You will never reach your destination if you stop and throw stones at every dog that barks.

The rise of the Internet has clearly amplified all that is both good and bad about humanity.

The wealth of knowledge in your pocket is beyond comprehension. All of the facts, all of the explanations, all of the lessons to teach you how to do just about anything exists at our fingertips.

Social Media has given the human species an opportunity to learn far too much about everybody else. This gives rise to all sorts of conspiracy theories and alternate facts (Lies) which then insert themselves into the brains of less intelligent individuals who are more readily susceptible to these forms of deceit and arrogance.

Have you made the mistake of engaging in a needless debate on social media with someone you do not even know? How many times did you go back-and-forth, all the while enabling them to spew the rhetoric that they are so desirous of sharing?

There’s your barking dog.

In Winston Churchill‘s time, the widespread information patterns were considerably less prevalent, yet he was very aware that a person could use valuable time engaging with a lesser brain in an unenviable attempt to try and convince someone else of one’s  own opinion.

I often wonder how our great nation will emerge out of this onslaught of unreliable widespread information and propaganda. Sometimes, I see people get so myopically focused on some of this vile rhetoric, as to give me great pause for consideration.

In the last couple years, I have made a concerted effort to reduce my desire to comment on an article that is posted by someone else, especially one that is controversial to an opinion that I do not share. I have come to the sad conclusion that most people approach almost every situation with preconceived notions that do not wish to be altered. Myself included. 

I enjoy sharing ideas, obviously I spend time every day doing this. Not because I believe that I am right, for I have discovered on far too many occasions that I am completely wrong. But actually, because I enjoy the feedback that comes when something that I say stimulates a thought in another person. I don’t pretend to be right. I only engage because healthy dialogue is the only pathway to progress.

And as a closing note, I know that this particular aphorism is a metaphor, but please do not ever throw stones at a dog. They are truly man’s best friend🐶

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Written by Brian Weiner
When I was 5 years old, I discovered that the lemon tree in the backyard + dixie cups + water and sugar and I was in business. I have been hooked on that ever since. In 1979, I borrowed $14,000 to create a brand new product... photographic greeting cards with no text on the inside, called Paradise Photography. That was the start of The Illusion Factory. Since then, The Illusion Factory has been entrusted by all of the major studios and broadcasters with the advertising and marketing of over $7 billion in filmed, live, broadcast, gaming, AR, VR and regulated gaming forms of entertainment, generating more than $100 Billion in revenue and 265 awards for creativity and technology for our clients. When I took a break from film school at UCLA to move to Hawaii, my mother did not lecture me. Instead, she took 150 of her favorite aphorisms and in her beautiful calligraphy, wrote them artistically throughout a blank journal. That is the origin of the Lessons from the Mountain series. Since then, on my journeys to the top of a mountain to watch the sunrise, I have spent countless hours contemplating words of wisdom from the sages of all races, genders and political persuasions, constantly accumulating the thoughts to guide me on my life path. I hope you enjoy my books. Please let me know your thoughts, as I highly value your feedback!