Have You Caught a Mind Virus?

 

 

I understand what I am about to say may sound crazy to you, but allow me to suggest the possibility that you have been totally brainwashed and you have unknowingly become your own worst enemy.

 

In fact, this is exactly what is happening to millions of people. And most likely, you are one of them.

 

What I am talking about is the SUBLIMINAL and SUBCONSCIOUS programming you are getting – programming that is imprinted on your subconscious without your knowledge.

 

I am not saying there is an organized conspiracy to program your mind. The people that are spreading these negative messages don’t even know they are doing it!

 

The problem is as you are exposed to these mind viruses, you are likely to be infected. Just as exposure to raw sewage can cause you to be infected with germs, microbes and other nasty things, prolonged exposure to the media will infect your mind with many nasty viruses. Society spends billions of dollars to protect us from biological and computer viruses. Yet a mind virus can be the most dangerous of all.

 

One of the best things you can do to prevent mind viruses is stop following the news. Don’t watch TV, don’t listen to “talk” radio, don’t read newspapers or magazines that have the news in them. Why? Because they all make their money by selling fear, lack, scarcity and limitation. Bad news is what sells.

 

Open the average newspaper and you will see that 90% or more of what you read is negative news. The percentage is about the same for radio and TV. Do you really believe it is important to find out how many houses burnt down, how many people were robbed or killed in your city, state or another country? Do you really need to be reminded of the economic situation every day? Being exposed to all this negativity creates a negative view of the world and negative thought patterns in your mind.

 

When I tell people to skip the news, they invariably ask, “How will I know if there is a major world tragedy or natural disaster heading my way or terrorists striking near me?” Trust me. You will know about all the big stuff you need to know. Let’s face it, the vast majority of your friends and neighbors follow the news so they can do the watching and reading for you. You still won’t be able to escape it completely because most restaurants and shops now have the TV news on all day long. So if something major happens, you will know about it.

 

I haven’t watched the news for the past ten years. I don’t read the newspaper either because I don’t want or need to know about all the bad stuff. My life is about creating good stuff. Eliminate the news media from your life for the next 30 days and see what I mean.

 

Today will bring you a new awareness, a lesson or a manifestation that you are making progress – IF YOU LOOK FOR IT! No matter how large or small, please record it in your Evidence Journal. It will only take a few moments and will AUTOMATICALLY put you in the Flow.

 

Dr. Robert Anthony is the author of 15 books including the million copy best sellers “The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self Confidence” and “Advanced Formula for Total Success”. His latest creations are the comprehensive life-changing programs,
The Secret of Deliberate Creation and The Self-Confidence Creator.

 

Sex is more than a hormonal release and brief pleasure. Modern science has now proven that sex is good for both your physical and mental health. Sex may help you live a longer, happier, and healthier life due to the health benefits.

 

 

 

 

Enjoyment

 

Sex is more than an act of pleasure; it’s the ability to be able to feel so close to a person, so connected, so comfortable that it’s almost breathtaking to the point you feel you can’t take it. And at this moment you’re a part of them.

 

All aspects of sex can be very enjoyable. Kissing and foreplay have all kinds of wonderful sensations and pleasures. Orgasm is an intense sensation of pleasure, frequently coupled with involuntary actions, such as muscular spasms in numerous areas of the body; a general euphoric sensation and, usually, body movements and vocal sounds are uttered.

 

As good as all that sounds, the best part of what happens when we have sex is what happens in the brain. The brain is the largest & most important sex organ. The brain controls our sexual responses, releases sex hormones, and it is where all our sex fantasies, and sexual identities live.

 

Go ahead, enjoy having sex with your partner and celebrate the fact that the sex is so good! “Dare to gasp, sigh, wail, scream, whimper, giggle, or cry for joy the next time you tap your sensual nature! You’re super sexual – and that’s worth getting loud about!” ~Yvonne K. Fulbright, Ph.D., M.S.Ed.

 

The decision to kiss for the first time is the most crucial in any love story. It changes the relationship of two people much more strongly than even the final surrender; because this kiss already has within it that surrender. ~Emil Ludwig

 

Health benefits

 

Sex is more than a hormonal release and brief pleasure. Modern science has now proven that sex is good for both your physical and mental health. Sex may help you live a longer, happier, and healthier life due to the health benefits.

 

Some of the health benefits include:

• Relieves Stress

• Improves Relaxation and Sleep

• More Energy

• Beauty Treatment – look more than 10 years younger

• Burns Calories and overall fitness

• Lower Cholesterol

• Reduces Risk of Heart Disease

• Lower risk of heart attack

• Relieves menstrual cramps

• Prevents endometriosis

• Dental Health

• Anti-Depressive

• Safest Tranquilizer

• Relieves Pain and Headache

• Natural Antihistamine

• Boosts Immune System

• Improves Blood Flow Circulation

• Improves Sense of Smell

• Improves Bladder Control

• Healthy Prostate and Genitals

• Boosts Self-Esteem, Sense of Well Being, and Marital Bliss

• Live Longer, Stay Younger

• Boost Testosterone, Estrogen and DHEA

• Lowers the level of Cortisol – The stress hormone

• The Healing Power of Intimacy

• Improves your relationship with your mate

• Lowers feelings of insecurity

 

http://www.sexcigarsbooze.com/sex/

 

 

INTIMACY IS UNFAMILIAR AND SCARY TO PEOPLE THAT WANT TO LIVE AN INDEPENDENT LIFE: It is impossible to be independent and intimate at the same time.

 

 

 

FROM THE DISTANCE THE INDEPENDENT PERSON CUTS A STRIKING POSE!

 

THE INDEPENDENT LOOKS LIKE, POWER, FREEDOM AND TRUE STRENGTH. HOWEVER, INDEPENDENCE IS NOT STRENGTH, IT IS A WOUND. INDEPENDENCE IS INSPIRED NOT BY LOVE, BUT FEAR, NOT BY WHOLENESS, BUT ALONENESS!

 

SUPERMAN: When I met this man he looked so impressive and strong. He boasted that he was a lone wolf. He felt quite uncomfortable when he needed to rely on anyone other than himself. He spoke in short and barking sentences. He never asked anyone anything he demanded and instructed everybody that came in contact with him. He would rather die than ask for help or admit his mistakes. He was a hard man and could not stand weakness in himself and others. He never delegated work and believed that no one could do any task as well as he could. In short he was very successful and a showpiece of strength and endurance.

I lost contact with this man for a while and was quite stunned when I heard one day that this man drank himself to death. I later also learned that this man died an abandoned man. His wife and family one day decided that they could not stand his independent militaristic style any longer. When I heard this news the thought suddenly flashed through my mind that this man finally succeeded in fully isolating himself.

