I've had a really great time using Blogger but I've gotten to the point that I'd like more freedom on my page.
Please check me out Here and subscribe to my feed. There is new content over there. I will also be bring over the old content little by little. Thanks for reading!
Oh and if you like my blog, please tell your friends to check out my new one.
Liz
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
List of 5's
5 of my favorite snacks
1. Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Onion Crackers
2. Cool Ranch Doritos
3. Dove Chocolate bars
4. Shortbread
5. Lemon & Poppy-seed bread
5 Things That Always Bring Tears to My Eyes
1. Misfit kids that get picked on.
2. The thought of my father dying.
3. Onions
4. The smell of bleach
5. When I’m so angry that it’s either cry or kill.
5 Things That Always Bring a Smile to My Face
1. My fiancé telling me how beautiful I am or how much he loves me.
2. The beach/ ocean
3. Cuddling
4. My nephew Kaden
5. Singing to music in my car while driving
5 favorite articles of clothing
1. My crochet UGGZ.
2. Pea-coat
3. Black wrap shirt
4. Straight leg dark blue old navy “flirt” jeans
5. Grey sweater dress
5 Things I'd take to a Desert Island
1. My fiancé
2. A pen and notebook
3. Lighter
4. Swiss army knife
5. Silk Travel Sheet
5 bad habits
1. Clicking my nails on things
2. Believing that people who ask for my opinion actually want my opinion.
3. Shyness
4. Being intolerant (I am told this is a bad thing but…)
5. I am obsessivly organized in many aspects of my life.
5 books recently read
1. Terry Goodkind, Sword of Truth Series (11 books in total)
Books 1-3
Books 4-6
Books 7-9
Book 10
Book 11
2. Stephenie Meyer, The Twilight Saga Collection
3. Andy Andrews, The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success
4. David Bach, Start Smart, Finish Rich: Your First Steps to Financial Freedom
5. Michael McCoy & Steffen Schmidt PHD, The Silent Crime: What You Need to Know About Identity Theft
1. Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Onion Crackers
2. Cool Ranch Doritos
3. Dove Chocolate bars
4. Shortbread
5. Lemon & Poppy-seed bread
5 Things That Always Bring Tears to My Eyes
1. Misfit kids that get picked on.
2. The thought of my father dying.
3. Onions
4. The smell of bleach
5. When I’m so angry that it’s either cry or kill.
5 Things That Always Bring a Smile to My Face
1. My fiancé telling me how beautiful I am or how much he loves me.
2. The beach/ ocean
3. Cuddling
4. My nephew Kaden
5. Singing to music in my car while driving
5 favorite articles of clothing
1. My crochet UGGZ.
2. Pea-coat
3. Black wrap shirt
4. Straight leg dark blue old navy “flirt” jeans
5. Grey sweater dress
5 Things I'd take to a Desert Island
1. My fiancé
2. A pen and notebook
3. Lighter
4. Swiss army knife
5. Silk Travel Sheet
5 bad habits
1. Clicking my nails on things
2. Believing that people who ask for my opinion actually want my opinion.
3. Shyness
4. Being intolerant (I am told this is a bad thing but…)
5. I am obsessivly organized in many aspects of my life.
5 books recently read
1. Terry Goodkind, Sword of Truth Series (11 books in total)
Books 1-3
Books 4-6Books 7-9Book 10Book 112. Stephenie Meyer, The Twilight Saga Collection
3. Andy Andrews, The Traveler's Gift: Seven Decisions that Determine Personal Success
4. David Bach, Start Smart, Finish Rich: Your First Steps to Financial Freedom
5. Michael McCoy & Steffen Schmidt PHD, The Silent Crime: What You Need to Know About Identity Theft
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Getting fit
I am very excited to report that I am sticking to the plan I laid out last month.
