, and anguish result from taking the wrong routes, especially as we reach our twilight days? The kinds of sadness, desolation, frustration, and remorse interweave into the pathos of the Life song as all the tears dry, and only the last breaths remain. There is no way to go back and start again. To whom shall we complain? To whom shall we sigh? We can do nothing but regret.



Tragedy can be avoided. It depends on how we choose our route of Life. In terms of the modern commodity-economic concept, it is how to best invest in your Life. The Greatest Creator has given each of us enough capital, such as time, energy, youth, vitality, freedom of consciousness, health, and so on, so how and where should we invest it?



Nature is the same, but people vary. Everyone has his or her own ideal and they cannot all resonate in the same key. LIFE has its own levels. Not all LIFE can be expected to become people. Some LIFE will have to take the roles of animals, including livestock and birds. In the travel routes of Life, some will have to choose deserts, gully hills, the wilderness, jungles, or steep cliffs. The best Life route is only to be understood and chosen by a small number of people. Those who see clearly will see more clearly, but those who do not, will be even more confused.



In the terms of Lifechanyuan values, the best travel route is the one to trek and climb to the highest realms of Life and LIFE. Our entire daily lives are to make Life happy, joyous, free, and blessed, and to prepare to arrive at our destination near the thousand-year world, the ten-thousand year world, and the Elysium Celestial Island Continent.



When we know where to go and how to reach our goal, our Lives becomes clear, as do our minds. The rest is the question of how to direct our Life investment. When we invest our time, energy, youth, and other capital into any project that makes it impossible for us to be happy, joyous, free, and blessed, and impossible for us to attain our ultimate aspiration towards heaven, then we must not invest more capital into it.



Everything is made clear. The best investment of Life is to invest our capital into something that can make our Lives happy, joyous, free, and blessed, and to steer our Life destinations toward the thousand-year world, the ten-thousand year world, and the Elysium Celestial Island Continent of heaven. Apart from this, all other investments are filled with confusion, regret, loneliness, boredom, bitterness, and pain, lose all our capital, and offer no return in the end. Even more, our investment mistakes may commit boundless sins which can not be redeemed even after several reincarnations.



Let us analyse which of several Life investment projects is the best.



We will examine life investments for these eight popular purposes:

The Family

Religion

The State

National Independence

A Political Party

Accumulation of Wealth

An Romantic Endeavor

Running a Business



Family is the Life investment project for most people and many people dedicate their lives to their families. From morning till night, whether for education, work, doing business, or running a company, all they do is for their families. Embezzlement and theft, overt and covert strife, scrambling and squeezing, and other offences are ultimately committed for their families. People have been trying everything for thousands of years to pursue family happiness and success, and writers have been praising and singing songs for families, yet unfortunately, despite all the secular forces that have been proclaiming the family’s benefits and attempting to maintain the family’s existence, they always bring more pain than pleasure. Families are main sources of personal and social pain, so if we invest all our capital into a family project, we will never be able to find happy, joyous, free, and blessed Lives, and our Life destinations will have no chance of reaching heaven.



Note: I am not arguing with those who disagree with this point. If you think investing your life into your family is the most correct, valuable, and meaningful thing for you to do, then so be it. Everyone has their own trajectory of Life and LIFE. No one should force their will upon anyone else and you are the only one who knows if you are wearing the right shoes. Why would I invest my Life capital in trying to alter your outlook on Life? I would not! Therefore, you must make the investment that you feel best suits your needs!



With the awakening human consciousness, more and more people are realizing the malicious character of family Life and are gradually but purposefully beginning to draw away from it. The puzzle is that if we move away from the family, then where do we go?