No person was ever good enough for this man. He went to his grave a lonely and broken man like many that came before him that thought that they could live a life of segregation. People with this attitude never merge with people and find it extremely difficult to show their true feelings.

You always feel that they do not want you to invade their physical and mental space. This attitude of independence must have been responsible for more relationship failures than any other reason that you can think of.

You cannot be one with your spouse and remain independent and isolated. You cannot be one with your child and repel him or her. You cannot be one with life and live in a cocoon like a hermit. Only when you open your heart and mind to people and merge with them mentally can you discover real joy and happiness and notice the real needs or others.

 

YOU NEVER ASK FOR HELP. YOU ARE TOO SCARED, PROUD AND ARROGANT TO ACCEPT HELP: We have touched on the concept of isolation in this series and in previous thoughts already. When you believe that you are an island and an independent entity you hate to ask others for support or help. People with this attitude often think that this might be construed as a weakness or incompetence. I found that most people that live a life of isolation are attempting to avoid hurt or and pain. Something that happened in the past caused such person embarrassment and pain and forced him or her to hide in a protective shell to avoid any chance a reoccurrence.

 

INTIMACY IS UNFAMILIAR AND SCARY TO PEOPLE THAT WANT TO LIVE AN INDEPENDENT LIFE: It is impossible to be independent and intimate at the same time. How many marriages and relationships have not flushed down the toilet because one or both parties insisted on living a physical or mental independent life.

Only when you are brave and open enough to express and show your true feelings will you merge and bond with the one you love. Individuals with an independent style are like a person that lives in a castle. He or she hides behind the walls of his or her castle and will only come out when he or she feels that it is really safe. When such person detects even the slightest sign that there might be “danger” lurking they rushe back into their castle and pull up the drawbridge.

How can you have an intimate and open relationship with a person that hides his or her feelings and emotions behind walls and crocodile infested moats? Such person will have to come out of his or her castle and expose his or her heart and mind to others if he or she wants to experience true happiness.

 

When you look at the movies you often discover that the hero is an independent person that projects this “cool” image. We have been exposed to such “independence projecting” role models for the best part of our lives.

They often hide behind their title or status. They always work and fight alone. They do not show any feelings and emotions when they kill the evil perpetrators or make love to their partner in the script. They talk cool and they walk cool. They do not suffer with ulcers, but give them. They live alone and very little is known of their past or where they come from. They keep people guessing and answer questions with questions.

This might look cool in the movies, but in real life can only result in isolation and failure. How can you enjoy life if you are constantly of the defensive? How can you expect unconditional love if you go around with ice in your veins? How can you show compassion while you are hiding in your shell or castle? How can you experience a wonderful sunset if you are blind to emotion?

 

My advice to these “cool” operators is to drop their pose and to become brave enough to expose themselves to real life. Stop waiting for others to earn your approval and love. Go out and show your love for others unconditionally. It is your fear that is holding you back. You may have conned most of the people with your cool attitude, but I am calling your bluff. Take off your protective gear and show your feelings my friend or you will never experience real happiness and true love. It takes courage to expose yourself to potential rejection, but champions do not succumb to their fear!

 

Rene

 

 

 

How can you be brave when you constantly allow your historical horror movies to scare the living shit out of you?

If you ask me what is the biggest discovery that I made during my endless years of research on the reason why we fail I would boldly state the following:

 

It is a myth that we are the victims of our history. This myth tends to put us in a perpetual hypnotised, victim state. We walk, talk, act and react according to the filters that we look through while playing the game of life. Most of us are on auto-pilot and automatically act and react in the manner dictated to us according to our mindset on the matter at hand. We cringe and we cry or dance in elation according to the historical scripts that we adopted since early childhood. The world became our stage. We endlessly repeat our little dramas and hardly ever think that there might be better alternatives if we STOP for a moment and look at the CURRENT moment in an OBJECTIVE and COMPOSED manner.

 

Our history cannot impact on our CURRENT moment without our permission. Our history and perceptions on everything and everyone is nothing more than lifeless data files stored in our sub-conscious minds. They cannot spring to life without our activation. They cannot make us sad or depressed until we send the signal via our thoughts that trigger them to life. The amazing thing for many of us must be the ability of these historical pictures, when activated to force us to once more look at the blood, wounds and feelings of disaster that we experienced during the birth of these experiences. It is impossible to remain composed, in control or positive while we allow these strings of historical data to contaminate our CURRENT moments.

 

Did you know that time is an illusion. The only time that is REAL is this very MOMENT. Nothing that happened HISTORICALLY or that might happen in the FUTURE can contaminate your current moment without your permission. No horror movies can play on the screen of your mind until you upload a single or series of historical data packages from your sub-conscious minds. You cannot manage your life or a specific moment on MERIT while you remain in AUTO-PLAY. How can you be brave when you constantly allow your historical horror movies to scare the living shit out of you? It is a simple as that. You can never escape your current circumstances (financial, relationship etc.) while you continuously work with old and often outdated blueprints.

 

This nasty habit is causing billions to stagger out of bed each day and repeat the same old cycles and rituals like slaves. They dance the same old monotonous dance and hope that something or someone will bring some joy or luck into their grey and uninteresting lives. They yearn for love, friendship, joy, prosperity or success, but fail to understand that it is impossible to manifest anything that falls outside of our current or habitual mindsets.

 

You have something called will-power. You can take your power back today. You make hundred of choices every hour. You can decide that you are going to get off your chair or bed right now and confront each moment in an objective and positive manner. You can decide that acting like a puppet or a slave is no longer fun. You can kick adversity in the balls and challenge those that cause you discomfort to “bring it on”. Can you see that you can become objective, strong, loving and fun to be with if you stop the tendency to allow your history to dictate each and every moment in your life? You can become productive and efficient right now if you PAUSE for a moment before you act or react. The key is the choices you make. What you do, think or fail to do will manifest tomorrow, next week and next year.

 

Draw a line in the sand today, right now and take your power back. Be brave and make decisions even if the outcomes might not be what you anticipated. You can always make new decisions and make adjustments to your new flight plan. Decide today that you are going to LIVE until you DIE. It is easy when you understand that all you need to do is to manage your CURRENT MOMENT.

 

Rene

 

The following is an excellent encapsulation of “Pagan” myths and rituals that preceded Christianity, representing doctrines utilized in its creation. The author is Charles Waite, from his book History of the Christian Religion to the Year Two Hundred, which was published in 1900 and remains an outstanding resource for scholars and aficionados.