Currently I am working out 4 days a week 2 Taebo amped sessions and 2 Taebo Abs sessions. With 3 days "off" which I use loosely because I usually wind up taking a few miles walk, or doing an extra work out in there somewhere.
I really wasn't sure if I would be able to stay motivated enough to do what needed to be done.
It is my opinion that belief in yourself and the motivation to accomplish whatever it is you are looking to get done are two of the most important things we should focus on. They tend to be the two factors that can really push us forward or pull us back.
This is also true when we are looking for our passion in life, our calling, our purpose. Don't believe that just because you have been doing the same thing, the same way for most of your life that theres only that one way of doing things or only that one thing that can be done.
There are many people that reinvent themselves. This is a good thing. If you aren't waking up everyday with a sense of meaning, purpose and accomplishment why are you doing the same thing everyday? Things won't change just because you wish them to. You have to take that WANT and ACT on it.
Heck, you don't even have to know what you want to do. Dabble a little bit. Take a few months and study a new subject, a new hobbie, a new activity. Get involved with yourself. Try to figure out what drives you. Create a list of things you have always wondered about and then experience them. Trying new things is such an enriching experience that even if it isn't THE ACTIVITY that you are passionate about, it will bring you great joy because you did something.
Phew doesn't that just sound great! DO something. ACT on IT. Live your life. This is the only life that is guaranteed. Everything or anything after our life on earth is based on speculation or faith or both. Besides, even if there is life after death do you realy want to live 65 years doing something you don't like?
Currently I am working out 4 days a week 2 Taebo amped sessions and 2 Taebo Abs sessions. With 3 days "off" which I use loosely because I usually wind up taking a few miles walk, or doing an extra work out in there somewhere.
I really wasn't sure if I would be able to stay motivated enough to do what needed to be done.
It is my opinion that belief in yourself and the motivation to accomplish whatever it is you are looking to get done are two of the most important things we should focus on. They tend to be the two factors that can really push us forward or pull us back.
This is also true when we are looking for our passion in life, our calling, our purpose. Don't believe that just because you have been doing the same thing, the same way for most of your life that theres only that one way of doing things or only that one thing that can be done.
There are many people that reinvent themselves. This is a good thing. If you aren't waking up everyday with a sense of meaning, purpose and accomplishment why are you doing the same thing everyday? Things won't change just because you wish them to. You have to take that WANT and ACT on it.
Heck, you don't even have to know what you want to do. Dabble a little bit. Take a few months and study a new subject, a new hobbie, a new activity. Get involved with yourself. Try to figure out what drives you. Create a list of things you have always wondered about and then experience them. Trying new things is such an enriching experience that even if it isn't THE ACTIVITY that you are passionate about, it will bring you great joy because you did something.
Phew doesn't that just sound great! DO something. ACT on IT. Live your life. This is the only life that is guaranteed. Everything or anything after our life on earth is based on speculation or faith or both. Besides, even if there is life after death do you realy want to live 65 years doing something you don't like?
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Travelers Gift
The Travelers Gift is a motivational story of a man named David who loses his job, and hope. Like many of us he asks himself. Why me? Throughout the book he comes to meet 7 different people from our histories. Each of these people teaches him a decision for success.
We are all in situations of our own making whether we realize it or not. Many times instead of facing our own problems we blame others for our failure. This type of outlook on life is toxic.
This book does a great job of entertaining while teaching us just how important we are to our own well being. Outside influences aren’t to blame for our short-comings. It is each of our responsibilities to rise above our situation. Only you can change your life. It is even possible for you to change the world.
Ohh what’s that? You don’t believe that you can change the world? Well, to that I say read the book. There are a few examples of people doing just that.
Here are the seven decisions for success;
The First Decision for success: The Buck Stops here.
The Second Decision for success: I will seek wisdom.
The Third Decision for Success: I am a person of action.
The Fourth Decision for Success: I have a decided heart.
The Fifth Decision for success: Today I will choose to be happy.
The Sixth Decision for success: I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit.
