Humans can broadly be divided into two types – those with a Tribal Mentality and those with a Humanist Mentality. Both mentalities exist in most people to varying degrees.
Tribalists tend to be loyal to their own group, community or society. They tend to be nationalist and conservative. In extreme cases Tribalistsdehumanise and demonise outgroups. They tend to focus on the conflicts of interest that can exist between various groups. They suffer from what behavioural psychologists call the outgroup homogeneity bias (individuals tend to see members of their own group as being relatively more varied than members of other groups).
Humanists tend to look at people as individuals, and to see the similarities that exist between different societies, rather than the differences. They tend to be cosmopolitan and progressive. They tend to focus on co-operation between groups, rather than conflicts of interest.
People with a Tribal Mentality regard those with a Humanist Mentality as treacherous, cowardly and naïve. People with a Humanist Mentality regard those with a Tribal Mentality as bigoted, narrow-minded and irrational.
Examples of very Tribalist groups would include German Neo-Nazis, Russian nationalists, Japanese supremacists, Muslim fundamentalists, extremist Irish Catholic Nationalists, American Exceptionalists and so forth. The point is: the tribal mentality is found in all societies. In Sri Lanka, many Buddhist monasteries are hotbeds of ultranationalist, reactionary, anti-Tamil extremism. So even a peaceful religion like Buddhism can be co-opted by Tribalists. All these tribalist groups tend to be xenophobic, but the irony is that they have much more in common with each other than they do with Humanists. For example, an American Exceptionalist has more in common with a Muslim fundamentalist, than either type does with a Humanist – because both the American Exceptionalist and the Muslim fundamentalist have a Tribal Mentality.
Often, the anger of Tribalists is not focused on other tribes, but on what they call “the Liberal Elite” (i.e. Humanists). Humanists also exist in all societies and, what is more, they tend to agree with each other even though they are from different societies. In other words, Humanists everywhere in the world form alliances in a way that Tribalists cannot. The real danger for Tribalists comes not from other tribes (extremists need opposing extremists in order to exist) – the real danger comes from Humanists, who tend to be shrewd. Hence the diatribes from Tribalists about the “Liberal Elites” whom they suspect of trying to take over the world by taking control of universities, internationalist institutions, the media, human rights organisations and so forth. In one sense, the Tribalists are correct – the Enlightenment revolution in philosophy, with its humanist concepts of human rights, democracy, rationality and personal freedom, has made great progress in taking over the world. Humanism has a universal appeal that transcends any particular tribalism. So don’t worry, if anyone is going to take over the world, it is not going to be any particular group ofTribalists – it will be the Humanists. So be happy!
Humans can broadly be divided into two types – those with a Tribal Mentality and those with a Humanist Mentality. Both mentalities exist in most people to varying degrees.
Tribalists tend to be loyal to their own group, community or society. They tend to be nationalist and conservative. In extreme cases Tribalistsdehumanise and demonise outgroups. They tend to focus on the conflicts of interest that can exist between various groups. They suffer from what behavioural psychologists call the outgroup homogeneity bias (individuals tend to see members of their own group as being relatively more varied than members of other groups).
Humanists tend to look at people as individuals, and to see the similarities that exist between different societies, rather than the differences. They tend to be cosmopolitan and progressive. They tend to focus on co-operation between groups, rather than conflicts of interest.
People with a Tribal Mentality regard those with a Humanist Mentality as treacherous, cowardly and naïve. People with a Humanist Mentality regard those with a Tribal Mentality as bigoted, narrow-minded and irrational.
Examples of very Tribalist groups would include German Neo-Nazis, Russian nationalists, Japanese supremacists, Muslim fundamentalists, extremist Irish Catholic Nationalists, American Exceptionalists and so forth. The point is: the tribal mentality is found in all societies. In Sri Lanka, many Buddhist monasteries are hotbeds of ultranationalist, reactionary, anti-Tamil extremism. So even a peaceful religion like Buddhism can be co-opted by Tribalists. All these tribalist groups tend to be xenophobic, but the irony is that they have much more in common with each other than they do with Humanists. For example, an American Exceptionalist has more in common with a Muslim fundamentalist, than either type does with a Humanist – because both the American Exceptionalist and the Muslim fundamentalist have a Tribal Mentality.
Often, the anger of Tribalists is not focused on other tribes, but on what they call “the Liberal Elite” (i.e. Humanists). Humanists also exist in all societies and, what is more, they tend to agree with each other even though they are from different societies. In other words, Humanists everywhere in the world form alliances in a way that Tribalists cannot. The real danger for Tribalists comes not from other tribes (extremists need opposing extremists in order to exist) – the real danger comes from Humanists, who tend to be shrewd. Hence the diatribes from Tribalists about the “Liberal Elites” whom they suspect of trying to take over the world by taking control of universities, internationalist institutions, the media, human rights organisations and so forth. In one sense, the Tribalists are correct – the Enlightenment revolution in philosophy, with its humanist concepts of human rights, democracy, rationality and personal freedom, has made great progress in taking over the world. Humanism has a universal appeal that transcends any particular tribalism. So don’t worry, if anyone is going to take over the world, it is not going to be any particular group of Tribalists – it will be the Humanists. So be happy!
Sally’s husband was often abusive. One morning, over breakfast, Hank began yelling at her because she was on the phone instead of keeping him company. Later, after Hank went to work, Sally picked up his shirts from the laundry, ran some other errands for him, and decided to cook his favourite dish for dinner. Do you think Sally did the right thing?
Sally, alas, believed that if she could only create an ideal loving home atmosphere, her husband’s abusiveness would stop. Unfortunately, she was in fact rewarding her husband’s negative behaviour In response to his outbursts, Hank found his chores done for him and he was served his favourite dinner. Why would he change his treatment of his wife when she responds so positively?
The events that follow an action will weaken or strengthen the likelihood it will occur again. In behavioural psychology, this is called the “Law of Effect” and states that behaviour varies as a function of its consequences.
Hence, if Sally is nice to Hank when he treats her badly, she is teaching him to continue being abusive. By putting up with Hank’s abusive behavior, Sally gives him the message that it’s okay to treat her that way. If she showed him instead that she was willing to be especially kind and helpful only when he was considerate and loving, a positive pattern would be more likely to develop.
Similarly, Tommy believed that kindness would overcome unkindness. He sent flowers to his wife whenever she flared up at him, hoping this gesture would put her in a good mood. Instead, it only encouraged her to flare up at him even more. If Tommy understood the psychological Law of Effect, he would not repay his wife’s unkindness with kindness but with a firm, assertive response that clearly expressed his unhappiness.
Keep in mind:The meek shall inherit the earth because the aggressive people of the world will trample their face into it! Despite the Biblical decree, if you always turn the other cheek all you’ll end up with is a completely sore face.
To encourage positive and discourage offensive behaviour:
Do not reward behaviours in others that you wish to eliminate.
Follow actor Alan Alda’s advice: “Be fair with others, but then keep after them until they’re fair with you.”
Learn to speak up assertively.
Do not reward unkind behaviour from others.
If someone treats you badly, say so – do not smile and pretend it’s okay.
Remember: Think well, act well, feel well, be well!
Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: The patriarchs’ acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been known for years, but Israel is a stubborn people and nobody wants to hear about it.
This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai. Most of those who are engaged in scientific work in the interlocking spheres of the Bible, archaeology and the history of the Jewish people – and who once went into the field looking for proof to corroborate the Bible story – now agree that the historic events relating to the stages of the Jewish people’s emergence are radically different from what that story tells.
What follows is a short account of the brief history of archaeology, with the emphasis on the crises and the big bang, so to speak, of the past decade. The critical question of this archaeological revolution has not yet trickled down into public consciousness, but it cannot be ignored.
Funk & Wagnalls Standard Desk Dictionary – definition of the word, trust as (trust) n. A confidence in the reliability of persons or things without careful investigation.
Trust is something that we strive for in our relationships with people and in certain things. Trust gives us a feeling of comfort and security when we express feelings and concerns about our situations. It starts out as a child; we know nothing other than to trust our parents or guardians to keep us happy, fed, cuddled and safe from the “BoogeyMan.”
While growing up, we never consider the thought of losing trust in our friends and family members as they are the ones’ who we have spent many hours of building fond memories; ones that will carry us into our adult years, giving us so much to share with our children.
Being trustworthy is a positive characteristic that should be worn as a badge of honor. It is good to know that you can be trusted. It is good to know that you can trust another.
We live our lives giving and accepting trustworthy advice from not only our friends and family but from other people such as our doctors, bankers, educators and even our repairmen hoping for the most honest opinion and correct information regarding our circumstances and well being.
It is also something that truly has to start from within; know that you can be a good friend or advice giver to someone who is in need. Give unconditionally, your time and effort without it being confused with naivety.
Speak less of what you may not know about. Be a good listener.
When you are involved in a situation that may be good, bad or indifferent, be aware of what you say and to whom you say it to. Your words can be misconstrued and turned into a realm of lies and deceit.
But when that level of trust is cut down by a person or state of affairs, we are then given a reason to lower our expectations, cause doubt, build walls and blur our vision of the things that really matter. It has been said that there is a reason for everything. And a few of the reasons that someone will do something to another is because of hidden resentment, false pride, fear, greed, selfishness and lack of confidence in that person, situation or themselves.
Give others the benefit of doubt.
Allow people to make mistakes and admit to them. It is the one who does not admit to their poor actions and who falsely accuse others of the things they know they have done, that need to be condemned. And for that they can not be trusted.
There is always more than one side to a story and out of the two there is definitely one that is the truth.
There are times that a person or situation may cause you to lose trust if so, before it destroys a good thing, hear what has to be said, listen with your heart and mind and if you are involved in any way, accept your position without conviction. Be accountable for your actions. Never deny your involvement. Say what you need to say. Getting things out in the open, will hopefully keep the right doors open for healthy relations with others. It is a matter of trust.
