How to Let Altruism Be Your Guide

What is altruism? Put simply, it's the wish that other people may be happy. And, says Matthieu Ricard, a happiness researcher and a Buddhist monk, altruism is also a great lens for making decisions, both for the short and long term, in work and in life.

Progress is not a zero-sum game

Author Robert Wright explains "non-zero-sumness" — the network of linked fortunes and cooperation that has guided our evolution to this point — and how we can use it to help save humanity today.

The cycle of life?

By James Kyle

 

Intialise Variables: judgement, fear, despair, awareness, acceptance, responsibility, connection, alignment

Do until young adult

    If parent is negative then

      Select Case ParentalExample
        Case "Judgemental": judgement = judgement + 1
        Case "Fearful": fear = fear + 1
        Case "Despairing": despair = despair + 1
      End Select

    Else

      Select Case ParentalExample
        Case "Self Aware": awareness = awareness + 1
        Case "Self Responsible": responsibility = responsibility + 1
        Case "Self Accepting": acceptance = acceptance + 1
        Case "Sense of Connection": connection = connection + 1
        Case "Inner Alignment": alignment = alignment + 1
      End Select

    End If

End do

Positivity = awareness + responsibility + acceptance + connection + alignment
Negativity = judgement + fear + despair


Do until end of life

    Select Case LifeEvent

      Case "Challenge":

          If Negativity > CriticalValue then
            fear = fear + 1
            judgement = judgement + 1
          Else
            awareness = awareness + 1
            acceptance = acceptance + 1
            responsibility = responsibility + 1
          End If

      Case "Opportunity":

          If Positivity > CriticalValue then
            connection = connection + 1
            alignment = alignment + 1
          Else
            despair = despair + 1
            judgement = judgement + 1
          End If

        End Select

    If Children IS True

        Perform PassOntoNextGeneration

    End If


    Positivity = awareness + responsibility + acceptance + connection + alignment
    Negtivity = judgement + fear + despair

    InnerPeace = Positivity - Negtivity

End do



Image courtesy of Feelart FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The currency of the new economy is trust

Rachel Botsman writes and speaks on the power of collaboration and sharing through network technologies, and on how it will transform business, consumerism and the way we live. There's been an explosion of collaborative consumption -- web-powered sharing of cars, apartments, skills. In this 20 minute video, Rachel Botsman explores the currency that makes systems like Airbnb and Taskrabbit work: trust, influence, and what she calls "reputation capital."

Poverty, money -- and love

Following on from this post: How to Buy Happiness, here is a practical application ...

What do you think of people in poverty? Maybe what Jessica Jackley once did: "they" need "our" help, in the form of a few coins in a jar. The co-founder of Kiva.org talks about how her attitude changed -- and how her work with microloans has brought new power to people who live on a few dollars a day. Jessica Jackley is the co-founder of Kiva.org, an online community that helps individuals loan small amounts of money, called microloans, to entrepreneurs throughout the world.

After watching this 18 minute video you can find out more here : www.kiva.org

The Space Between Self-Esteem and Self Compassion

Kristin Neff is a self compassion evangelist and she loves spreading the good word about self compassion. She has devoted the last 10 years of her research career to studying the mental health benefits of compassion and more recently she's been working on developing interventions to help people learn to be more compassionate to themselves in their lives. Learn more in this 19 minute video.

Peace of Mind

By: James Kyle

Joan lived in New York.

She held down a job in finance that required intelligence, and was rewarded by a substantial income which enabled her to rent an apartment overlooking Central Park. She should have been happy.

She was attractive and still fairly young and she had the freedom to choose from many devoted men friends. She should have been very happy.

She knew that she lived in the greatest city in the world. She should have been exceedingly happy.

She decided to find out why she was not.


She asked an old family friend for advice. The advice she received was not exactly what she had anticipated. Happiness is secondary was his reply. A more effective goal in life is peace of mind which, once attained, invites happiness into one’s life. Joan considered this and accepting the good advice asked how she could obtain such peace of mind. The old man smiled and suggested that this was always available if one knew where to look, but each person must follow their own path to find it.

A few days later Joan turned up for her appointment with the psychoanalyst another friend had recommended. In business she had learned the effective skill of asking directly for what she wanted. So as soon as she walked in the door she asked her question: “How do I find peace of mind?” The psychoanalyst had heard many requests for help in his time, but he could not help but be impressed by the directness of this question. He reassured her that, of course, this was the major goal of all psychological counseling, and that he would be glad to be of service in helping her achieve this. He explained that the process would entail looking at her life history, starting in the womb, up through the various developmental stages, looking for instances of unfinished business that have produced present day personality maladjustments, focusing in particular on id and superego imbalances, while taking care of projection mechanisms on the way. Joan did not fully understand all of this, but one question naturally did come to mind. “And how long will all this take?”

Joan had decided that she did not want to wait four to five years. She also had reservations about giving up $100,000 in the process. She did decide however that she could afford the time to fly out to California and check out the “New Age’ counselor of her best friend from college, who now lived in LA. The same question was put to the counselor. He explained that over the next six months they could use past life regression to work through Joan’s previous earth manifestations, looking for unmindful actions that had induced karmic burden, and work out how to release this karma over the next few lives. “Any memories of being burned at the stake by the way?”

On the hastily rearranged return flight, in one of life’s synchronicities, Joan found herself sitting next to a priest who was flying back to Rome via New York. She seized the opportunity to get a religious perspective on her current dilemma. The priest claimed, naturally enough, that peace of mind was to be found through the belief in the saving grace of the resurrection of the Lord. Inspired by this example of self sacrifice we must all follow our consciences in leading a good life, and confess any sins that we do make along the way. To be forgiven for one’s sins did seem attractive. However focusing on remembering one’s mistakes each week in order to be cleansed of them did seem a bit counter-productive. To her mind some of the concepts had merit but the implementation would have to undergo a good deal of fine tuning before she would be convinced to apply for membership. And giving up birth control was definitely not an attractive incentive.