The Seventh Decision or success: I will persist without exception.
I hope you all get a chance to read this great book. Feel free to leave a comment on how its changed your outlook on things. Click the cover below to learn more.
We are all in situations of our own making whether we realize it or not. Many times instead of facing our own problems we blame others for our failure. This type of outlook on life is toxic.
This book does a great job of entertaining while teaching us just how important we are to our own well being. Outside influences aren’t to blame for our short-comings. It is each of our responsibilities to rise above our situation. Only you can change your life. It is even possible for you to change the world.
Ohh what’s that? You don’t believe that you can change the world? Well, to that I say read the book. There are a few examples of people doing just that.
Here are the seven decisions for success;
The First Decision for success: The Buck Stops here.
The Second Decision for success: I will seek wisdom.
The Third Decision for Success: I am a person of action.
The Fourth Decision for Success: I have a decided heart.
The Fifth Decision for success: Today I will choose to be happy.
The Sixth Decision for success: I will greet this day with a forgiving spirit.
The Seventh Decision or success: I will persist without exception.
I hope you all get a chance to read this great book. Feel free to leave a comment on how its changed your outlook on things. Click the cover below to learn more.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sword of Truth Series
This is the first installment of books from my 1000 books read goal.
The majority of the books on my list are Classic Literature as well as Inspirational but I couldn't leave out one of my favorite authors: Terry Goodkind and his 11 book series The Sword of Truth.
The series contains eleven books, each revealing a new wizards rule. The books are: Wizards First Rule, Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen, Pillars of Creation, Naked Empire, Chainfire, Phantom, and Confessor.
Here are the Wizards Rules - where to find them in the book, and the reasoning behind them. Although these books are fantasy the ideas and morals behind them have touched my soul. I hope this inspires you to read the books. (The TV series isn't nearly as good. Then again, I prefer the book to the movie or TV show every single time.)
Wizard's First Rule:
Wizard's First Rule bk1 Chapter 36, page 397
People will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true.
People are stupid; Given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe its true, or because they're afraid it might be true. Peoples' heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.
Wizard's Second Rule:
Stone of Tears bk2 Chapter 63, page 634
The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.
It sounds paradox but, kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough.
Wizard's Third Rule:
Blood of the Fold bk3: Chapter 43, page 360
Passion rules reason.
Letting your emotions control your reason may cause trouble for yourself and those around you.
Wizard's Fourth Rule:
Temple of the Winds bk4: Chapter 41, page 318
There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.
Forgiving and being forgiven are powerful elements of healing for the soul. Forgiving others grants by the giving of forgiveness but more so one receives self healing by the necessity of letting go of bitterness through forgiveness of others.
The meaning of this rule can be a little vague but it actually a universal concept.
We can be injured with arrows and swords and bullets, by accident or artifice; these are physical injuries, our bodies can heal them naturally, even if there is a scar left to remind us of the wound. They may be painful, and the memory of them may hurt, but we can recover from this.
Emotional wounds are not the same. If you have ever been truly hurt and betrayed by someone you love very deeply and trust unequivocally, you can understand; that is a hurt beyond anything else you can withstand, one that strikes at your very soul and fills your heart with anguish. This kind of hurt can destroy a person that can shrug off anything but a mortal wound, and alter you in ways that you cannot foresee--sometimes for the worse.
To forgive someone who has harmed you serves two purposes: to let them know that you no longer resent them for wronging you, and to release the anger of their actions from your heart.
Carrying an emotional burden is damaging and unhealthy in the extreme. Forgiving someone is thus a way to vent your own emotion without hurting someone else, while at the same time helping your own healing process along. False forgiveness, forgiving someone without truly meaning it, is not the same, because it does not do you any good, and in the end does not help them either. That is the magic of sincerely forgiving someone.