 

 

 

Antiquity of the Christian Doctrines

 

Many of the more prominent doctrines of the Christian religion prevailed among nations of antiquity, hundreds, and in some instances, thousands of years before Christ.

 

The doctrine of the miraculous conception was common in ancient times. The story of Chrishna [Krishna] has already been given. Zoroaster also was believed to have been immaculately conceived by a ray from the Divine Reason. Mars was conceived by Juno touching a flower, and she conceived Vulcan by being overshadowed by the wind. An ancient work entitled Codex Vaticanus, gives an account of the immaculate conception of Quexalcote [Quetzalcoatl], the Mexican Savior. One of the sects in China worshiped a savior named Xaca, who was conceived by his mother, in her sleep, seeing a white elephant. Ya, the first Chinese monarch, was conceived by his mother being struck with a star while traveling. Another legend is that Yu, (probably the same as Ya), was conceived from a water-lily. Many cases might be mentioned of mortals who had an immaculate conception. Plato, Pythagoras, Tamerlane, Gengis Khan, Apollonius of Tyana and Augustus Caesar, were all supposed to have been the product of immaculate conceptions.

 

Stars also presaged the birth of several of them.

 

At the birth of Confucius, five wise men from a distance came to the house, celestial music filled the air, and angels attended the scene.

 

The title of Son of God was very common among the ancients, and at the commencement of the Christian era. St. Basil says, “Every uncommonly good man was called the Son of God.” When Apollonius, standing before Domitian, was asked, why men called him a god, his reply was, “Every good man [chrestos] is entitled to that appellation.” An answer which Dr. Albert Reville, a theologian of Rotterdam, thought might throw a bright light upon the divinity of Christ.

 

Miracles

 

The belief in miracles has been common in all ages of the world. From the time of Uranus, father of the gods, down through all the ages, the world has been filled with wonders. Esculapius [Asclepius] raised Hippolytus from the dead – Hercules rescued Alcestis from the very hand of death – Actaeon was changed to a stag – the walls of Thebes builded themselves to the music of the flute, while those of Jericho fell before the blasts of the priests of Israel. The daughters of Anius the high priest, changed everything they chose into corn, oil and wine, and the hair of Berenice was changed to a constellation of the stars. Meanwhile, Prometheus lay bound on Mt. Caucasus, the vulture devouring his vitals, which grew as fast as eaten.

 

The heavens were full of gods, and earth, air and sea swarmed with myriads of angels, spirits and demons.

 

Resurrection

 

Many cases of resurrection from the dead, are handed down in the ancient mythologies. Mithras, the “Mediator” of Persia, is said to have risen after three days. So also, Quexalcote, of Mexico, Osiris of Egypt, and others.

 

Some of these, after their resurrection, ascended into heaven. Chrishna, after rising from the dead, and appearing to his disciples, ascended to Brahma, in heaven. [Brahma=Abraham, cf. Lk 16:22: “The poor man [Lazarus] died and was carried by the angels to the Bosom of Abraham.”]

 

The Atonement

 

This doctrine has in some form pervaded the religion of all countries. Offerings of propitiation, to appease the wrath of an offended God, or to satisfy the demands of justice, have been common in every period of the world. Sometimes they have consisted of fruits of the earth; at other times, of animals and men. As nations have advanced in civilization, the offerings have become less bloody in their character. In the Sandwich Islands, anciently, human beings were thrown as a sacrifice into the crater of Kileaua, the great volcano. Afterwards animals were substituted, and finally products of the earth. The propitiatory system of the Jews is well known. This is considered by Paul as a type of the higher Christian system.

 

The Trinity

 

The Trinity was an essential feature in the religion of many oriental nations. The Holy Ghost was the third member under various appellations. In the Hindu trinity, it was Siva; the other members of the trinity being Brahma and Vishnu.

 

Mr. Maurice says, this notion of a third person in the deity, was diffused among all the nations of the earth. Mr. Worsley considers the doctrine one “of very great antiquity, and generally received by the Gothic and Celtic Nations.” In the Hindu system, this third person was the Holy Breath, by which living creatures were made. The Holy Ghost became visible in the form of a dove, a tongue of fire, etc.

 

The Holy Ghost was sometimes the agent in immaculate conceptions. In the Mexican trinity, Y Zona was the Father, Bascal the Word, and Echvah the Holy Ghost, by the last of whom Chimalman conceived and brought forth Quexalcote. When Sesostris invoked the oracle, to know who, before him, could subjugate all things, the answer was, “First God, then the Word, and with them the Spirit.” Plutarch, in his “Life of Numa,” shows that the incarnation of the Holy Spirit was known to the ancient Egyptians.

 

The doctrine of the Word, as the creative power, is also very ancient. The Chinese Bible states that “God pronounced the primeval Word, and his own eternal and glorious abode sprang into existence.” According to the Zend-Avesta, it was the Word, more ancient than the world, that Ormuzd created the universe. The ancient Greek writer Amelias, speaking of the god Mercury [Hermes], says “And this plainly was the Logos, by whom all things were made.”

 

Plato taught a trinity of the soul, in which it is easy to see analogies, pointing to a higher form of the doctrine.

 

It is said there was an ancient Greek inscription on the great obelisk at Rome; thus: 1. The Mighty God; 2. The Begotten of God; and 3. Apollo the Spirit.

 

Confession and Remission of Sins

 

These doctrines prevailed anciently in India; also among the ancient Persians, and Parsees. In China, the invocation of Omito was held to remit the punishment of the greatest crimes.

 

The doctrines of Original Sin, Fall of Man, and Endless Punishment are all found in the religious systems of several ancient nations.

 

Sprinkling with water was a religious ceremony of much antiquity. This may in some degree account for the changes of the form of Christian baptism from immersion to sprinkling. The practice prevailed among the ancient Romans.

 

The Sacrament or Eucharist has also an ancient original. It was practiced by the Brahmins of India, and was introduced into the mysteries of Mithras. It prevailed, also, among the ancient Mexicans.

 

The Golden Rule was taught hundreds of years before Christ, by Confucius, Aristotle, and many others.

 

http://www.truthbeknown.com/waite.htm

 

The World is Your Mental Creation!

 

 

The principle of Mentalism — which says the universe is a mental creation of God — is perhaps one of the most inexplicable and mysterious of any principle as it involves the unknowable.

 

God, or as the followers of the teachings of Hermes say the All, is absolute and beyond understanding; all we can do is guess; and the guesses I can safely say will all be wrong. God is infinite and eternal; meaning God had no beginning but has always been, and will have no ending but will always be.

 

That alone is beyond comprehension. How can anything have no beginning? That my friends is the divine paradox. But allow me to address the fact that God is infinite. Being infinite he is in and of everything. I use the term loosely as God would have to be genderless and perfect. You can neither diminish nor add anything to him.

