The Hindu Business Line : Make your life count for what really counts

Cecil O. Kemp Jr is an unusual author. He is a CPA who has worked in one of the world's largest accounting firms, and then as CFO and COO elsewhere, but his books are about wisdom, inspiration and hope, rather than number crunching or tax planning.

Take for instance "7 Laws of Highest Prosperity," from Anthem (www.manjulindia.com). The book aims to help you make your life count for what really counts. It begins with Sam, a simple wood gatherer, from a family of people "who worked very hard at maintaining their station in life."

Contrary to popular thinking of the village, Sam goes deeper into the forest to gather drier wood that can fetch a better price. "Each morning he arose eager to work, for the forest offered more than wood. It offered solace, and quiet time to truly listen to the sounds around him and the dreams of his heart," narrates Kemp.

And Sam dreamed of saving from his earnings and buying a cart to ferry the wood to the town square. "And perhaps there would be others who would be willing to gather the better wood with him, and the village could earn enough for fresh fruit... And perhaps the village could even work fewer hours and spend some evenings singing - maybe dancing!"

Unfortunately, the dream was met with blank stares and disdain of those around Sam. "A cart, he says! A cart that will need mending! A cart that will get stuck in mud on rainy days! Let the townsmen bother with carts - let them deal with the problems of owning them - let them come to us," they said. There are enough branches on the forest floor, why go farther and higher, they asked. "What if we fall and break our backs?"

Sam thought, "What could be worse than endlessly yearning for a better life for myself and my fellow villagers, only to be scoffed at by the others?" There was something worse than poverty, worse than ridicule, he realised. That is, to listen to one's own heart and then do nothing! In chapter 4, therefore, Sam becomes a townsman.

He becomes a good building worker, marries Suzette, `the finest seamstress in the town'. And they both dream of "a family and a comfortable, warm place with lovely things to lift their spirits and fine books and food... "

But there are two seemingly contradictory things that tend to be true for the human race, writes Cecil, even as he recounts the hero's progress. "One is that people can get used to anything: They can live in the lowliest or the most inhumane conditions and somehow reduce their expectations and hopes in order to survive with just a small faction of soul-spark intact."

Quite true, you'd agree. But what's the other? "No matter how blessed their lives may be, there is a tendency to want more - simply for `more's' sake - to have what the more wealthy man has, and then to have what the very wealthiest man has." It's a `me too' voice that begins its meek squeaks, but then it sneaks into the corners of the mind to cloud out "the clear, quieter, more profound voice of divine inspiration, celebration, and truth," cautions Cecil.

Sam falls into the keeping-up-with-the-Joneses trap, drowns in loans and works harder. "Sam did indeed look prosperous - but his mounting bills made him more anxious about every contract that came his way. He hurried his crews in order to start new projects. He ignored the pleadings of his best workers and of his beloved wife to stop and think about his decisions. He took advice from shifty businessmen and lost money on poor investments. His contracts suffered, his home suffered, his mind suffered, and his business dropped off." How sad.

Help comes in the form of Magowin, the shoemaker, just when Sam is desperately looking for Geoffrey, the moneylender. "No Sam. You don't need the moneylender. He won't help you now," says Magowin. "You owe him too much already and he has no desire to see you fall into ruin... What you need is to rediscover how to whistle." You will never reach highest prosperity until you feel worthy of the abundance in your life, he reminds.

In the next about 80 pages, Sam stitches his life together using the seven laws: Of wisdom, priority, motive, generosity, understanding, preparation and preservation. "People may want to be honourable, but they don't always make a conscious and heartfelt decision to choose to be so," points out his mentor, busy sewing up leather. "Your heart is most free during productive work. That is part of wisdom," he counsels. On the seventh law, that of preservation, it is Geoffrey who explains the need for investing to preserve the power and usefulness of money. "Storing money beyond that which you might need in the short term is poor use and poor stewardship of that money," he advises.

Wise read.

BookValue@TheHindu.co.in

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