Having started on posing this question in a religious framework she decided to follow through on this approach. She had air miles in plenty from her many business trips. So she booked a flight to India and arranged an audience with a famous Indian mystic. She asked her question. The guru, in soothing words, invited her to give up all her worldly possessions and live as a hermit in order to achieve inner holiness.

Joan flew out of Dehli airport, tearing up the fund transfer form that she had declined to sign, preferring to find other means to achieve enlightenment than giving her fortune to the guru’s ashram. Over the next few weeks she flew back and forward across many European and Asian countries trying to find an answer to her question. Many religious representatives gave insightful replies but none came up with the answer that offered Joan the breakthrough she required. Wearily she decided to turn back home. But first she would try one last time. So she arranged for her flight to go back via Japan.

The Zen master sat in quiet meditation as she was shown into his presence. Joan asked for an answer one more time, “How do I find peace of mind?” Silence greeted her question. After a short pause Joan asked again. Once more the Zen priest made no reply. “Do you realize the effort I have put in to have that question answered? The fact that I have traveled back and forward all over the world looking for guidance? I think at least I deserve a response.” The silence continued. Joan could feel her anger build up. “Are you going to answer or not?” Silence. How dare this so called holy man just ignore her? She wanted to blame this old man for the feelings of helplessness that started to well up inside her as she realized that her desire to find an answer was about to be frustrated one final time. The Zen priest continued to sit peacefully, in silence. She continued to get more angry inside. The Zen priest continued to sit peacefully, in silence. She wanted so much to express her rage and frustration, pour it out on this old man, but it was hard to do so when he offered no opposition. Just silence.

And right then, in that moment, she understood.





Image courtesy of Pixomar / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

If You Ran The World, What Would You Do?

"The single biggest pool of untapped natural resource in the world is human good intentions that never translate into action" Cindy Gallop talks about how www.ifwerantheworld.com is designed to help change the world one microaction at a time. Certainly worth 5 minutes of your time I would think.

Resolving Issues in Close Relationships

The most impressive book I have ever read on maintaining healthy and empowering personal relationships is "Conscious Loving" by Gay & Kathlyn Hendricks.

The following highlights give a flavour of the book. However this is certainly one book where taking time to closely read the book from cover to cover is a worth while investment.


Five points characterizing a co-committed relationship:

I. The participants support each other to be whole, complete individuals.

II. The relationship is a catalyst for full self-expression.

III. The relationship is a catalyst for individual expression of creativity.

IV. The participants each take 100% responsibility for their own life and the consequences of their actions.

V. The participants avoid conflict by not taking on the role of victim.

Five suggestions to facilitate couples’ communication:

I. Use ownership language. (I statements prevents hiding the truth from oneself).

II. Tell the microscopic truth. (A unequivocal declaration of personal emotion, or feeling, or action that prevents the communication from becoming judgmental).

III. Communicate using statements not questions. (Questions can be used to manipulate and avoid responsibility, impairing intimacy).

IV. Empower rather than rescue. (Do not interpret another’s reality by putting words into their mouths. This is part of a larger pattern of trying to sort out someone else’s life which actually disempowers them).

V. Avoid redefining. (Deliberate manipulation of a conversation to score points rather than addressing the subject raised is an destructive way of avoiding real communication).


Six Co-Commitments:

I. I commit myself to being close, and I commit myself to clearing up anything in the way of my ability to do so.

II. I commit myself to my own complete development as an individual.

III. I commit to revealing myself fully in my relationships, not to concealing myself.

IV. I commit myself to the full empowerment of people around me.

V. I commit to acting from the awareness that I am 100 percent the source of my reality.

VI. I commit myself to having a good time in my close relationships.

Listening to Shame

Commenting on this post, Shame about the Guilt Trip, Áinne Burke on LinkedIn drew my attention to the video below.


Brené Brown: "There's a huge difference between shame and guilt. And here's what you need to know. Shame is highly, highly correlated with addiction, depression, violence, aggression, bullying, suicide, eating disorders. And here's what you even need to know more. Guilt, inversely correlated with those things. The ability to hold something we've done or failed to do up against who we want to be is incredibly adaptive. It's uncomfortable, but it's adaptive".

Watch this 20 minute video for this, and more fascinating insights.

God is sneaky III: All Nor Nothing

By James Kyle

Having looked at the problematic side of religion here and here, it is important of course to acknowledge the good aspects. Parts of the bible are are beautiful and inspiring and indeed offer words of wisdom. Consider this updated translation of Matthew 12:31 from "The Hidden Gospel" by Neil Douglas-Klotz. :

All types of tangled behavior,

the missing and falling,

the rips and tears-

all the ways you cut yourself off,

break your connection, or 

disrupt the pattern-

can and will be mended.

Sooner or later, you will be freed from error,

your mistakes embraced with emptiness,

your arrhythmic action returned to the original beat.

But your state cannot be mended or repaired,

when you cut yourself off from the Source of all rhythm-

the inhaling, the exhaling

of all air, wind, and atmosphere, seen and unseen-

the Holy Breath

However a key to true spiritual progress is in the use of discernment. Because there are some truths in this ancient book does not mean it is 100% true. I confess I sometimes cannot keep myself from laughing out loud when I see some bible belt preacher on TV declaring with glee that the mention of some obscure geographical point in the bible has been proven by some recent archaeological find. Yes, of course, runs the implied logic, if one thing is true in the holy book, such as the discovery of a minor goat track through the barren dessert, then inevitably it means that it is all true. And that would go for the numerous contradictions within the book I assume. But then perhaps because it is divine it gets an exemption for any need for internal consistency. The Lord moves in mysterious ways indeed.