 

The universe is a mental creation. That goes along with the infinite nature of God. Allow me to use a metaphor as that is the only way to get even close to a comprehension of what I am attempting to say.

 

You can create a being, or an event in your mind. Every play, every book, every motion picture is a created fantasy, not real, but created by the mind of a person. An infinite being creates infinitely. In other words, all that is, all that was, and all that will be has been created in the mind of God. That is infinity.

 

I touch on this in Quantum Jumping because if the universe is infinite everything imaginable, and much more that is unimaginable has already been created. Every being, every animal and vegetable, every grain of sand, every molecule and every time period, past present and future is already there in an infinite universe.

 

If that is difficult to understand how about eternity? Many faiths believe that after death they will awaken in heaven, paradise, glory. That would be nice for ten years or so of perfect living in a perfect world. But how would you feel doing the same thing for a hundred years, or a thousand, or ten thousand. And after ten thousand years of paradise with the perfect woman, or man, or place to reside you can look forward to another ten thousand.

 

Wow. Twenty thousand years of doing the same thing. How about a hundred thousand years, a million, a hundred million years of paradise with the same person, the same perfect events. And after a hundred million years, even though you may be a bit tired of all that perfection you can look forward to a hundred million more, and then another and another. After all this is eternity.

 

Logically, something here is amiss. But God didn’t create us to suffer or to prosper. He didn’t create us to be bad, or good. He created all types and then gave us free will and created the law of causality, commonly called cause and effect. What they do with that resolve is up to the individual. When a writer writes a play he directs the characters and is the puppeteer; a writer is the obvious cause. But what if the writer had the ability to create the cast of the play, and the setting, and then allowed the characters to go their own way, to do their own thing, to allow the characters to create cause themselves. Might be an interesting play, but the writer would have to be an infinite being to do that so we can only guess at what the outcome would be.

 

As I only have a brief time to get this point across I can only hope to stimulate your mind and get you to using more of it, to think. God must be immutable. He cannot be changed, nor added to or subtracted from nor become greater or lesser in any respect. He must have always been and will always remain, what he has done in the creation of all these creatures of the universe is to experience. Now God does not need experience, he doesn’t need anything. He is, all that is.

 

Why did God create the universe? We can never know that. We can only use the concept of the universe being a mental creation of God in our own lives. We are also mental creators. Every thing, every dress, shoe, tie, suit, car, pencil, house, building, everything was created by the mind of a human being. In that we are all imitators of the creator of all things.

 

Know that you too are a creator. Get to understand your mind a bit better and you will find the way. The universe is a mental creation of God. Your world is a mental creation of yourself. Many of you know that I’ve used this concept over and over again during the thirty and more years I’ve been teaching personal development. Your world is a mental creation.

 

Where do you find yourself, where are you at present? You may not realize it, it may seem that forces beyond your control put you there, but the fact is, you did it. You did it with your attitude, your beliefs, your actions and your mental creations. You too are a creator, a mental creator. The great principle of Mentalism states, the universe is a mental creation of God. You are part of that creation, but you have free will. You have the ability to change, to progress, to grow, to evolve. To be a better person. To be a better and better person.

 

My advice to you, should you be interested is to be the best you that you can be. But know that through the dynamic use of your mind you do have the ability to be a better person, a better you. How about starting now, right now. What can you do if you made up your mind to be a better person? I can’t tell you that. But think about this, what would your life be like if you were a better person?

 

Only you can take the first step. Do something today, or if it is late in the afternoon or evening when you’re reading or hearing this, do something tomorrow that you will be proud of, something that will please you. I can’t tell you what that is, only you can. Sit quietly for a few moments, meditate and call on your higher self, what would that self tell you to do to make you a better person, a person you will be proud of a person your ancestors will be proud of? And then, do it.

 

There is a road ahead of you with many forks in it. Each one involves a choice. Your reality is the result of the choices you made in the past. Your future life will be the result of the choices you make in the future.

 

Make good ones. Each choice is a cause for an upcoming effect. Good luck, and may God smile on you.

 

By Burt Goldman, Creator of Quantum Jumping

 

“We will have the power of gods. But will we also have the wisdom of Solomon?”

 

 

 

Just before Sir Isaac Newton died, he described how humbled he felt by the thought that he had glimpsed only a fraction of the potential of the great scientific revolution he had helped to launch: “I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or prettier shell than ordinary, while the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

 

Three centuries later, that great ocean of truth is not so mysterious. According to the theoretical physicist Professor Michio Kaku of the City College of New York, we are entering an empowered new era:

 

“We have unlocked the secrets of matter. We have unravelled the molecule of life, DNA. And we have created a form of artificial intelligence, the computer. We are making the historic transition from the age of scientific discovery to the age of scientific mastery in which we will be able to manipulate and mould nature almost to our wishes.”

 

Among the technologies he believes will change our lives in the coming decades are cars that drive themselves, lab-grown human organs, 3D television, robots that can perform household tasks, eye glasses that double as home-entertainment centres, the exploitation of genes that alter human ageing and the possibility of invisibility and forms of teleportation.

 

“We will have the power to animate the inanimate, the power to create life itself,” says Prof Kaku. “We will have the power of gods. But will we also have the wisdom of Solomon?”

 

In a new BBC4 series called Visions of the Future, Prof Kaku talks to today’s pioneers about how we are moving from being passive observers of nature to its choreographers. Here are their remarkable speculations about how the scientific and technological revolution will transform life and society in the 21st century.

 

THE FUTURE OF PHYSICS

 

Teleportation
Prof Anton Zeilinger, University of Vienna

 

“We achieved quantum teleportation 10 years ago, and we’re using it on a regular basis on the information carried by a system. This information is teleported over to another system, which assumes exactly that information; therefore it becomes identical with the original.

 

“If you dream about teleportation of humans – well, we can dream – then all kinds of questions arise, such as: what does it mean to be me? When someone teleports me and I know that what is being teleported is information – not matter, not the stuff I’m made of – who is it that ends up over there?”

 

The next generation of nuclear power

Prof Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith Director, UK Fusion Programme

 

“Between 15 and 20 years from now, we will be ready to start building a fusion power station that will produce electricity [from nuclear fusion, rather than fission, the reaction that drives existing nuclear power stations]. After that, before the middle of the century, we hope to have large-scale fusion power.”