Have faith that all will be reconciled. Move on and if not, one thing is for sure, as we live our lives and deal with people and circumstances there are things that are going to happen that may cause us hardship and despair, work it out for the better or worse. It truly can or may not be as bad as it seems, if so try to accept that “Pobodys’ Nerfect” (Nobodys’ Perfect, even so) remember that as we continue to develop relationships with people, trust your personal thoughts, words and decisions. No one person has control over the responsibilities of another.
Trust, it is the one thing that develops over time but takes a minute to destroy.
What would the implications be if we discovered that God want or need nothing from nobody? I know some of the readers may experience feelings of anxiety, fear, anger or even panic when they attempt to contemplate what might look like a preposterous statement far removed from the historical “God perceptions” that we grew up with. What would have happened to mankind if they discovered a long time ago that God actually never needed or expected anything from anyone?
Would there have been any meaningful theology?
Would there have been any churches?
Would there have been the endless number of religions and spiritual movements with all their individual dogmas?
Would there have been the ongoing love – fear relationships that many still experience today when they think of the God concept promoted by their church?
Would there have been fear of death, hell and Satan?
Would there have been fear of old age?
Would there have been the religious wars where many millions were killed in the name of various Gods?
Would there have been a Roman Catholic, Christian and a Muslim Movements that boast with billions of followers?
The reason why many of us still insist that God have always had strict requirements is because in some peculiar way it provides us with a sense of worthiness. Some might even reason that they will have to become atheists if they bought into the idea that God needs nothing from nobody. The idea never cross their mind that most of the God perceptions that they cling to were planted in their heads when still very young.
Churches, clergy, priests, emperors, kings etc. worked themselves into a very powerful and influential position by claiming that they are the earthly representatives of some or other God. They revealed hundreds of laws, rules, regulations and expectations that the God according to their perception of Him insist that must be enforced to make Him happy and assist Him to remain composed and not lose His cool. The prescriptions were always linked to dire warnings that, if ignored or not address to the letter would result in serious punishment in the near future or in some kind of afterlife. These warning included predictions of death, destruction, famine, droughts and hardship. These predictions were initially enough to control their followers and keep them subservient. It later became necessary to turn up the heat regarding God’s expectations and needs. This is where those that thought that they might get away with disobedience to God’s commands (like totally wiping out a so-called pagan nation) discovered that God also have a record keeping system and a court of law in heaven that is waiting for those that failed to fulfil the stipulated requirements when they die . The concept of Hell and everlasting damnation after death tightened the screws of control to a level where most in a sheep like manner remain loyal to the church.
The endless laws, rules and regulations continued to flow from God through so-called inspired individuals until Constantine decided to collate a book (The Bible). All the mystical inspired chats between God and the authors suddenly dried up. Not a single person according to this philosophy have been inspire after this event. God vanished from the stage of life and apparently retreated into his heavenly abode. The clergy however kept churning out endless often self-serving commands by interpreting the historical laws and commandments and in this manner kept the upper hand, power and money flowing.
Stop for a moment and think about the statements that I made above. Let us play for a moment with the idea that God never demanded anything from anyone. What would the implications be if man made Gods for themselves in their own image? What would the implications be if the depictions of the Gods were wrong and that God never insisted on the endless range of requirements now cast in stone in their Holy Books? What if the real God (life force) never meddled with man and allowed each individual to work out his own fate and future on a moment to moment basis with the choices he or she make? What if God gave man free will to make any choice and never metered out any punishment, but like a good parent allows His now physically mature children to learn via their own mistakes? Do not reject this option. Think about it for a moment and you will discover that a million and one things that might have bothered you about your current God concept now suddenly fall into place.
Most of us sooner or later discover that we have two forces that course through our veins. We automatically vacillate between the “upper” and “lower” limits of this force on a moment to moment basis. The UPPER end of the pole of this system is called the “ACTION” zone and the “LOWEST” end of this pole is characterized as the “NON-ACTION” zone. The feelings generated by thoughts, events or for that matter everything and everyone we encounter decides the quality of the output we intend using to deal with the matter at hand. The mistake we make is that many of us think that we are at the mercy of this so-called automatic reaction patterns that endlessly flood our minds and hearts daily. We jump with joy and run like the wind when good feelings are generated by the thought or event that we are confronted with (ACTION) or shut down and retreat into a dark place in our minds (NON-ACTION). What many of us never knew or understood is that there is no need to remain a victim of our historical conditioning or past mistakes. All that is real and valid is our current moment. We can if we decide to take control act in an appropriate and powerful manner notwithstanding the threat and feelings of doubt that we might be confronted with. You are part of a universal force that caters for evolution on a moment to moment basis. Call this force God my friend if it will make you feel more comfortable. This force is fair and allows every living thing in the universe to evolve, grow and expand notwithstanding his or her history. You can make a fresh start on a moment to moment basis. You are allocated 86400 new moments in any given day where you can make a fresh start. There is no need to fear failure or hide in the “NON-ACTION” zone. The NON-ACTION zone is a place where you become stagnant and RESIST risking the possibility of getting hurt or disappointed. The choices you make decide the quality of the outcomes you experience daily. Very few of us understand that not making a choice is actually also a choice that you make. You choose NON-ACTION and RESISTANCE and give up control.
Spend some time today to probe why you have this reluctance to take action. What is the cause of the resistance deep inside you that is preventing you from being the best you that you can ever be? Now make a list of all the things you will do if you knew that you cannot fail. Make a list of everything that comes to mind. Think it and then ink it. I will continue this series tomorrow.
Being at peace is the wonderful state of mind and body where all is calm, where thoughts are quiet and serene, and where muscles are relaxed and comfortable. In this article, you’ll learn how to attain this inner peace in a matter of minutes.
Once you are adept at controlling your mind and body, you are always only one simple thought away from perfect peacefulness.
You can “will” perfect peacefulness at any time. You will be able to move out of stressful situations immediately. All you need to do is follow a few simple steps to train yourself. A little practice is all that is required. But, you must take the time to direct the mind and body in positive ways so that you can ensure the pleasures of inner peace.
You’re at the wheel. So let’s drive on!
Let peace happen.
Being at peace is a choice. When we stop struggling and fighting the world around us—and the world within us—peace can happen. Our individual fight is with our thoughts, emotions and physical bodies. The fighting can be directed toward ourselves or those we face each day. Here are several approaches to quickly give up the fight and win at the same time.
There are many ways your physical body can take on struggles you face each day. Maybe you clench your jaw when you get mad. Maybe you collect tension across the back of your neck and shoulders. Maybe butterflies trouble your stomach. The first step is being aware of what you are doing. The second step is to consciously make the choice to release the tension.
Your mind takes on struggles in the form of mental images. Do you tend to imagine the ideal end result or the worst possible situation? Troubling and negative mental images translate into unpleasant emotions and stressful physical reactions.
Choose carefully the thoughts you think because they absolutely affect how you feel. Realize that the only person who can change your thoughts is you. You can then take charge and change your thoughts for the better.
Emotions are natural physiological changes that occur when thoughts are held in your mind. You can easily direct your emotional states by changing your posture; for example, sit straight, tilt your head, use facial expressions, walk differently, etc. You can also direct your emotional states by holding brighter and more pleasing visual images in mind. You have the choice, but you must make the choice.
Creating Peace of Mind
To create peace within yourself, simply relax your body and breathing; then, direct the mind.
A still body is the reflection of a calm mind, but the mind cannot be still until the body is still.
Begin by making your body comfortable. Then release areas of tension. As example, gentle movements of the neck and shoulder muscles can help stretch and release tension in those areas.
Breathing in an even and steady way will quickly calm both the body and mind. Make the inhale and exhale of equal length without any pauses in between. Your breathing will become smooth and even.
The next step is to quiet the mind. Start by bringing your awareness into this present moment, here and now. By doing this you can effectively eliminate distracting or troubling thoughts. Any anxieties about the future or tensions from the past will leave your mind and body.
Another way to direct the mind is to direct your inner voice–especially if it is anxious or overbearing. Play with the idea of changing the volume of your inner voice. Have it be quieter.
Modify the tone of you inner voice until it is pleasant, warm and nurturing. You can have it say pleasant and comforting words to you—words of encouragement and self esteem. Some people even repeat soothing words or phrases in a rhythmic way.
The final step is to hold images that encourage a peaceful mind. For thousands of years, prayerful and meditative people have directed the mind by holding steady mental pictures. For example, the image of a candle flame can be used to concentrate one’s attention and steady the mind. You can use images of a peaceful scene from nature, a vacation setting, an imaginary room of comfort, a cathedral, rose bushes, or anything calming, wonderful, and peaceful.
What To Do Once You’ve Got There.
Getting to a relaxed state of mind and body by the above steps may take 20-30 minutes at first. With practice, however, you’ll be able to accomplish this within a few minutes.
When you try to extend this peaceful feeling for long periods of time, you may find that your mind will race to other thoughts. After all, your mind is trained to race, to go full throttle, all day long. If you suddenly stop for 20 minutes, will your mind to cooperate? No. It will do what you trained it to do for the 16 hours–race!
So, what’s the solution? How do you create a peace-filled life, and not peaceful three-minute spurts? Take it one moment and one thought at a time. Bring peaceful, serene, and positive images and feelings into the rest of your day. Learn to release tensions as they occur. Learn to direct your thoughts and emotions at the time they start getting out of hand. You’ll discover that not only can you create a peacefulness, but you are living a peace-filled life.
There is a saying that ignorance is bliss. This might be true for some, but it is as far as I am concerned the root cause of most of our suffering, pain and anxiety. Accepting life, people, religion, politics, perceptions, choices, rules and laws at face value imprisoned the mind of mankind. Looking at anything in life from a single perspective is the lazy way out. Seeing and experiencing from a limited range of perspectives have shackled man almost since its inception. Primitive man could not read, write or decipher the range of threats that confronted them and were forced to turn to priests and other individuals for guidance. This disposition provided a wonderful opportunity for those that claimed that they understood to take over control of their followers minds. The initial flimsy net that these opportunists wove gradually grew stronger and more sophisticated.