May I suggest that this all or nothing way of thinking leads us astray on many different levels. For example, we think of food as "good" for us. OK it may mean we put on weight, but something we explicitly label as food, in moderation, certainly cannot do us any harm. Consider this, it would probably be better to think of sugar as white poison, that for some, wheat is a destructive toxin, and for many, milk products have deleterious side effects. Yes, "food" is another example of a mental construct, a short cut label, hiding the true underlying nature of reality. Depending on the individual there are good foods and bad foods. And for many individuals, without discernment and empirical trials the general lethargy and dis-spiritedness they experience in everyday life may be a direct result of that toast and jam, accompanied by that mandatory milk laden caffeinated beverage.

So when you are examining your world view to ascertain what may be disempowering you and leading you astray, whether this is in the domain of your diet or the philosophical foundation of your way through life please remember, with respect to your current belief system, it is not all or nothing, but a case of partial truths - and therefore discernment is required to separate the wheat from the chaff. Now where have I came across that expression before?

      

God is sneaky II: Good Vibrations

By James Kyle

As I was saying in this post, the false certainty of believing in a mainstream religion holds many attractions. Believers can take great comfort from a belief in, for example, Christ and the promised eternal afterlife (for those members of the correct club).

Standing outside this ”members only” sweet shop, looking in through the window, it is easy to feel envious and starved of the comforts within. I myself found myself thinking this way having rejected Catholicism. I rejected the spiritual trash, but I also discarded my spiritual compass in the process. I began to question myself, Am I just being too analytical? What about the concept of inviting god in? Am I missing out here?

It was this that brought me to read ”Experiences of god,” a nonsensical and yet beautiful book. These accounts of what religious experience means to people and how they “encounter god” are beautiful for their heartfelt descriptions of a divine connection. From my perspective, however, they are nonsensical because it is evident that these expressions are being molded by conditioned mental constructs and mapped on to the words of the good book that was their straitjacket as they grew up, whether the bible itself or an new-age derivative. But of course, as ever, the preceding comment is not all or nothing. Not all the contributors were seduced by convenient off the shelf spiritual entities such as the perennial angel, vibrating or not. The overriding sense that I was left with after reading this book was one of relief. It was not the case that I was missing out. It was as I suspected all along - that I had successfully evaded fooling myself into falling for pre-packaged make-believe.

And this make-believe can be very seductive indeed. When I lived in LA, I used to visit quite regularly the Agape spiritual church, in Culver City. The minister was charismatic, the choir was beautifully gifted, and the guest signers were drawn from the talent pool of LA. It was an entrancing and joyous atmosphere. I felt the joy like everyone else. Unlike most there however I did not belief this was a consequence of a disembodied Christ co-habiting my body. The overall point I am trying to make in this series of articles is that dictated religion consists of partial truths and believing 100% in such strangles true spirituality. Crucially, if you outside looking enviously in then don't. Accept the uncertainty, embrace the vulnerable freedom, and if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him.

To Be Continued

    

Compassion in the Modern World

BBC Theory

By: James Kyle

I invite you to read understand and implement the awesome practice encompassed by BBC theory. The inevitable outcome of following this theory is a fully self-actualised individual. This is achieved as the individual learns to practice full self-acceptance and self-responsibility and to reconcile and align conflicting subpersonalities (desires, emotions, personas) by using awareness of personal inner truths as guiding principles.. The approach is called the BBC theory in honour of my master teacher who indeed serves as the definitive example of this way of life by epitomizing the key qualities of this integrated paradigm.

My master teacher is a wise philosopher, with a legendary sense of poise no matter how tough the going gets, and a sense of humour second to none. I am, of course, referring to Bugs Bunny. And I now present to you the Bugs Bunny Consciousness theory.

I invite you to consider a typical story extract to fully appreciate his great power as a master teacher. We will begin with Bugs being pursued once more by his nemesis Elmer Fudd, shotgun in hand, ready to shoot that pesky rabbit. Bugs however has other plans. He runs down an alleyway, finds a door to dive into and disappears into the convenient back entrance. Elmer quickly follows - but, of course, not quickly enough. By the time he catches up with Bugs, our rabbit hero has found himself a waiter’s outfit, and with menu in one hand and napkin in another quickly ushers Elmer to the nearest table, recommending the vegetarian quiche, accompanied by a glass of the restaurant’s finest Bordeaux wine. Does Elmer shrug this off and shoot that pesky rabbit? Of course not. He surrenders to Bugs’ redefintion of reality and meekly sits down perusing the menu!

So what can we learn from this? Consider Bugs masterful understanding of the concept of an inner locus of control - he knows in any situation he can choose to react in a way that is most effective for him by defining his own reality. Bugs is also fully aware of the power of subpersonalites - he quickly slips in and out of appropriate subpersonalities that best serve him in whatever circumstance he finds himself. Moreover being a cartoon character is also such an advantage when it comes to acceptance - the whole concept of right and wrong never exists in a cartoon world - behaviour is simply either effective or it isn’t. And when it comes to connection and alignment, Bugs, of course, knows that his life is destined to be one of uninterrupted happiness - and lots of carrots certainly - and he pursues this with a single minded determination that a thousand Elmers would never disrupt.


So there we have it, Bugs the master teacher who shows us that:

• We all have a responsibility to choose an inner locus of control as our frame of reference - we are not life’s victims - like Bugs we can choose our own reality.


• We all have a responsibility for being aware of the parts and roles we play in life. Not being as enlightened as Bugs we will find some of our subpersonalities conflict - our goal however is to have all of them serve us at all times.


• We all have a responsibility for choosing a paradigm of effective/not effective rather than right/wrong - like Bugs we should avoid living in a world where judgement leads to denial which distorts our knowledge of who we really are.