 

Electricity from Plant life

Dr Andreas Mershin, Centre for Biomedical Engineering, MIT

 

“Plants have developed this amazing ability to capture sunlight and create chemical energy and store it. Now we can grab the machine – the protein inside the plant called photosystem, which is responsible for generating energy for the plant – and hijack its function to create solar electrical power. Our goal is to provide an alternative to regular silicon-based solar panels. What we’re trying to do is produce a material that you can paint on a metallic surface, expose to light and have some electricity.”

 

Nanobot armies

Dr John Alexander, US Joint Special Operations University

 

“On the battlefield, nanobots are going to do a lot of things; they can seek and destroy specific targets, for instance. You’ve heard about the ‘surgeons’ that you can inject into your bloodstream – well, they can go in there to repair a clogged blood vessel, or they might be able to go in and punch holes in the blood vessels to destroy an adversary. The embryonic stages are here today, and a lot of work is being done.”

 

Unbeatable weapons

Dr Nick Bostrom, Oxford University

 

“With an advanced form of nanotechnology, it would be possible to build different kinds of weapons systems for which it’s very difficult to see how an effective defence would be possible. In my view, the advanced form of nanotechnology is arguably the greatest existential risk humanity is likely to confront in this century.”

 

 

THE FUTURE OF BIOLOGY

 

A disease-free world

Ray Kurzweil, inventor and futurist

 

“We will have the means, within 10 or 15 years, to reprogram biology away from cancer, away from heart disease, to really overcome the major diseases that kill us. We’re in the early stages of that now, but our ability to do this is growing exponentially – it’s doubling every year.”

 

An end to ageing

Prof Leonard Hayflick, University of California, San Francisco

 

 

“Our conscious recognition of the finitude of our lives is key to how we live. Virtually every aspect of our lives is governed by our sense of self and our sense of when we will age, and, of course, when we will die. One really has to think seriously about tampering with the ageing process and what its implications might be.”

 

Perfecting the human body

Prof Susan Greenfield, director of the Royal Institution

 

“I don’t think we should worry so much about whether we want to live for hundreds of years, but why we would want to. We need a public debate on exactly why we want our children to be perfect and whether that would actually be giving them a happier and more fulfilling life. One end of the spectrum is that of course we don’t want them to be obese or clinically depressed. On the other hand, I would hope that people would want their children to be diverse and interesting and interested in others, rather than everyone the same and everyone perfect.”

 

Control over human evolution

Joel Garreau, author of Radical Evolution

 

“For the first time, our technologies are not so much aimed outward at modifying our environment in the fashion of agriculture or space travel; increasingly, technologies are aimed inward, at modifying our minds, our memories, our metabolisms, our personalities and our kids. And this is not in some distant, science-fiction future – this is now. What’s shocking about this is that if you can do all that, you’re talking about humans becoming the first species to take control of their own evolution.”

 

Genetically modified genes

Prof David Farb, Boston University, Massachusetts

 

“Memory enhancement is certainly within the realm of scientific possibility. And we may be able to alter not just our intellectual but also our physical abilities. If we could pass down these genetically enhanced genes, we could evolve in a different way. We can’t afford not to think about this issue and not to be prepared.”

 

Retuning the brain

Dr Francis Collins, US National Human Genome Research Institute, Bethesda

 

 

“Suppose we develop – by our understanding of how the genome works and therefore how the body works – an approach that would improve memory; what’s wrong with that? Well, it raises the question of who decides what’s an improvement, and is that something that is going to be available to all or will it be another example of separating between people who have resources and people who don’t?”

 

THE FUTURE OF COMPUTING

 

The virtual family

Jaron Lanier, virtual-reality pioneer

 

“One notion is that virtual-reality interfaces might simply be integrated into the human body. We could have a display built into any of a number of layers within the eye, or into the optic track – or, indeed, into the brain itself.

 

“But these possibilities raise disturbing questions. What happens if we assume so many different identities that we begin to lose our own sense of identity? What happens if we begin to prefer virtual social networks to our real social networks? And will the family suffer if we spend more time with our virtual family than our real one?”

 

Biological robots

 

 

“As a species, we are starting to put our information-processing technology inside our bodies – we’re becoming a little more robotic. At the same time, our technologies are becoming more biological. Over the next 50 years, we’ll see robots with more biological components and people with more electronic components.

 

Superhuman machinery

Paul Saffo, technology forecaster, Stanford University

 

“There’s a good chance that the machines will be smarter than us. There are two scenarios. The optimistic one is that these new superhuman machines are very gentle and they treat us like pets. The pessimistic scenario is they’re not very gentle and they treat us like food.”

 

Artificial intelligence

Eliezer Yudkowsky, Singularity Institute for Artificial Intelligence, California

 

“We have a choice in how we create artificial intelligence. And you’ve got to be very sure that a created mind is never going to want to self-improve and that it’s never going to want to do anything that destroys intelligent life. You’ve got to treat that gun as if it’s loaded.”

 

 

A leading theoretical physicist has tapped the best scientific brains of the age to provide a startling vision of the future.

 

By Roger Highfield
Source: The Telegraph

 
Prof Rodney Brooks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

 

 

 

 

 

You Can Re-Create Your Self – Stunning Book!

Your challenge is clear: To re-create your self, to become the person you want to be, living the life you desire, you must change the negative, contradictory, and outdated beliefs that are creating the unsatisfactory conditions of your life.

 

If you already believe in your ability to change, then this column will reaffirm and strengthen that positive belief. If you’re thinking, “People can’t really change,” this column will help you change your beliefs about your ability to change.

Consider this: Your beliefs create your life; therefore, you, and only you, control your life, forming your experiences in line with your belief system. Because you can examine and evaluate each belief, and decide whether or not you want to keep it, then it follows that you, and only you, can make the changes you desire, by discarding those beliefs that do not produce the desired results.

 

You Control Your Life

 

You are the author of the “autobiography” known as your life. If you’re unhappy with some of the “chapters,” you must revise and rewrite them until you are satisfied, fulfilled. But first you must accept that you, and not some “ghost-writer in the sky,” are doing the writing.

 

Many people deny authorship of their life story. They begrudgingly accept some responsibility for their experiences – but only up to a point. Beyond that point, they tell them-selves and anyone who will listen, that their own life is out of their control. On the one hand, denying your role in creating the unsatisfactory conditions of your life is a convenient way to absolve yourself of responsibility for whatever you don’t like about your self. On the other hand, this behavior doesn’t reflect the truth of being, nor is it helpful in putting your life on a stronger footing.

 

Most commonly, the people who deny their part in creating the unfulfilling aspect of their lives claim that their life story is written largely by some “collaborator,” or “co-author.” Their “co-author” is called by many names. God, Fate, Luck, Karma, and the Stars, are among the most popular.

