Introduction 21

5. Introduction

A person who wishes to live a good life and be successful in his actions lives in a quandary. The messages different teachers and gurus are offering can be quite contradictory and ambivalent. How does one manage in a world where many prevailing truths should be taken into consideration, and one should simultaneously be able to make his own decisions and take responsibility for his life and actions?

The capability of the brain is immense, but can it really deal with all the information and guidance that is constantly offered to it?

One of the main paradoxes I find very hard to live with is the paradox of letting go and achieving. Many spiritual gurus advise that letting go and surrendering to the now is enough, or that one should trust his strivings to God who will take care of everything.

The requirements of the working life are, however, getting tougher and tighter. We should be all the time achieving more by being more effective and more creative. We should also be able to perform more action without aimless hustling, meaning that we must be able to increase our ability to simultaneously plan and act and reflect.

A Finnish actress described beautifully how her acting took a fresh start after years of personal crisis, “One day, I decided to start practicing and studying. I worked really hard and God saw my strivings and gave me an opportunity to show my skills.” The actress’s thought is very close to the idea of this book: “When you prepare by learning the right things and with hard work, you will arrive to the edge of a challenge, where you can show what you can do, and you can let winning happen for you.”