• We all have a responsibility for contemplation, and attunement with our own individual truths and life goals. (The pursuit of all the carrots we can eat is entirely optional, being a matter of individual taste).


• We all have a responsibility for using this personal inner truth as a guideline for resolving inner conflicts - to become as one dimensional as any self respecting cartoon character - that is, totally aligned behind our individual self expression in the world in each and every moment.

And always remember, of course, if you ever need a reminder of these great lessons - just switch on to a convenient cartoon channel, sit back, and watch my master teacher, Bugs Bunny, in action.

What did William Wallace say Part III

By James Kyle


So I started this series of articles with a before picture of my personal life that was about surviving and getting by, and an extreme lack of self confidence and where I was existing, not living. See part 1, here, and part 2 here. The after picture is one where I constantly push myself though limiting beliefs and have the personal strength to approach all of life’s challenges in the certain knowledge that I will do my best, will probably succeed in attaining the goals in front of me, and if not, will be accepting and non-judgmental about the outcome, simply learning from the experience and moving on. In summary, I have moved from a negative mindset to a positive mindset with regards to how I approach life.

I say this to give testimony to the fact that there is great value in devoting time to personal development and in particular the right seminar can provide key insights which bring about a more effective, productive and happier life. I have always found it strange that people will naturally sign up for courses on computer skills, car mechanics, or even flower arranging, but baulk at the idea of signing up for a course where they learn how to lead their lives more effectively. What, you would have to admit that there is something to learn, that your current way of thinking and interacting with the world is not absolutely perfect already? And in case you are still thinking this is all a bit too abstract I should point out that in terms of my working career, the changes I have brought about have given me the confidence to take on ever more demanding posts with the very practical result of significantly increased income.

A good seminar will provide tools, ways of thinking about the world, that shifts your world view. With this new world view leading to a more powerful approach to life. During the course of future articles I will look at different aspects of the shifts that occurred for myself personally. But to return to the genesis of this article series, one huge lesson for me was the Tony Robbins saying “if you can’t, you must.”

Along the way, as per the series title, we have talked about “freedom!” One of the best ways I know to bring increased freedom into your life is to be willing to constantly stretch outside your comfort zone, And to do this to the extent that “if you can’t, you must” becomes a central guiding principle in your life.

In the past for me a stretch was where I would feel the fear and do it anyway. Increasingly a stretch has become a case of looking at the fear and seeing it melt in front of my eyes as I commit to taking the stretch. In other words over time I began to master the art of taking stretches to the extent that contemplating taking a stretch is no longer a stretch! Consider the freedom and choices this brings into your life.

I have connected with an inner voice which basically invites me to choose expansion or contraction as life’s challenges comes up. This voice reminds me I have a choice and that the sensible option is expansion. I have learned to constantly choose expansion remembering that it is not the issue but the way that I relate to the issue that counts.

Some of the many examples of the results of these shift are: I have jumped into the pilot’s seat on a trial flight and flown a light plane over downtown LA; I have strapped on a parachute to go parasailing in baja California; I have been on stage in London in several plays; I have flown and landed a glider; I have been scuba diving in the Caribbean where I had the magical experience of being enveloped  and becoming an integral part of a surrounding shoal of fish. This all despite extreme ill health at times and without fear and trepidation, but rather with excitement and enthusiasm. Compare this to the above picture above and recognise that real life shifts are possible.

And how did I do this? I just took the first step of taking that first stretch. Something to think about?

What did William Wallace say Part II

by James Kyle

Starting from Anthony Robbins' famous phrase, “If you can’t you must” this article is a continuation of the previous one on Personal Development seminars ...


The mirror concept does not stop there. Something that can become very apparent in the seminar room is how much love and beauty there is in other people. To be intimate with someone else does not require a physical relationship. In several seminars I have had the privilege of being in the presence of someone who is communicating with me from a position of inner alignment and authenticity, and found in myself the freedom to respond in like manner. This experience can only be described as one of true intimacy. In day to day life, outside of a seminar environment, this can often be missing from our lives. Of course it can be tempting to rely on going back to the seminar room every time I want to experience this depth of connection. However another valuable lesson I have taken to heart is that the real point of working on myself in these seminars is to take experiences like these and to manifest them in my everyday life. I now look on a seminar room as an experimental laboratory where I can see if new attitudes and behaviours add value to my life, and, if so, I then ensure I integrate them into my day to day life.

This level of intimacy of course is a two way process. I now know that when I look at someone else and see how loveable and how beautiful they are, that this is telling me something about myself. Yes - remember the mirror concept. Someone who is not resonating to their own inner love and beauty cannot truly appreciate these qualities in another. An example may help to clarify this. I know that when I am experiencing my life as negative and being despondent then this is reflected in the way I perceive my surroundings, and I really cannot see the beauty of the world around me. On the other hand, if I choose to be positive in my approach to life, the very same experiences can be transformed as I open up to appreciate the beauty that surrounds me. Similarly, in a very real sense, the beauty and love that I see in others is reflecting my state of being - the fact that I am in touch with the beauty and love inside me. A seminar room that is full of loving people can help us to truly realise that when we love others, we are loving ourselves.

Another of the joys of an effective seminar is the opportunity to celebrate the richness and diversity of the talents of our fellow participants. Some  of my most treasured memories are when someone has utilised the support and loving that can  be evident when people are being open with each other, to step forward and fully express their creative ability. It is even more magical when it is obvious that the individual may have not have dreamt before that they were capable of such depth of expression, or indeed, that they would have the courage to share this with an audience.  It can be a revelation to realise how talented all of us are, and how much we have to offer if we can only give ourselves permission to be more spontaneous. A good seminar will encourage playfulness and fun and laughter. Personal growth does not necessarily need to be accompanied by blood, sweat and tears. Laughter can be the best medicine.

