Commit Absolutely

If you knew what you were doing, it's going to probably open up some very great treasures, but those don't belong to you. When I find myself being introduced to many audiences, because I do really meet thousands of them, I am often, usually, being introduced in very generous ways, and being called names like genius. I am in a hurry to point out that everybody is born genius, and that if there is anything important about me at all it is that I am a demonstration of what an average healthy human being can do if he's dis-embarrassed of the nonsense that he has to earn a living and really commits himself to what the Universe is trying to do!

I am now so confident, having been going through this for almost a half century. I assure you the getting on was very difficult. It's a big slow cycle and there's no place where you can ever say, "I am being supported now for what I did there." It's completely disconnected. It's simply a matter of acting in integrity, and you find somehow or other that you get on. [...]

Therefore, at this point in my life, I don't feel I'm being precious to a young world when I say you can really forget altogether about earning a living, provided you really commit yourself to the other man. If you're doing something that's going to make you feel good, if you're playing ego.you would like to make some important.no, don't do this. You can only do this if you really commit yourself truly, syntropically, to the idea and synergetically, it has to be everybody or nobody. It's really out and out.

I've introduced to you lots of patterns tonight, and I've been trying to explore principles. I think I've had enough experience with what I'm talking about to say I can now eliminate this as being just a coincidence about this. But I'll tell you, in learning to be able to say that, I had to make many, many mistakes. Any number of times, when I did get cold feet or somebody else getting cold feet on my behalf, saying, "Come over and take this job --" things always went wrong when you went over. You had to commit absolutely to the complete deep end or it doesn't work. So you have to work with an incredible faith in the integrity of our Universe.

-- Buckminster Fuller

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