Bob is a complete and total prick. He is!! Never casually ask him how he's doing:

"Life is great, man. It's an endless string of opportunities. It's all good.
So, the wife left you, huh?"

or

"I am absolutely GREAT! Tremendous things just keep coming my way and it's all for the asking! ...And you?"

or

"It just gets better and better. When you realize that, everything just falls into place. It's just one great big adventure, this life!
So, certainly you're not still unemployed... are you?"

Aaarrrggghhh! His in-your-face happiness is gonna make me choke that arrogant ass!! He's obviously found all the answers and just has to make sure I know I haven't. GOD!! What a fucking jerk! He can't be happy. He just can't! No one that is happy would intentionally try to make someone else feel less-than. GOD!! What a JERK!!

But wait... what if he really is happy? What if he really has found the secret to life? I know that he's in some of those find-your-own-power groups. Maybe they do have the answers. Maybe I'm the prick. I mean, I'm judging him for rubbing me the wrong way. "Judge not lest ye be judged." I guess I am the prick.

***********

Bob frightens me. He does. Sometimes he seems so certain of his own happiness it leads me to believe I've missed something. That frightens me.
But there's more going on here: I don't buy it. It comes across like a direct attack. That's what it feels like. I'm pretty sure that's exactly what it is. I'll even be so brave as to say, "That's what it is!"
What of lines like, "Judge not lest ye be judged"? After years of guilting myself with that one, I've come to a new understanding of that true pearl of wisdom. First, every fiber in my being screams to me that Bob is saying, "I'm completely right and you are obviously completely wrong." I now honor every fiber in my being. I think we must.
What I cannot judge or do not have enough information to judge is exactly how Bob's life path is leading him to the perfect and right conclusions for him. He certainly had a hand in leading me to some perfect and right conclusions for myself. I already realize that without him and others like him I would never sit down and ponder what my soul is telling me. If everybody did everything I thought they should do? Boy, would I be cheated out of my own Self realization.

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Originally published by Pocket Books under the name R.P.Moore,
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