Some of you may have come across the work of Dr Patch Adams. Dr  Adams, part time clown, firmly believes that laughter is a potent weapon to combat ill-health, and refers to studies which demonstrate that laughter reinforces the bodies’ own immune system by releasing endorphins, the body's natural pain killers. He also believes that a major contributing factor towards illness in Western society is a lack of connection with other people, otherwise known as loneliness. My personal experience would support these beliefs. I have had long running health problems and I have come to realise that, in the past, a failure to open myself up to people and to cultivate close relationships has played a significant part in this. I would also add that a lack of purpose and meaning in my life also contributed to past feelings of depression and hopelessness. This negativity has had a profound effect on my physical well being.

There are, from time to time, stories of physical symptoms being alleviated and illnesses cured by transformational experiences in a seminar room. I have witnessed this myself in other people. It should not come as a surprise when we realise that a seminar can offer laughter, and connection with fellow participants, and encourages us to focus on all that is positive. We also have an opportunity to carefully consider who we truly are, and what we want out of life, both in terms of what we want to contribute and what we want to receive. If we really embrace these opportunities then the experience can be transformational. The love and energy from our fellow participants can create an environment which enables us to heal ourselves. We can use this as an opportunity to get more in touch with the love we have for ourselves, and this renewed care we demonstrate for ourselves can be manifested in an  improvement in our physical well being - sometimes dramatically so.

My personal experience is that I have had the opportunity to redefine my attitude to my illness. I have become more accepting. And I do not see this acceptance as something negative. I still work to alleviate my symptoms as much as possible. However I am choosing not to waste my energy in resisting what is. I am choosing to focus on what I can do about my situation and not to spend my time feeling sorry for myself, seeing myself as a victim. I accept the fact that my illness exists, but I see this as yet another opportunity for growth and expansion. I choose to be positive and maximise life's possibilities by pushing the boundaries of what I can do, in spite of the illness I have. As my attitude has changed I have been amazed to find out to what extent it was my beliefs about my illness that were  imposing limitations on what I could achieve, rather than the illness itself.

We started with freedom and that is a good place to end. I personally have found freedom from several self-imposed limitations through participating on various self development seminars. I am now 'nice' to people when appropriate, and because I chose to be so, and not because of social conditioning that taught me to always put other's desires and needs above my own. An attitude that contributed to my own ill health over many years. Today my health and energy levels are better than they have ever been since my illness began twenty years ago. Nowadays, I do not impose limits on myself in terms of what I believe I can achieve. I am more spontaneous and I acknowledge my own creativity and talents. I have experienced many moments on seminars where I broke through limitations and on arriving at the other side found how much fun and joy I could experience from something I previously thought of as threatening. With a renewed sense of purpose and direction in my life I have  more energy in my life and a focus that helps me achieve results. I have begun to really appreciate  the lesson of being authentic in relationships and opening up myself to others, and the power of  being open to giving and receiving love.


TO BE CONTINUED

What did William Wallace say???

by James Kyle


“If you can’t you must” is a renowned statement made by Anthony Robbins. As per this previous post he is certainly someone who can provide key insights. In my own case, these five words alone have had a profound effect on my life. My upbringing and conditioning combined with life-long chronic illness had resulted in an approach to life that was about surviving and getting by, with an introverted personality and an extreme lack of self confidence. I was existing not living. And there you have the before picture.

The changes I my life started when I attended a personal development seminar in London called Insight. And as I sat considering how to structure this article I realised that I really need to tell you about my experiences on that seminar and ones that followed. I subsequently recalled that many years ago I wrote a magazine piece that summarised exactly that. So, thanks to the modern technological miracle of OCR,  this single article suddenly transmuted into a series of articles where I will first be sharing extracts from that magazine piece and subsequently be returning to the “If you can’t you must” theme at a later point. 

And so, this first Insight seminar in London led to me attending several more and eventually, over 15 years ago now, I found myself in a seminar room in Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles …


"What did William Wallace say?" "Sorry?" I replied. I was asked once more by the American facilitator "What did William Wallace say?" I hadn't expected that when I flew over to California for this particular seminar I was going to be quizzed on Scottish history. I looked confused - maybe he would put it down to my jet-lag. A battle-cry of "Freedom!!!" came back as the answer. At least it was the answer as documented by 'Braveheart'. We were sitting in a seminar room just a short drive from Hollywood after all. 'Freedom' - an appropriate goal for a country and, of course, for an individual. The lesson was to develop over the rest of this seminar and to be embodied in the phrase "The truth shall set you free." 

It's a phrase that has become increasingly important to me, as I developed more and more awareness of myself over the past three years, participating on personal development seminars in this country and abroad. What I have realised is how often I moulded my behaviour to be acceptable to other people, rather than risk acting on what was true for me; how often I used to look back on an interaction with someone else and realise that I had just not been honest, and not stood up for my inner truth. On some occasions my fear of rejection meant I would let someone else's ego override my own boundaries. On other occasions I held back my love and caring, letting people walk out of my life because I felt inadequate inside. The transformation in my life began when I finally summoned the courage to open up to others and let them really see me - as I am. It seems such a simple thing, yet although it is indeed simple, it certainly hasn't been easy, and what has helped me immeasurably on my journey is the courses and seminars I have taken part in. 

After years of reading self-help books, I found that there was something about a seminar no book could ever give me - other people! Other people with whom I could practice what I was learning, take risks, experiment - rather than just page after page of dry theory. I have also found in my co-participants the greatest support, encouragement and friendship I could have wished for - providing a safe and nourishing environment in which I could grow and learn about the real me. And, if I want to be true to myself, then this does imply that I need to find out exactly who is the real me. 

