The Bright Side

AZ Big 3 Rock Show (Jed's A Millionaire, Love Me Nots, Persuaders)

2011-07-14T19:03:00.003-04:00

JED'S A MILLIONAIRE
The LOVE ME NOTS,
The PERSUADERS ...

The show was on July 15th, 2011.
It was at Alice's Cooperstown.
And, it was great.

I hope you got to see it. There will be others soon, I'm sure.

An Observation

2008-08-06T01:16:00.012-04:00

If you love something, set it free.
If it comes back, it was and always will be yours.
If it never returns, it was never yours to begin with.

If it just sits in your living room, messes up your stuff,
eats your food, uses your telephone, takes your money,
and never appears to know
that you actually set it free in the first place,
---
then you either married it or gave birth to it.

The Troublesome Paradox of "The Secret"

2008-07-19T19:20:00.021-04:00

the field center
explains the paradox
of the "The Secret"

I've had numerous emails asking me to comment on The Secret, the latest and massively popular New Age offering (available as a best-selling book and a DVD movie) on how consciousness allegedly can be used to attract health, love, and prosperity.

First off, one has to hand it to Rhonda Byrne and the crew at Prime Time Productions, who put together this collection of New Age wisdom on the subject, for their keen sense of what would appeal to a mass audience. The packaging is unquestionably first-rate.

Even a cursory reading of the book, however, reveals that it offers no secret at all, but only a reheated collection of the same instruction that's been available in the New Age literature since the 70s on a cultural scale, and since the 1800s and early 1900s somewhat less visibly in the work of New Thought writers such as Phineas Quimby, Emma Curtis Hopkins, Charles and Myrtle Fillmore, Ernest Holmes, Florence Scovel Shinn, Emmett Fox, and others.

The essence of this teaching, to which Field training takes exception, is that one can, through visualizing or using affirmations or prayer or otherwise embodying a consciousness of fulfillment, create corresponding conditions in the world.

Note that Field training does not deny that the outer world corresponds to the inner, but points out that one cannot use this "Law of Correspondence" by setting out to use it.

There is an element of paradox built into the principle that Field training regards as central, and which the various New Age offerings on the subject, including The Secret, miss.

This paradoxical element becomes obvious once it's stated, but it is nearly invisible until then:

If our belief creates reality, and we seek to create, say, prosperity, then it is unavoidable that we must already be believing in a lack of prosperity (else why would we set out to try to create it?) and this belief casts the vote of our faith, as it were, mobilizing the Law of Correspondence against our desire.

It should be apparent that any attempt to use consciousness to solve a problem presupposes believing in the problem. Therein lies the paradox.

The idea that we can create conditions through consciousness techniques is nearly irresistible to anyone who has suspected that our inner life and our outer life are mysteriously commingled, but those who have made the experiment have learned quickly and sometimes the hard way that desire alone is not creative, and that visualizations and affirmations fail as a rule to have any creative effect on the world, which seems to roll on indifferent to our fantasies.

We can want something with every atom of our being, we can visualize and affirm it till the cows come home, and still find the universe unresponsive.

Of course, writing a book that tells us otherwise, that fosters and perpetuates the popular misconception that we can have, say, prosperity at the same time that we're believing in its absence and consequently the need to create it—writing such a book may well fulfill the author's expectation of prosperity, because there will always be a huge market for the idea that we can have what we want simply by wanting it, that "wishing will make it so," but in such cases, the authors have made use of something like a pyramid scheme.

As long as these writers can keep "selling" the idea, prosperity follows surely enough for them, but the tab ultimately is passed to those at the bottom of the pyramid who run out of customers, and are left wondering why this seems to work for others while they can't get results.

I don't say that the authors of these books are doing this intentionally. My guess is that they got excited about an idea and mean well, but this is the effect nonetheless.

The fallback position for the New Age's mistaken approach to conscious creating has been essentially the same as the fundamentalist's, who infers from the failure of prayer that we must not have had enough faith.

So, the New Age practitioner may wonder or even worry what he "did wrong" when the universe fails to deliver the goods.

It doesn't occur to him that the whole model is wrong, that the Law of Correspondence (also called Law of Assumption, Law of Attraction, Law of Creation, Law of Mental Equivalents, etc.) is elegant and unfailing but also in this sense ruthlessly thorough and efficient, and that he overlooked something essential, viz., that what we get in life corresponds not to what we want but to who we are.

The person who believes he lacks prosperity sufficiently to be trying to create prosperity uses the law perfectly, and ends up with more lack, though this was not his aim.

Here, then is the paradox:

We cannot use the Law of Creation to create anything. We can, however, assume the identity we desire for its own sake, that is, solely for the sake of the inner fulfillment.

Paradox requires that practice stop there.

Anyone who could practice this far and no further would find the Law delightfully surprising him, and at that point indeed would have discovered a great secret.

A few weeks ago, I received an angry email from someone who had visited the Field Center site, looked at our "how we're different" chart, and accused me of saying that other models "suck" as he put it.

Most of what he found upsetting, I never said and wouldn't. But even responding charitably, I don't see anything wrong with stating that one approach is better, more revealing, more thorough, or more useful if it really is. And we don't just allege this; we explain why.

Furthermore, we don't claim that Field training is the model. It's a model, certainly not for everyone. That said, nearly every student who has come to Field training came from some New Age approach that, in the end, had not "worked."

What Field training gave these students was an entirely different standard for what counts as "working" when it comes to deliberately taking on the great adventure of living consciously, complete with its creative implications.

It taught them that, as we say endlessly, "the aim of practice is alignment, not manifestation." It taught them to recognize, appreciate, enjoy, and work with the paradox of consciousness-as-cause.

And it freed them from the pervasive and obviously still very popular misunderstanding that we can have anything in the world that we haven't earned by right of identity.

Instead, through their willingness to look beyond the popular model, they saw firsthand that identity is the generative force of creation, that what we want also wants something of us, that we cannot have anything we believe we lack, and that we cannot make an end run around these living principles through pretending, visualizing, repeating affirmations, or any other strategy.

"The Secret" - Part 2

Last week, on 25 June, the Associated Press ran this story: (below)

The Secret: Big Sales, Loud Criticism.

Here's an excerpt: "While The Secret has become a pop culture phenomenon, it also has drawn critics who are not quiet about labeling the movement a fad, embarrassingly materialistic or the latest example of an American propensity
of wanting something for nothing.

Some medical professionals suggest it could even lead to a blame-the-victim mentality and actually be dangerous to those suffering from serious illness or mental disorders.

As with many publishing hits, the 'Oprah Effect' played a role.

Winfrey devoted two shows in February to The Secret, and Larry King and Ellen DeGeneres also featured it on their shows.

It was spoofed on Saturday Night Live when a man portraying a refugee in the Darfur region of Sudan was blamed for having negative thoughts.

However, the fear that The Secret will lead to a blame-the-victim mentality is a serious claim of critics.

For example, the book dismisses conditions such as a genetic predisposition to being overweight or a slow thyroid as 'disguises for thinking "fat thoughts."' And during times in which massive number of lives were lost, the book says, the 'frequency of their thoughts matched the frequency of the event.'

So, according to The Secret, the victims of the Holocaust were responsible for their extermination, the rape victim is asking for it, and the people in Darfur are being murdered because of negative thinking.

You see, this is a prime example of the sort of oversimplifications and confusions typical of the New Age approach to consciousness-as-cause, and one that Field training regards as particularly egregious and shameless.

Our response when asked how we explain the Holocaust and other calamitous or tragic events is that we don't.

We recognize that decency places a limit on how far theory can or should be willing to go, and we don't speculate about the experiences of people who are not present to take part in the conversation and present their experience firsthand.

We don't preserve our theoretical model at their expense.

It is true that many who have come through Field training who endured and survived such experiences found that they were not beyond the reach of Field practice to revise and redeem, and that the principles applied even in such severe cases, but this was their call to make, not ours, and this is perhaps why our program doesn't appear either on Oprah or Saturday Night Live.

The great mistake of The Secret and the many models, some of them far more rigorous and thoughtful, is the failure to recognize and incorporate paradox and what we call the "dialectic" into its principles and practices.

As stated in Part 1 of this piece, believing in a problem sufficiently to set about "consciously creating" its solution already places one in a position of checkmate. The game is over, because belief, not willful intent, not visualizing, not prayer, not affirmations, not wishing or hoping or knowing "the secret" is what creates.

This has a far-reaching implication, namely that we cannot use our creative consciousness to create conditions.

We can, however, believe in the desired conditions for their own sake, or as we say, for the sake of alignment rather than manifestation.

This is where practice must stop.

This is the oasis in a desert of contradiction to which we banish our practice the moment we allow it to be strategic.

And this indeed appears to be something of a secret.

At least the New Age doesn't seem to know about it.

This essential element of paradox...

This is one of the first things we give our students,
and it changes their view of who they are,
of what it means to be conscious and creative,
and as a result, their lives in many ways, all for the better.

There is no "secret" that will bring us to anything that we do not earn through the willingness to live up to the version of self to which that thing corresponds, and moreover, to live up to it for its own sake.

Conscious creating, it turns out, is an act of love, an act of giving the self to the ideal rather than trying to get things from the world.

We cannot escape the assumptions of our own consciousness.

When the creative moment is entered into lovingly rather than for some desired effect, then and only then are we operating at the level of cause. This means that it isn't enough for us
to visualize and such.

We have to become the thing we want, until all experience of lack has vanished in the joy of our having come home
to our ideal.

Then, as far as we're concerned, the world can come along
or not.

And the one who practices this way will discover a great secret indeed.

-
--
---

the field center

2008-07-16T13:09:00.006-04:00

Secrets of the Occult:

Part 1 ... The Magicians

(video)

Thanks, Alice.

2008-07-14T13:02:00.002-04:00

-

don miguel
ruiz's

code
for life

agreement 1

Be impeccable with your word.
Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean.
Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others.
Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.

agreement 2

Don’t take anything personally.
Nothing others do is because of you.
What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream.
When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

agreement 3

Don’t make assumptions.
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want.
Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama.
With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

agreement 4

Always do your best.
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick.
Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse and regret.

-
--
---

The Four Agreements,
by Don Miguel Ruiz, (1997)

Holding the Right Thought

2008-07-14T12:41:00.011-04:00

Multitudes of people are attracting the wrong things because they do not know the law. They have never learned that the great secret of health, happiness, and success lies in holding the mental attitude which builds, which constructs, the mental attitude which draws to us the good things we desire.

They have never learned the difference between building and tearing down thoughts; the difference between success and failure thoughts; in fact, they do not know that whatever comes to us in life, in our undertakings, great or small, is largely a question of the kind of thoughts we hold in the mind.

We can attract the thing we desire as easily as we can attract the thing we hate and despise and long to get rid of. It is simply a matter of holding the image of the thing in the mind. That is the model which the life processes will build into our environment and which we will objectify.

Like attracts like, failure more failure, poverty more poverty. Hatred attracts more hatred, envy more envy, jealousy more jealousy, and malice more malice. Everything has power to attract its kind.

The feeling of jealousy or hatred is a seed sown in the great cosmic soil all about us, and the eternal laws return to us a harvest the same in kind. What we sow we reap, just as the soil will return to us exactly what we put into it.

Nothing has the power to reproduce anything but itself. There is no exception to this law.

The law cannot pity or help you if you break a bone, or are injured, any more than the law of electricity can help you when you abuse it. It will kill you if you break the law.