You will later see how this initial ignorance created an ideal vehicle of enslavement for those in control. Mankind have been kept in a state of ignorance since the beginning of time by greedy power hungry individuals, groups and organizations. Primitive methods of pain, pleasure and hope were used to restrain the masses. Man experienced fleeting moments of pleasure while they blindly obeyed the “commands” of these controllers. Thousands of written laws, spiritual and otherwise came into being over the years. Those that remained subdued and subservient were praised and rewarded while anyone that questioned anything faced the intricate range of pain that these controllers could bring to bear on them. They were cruelly tortured in the dark ages when they questioned anything to do with religion or the state.
Mankind became the slaves of the controllers. They were carefully manipulated to let go of a fair percentage of their hard earned income. The state took their pound of flesh while the religious leaders demanded at least ten percent of all income earned as well. The system sucked in mankind to such an extent that only a handful of individuals over the years showed the courage to point out the deadly trap that we find ourselves in up to today. Do you grasp that the slaves of this system not only police the deadly system on behalf of the controllers, but breed the future slaves that will take over from them when they produce children? I can write a fairly substantial book on this subject matter, but believe that you can see what I am addressing in this document.
My plea is that everyone make it his or her business to get rid of the veil of ignorance that is responsible for most of their anxiety, pain and lack. You might have noticed that I post a very wide range of perceptions daily on an endless range of subjects. My motivation is that I want you to look at stuff from many different perspectives. Nothing is as it seems. I will continue to write on the endless range of methods used to keep us ignorant if I get a fairly acceptable responds on this post.
Happy people have an advantage over unhappy ones — they may be healthier and may live longer.
An extensive review of literature using seven types of evidence indicates that high subjective well-being (SWB), such as life satisfaction, optimism, and positive emotions, causes better health and longevity. The review, published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being (2011), examined 160 studies which showed compelling evidence that positive feelings predict health and longevity.
The findings of the review, based from seven types of evidence, are summarized below:
Longitudinal studies. These studies, which have large sample sizes and have followed participants for a decade or more, revealed that SWB was related to lower mortality rate in both healthy and diseased populations. Positive moods such as joy and happiness, life satisfaction, hopefulness, optimism, and a sense of humor were associated with reduced risk of mortality and predicted longevity.
Physiology and health. Moods and emotions are associated with biological markers such as blood pressure, cortisol, and inflammation. Studies found that pessimists have higher blood pressure levels. Anger and hostility were related not only to the development of cardiovascular disease, but also to disease progression and inflammation. Stress predicted lower levels of immune response; whereas, positive affect strengthened immunity. Positive affect was associated with greater social connectedness, perceived social support, and greater probability of performing healthy behaviors.
Experimental manipulations of emotions. In experimental studies, positive and negative moods are induced which are then measured. Research showed that participants exposed to positive mood induction had quicker cardiovascular recovery after a stressful task than subjects who were exposed to neutral and negative mood inductions. Studies also revealed that couples who were generally higher in hostility had slower wound healing than low hostile couples, as well as more tumor necrosis and a poorer immune response.
Animal studies. Animals are used in experimental research to obtain information about how certain positive and negative situations affect their health and longevity. Studies revealed that socially-stressed monkeys developed more extensive atherosclerosis than unstressed ones. Stress, threatening human behavior, and isolation suppressed the immune system of monkeys, chickens, and pigs. Pigs that learned a mastery task to obtain rewards, giving them some control over their environment, later showed quicker wound healing and carcass quality.
Quasi-experimental studies in natural settings. Studies in quasi-experimental studies suggest that events and disasters are associated with cardiovascular and immune changes. Disasters, bereavement, and observing exciting sports events can trigger cardiac deaths in vulnerable individuals. Further, people with work overload and worry showed higher cortisol response at awakening and on weekdays but not on weekends.
Interventions that influence SWB. Researchers found that transcendental meditation and progressive relaxation reduced blood pressure over a 3-month follow-up period, compared to a control group. People who wrote about intensely positive experiences had fewer health center visits for illness during the following 3 months, compared to people who wrote about a control topic. Patients who suffered from myocardial infarction, who received Type-A counseling (for Type A behavior) in addition to traditional cardiac counseling, were less likely to die within 5 years.
SW’s impact on quality of life and pain. Studies showed that positive emotions were related to lower pain and greater tolerance for pain. Patients suffering from fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis reported less pain with positive mood induction while women reported less pain to heat stimuli when looking at photos of their partner.
In sum, these converging studies form a compelling proof that SWB, such as happiness, causally influences health and longevity.
Man fear failure, pain, loss, embarrassment, rejection, and a wide range of other stuff. Why do we allow the element of fear to play such a devastating role in our lives? The main reason seems to be that we don’t want to endure pain, discomfort and anxiety because we don’t enjoy the feelings that flood our body and mind. Have the thought ever cross your mind that we don’t fear the same stuff universally? Some of us will allow a spider to sit in our hand without showing any anxiety or fear. Some of us will give a speech in front of a massive audience and enjoy it. There are those that seem to be immune to verbal abuse and rejection. A thick skin repels verbal abuse like a rug treated with a soil repellent. The reason why we have different fear patterns is because those that conditioned us during childhood had different things that they feared during your formative years. There are certain fears that are more universal. Religion and politics in the area where you grew up is usually responsible for specific fears. Fear became a universal control system that is used openly, but more often than not subliminally by governments, religion, banks etc. to put you in an almost endless state of fear. Look around you and you will discover that the whole system was designed to control the masses. The more we fear the thicker the walls become around us that keep us a prisoner. We fear rejection and take endless abuse by our partner. We fear financial pressure and eat the abuse of a slave driving boss daily. We fear crime and build prisons with high walls with barb wire that we live in. We are also controlled by our fear of other races, religions, political groups and the potential of disasters like earth warming or the second coming of Christ. We often fear Muslims and Muslims hate (form of fear) Christian. Can you see the endless invisible chains that keep us locked in a state of mental paralysis? The only way that you can escape the fear trap is to see things as they are and not the way that your controllers want you to view them. Take anything you fear and start researching it. Make it your business to fully understand the dynamics of the subject of your research. Dig deep and ask questions. Knowledge will set you free. Knowledge shines a light in the dark dungeons where fear hides in your mind. Most of the stuff you fear is nothing more than toothless paper tigers that make a lot of noise. Be bold and select one subject today that you would like to expose to the light. I guarantee you that there is virtually nothing that can threaten you once you start applying this principle. Remember someone is benefiting from your fear. Ask yourself who is benefiting from your state of fear and you will identify your fear source and at the same time grasp his/her or their motivation.
The reality is that the basic gospel tale and numerous other major biblical stories are found in a variety of cultures, before the Christian and Jewish eras. The reason for this scenario is not because the same “history” played out over and over again in various ages and places, like some bizarre and bloody film loop, but because these stories are myths that reflect natural, recurrent phenomena that are perceivable worldwide. Modern science and scholarship, based on numerous archaeological discoveries, biblical criticism and comparative mythology, have shown that the Bible is in large part myth.
Included in the most recent developments is the work of Israeli archaeologists Ze’ev Herzog and Israel Finkelstein, the latter being the director of the Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University and the co-author with Neil Asher Silberman of The Bible Unearthed. Also holding down the fort of biblical criticism formerly occupied by the German and English is the Danish school, including Thomas Thompson, author of The Mythic Past:
Biblical Archaeology and the Myth of Israel. This fact of biblical non-historicity has been known for centuries, however, and was particularly revealed in the 19th century. One of these 19th-century scholars was Dr. Inman, who wrote:
“We have demonstrated, as far as such a matter is capable of demonstration, that the Old Testament, which has descended to us from the Jews, is not the mine of truth which it has been supposed by so many to be: that not only it is not a revelation given by God to man, but that it is founded upon ideas of the Almighty which are contradicted by the whole of animate and inanimate nature. We showed that its composition was wholly of human origin, and that its authors had a very mean and degrading notion of the Lord of Heaven and Earth. We proved, what indeed [Bishop] Colenso [1814-1883] and a host of German critics have demonstrated in another fashion, that its historical portions are not to be depended upon; that its stories are of no more real value than so many fairy tales or national legends; that its myths can now be readily traced to Grecian, Babylonian, and Persian sources; that its miracles are as apocryphal as those told of Vishnu and Siva; and its prophecies absolutely worthless. We proved, moreover, that the remote antiquity of its authorship has been greatly exaggerated; that the stories of the creation, of the flood, of Abraham, of Jacob, of the descent into, and the exodus from, Egypt, of the career of Moses and the Jews in the desert, of Joshua and his soldiers, of the judges and their clients, are all apocryphal, and were fabricated at a late period of Jewish history…; that the so-called Mosaic laws were not known until long after the time of David…
We showed that the Jewish conception of the Almighty, and of His heavenly host, did not materially differ from the Greek idea of Jupiter and his inferior deities… We called attention to the apparently utter ignorance of the Jews that certain laws of nature existed, and of their consequent belief that defeat, disease, famine, slaughter, pestilence, and the like, were direct punishments of ceremonial or other guilt; while victory, wealth, virility, and old age were special and decided proofs of Divine favour. We showed that the Jews were, in general, an abject but very boastful race, and their spiritual guides—the so-called prophets—were constantly promising, but always vainly, a striking manifestation of the Almighty’s power in favour of the Hebrews…that histories were fabricated to give colour to these statements… we showed, moreover, that the race was imitative and readily adopted the religious ideas and practices of those who conquered them…. In fine, we showed that the Hebrews could not sustain the claim they made to be the especial people of God, and that their writings are of no more value, as records of absolute truth, or of Divine revelation, than the books of the Greeks, Persians, Egyptians, Hindoos, Chinese or the more modern Mahometans.”