There are the famous lines quoted by Nelson Mandela, "We ask ourselves - 'Who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be?'" One of the advantages in working in groups is that as other people open up I see that I am not alone in having periods of self-doubt and feelings of inadequacy. I also have the opportunity to see many of these people rising above these limiting beliefs and presenting themselves to the world as powerful human beings who still strive to live life to the full. There have been two big lessons for me here. The first is the need for me to make allowances for the human condition. It is too easy to judge others, and ourselves, harshly. There is a saying along the lines of "Please go easy on me, God hasn't finished with me yet!" And whether or not you believe in a God perhaps you can empathise with the spirit of this statement. We are all "works in progress", and judgement can only serve to separate and put us out of alignment with ourselves and other people. The other lesson is a result of really coming to know and appreciate my fellow participants - I see how amazing they are, and how capable they are of rising above these self proclaimed inner doubts - providing me with wonderful role models! A person can have periods of self-doubt and still be socially confident and outgoing. And if they can do it - so can I. 

Another valuable concept I have come to embrace is that of others being a mirror of myself. There have been many times in a seminar room, and in life in general, when I have had a strong emotional reaction to someone else. Before doing this kind of work if I had an encounter where someone had 'upset me', I would have put it down to them being an objectionable person, and made it my policy to avoid them as much as possible. However by repeatedly doing this, I now realise that I am only weakening myself and restricting my life's choices. But, most important of all, I realised that as long as I gave the power over my emotions to another person - i.e. they did it to me, I was giving away my power to be master of my own life. 

I learned in these seminars that there is an alternative, that there is another, more effective way of responding to people who I find provocative - that is to see them as mirrors reflecting my issues back to me. It can be challenging at times! And often I find myself thinking, "Oh, no, not HIM! I'm nothing like him. I am sure the concept doesn't apply this time!" But if I persist, I can usually find the place where the other person is beautifully demonstrating just what I do in a different situation, or perhaps what they are doing externally .is what I do silently inside, or maybe what they're doing is holding back their gifts in the same way I hold mine back. If I really look, there is usually something. 

For example, there have been occasions where I have perceived someone as being very stubborn, and I have found myself getting angry at them. However remembering to pause for a moment to consider what is happening inside me, I look and realise that I am the one who is being really stubborn - but, of course, I really want to project the entire blame for the escalating disagreement on the other person. On such occasions, when I do remember to look inside, and realise that, yes, once more I can see this is the result of something inside me, I embrace this. I embrace this because what it means is that NOBODY is responsible for how I feel except me. And if this is originating from inside me I can change this! To really claim back responsibility for our emotional reactions is very powerful and liberating. It certainly beats feeling like one of life's victims! 

I now realise that I can look at these types of interaction as an opportunity to learn and grow, and redefine such situations to work for me rather than against me. I can choose to see my own emotional reactions as 'warning lights' that I need to do some reworking of my attitudes and responses when faced with that particular type of situation. And I can choose to do this without judging myself for being inadequate when faced with such challenges, but with respect for myself for owning MY issues, being wise enough to seize upon the opportunity for self growth, and for maximising life's opportunities by being open to all that life presents. There is something to be said for the maxim 'What doesn't kill you makes you stronger'. So I choose to learn and grow from this type of experience by accepting responsibility and focusing on what I can change - my attitude; rather than what I can't - other people's behaviour. That one lesson alone has been a worthwhile return for the investment of my time in the seminars I have attended over the years. 

TO BE CONTINUED

Shut up, I can't hear myself think

By James Kyle

Several years ago I was living outside Fresno in the countryside, towards Yosemite in fact, which quickly became one of my favourite places on the planet. At the time I was attending the University of Santa Monica and we students had been directed to carry out an exercise in connecting more deeply with ourselves. In the first instance I thought I would fulfil this exercise by being more focused on sitting in silent meditation on a more regular basis. I thought this should be reasonably easy to accomplish as I was living in the middle of the countryside on 30 acres of land. My universe quickly gave me feedback that this was not the way forward, as my first few attempts at silent meditation on the balcony were interrupted by construction noises of a new neighbouring farm home to one side of my house, and on moving to the other side of the house, being then faced with a loud radio being played by some other neighbours working in the fields. I took this as a sign that I was not on the right track and started to rethink how else I could meaningfully fulfil this exercise.

I then realized that a fruitful interpretation of this exercise which would be more meaningful to me personally would be to address the lack of silence in my mind - to address the mental chatter that goes on in my head for most of the day. So for the rest of the month I chose particular situations to practice a form of moving mediation in which my intention was to focus my entire awareness on whatever activity I was involved in at the time, and to use this as a means of seeing if I could quiet my overactive intellect. The three areas I chose specifically were listening to music, eating and jogging. All I can claim is that at that point I made a start on this challenging process. And I did find it very challenging. It was a powerful lesson to me to see just how easily my mind would take over again and again and that something as simple as focusing on a favourite song for all of three minutes or eating just one meal without accompanying mental chatter was so difficult. This in turn fed into my continuing resistance to the overall process. However I do think that this was a productive exercise for me to carry out, and that an important seed was planted - a deeper appreciation that focusing on this kind of moving meditation is an important way forward. This kind of process is such an important key to quieting the mind to facilitate more self awareness, by reducing the distraction of the all too obtrusive non-stop mental chatter.

There was a specific significant win for me shortly afterwards that indicated I was making at least some progress. I was driving in my car and had just came off a freeway around a long curving off ramp. Although I had been driving in the US for quite a while, I was not familiar with this particular exit off the Fresno freeway, and I mistakenly stopped at white line that was indicating a pedestrian crossing rather than a stop line. The next thing I heard was car brakes being slammed on behind me. The car did not hit me which was fortunate as irrespective of my error it was obviously going far too fast for that steeply curved exit ramp. At the next set of traffic lights the car drew up beside me and the woman driver started screaming and swearing and threatening me - it seems road rage had definitely arrived in Fresno. The significance of this interaction was that there was not one moment when I hooked into this woman’s emotion. I stayed calm and purposefully showed no reaction to what she was saying, knowing this would only inflame her further. I did not go into self recrimination. I did not move into outrage at her shouting at me. I did not buy into her definition of reality. My mind stayed peaceful and in that silence I just let her anger wash over me accepting that this was her reality but it did not have to be mine. This was a very significant personal experience of the power of a quiet mind. 

