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In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography)

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography)
Author: Mark Jones
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2018-01-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9781983514531
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As I sit here to begin telling the story of my life that I call In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography), I aim to trace this singular thread of searching that has remained constant in my life of adventure. My life has been a mosaic of many independent events that on face value appear to have nothing in common, that is, when viewed from the outside. One must always remember to avoid drawing conclusions from appearances alone. When I view the events of my life from the inside, there is a great consistency and commitment to this search for meaning in my life. It is no small miracle that I have survived my adventures to this day to be able to tell my story, and it is by the grace of God alone that I've reached this point in my life to share my hopes, dreams, journeys and adventures with you. My journeys and adventures officially started the day I intentionally stepped off the well-worn path of life and onto the path less-traveled. It was a deliberate and calculated decision and my life has never been the same since. It has not been an easy life, for once the comfort of the path well-traveled is left behind, there are few signposts to follow and no maps to guide you. Uncharted territory as they say and not without its pitfalls, danger and misfortunes. I often wondered if this path would ever lead me back to the safety and comfort of the familiar again. In some ways it has and in other ways it hasn't, but The Great Adventure I began in 1976 has never really ended for me over all these many years. I will be traveling this path less-traveled in my continuing search for the meaning of my life right up to the very end.

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography): Book Twelve - Adventures Near and Far

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography): Book Twelve - Adventures Near and Far
Author: Mark D. Jones
Publisher: In Search of the Meaning of Li
Total Pages: 122
Release: 2019-01-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781794189768
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I've often found my life being guided by moments of great insight or 'eureka moments, ' as I accidentally discovered the next direction my life should take while stranded at various mileposts and chapters during the course of my life. It seems these momentary glimpses into the future tended to occur more often than not when I was floundering and failing in life, not knowing what I was to do or where I was to go. So it was when I knew in my heart it was time to return to Michigan State University while watching the Michigan-Michigan State football game in the fall of 1979 on Bainbridge Island across Puget Sound from downtown Seattle. I knew in an instant I was to go back to school and arranged the details of my return in minutes, not days or weeks, to redirect the course of my life. Yet, I had no clue as to what this new journey and adventure I was starting out would mean to me and my future, or even what that future would hold. All I knew at the time was the timing was right to return to MSU, as my life was stagnating in Washington State with no real end game in sight. So it was as I boarded that Greyhound Bus - was I making the right decision? Would college work out for me this time around? Would I find my way into a career I wanted to have after graduation? Would I even graduate? I had no idea at the time, just a gut reaction that this was the right thing to do. In the end that's all that mattered, as I knew adventurers needed to know how to make decisions and stick with them. I'd made mine and now it was time to make the best of it... My life was filled with the excitement of the open road and traveling to parts unknown, while working various jobs to fund my adventures and experiencing opportunities I'd never dreamed of before, yet I began to wonder if that was all there was to life for me. At the end of the day I still didn't have a purpose or a plan, and life couldn't continue carrying on that way in a never ending series of road trips and hardships. I needed more out of life than just hitting the highway on yet another adventure. I still didn't know the meaning and purpose of my life, but came to understand it couldn't just be adventure for adventure's sake. This is where I found myself leading up to the beginning of Book Twelve of my autobiography, deciding at the time to return to Michigan State University to finish college and get my degree in business. I still didn't know what I'd do with my business degree, but felt it would at least funnel me into something where I could start living my life as an adult and not as a perpetual dreamer seeking my next adrenaline rush from adventure. Little did I know at the time I'd remain a dreamer my entire life, yet I found a way to not only live a life of purpose, meaning and responsibility, but also to continue living an adventurous life on an entirely new level I couldn't have imagined.