To think about and worry about the things we do not want, or to fear that they will come to us, is but to invite them; because every impression becomes an expression, or tends to become so unless the impression is neutralized by its opposite.

If we think too much about our losses, too much about our possible failure, all these things will tend to bring to us the very thing we are trying to get away from.

On every hand we see this law of like attracting like exemplified in the lives of the poverty-stricken multitudes, who, through ignorance of the law, keep themselves in their unfortunate condition by saturating their minds with the poverty idea; thinking and acting and talking poverty; living in the belief in its permanency; fearing, dreading, and worrying about it.

They do not realize, no one has ever told them, that as long as people mentally see the hunger wolf at the door and the poorhouse ahead of them; as long as they expect nothing but lack and poverty and hard conditions, they are headed toward these things; they are making it impossible for prosperity to come in their direction.

The way to attract prosperity and drive poverty out of the life is to work in harmony with the law instead of against it. To expect prosperity, to believe with all your heart, no matter how present conditions may seem to contradict, that you are going to become prosperous, that you are already so, is the very first condition of the law of attaining what you desire. You cannot get it by doubting or fearing. Whatever we visualize and work for we will get.

What we most frequently visualize, what we think most about, is constantly weaving itself into the fabric of our lives, becoming a part of ourselves, increasing the power of our mental magnet to attract those things to us. It doesn't matter whether they are things we fear and try to avoid or things that are good for us, that we long to get. Keeping them in mind increases our affinity for them and inevitably tends to bring them into our lives.

It is a curious fact that many people seem to think that one must spend years as an apprentice to become an expert in any line of endeavor, in business or in a profession, but that in regard to prosperity it is largely a matter of chance, of fate, something which cannot be affected very much by anything they may be able to do.

They say, "Well, I was not built that way. I am not a natural money-maker, and never can be." Or they excuse themselves on the ground that their parents and those before them were never money-makers, and never did anything more than make a bare living.

There is nothing at all peculiar about prosperity any more than there is about legal efficiency or expertness in law or medicine. Its realization is purely a matter of concentration and of preparation; a matter of focusing all our powers upon the prosperity law in order to attract prosperity and to make ourselves expert in attaining it.

The law of prosperity, of opulence, is just as definite as the law of gravitation, and it works just as unerringly. Its first principle is mental. Wealth is created mentally first; it is thought out before it becomes a reality.

If you would attract success, keep your mind saturated with the success, idea. Develop an attitude of mind that will attract success. When you think success, when you act it, when you live it, when you talk it, when it is in your bearing, then you are attracting it.

When we once get this law of attraction thoroughly fixed in our minds we will be careful about attracting our enemies, contacting with them through our mind, thinking about them, worrying about them, fearing, and dreading them. We will hold the sort of thoughts that will attract the things we long for and are seeking, not the things we dread, and despise, and are trying to avoid.

It is just as easy to attract what you want as to attract what you don't want. It is just a question of holding the right thought, and making the right effort. There is no exception to the law of attraction, any more than there is to the law of gravitation, or the laws of mathematics.

-
--
---

(Orison Swett Marden)

Your Fate

2008-07-14T01:28:00.006-04:00

Everything you long for,
Whether good or ill,
Shall at length be given
If you have the will--
If you have the patience
And are very still.

All is in the silence
Waiting to be brought
Forth to form and substance
By the Builder, Thought.
That is how God fashioned
Everything He wrought.

Yet I often wonder,
Looking at the earth
With its weight of worries,
If God finds it worth
All the force projected
Thinking it to birth.

Worlds and universes
In the silence wait;
Yours the power to shape them,
Either soon or late.
But be very careful
How you form your fate.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

2008-07-14T01:12:00.008-04:00

Sex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off.

Anonymous

Remember, if you smoke after sex you're doing it too fast.

Woody Allen

Ducking for apples - change one letter
and it's the story of my life.

Dorothy Parker

There is nothing wrong with going to bed
with someone of your own sex.
-
People should be very free with sex,
they should draw the line at goats.

Elton John

Sunday Lessons at Unity of Tucson

2008-07-14T01:12:00.006-04:00

-

Teachings of Abraham
...are Unity
...are New Thought

Q and A on Abraham w/ Reverend Swartz (audio)

Functional Art and Found Wood

2008-07-02T01:36:00.017-04:00

... Hand-carved and assembled rustic benches,
---
using only salvaged, reclaimed or found wood.

"The wood has a mind of its own", explains Dave.

-
"Everything I make is the product of the struggle
between my expectations and the wood's will.
---
It's a messy, sometimes angry process."
-

Dave Sage is a rustic woodcarver living and working in Portland Oregon.

What is Dudeism?

2008-06-30T01:13:00.014-04:00

The beauty of Dudeism is its simplicity.

Once a religion gets
too complex,
everything can go wrong.

That’s why the
“To What/From What/By What Means” method of identifying a religion is a great way to summarize the Dudeist ethos for your un-Dude friends.

For example, if you apply this method to Buddhism
(a compeer of Dudeism),
you can easily answer what the point of it is.

From what is Buddhism trying to liberate us? ...Suffering

To what state of being is Buddhism trying to bring us? ...Nirvana

By what means does Buddhism attempt do this?
...The Noble Eightfold Path.

Isn’t that fucking interesting, man?

Now let’s apply it to Dudeism:

From what is Dudeism trying to liberate us? ... Thinking that’s too uptight.

To what state of being is Dudeism trying to bring us: ...Just taking it easy, man.

By what means does Dudeism attempt to do this? ...Abiding.

(...from the "Take It Easy Manifesto")

Scenius, Innovation and Epicenters

2008-06-28T18:17:00.012-04:00

Alex Steffen
June 26, 2008 10:55 AM

Ally Kevin Kelly has a terrific piece up about Brian Eno's concept of scenius:

Brian Eno suggested the word to convey the extreme creativity that groups, places or "scenes" can occasionally generate.

His actual definition is:

"Scenius stands for the intelligence and the intuition of a whole cultural scene. It is the communal form of the concept of the genius."

Individuals immersed in a productive scenius will blossom and produce their best work. When buoyed by scenius, you act like genius. Your like-minded peers, and the entire environment inspire you.

-

The geography of scenius is nurtured by several factors:

• Mutual appreciation -- Risky moves are applauded by the group, subtlety is appreciated, and friendly competition goads the shy. Scenius can be thought of as the best of peer pressure.

• Rapid exchange of tools and techniques -- As soon as something is invented, it is flaunted and then shared. Ideas flow quickly because they are flowing inside a common language and sensibility.

• Network effects of success -- When a record is broken, a hit happens, or breakthrough erupts, the success is claimed by the entire scene. This empowers the scene to further success.

• Local tolerance for the novelties -- The local "outside" does not push back too hard against the transgressions of the scene. The renegades and mavericks are protected by this buffer zone.

-

Scenius can erupt almost anywhere, and at different scales: in a corner of a company, in a neighborhood, or in an entire region.

I've been lucky enough to be involved (at least peripherally) in a few really vibrant scenes of communal innovation, and in my experience, the one thing they all have in common is what I've called an epicenter:

[E]very community needs the space where people who do innovative, creative, risky, noble, worldchanging things get together and fuel each other's ardor. Meeting your allies -- shaking hands, sitting down and eating together, talking, laughing, getting to look one another in the eye, getting to know someone in all the rich, primate non-verbal ways which can only happen in actual physical proximity -- is powerful. Epicenters are tools.

Kevin quite rightly points out that scenius is difficult, if not impossible, to create on demand, and the same is true of its epicenters. You can't just open a bar and expect collective genius to erupt.

Artists can tell you that the same thing is true of any form of human creativity -- it just doesn't turn on like a tap. But artists can also tell you that while you can't command creativity and innovation, you can create a welcoming space for it and increase the likelihood that it will show up. It can't be commanded, but it can be courted.

The art of courting genius is one that people hoping to solve the world's big problems would do well to learn, because truly worldchanging solutions don't arrive steadily or predictably on schedules as deliverables for rational investment.

No, truly worldchanging solutions tend to arrive in unruly clumps, in great non-linear spills of changed thinking.

This reality vexes today's philanthropists and social investors.

For the past two decades, the trend in the practice of giving money intelligently in an effort to do good has been all about measurable outcomes and predictable returns on giving.

This approach has had some benefit, driving social enterprises to leaner operations; but mostly it's been an abject failure.

Indeed, as I wrote last summer, many social investors are finding that in trying to bring predictability to their work, they've become incredibly averse to risk, and that this fear of risky giving has left them almost completely incapable of finding and funding efforts that would create the conditions for the emergence of the kinds of innovation we most need.

(Worse yet is the trend towards half-assed citizen media and social networking approaches, projects based on the insane assumption that all that's needed to court collaborative creativity is a website and a good advertising campaign.

This tendency to think that innovative collaboration comes free of cost, bubbling up out the Internet like spring water, betrays a poor understanding of the actual workings of either online collaboration or quality thinking.

Most often, when these open/ citizen-media/ online-collaborative approaches work, it's because a core group in the project provides most of the important input, and usually curates most of the other participants' input into useful forms.

So, frequently, funders' hopes that they can create transformation on the cheap actually just create a system that appears cheap because it externalizes the cost of expert participation onto the shoulders of others... and when their enthusiasm lags (or they need to get day jobs), the project falters or dies.

The examples of failed peer-based social innovation efforts outnumber the successful cases by orders of magnitude.)

I suspect what we need is an exploding number of epicenters, independent and creative people and groups, and well-designed networks to support them -- things that set the conditions for a planetary explosion of new thinking. We need to prepare lots of welcoming spaces where genius can take roost.

That's going to take some risk-oblivious, keenly perceptive, imaginative money.

But even more, I suspect it's going to take worldchangers understanding how valuable networked scenius is, and joining efforts to welcome it into their own lives and communities.

(...from World Changing)

13 Principles of Spiritual Activism

2008-06-23T01:02:00.026-04:00

1. Transformation of motivation from anger/fear/despair to compassion/love/purpose. This is a vital challenge for today's social change movement. This is not to deny the noble emotion of appropriate anger or outrage in the face of social injustice.

Rather, this entails a crucial shift from fighting against evil to working for love, and the long-term results are very different, even if the outer activities appear virtually identical. Action follows Being, as the Sufi saying goes. Thus "a positive future cannot emerge from the mind of anger and despair." (Dalai Lama)

2. Non-attachment to outcome. This is difficult to put into practice, yet to the extent that we are attached to the results of our work, we rise and fall with our successes and failures—a sure path to burnout. Hold a clear intention, and let go of the outcome—recognizing that a larger wisdom is always operating. As Gandhi said, "the victory is in the doing," not the results. Also, remain flexible in the face of changing circumstances: "Planning is invaluable, but plans are useless." (Churchill)

3. Integrity is your protection. If your work has integrity, this will tend to protect you from negative energy and circumstances. You can often sidestep negative energy from others by becoming "transparent" to it, allowing it to pass through you with no adverse effect upon you. This is a consciousness practice that might be called "psychic aikido."

4. Integrity in means and ends. Integrity in means cultivates integrity in the fruit of one's work. A noble goal cannot be achieved utilizing ignoble means.

5. Don't demonize your adversaries. It makes them more defensive and less receptive to your views. People respond to arrogance with their own arrogance, creating rigid polarization. Be a perpetual learner, and constantly challenge your own views.

