What are You thinking?

Thanks for dropping by!
What is a page about life philosophy doing here in the freelance section..?
Performing an important task, I would say!
Freelance is a question of trust and working together. As soon as You seek to hire people outside Your own business, You meet a potential risk of getting cheated. You don't know the person You hire just as well as he doesn't know You... and this is exactly why it is nice to know as much as possible about how he is as a person.

This is the main reason for why I have chosen to tell You a little about my personal life philosophy here at this part of the homepage... You will get a glimpse of my thoughts and thus get a more personal relationship with me. And I hope that this will make You feel even more comfortable about using me for making Your illustrations.

Are You ready..? Here is

Jakob's life philosophy

When you talk about a personal life philosophy it's important that you first of all make clear to yourself, what it is that's the single most important thing to you. To me it's to be honest to myself. Too many people live by what they think, other people want them to be like - it be friends or commercials - and so they don't really live their own lives, but the life of OTHER people! They are not honest to themselves! Of course it is important to be able to make compromises (unless you want a lot of enemies), but that doesn't mean that you have to think 'What will (whatever your friend's name is) think if I buy this jacket/speak my opinion' and so on. Your life is your life ! Not somebody else's - their life will be lived with or without you, but your life is yours alone. Realising this gives you a tremendous freedom, but it takes a lot of courage to say 'Here I am! This is how I am, and this is what I think!'

So be honest! Well, that doesn't really say a lot about how you are as a person - you may be good or evil, actually you could have any kind of life philosophy. But you are a PERSON! What kind of person is determined by your personal priorities - what you think of as important. To me things like TOLERANCE, DIVERSITY, HAPPINESS and LIFE ITSELF are truly important. Why is this so? Let me start with life itself:
Most people don't realise how wonderful life really is. They just do not see it. I usually compare this 'blindness' to having a diamond. If you have only a single diamond, you may think, that it's the most beautiful thing - the shape, the cleanness, the way the light reflects in it. You have realised it's beauty. But if you have a whole backyard full of diamonds, you may think of them as common and plain, even though each of them are just as perfect as the first diamond. With life it is the same way! If we imagined that the world as we know it didn't exist, and all that was, was black dark emptiness and - say - a pencil sharpener. If this was all, then we would think of this pencil sharpener as the most amazing and beautiful thing. Luckily this is not how our world is. Our world is a backyard full of diamonds. We are SURROUNDED by so many wonders, that we do not even see a single one of them! If you first start to think of the world in this way, it will NEVER become dull and boring again - it may seem meaningless from time to time, but that's just a question of finding your own purpose in life.

Not only are we surrounded by things like lamps, tables, stones and stairs, but we are surrounded by OTHER LIVING BEINGS! This is the greatest wonder of all - every day we meet them in the streets: It could be a cat or a bird, or maybe even another human being, but most of the time we don't think of the beauty of it all. Did you know, that some of the atoms in our bodies are only created when stars die? I find this a both beautiful and inspiring thought. And what really takes my breath away, is the diversity of it all. Life and people exist in SO MANY different forms, and if you first really have learned to love life, it is impossible not to love the diversity of it. Wouldn't it be dull if all people were the same - or even worse: If all people were like we are? It would. But now, as I take a stroll down the street, everywhere I look I see different people - different shapes, colours, thoughts, dreams and lifestyles. Such a cascade of differences almost makes me cry, and sometimes I find myself almost falling in love with some small weird difference - a nose that is a little too big, a strange eye colour, an uncompromising look or a strong opinion - just because it's so DIFFERENT! There is no such thing as ugliness.
But there are people who do not see this. People with small hearts and no tolerance. People who want everybody to be like they are, and to think what they think. Such people have (in my opinion) not understood what life is all about. I don't hate such people - I feel sad for them. Of course I have met people with thoughts and opinions so different from my own, that I went 'Whoa! I don't quite agree with you there!'. But I have always RESPECTED them, for my way of looking at life has as a logic result the consequence, that I cannot think of my opinions as being better or more right than other people's - they are just the way I look at life. There are only one type of people I can't accept: People who hate difference. This is a look on life, that is the direct opposite of my way of looking at life, and as such I cannot accept it, because accepting it would mean, that I have accepted hate of what I love. Such a thing is not possible. Try telling a young boy or girl that the one he or she loves is hated by somebody else, and they may realise it as being true, but they could never accept it - for how could they ever understand how it's possible to hate their love? Every conflict that has ever been has, been due to hate of difference! Sometimes it's hate of skin colour differences, sometimes it's hate of different ideas and lifestyles, but always it's hate of differences !

So if I wrap all these thoughts up, I end up with a feeling of true happiness and love. And I end up with a appreciation for being that's so deep, that it cannot be expressed with words... and I want to share this feeling with the rest of the world.

This is the purpose of my life: To make other people love life and to make other people happy and laugh. When at times I succeed at this, I'm filled with a happiness so strong, that it feels as if I could fly. It's what gives my life meaning - and it's worth it!