So I leave you with this thought. A quiet mind helps you to avoid buying into other people’s realities: the truth of your reality is always to be found inside you.

10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion (Part 2)

This article is the followup to the one posted on Thursday and covers reasons 6 to 10. I welcome your comments below.



By Steve Pavlina

6. Incest is best.

Religions frequently promote inbred social networks. You’re encouraged to spend more time with people who share the same belief system while disengaging from those with incompatible beliefs. Sometimes this is done subtly; other times it’s more obvious.

If you’re one of the saved, blessed, or otherwise enlightened individuals who stumbled upon the one true belief system, then supposedly everyone else remains in the dark. Certain religions are overtly intolerant of outsiders, but to one degree or another, all major religions cast non-subscribers in a negative light. This helps to discourage members from abandoning the religion while still enabling them to proselytize. The main idea is to maintain social structures that reward loyalty and punish freedom of thought.

This us-vs-them prejudice is totally incongruent with conscious living. It’s also downright moronic from a global perspective. But it remains a favored practice of those who pull the strings. When you’re taught to distrust other human beings, fear gets a foothold in your consciousness, and you become much easier to control.

When you join a religion, your fellow mind-slaves will help to keep you in line, socially rewarding your continued obedience while punishing your disloyalty. Why do they do this? It’s what they’ve been conditioned to do. Tell your religious friends that you’re abandoning their religion because you want to think for yourself for a while, and watch the sparks fly. Suddenly you’ve gone from best friend to evil demon. There’s no greater threat to religious people than to profess your desire to think for yourself.

There are better ways to enjoy a sense of community than joining a slavery club. Try making friends with conscious, free-thinking people for a change — people who are willing to connect with you regardless of how silly your beliefs are. You may find it intimidating at first, but it’s quite refreshing once you get used to it.

Since I get asked this question all the time, I might as well answer it publicly. Do I accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior? No more than I’d accept a credit card from Crapital One. Either way I’d be worried about the fine print. Does this mean we can’t be friends anymore? Please don’t hate me because I’m doomed.

7. Idiocy or hypocrisy – pick one.

When you subscribe to an established religion, you have only two options. You can become an idiot, or you can become a hypocrite. If you’ve already chosen the former, I’ll explain why, and I’ll use small words so that you’re sure to understand.

First, there’s the idiocy route. You can willingly swallow all of the contrived, man-made drivel that’s fed to you. Accept that the earth is only 10,000 years old. Believe stories about dead bodies coming back to life. Learn about various deities and such. Put your trust in someone who thinks they know what they’re talking about. Eat your dogma. Good boy!

Congratulations! You’re a moron believer. You’ll be saved, enlightened, and greeted with tremendous fanfare when you die… unless of course all the stuff you were taught turns out not to be true. Nah… if the guy in the robe says it’s true, it must be true. Ya gotta have faith, right?

Next, we have the hypocrisy option. In this case your neocortex is strong enough to identify various bits of utter nonsense in the religious teachings that others are trying to ram down your throat. You have a working B.S. detector, but it’s slightly damaged. You’re smart enough to realize that earth is probably a lot older than 10,000 years and that pre-marital (or non-marital) sex is a lot of fun, but some B.S. still gets through. You don’t swallow all the bull, but you still identify yourself as a follower of a particular religion, most likely because you were raised in it and never actually chose it to begin with.

To you it’s just a casual pursuit. You’re certainly not a die-hard fundamentalist, but you figure that if you drink the wine and chew the wafer now and then, it’s good enough to get you a free ride into a half-decent afterlife. You belong to the pro-God club. Surely there’s safety in numbers. Two people can’t be wrong… although 4-1/2 billion supposedly can.

In this case you become an apologist for your own religion. You don’t want to be identified with the extreme fanatics, nor do you want to be associated with the non-believers. You figure you can straddle both sides. On earth you’ll basically live as a non-practitioner (or a very sloppy and inconsistent practitioner), but when you eventually die, you’ve still got the membership card to show God.

Do you realize how deluded you are?

Perhaps if you have to throw out so much of the nonsense to make your chosen belief system palatable, you shouldn’t be drinking the Kool Aid in the first place. Free yourself from the mental baggage, stop looking to others for permission to live, and start thinking on your own. If your God exists, he’s smart enough to see through your fake ID.

From time to time, some of my readers take a stab at converting me to their religion. Most of them come across as total loons, but I can at least respect their consistency. I’ve no idea why they bother to read my site (which is about raising, not lowering, consciousness). Perhaps some of them are getting ready to convert from fundamentalism to common sense.

You’d think I’d be quite a prize for any serious religion. With 2.4 million monthly readers, that’s a lot of people I could potentially enslave convert, not to mention how much I could fill the Church coffers by soliciting indulgences donations on their behalf. Henceforth I expect a much better conversion effort. If you won’t do it for the money, then do it for the souls. You can’t let so many of us go to hell without trying in earnest to save us, can you?

Just keep those conversion emails below 10,000 words if possible, with no more than 9,000 of them quoted from your favorite great book.

8. Inherited falsehood.

Please tell me you aren’t still practicing the religion you happened to be born into? Surely you’ve outgrown your baby clothes by now. Isn’t it time you also outgrew your baby religion?