6. You are unique. Find and fulfill your true calling. "It is better to tread your own path, however humbly, than that of another, however successfully." (Bhagavad Gita)

7. Love thy enemy. Or at least, have compassion for them. This is a vital challenge for our times. This does not mean indulging falsehood or corruption. It means moving from "us/them" thinking to "we" consciousness, from separation to cooperation, recognizing that we human beings are ultimately far more alike than we are different. This is challenging in situations with people whose views are radically opposed to yours. Be hard on the issues, soft on the people.

8. Your work is for the world, not for you. In doing service work, you are working for others. The full harvest of your work may not take place in your lifetime, yet your efforts now are making possible a better life for future generations. Let your fulfillment come in gratitude for being called to do this work, and from doing it with as much compassion, authenticity, fortitude, and forgiveness as you can muster.

9. Selfless service is a myth. In serving others, we serve our true selves. "It is in giving that we receive." We are sustained by those we serve, just as we are blessed when we forgive others. As Gandhi says, the practice of satyagraha ("clinging to truth") confers a "matchless and universal power" upon those who practice it. Service work is enlightened self-interest, because it cultivates an expanded sense of self that includes all others.

10. Do not insulate yourself from the pain of the world. Shielding yourself from heartbreak prevents transformation. Let your heart break open, and learn to move in the world with a broken heart. As Gibran says, "Your pain is the medicine by which the physician within heals thyself." When we open ourselves to the pain of the world, we become the medicine that heals the world. This is what Gandhi understood so deeply in his principles of ahimsa and satyagraha. A broken heart becomes an open heart, and genuine transformation begins.

11. What you attend to, you become. Your essence is pliable, and ultimately you become that which you most deeply focus your attention upon. You reap what you sow, so choose your actions carefully. If you constantly engage in battles, you become embattled yourself. If you constantly give love, you become love itself.

12. Rely on faith, and let go of having to figure it all out. There are larger 'divine' forces at work that we can trust completely without knowing their precise workings or agendas. Faith means trusting the unknown, and offering yourself as a vehicle for the intrinsic benevolence of the cosmos. "The first step to wisdom is silence. The second is listening." If you genuinely ask inwardly and listen for guidance, and then follow it carefully—you are working in accord with these larger forces, and you become the instrument for their music.

13. Love creates the form. Not the other way around. The heart crosses the abyss that the mind creates, and operates at depths unknown to the mind. Don't get trapped by "pessimism concerning human nature that is not balanced by an optimism concerning divine nature, or you will overlook the cure of grace." (Martin Luther King) Let your heart's love infuse your work and you cannot fail, though your dreams may manifest in ways different from what you imagine.

-

(...from the Satyana Institute)

A Game of Boomerangs

2008-06-12T11:10:00.009-04:00

-

Many people are in ignorance of the fact
that gifts and things are investments,
and that hoarding and saving invariably lead to loss.

"There is that scattereth and yet increaseth;
and there is that withholdeth more than is meet,
but it tendeth to poverty."

For example: I knew a man who wanted
to buy a fur-lined overcoat.

He and his wife went to various shops,
but there was none he wanted.

He said they were all too cheap-looking.

At last, he was shown one, the salesman said
was valued at a thousand dollars,
but which the manager would sell him for five-hundred dollars,
as it was late in the season.

His financial possessions amounted to
about seven hundred dollars.

The reasoning mind would have said,
"You can't afford to spend nearly all you have on a coat,"
but he was very intuitive and never reasoned.

He turned to his wife and said,
"If I get this coat, I'll make a ton of money!"
So his wife consented, weakly.

About a month later, he received
a ten-thousand-dollar commission.

The coat made him feel so rich,
it linked him with success and prosperity;
without the coat he would not have received the commission.

It was an investment paying large dividends!

If man ignores these leadings to spend or to give,
the same amount of money will go
in an uninteresting or unhappy way.

For example: A woman told me, on Thanksgiving Day,
she informed her family
that they could not afford a Thanksgiving dinner.

She had the money, but decided to save it.

A few days later, someone entered her room
and took from the bureau drawer
the exact amount the dinner would have cost.

The law always stands back of the man
who spends fearlessly, with wisdom.

-

...from the book, "The Game of Life and How to Play It,"
by Florence Scovell Shinn

Teachers Who Influenced Eckhart Tolle

2008-05-27T11:43:00.012-04:00

...from an interview with John Parker

Question: You mentioned that after a profound realization had occurred you read spiritual texts and spent time with various teachers.

Can you share what writings and teachers had the greatest effect on you in further realizing what had been revealed to you?

Tolle: Yes. The texts I came in contact with—first I picked up a copy of the New Testament almost by accident, maybe half a year, a year after it happened, and reading the words of Jesus and feeling the essence and power behind those words. And I immediately understood at a deeper level the meaning of those words. I knew intuitively with absolute certainty that certain statements attributed to Jesus were added later, because they did not "emanate" from that place, that state of consciousness, because I knew that place, I know that place.

But when a statement emanates from that place, there is recognition. And when it does not, no matter how clever or intelligent it may sound it lacks that essence and it does not have that power. In other words, it does not emanate from the stillness.

So that was an incredible realization, just reading and understanding "beyond mind" the deeper meaning of those words.

Then came the Bhagavad Gita, I also had an immediate, deep understanding of and an incredible love for such a divine work. The Tao Te Ching; also an immediate understanding. And often knowing, "Oh, that's not a correct translation.” I knew the translator had misunderstood, and knew what the real meaning was although I do not know any Chinese. So I immediately had access to the essence of those texts.

Then I also started reading on Buddhism and immediately understood the essence of Buddhism. I saw the simplicity of the original teaching of the Buddha compared to the complexity of subsequent additions, philosophy, all the baggage that over the centuries accumulated around Buddhism, and saw the essence of the original teaching.

I have a great love for the teaching of the Buddha, a teaching of such power and sublime simplicity. I even spent time in Buddhist monasteries. During my time in England there were already several Buddhist monasteries.

I met and listened to some teachers that helped me understand my own state.

In the beginning there was a Buddhist monk, Achan Sumedo, abbot of two or three monasteries in England. He's a Western-born Buddhist.

And in London I spent some time with Barry Long.

I also understood things more deeply, simply through listening and having some conversations with him. And there were other teachers who were just as meaningful whom I never met in person that I feel a very strong connection to.

One is [J.] Krishnamurti, and another is Ramana Maharshi. I feel a deep link. And I feel actually that the work I do is a coming together of the teaching "stream," if you want to call it that, of Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi. They seem very, very dissimilar, but I feel that in my teaching the two merge into one.

It is the heart of Ramana Maharshi, and Krishnamurti's ability to see the false, as such and point out how it works. So Krishnamurti and Ramana Maharshi, I love them deeply. I feel completely at One with them.

And it is a continuation of the teaching.

The Power of Danica's Intention

2008-04-24T14:34:00.008-04:00

Recently, Danica Patrick made history by becoming the first woman
to ever win an IndyCar race.

She then appeared on David Letterman's show
and said she was happy to get the
"monkey off her back."

And, she said having finally won a race,
it will now help her with the visualization process
...now that she knows what it's like to win.

And, then she cited "The Power of Intention,"
most likely in reference to a recent,
excellent book by Dr. Wayne Dyer.

And, that was cool.

Congratulations, Danica.

Doors Open

2008-04-22T00:43:00.012-04:00

Most people who are acting to create, can create, at best, only mediocrity. It isn’t until you step into the vibrational realm of visionary that any big things happen.

It is a really rare one of you who has ever allowed yourself the benefit of focusing upon something long enough that the Energy began to move with you.

When you do that, it is effortless. Doors open. It’s as if the entire Universe is conspiring—and it is—to assist you in what you are wanting.

But most of you spend your actions rather than aligning your Energy, and then you feel overwhelmed because there is not enough action or you can’t muster enough effort.

Most of you have convinced yourselves that you prove your worthiness through your effort or action. Well, what we are wanting you to do—if you’re wanting to prove something—is prove your connection to the Energy Stream.

Abraham-Hicks

Eckhart Tolle - quotes from "A New Earth"

2008-04-16T00:52:00.000-04:00

We Will Come Grandly

2008-03-30T23:03:00.011-04:00

The world is not wrecked.

It is like a magnificent steamer with the engines in place and the machinery in perfect order.

The bunkers are full of coal, and the ship is amply provisioned for the cruise;
there is no lack of any good thing.

Every provision Omniscience could devise has been made
for the safety, comfort, and happiness of the crew;
the steamer is out on the high seas tacking hither and thither
because no one has yet learned the right course to steer.

We are learning to steer, and in due time will come grandly
into the harbor of perfect harmony.

The world is good, and growing better.

Existing discords and inharmonies are but the rollings of the ship
incidental to our own imperfect steering;
they will all be removed in due time.

This view gives us an increasing outlook and an expanding mind;
it enables us to think largely of society and of ourselves,
and to do things in a great way.

Furthermore, we see that nothing can be wrong with such a world
or with any part of it,
including our own affairs.

If it is all moving on toward completion,
then it is not going wrong;
and as our own personal affairs are a part of the whole,
they are not going wrong.

You and all that you are concerned with
are moving on toward completeness.

...

(from the book, "The Science of Being Great," by Wallace Wattles)

Time to Get Smashed

2008-03-25T02:08:00.014-04:00

The greatest experiment ever in particle physics
nears countdown.

Scientists at CERN, Europe's atom-smashing laboratory, are preparing for the greatest experiment in the history of particle physics which could unveil a sub-atomic component, the Higgs Boson, which is so tantalising that it has been called "the God Particle".

Below ground, in a vast circular tunnel below the French-Swiss border near Geneva, the final pieces of a gigantic machine are being set in place for the extraordinary investigation into the infinitely small.

The "Higgs," named after a British physicist, Peter Higgs, who first proposed it in 1964, would fill a gaping hole in the benchmark theory for understanding the physical cosmos.

Other work on the so-called Large Hadron Collider (LHC) could explain dark matter and dark energy -- strange phenomena that, stunned astrophysicists discovered a few years ago, account for 96 percent of the Universe.

It could shed clues on the mystery
of how the Universe came to be.

And it may determine whether, as some physicists believe, space-time holds dimensions other than our own.

"We are standing on the shoulders of giants.
But we want to know better and we want to know more,"
said a leading CERN investigator, Juergen Schukraft.

A gamble costing six billion Swiss francs (almost six billion dollars, 3.9 billion euros) that has harnessed the labours of more than 2,000 physicists from nearly three dozen countries,
the LHC is the biggest,
most powerful high-energy particle accelerator
ever built.

"It's fantastic. It's like a baby, only it doesn't take nine months to be born, but 19 years," enthused Daniel Denegri,
whose Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) detector is bidding to be first to snare the Higgs.

In July or possibly August, the LHC will start its work, initiating a cautious programme of tests before cranking up to full intensity.

In October, CERN (officially called the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) will invite heads of state and government to an official inauguration.

Beams of hydrogen protons will whizz around at near-light speed in opposite directions until, bent by powerful superconducting magnets, they will smash together in four bus-sized detector chambers, where they will be annihilated at temperatures hotter than the Sun.

Swathed within the chambers are arrays of delicate sensors which will track the wreckage from the smash-up -- the shower of quarks, muons, pions and other exotically-named members
of the sub-atomic bestiary.

Data from these collisions will then be sifted by a massive computer farm above ground, which will send the most promising events on "The Grid," a miniature World Wide Web.

The Grid comprises 11 institutions around the world that specialise in high-energy physics, which in turn will hand on the information to physics departments in universities.

Each partner has agreed to give up space on its computers to store and pool data and analyses, which thus opens up an unprecedented global computational resource.