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography): Book Three - The Great Adventure (Part One)

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography): Book Three - The Great Adventure (Part One)
Author: Mark D. Jones
Publisher: In Search of the Meaning of Li
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2019-02-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781797897080
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The idea of going on adventures captured my imagination ever since the sixth grade when my friend Dan first introduced me to J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy set in the fictional world of Middle-earth. I dreamed of going off on an adventure like Bilbo and Frodo Baggins through the Shire and beyond, but how does one take an adventure in the here-and-now of the real world? I didn't know how it might be possible, but understood it was up to me to figure out a way to turn my dreams into my reality. Adventure was never an offered class in my curriculum or coursework in school while growing up, but I was convinced there must be a way to go on great adventures in life. I figured that I'd just have to make it up on my own along the way - and when I wasn't accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine at Michigan State University during Winter Term 1976, I realized this was my opportunity to follow my dreams and leave MSU. I finally settled on the idea of a great bicycle adventure around the United States and despite being broke, I set out to plan how to accomplish such a journey. This is the story of Part One of 'The Great Adventure' from southwest of Flint, MI, to our arrival at my aunt and uncle's house in Tallahassee, Florida - a journey around the U.S. in 1976-1977 of 8,111 miles that eventually finished in Seattle, WA. I left Michigan State University following Winter Term 1976 after not being accepted into the College of Veterinary Medicine, along with the fact there wasn't anything I wanted to do in life but go on adventures. Finally, after saving money and buying equipment, Bruce and I set out to begin 'The Great Adventure' on the sunny morning of Wednesday, September 22, 1976. I hope in telling the story of the adventure Bruce and I completed over 40 years ago, that you will seek to live your hopes, dreams, passions and adventures in life as well. Life is too short and precious not to live the life of your dreams - bon voyage! Cheers! Mark

In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography)

In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography)
Author: Mark D Jones
Publisher:
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2019-07-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781076259004
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This is the Second Book of my 'Air Force Years' and Fourteenth Book overall in my serialized autobiography entitled 'In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography).' My aim in telling the story of my life in the Air Force is not a typical military memoir, but instead a journal of my personal challenges and accomplishments within the backdrop of my goal of flying jets. My goal had been to fly the F-4 Phantom from the very beginning and fortunately I'd overcome a number of failures, setbacks and roadblocks to finally get that opportunity at F-4D 'Replacement Training Unit' (RTU), at Homestead AFB, Florida, in the fall of 1982. This chapter of my life specifically shows how I pursued my literary dreams without having any clear understanding of where they would lead me and how I began writing my first novel entitled 'Jonathan's Amazing Adventures: Jonathan's Dream (An Adventure Novel)' literally by accident. It was during a 'freeform writing exercise' that I'd come up with, when the first two paragraphs of Jonathan's Dream literally sprang from the page without my realizing I'd just begun writing my first novel. The goal of this book is to show you my personal challenges of learning to fly the F-4 Phantom and all the associated adventures of my life, up to the point of beginning my first novel and jump starting my literary career. While I had ambitions to one day become a published author, I had no idea of how or when that would ever be possible, as I thought I'd need to attract the attention of a publisher who could make it happen for me. Now, some 37 years later, technology has made it possible to self-publish my own books and stories, taking me on a very long and circuitous literary journey to bring these stories to you, the reader - enjoy! Book Fourteen paints a portrait of my life flying Phantoms in West Germany and beyond, and it's an honor and privilege for me to tell this story I've lived. Mine was an era that seems far removed from the world we live in today, but not really that far removed. A time when life existed before cell phones and the Internet, when analog gave way to digital technology and when global navigation first became possible. So while not a history book per se, it is a record of how things were, and the dreams and adventures of a young boy who grew up in Flint, MI, hoping to one day to fly jets, live a life of adventure and see the world - and did. If I could make my hopes and dreams come true, then you certainly can, too! Carpe Diem, seize the day! Cheers! Mark

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography): Book Four - The Great Adventure (Part Two)