To be forgiven for your wrongs, your sins, and misgivings, is altogether a different sort of thing. To know that person forgives your hurtful actions, that they do not resent you, is like the lifting of a great weight from your shoulders. It is the utmost kindness they can pay, to sincerely forgive you your shortcomings, and can heal emotional damage like nothing else.
I recently learned that a long time ago, there were members of the Catholic religion called confessors. A confessor was a person who, while not a Saint, was considered pious enough that they could take a confession of sin, and grant pardon for it. There are a few famous examples of confessors, but most of them are still obscure, since it was a long time ago, and the only readily available example is King Edward the Confessor.
There are many parallels between real life and the Sword of Truth series, and this is one.
Confessors exist in the Midlands to be the final arbiters of justice--they can use their ability to compel a person to confess their most heinous acts of violence and debauchery, their sins, without hesitation. However, the one so touched by the Confessor's power is, in a way, given forgiveness for his sins: he has no ability to regret his actions, love for the Confessor is all that remains. Even if he is sentenced to death after his confession, and even if the Confessor herself kills him, there is only love for her in his mind.
The magic of forgiveness is also connected to the Sword of Truth itself. The first dimension of its magic is that of rage compounded with rage, pure hatred that seeks to destroy anything that stands in its way. The second dimension is that of love, forgiveness, that which turns the blade white, allowing the Seeker to slay even those he loves, allowing nothing to stand in his way. This is the way Richard was able to kill Denna: he loved her, in a way, and forgave her for her actions. He gave her a great kindness, to forgive her, and released her from her morbid duties as a Mord-Sith, absolving her of her guilt and sending her to be with the good spirits. Richard's act of forgiveness relieved Denna of a life of torture and madness, healing her insanity.
The sword is also the key to a greater magic, for only one with the ability in his heart to forgive the most egregious of transgressions is worthy to wield that power.
Wizard's Fifth Rule
Soul of the Fire bk5: Chapter 28, page 205
Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.
People will lie to deceive you from what they truly mean to do. Watching the actions they take will prove their true intentions.
Wizard's Sixth Rule
Faith of the Fallen bk6: Chapter 41, page 319
The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
"The Sixth Rule is the hub upon which all rules turn. It is not only the most important rule, but the simplest. Nonetheless, it is the one most often ignored and violated, and by far the most despised. It must be wielded in spite of the ceaseless, howling protests of the wicked. Misery, iniquity, and utter destruction lurk in the shadows outside its full light, where half-truths snare the faithful disciples, the deeply feeling believers, the selfless followers. Faith and feelings are the warm marrow of evil. Unlike reason, faith and feelings provide no boundary to limit any delusion, any whim. They are a virulent poison, giving the numbing illusion of moral sanction to every depravity ever hatched. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason’s light. Reason is the very substance of truth itself. The glory that is life is wholly embraced through reason, through this rule. In rejecting it, in rejecting reason, one embraces death."
"The only sovereign I can allow to rule me is reason.The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists, what is, is and from this irreducible bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. It is the foundation from which life is embraced. Thinking is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality; it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss that we refuse to see. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reasons light. In rejecting reason, refusing to think, one embraces death.”
Wizard's Seventh Rule
Pillars of Creation bk7: Chapter 60, page 549
Life is the future, not the past.
The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices.
Wizard's Eighth Rule
Naked Empire bk8: Chapter 61, page 626
Talga Vassternich. translates to:Deserve Victory.
"Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire."
Wizard's Ninth Rule
Chainfire bk9: Chapter 48, page 489
A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.
“To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions. In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake."
Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breathe life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men.
Wizard's Tenth Rule
Phantom bk10: Chapter 12, page 127
Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.
"People who for whatever reason don't want to see the truth can be acutely hostile to it and shrill in their denunciation of it. They frequently turn their venomous antagonism on whoever dares to point out that truth ... To those seeking the truth; it's a matter of simple, rational, self interest to always keep reality in view. Truth is rooted in reality, after all, not the imagination."
