Written by Dr John Demartini
Life is not a destination, it's a journey of understanding, service and self-mastery, and there's no true end to your growth. Retirement is an illusion of the body, and if you're fooled by it, your body can decay along with your enthusiasm for life.
When your life is a fulfilling adventure, why would you want it to be over? Are you here simply to have an ending? Or are you here for a magnificent and un-retiring journey? As long as you're doing what you love to do, you'll have a desire to live and want to continue doing what you love to do until the day you pass on.
I once met an elderly man at a hotel in Texas who was lecturing in the room next to where I was speaking. I was drawn by the energy of the people attending his seminar, so I dropped in and introduced myself during one of his breaks. We hit it off immediately, traded life stories and talked about what inspired us. He was a philanthropist who had made a later-life career out of going to the business and economic faculties of colleges and universities around the country and asking if he could address their students to offer them an unusual business opportunity when they graduated. Once they'd verified his credentials, which were impressive, the schools were delighted to let him speak.
This philanthropic gentleman stood up in front of lecture halls full of young college seniors across America, told them about his experiences, and inspired them by letting them know about the possibilities available in the world of business. Then he'd offer them a business opportunity:
"I'm offering a series of courses. If you attend these courses, study diligently, and fulfil certain requirements, you can receive a reward like nowhere else. The conditions are as follows: You must be in the top 10% of your classes, follow an investment plan that I will lay out for you, attend my courses for one year, and do whatever I tell you financially. If you can meet these criteria, at the end of that year I'll help you create a business plan and invest however much money you need in the business of your dreams. I'm prepared to invest any amount—thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands, millions if your plan requires it. But you must guarantee that you'll follow my instructions to the letter for the first three years. I'll extract a certain percentage of the profits and in return I'll guarantee you an extraordinary return and help you make far more money than you could make without my guidance."
Over and over again, he'd teach young people how to start businesses and make generous profits. He'd take his royalties, then turn around and do it again with the next generation. He was making untold millions of dollars by using his experience to help other people organise their lives in alignment with universal principles and make their own fortunes.
Young people just out of college couldn't possibly have had the wisdom it took him a lifetime to amass and the ones who followed his instructions far outstripped their peers. He knew the peaks and pitfalls of the commercial world and shared his knowledge gladly. But it was no rescue mission or free handout. He made sure they adhered to the contract. Any who didn't were required to pay him back all his investment money immediately or with interest. He required their discipline and his percentage in return for his mentorship, which kept the arrangement in fair exchange. It was an inbuilt check-and-balance system, and very few who were selected defaulted, because a deal like that is extremely rare. He showed me his book filled with case after case of large companies that he'd been instrumental in starting up through some of the very principles I teach in my courses today. Do you think that this man thought about retirement?
Work wasn't a chore to him, it was his life, and there was nothing in the world he'd rather do.
As long as you draw breath and have something meaningful to do, you'll continue to be a lifelong inspirational force for yourself and anyone fortunate enough to meet you. Heaven on Earth isn't bounded by time, it's what you carry in your heart when you live a full life of service and meaning you will have had a glimpse of immortality.
Dr. Demartini is a world leading behavioural expert, speaker and author at the forefront of the burgeoning personal and professional development industry. His scope of knowledge and experience is a culmination of 34 years of research and studies of more than 28,000 texts into over 200 different disciplines ranging from psychology, philosophy, metaphysics, theology, neurology and physiology.drdemartini.com