A quiet dread felt by all the researchers at CERN is that a team in Chicago, working at the legendary Fermilab, might grab the elusive Higgs first, using an ageing accelerator, the Tevatron, which is due to be phased out in 2010.

"It will take us a year to get the whole thing [the LHC] working," cautions Schukraft.

Even so, the competition is fierce but not cutthroat.

The United States -- and Fermilab itself -- are enthusiastic partners in the LHC, and in the small world of particle physics, everyone knows everyone else and friendships run deep, cutting across borders, ethnicities and nationalisms.

"At CERN, everything co-exists here, the very big and the very small. The Pakistanis work alongside Indians and Palestinians alongside Israelis. Physics is one throughout the world,"
noted Denegri.

This is the Experience

2008-03-24T03:12:00.007-04:00

Life will give you whatever experience is most helpful
for the evolution of your consciousness.

How do you know this is the experience you need?

Because this is the experience you are having at this moment.

-Eckhart Tolle-

It is Okay with You

2008-03-09T18:39:00.002-04:00

When you feel free, you're free to be who you want to be under any and all conditions, and you really don't worry about what anybody else thinks about it, because you know that what they think about you is their problem. It has nothing to do with you. And when you really feel that way, you become in the greatest place that we know of, which is in the place of allowing -- and you know you are in the place of allowing when you can see another not approving of you and it is okay with you.

-Abraham-Hicks-

Weed - Terence McKenna

2008-03-07T00:36:00.003-05:00

America Dreaming

2008-02-27T11:53:00.008-05:00

---
The era of the Sixties exposed many fault lines in our culture
and gave voice to many who had none previously.
-------
For an interesting historical reflection, click HERE.
---

Paul Attalla Completes Solo Row Across Atlantic

2008-02-24T23:57:00.041-05:00

Dr. Paul Attalla becomes first Canadian to complete
the "world's toughest endurance test."

His crossing was the third fastest
in the history of the
Atlantic Rowing Race.

Paul set a record of becoming the fastest Canadian
to ever row a boat across the Atlantic Ocean ... solo.

( 3,410 miles in 76 days )

And, he is only the second Canadian
to ever successfully row
across the Atlantic Ocean solo.

Salutations, Paul.

Some statistics from Paul include:

0 # of capsizes.

This is a very important fact if you read Barbara Ivy's blog after the race, they revealed their capsize and it was a very harrowing experience for the 2 women.

-

1 # of very sore buttocks.

Paul is recovering well and can sit down through meals and more, but when he first landed, it was hard to sit down. But he's happy to be sitting down without the constant rolling motion and without the constant sound of the wind in his ears.

-

4 # of sharks that swam and swam around the boat.

Sharks are lone travellers, so that's four separate encounters! One of which came about an hour after Paul went under to clean the hull of the boat!! Timing is everything as they say.

-

6 # of close encounters with freighters which reluctantly and eventually moved out of Paul's way.

-

One of which he felt its deep tremors on the water as one freighter approached right on his bow before it agreed to change their course. Most of the captains would not believe that he was actually a very small ocean rowing boat and one captain thought he was a refugee from somewhere. Paul inadvertently shot a flare at one of the freighters (protocol is to shoot in the air). He panicked and was quite frightened because it was getting way too close for comfort, and with trembling hands he shot the flare. Paul alone could have started a naval warfare in the middle of the Atlantic! Canada vs ship of unknown origin.

As some teams were nearing Verde Islands off the coast of North Africa, Spanish fighter jets buzzed them thinking they were refugees from North Africa to the Canaries. It confused the pilots because these small row boats (loaded down with solar panels and high tech equipment) were all going in the opposite direction from Spain out to open sea! ... High-tech refugees.

-

56 # of lbs. of Longview Beef Jerky consumed.

A huge thank you to Longview Jerky Shop for the world's best beef jerky! It became one of the comfort foods that helped sustain Paul throughout the entire race.

-
http://www.solotheatlantic.com/index.php
-

None of the Nuns

2008-02-16T18:10:00.039-05:00

Gonna write somethin’ … and send it
to
The Sun

Sweatin’ the inclinations of the present …
... on what’s ‘bout to come.

All the things I did … and what I shoulda done.
Don’t wanna fight … and I don’t wanna run.

None of the nuns can tell me … why I feel so all alone.

But, some of the dumb can spell, see …
“Drink Beer.” “Get Stoned.”
"Be Here Now."
...
I forget I’m all alone.
I’m not being rousted.

Shadow-boxing … myself into a corner.

Kinda wonderin’ … who really won?

I was thinkin’ I was gonna maybe write somethin’.

… And send it to The Sun.

Just gotta write it, …
... then mail it.
…
Then, it’s done.

I’ll probably feel better
for the effort.

I still can’t believe
… of all the nuns,...

…

None.

Yeah, but some of the dumb can spell, see …

They’re holding up signs saying:

BE

HERE
NOW

… I think I need a beer right now.

None of the nuns can tell me why...
they’re all wearing helmets.
…
And staring at the sky.

Yeah, she couldn’t tell me if this was
the best life
I’ve ever known.

But, she advised me...
to put my
helmet
back on.

I couldn’t believe … every last fucken nun.

Couldn’t believe ...

they were all

wearin’ helmets.

And, I couldn’t help wonderin’
to myself...
…
What the hell that meant. ... ?? ...

Helmet Patrol.

Serenity Now

2008-02-14T01:27:00.017-05:00

-

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.

It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control.

It's presence is an indication of ripened experience,
and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws
and operations of thought.

A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself
as a thought-evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates
the understanding of others as the result of thought.

...

As he develops a right understanding,
and sees more and more clearly
the internal relations of things
by the action of cause and effect,
he ceases to fuss and fume and worry and grieve,
and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

...

...

The more tranquil a man becomes,
the greater is his success, his influence,
his power for good.

...

The strong calm man is always loved and revered.

He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land,
or a sheltering rock in a storm.

...

How insignificant mere money-seeking looks
in comparison with a serene life -
a life that dwells in the ocean of Truth,
beneath the waves,
beyond the reach of tempests,
in the Eternal Calm.

How many people we know who sour their lives,
who ruin all that is sweet and beautiful.

...

It is a question whether the great majority of people
do not ruin their lives and mar their happiness
by lack of self control.

...

Only the wise man, only he whose thoughts are controlled
and purified,
makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

...

Self-control is strength.

Right Thought is mastery.

Calmness is power.

Say unto your heart, "Peace, be still."

Thomas Troward

Superconductivity - Creating a New State of

2008-02-02T13:19:00.000-05:00

Matter

Some Things We Forgot

2008-01-30T12:17:00.001-05:00

Creative Mind and Success

2008-01-17T01:21:00.000-05:00

Every person is surrounded
by a thought atmosphere.

This mental atmosphere is the direct result of thought
which in its turn becomes the direct reason
for the cause of that which comes into our lives.

Through this power we are either attracting
or repelling.

Like attracts like;
and we attract to us
just what we are
in mind.

-Ernest Holmes-

Have you had your hugs anD rugs today?

The World Within

2008-01-05T13:03:00.001-05:00

The conditions with which we meet in the world without,
correspond to the conditions which we find
in the world within.

This is brought about by the law of attraction.

How then shall we determine what is to enter into the world within?

Whatever enters the mind through the senses or the objective mind
will impress the mind and result in a mental image
which will become a pattern for the creative energies.

These experiences are largely the result of environment,
chance, past thinking and other forms of negative thought,
and must be subjected to careful analysis
before being entertained.

On the other hand, we can form our own mental images,
through our own interior processes of thought
regardless of the thoughts of others,
regardless of exterior conditions,
regardless of environment of every kind,
and it is by the exercise of this power
that we can control our own destiny, body,
mind and soul.

It is by the exercise of this power
that we take our fate out of the hands of chance,
and consciously make for ourselves the experiences
which we desire,
because when we consciously realize a condition,
that condition will eventually manifest in our lives;
it is therefore evident that in the last analysis
thinking is the one great cause in life.

Therefore, to control thought is to control circumstances,
conditions, environment, and destiny.

...from the book, The Master Key System, by Charles Haanel

Small is the New Big

2007-12-30T14:29:00.000-05:00

In 1960, Volkswagen shook up the car world
with a full-page ad
that had just two words on it:

Think Small.

It was a revolutionary idea
-- a call for the shrinking of perspective, ambition, and scale
in an era
when success was all about accumulation and territorial gain,
even when you were just driving down the street.

At the same time, as America was becoming the world’s superpower,
growing the dominant economy and setting the pace for global markets,
the Beetle took off as a counter-culture rockstar –
representing exploding individuality
in reaction to the conformity of the 1950s.

America never quite got used to small when it came to cars.
But ask two-thirds of America,
and they will tell you they work for small business.

Americans overwhelmingly favor small, reasonable ideas
over big, grandiose schemes.

And they yearn for the lifestyles of small-town America.

Many of the biggest movements in America today are small
-- often hidden for but a few to see.

Microtrends is based on the idea
that the most powerful forces in our society
are the emerging, counterintuitive trends
that are shaping tomorrow right before us.

...

The power of individual choice has never been greater,
and the reasons and patterns for those choices
never harder to understand and analyze.

The skill of microtargeting
– identifying small, intense subgroups
and communicating with them
about their individual needs and wants
-- has never been more critical
in marketing or in political campaigns.

The one-size-fits-all approach to the world is dead.

Thirty years ago sitting in Harvard’s Lamont Library,
I read a book that started out,
“The perverse and unorthodox thesis of this little book
is that the voters are not fools.”

Its author, V. O. Key, Jr., made an argument
that since that day has guided how I think
not just about voters,
but consumers,
corporations,
governments,
and the world at large.

If you use the right tools and look at the facts,
it turns out that the average Joe is pretty smart,
and making very rational choices.

Yet almost every day,
I hear experts say
that voters and consumers
are misguided scatterbrains,
making decisions
on the basis of the color of a tie.

That’s why politicians pay consultants
to tell them
to wear earth-tone suits.

That’s why many commercials feature pointless stories
with no relation to the products.

Too often, candidates and marketers don’t believe
the facts or the issues matter that much.

Oftentimes, it is they who are the fools.

...One could reasonably estimate that
2/3 of all communications
are wasted
with messages and images
that only their creators understood.

...The perspective I'm presenting is that
thirty years later,
V. O. Key, Jr.’s observation
is not only sound,
but should be the guiding principle
of understanding the trends
we see in America and around the world.

People have never been more sophisticated,
more individualistic,
or more knowledgeable
about the choices they make in their daily lives.

Yet, as Key observed, it takes intensive, scientific study
to find the logical patterns that underlie those choices.

When faced with people’s seemingly contradictory choices,
it can be a lot easier to chalk them up to brown suits and Botox.

And indeed, the contradictions today are striking.

While people are eating more healthy foods than ever,
Big Mac sales have never been higher.

While Fox News is number one in the ratings,
the antiwar movement dominates most news coverage.

While America is growing older,
most of what we see in advertising and entertainment
has been created with youth in mind.

While people are dating as never before,
they have never been more interested
in deeper, longer-lasting relationships.

While more people than ever before
are drinking clear, natural water,
more people are also drinking “monster” energy drinks
loaded with chemicals and caffeine.

In fact, the whole idea that there are a few huge trends
which determine how America and the world work
is breaking down.

There are no longer a couple of megaforces sweeping us all along.