Wizard's Eleventh and Final Rule
Confessor bk11: Throughout
The "Rule Unspoken", the "Rule Unwritten", "The rule from the beginning of time."
[
]
The brackets above contain the rule unwritten as Terry Goodkind wrote it. It is the most important rule for each and every individual. When this rule is broken all other rules of truth are violated.
The final rule cannot directly be quoted, yet using the final book of the series "Confessor" it can be understood. In Confessor, Richard goes through great struggle to obtain a book left for him by Baraccus, a great wizard from the past. Richard believes this book entitled Secrets to a War Wizard's Power will be a means for him to finally understand how to use his gift and therefore in essence be the solution to major problems. Once he obtains the book however, its pages are blank and his grandfather Zedd informs him that Baraccus left it blank to illustrate the meaning of the rule unwritten. Using this knowledge Richard reasons that "The Book of Counted Shadows" could not possibly be the key to the boxes of orden, and that in fact the Sword of Truth was the only way to harness Orden's power of life itself. Incalculable effort had been put into obtaining the knowledge contained in "The Book of Counted Shadows" by Jagang and the Sisters of the Dark, and in the past that it was well protected, yet when the Sisters of the Dark finally used it that effort was all for nothing. As far as the knowledge within the book was concerned, there was 'nothing in it', much like Secrets to a War Wizard's Power. The Sword of Truth, representative of its namesake, was key to life. The secret to Richard's power is that he seeks the truth. In seeking truth he turns a blind eye to corrupt ideas and embraces that which is the essence of life itself. The Sisters of the Dark assumed the truth to be what they had always been told by others and never thought to verify it themselves. The price they paid for such an oversight was their lives. Moreover, the sisters would never have been able to access the power of life even with the sword because they were acting through hate. Richard, on the other hand intended to use the power to help those he cared about and thus had the ability to harness the power of life. "Those who have come here to hate should leave now, for in their hatred they only betray themselves" - translated from The Book of Life. That book too was empty to the sisters because of the path they followed.
One must always seek the truth in life for themselves, rather than simply believing that which they are told without their own rational understanding and justification for that belief. Failure to do so can lead to a life of clinging to empty promises and following trails of false hope. The knowledge gained through seeking the truth, if used for the purposes of good, is the key to enjoying life to its fullest. Those who use the truth for hate however, only betray themselves.
So, in a general sense, all of the Wizard's Rules, are not only known by wizards, but truths that every man who accepts the truth can hold as self-evident in his heart.
The majority of the books on my list are Classic Literature as well as Inspirational but I couldn't leave out one of my favorite authors: Terry Goodkind and his 11 book series The Sword of Truth.
The series contains eleven books, each revealing a new wizards rule. The books are: Wizards First Rule, Stone of Tears, Blood of the Fold, Temple of the Winds, Soul of the Fire, Faith of the Fallen, Pillars of Creation, Naked Empire, Chainfire, Phantom, and Confessor.
Here are the Wizards Rules - where to find them in the book, and the reasoning behind them. Although these books are fantasy the ideas and morals behind them have touched my soul. I hope this inspires you to read the books. (The TV series isn't nearly as good. Then again, I prefer the book to the movie or TV show every single time.)
Wizard's First Rule:
Wizard's First Rule bk1 Chapter 36, page 397
People will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they're afraid it might be true.
People are stupid; Given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe its true, or because they're afraid it might be true. Peoples' heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.
Wizard's Second Rule:
Stone of Tears bk2 Chapter 63, page 634
The greatest harm can result from the best intentions.
It sounds paradox but, kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough.
Wizard's Third Rule:
Blood of the Fold bk3: Chapter 43, page 360
Passion rules reason.
Letting your emotions control your reason may cause trouble for yourself and those around you.
Wizard's Fourth Rule:
Temple of the Winds bk4: Chapter 41, page 318
There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.