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography): Book Four - The Great Adventure (Part Two)
Author: Mark D. Jones
Publisher: In Search of the Meaning of Li
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2019-03-07
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781798503294
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Bruce and I completed the first leg of The Great Adventure, traveling 1,931 miles from southwest of Flint, MI, to my aunt and uncle's house in Tallahassee, FL, over the course of 58 days on our bicycle adventure. We departed the Flint area on September 22, 1976 and arrived in Tallahassee on November 18th - low on funds and needing to recuperate at our third oasis on the bicycle trip to date. The question remained though as to what would happen to us on this second leg of the adventure? We were almost out of money and had no idea what to expect in Florida and along the Gulf Coast, and soon our thoughts would begin focusing on looking for jobs - without having any concept of how that would work out or how we could make it happen. Would our adventure succeed or fail miserably, leaving us stranded on the road out of money and ideas? As they say, no guts no glory, and here begins the story of the second leg of 'The Great Adventure.' The opportunity to journey and adventure kindles the human spirit like nothing else can. For to immerse oneself in adventure and test your meddle beyond your known capabilities and prevail despite the odds, is to conquer and overcome your fears, and find within yourself the strength, reserves and will to endure and survive in the most difficult of circumstances. I wish you all the very best on your adventures in life, no matter where life's path takes you on your journey of discovery! Adventure is a mindset and a perspective, for one can find adventure in whatever endeavor you choose to participate in - it doesn't have to be a physical challenge taking you to the ends of the Earth. 'To adventure' is to take life by the horns and try your very best, to blaze your own trail, and live your hopes, dreams and passions in life. Choose adventure, because life is so much richer and rewarding for having tried to live the life of your dreams no matter the outcome - win, lose or draw! Cheers! Mark

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography)

In Search of the Meaning of Life (an Autobiography)
Author: Mark Jones
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 148
Release: 2018-05-24
Genre:
ISBN: 9781719186599
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Sometimes, the best way to find ourselves is to get lost in the process. So lost, in fact, that we're afraid we'll never find our way back again, especially the direction we've only just come from. It's when we find ourselves alone and directionless in the quiet moments of our lives, in surroundings we know we don't belong in and aspire to leave behind, that we can hear ourselves think without the distraction of the status quo calling us back to what had been our everyday reality. My questioning began very early on in this odyssey on the road, and as this internal dialogue developed I wrote down all of these debates with myself on a yellow, legal pad. This process of spontaneously writing my 152 philosophical questions and ponderings, laid the foundation for a resolution to the dilemma as to which way I should go with my life, seemingly giving me permission to follow my heart and my dreams...

Your Life as Story

Your Life as Story
Author: Tristine Rainer
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 369
Release: 1998-04-13
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0874779227
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In Your Life As Story, autobiography expert Tristine Rainer explains how we can all find the important messages in our lives. Like Mary Karr or Frank McCourt, we can shape those stories into dramatic narratives that are compelling to others. Blending literary scholarship with practical coaching, Rainer shares her remarkable techniques for finding the essentials of story structure within your life's scattered experiences. Most important, she explains how to treasure the struggles in your past and discover the meaning within those experiences to capture the unique myth at work in your life.

Fish Out of Water

Fish Out of Water
Author: Eric Metaxas
Publisher: Salem Books
Total Pages: 411
Release: 2021-02-02
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1684511720
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What Happens When One of America’s Most Admired Biographers Writes His Own Biography? For Eric Metaxas, the answer is Fish Out of Water: A Search for the Meaning of Life—a poetic and sometimes hilarious memoir of his early years, in which the Queens-born son of Greek and German immigrants struggles to make sense of a world in which he never quite seems to fit. Renowned for his biographies of William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Martin Luther, Metaxas is the author of five New York Times bestsellers, the witty host of the acclaimed Socrates in the City conversation series, and a nationally syndicated radio personality. But here he reveals a personal story few have heard, taking us from his mostly happy childhood—and riotous triumphs at Yale—to the nightmare of drifting toward a dark abyss of meaninglessness from which he barely escapes. Along the way he introduces us to an unforgettable troupe of picaresque characters who join this quintessentially first-generation American boy in what is both bildungsroman and odyssey—and which underscores just how funny, serious, happy, sad, and ultimately meaningful life can be.