Instead, America and the world
are being pulled apart
by an intricate maze of choices,
accumulating in “microtrends”
– small, under-the-radar forces
that can involve as little as 1 percent
of the population,
but which are powerfully shaping our society.

...

Small is the new big.

-

...to read more, please click HERE.

In This Moment

2007-12-29T15:58:00.000-05:00

The Art of Allowing is about paying attention
to the way that you feel in any moment.

This moment is a very important moment
because in this moment,
where all of your feeling is,
is where all of your power is.

In this moment you hold the vibrational leverage
to allow the Well-being that you want and deserve,
or not.

No one else that you have ever known,
whether it is government
or that which you call God,
certainly not your family or peers,
no one has the ability
to pinch off the Well-being
that flows to you.

Only you.

This moment is a very important moment
because in this moment where all of your feeling is,
is where all of your power is.

“In terms of in this moment, am I letting it in
or not?

Am I letting in my abundance
when I’m dissatisfied
with my current financial
state of being?

No.

I’m not letting in more Well-being
when I am feeling unhappy
with the Well-being that exists.

(Abraham-Hicks)

There is no death.

2007-12-29T03:47:00.000-05:00

Self-Reliance

2007-12-27T01:47:00.000-05:00

To be great is to be misunderstood.

-Emerson-

Whatever You Are Observing

2007-12-19T11:19:00.000-05:00

The reason many of you have felt great complication in your physical experience is because you have become such passionate observers, and as you observe, whatever you are observing dictates your vibration. You are, for the most part, vibrational reactionaries. Whatever you are observing is vibrating. You observe it. As you observe it, you include it, and then you vibrate there, and then you say, “That is a very bad thing. That thing has made me feel very bad. That thing should go away. We should have a law. We should do something to separate that from me, because as I observe it, I don’t feel very good.”

And what we are wanting you to realize is, it’s not about needing to deal with all those things. As observers, that’s your conclusion. You say, “Since I haven’t learned to flow Energy, and I have no clue about the Energy I’m flowing, all I’m doing is running around and observing, and when I observe good things, I feel good and good things come to me, but when I observe bad things, I feel bad and bad things come to me. So we need to, as a people, get rid of all bad things. And if we could just get rid of all bad things, then we’d have peace on Earth.” Not passion on Earth. Peace on Earth. We would have sameness. We would have absence of desire. We would have ending of beingness.

If we could eliminate contrast, then we would eliminate choice, and if we could eliminate choice, then we would eliminate asking. If we could eliminate asking, we would eliminate summoning of Source, we would eliminate leading edge thought, and we would eliminate eternity.

It is the contrast that puts the eternalness in eternity. It is the contrast that you think you don’t want, that you really do want. You don’t want to get rid of contrast. You want to learn to feel what you’re giving your attention to, and be more deliberate in your choice of vibration.

Abraham-Hicks

Awake

2007-12-07T11:42:00.000-05:00

"That a woman can change herself,
improve herself,
re-create herself,
control her environment,
and master her own destiny
is the conclusion of every mind
who is wide-awake to the power
of right thought in constructive action."

-Larsen-

Faith & Gratitude

2007-11-15T13:01:00.000-05:00

Man must form a clear and definite mental image
of the things he wishes to have,
to do, or to become;
and he must hold this mental image in his thoughts,
while being deeply grateful to the Supreme
that all his desires are granted to him.

The man who wishes to get rich
must spend his leisure hours
in contemplating his Vision,
and in earnest thanksgiving
that the reality is being given to him.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the importance
of frequent contemplation of the mental image,
coupled with unwavering faith and devout gratitude.

This is the process by which
the impression is given to the Formless,
and the creative forces set in motion.

(...from Chapter 17 of the book,
"The Science of Getting Rich,"
by Wallace D. Wattles)

The Real Secret

2007-10-14T02:23:00.001-04:00

...from Jerry Hicks' intro ... in the latest Abraham-Hicks book,
"The Astonishing Power of Your Emotions." ...

You may find this of interest:

"In 1965, I discovered Napoleon Hill’s classic book,
"Think and Grow Rich,"
(and I utilized it deliberately, and it worked for me gloriously!).

Hill’s principles worked so well for me that,
using "Think and Grow Rich" as a textbook,
and in conjunction with my business,
I began teaching the principles I had been learning to others.

My mission statement was at that time the same as it is today:
It is my intention that the lives of all people I interact with
will either be elevated as a result of our interaction,
or they will be left where they are,
but that no one will be diminished
as a result of their association with me.

After a few years of teaching Hill’s principles of success, I came
to realize that only a handful of those who were studying with me
had achieved the magnitude of success that I was anticipating for
all of them. And although there were many who did experience
significant growth, there were also those who appeared to have no
significant financial growth no matter how many success courses
they attended.

In the first nine pages of Hill’s book, he instructs the readers
to look for the secret. (He mentions “the hidden secret” 24 times.)

Well, I probably read that book over a thousand times between
1965 and 1982, but I was never certain that I ever really knew
what “the secret” actually was.
I sensed that something was missing.
Somehow I sensed that there was another factor
in the financial-success equation . . .
and so I began to search for the missing link.

During my continued search, even though I read through many
books regarding many philosophies, "Think and Grow Rich"
was still as close to what I had been asking for
as I had been able to find,...
but much of what Hill knew he didn’t include in the book
(because it wouldn’t have been accepted by the mass market).
And much of the secret that he did put in the book was edited out!

About three years ago, I discovered an unabridged
"Think and Grow Rich" manuscript.
It had been republished by Melvin Powers’s
Wilshire Book Company;
...
and as I compared it, word for word,
with the version that I had been using for over 40 years,
I was amazed to discover that the “secret”
had actually been skillfully edited out.

It’s no wonder that I was not able to discover Hill’s secret:
It wasn’t there!

I won’t use the space here to go into much further detail,
except to tell you that among many other potent omissions,
the word, "vibration," was edited out of the book 37 times.

(Remember that point—I’ll be referring to it later.)

And so it turned out that many of the “secrets to success” Napoleon Hill had discovered...
he didn’t even try to publish,
and much of the “truth” he did try to publish in his first edition
was edited out.

And now, let’s move forward 70 years
to where Esther and I find ourselves amusingly enlightened
regarding our experience of a publication of a “truth.”

A television producer asked Esther and me to allow her to build
a television show around our work. She brought her film crew
onboard one of our Well-Being Adventure Cruises and filmed the
heart of her production around our workshop there on the ship.

However, because of a series of fortuitous events,
the movie evolved into a DVD format
before its Australian network-television airing,
and as a result, the project became an enormous success.
Millions of people around the world have viewed it.

And although the show was named, "The Secret,"
and its advertised intention was to reveal to the world
the previously hidden “secret to success,”
little did the enthusiastic viewers know that
the real “secret” that they had been seeking had, once again,
been suppressed.

... In other words, before the show was allowed to be aired,
we were informed that The Powers That Be had demanded that,
among other things, Abraham’s use of the key word, "vibration,"
be edited out of the project.

Esther and I were astonished!

Here, seven decades later,
the public is again being “protected”
from the word, vibration!

And so,it turned out that the real secret behind "The Secret"
was that “the secret” was still being kept a secret."

-Jerry Hicks-

What To Do?

2007-10-11T13:15:00.001-04:00

This time,
like all times,
is a very good one
if we know but what
to do with it.

-Emerson-

Living Feedback

2007-09-28T13:50:00.001-04:00

Your experience in the world
of physical matter
flows outward from the center
of your inner psyche.

Then you perceive this experience.

Exterior events, circumstances and conditions
are meant as a kind of living feedback.

-Seth (Jane Roberts)

Eagerness for More

2007-09-25T13:06:00.000-04:00

The perfect creative stance is satisfaction where I am,
and eagerness for more.

Abraham-Hicks

Expect Them to be Brilliant and Helpful

2007-09-15T14:42:00.000-04:00

It is extremely helpful for you
to use the
Segment Intending Process
to evoke the best
from others.

If you expect them to be brilliant and helpful,
you will attract that from them.

If you have spent some time
bringing your thoughts to a powerful place
before your physical meeting,
you will have a much more satisfying
co-creation
for yourself, and for them.

Abraham-Hicks

Time to Pivot

2007-09-15T14:31:00.002-04:00

When you are feeling negative emotion,
you are in a very good position to identify what you want.

Because never are you more clear about what you do want…
than when you are experiencing what you do not want.

And so, if you will stop in that moment and say,

"Something is important here,
otherwise I would not be feeling this negative emotion;
I need to focus on what I want."
And, then turn your attention to what it is that you want.

In the moment of the turning of your intention,
the negative emotion and the negative attraction will stop.

And in the moment the negative attraction stops,
the positive attraction will begin.

And your feelings will change from not feeling good to feeling good.

That is the process of Pivoting.

A very simple process of Pivoting would be to say,
"I want to feel good."

Anytime you are feeling bad, stop and say,
"What I want is to feel good."

And if you will offer that,
then thoughts will begin to come to you
on the positive side of the equation.

And as one thought attracts another,
attracts another, and attracts another,
...
you will very soon be vibrating at the frequency
that is in harmony with your greater knowing.

And then you will really be rolling in terms of positive creation.

Do not try to save the world; save yourself.
That means that you need to focus on what makes you feel good.

The process of Pivoting is the tool
that will bring you to what you want.

It is the process whereby you consciously decide:
"Yes, I want to look for what I want,
and I will no longer look in the direction of the lack of it."

Pivoting is the continual, hour-after-hour,
segment-by-segment process
whereby you choose the positive.

It is the way you get to feeling good.

And, it is a way that you can get whatever you want.

...excerpted from the book, "Ask and It Is Given." (Process #16...Pivoting)

A Happy Sexual Expression

2007-09-06T02:09:00.000-04:00

Impersonal v. Personal Universe

2007-09-02T13:15:00.000-04:00

You, Too.

2007-09-01T14:27:00.000-04:00

Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions.
Small people always do that.

The
really
great
make you feel that
you, too, can become great.

-Mark Twain-

Sleeping Planet

2007-08-26T15:46:00.001-04:00

“Once you make a decision,
the universe conspires
to make it happen.”

-Emerson-

What's Going On?

2007-08-18T17:42:00.000-04:00

Healing Within to Heal "Without"

2007-08-17T13:12:00.000-04:00

by Joe Vitale

Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete ward of criminally insane patients--without ever seeing any of them. The psychologist would study an inmate's chart and then look within himself to see how he created that person's illness. As he improved himself, the patient improved.

When I first heard this story, I thought it was an urban legend. How could anyone heal anyone else by healing himself? How could even the best self-improvement master cure the criminally insane? It didn't make any sense. It wasn't logical, so I dismissed the story.

However, I heard it again a year later. I heard that the therapist had used a Hawaiian healing process called ho'oponopono. I had never heard of it, yet I couldn't let it leave my mind. If the story was at all true, I had to know more. I had always understood "total responsibility" to mean that I am responsible for what I think and do. Beyond that, it's out of my hands. I think that most people think of total responsibility that way. We're responsible for what we do, not what anyone else does--but that's wrong.

The Hawaiian therapist who healed those mentally ill people would teach me an advanced new perspective about total responsibility. His name is Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len. We probably spent an hour talking on our first phone call. I asked him to tell me the complete story of his work as a therapist.

He explained that he worked at Hawaii State Hospital for four years. That ward where they kept the criminally insane was dangerous. Psychologists quit on a monthly basis. The staff called in sick a lot or simply quit. People would walk through that ward with their backs against the wall, afraid of being attacked by patients. It was not a pleasant place to live, work, or visit.

