Stripping down to nothing, ridding himself of all “window dressing and packaging”, including his “lucky and faithful American cat”, that had puzzlingly appeared in his story. Hmm. The bongos must’ve remained at home. Anyway, he removes all “talismans from adventures past”, including his late father’s gold ring, melted down from his parents’ class rings and gold from his mom’s teeth. Wait, what? Then, in his birthday suit, he becomes sick, soaked in sweat and passes out. Miraculously, just a few hours later, he is seemingly “born again”, awakening to that morning’s rising sun, inexplicably fresh and energized.
Feeling alive, clean, free and “light”, he walked alone along a muddy path. Coming around a corner, he beheld what seemed to be a mirage made of the most magnificent pink, blue and red colors that he’d ever seen. Almost glowing, this vibrant image seemed to be hovering just off the surface of the jungle floor. He watched the image as he stood transfixed, which eventually revealed itself to be thousands of butterflies clustered together. An internal voice of his then spoke, saying “All I want is what I can see. And all I can see is what’s in front of me.” Sigh. At least it wasn’t speaking in tongues.
He credits this revelation with his ability to not worry about what “lies around the corner” in life, as it mystically erased all anxieties. He states that even the local sherpas – which, like the cat earlier, he was also apparently traveling with – cried out in Spanish that he was now, coincidently, “light”. Forgiven and guilt-free, his burden lifted and his penance paid, he was back in good graces with his God, fully in the present and out of his own way. By being in “a place to be found, to receive the truth”, it found him. He states that the truth is all around us, but only through practices like prayer and pilgrimages can we access it. We need to schedule these practices, to put ourselves in a place to hear it, then once we hear it, it becomes clear, a truth, natural and infinite. But wait! There’s more… we now need to personalize it.
We are told to ask ourselves how the truth works for us, how it applies to us personally and why we need it in our life. Then we must “have the patience to internalize it; to get it from our intellectual head, thinking about it and into our bones and our soul and our instinct”. Like any good hustler, Matthew cautions us to not rush this part, as it takes time. But we are to take heart in knowing that if we get this far (kind of like listening to this lecture), once we have received it, personalized and internalized it, we are rewarded with yet another requirement – albeit a fun one, he says – which is, we must have the courage to act on it.
Our huckster encourages us to “take it into our daily lives, practice it and live it, giving us heaven right here on earth; where what we want is also just what we need”. In wrapping up this three quarters of an hour of blusterous pontification, our success shaman tells us to “make this a place where we believe in and enjoy the process of succeeding in ways we are fashioned. Where we don’t look over our shoulder as we’re too busy doing what we’re good at. Where we keep our own counsel. Traveling towards immortal finish lines, we write our own book, overcome our own fears and make friends with ourselves”.
He ends with his usual motto, telling us to just keep livin’ and when I hear this tone-deaf tagline of his, I wonder how he thinks it applies to the millions of children dying from starvation annually around the world. Should we assume that they did not travel somewhere remote to check out of their distractions so they could check in with themselves? Or perhaps they did, but forgot to personalize and internalize it? Or, perhaps, due to malnutrition and all, they couldn’t summon up the courage to act on it? Perhaps the likes of Mr. McConaughey sleep at night assuming that these children are enjoying the process of succeeding at starving to death in the places in ways that they are fashioned to.
I may be wrong here, but it seems to me the reason these poor souls don’t look over their shoulders isn’t because they’re too busy doing what they’re good at, it’s because they don’t have the strength to. One thing is for certain, though. The books of their lives these infants, toddlers and children are writing “while keeping their own counsel, traveling towards their immortal finish lines”, will be quick reads, unlike the transcript of this nonsense recorded on that date back in early January 2016, at the University of Houston.
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