Dreams from My Father

Dreams from My Father
Author: Barack Obama
Publisher: Crown
Total Pages: 463
Release: 2007-01-09
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0307394123
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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • ONE OF ESSENCE’S 50 MOST IMPACTFUL BLACK BOOKS OF THE PAST 50 YEARS In this iconic memoir of his early days, Barack Obama “guides us straight to the intersection of the most serious questions of identity, class, and race” (The Washington Post Book World). “Quite extraordinary.”—Toni Morrison In this lyrical, unsentimental, and compelling memoir, the son of a black African father and a white American mother searches for a workable meaning to his life as a black American. It begins in New York, where Barack Obama learns that his father—a figure he knows more as a myth than as a man—has been killed in a car accident. This sudden death inspires an emotional odyssey—first to a small town in Kansas, from which he retraces the migration of his mother’s family to Hawaii, and then to Kenya, where he meets the African side of his family, confronts the bitter truth of his father’s life, and at last reconciles his divided inheritance. Praise for Dreams from My Father “Beautifully crafted . . . moving and candid . . . This book belongs on the shelf beside works like James McBride’s The Color of Water and Gregory Howard Williams’s Life on the Color Line as a tale of living astride America’s racial categories.”—Scott Turow “Provocative . . . Persuasively describes the phenomenon of belonging to two different worlds, and thus belonging to neither.”—The New York Times Book Review “Obama’s writing is incisive yet forgiving. This is a book worth savoring.”—Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here “One of the most powerful books of self-discovery I’ve ever read, all the more so for its illuminating insights into the problems not only of race, class, and color, but of culture and ethnicity. It is also beautifully written, skillfully layered, and paced like a good novel.”—Charlayne Hunter-Gault, author of In My Place “Dreams from My Father is an exquisite, sensitive study of this wonderful young author’s journey into adulthood, his search for community and his place in it, his quest for an understanding of his roots, and his discovery of the poetry of human life. Perceptive and wise, this book will tell you something about yourself whether you are black or white.”—Marian Wright Edelman

The Dream

The Dream
Author: Harry Bernstein
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 281
Release: 2008-09-23
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 034551453X
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“Dreams played an important part in our lives in those early days in England. Our mother invented them for us to make up for all the things we lacked and to give us some hope for the future.” During the hard and bitter years of his youth in England, Harry Bernstein’s selfless mother struggles to keep her six children fed and clothed. But she never stops dreaming of a better life in America, no matter how unlikely. Then, one miraculous day when Harry is twelve years old, steamships tickets arrive in the mail, sent by an anonymous benefactor. Suddenly, a new life full of the promise of prosperity seems possible–and the family sets sail for America, meeting relatives in Chicago. Harry is mesmerized by the city: the cars, the skyscrapers, and the gorgeous vistas of Lake Michigan. For a time, the family gets a taste of the good life: electric lights, a bathtub, a telephone. But soon the harsh realities of the Great Depression envelop them. Skeletons in the family closet come to light, mafiosi darken their doorstep, family members are lost, and dreams are shattered. In the face of so much loss, Harry and his mother must make a fateful decision–one that will change their lives forever. And though he has struggled for so long, there is an incredible bounty waiting for Harry in New York: his future wife, Ruby. It is their romance that will finally bring the peace and happiness that Harry’s mother always dreamed was possible. With a compelling cast and evocative settings, Harry Bernstein’s extraordinary account of his hardscrabble youth in Depression-era Chicago and New York will grip you from the very first page. Full of humor, drama, and romance, this tale of hope and dreams coming true enthralls and enchants.