Dr. Len told me that he never saw patients. He agreed to have an office and to review their files. While he looked at those files, he would work on himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to heal. "'After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being allowed to walk freely,' he told me. 'Others who had to be heavily medicated were getting off their medications. And those who had no chance of ever being released were being freed.' I was in awe. 'Not only that,' he went on, 'but the staff began to enjoy coming to work.Absenteeism and turnover disappeared. We ended up with more staff than we needed because patients were being released, and all the staff was showing up to work. Today, that ward is closed.'

This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: 'What were you doing within yourself that caused those people to change?'

'I was simply healing the part of me that created them,' he said. I didn't understand. Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your life means that everything in your life - simply because it is in your life -- is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your creation.

Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or do is one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says or does is quite another.

Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is in your life. This means that terrorist activity, the president, the economy or anything you experience and don't like--is up for you to heal. They don't exist, in a manner of speaking, except as projections from inside you.

The problem isn't with them, it's with you, and to change them, you have to change you. "I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live. Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr. Len, I began to realize that healing for him and in ho 'oponopono means loving yourself.

If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you want to cure anyone, even a mentally ill criminal you do it by healing you. I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he doing, exactly, when he looked at those patients' files?

'"I just kept saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you' over and over again," he explained. "That's it?" That's it.

Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world. Let me give you a quick example of how this works: one day, someone sent me an email that upset me. In the past I would have handled it by working on my emotional hot buttons or by trying to reason with the person who sent the nasty message.

This time, I decided to try Dr. Len's method. I kept silently saying, 'I'm sorry' and 'I love you,' I didn't say it to anyone in particular. I was simply evoking the spirit of love to heal within me what was creating the outer circumstance. Within an hour I got an e-mail from the same person. He apologized for his previous message. Keep in mind that I didn't take any outward action to get that apology. I didn't even write him back. Yet, by saying 'I love you,' I somehow healed within me what was creating him.

I later attended a ho 'oponopono workshop run by Dr. Len. He's now 70 years old, considered a grandfatherly shaman, and is somewhat reclusive. He praised my book, The Attractor Factor. He told me that as I improve myself, my book's vibration will raise, and everyone will feel it when they read it. In short, as I improve, my readers will improve. "What about the books that are already sold and out there?" I asked. "'They aren't out there," he explained, once again blowing my mind with his mystic wisdom. "They are still in you".

In short, there is no out there. It would take a whole book to explain this advanced technique with the depth it deserves. Suffice It to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your life, there's only one place to look: inside you. When you look, do it with love.

“Forgiveness is the fragrance left by the violet on the heel that crushed it.” ... Mark Twain

Rapidly They Will Come

2007-08-12T02:41:00.000-04:00

The more gratefully we fix our minds
on the supreme
when good things come to us,...
the more good things we will receive,
and the more rapidly they will come.

And the reason simply is that
the mental attitude of gratitude
draws the mind into closer touch
with the source
from which the blessings come.

Wallace D. Wattles

Benefiting From The Contrast

2007-08-10T22:02:00.001-04:00

There is one constant steady Stream of pure positive Energy flowing to you at all times, and in any moment, you, as an individual, are allowing or resisting that Stream.

When you’re allowing the Stream, you feel wonderful, you feel clarity, you feel vitality, you feel health, you feel abundance.
You feel good.

But if you are not allowing the Stream, you don’t feel so good.
That’s what blame or doubt or fear is about.

These three things are always true of resistance: Resistance is the only thing that keeps you from your natural Well-being.
Negative emotion is always present as your indicator of resistance.
And resistance always, always, always means you are pushing against something.

Resistance, is using the contrast to decide
what you don’t want.

Allowing, is using the contrast to decide
what you do want.

You came forth into this sea of diversity, this sea of contrast, but you did not intend to make that contrast resistance.
Contrast is seeing all the stuff to choose from—sort of like a breakfast buffet—and choosing from it what you want.
That’s saying, “Ah, I don’t like that. Don’t like that. Ooh, I like this.
This is better. Ah, this is what I am wanting.”
That is benefiting from contrast.

Resistance, is saying, “Oh, I see all of this stuff.
I’d like to have that. But I don’t want that.
I don’t want that. I don’t want that.”

Most physical beings are oriented to push against what they don’t want because somehow you got some idea that that stuff has the ability to assert itself into your experience.
And so, most of you believe that if you don’t get real strong and real capable of holding bad things away, that they’ll slip in and get you.
So you’ve gotten very, very good at developing a resistant stance,
believing—wrongly—that,
in your resistance, you will keep it away,
never dreaming that, in your resistance,
the only thing you manage to hold away
is your own Stream of Well-being.

Imagine that your Source Energy, your Inner Being, your God Force,
your God Self, your Soul
—whatever you want to call that Non-physical part of you—
is projecting to you at all times a strong, clear,
beautiful musical note,
and you can hear it in the background all the time.

When you give your attention to something, whether you are looking right at it, whether you’re remembering it, whether you’re imagining it, whether you’re Scripting it—whatever you are giving your attention to causes you also to offer a note.

So if you are basking or finding value in something—appreciating something—in that case, the note that you are offering is in such vibrational harmony with your Inner Note that you can feel the resonance between the two notes.

That’s what joy is. That’s what appreciation is. That’s what love is.
It’s your resonating with who you really are.
But let’s say, instead, that you are finding fault—seeing lack,
seeing something you don’t want,
trying to hold it away, pushing against something.
In that case, your note would be so out of harmony
with your Inner Note,
you would feel the discord of that.
That’s what negative emotion is.

Abraham-Hicks

Magnificent You

2007-08-08T15:09:00.001-04:00

Let Your Freak Flag Fly

2007-07-23T11:33:00.000-04:00

Question: "Do I have a responsibility to make the whole world beat to my drum?"

Abraham: No, nor could you. You beat your drum,
and the Universe will respond
to the drum that you are beating…

There are as many different worlds being lived
by as many different perceivers of the world
as there are.

Abraham-Hicks

13 Keys to Riches

2007-07-21T13:01:00.000-04:00

A Visionary Thrives In All Times

2007-07-14T02:18:00.000-04:00

We’re wanting to give you some formulas and processes to assist you in your deliberate creating. We notice that you are utilizing the contrast of your time and place well, because very often from the dramatic—sometimes very dramatic, sometimes less dramatic—contrasting experiences, you are coming to quicker awarenesses of what it is you are wanting.

We feel that eruption of desire—(a good word, “decision") coming forth within you. But then, often, even though the decision has come forth and the decision is loud and clear and you could speak it in words that anyone would understand, very often you are not vibrating anywhere near your own decision.

Now, the formula for Deliberate Creation, in very simple terms, says, “I will identify that which I am wanting,” which means make a decision, “and then I will achieve vibrational harmony with my own decision.” Now, what we mean by that is that in every moment that you are awake or conscious, you are literally radiating a signal, not so different from a radio signal, and the Universe accepts that signal as your point of attraction. Every moment that you are conscious or awake, you are literally pulsing an electronic vibration, and the entire Universe is accepting that electronic vibration as your point of attraction and is matching it with other things that are like it. What we’ve noticed is that, often, even though you are saying, “I want more money,” your signal is not in vibrational harmony with that. So your words are empty and hollow while your signal is actually often in direct opposition to the very thing you are saying you are wanting.

Every moment
you are pulsing
a vibration,
and the entire Universe
is accepting that
as your point of attraction
and is matching it.

Over the next few days, we would like you to hold in your mind a phrase, “Vibrational Match.” It’s an easier way of talking about Law of Attraction. In other words, that which is like unto itself is drawn.” So when I vibrationally match the vibration of my own desire, then there is no contradiction. There is no resistance. The Energy is pure. And when that happens, the Universe must deliver to me that which is in vibrational harmony with my desire, my decision and my point of attraction.

Most people don’t make it through a whole sentence without contradicting their desire. They will say, “Abraham, I want more money. I am so tired of the struggle.” For example, when you say, “I want a new red car,” the Universe responds to the vibration of your desire. But then when you say, “But it is too expensive,” the Universe responds to that vibration too. So now you have the Universe responding to two contradictory vibrations, so nothing changes for you.

The other phrase that we want you to hold in your mind for a few days is the phrase “purify my vibration.” And what we mean by that is simply getting your vibration all going in one direction. Once you’ve identified what you want, then your work is to offer a vibration that matches that—and you can tell by the way you feel whether you are matching that vibration or whether you are not. When you say, “I want a new red car because mine is a junker and won’t run,” can you feel the contradiction in the vibrations? What you are focused upon is not in vibrational harmony with that which you want. Or you say, “Oh, it is too expensive.” Or, “Oh, I don’t know what I’m going to do.” Or, “Oh, I am so unhappy...” In other words, even though you are using the word “want,” your vibration is not in harmony with want. Your vibration is in harmony with lack, with need, with not having what you want. As you do that, you sometimes, if you are paying attention to the way you feel, can feel the disharmony in the vibration. So then, you can soften that by saying things such as “Well, I don’t know how it’s going to come but I believe it will.” That’s a little bit better match. Or, “I see a lot of people with beautiful new cars and many of them are in the same situation that I am and so I know there must be a way.” That’s a better match. You can tell by the way you feel, what you’re doing with your vibrational alignment.

Once you’ve identified
what you want,
then your work is to offer
a vibration
that matches that --
and you can tell
by the way you feel
whether you are matching that vibration or not.

It is our wanting to assist you in recognizing where it is that you are vibrating, because in every moment, everything that is coming to you is coming in response to your vibrational output—every single thing.

The reason that most people do not do a very consistent job of matching the vibration of their own desire is because most people are such dogged observers. We have a very strong statement that we want to make here—two or three of them, in fact—just to get you sort of oriented in the direction of wanting to match your vibration. The most important thing that we will say to you is that no one, nothing, can deny you your desire. Only you can deny your own desire through contradictory vibration. In other words, no one has ever kept you from anything. Nobody’s keeping you from being rich and famous. Nobody’s keeping you from being well. No one but you. And the reason that you do it is because you observe things that cause you to offer a vibrational outpouring that doesn’t match the vibration of your own desire.

One who is predominantly an observer, which includes most humans, thrives in good times but suffers in bad times, because what you observe is reflected in your vibration. The Universe accepts that vibration as your point of attraction and then matches it with other things like it, and then you have more to observe which causes you to offer more of a vibrational offering which the Universe accepts as your point of attraction and gives you more like it. So the good gets gooder and the bad gets badder. But when you have learned to visualize...a visionary thrives in all times—because a visionary is one who learns to flow Energy because of decision, not because of what is.

-Abraham-Hicks-

When You Look At What Is Working

2007-07-09T14:13:00.001-04:00

When you look at what is working,
...
you generate a vibration within you
that says my life works.

And then, in everything that you approach
— your life works.

You could have
ninety-nine things
not working in your life
and only one thing working,
and if you would focus upon
the one thing that is
going right,
for a disproportionate amount of time,
saying “my life works;
my life works;
my life works...”
...
the other 99 things would fall in line
with what is working.

So when we say to count your blessings
or look at the positive aspects,
that’s just about deliberately activating
what is working in your life.
...
Because when you do that,
you get more and more, and more of that.

That’s how the better it gets, the better it gets
— the better it gets.

That’s when it’s easy to accept that Well-Being
is the order of this Universe.

-Abraham-Hicks-

The Universe Knows the Bigger Picture

2007-06-25T01:43:00.001-04:00

Your desires are eternally yours,
and they will come to you at the very best time.