As we can see, over a century ago what is just being exposed to the public was already known, in detail, and was accurately summarized, even without the benefit of modern archaeological discoveries. Concerning biblical imposture, Inman further remarks:
“…according to what is known as Mosaic law, it was a crime punishable by a lingering death to gather sticks on a Sabbath day (Num. 15:32-36); but it was no crime to kill all the males and women of a whole nation, and retain the maidens for private prostitution and for the use of the priest (Num. 31: 17, 18, 40, 41). In such a nation it was no crime to commit forgery—and of all the bearers of false witness, none exceeded in ancient times the Jewish writers in the Bible—but in mercantile England, the former has been at one time punished with death, and the latter by ignominious penalties.”
The sentiments expressed by Inman and so many others during the 19th century came on the heels of the higher biblical criticism that so handily exposed the mythical nature of biblical texts. Indeed, the cacophony concerning the Bible, a book that had been violently compelled upon Europeans for centuries, was loud and nearly universal at that time. It is clear is that these critics, who included freethinkers, Christians and Jews alike, upon discovering that they had been duped, understandably became angry. Instead of junking the old, cruel, bogus and bigoted system, and creating a new and improved ethic, however, the vested interests regrouped and fired back, with the result that critics were stifled and the scholarship subsequent to WWII did not approach that of the previous two centuries. The ridicule, by those who believed the ridiculous, and the economic pressure, by those who held the purse strings, won out. It is also apparent that the educational system was deliberately dumbed down.
Before the reader enters into a brave new world, she or he is asked to inquire of her or himself: Do you truly want to continue to have religious “enemies?” Do you really wish to think of your friends, family members and neighbors, who may not believe as you do, as being “lost,” “infidel” or “evil,” and to live in suspicion and fear of them? Or feeling superior to them? Would it not be more pleasant and refreshing to know that, behind mythological and fantastical accretions, your beliefs and morals are essentially the same as those of your so-called adversaries? That most of us are human beings trying to manage and make sense of the world the best we can? That we are, in fact, one family sharing one home? In reality, the study of the origin of religion demonstrates that, despite the obvious divisiveness of modern religions, many cultures worldwide share a common heritage, one more fascinating and wondrous than has been perceived or depicted over the past few millennia. It is to this engrossing and shared inheritance that we shall now turn, with a mind to understanding our past and progressing in our future.
My mood was cold, dark, and directionless. My tortured mind was filled with thoughts of missed opportunities and broken promises.
The cutting wind on my unshaven face made my eyes water and drove the dark clouds of depression into my shattered soul.
The years slipped by like fleeting dreams. Moments of joy and victory came and vanished like the waves of the ocean bashed on the black rocks of sadness.
I looked up and noticed the sheets of rain that endlessly poured its gift of life and growth in all directions.
A thought darted into my tired defeated mind. I suddenly noticed how nature shares her abundance with everyone and everything.
Mother Nature is not selective when she sends gifts of rain and sunshine to feed, nourish and rejuvenate everything with a smattering of life at their core.
These gifts of life are given to the seeds that are still sleeping in the soil. The dark scorched earth will soon put on a new coat of colour and in turn pass on these gifts of life to the bees, birds and everything else that waited patiently on Mother Nature to return as she has done since the beginning of time.
I suddenly understood that it is mankind’s inability to give unconditionally that is responsible for the inequality that drips off this planet like black wax from a candle.
Our homes are filled to the brim with stuff, but we want more, better, faster and the latest. Something inside us drives us like a hungry pack of wolves forward in our quest to feed our greedy ego.
There is no time for compassion in our busy lives. Poverty stares at us on every corner, but we are so obsessed with our own little world that we never notice that cold and hungry child on the corner of the street or a mother that worked her hands to the bone to serve us where we sit in our artificial castles sipping our wine of success.
The clouds of gloominess gradually lifted from my bowed shoulders. I knew what Mother Nature came to teach me in this dark night of my soul. She came to teach me about compassion and gratitude. She showed me that I must learn to give unconditionally and abundantly if I want to make a contribution to life on this planet.
I noticed that the sun began to break through the clouds announcing that the rain moved on to go and do some more teaching down the road. A rainbow suddenly appeared on the horizon. I slowly got up, wiped the water from my face, pushed back my shoulders with new hope in my heart against the backdrop of the singing of the birds that were thanking Mother Nature in advance for the new gifts that she will bring the next time she pays us a visit. She will like before pour her gifts on the rich and the poor, on those that have in abundance and those that have virtually nothing. She deposits her gifts on everyone regardless of their status, race or career and knows that a time will come when mankind has evolved enough to grasp that we are one and an extension of her.
THE SOFTWARE THAT CONTROLS EVERYTHING YOU DO AND THINK!
ACCORDING TO YOUR EGO, HAPPINESS MUST ALWAYS INVOLVE A PAY POLICY, A PLAN, SOME JUSTIFICATION, HARD WORK AND STRUGGLE. THE EGO IS ALL THAT STANDS BETWEEN YOU AND HAPPINESS, LOVE, PEACE OF MIND AND INSPIRATION!
THE SYSTEM THAT CONTROLS YOUR DESTINY: Your ego is the sum total of all your small ideas you hold about yourself. Your ego and the perceptions you have of yourself will regulate every thought or action in your life. The ego has never been photographed or x-rayed. No autopsy ever revealed this powerful control system called the ego. You can search the web right now and see if you can find a photo or illustration of the ego anywhere.
The ego is nothing more that a collection of ideas that you have of yourself. Your ego creates the impression that you separate from everything that you see around you. This mechanism is the software that you run your life on. All your actions and decisions that you make stem from this source. When you look at most modern appliances and motor vehicles you will discover that most of them have “computers” that that regulates and controls the overall performance of such appliances. Instructions are programmed into these “micro chips” that direct and control all the functions of these devices. These instructions are called the software.
Our egos are nothing more than our collective perceptions that we have of ourselves that are programmed into our subconscious minds. We act and react as if all these perceptions are true and allow our egos to run us in the same way that a cheap microchip controls your toaster in the kitchen. It is vitally important to understand that your ego and your real self are two separate systems.
You real self is perfect and connected to everything in the universe while you ego is the programmed perceptions that are predominantly false, outdated and warped. You ego software wants you to feel isolated and separated from everything else. We have in previous thoughts studied the motives and intensions of the programmers that played a vital role in the preparation of this software.
The impression was created that everything that could possibly be fun, productive or happiness generating is outside your reach. Most people search for happiness and contentment for the best part of their lives. These people are too afraid to challenge the programmers and must thus labour under this misconception for the rest of their lives.
If you were programmed to feel unworthy, unlovable and not good enough you will continue to strive and search for acceptance that might never come. This clever move to remove happiness from you and convince you that you must constantly qualify for happiness has been at the bottom of most of your pain and fear.
The illusion that you are a separate entity and that you must go from where you “are” to where you “want to be” have caused indescribable pain and suffering for many people. They searched and strived their hearts out and still found that happiness remained just out of their reach. They bought the bullshit of separation and continue to run like hell like a rat on a treadmill in an attempt to catch happiness, success and peace of mind.
They prayed and hope that someone or something will one day hand them what they are yearning for. Everything that we do is focused on generating feelings of happiness. We hope that money, friendships or status will bring us this feeling of happiness. We all achieve moments of happiness, but soon discover that it is temporary and that it slips away from us like a peace of wet soap on a tile floor.
The illusion that we must qualify and strive puts us under constant pressure all the time. We believe the software that states that we are removed from happiness and as such never feel that we are worthy to just be happy without paying some kind of price.
Your ego programmed with your perceptions of yourself puts you through hell on earth. You are always on the back foot and feel that success; love and happiness might be hiding around the next corner or in another city or relationship. You might find this difficult to accept, but you are already “there” and may enjoy the “now” without buying a ticket or paying any price. You can only appreciate this permission if you understand that the “now” in its imperfect state is better than the illusion of potential happiness that you hope you will feel when you arrive at your selected destination.
The expectation of potential happiness that you will enjoy when you arrive at your destination will never really materialise. You will continue to run on the treadmill of life after these illusive dreams until the day you die. The fleeting moments of happiness when you achieve small objectives cannot be compared to the ongoing happiness that you can experience when you appreciate what you already have. If you do not own a three-story house with a wonderful view right now you can still fully enjoy where you live right now until you one day achieve this objective.
There is no need to postpone your happiness.
This happiness shift requires of you to sterilise your ego. To get rid of the perception that you are unworthy and that you must first qualify or achieve something before you can be happy.
You are already perfect and will remain perfect notwithstanding the defective software of your ego. You have the right to enjoy life one moment at a time notwithstanding your current station in life. You will achieve all your gaols and objectives if you become patient and allow time to pass. You are not the new vehicle, your job title, your sins and the house that you live in.
You are not the warped perceptions that you have been conditioned to believe since the day of your birth. These perceptions want you to fight, strive, grovel and suffer in your endless pursuit of something that you already have and own.
1. A child reared without clear boundaries has little chance of success. Limits are necessary to give purpose, direction and structure to life. The fool swims in a boundless sea of opportunity and finally drowns because of his failure to latch onto a specific purpose. He tries to own the sea while the wise man selects a single purpose (opportunity/goal) and then pursue it with all his heart. The wise man understands the power of commitment and focused thought and is well rewarded.
2. A defeated person becomes indifferent about his fate. He finally stops feeling ashamed or sorry. He stops resisting and fighting to reclaim his dignity. The wise is very aware that passive behaviour could make him act like a dog with a broken spirit. Our parks are filled with defeated individuals that tragically accepted their fate in life.
3. A desperate or worried person displays the tendency to cling to anything or anyone that displays even slight compassion. A true warrior understands that this behaviour will eventually exhaust the person that he clings to. A champion never makes panic decisions or choices. He lives in the moment and knows that his winter season will pass like so many times before and make way for a brand new summer.
4. A few moments of indiscretion could become a burden that you might haunt you for the rest of your life. The need for instant gratification is usually at the root of most of our less spectacular choices. Any choice that we make can be compared to the pull of a trigger on a gun. Once the bullet leaves the barrel it cannot be recalled.