 

The truth is, you are the sole author of your life story. You see, we live in an orderly universe. The sun rises in the East every morning and sets in the West every night; gravity is a consistent, not whimsical, force. We are a part of – and not apart from – the universe’s natural order. In other words, either we control our lives, or we don’t. Either nothing is an accident, or everything is an accident.

 

Have you accepted responsibility for your life? Have you claimed the power and the privilege to control your destiny? If you haven’t, then you’re harboring a false belief about the way life works. You’re surrendering self-responsibility to whatever outside forces you believe are in control.

 

 

Take My Power….Please!

 

“Take my wife….please!” It’s an old joke.

 

People seem equally eager to give away the power to control their life, and that’s no joke. They find many ways to release personal responsibility. “I’m a victim of my past,” is a lament I frequently hear. When you accept this negative belief, you empower past experiences with an undeserved energy to create future havoc. And you miss a very important point: You are meant to learn from the past, not to allow yourself to be controlled by it.

 

One major purpose in life is to develop self-knowledge through experience, replacing the beliefs that limited past achievement with attitudes that will form a more perfect tomorrow. Your power to become the person you want to be, living the life you desire is in the present, and this power should be increased, not diminished, by what you’ve learned from past experiences – both good and bad. You aren’t a victim of your past, unless you believe you are.

 

“I must have been awful in a past life, because I’m sure paying for it now!” It’s amazing and distressing how often I hear this kind of self-indictment from people who consider themselves “spiritually aware.” Even more dangerous than surrendering control of your life to past experiences is accepting the false belief that past-life transgressions are causing your present challenges.

 

Karma represents the sum total of your experiences. It indicates fortuitous directions for personal growth and development. Karma doesn’t imply punishment, nor does it dictate current events. You aren’t a cosmic prisoner serving time for the crimes of some past life you probably don’t remember. The universe doesn’t judge and sentence anyone. Karma doesn’t unfringe upon your free will. Your life isn’t controlled by a karmic debt from this, or any, lifetime – unless you believe that it is.

 

A Re-Creating Your Self Thought: I was my first, and possibly, most difficult, student. Because I was capable of re-creating my self, I’m certain that you can re-create your self.

 

Far too many times, I hear something such as this from a Re-Creating Your Self reader or student: “I just can’t control my temper! `I’m always getting into arguments and fights, then, later, I feel terrible. But what can I do? I’m Aries, the Ram. Aries people are naturally angry, stubborn. We’re always ‘butting heads’ with others, especially with other Aries. So moaned a student who believed that his experiences were determined, now and forever, by a zodiacal sign. He was all too eager to absolve himself of control over his life.

 

A belief in astrology, as it is most commonly understood, can be just another way of saying, “Take my power…please!” But the belief that your life is charted by the positions and movements of heavenly bodies is jus that – a belief – and a false and self-limiting one at that. It’s not an irrevocable fact of life. Prove it for your self by opening a newspaper and reading your daily horoscope for a week, or by meeting one of the many Aries people who are peaceful and good-natured, not angry and quarrelsome. Your life is not controlled by the stars, unless you believe it is.

 

“My boyfriend’s negativity is creating bad experiences in my life,” confided a student. Five minutes earlier, she had laughed smugly, chiding people who blamed karma or the stars for the less than satisfactory conditions of their lives. Yet here she was blaming her bad experiences on her boyfriend’s perceived negativity. “He’s really powerful and strong-willed, like a Svengali,” she continued. “I just can’t resist doing whatever he asks.”

 

If someone is controlling you, it’s only because you have, on some level, willingly surrendered control. Either verbally or telepathically, you have told that person, “Take my power…please!” Your life is not controlled by others, unless you believe it is.

 

To whom, or to what, are you saying, “Take my power…please?!” Have you ever said something like this: “God willing, I’ll get that job,” or, “I’ll get well, if it’s God’s will.” Your life is no more controlled by God than by any other external force. If you believe in a Supreme Being, then understand: It’s God’s will for you to use the free will that S/He gave you. To do otherwise is to throw that precious gift back in God’s Face. Not recommended. When you believe that God manipulates and controls you, then you are diminishing the Supreme Being to little more than a Cosmic Buttinsky. Your life isn’t controlled by a controlling, punishing God unless you believe it is. And the same goes for the Devil: The simple truth is, He didn’t make you do it.

 

Once again, I’m here to tell you, you and you alone have the power, the privilege and the responsibility to control your life. Are you willing to accept this power, privilege and responsibility? Or do you feel the need to burden God, or some other external force, with a responsibility that is naturally your own

?

A Re-Creating Your Self Thought: To whom, or to what, are you saying, “Take my power…please?!” More importantly, why do you want to hand over the responsibility for your life and all of its conditions to someone, or to some thing, other than your self? These are critical questions and I hope you will take time to meditate upon the answers within your self.

 

When I ask students, or readers of the book, to ponder these questions, I most frequently hear something such as this in response to the question, “Why do you want to hand over the responsibility for your life to someone, or to some thing, else?”

 

“It’s too much responsibility for me to admit that I’m controlling my life and all of its conditions. When things go wrong, it’s good to tell family and friends, ‘Well, “this” or “that” was out of my control.’”

 

Re-Creating Your Self By Christopher Stone

 

http://www.hayhouse.com/details.php?id=445

 

http://newagejournal.com/2007/you-can-re-create-your-self

Christopher Stone has been teaching the principles and processes of Re-Creating Your Self in classes, private sessions, and workshops for 20 years. He also has extensive experience as a spiritual counselor to both individuals and corporations. As a journalist, he has written over 500 articles that have appeared in The New York Times, US, McCall’s, Good Housekeeping, and Family Circle, among others. With Mary R Sheldon, Christopher is co-author of the book The Meditation Journal. he lives in beautiful Redondo Beach, California.

 

The 48 Laws of Power – Powerful – life changing stuff!

The 48 Laws of Power

by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers

Law 1

Never Outshine the Master

Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear and insecurity. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the heights of power.

Law 2

Never put too Much Trust in Friends, Learn how to use Enemies

Be wary of friends-they will betray you more quickly, for they are easily aroused to envy. They also become spoiled and tyrannical. But hire a former enemy and he will be more loyal than a friend, because he has more to prove. In fact, you have more to fear from friends than from enemies. If you have no enemies, find a way to make them.

Law 3

Conceal your Intentions

Keep people off-balance and in the dark by never revealing the purpose behind your actions. If they have no clue what you are up to, they cannot prepare a defense. Guide them far enough down the wrong path, envelope them in enough smoke, and by the time they realize your intentions, it will be too late.