You can influence the very best time
by saying things like,
"The Universe knows the bigger picture."

"I'm going to let it deal with the timing of this.
Meanwhile, I'll just do everything I can
to keep moving happily along."

Abraham-Hicks

Lack Doesn't Exist

2007-06-25T01:39:00.001-04:00

Physical humans are the only ones
in all of the Universe
that believe in lack.

Lack doesn’t exist.

But physical beings
have managed to vibrate
in a way where
they hold themselves apart
from things they want.

So they conclude
there is this thing called lack.

And we say,
“It doesn’t really exist
in any other reality."

And so,
there’s a little bit of that
within this question.

“What is it
that’s not going to be there
for me later
that I’ve got to do
a lot of here while I can?”

There is nothing
in the Non-physical Universe
that is lacking anything
that you would desire.

Nothing.

Anything that you ever want
is there for you,
and we have a bulletin for you, friends,
...
it’s the same here
in your physical setting.

You need never be without
anything you want.

You want more clarity?
Align with the idea of it.

You want more wellness?
Align with the idea of it.

You want more money?
Align with the idea of it.

You must find the feeling place
of what you want
and offer a vibration about it,
and then it must come.

By Law, it must come to you.

Abraham-Hicks

The Road Not Taken

2007-06-24T00:58:00.000-04:00

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

(Robert Frost)

Eye to Eye: "The Secret"

2007-06-14T02:36:00.000-04:00

Pleasing You Is Not Their Job

2007-06-09T14:34:00.000-04:00

As individuals, you have to accept responsibility for everything that's interacting with you.

Because it would not be interacting with you if you did not have an active vibration about it.

This is really, really important.

This means I cannot blame how I feel on my mate.

I cannot blame how I feel
on my children,
or on my mother,
or on my government,
or on my society,
or on my client,
or on the other drivers around me.

You say, "Oh, but it wasn't my fault because I didn't offer the vibration until they did that action, and after they did that action, then I offered the vibration."

In other words, the experience that I'm having is my job.

It's all my creation.

It's all my responsibility.

And we say, still,
you are the only one
that can change
your vibration.

Abraham-Hicks

Yes Yes (a poem)

2007-06-09T14:17:00.000-04:00

Their Opinion Matters Not At All

2007-05-21T01:03:00.000-04:00

Because others cannot vibrate in your experience,
they cannot affect the outcome of your experience.

They can hold their opinions,
but unless their opinion affects your opinion,
their opinion matters
not at all.

A million people could be pushing against you,
and it would not negatively affect you
unless you push back.

They are
affecting
what happens
in their
experience.

They are affecting their point of attraction,
...but it does not affect you
unless you push against them.

-Abraham-Hicks-

Have you had
your hugs anD rugs
today?

Esther Hicks of Abraham - Secret Deleted scenes

2007-05-13T21:23:00.001-04:00

Only Good Can Come

2007-05-13T19:55:00.000-04:00

Be easy about it.

Don't rush into things.

Savor them more.

Make more plans and...
be more deliberate and specific
about the plans you are making,
...
and in all you do,
let your dominant intent be
to find that which pleasures you
as you imagine it.

Let your desire for pleasure
and your desire for feeling good,
be your only guiding light.

As you seek those thoughts that feel good,
you will always be in vibrational harmony
with the Energy that is your Source.

And under those conditions,
...only good can come to you,
...
and only good can come from you.

-Abraham-Hicks-

2007-04-17T23:31:00.000-04:00

Imagination
is
everything.
...
It is the preview of life's coming attractions.

-Albert Einstein-

The Secret: 1st 20 minutes

2007-04-12T13:31:00.001-04:00

"New Physics" Quote of the Day

2007-04-11T13:30:00.000-04:00

If you change the way
you look at things,
...
the things you look at change.

-Wayne W. Dyer-

What is Projection?

2007-04-09T13:26:00.000-04:00

When we look
at someone else
and observe their actions
and believe that we know
their motivations
and how they feel,
...
we are projecting.

We are assuming that we know
all there is to know
about the situation
that the other person is in.

We are assuming that
whatever history of experience
they have personally had
leading up to the present,
it is either insignificant,
or, the same as our own.

We are assuming that
their action speaks for itself
as if every action
which a person takes
has a specific meaning
which never changes
no matter where that action
is taken, with whom it is taken,
or, under the circumstances
it is taken.

We are assuming that the feelings,
or lack of feeling,
expressed by the other person
particularly relates
to the values we associate
with that feeling.

We believe that
we know the other person
as if they were ourselves.

We award them the honour
of our experience, traumas,
ability to perceive
and to express
--- or lack thereof,
and our obsessions
and compulsions.

We assume that
they operate under
the same expectations,
needs, and assumptions
that we do.

That is a lot
of assumptions!

(more interesting stuff below)

Benefits of Self-Projection.

Dangers of Self-Projection.

Destructive Self-Projectors.

Constructive Self-Projectors.

Metaphor of the "Titanic".

Coping with Projection Perceptions.

Dave Chappelle: "The worst thing to call somebody is 'crazy.' ... It's dismissive."

2007-04-08T02:40:00.001-04:00

"I don't understand this person, so 'they're crazy.'
That's bullshit."

Expanding Universe News

2007-04-04T15:26:00.000-04:00

Mankind Has Never Been Healthier, Wealthier or Freer.

Surprised?

Wednesday, 04 April 2007

Environmentalists
and globalization foes
are united in their fear
that greater population
and consumption of energy,
materials, and chemicals
accompanying economic growth,
technological change
and free trade
—the mainstays of globalization—
degrade human
and environmental well-being.

Indeed, the 20th century
saw the United States’ population
multiply by four, income by seven,
carbon dioxide emissions by nine,
use of materials by 27,
and use of chemicals
by more than 100.

Yet, overall,
the world has never been
healthier, wealthier or freer.

Life expectancy increased
from 47 years to 77 years.

Onset of major disease
such as cancer, heart,
and respiratory disease
has been postponed
between eight and eleven years
in the past century.

Heart disease and cancer rates
have been in rapid decline
over the last two decades,
and total cancer deaths
have actually declined
the last two years,
despite increases
in population.

Among the very young,
infant mortality
has declined from 100 deaths
per 1,000 births
in 1913
to just seven
per 1,000 today.

These improvements
haven’t been restricted
to the United States.
It’s a global phenomenon.

Worldwide, life expectancy
has more than doubled,
from 31 years in 1900
to 67 years today.

India’s and China’s
infant mortalities
exceeded 190 per 1,000 births
in the early 1950s;
today they are 62 and 26,
respectively.

In the developing world,
the proportion of the population
suffering from chronic hunger
declined from 37 percent to 17 percent
between 1970 and 2001
despite a 83 percent increase
in population.

Globally average annual incomes
in real dollars have tripled since 1950.

Consequently, the proportion of
the planet's developing-world
population
living in absolute poverty
has halved since 1981,
from 40 percent to 20 percent.

Child labor
in low income countries
declined from 30 percent
to 18 percent
between 1960 and 2003.

Equally important,
the world is more literate
and better educated than ever.

People are freer politically,
economically, and socially
to pursue their well-being
as they see fit.

More people choose their own rulers,
and have freedom of expression.

They are more likely to live
under rule of law,
and less likely to be
arbitrarily deprived of life,
limb, and property.

Social and professional mobility
have also never been greater.
It’s easier than ever
for people across the world
to transcend the bonds of caste,
place, gender,
and other accidents of birth.

People today work fewer hours
and have more money
and better health
to enjoy their leisure time
than their ancestors.

Man’s
environmental
record
is more
complex.

The early stages of development
can indeed cause some
environmental deterioration
as societies pursue
first-order problems
affecting human well-being.

These include hunger, malnutrition,
illiteracy, lack of education,
basic public health services,
safe water, sanitation, mobility,
and ready sources of energy.

Because greater wealth
alleviates these problems
while providing basic creature comforts,
individuals and societies initially focus
on economic development,
often neglecting other aspects
of environmental quality.

In time, however, they recognize
that environmental deterioration
reduces their quality of life.

Accordingly, they put more of their
recently acquired wealth
and human capital
into developing and implementing
cleaner technologies.

This brings about
an environmental transition
via the twin forces
of economic development
and technological progress,
which begin to provide solutions
to environmental problems
instead of creating those problems.

The Point of Transition from "Industrial Period" to "Environmental Conscious"
Continues to Fall.

All of which is why we today find
that the richest countries
are also the cleanest.

And while many developing countries
have yet to get past the “green ceiling,”
they are nevertheless ahead of where
today’s developed countries used to be
when they were equally wealthy.

For example, the US introduced
unleaded gasoline
only after its GDP per capita
exceeded $16,000.

India and China did the same
before they reached $3,000 per capita.

This progress is a testament
to the power of globalization
and the transfer of ideas
and knowledge
(that lead is harmful, for example).

It's also testament
to the importance of trade
in transferring technology
from developed to developing countries
—in this case, the technology
needed to remove lead from gasoline.

This hints at the answer
to the question of why
some parts of the world
have been left behind
while the rest of the world
has thrived.

Why have improvements in well-being
stalled in areas
such as Sub-Saharan Africa
and the Arab world?

The proximate cause
of improvements in well-being
is a “cycle of progress”
composed of the
mutually reinforcing forces
of economic development
and technological progress.

But, that cycle itself is propelled
by a web of essential institutions,
particularly property rights,
free markets,
and rule of law.

Other important institutions would include science-
and technology-based problem-solving
founded on skepticism and experimentation;
receptiveness to new technologies and ideas;
and freer trade in goods, services—most importantly
in knowledge and ideas.

In short, free and open societies prosper.

Isolation, intolerance, and hostility
to the free exchange of knowledge,
technology, people, and goods
...breed stagnation or regression.

Ensure
Continued Progress
by Appreciating
What's Already
Achieved.

Despite all of this progress and good news, then,
there is still much unfinished business.

Millions of people die from hunger, malnutrition,
and preventable disease such as malaria,
tuberculosis, and diarrhea.

Over a billion people still live
in absolute poverty,
defined as less than a dollar per day.

A third of the world’s eligible population
is still not enrolled in secondary school.

Barriers to globalization, economic development,
and technological change
—such as the use of DDT to eradicate malaria,
genetic engineering, and biotechnology
—are a big source of the problem.

Moreover, the global population will grow
50 percent to 100 percent this century,
and per capita consumption of energy and materials
will likely increase with wealth.
Merely preserving the status quo is not enough.

We need to protect the important
sustaining institutions
responsible for all of this progress
in the developed world,
and we need to foster
and nurture them in countries
that are still developing.

Man’s remarkable progress
over the last 100 years
is unprecedented
in human history.

It’s also one
of the more neglected
big-picture stories.

Ensuring that our
incredible progress continues
will require
not only recognizing
and appreciating
the progress itself,
but also recognizing
and preserving
the important ideas
and institutions
that caused it,
and ensuring
that they endure.

Indur M. Goklany is the author of The Improving State of the World: Why We're Living Longer, Healthier,
More Comfortable Lives on a Cleaner Planet, published by the Cato Institute, Washington, DC, 2007

Daily Treasures

2007-04-03T20:17:00.000-04:00

You are the owner
of all that you perceive.

But, you can't perceive apart
from your vibration.

Feel your way,
little-by-little,
into a greater sense
of abundance
by looking for
the treasures
that the Universe
is offering you
on a day-to-day basis.

Abraham-Hicks

... "Reality" ...