5. A good friend is like a good investment. To make good longterm friends be a friend. Friends become a shield in troubled times. Friendship is not a one-sided deal. There are people that claim that they are your friends, but they are often just stranger exploiting you. Several of the friends you make during your lifetime will stick a knife in your back the first time your friendship is really tested.
6. A grievance poisons your mind and chains you to the past. It leaves you bitter and twisted. Everyday of your life you chose between grievances and freedom. You must make up your mind if you want “pain” or “joy” or the “old” or the “new”. When you choose to go for freedom then learning the art of letting go becomes a top priority. When you have mastered the art of letting go of your history you begin to predominantly live in the now.
7. A man that cannot find enough compassion in his heart to forgive is a fool. We all make mistakes, but the fool continues trying to convince everybody that he is flawless. When you master the art of forgiveness you enter a safe harbour and gain peace of mind.
8. A man that is mature, fair and respectable is worth more than precious jewellery. Everybody respects maturity and predictability. Wisdom only comes to those that are slow to anger and careful in their judgement.
9. A man that lacks self-esteem needs titles and certificates to justify his position in life. A man at peace with who he is does not need the constant blessing or praise of others. Never allow a person’s title or position to intimidate or dominate you. See yourself on equal footing with others. Do not allow a person to intimidate you with his pedigree or current superior vantage point.
10. A man with willpower always has the best chance of coming out on top. The main reason why people fail is not because they do not have the skills and know-how, but because they lack the willpower. A person without willpower and determination always ends up the slave of those that do.
Rene
(from my book – PORTABLE LIFE SKILLS WISDOM GUIDE)
This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to “the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people.” He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person’s point of view and “arousing in the other person an eager want.” You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offence or arousing resentment. For instance, “let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers,” and “talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.” Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks.
The first self-help book I ever read was “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie. I just finished school and was looking for an inspirational book in a tiny, poorly stocked book store in Windhoek in Namibia. I came across Dale Carnegie’s book in the scant selection of books on a shelf right at the back of this dusty store. I unashamedly admit today that although this was the first “motivational” book that I ever owned when it still remains one of the top ten books I ever read when it came to practical advice regarding people skills. Many of you might have read the book or still have a copy on a shelf in your library. I would suggest that you read it again. It will refresh your memory on one of the most important principles when it comes to compassion. It will remind you that you can make more progress in all areas of your life if you develop a sincere interest in others. Dale indicates in this book that you can make more friends in two months by developing an awareness of the interests of others than you could achieve in two years using any other method.
We live in small boxes today surrounded by massive walls to keep intruders out that might dare to enter our comfort zones. We shout at each other over these walls and only on very rare occasions lower our draw bridge and venture out or invite anyone into our domain. Most of us go around with our defence shield up and remain on guard twenty four hours a day. The political climate that we live and work in might also have something to do with this unhealthy behaviour. We need to open up and become more vulnerable if we want to escape the deadly ruts that many of us fell in over the years. Some of us feel lonely and need friends, companionship and fun, but we often forgo on these desires because of our fears and warped self-interest. Everything revolves around us and our own dreams, desires and choices. We look at life, people and places through a self-interest one way mirrors. Our interests always come first and the interests of others never really feature at all. We have this “What is in it for me” attitudes that fail to address the needs of anyone else.
When last did you manage to get yourself out of the way long enough to listen and experience any human being, family member or friend with an open mind? Many of us developed a sick habit of judging everyone. We endlessly scan people for flaws or potential threats. We fail to listen to them when they talk. We listen to the first few words of their sentences and then jump to conclusions. We look at people through eyes that fail to see the pain or desperation in them. We listen to what people say and fail to read the subliminal call for help that they are possibly to proud or ashamed to express. Do we care enough to really hear what our partner or children are telling us? Are we alert enough to feel the emotions of the person that we are communicating with? I think we all of us might have some work to do when it comes to mastering the art of putting the interest of others first.
When last did you compliment anyone on anything? We as parents tend to only give attention to our children when they are sick or when they did something wrong. We as partners only become interested enough when our relationships begin to fall apart. We fail to notice the cracks and peeling paint in our relationships. We are so busy with our own agendas, self-interests and objectives that the pain and frustration experienced by our partner bounces off our egotistical shield. Can you see what major difference a shift in attention can make in your life? Can you accept that life is not only about you and your plans and goals? Can you understand that the formula for success is that your success if virtually guaranteed if you help enough other people to achieve their own goals and dreams?
So I suggest that you shut up the next time anyone talk to you and listen carefully what is said and what is not expressed verbally. God supplied you with two ears and one mouth. You must listen more and talk less. Put yourself in others’ shoes and ask yourself if you really know the story of the person that you are talking to. Stop jumping to conclusions and stop judging people on hearsay and second hand data. Stop forcing people to communicate to you through their history. Start each day with a new clean slate. We have so many prejudices and perceptions about everything that is cast in stone that it became impossible to see thing as they are in the moment. Set yourself free by putting the interest of others first for a while.
Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: The patriarchs’ acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been known for years, but Israel is a stubborn people and nobody wants to hear about it.
This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai. Most of those who are engaged in scientific work in the interlocking spheres of the Bible, archaeology and the history of the Jewish people – and who once went into the field looking for proof to corroborate the Bible story – now agree that the historic events relating to the stages of the Jewish people’s emergence are radically different from what that story tells.
What follows is a short account of the brief history of archaeology, with the emphasis on the crises and the big bang, so to speak, of the past decade. The critical question of this archaeological revolution has not yet trickled down into public consciousness, but it cannot be ignored.
Most of us sooner or later discover that we have two forces that course through our veins. We automatically vacillate between the “upper” and “lower” limits of this force on a moment to moment basis. The UPPER end of the pole of this system is called the “ACTION” zone and the “LOWEST” end of this pole is characterized as the “NON-ACTION” zone. The feelings generated by thoughts, events or for that matter everything and everyone we encounter decides the quality of the output we intend using to deal with the matter at hand. The mistake we make is that many of us think that we are at the mercy of this so-called automatic reaction patterns that endlessly flood our minds and hearts daily. We jump with joy and run like the wind when good feelings are generated by the thought or event that we are confronted with (ACTION) or shut down and retreat into a dark place in our minds (NON-ACTION). What many of us never knew or understood is that there is no need to remain a victim of our historical conditioning or past mistakes. All that is real and valid is our current moment. We can if we decide to take control act in an appropriate and powerful manner notwithstanding the threat and feelings of doubt that we might be confronted with. You are part of a universal force that caters for evolution on a moment to moment basis. Call this force God my friend if it will make you feel more comfortable. This force is fair and allows every living thing in the universe to evolve, grow and expand notwithstanding his or her history. You can make a fresh start on a moment to moment basis. You are allocated 86400 new moments in any given day where you can make a fresh start. There is no need to fear failure or hide in the “NON-ACTION” zone. The NON-ACTION zone is a place where you become stagnant and RESIST risking the possibility of getting hurt or disappointed. The choices you make decide the quality of the outcomes you experience daily. Very few of us understand that not making a choice is actually also a choice that you make. You choose NON-ACTION and RESISTANCE and give up control.
Spend some time today to probe why you have this reluctance to take action. What is the cause of the resistance deep inside you that is preventing you from being the best you that you can ever be? Now make a list of all the things you will do if you knew that you cannot fail. Make a list of everything that comes to mind. Think it and then ink it. I will continue this series tomorrow.
What I am going to reveal to you today will change your life if you grasp how the “system” turned you into a “slave”. I have been writing and lecturing on motivation, manifestation and goal setting etc. for many years. I wrote several books that address many of the aspects mentioned above. I spoke boldly to an endless number of audiences and became a “mind dynamics” instructor at a very young age. Something that bothered me was that I noticed that the audience’s “enthusiasm” bubble always gradually deflated soon after such lectures. Virtually none of the tools that I offered my inspired audience was used for any extensive period. I could motivate an audience to such an extent that I often found individuals left my lectures early to go and attend to something that he/she procrastinated on for years. I later soothed my conscience and viewed my “work” on the same level of an entertainer. I entertained my audience for a while and at the end of the evening left with a substantial cheque in my pocket. It slowly dawned on me that something was blocking the ability of my students to sustain the spark that I provided during my training and my lectures. It would appear as if I woke up a large percentage of my audience with my lectures. I penetrated some kind of veil that enveloped their ability to think outside the box. It would appear as if a barrier lifted for a while only to gradually sink back and shut off their good intentions.
Most people have a sheep “I am a victim” mentality
We have been programmed since early childhood to “follow”. Our parents began the process and “domesticated” us to do what they deemed is right and acceptable. Gradually more and more parental figures entered our lives and reinforced the “follower” mode of thinking. We were conditioned that “following” is respectable, rewarding, morally the right thing to do. Look around you today and you will be surprised how many “controllers” still play a massive role in your life. The work started by our parents was soon expanded on by teachers, ministers, the state, employers, lovers, partners, the media etc. All of them still influence every decision we make. We always first filter every situation, challenge, opportunity, problem or project through the “filter system” that they carefully installed into our brains. Spontaneous actions and reactions hardly ever form part of our life pattern. We might think that we have “free will” but we soon discover that the deduction we made is nothing more than an illusion.
Our subconscious mind
Our subconscious mind contains all the events that we have been exposed to since our arrival on this plane. The subconscious mind is a very fancy filing system that can recall all the feelings, emotions and images that formed part of our encounters in life. Any of these “data” packages can be recalled when “triggered” by our thoughts or any of our five senses. Most of us automatically and spontaneously react and respond with the same reaction patterns recorded historically. It must be kept in mind that the data (reaction patterns) have been “uploaded” by the parental figures as explained earlier. We thus endlessly repeat the same patterns when confronted with choices and decisions. Our subconscious minds do not validate or evaluate the historical perceptions or belief systems, but simply pass it on to our conscious minds as “truth”.