The soul must have a resting place, therefore many people invest Life capital into religions that they believe offer the most truths and join into those religious communities. The two questions now become whether the religion you believe in can provide you with a happy, joyous, free, and blessed Life, and whether it can ultimately get you to the ideal realm? Do not lie blindly and deceive yourself, but seek truth from the facts. I do not want to hear your answers, just ask the question and answer it silently. I am almost certain that you are perplexed, because any religions or faith groups with religious natures have problems which often include theological contradictions. All religious followers feel joyous and blessed for their first few years, but as their thinking grows deeper with the passing of time, they become increasingly confused, unable to find a way out, and develop unresolved, internal contradictions. Unless you become a religious gambler or a religious fanatic with a confused mind and soul, or you want to achieve your non-religious purposes through the religious establishment, then if you face reality and seek the truth from the facts, you cannot stay in any religion for very long. Therefore, it is my opinion that if we invest all of our Life capital into religious beliefs and activities, it would not the best investment of Life. But of course, if you believe that religion is the best investment of Life, so be it. No matter what play it is, someone has to perform in it.



Some people invest their Life capital into the project of safeguarding the state. Is it worthwhile? That depends. To people who benefit from the existence of the state, yes, but for people who suffer from the existence of the state, no. The existence of the state is a good thing for the authority, but for the majority of the people, it causes suffering. If there were only one state lead by one government in the world, there would be many advantages to the common people. What I mean to say is that putting our Life capital into the project of maintaining the state is not the best investment of Life. But of course, if you trust that this is the best investment of Life, then invest as much as you wish, but as time has proven, you cannot force me to stand up for your interests and values.



Similarly, investing your Life capital to a national independence project is not your best investment either. The formation of the European Union was a sign of civilization’s progress, but the collapse of the Soviet Union was a sign of its retrogression. Recently, Georgia and Russia have fought and killed each other’s people. National independence is the root of suffering. Similarly, the hardships of the people’s suffering in Zimbabwe was also caused by national independence. In fact, patriotism and national pride are both narrow and complex. Investing Life’s capital into these narrow, divisive projects is certainly not the best investment.



Is the best investment of Life to invest Life’s capital into organizing political parties against the government or strife against other political parties? Some people say, "Politics is dirty". It is as if to say that politics is to do the most shameful things for the most honorable reasons; that noble ends justify ignoble means. I am a political layman, but I feel that investing Life’s capital into projects involving politics does not seem to be the best investment of Life.



Many people invest Life’s capital into projects that bring them money. Honestly speaking, money is a good thing. It can indeed bring happiness, joy, freedom, and blessings. A Life without money is hard to live. Here is the question: money can twist one’s soul, and once one is possessed by money, they will use any and all means to acquire more, “By hook or by crook”. His or her sole will become increasingly ugly and that is why Jesus Christ said that “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”. Just look around: the more money that people accumulate, the greedier they become. Their occasional "generous” activities of sharing a feather is either to gain fame to consolidate their wealth or to increase their wealth in other ways. Therefore, investing your Life’s capital into projects generating wealth is definitely not the best investment.



How about investing your Life’s capital into a romantic endeavor? Here, I would argue that people are untrustworthy and that the only reliable things in Life are beliefs, values, and your own inner strengths, so if we invest our Life’s capital into a certain person and want to obtain happiness, joy, freedom, and blessing, and achieve the goal of entering heaven by relying on this person, it would be a risky investment, a kind of blind luck mentality, and thus certainly not the best investment.



How about investing all of Life’s capital into projects such as starting a business, running a company, or doing research? Such projects can bring you fame and wealth and the admiration of many people or even the whole world? Good! Nice investment! But all these are means to obtain the best Life, not the purposes of Life. If you designate means as purposes, then you are putting the cart before the horse. The purposes of Life are to get happiness, joy, freedom, and blessing, to upgrade your LIFE quality and eventually enter heaven. If you consume all your Life on means and totally ignore the purposes, then you will regret it as you face the end of your LIFE. Therefore, the investment in such projects are not the best investments of Life either.



Well, which investment project is the best Life investment? As long as you clear away the impurities, a pool of water will sparkle naturally, be clear and clean, and reflect the sun, the moon and stars, and the mountains with vegetation. As you eliminate each faulty Life investment project, one by one, the best one will become clear at a glance.



August 12th 2008