Law 4

Always Say Less than Necessary

When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike. Powerful people impress and intimidate by saying less. The more you say, the more likely you are to say something foolish.

Law 5

So Much Depends on Reputation – Guard it with your Life

Reputation is the cornerstone of power. Through reputation alone you can intimidate and win; once you slip, however, you are vulnerable, and will be attacked on all sides. Make your reputation unassailable. Always be alert to potential attacks and thwart them before they happen. Meanwhile, learn to destroy your enemies by opening holes in their own reputations. Then stand aside and let public opinion hang them.

Law 6

Court Attention at all Cost

Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. Never let yourself get lost in the crowd, then, or buried in oblivion. Stand out. Be conspicuous, at all cost. Make yourself a magnet of attention by appearing larger, more colorful, more mysterious, than the bland and timid masses.

Law 7

Get others to do the Work for you, but Always Take the Credit

Use the wisdom, knowledge, and legwork of other people to further your own cause. Not only will such assistance save you valuable time and energy, it will give you a godlike aura of efficiency and speed. In the end your helpers will be forgotten and you will be remembered. Never do yourself what others can do for you.

Law 8

Make other People come to you – use Bait if Necessary

When you force the other person to act, you are the one in control. It is always better to make your opponent come to you, abandoning his own plans in the process. Lure him with fabulous gains – then attack. You hold the cards.

Law 9

Win through your Actions, Never through Argument

Any momentary triumph you think gained through argument is really a Pyrrhic victory: The resentment and ill will you stir up is stronger and lasts longer than any momentary change of opinion. It is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word. Demonstrate, do not explicate.

Law 10

Infection: Avoid the Unhappy and Unlucky

You can die from someone else’s misery – emotional states are as infectious as disease. You may feel you are helping the drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. The unfortunate sometimes draw misfortune on themselves; they will also draw it on you. Associate with the happy and fortunate instead.

Law 11

Learn to Keep People Dependent on You

To maintain your independence you must always be needed and wanted. The more you are relied on, the more freedom you have. Make people depend on you for their happiness and prosperity and you have nothing to fear. Never teach them enough so that they can do without you.

Law 12

Use Selective Honesty and Generosity to Disarm your Victim

One sincere and honest move will cover over dozens of dishonest ones. Open-hearted gestures of honesty and generosity bring down the guard of even the most suspicious people. Once your selective honesty opens a hole in their armor, you can deceive and manipulate them at will. A timely gift – a Trojan horse – will serve the same purpose.

Law 13

When Asking for Help, Appeal to People’s Self-Interest,

Never to their Mercy or Gratitude

If you need to turn to an ally for help, do not bother to remind him of your past assistance and good deeds. He will find a way to ignore you. Instead, uncover something in your request, or in your alliance with him, that will benefit him, and emphasize it out of all proportion. He will respond enthusiastically when he sees something to be gained for himself.

Law 14

Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy

Knowing about your rival is critical. Use spies to gather valuable information that will keep you a step ahead. Better still: Play the spy yourself. In polite social encounters, learn to probe. Ask indirect questions to get people to reveal their weaknesses and intentions. There is no occasion that is not an opportunity for artful spying.

Law 15

Crush your Enemy Totally

All great leaders since Moses have known that a feared enemy must be crushed completely. (Sometimes they have learned this the hard way.) If one ember is left alight, no matter how dimly it smolders, a fire will eventually break out. More is lost through stopping halfway than through total annihilation: The enemy will recover, and will seek revenge. Crush him, not only in body but in spirit.

Law 16

Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honor

Too much circulation makes the price go down: The more you are seen and heard from, the more common you appear. If you are already established in a group, temporary withdrawal from it will make you more talked about, even more admired. You must learn when to leave. Create value through scarcity.

Law 17

Keep Others in Suspended Terror: Cultivate an Air of Unpredictability

Humans are creatures of habit with an insatiable need to see familiarity in other people’s actions. Your predictability gives them a sense of control. Turn the tables: Be deliberately unpredictable. Behavior that seems to have no consistency or purpose will keep them off-balance, and they will wear themselves out trying to explain your moves. Taken to an extreme, this strategy can intimidate and terrorize.

Law 18

Do Not Build Fortresses to Protect Yourself – Isolation is Dangerous

The world is dangerous and enemies are everywhere – everyone has to protect themselves. A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from – it cuts you off from valuable information, it makes you conspicuous and an easy target. Better to circulate among people find allies, mingle. You are shielded from your enemies by the crowd.

Law 19

Know Who You’re Dealing with – Do Not Offend the Wrong Person

There are many different kinds of people in the world, and you can never assume that everyone will react to your strategies in the same way. Deceive or outmaneuver some people and they will spend the rest of their lives seeking revenge. They are wolves in lambs’ clothing. Choose your victims and opponents carefully, then – never offend or deceive the wrong person.

Law 20

Do Not Commit to Anyone

It is the fool who always rushes to take sides. Do not commit to any side or cause but yourself. By maintaining your independence, you become the master of others – playing people against one another, making them pursue you.

Law 21

Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Seem Dumber than your Mark

No one likes feeling stupider than the next persons. The trick, is to make your victims feel smart – and not just smart, but smarter than you are. Once convinced of this, they will never suspect that you may have ulterior motives.

Law 22

Use the Surrender Tactic: Transform Weakness into Power

When you are weaker, never fight for honor’s sake; choose surrender instead. Surrender gives you time to recover, time to torment and irritate your conqueror, time to wait for his power to wane. Do not give him the satisfaction of fighting and defeating you – surrender first. By turning the other check you infuriate and unsettle him. Make surrender a tool of power.

Law 23

Concentrate Your Forces

Conserve your forces and energies by keeping them concentrated at their strongest point. You gain more by finding a rich mine and mining it deeper, than by flitting from one shallow mine to another – intensity defeats extensity every time. When looking for sources of power to elevate you, find the one key patron, the fat cow who will give you milk for a long time to come.

Law 24

Play the Perfect Courtier

The perfect courtier thrives in a world where everything revolves around power and political dexterity. He has mastered the art of indirection; he flatters, yields to superiors, and asserts power over others in the mot oblique and graceful manner. Learn and apply the laws of courtiership and there will be no limit to how far you can rise in the court.

Law 25

Re-Create Yourself

Do not accept the roles that society foists on you. Re-create yourself by forging a new identity, one that commands attention and never bores the audience. Be the master of your own image rather than letting others define if for you. Incorporate dramatic devices into your public gestures and actions – your power will be enhanced and your character will seem larger than life.

Law 26

Keep Your Hands Clean

You must seem a paragon of civility and efficiency: Your hands are never soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. Maintain such a spotless appearance by using others as scapegoats and cat’s-paws to disguise your involvement.