Our conscious mind
Our conscious mind should preferably compare the current set of circumstances that we are faced with, with the reality of the current moment before any action is taken. We unfortunately have been browbeaten into robot like creatures that simply react or act according to the historical thoughts and feelings that we experienced when faced historically with a similar set of circumstances. We are so afraid of potential pain or loss that very few of us dare to question our historical perceptions. This is the reason why I noted earlier that most of us do not really apply free will when faced with choices. It is sad to think that we became slaves to our perceptions and belief systems. Very few of us apply “will power” in all our day-to-day activities. A good question at this stage might be, “Why on earth do we neglect this powerful system?” The reason might surprise you.
We try to avoid pain, loss, rejection and abandonment.
We are so afraid to act outside the framework that we have been indoctrinated with that we rather do our “repeat performances” while at work or play. We mentally run away from any decision that might bring on feelings of fear, pain, unpredictability, loss and anxiety. We will rather remain the puppet of our subconscious mind and serve the agendas of those that initially uploaded our original “software” than go outside the box. My friend this is how we travel from the cradle to the grave in a hypnotic daze. The time has come for us to take our willpower back and experience real growth. This is easier set than done while we go around with our “victim” mentality. Many of us go around crying over spilled milk. We allow the daily events that we are confronted with to decide our fate and future. We enter a new growth phase when we begin to apply our God given willpower in our lives. This leap of faith is only possible when we start accepting responsibility for all our actions and choices.
Accepting responsibility
Many of us immediately look for something or someone to blame when things go wrong in our lives. We blame God, the weather, history, the current financial depression or recession for things that failed to work out as expected. Nothing is going to change until you accept that you were and still are responsible for everything in your life. You possibly made poor choices and now sit with certain uncomfortable outcomes. You will feel a rush of fresh energy in your system when you take responsibility for whatever transpired. You will feel invigorated when you admit your mistakes and take sustained action to rectify what transpired. Let the fear, doubt or anxiety wash over you. Become like a rock that withstands the onslaughts of the endless waves of the ocean. Stop thinking and acting like a victim. Stop blaming the world for your poor choices or for that matter anything that failed to turn out as you expected. Learn that life is not fair and that things often fail to work out the way you anticipated. This mode of thinking drains your energy and suck out your desire to win and overcome. When you begin to flex your willpower muscles, you become strong and fearless. You do not wait for things to happen. You make them happen. You begin to replace the old and often defective software that historically enslaved you. Nobody will be able to intimidate or dominate you. Try as they may they will no longer trigger old and outdated fear reactions in your heart and mind.
The key to a powerful willpower
The key is so simple that many of you might not even try my recommendations. The key is to PAUSE before you take action or react on anything. By pausing, you prevent the old and outdated habitual reaction patterns to run their course. Do not do the first thing that comes to mind. You might ask, “How will I know that I am on the verge of slipping back into the victim mode again?” A quick scan of the emotions that you experience will confirm that you are on the verge of victimhood again. You are back in victim mode when you experience doubt, fear, worry and anxiety. Your guide is always the feelings that you experience. You are in control when you experience good, pleasant, inspirational feelings. Your subconscious “automatic” reaction patterns are in control when you experience fear, anxiety, doubt, anger or any other negative and destructive feeling. The key is to PAUSE the moment you experience any negative feelings.
Ask the following questions. (Write down your answers)
Who is currently in control, my sub-conscious mind (historical reaction patterns) or my conscious mind (willpower)?
Am I at this moment in time mentally past (sub-conscious mind) focused or am I evaluating the current moment on its own merit (conscious mind, will power) focused in the now?
Who am I blaming for my current misfortune? (Someone or something else)
Am I busy flooding my mind with negative and destructive (sub-conscious mind) fears based on my historical perceptions or belief system?
What will happen if I decide to PAUSE for a moment and take no action?
What will happen if I do the first thing that comes to mind?
What is the quality of the conversations that I have with myself at this moment? (Negative – sub-conscious mind based or positive – reality based)
What will happen if I accept responsibility and start working on ways to remedy, repair, adjust or overcome the current problem?
What will happen if I stop listening to people that go around like prophets of doom? (Friends, family, media, TV,)
What is the worst that can happen if I apply willpower and move forward in a bold and constructive manner?
What is the worst thing that can happen if I make a fresh start right now and put whatever happened behind me? (Live in the past with a victim mentality – sub-conscious mind running the show)
Replacing old and outdated reaction patterns
The easy and most effective way to replace old and outdated reaction patterns is to sit back, close your eyes for a moment and relax.
See in your mind’s eye how your current victim mentality is stripping you of your dignity and creativity. Feel the negative and destructive feelings that are currently causing you discomfort.
Ask yourself – how is your current defeatist mentality making things better or solving your current problem?
Focus on these feelings and negative emotions for a few minutes and then mentally or verbally (if possible) firmly say, “PAUSE”. Do this with a commanding voice. Repeat this PAUSE instruction a few times if necessary.
Take a few deep breaths and then do the following.
Begin to visualise how you start acting in a decisive and goal directed manner. Feel how strong and in control you feel while your problems and obstacles dissolve like melting butter. Experience how your willpower kicks in and how it blows away all your feelings of fear and doubt. See how you take sustained action until the problem is solved or the project is completed.
You will be astounded how this short and dynamic exercise will produce outcomes that exceed all your expectations. Your new and decisive way of thinking and acting will sweep away barriers and hand you control of situations where you would have failed historically.
I am wishing you well and know that the above new way of thinking will make a massive difference in all areas of your life.
1. A child reared without clear boundaries has little chance of success. Limits are necessary to give purpose, direction and structure to life. The fool swims in a boundless sea of opportunity and finally drowns because of his failure to latch onto a specific purpose. He tries to own the sea while the wise man selects a single purpose (opportunity/goal) and then pursue it with all his heart. The wise man understands the power of commitment and focused thought and is well rewarded.
2. A defeated person becomes indifferent about his fate. He finally stops feeling ashamed or sorry. He stops resisting and fighting to reclaim his dignity. The wise is very aware that passive behaviour could make him act like a dog with a broken spirit. Our parks are filled with defeated individuals that tragically accepted their fate in life.
3. A desperate or worried person displays the tendency to cling to anything or anyone that displays even slight compassion. A true warrior understands that this behaviour will eventually exhaust the person that he clings to. A champion never makes panic decisions or choices. He lives in the moment and knows that his winter season will pass like so many times before and make way for a brand new summer.
4. A few moments of indiscretion could become a burden that you might haunt you for the rest of your life. The need for instant gratification is usually at the root of most of our less spectacular choices. Any choice that we make can be compared to the pull of a trigger on a gun. Once the bullet leaves the barrel it cannot be recalled.
5. A good friend is like a good investment. To make good longterm friends be a friend. Friends become a shield in troubled times. Friendship is not a one-sided deal. There are people that claim that they are your friends, but they are often just stranger exploiting you. Several of the friends you make during your lifetime will stick a knife in your back the first time your friendship is really tested.
6. A grievance poisons your mind and chains you to the past. It leaves you bitter and twisted. Everyday of your life you chose between grievances and freedom. You must make up your mind if you want “pain” or “joy” or the “old” or the “new”. When you choose to go for freedom then learning the art of letting go becomes a top priority. When you have mastered the art of letting go of your history you begin to predominantly live in the now.
7. A man that cannot find enough compassion in his heart to forgive is a fool. We all make mistakes, but the fool continues trying to convince everybody that he is flawless. When you master the art of forgiveness you enter a safe harbour and gain peace of mind.
8. A man that is mature, fair and respectable is worth more than precious jewellery. Everybody respects maturity and predictability. Wisdom only comes to those that are slow to anger and careful in their judgement.
9. A man that lacks self-esteem needs titles and certificates to justify his position in life. A man at peace with who he is does not need the constant blessing or praise of others. Never allow a person’s title or position to intimidate or dominate you. See yourself on equal footing with others. Do not allow a person to intimidate you with his pedigree or current superior vantage point.
10. A man with willpower always has the best chance of coming out on top. The main reason why people fail is not because they do not have the skills and know-how, but because they lack the willpower. A person without willpower and determination always ends up the slave of those that do.
Events can be manipulated to solve problems you are faced with. You can change things you’re not satisfied with.
While there’s no disputing the fact that you can’t always get what you want, it’s also true that you can exercise your innate power over the events of your life and make things go your way much more frequently.
To do so, you must understand and use the three mighty forces of power – desire, belief, and expectation. Before anything you want to happen can occur, you must desire that it happen. You must believe that it can happen. And you must expect it to happen. Let’s look at each of these three forces and then see how you can put them to work for you.
The First Power Force – Desire
Every manifestation of will is preceded by the desire to act. You must desire something before will can take action. In order to desire something, you must believe that you will gain a measure of satisfaction from it.
Anything you do, from the moment you wake up in the morning until the time you close your eyes to sleep in the evening, is precipitated by desire. Nothing is done that does not have a degree or more of desire behind it. To desire something is to feel there will be a measure of satisfaction after the getting of the thing. You cannot desire a thing unless you feel there will be some satisfaction in the attainment of that desire.
Avoidance of Pain Keeps Many People Stuck
Many people are stuck in a particular position in life simply because they feel that making a change would cause some measure of discomfort. To avoid the discomfort they linger in the existing state of affairs even though that causes discomfort as well. The sayings “Better the devil I know than the devil I don’t.” and “Don’t jump from the frying pan into the fire.” Express this sentiment.
Note the system of expectation at work here. When discomfort or pain is expected, the force works to keep you from making any change, even when the pain is imagined and may never take place.
Like all things, desire has degrees of strength. Consider the story of the disciple who went to his guru one day and asked, “Master, how do I achieve enlightenment?” The wise old guru directed the disciple to the bank of the Ganges River and had him kneel with his head over the water. Then the guru put his hand on the young man’s neck and pushed his head below the surface of the water. After a minute and a half the young disciple was frantic. He pulled and heaved and flailed his arms, but the grip was like iron. He could not get his head back out of the water. After two minutes, when it seemed as though his lungs would burst, the grip was released.