Forgiving and being forgiven are powerful elements of healing for the soul. Forgiving others grants by the giving of forgiveness but more so one receives self healing by the necessity of letting go of bitterness through forgiveness of others.
The meaning of this rule can be a little vague but it actually a universal concept.
We can be injured with arrows and swords and bullets, by accident or artifice; these are physical injuries, our bodies can heal them naturally, even if there is a scar left to remind us of the wound. They may be painful, and the memory of them may hurt, but we can recover from this.
Emotional wounds are not the same. If you have ever been truly hurt and betrayed by someone you love very deeply and trust unequivocally, you can understand; that is a hurt beyond anything else you can withstand, one that strikes at your very soul and fills your heart with anguish. This kind of hurt can destroy a person that can shrug off anything but a mortal wound, and alter you in ways that you cannot foresee--sometimes for the worse.
To forgive someone who has harmed you serves two purposes: to let them know that you no longer resent them for wronging you, and to release the anger of their actions from your heart.
Carrying an emotional burden is damaging and unhealthy in the extreme. Forgiving someone is thus a way to vent your own emotion without hurting someone else, while at the same time helping your own healing process along. False forgiveness, forgiving someone without truly meaning it, is not the same, because it does not do you any good, and in the end does not help them either. That is the magic of sincerely forgiving someone.
To be forgiven for your wrongs, your sins, and misgivings, is altogether a different sort of thing. To know that person forgives your hurtful actions, that they do not resent you, is like the lifting of a great weight from your shoulders. It is the utmost kindness they can pay, to sincerely forgive you your shortcomings, and can heal emotional damage like nothing else.
I recently learned that a long time ago, there were members of the Catholic religion called confessors. A confessor was a person who, while not a Saint, was considered pious enough that they could take a confession of sin, and grant pardon for it. There are a few famous examples of confessors, but most of them are still obscure, since it was a long time ago, and the only readily available example is King Edward the Confessor.
There are many parallels between real life and the Sword of Truth series, and this is one.
Confessors exist in the Midlands to be the final arbiters of justice--they can use their ability to compel a person to confess their most heinous acts of violence and debauchery, their sins, without hesitation. However, the one so touched by the Confessor's power is, in a way, given forgiveness for his sins: he has no ability to regret his actions, love for the Confessor is all that remains. Even if he is sentenced to death after his confession, and even if the Confessor herself kills him, there is only love for her in his mind.
The magic of forgiveness is also connected to the Sword of Truth itself. The first dimension of its magic is that of rage compounded with rage, pure hatred that seeks to destroy anything that stands in its way. The second dimension is that of love, forgiveness, that which turns the blade white, allowing the Seeker to slay even those he loves, allowing nothing to stand in his way. This is the way Richard was able to kill Denna: he loved her, in a way, and forgave her for her actions. He gave her a great kindness, to forgive her, and released her from her morbid duties as a Mord-Sith, absolving her of her guilt and sending her to be with the good spirits. Richard's act of forgiveness relieved Denna of a life of torture and madness, healing her insanity.
The sword is also the key to a greater magic, for only one with the ability in his heart to forgive the most egregious of transgressions is worthy to wield that power.
Wizard's Fifth Rule
Soul of the Fire bk5: Chapter 28, page 205
Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.
People will lie to deceive you from what they truly mean to do. Watching the actions they take will prove their true intentions.
Wizard's Sixth Rule
Faith of the Fallen bk6: Chapter 41, page 319
The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.
"The Sixth Rule is the hub upon which all rules turn. It is not only the most important rule, but the simplest. Nonetheless, it is the one most often ignored and violated, and by far the most despised. It must be wielded in spite of the ceaseless, howling protests of the wicked. Misery, iniquity, and utter destruction lurk in the shadows outside its full light, where half-truths snare the faithful disciples, the deeply feeling believers, the selfless followers. Faith and feelings are the warm marrow of evil. Unlike reason, faith and feelings provide no boundary to limit any delusion, any whim. They are a virulent poison, giving the numbing illusion of moral sanction to every depravity ever hatched. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason’s light. Reason is the very substance of truth itself. The glory that is life is wholly embraced through reason, through this rule. In rejecting it, in rejecting reason, one embraces death."