Law 27

Play on People’s Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following

People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Give your new disciples rituals to perform, ask them to make sacrifices on your behalf. In the absence of organized religion and grand causes, your new belief system will bring you untold power.

Law 28

Enter Action with Boldness

If you are unsure of a course of action, do not attempt it. Your doubts and hesitations will infect your execution. Timidity is dangerous: Better to enter with boldness. Any mistakes you commit through audacity are easily corrected with more audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honors the timid.

Law 29

Plan All the Way to the End

The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all the possible consequences, obstacles, and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. By planning to the end you will not be overwhelmed by circumstances and you will know when to stop. Gently guide fortune and help determine the future by thinking far ahead.

Law 30

Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless

Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work – it only raises questions. Teach no one your tricks or they will be used against you.

Law 31

Control the Options: Get Others to Play with the Cards you Deal

The best deceptions are the ones that seem to give the other person a choice: Your victims feel they are in control, but are actually your puppets. Give people options that come out in your favor whichever one they choose. Force them to make choices between the lesser of two evils, both of which serve your purpose. Put them on the horns of a dilemma: They are gored wherever they turn.

Law 32

Play to People’s Fantasies

The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes for disenchantment. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert: Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses.

Law 33

Discover Each Man’s Thumbscrew

Everyone has a weakness, a gap in the castle wall. That weakness is usual y an insecurity, an uncontrollable emotion or need; it can also be a small secret pleasure. Either way, once found, it is a thumbscrew you can turn to your advantage.

Law 34

Be Royal in your Own Fashion: Act like a King to be treated like one

The way you carry yourself will often determine how you are treated; In the long run, appearing vulgar or common will make people disrespect you. For a king respects himself and inspires the same sentiment in others. By acting regally and confident of your powers, you make yourself seem destined to wear a crown.

Law 35

Master the Art of Timing

Never seem to be in a hurry – hurrying betrays a lack of control over yourself, and over time. Always seem patient, as if you know that everything will come to you eventually. Become a detective of the right moment; sniff out the spirit of the times, the trends that will carry you to power. Learn to stand back when the time is not yet ripe, and to strike fiercely when it has reached fruition.

Law 36

Disdain Things you cannot have: Ignoring them is the best Revenge

By acknowledging a petty problem you give it existence and credibility. The more attention you pay an enemy, the stronger you make him; and a small mistake is often made worse and more visible when you try to fix it. It is sometimes best to leave things alone. If there is something you want but cannot have, show contempt for it. The less interest you reveal, the more superior you seem.

Law 37

Create Compelling Spectacles

Striking imagery and grand symbolic gestures create the aura of power – everyone responds to them. Stage spectacles for those around you, then full of arresting visuals and radiant symbols that heighten your presence. Dazzled by appearances, no one will notice what you are really doing.

Law 38

Think as you like but Behave like others

If you make a show of going against the times, flaunting your unconventional ideas and unorthodox ways, people will think that you only want attention and that you look down upon them. They will find a way to punish you for making them feel inferior. It is far safer to blend in and nurture the common touch. Share your originality only with tolerant friends and those who are sure to appreciate your uniqueness.

Law 39

Stir up Waters to Catch Fish

Anger and emotion are strategically counterproductive. You must always stay calm and objective. But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage. Put your enemies off-balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

Law 40

Despise the Free Lunch

What is offered for free is dangerous – it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for. By paying your own way you stay clear of gratitude, guilt, and deceit. It is also often wise to pay the full price – there is no cutting corners with excellence. Be lavish with your money and keep it circulating, for generosity is a sign and a magnet for power.

Law 41

Avoid Stepping into a Great Man’s Shoes

What happens first always appears better and more original than what comes after. If you succeed a great man or have a famous parent, you will have to accomplish double their achievements to outshine them. Do not get lost in their shadow, or stuck in a past not of your own making: Establish your own name and identity by changing course. Slay the overbearing father, disparage his legacy, and gain power by shining in your own way.

Law 42

Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep will Scatter

Trouble can often be traced to a single strong individual – the stirrer, the arrogant underling, the poisoned of goodwill. If you allow such people room to operate, others will succumb to their influence. Do not wait for the troubles they cause to multiply, do not try to negotiate with them – they are irredeemable. Neutralize their influence by isolating or banishing them. Strike at the source of the trouble and the sheep will scatter.

Law 43

Work on the Hearts and Minds of Others

Coercion creates a reaction that will eventually work against you. You must seduce others into wanting to move in your direction. A person you have seduced becomes your loyal pawn. And the way to seduce others is to operate on their individual psychologies and weaknesses. Soften up the resistant by working on their emotions, playing on what they hold dear and what they fear. Ignore the hearts and minds of others and they will grow to hate you.

Law 44

Disarm and Infuriate with the Mirror Effect

The mirror reflects reality, but it is also the perfect tool for deception: When you mirror your enemies, doing exactly as they do, they cannot figure out your strategy. The Mirror Effect mocks and humiliates them, making them overreact. By holding up a mirror to their psyches, you seduce them with the illusion that you share their values; by holding up a mirror to their actions, you teach them a lesson. Few can resist the power of Mirror Effect.

Law 45

Preach the Need for Change, but Never Reform too much at Once

Everyone understands the need for change in the abstract, but on the day-to-day level people are creatures of habit. Too much innovation is traumatic, and will lead to revolt. If you are new to a position of power, or an outsider trying to build a power base, make a show of respecting the old way of doing things. If change is necessary, make it feel like a gentle improvement on the past.

Law 46

Never appear too Perfect

Appearing better than others is always dangerous, but most dangerous of all is to appear to have no faults or weaknesses. Envy creates silent enemies. It is smart to occasionally display defects, and admit to harmless vices, in order to deflect envy and appear more human and approachable. Only gods and the dead can seem perfect with impunity.

Law 47

Do not go Past the Mark you Aimed for; In Victory, Learn when to Stop

The moment of victory is often the moment of greatest peril. In the heat of victory, arrogance and overconfidence can push you past the goal you had aimed for, and by going too far, you make more enemies than you defeat. Do not allow success to go to your head. There is no substitute for strategy and careful planning. Set a goal, and when you reach it, stop.

Law 48

Assume Formlessness

By taking a shape, by having a visible plan, you open yourself to attack. Instead of taking a form for your enemy to grasp, keep yourself adaptable and on the move. Accept the fact that nothing is certain and no law is fixed. The best way to protect yourself is to be as fluid and formless as water; never bet on stability or lasting order. Everything changes.

http://www2.tech.purdue.edu/cg/courses/cgt411/covey/48_laws_of_power.htm