The Keys to Life and Everlasting Happiness

Ages ago, I was a downtrodden hero, locked in an epic struggle versus the entire world. Eventually the devious planet managed to defeat me, it chained my ambitions to despair and suppressed my will with the drudgery of life. Thus ensued a time of great suffering for me. Then one day I set out to become stronger, so that I could defeat the world. In my quest for power, I was forced to cross 500 miles of burning sands to reach a humble library that contained a book with a horseshoe crest. I opened the book and read a poem called "IF" by Rudyard Kipling. Upon absorbing the knowledge of the poem and surrendering to its teachings I realized that the oppression and sorrow I'd felt before had melted away and left no trace that it ever existed. The world, once thought a villain, was revealed to be an indifferent bystander. My mind was clearer than ever before, my body was stronger, and I possessed a boundless confidence that radiated from my soul. Here today, I want to share that power with you, as it is your birthright to be happy in this world. I will recite the poem that freed me and insert my interpretation for each stanza, not to constrain your mind, but to challenge it find its own path to enlightenment. Shall we begin?

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;

Here, Kipiling speaks of faith, the ability to keep a cool head under pressure because you know that everything will be okay. This virtue is essential, and the next line expresses the challenge of keeping your faith when mass hysteria mounts against you. This is the time to double down on your faith, faith in yourself, faith in your God, faith in whatever you hold closest to your heart. Kipling then discusses the duality of confidence, how being steadfast in your conviction is important, but not more important than being humble enough to consider your fault and verify if you are truly correct.

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

Here, the old adage applies, Patience is a virtue. It may seem a hackneyed slogan, but it is truth, pure and simple. Next Kipling reminds us that lies and hate will be spread by the villains of the world, but you must not engage in this form of social terrorism. This is wrapped together with a reminder that while you are walking on the high road, don't be too full of yourself or try to separate yourself from the unenlightened.

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;

Here we are taught to dream big, to aspire for the stars for that is where you are headed. However, don't let your dreams control you and constrain your life to their path, be free to make new dreams and to pivot when the passion for old ones fade. Maybe the most obvious of all these teachings is to think, decipher information, form opinions, use logic, and go deeper to find truth. Again this comes with a warning to not let thoughts consume you, for actions are what shape our reality. Next, Kipling ask much of us, he asks us to dispel the thought of victory or defeat, and accept that those two are one. This truth comes from fact that in very defeat there is a victory (you get smarter, more determined, and stronger from the experience) and in every victory there is a defeat (you get comfortable, lose drive and alienate the losers). But if you keep yourself from being too down after a "loss" or too up after a "win", then your even-keeled self will always emerge victorious.

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools

Here are two of life's biggest tests, to witness the good things you've said be manipulated to hurt others, or to see the things that you spent your life building, destroyed. As despicable as these acts are, you must not give in to base emotions of hate and sadness. Instead, you must forge ahead, start anew with what you have. Funny thing about the bottom, there's no where to go but up.

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;

Here, Kipling remarks on the importance of taking risks in life, though he foreshadows that there are far more losses than wins in life. Further, do not let loss hang over you, suffocate your losses by not speaking of them.

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

This touches on those special times in life when you are complete depleted by exhaustion, age or stress; when you truly have nothing left in your body, yet your will manifests the energy to hang in there. These are the defining moments in life, don't quit, don't ever quit.

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;

Now, Kipling has turned to a portion of your life where you've "made it". He speaks of the ability to communicate with the common man without falling victim to peer pressure and forgetting what's important to you. The counter to that is the ability to keep the company of the affluent leaders of society without losing the humility that helped raise you to those ranks. Next, we are taught to be so sure of ourselves, to have such a control over our feelings that no one, no matter how strong their love or malice, can penetrate our happiness. To find ultimately happiness and peace from within, so that no one may take it away.

If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Finally we are rewarded by knowing that if we can practice these ideals for every second of life without letting up, then any and everything is possible. We will be kings of this world, and we will receive all that we've ever wanted.