The young man’s head jerked out of the water and he took great gulps of air into his tortured lungs. The guru smiled. “Tell me,” he gently asked, ” what was your greatest desire just then?” “To breathe,” the young disciple stated emphatically. “Ah,” the guru said. “When you desire enlightenment to that degree, it shall be yours.”
To have a better understanding of desire, see it on an ascending scale, like a giant thermometer. At the bottom of the scale is zero, and at the top, one hundred.
When your desire is weak, near the bottom of the scale, it is unlikely that anything will motivate you to activate your will and accomplish the object of that desire. When your desire is near the top of the scale nothing can keep you from success in attaining that desire. To enhance desire, go to level and visualize the positive end result of what you desire to happen.
The Second Power Force – Belief
Belief is mental acceptance of some idea as being true. You accept ideas from others because they are authority figures. This setting of a belief in your mind (usually at a young and trusting age) comes about because you have absolute trust in the authority (generally the parent, sometimes the religious or educational institution, sometimes another trusted outside agency such as a relative, peer, or the media).
This acceptance can come about even when there are facts that contradict it. Reinforcement of beliefs strengthens until, faulty or true, they become a fundamental part of your thought processes. To entrench matters more, now beliefs are tested through the structure of the faulty belief, thereby compounding the problem. What this means is that you only accept information that reinforces the belief. Information that contradicts the belief is rejected.
The Third Force of Power – Expectation
Expectation is a mighty power indeed — so much so that a doctor can take an inert pill and tell a patient that it is a powerful drug, and the patient will react as though the actual drug had been taken. This well-documented phenomenon is called the placebo effect. It might also be called the “expectation effect.”
Of course, the placebo effect does not work all of the time. If it did, no one would bother with drugs at all. They would simply use placebos. It does, however, work with a significant and measurable percentage of success.
Expectation can be a powerful force in one’s life. How can you use expectation as a force in your life? Can you simply expect good things to happen and they will happen?
When you are told something by an authority figure you respect – say, a doctor, a teacher, a parent, or your boss – those words have an effect on all three levels, the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. When you believe this authority figure without hesitation or reservation, then that person’s expectation of you is more likely to come to be. With respect to your own expectation of yourself, however, you might well tell yourself, “I’m going to expect this to happen” only to hear a small voice responding, “Who are you kidding?”
The trick is to make yourself the respected authority figure. Expectation is enhanced with our techniques that entail going to one’s Alpha level and creating the visual imagery of the desired event already having taken place. This technique has a dual effect: it puts you in the position of acting as your own authority, and it reinforces your experience of yourself that way.
The more successful you become, the more you believe in yourself and the better you become at triggering the anticipated positive result of whatever event you are trying to bring about. As you grow into a better person better begets better and you do indeed grow better and better.
To build expectation, go to level and visualize the event as already having happened. When you come out of the alpha level, think about the event happening by a predetermined date. You will find more and more expected events coming to pass.
To help you change your expectation, recall the principle of correspondence – as above, so below; as below, so above. As it is with the seed, so it is with the tree. Start with the small if you want to affect the large. If you wish to bring about a change in a friend, in a parent, child, or spouse, change your own expectation. Begin to expect that which you desire to happen and you will note changes occurring.
Expect things on a smaller scale at first, as the smaller things come into being you begin to expect the major things to happen as well. Expectation is a force that can and should be discussed with others.
Expectation works with all people, and on all levels-on the family level, on the town, city, and country level, on the national, international, and universal level. The law is the law; what works with the small works with the mighty. What works with the molecule works with the universe.
Change your expectation and see your reality, your world, change to the degree that you wish it to change. And eventually you will arrive at the place you wish to be.
Man fear failure, pain, loss, embarrassment, rejection, and a wide range of other stuff. Why do we allow the element of fear to play such a devastating role in our lives? The main reason seems to be that we don’t want to endure pain, discomfort and anxiety because we don’t enjoy the feelings that flood our body and mind. Have the thought ever cross your mind that we don’t fear the same stuff universally? Some of us will allow a spider to sit in our hand without showing any anxiety or fear. Some of us will give a speech in front of a massive audience and enjoy it. There are those that seem to be immune to verbal abuse and rejection. A thick skin repels verbal abuse like a rug treated with a soil repellent. The reason why we have different fear patterns is because those that conditioned us during childhood had different things that they feared during your formative years. There are certain fears that are more universal. Religion and politics in the area where you grew up is usually responsible for specific fears. Fear became a universal control system that is used openly, but more often than not subliminally by governments, religion, banks etc. to put you in an almost endless state of fear. Look around you and you will discover that the whole system was designed to control the masses. The more we fear the thicker the walls become around us that keep us a prisoner. We fear rejection and take endless abuse by our partner. We fear financial pressure and eat the abuse of a slave driving boss daily. We fear crime and build prisons with high walls with barb wire that we live in. We are also controlled by our fear of other races, religions, political groups and the potential of disasters like earth warming or the second coming of Christ. We often fear Muslims and Muslims hate (form of fear) Christian. Can you see the endless invisible chains that keep us locked in a state of mental paralysis? The only way that you can escape the fear trap is to see things as they are and not the way that your controllers want you to view them. Take anything you fear and start researching it. Make it your business to fully understand the dynamics of the subject of your research. Dig deep and ask questions. Knowledge will set you free. Knowledge shines a light in the dark dungeons where fear hides in your mind. Most of the stuff you fear is nothing more than toothless paper tigers that make a lot of noise. Be bold and select one subject today that you would like to expose to the light. I guarantee you that there is virtually nothing that can threaten you once you start applying this principle. Remember someone is benefiting from your fear. Ask yourself who is benefiting from your state of fear and you will identify your fear source and at the same time grasp his/her or their motivation.
What would the implications be if we discovered that God want or need nothing from nobody? I know some of the readers may experience feelings of anxiety, fear, anger or even panic when they attempt to contemplate what might look like a preposterous statement far removed from the historical “God perceptions” that we grew up with. What would have happened to mankind if they discovered a long time ago that God actually never needed or expected anything from anyone?
Would there have been any meaningful theology?
Would there have been any churches?
Would there have been the endless number of religions and spiritual movements with all their individual dogmas?
Would there have been the ongoing love – fear relationships that many still experience today when they think of the God concept promoted by their church?
Would there have been fear of death, hell and Satan?
Would there have been fear of old age?
Would there have been the religious wars where many millions were killed in the name of various Gods?
Would there have been a Roman Catholic, Christian and a Muslim Movements that boast with billions of followers?
The reason why many of us still insist that God have always had strict requirements is because in some peculiar way it provides us with a sense of worthiness. Some might even reason that they will have to become atheists if they bought into the idea that God needs nothing from nobody. The idea never cross their mind that most of the God perceptions that they cling to were planted in their heads when still very young.
Churches, clergy, priests, emperors, kings etc. worked themselves into a very powerful and influential position by claiming that they are the earthly representatives of some or other God. They revealed hundreds of laws, rules, regulations and expectations that the God according to their perception of Him insist that must be enforced to make Him happy and assist Him to remain composed and not lose His cool. The prescriptions were always linked to dire warnings that, if ignored or not address to the letter would result in serious punishment in the near future or in some kind of afterlife. These warning included predictions of death, destruction, famine, droughts and hardship. These predictions were initially enough to control their followers and keep them subservient. It later became necessary to turn up the heat regarding God’s expectations and needs. This is where those that thought that they might get away with disobedience to God’s commands (like totally wiping out a so-called pagan nation) discovered that God also have a record keeping system and a court of law in heaven that is waiting for those that failed to fulfil the stipulated requirements when they die . The concept of Hell and everlasting damnation after death tightened the screws of control to a level where most in a sheep like manner remain loyal to the church.
The endless laws, rules and regulations continued to flow from God through so-called inspired individuals until Constantine decided to collate a book (The Bible). All the mystical inspired chats between God and the authors suddenly dried up. Not a single person according to this philosophy have been inspire after this event. God vanished from the stage of life and apparently retreated to his heavenly abode. The clergy however kept churning out endless often self-serving commands by interpreting the historical laws and commandments and in this manner kept the upper hand, power and money flowing.
Stop for a moment and think about the statements that I made above. Let us play for a moment with the idea that God never demanded anything from anyone. What would the implications be if man made Gods for themselves in their own image? What would the implications be if the depictions of the Gods were wrong and that God never insisted on the endless range of requirements now cast in stone in their Holy Books? What if the real God (life force) never meddled with man and allowed each individual to work out his own fate and future on a moment to moment basis with the choices he or she make? What if God gave man free will to make any choice and never metered out any punishment, but like a good parent allows His now physically mature children to learn via their own mistakes? Do not reject this option. Think about it for a moment and you will discover that a million and one things that might have bothered you about your current God concept now suddenly fall into place.
Did you ever sit for a moment and contemplate how your life unfolded the way it did?
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Did you ever sit for a moment and contemplate how your life unfolded the way it did? You ended up in a certain job, attended certain schools and a specific church while you socialised in a particular community. You formed perceptions about virtually everything early in life and faithfully, but mostly subconsciously repeat the same standard actions and reactions while at work or play. You felt more at home with certain people that came from a specific ethnic or social group or language. You opened up to those that you felt safe with while you ignored, avoided or even shunned individuals that failed to make the grade according to your entrenched value system. The point that I am making is that you formed specific perceptions and belief systems early in life and diligently stuck to the blueprints that you fixed in your head. The only times you possibly questioned your belief system was when something happened that caused you serous discomfort. The pain and doubt that a specific incident or event caused you may have stopped you in your tracks for a while, but you more often than not returned to the “tried and tested” when the scars healed or when the problem faded.
What we often forget is that each person on this planet including those on our playing field of life (friends, family, strangers etc.) went through the same “programming” cycle. A person for example that grew up in China, Egypt or for that matter any other country on this planet formed their own set of perceptions and belief systems as well. They for example went to a different church or temple and prayed to a God with a different name. They dress differently and see life from a totally different perspective. They eat different food and dance to different music. There is a tendency in all of us to cluster together with those that seem to have the same value and belief systems than us. We thus end up with societies, tribes and nations that come together in united groups that work, play, go to war and pray together.
