There seems to be some misunderstand about my age, I am 69 not 23, sorry if I was less that clear in what I wrote. Here it is: “However, because I came to understand (at age 23) the value of writing when an emotion is at its peak;” I can see how it happened. My problem was, I thought everyone here knew I was an old man. Well Tony, you and I are about the same age and most likely we went to the same school when we were a young boys.
Tony, I did not attach you to a religion: For one; because the subject was a universal one and whether or not one practice religion, he or she is affected by it (the subject of arrogance) in the same way. Two: It matters not to me what religion a person follow, even if his or her religion were Atheism. Some of my very good friends were atheist. What matters was, they upheld good principles and there was mutual respect between us and we learned from one another...

Yes, I totally misunderstood your age. Man, I was more than impressed that a 23 year old could write so powerfully. My mistake.

So you are 69 rather than 23. You are my contemporary, so it's likely that I know you, especially if you are from the Gouyave area. There used to be a guy we used to call Suraleigh, but my memory of him has dimmed with the passage of time. I think though he used to live in the Hubble bridge area, if I'm not mistaken. Is that who you are?

Finally, it seems now that we have a clearer understanding of where each other is coming from, so I salute you in concluding >>What matters was, they upheld good principles and there was mutual respect between us and we learned from one another...<<
That's what I hope too, will be the result of this conversation.

I was born in Florida, the first son of Cyril Joseph, I attended both the Anglican and RC school at one time or the other until I was 12, then I left Grenada to live in Antigua where I live with an uncle who went to worked there as a judge, therefore half of my growing up was in Grenada and the other half was in Antigua, so carry both culture, When people ask me where are you from, my answer is: was born in Grenada grew up in Antigua then live everywhere else.
I was the first person to introduce Martial arts to Grenada around 1969-70. Mya can correct me if I am wrong. I was the one who set up Johnny Madrid to teach it in Grenada.
I was fortunate to get the opportunity to travel a great portion of the earth as a sailboat captain; sailing for wealthy people.

Everything is shape and condition by the environment in which it lives. And that my friends, is an unchanging fact of evolution.
What are the elements that shaped my life? First and foremost;1) I am a product of my religion, 2)my father, I would say, gave me a crude base for my thought process, 3)traveling also played a big part by presented thousands of experiences, 4) the wonderful people I met along the way, 5)martial-arts played a great part as it gave me the disciple, courage, order, and balance; all weapons to battle the elements and whatever came my way, 6)long journeys across the great ocean gave me lots of time for reflection and self-realization in quiet times when the ocean is at rest, the storms taught me lessons in humility, being on the Ocean for as much as 28 days sometimes where all one sees by day outside of your boat, is the sky and the horizon, while night brings the moon and the stars. All this forces One to reflect on the creation and The All wise and All Powerful Creator who put it all together. All together they are the elements or environments that made who I am now.

If I am asked: what achievement in my life I am most happy about; it is the thought of the thousands of people who my influence have help to change the direction of lives for the better. Everything else paled in comparison. And if I am ask what make me most sad: I will say; watching the digression of our fellow Caribbean people, from great statesmen in my young days, to petty wheeling and dealing politician of today. And I may add the deterioration of W.I Cricket. I would be interested in knowing what make you guys what you are.

I firmly believe that the spirit of arrogance is highly destructive and must be overcome or neutralized as it is the foundation of intolerance which results in the violence between people and religions from the beginning of time. Arrogance breeds intolerance which causes peace among religions and peoples to fall between the cracks of the Mosaic of human existence. Unfortunately this is an age old and ongoing problem which will continue to be as it is one of the test and challenges on the way of personal evolution toward spiritual reconciliation.

We are in an age of rapidly flowing knowledge and a people that are more and more selfish in nature and confused as to their reality. People are seeking Spiritual knowledge and refuge, and as a result we see a drive to find it in churches, cults, and all forms of esoteric disciplines. We see a proliferation of churches as never before seen and the membership burgeoning to alarming proportions. We see people graduating to causes even of extreme natures all to find that which is perceived missing from their lives, and here we see the arrogant ones lying in wait to exploit that gullible crowd offering cures, prayers, and a lofty promise of the ultimate reward in the afterlife. It is arrogant for anyone to posture in that position and purport to be able to offer any of those things as one must himself/herself work towards their spiritual evolution. I agree that the Ego must be tempered but the Ego is part of the human condition and it is inflated by the spirit of arrogance therefore making it imperative that it is subdued.

Human evolution cannot be accomplished by blindly following any course but must actively be pursued with intelligence and a will to comprehend the tenants of the doctrine one has graduated towards bearing in mind that Tolerance is vital element in obtaining peace.

Pride is such a subtle thing that even the good and noble people are often unaware that they are showing it. Constant self-realization is needed to avoid and overcome this silent cancer of the soul. However, let me make one thing clear here so that we may not judge others wrongly; there is a clear distinction between personal dignity and pride. The former is wholesome self-respect.
"The vices of which you are ashamed are better than the virtues of which you are proud. Hazrat Ali."
That is to say; because shamefulness is an element in human nature created to aid self-reformation when it is activated, it gives one the opportunity to work on, and overcome one's weaknesses. But pride/arrogance on the other hand undermines the very foundation of the reforming structure in human nature; (which is called the reproving-self or conscience ) thus ruler-ship of the body is handed over to the Self that incites to evil.
And lastly I would like to comment on a couple of things Mya spoke about.
First of them is: evolution, I believe evolution is an ongoing process that is outside of man’s control. Example: When a woman gets pregnant the nine months of the gestation period is evolution, nothing she can do about it up until she deliver, when she is ready to deliver that baby no force in the world can prevent it even if it means death to the mother and the child. At the time when her water breaks, that my friends is revolution. Man has never been and will never be in control of evolution. Only God controls evolution and that goes for everything. Evolution is part of nature and nature does not like anything rubbing against it.
Second: I have some reservations that the ego belongs to the category of The Human Condition. I would like to believe that the Ego is something that is inherent or woven in to the fabric of human nature; similar to the human Will, in as much as The Human condition is always related to events, environment, circumstances, existence, life and death, love and relationships and so forth. My Dear Bro. Mya mentioned that: “Ego is part of the human condition and it is inflated by the spirit of arrogance therefore making it imperative that it is subdued.”
Now we seem to have a chicken and egg situation here. The question is, which comes first: Is the Ego inflated by arrogance or an inflated Ego breeds arrogance? I am incline to believe that arrogance springs from and inflated ego… What do you guy think?
As to the drive towards religion for solstice, I believe that human nature yarns for its creator. As God says in the Quran to the soul when he created it: “Am I not you Lord and it answer Yea we bare witness” That is to say: am I not your Creator, your Sustainer, your Protector, your Comforter, Guide etc. So this is why people seek out religion trying to find God when they are in difficulties find and thus many become victims to soothsayers. They failed because they did not carry the heart of a seeker, they did not make a diligent search by investigating and comparing all religion to see where the truth resides. Most of the time the fall victim to those who have the power to excite their emotions