2007-03-24T18:39:00.000-04:00

You have sole ownership
of your vision.

And the Universe will give you
what you want
within your vision.

What happens with most people
is that they muddy their vision
with "reality".

Their vision becomes full of
not only what they want
but what everybody else thinks
about what they want, too.

Your work is to clarify
and purify your vision
so that the vibration
that you are offering
can then be answered.

Abraham-Hicks

Esther Hicks of Abraham - Law of Deliberate Creation

2007-03-21T19:39:00.001-04:00

You Have the Ability

2007-03-19T00:59:00.000-04:00

You have the ability to control
the power of your thoughts.

You have the ability to control
the power of your mind.

You have the ability
to make a vibration dominant
that matches your desire.
...
You do.

And that's all it takes.

And that's all
any successful person
ever has done.

It's all anyone
who has ever achieved
anything that they wanted
has ever done.

They just wanted it,
and talked themselves
into believing it.

Abraham-Hicks

Consciousness Enjoys Physical Form

2007-03-16T12:52:00.000-04:00

Consciousness does not need physical form.

But physical form needs Consciousness.

And Consciousness
enjoys physical form,
because physical form
is the leading edge of thought.

So, Consciousness expands
through the physical form.

It's not one or the other.

Abraham-Hicks

Shaolin Kung Fu's ... little idea

2007-03-12T12:30:00.001-04:00

-
Wing Chun's
1st Form: Siu Lim Tao
-
Wing Chun's Chi Sao:
sticky hands
-

The More Joyful You Are

2007-03-03T01:24:00.001-05:00

The Universe
is not punishing you
or blessing you.

The Universe is responding
to the vibrational attitude
that you are emitting.

The more joyful you are,
the more Well-being
flows to you.
...
And, you get to choose
the details of how it flows.

Abraham-Hicks

Segment Intending

2007-02-20T23:46:00.000-05:00

Take a moment
to clarify
what your
dominant
intentions
are,
...
what you most want
to receive, or give.

Click
HERE
to practice an exercise on
Deliberate
Creative Control

A Clarified, ... Purified Vision

2007-02-17T15:44:00.000-05:00

You have sole ownership of your vision.

And the Universe will give you
what you want
within your vision.

What happens with most people is that
they muddy their vision with "reality".

Their vision becomes full of not only what they want
but what everybody else thinks about what they want, too.

Your work is to clarify
and purify your vision
so that the vibration
that you are offering
can then be answered.

Abraham-Hicks

Up the Academy

2007-02-15T11:19:00.000-05:00

Let us give you a definition of education as it is offered through the structure that exists today.

The system would proclaim itself to be the holder to the answers to all questions, and there is limitation right there.
The system would say to you, if it could verbalize as a mass consciousness entity into one voice, “I exist. I am complete.
Observe me, and you will be too.”

And that cannot be, for nothing is ever complete.

“I am closed to new ideas. I am rigid in thought.
You must conform to me.
If you are to succeed in this system, you must follow the rules.
Deny your own intuition. Learn what is written.
Care not about the reason behind it. Learn the statistics.
Don’t get a sense of the feeling of how it came about.
Learn what happened. Doesn’t matter how it came to be."
...
"And when you are finished, I will give you a diploma
that says you are now a walking storage cabinet with no ability to think,
no ability to go beyond,
but stuffed full of fact about something somebody else did.”

Now what you came forth to live is a little bit different from that.
You said, “I will go into this sea of contrast,
and from the contrast will arise within me true desire,
which is the beginning of all real Creation,
...
and when I feel an inkling of desire,
I will follow it and I will let the Universe assist me
in expanding it until the inkling of desire
has erupted into full-blown passion...
—and then I will follow my bliss to success wherever it carries me.”

It’s quite different you see.

-Abraham-Hicks-

A Civil Union

2007-02-12T23:32:00.000-05:00

It seems like you really want different things,
...
or are even choosing different paths.

But when you both
tend to your own
Emotional Journey,
...
the Universe will cleverly give you both exactly
what you want…

When you tend
to the
Emotional Journey,
...
this Universe
has the resources
and the cleverness
to orchestrate for each of you
what you exactly want
even when you think they are opposites,
one from another.

It's great fun to watch.

Abraham-Hicks

Believing is Seeing

2007-02-07T16:11:00.000-05:00

If something you want
is slow to come to you,
it can be for only one reason:

...

You are spending more time
focused upon its absence
than you are about its presence.

Abraham-Hicks

There is No Competition

2007-02-03T13:23:00.000-05:00

Humans think that there is competition.

They think that you are in competition
for the good stuff.

“So, if somebody over there wants
what’s best for it,
...
then it might get it,
...
and it might deprive you
of what’s best for you.”

But that’s not the way
this Universe works.

This is an expanding Universe
that expands proportionate
to the desire that is conjured
within all Consciousness.

When you understand that
there is no competition;
nobody can get your good stuff,
only you can allow it or disallow it,
...
then you begin to understand that
that’s how the Universe expands.

You don’t need to worry
about what
anybody else
is doing;
they’re not getting
your stuff.

Abraham-Hicks

You Get What You Think About

2007-02-01T00:11:00.000-05:00

The more
you come to
understand
the power
of the
Law of
Attraction
the more interest
you will have
in deliberately directing your thoughts,
...
—for you get what you think about,
whether you want it, or not.

Without exception, that which you give thought to is that which you begin to invite into your experience.

Abraham-Hicks

It Does Not Matter Where You Are

2007-01-29T18:41:00.001-05:00

You’re always
on your way
somewhere.

The key is:
...
Find a way to be happy
wherever you now are
on your way to where
you really want to be.

(We’re speaking of
the state of being
you want.)

It does not
matter
where
you are.
...
Where
you are
is shifting
constantly.
...
But, you must turn your attention
to where you want to go.

And, that’s the difference
between making
the best
of something
...
and making
the worst
of something.

Abraham-Hicks

The Choice You Make

2007-01-27T11:55:00.000-05:00

Right now you have a choice.

You can focus on all
that is already wonderful
in your life
...
or you can focus on all
that isn't working.

The choice you make
will determine
what you attract.

Your Habit of Visualization

2007-01-27T00:45:00.000-05:00

If you're wondering what you are vibrating,
observe your life. It's a perfect match.
What you are living is what you are vibrating,
without exception.

So, if you've got something that you don't want,
you must identify what it is within your vibration
that is giving it to you.

...

And, the thing that we most want you to hear
is that what that is, every time, or nearly so,
is that your power of observation is simply stronger
than your power of visualization.

Or, better stated, your habit of observation
is more present than your habit of visualization.

The Law of Attraction is powerful, friends,
and whatever you are vibrating,
the Universe will match.

Abraham-Hicks

2007-01-25T23:25:00.000-05:00

Worrying is ... using your imagination
to create something you don't want.

Abraham-Hicks

A Word From Sober

2007-01-24T11:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, well, ... now I gotta wonder whether or not Abraham, as channelled through Esther Hicks, has not been somehow influenced by an unnamed spiritual women's lobbying group.

What originally seemed to be the message of not taking action until feeling inspired, now appears to be the message of not living your life on pause.

As in, meditate/etc...briefly, but then get busy doing stuff.
As in, "Honey, all you do is lay around doing nothing."

And now it's actually, "Honey, all you do is lay around doing nothing,
...and you heard what Abe said, You weren't put here
to live your life on pause."

To men everywhere just trying to have down time
and chill out,
...
"Have we been betrayed?"

Sincerely,

Sober

(Note: This is my tongue-in-cheek reflection on having listened to an Abraham-Hicks workshop on CD, dating from May 30th, 2006, and then experienced some of its aftermath. So mote it be.)

Your Perception of Freedom

2007-01-22T16:53:00.000-05:00

Every emotion, from despair
all of the way up to ecstasy;
...

...
from complete Connection
to who-you-really-are,
all the way to pinching yourself off
pretty severely,
...

...
all of those emotions
are about your perception of freedom,
...
or your perception of bondage
...
—every one of them.

Abraham-Hicks

Your Truth

2007-01-20T19:05:00.000-05:00

THE truth does not exist
as an objective reality.

Perspective creates perception,
and perception creates experience.
...
The experience that
perception creates for you
is what you call "truth."

Your truth is what
you actually experience.
...
...
Everything else is what
someone else has experienced
...and has told you about.

This has nothing
to do with you.

...from the book, "Home With God" by Neale Donald Walsch

Back to the Future ??

2007-01-18T20:14:00.000-05:00

People!
...
and their
"I Love You"
video from 1967

(click link above)

They chose the name "People!" in order to stand in direct contrast to bands such as The Beatles, The Animals, The Monkees, The Turtles, and The Byrds. They were regarded as a popular band and played a variety of styles, including country rock, psychedelic rock, impressionistic avante garde, classical music, bluegrass, and a rock opera, which they had written. Some of their music has been compared to that of Iron Butterfly and Vanilla Fudge, though the comparison's are slight, almost to the point of non–existence. That was part of the problem. People! didn't sound like any other band and their music was too far ahead of its time, so they didn't fit into any niche and therefore "couldn't find the market". "Although they were never widely known, they made their mark in several areas. In 1967 they recorded one of the first MTV style rock videos and which debuted on the Dick Clark show, "American Bandstand".

In 1966 People! was first signed to Capitol Records, releasing their first single Organ Grinder/Riding High in 1967
and their first album, I Love You, in 1968.

Both the album and the single, I Love You (written by Chris White and originally released by The Zombies in 1965), appeared on the charts, the single making the US Top 10. Commercially, the album did fairly well. The hit-single "I Love You" sold over one million copies, and managed to reach #1 status in some countries, such as Japan, Israel, Australia, Italy, and South Africa. In the USA, the single was on Billboard Magazine's top-twenty list for ten weeks, peaking at #7 on 17 June 1968. It had sold more than enough copies to have reached number #1 but...
(more)

And 40 years later, ...
you could CLICK HERE
and hear Sarah Silverman's updated song,
... called "I Love You More."

Kansas, I don't think we're in Toto, anymore.

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

2007-01-17T21:03:00.000-05:00

Get so fixated on what you want,
that you drown out any vibration or reverberation
that has anything to do with what you do not want.

Abraham-Hicks

Enough Said

2007-01-16T23:22:00.000-05:00

It should only be talked about
if the talking will
make you feel better.

It is of no value, ever,
to activate and talk
about something
that doesn’t feel good,
because it reactivates it
in your vibration.

Abraham-Hicks

The Life Force Coming Through Us

2007-01-13T14:40:00.000-05:00

The reason for desires, goals...
for finding those decisions
or points of focus,
is because they are
the life-giving things
of the Universe.

Without objects of attention,
or objects of desire,
Life Force
does not come
through any of us.

Abraham-Hicks

Uncontrollable Urge

2007-01-12T01:36:00.000-05:00

Sex is one of those impulses
that comes forth from within
that cannot be denied.

You can squelch it
and contour it
and regulate it,
but it's an impulse
that continues
to come forth,
sometimes more than others,
but it continues to come forth.

Abraham-Hicks

Connected to Intention

2007-01-09T16:42:00.000-05:00

Wayne Dyer's "The Power of Intention" on YouTube
(part one)
...
Wayne Dyer's "The Power of Intention" on YouTube
(part two)

Thank you for finding the links, Alice.

Picky Thinking

2007-01-07T22:48:00.000-05:00

You're picky about the car you drive.

You're picky about what you wear.

You're picky about what you put in your mouth.

We want you to be pickier about what you think.

Abraham-Hicks