A person that for example grew up in a certain religion tends to support such religion for the duration of his lifetime.
A person that for example grew up in a certain religion tends to support such religion for the duration of his lifetime. The values, rituals and dogma that they were taught from early childhood usually remain their fixed guide until they at the end of their life put their heads down for a final time. It is thus surprising that many of us are under the impression that we have some moral duty to recruit or convert individuals that don’t have the same religious convictions than us. We feel that we must “save” these individuals with their different perceived Devil inspired ideas and ideologies. We in all sincerity feel obligated to attempt to convince these “lost souls” that our specific saviour and God is the only way that can ensure a safe passage to a peaceful afterlife. Some of us even have the audacity to warn these “lost sheep” that hesitate to dump their entrenched religion and their current saviour or God that they are setting themselves up for a horrific afterlife where they will be toasted forever. We might be zealous in our attempt to rescue those that sit with a totally different set of religious convictions, but forget that they have been indoctrinated just like us that their deity is the way to a successful afterlife. I hope you can see how silly this mode of thinking is when you keep in mind how all of us come though different childhood indoctrinations. It is thus arrogant to the extreme to expect anyone to simply abandon his deeply entrenched religious convictions and follow you like a sheep to your chapel or temple.
The more he read, study and researches the various superstitions and rituals the less sense they make to him.
I want you to keep the above in mind when we look at individuals that start waking up from their historically indoctrinated hypnotic sleep. This person starts questioning the many superstitions and dogma that he has been programmed with since childhood. The more he read, study and researches the various superstitions and rituals the less sense they make to him. This person might think that there must be a religion somewhere that might have answers to his many questions, but he soon realise that most religions have the same superstition based foundations. They might have a different God perception, deity or style, but turn out to be the same dogma and rituals wrapped in a different package. The discovery that you cannot make the confusion go away by simply joining a new religious group often fill such individual with lots of pain, anxiety and doubt. Some that experience doubt about the God perception that he grew up with or that he read about in his Holy book become atheists. Waking up is a real test for those that develop a desire to make sense of life, death and the reason why we visit this plane.
A person that woke up and begin to question the validity of his belief system is usually treated with disdain by his previous “brothers and sisters”. He is often driven out of his church by a zealous pastor and some of his previous fellow believers. There is no place in conventional religion for those that ask questions and require clarity to the many so-called “truths” written down by God inspired authors. This person soon reaches a stage where he can no longer listen to the same old dogma and finally stop attending these indoctrination sessions. He is usually soon stripped of his old friends and even family. Waking up is a lonely path for “free thinkers”.
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Stripping off the fear that you might have offend God or that you might have made a terrible mistake gradually fade and is replaced with wisdom and insight.
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I believe that all of us come to earth to learn and experience. I also believe that we come to this dimension to wake up to our true identity and to set ourselves free from indoctrination. It might initially be a painful experience, but nothing can provide you with more joy than the knowledge you gain when you begin to grow spiritually. Stripping off the fear that you might offend God or that you might have made a terrible mistake gradually fade and is replaced with wisdom and insight. Each person wake up in his own unique way and will find it difficult to join a spiritual group that provide all the answers to his many questions. Our original yearning to be part of a group can lead us from one religious trap into a fresh spiritual trap that might turn out to be even worse than the one we escaped from. I mentioned above that we come to this zone to learn. Each one of us is at a different level in our spiritual evolution. It will thus be silly to join a single group that boast with their own in-house guru. Many spiritual seekers end up getting sidetracked by the endless range of cults that prowl the streets looking for the vulnerable and confused. I suggest you become still and allow the perfect self at your centre to guide you in your quest for growth and understanding. Knowledge set you free. Breaking away from the sustained influence of a specific religious dogma or one of the many cults can be the best thing that ever happened to you.
Everyday you make a thousand choices. You choose what to wear, where to go, who to meet, what to eat and what to do. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, YOU decide WHAT TO THINK. One thing is sure and that is that your day will not be better than your thoughts. ...................
Just close your eyes for a moment and see if you can visualise this open toolbox and if you can see the hundreds of tools that are neatly placed in this toolbox. Now look if you can see the maker’s name on these tools. The creator of these tools (thoughts and perceptions) is you. You created thousands of thoughts and perceptions (tools) about everything since your childhood. ..................
When confronted with any situation or problem you reach into this toolbox and take out what you think the most appropriate tool would be and then attempt to fix the problem. It is estimated that your mind thinks at least 2,500 thoughts an hour. Every thought that you think is a tool (perception) that you have that you imagine would work best under specific circumstances. This thought process continues day and night and will do so for the rest of your life. .....................................
I am convinced that we think ourselves to a standstill. We never stop playing with these tools in our toolbox and can hardly ever really relax for a while. If we are not faced with a problem or task that needs completion we still continue to take out these tools and mentally rehears and contemplate how we will use them should something that we fear become a reality. ............................
We are forever thinking and scheming and never become still and tranquil inside. Our bodies might seem relaxed, but deep inside our heads this thought process continues churning around. What I am most worried about is that most of the tools that you have in your toolbox are very old and outdated. .......................
Many of the opportunities, problems and obstructions that you face daily cannot be repaired while you are using old and outdated tools. If you take a modern mechanic’s toolbox and you place the toolbox of a mechanic of fifty years ago next to it you will find that there are major discrepancies. When you are confronted with something that needs repair and you do not have the right tool for the task at hand it can be very frustrating. We usually improvise and try using some other tools and hope that it will also get the job done. ........................
When you are faced with a problem you need to select the right tool for the task at hand. If you do not have the tool in your toolbox it can complicate your life. What most people seem to ignore is that it is sometimes better not to reach for your toolbox when faced with a problem. Sometimes you need time to pass or need to leave the problem with its rightful owner. How well you use your tools is usually reflected in the world you see around you. What would you do if you were faced with any or all of the following? .........................
You get a flat tire on your way to an important customer or meeting. You can fall apart, develop a migraine and think that life is against you or you can take out the right tools (patience and reality) and take care of the problem in a relaxed manner. ........................
You have been working on the computer for hours and suddenly lose all your work. You can drop dead with a heart attack; think that God hates you or you can take out the right tool (sanity and reality) and begin over and this time remember to make a backup of your work. ....................
A lover or wife possibly cheated on you. You can go crazy and get an assassin to take out the potential threat to your relationship, think that you are a failure or you can take out the right tool (no fear of loss) and get on with your life. .......................
When you have the right tools in your toolbox it makes life a lot easier. The choices we make are vital in our lives. The more quality choices we make during any given day the higher the probability of success and peace of mind. ................
I suggest that you equip your toolbox with the best tools you can lay your hands on. It is important to upgrade if you discover that one of your tools are outdated or that a more modern version is available. How would you react if your TV packed up and a technician that obviously knows very little about electronics arrived at your house with only a sledgehammer and a few other primitive tools in his toolbox? I am sure that you will send him away and find someone better qualified and equipped for the task. .....................
You might sometimes be like this incompetent and poorly equipped technician indicated above if you do not often update your tools (thoughts) in your toolbox. You can also have all the right tools in your toolbox and never use them because you are afraid that you might make a mistake. ..................
You must remember that happiness and success is always just one thought (tool) away. You should remember when you find it difficult to cope with something that one new tool (thought) could change your life. One fresh thought and one new idea can change your life from pain and suffering to success and peace of mind. ........................
You are today what you were programmed with yesterday. The choices that you make on a moment-to-moment basis decide your fate and future. You can never feel or perform better than the ongoing thoughts and feelings that you allow to occupy your mind! .......................
The mistake we make is that most of us live our lives on a reactive basis. We start and complete our day in a reactive state of being. Something comes to our attention via our five senses or via a thought in our mind. We automatically slip into the “role” that we created for ourselves many moons ago. We act, react and experience the same feelings and emotions that we embedded with our scrip at its inception. We do exactly the same when new stimuli push the previous “drama” off the stage in our minds. We sustain this reactive mode of thinking until we finally go to bed at night. Most of our days are made up of a tapestry of “roles” that we played in our own colorful way. It is important to understand that nothing is going to change until we do something different. We cannot repeat the same old recipes and expect a different outcome. ....................
You can use the “Portable Life Skills Wisdom” book to develop a range of appropriate scripts that you can use when you are faced with a problem or project that need your attention. You will if you apply the scripts in this book find that you no longer run your life on a reactive basis. The new scripts will help you to live your life in the moment. You will become more realistic. You will treat each event on its own merit. How do you do this? ......................
The Process ....................
Read the first message in your book. Write it down if at all possible. It will assist you to absorb the data provided. Now sit back and close your eyes and visualize how you will apply the specific message in the various areas of your life. See yourself on the screen of your mind using the message in all your day-to-day activities. It is important to attempt to feel and experience the benefits that this new mode of thinking will bring into your life. Do this for ten minutes. Then open your eyes and begin to apply the wisdom on all occasions where appropriate in your activities on that given day. ...........................
Proceed to do the same with second message etc. in your book tomorrow. You will upload almost a thousand powerful recipes if you sustain the process indicated above. You can in less than three years upload a powerful “tool” system that will serve you for the rest of your life. This can be a life changing experience if you apply it daily. You will discover that the ten minutes you invest daily will upload countless new strategies into your subconscious computer. Build a successful and happy life. The key however is action. You can have the best tools available to man and still fail if you don’t use them daily. Wishing you the very best with this endeavor. .............................
Daily Support System (This Blog) ................
You not only have the massive key ideas in the book that you can use when appropriate you also receive daily posts on a wide range of subjects that will expand this system to a level never offered before. Visit this blog daily for fresh new ideas with a sprinkle of historical wisdom that stood the test of time. ..........................
Rene
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PORTABLE LIFE SKILLS DAILY WISDOM GUIDE 