"The only sovereign I can allow to rule me is reason.The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists, what is, is and from this irreducible bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. It is the foundation from which life is embraced. Thinking is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality; it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss that we refuse to see. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reasons light. In rejecting reason, refusing to think, one embraces death.”
Wizard's Seventh Rule
Pillars of Creation bk7: Chapter 60, page 549
Life is the future, not the past.
The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices.
Wizard's Eighth Rule
Naked Empire bk8: Chapter 61, page 626
Talga Vassternich. translates to:Deserve Victory.
"Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire."
Wizard's Ninth Rule
Chainfire bk9: Chapter 48, page 489
A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.
“To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions. In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake."
Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breathe life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men.
Wizard's Tenth Rule
Phantom bk10: Chapter 12, page 127
Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.
"People who for whatever reason don't want to see the truth can be acutely hostile to it and shrill in their denunciation of it. They frequently turn their venomous antagonism on whoever dares to point out that truth ... To those seeking the truth; it's a matter of simple, rational, self interest to always keep reality in view. Truth is rooted in reality, after all, not the imagination."
Wizard's Eleventh and Final Rule
Confessor bk11: Throughout
The "Rule Unspoken", the "Rule Unwritten", "The rule from the beginning of time."
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The brackets above contain the rule unwritten as Terry Goodkind wrote it. It is the most important rule for each and every individual. When this rule is broken all other rules of truth are violated.
The final rule cannot directly be quoted, yet using the final book of the series "Confessor" it can be understood. In Confessor, Richard goes through great struggle to obtain a book left for him by Baraccus, a great wizard from the past. Richard believes this book entitled Secrets to a War Wizard's Power will be a means for him to finally understand how to use his gift and therefore in essence be the solution to major problems. Once he obtains the book however, its pages are blank and his grandfather Zedd informs him that Baraccus left it blank to illustrate the meaning of the rule unwritten. Using this knowledge Richard reasons that "The Book of Counted Shadows" could not possibly be the key to the boxes of orden, and that in fact the Sword of Truth was the only way to harness Orden's power of life itself. Incalculable effort had been put into obtaining the knowledge contained in "The Book of Counted Shadows" by Jagang and the Sisters of the Dark, and in the past that it was well protected, yet when the Sisters of the Dark finally used it that effort was all for nothing. As far as the knowledge within the book was concerned, there was 'nothing in it', much like Secrets to a War Wizard's Power. The Sword of Truth, representative of its namesake, was key to life. The secret to Richard's power is that he seeks the truth. In seeking truth he turns a blind eye to corrupt ideas and embraces that which is the essence of life itself. The Sisters of the Dark assumed the truth to be what they had always been told by others and never thought to verify it themselves. The price they paid for such an oversight was their lives. Moreover, the sisters would never have been able to access the power of life even with the sword because they were acting through hate. Richard, on the other hand intended to use the power to help those he cared about and thus had the ability to harness the power of life. "Those who have come here to hate should leave now, for in their hatred they only betray themselves" - translated from The Book of Life. That book too was empty to the sisters because of the path they followed.
One must always seek the truth in life for themselves, rather than simply believing that which they are told without their own rational understanding and justification for that belief. Failure to do so can lead to a life of clinging to empty promises and following trails of false hope. The knowledge gained through seeking the truth, if used for the purposes of good, is the key to enjoying life to its fullest. Those who use the truth for hate however, only betray themselves.
So, in a general sense, all of the Wizard's Rules, are not only known by wizards, but truths that every man who accepts the truth can hold as self-evident in his heart.
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