What if you were born into a different culture? Would you have been conscious enough to find your way back to your current belief system? Or are your current beliefs merely a product of your environment and not the result of conscious choice?

Many religions are just a mish-mash of what came before. For example, Christianity is largely based on pagan rituals. If those pagan beliefs and rituals had been protected by copyright, Christianity wouldn’t even exist. If you take the time to dig into the roots of Christianity, you’ll encounter various theories that Christianity’s teachings were largely assembled from pre-Christian myths and that Jesus himself was merely a fictional character pieced together from earlier mythical figures. You go, Horus!

Many religious teachers (i.e. priests, rabbis, ministers, etc.) are just brainwashed slaves themselves. They don’t have any real authority and aren’t even aware of the agenda being set by their superiors. This makes them better minions because they actually believe the B.S. they’re spouting and don’t know the truth behind it. A priest, a rabbi, and a minister walk into a bar, but that’s as far as they get. They may interact with the bartender, but they never get to know the guy who owns the bar. They suffer from inherited falsehood just like everyone else.

Is your religion based on the inspired word of God? No more than this article. Just because someone says their text is divinely inspired doesn’t mean it is. Anyone can claim divine inspiration. The top religions are decided by popularity, not by truth.

Even the central figures in major religions didn’t follow the religions that were spawned in their names. If they didn’t swallow the prevailing “wisdom” about gods and spiritual leaders and such, why should you? If you want to be more like the people you worship, then follow their lead by striking out on your own.

Move beyond your baby religion. Consider maturity as a reasonable alternative.

9. Compassion in chains.

Religious rules and laws invariably hamper the development of conscience. This causes all sorts of problems like pointless violence and warfare. Those who preach nonviolence as a rule or law tend to be the most violent of all. Such people cannot be trusted because they’ll violate their proclaimed values with the weakest of excuses.

When you externalize compassion into a set of rules and laws, what you’re left with isn’t compassion at all. True compassion is a matter of conscious choice, and that requires the absence of force-backed rules and laws.

The more religious a person becomes, the less compassionate s/he is. The illusion of compassion substitutes for the real thing. Religious people tend to be the most bigoted and non-accepting people on earth. They’re the least trustworthy and suffer from the grossest character defects. They pretend they’re doing good, but they’re really collaborators in a system designed to push people into unconscious slavery to a “higher” authority. They are slaves promoting slavery.

Historically speaking, religious people love to fight each other. Instead of unconditional love, they practice conditional loyalty. The only unconditional aspect is their thirst for blood. If you disagree with them, you’re a target… either for conversion or destruction (both of which are really the same thing).

If you value the ideal of unconditional love, you won’t find it in the practice of religion. Real compassion doesn’t arise from believing in God, from practicing various rituals, or from studying the concept of karma. Compassion can only result from conscious choice, and this requires the freedom to choose without the threat of punishment or the promise of reward. If you’re obedient to your faith, it’s a safe bet that compassion is absent from your life. You probably don’t even know what real compassion feels like.

The more we collectively abandon all religion, the better off this planet will be. This doesn’t mean we have to abandon all spiritual pursuits. It just means we must stop turning spirituality into something it isn’t.

10. Faith is fear.

Religion is the systematic marketing of fear.

Blessed are the poor (donate heavily). Blessed are the meek (obey). Blessed are the humble (don’t question authority). Blessed are the hungry (make us rich while you starve). Blessed are the merciful (if you catch us doing something wrong, let it go). Blessed are the pure of heart (switch off your brain). Blessed are the timid, the cowardly, the fearful. Blessed are those who give us their power and become our slaves. Muahahaha!

That’s the kind of nonsense religion pushes on people. They train you to turn your back on courage, strength, and conscious living. This is stupidity, not divinity.

Religion will teach you to fear being different, to fear standing up for yourself, and to fear being an independent thinker. It will erode your self-trust by explaining why you’re unable to successfully manage life on your own terms: You are unworthy. You’re a sinner. You’re unclean. You belong to a lesser caste. You are not enlightened. Of course the solution is always the same — submit to the will of an external authority. Believe that you’re inadequate. Give away your power. Follow their rules and procedures. Live in fear for the rest of your life, and hope it will all turn out okay in the end.

When you practice faith instead of conscious living, you live under a cloak of fear. Eventually that cloak becomes so habitual you forget it’s even there. It’s very sad when you reach the point where you can’t even remember what it feels like to wield creative freedom over your own life, independent of what you’ve been conditioned to believe.

Faith is the coward’s substitute for courage. It’s also really good marketing if you’re the one who controls the faith. If you’re afraid or unwilling to assume total responsibility for your life, you’re a perfect match for religion.

Fear in one part of your life invariably spreads to all other parts — you can’t compartmentalize it. If you find yourself frustrated because you’re too afraid to follow your dreams, to talk to members of the opposite sex, to speak up for yourself, etc., then a good place to start is to rid your life of all religious nonsense. Don’t let fear get a foothold in your consciousness.

Stop trying to comfort yourself by swallowing religious rubbish. If you really need something to believe in, then believe in your own potential. Put your trust in your own intellect. Stop giving away your power.

Dump the safety-in-numbers silliness. Just because a lot of people believe stupid stuff doesn’t mean it isn’t stupid. It just means that stupidity is popular on this planet. When people are in a state of fear, they’ll swallow just about anything to comfort themselves, including the bastion of stupidity known as religion.

***

Religion is spiritual immaturity.

It’s entirely possible to enjoy your life without spending so much of it bent over in submission. Pull your head out of your rear, and look around with your own two eyes. If you need something to worship, then feel grateful for your own conscious mind. Pull it out of the cobwebs, and boot it up.

Besides… if some popular religious version of God does exist, there’s a good chance he’s a complete and total idiot. He made us in his image, right? So perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to worship an entity so lacking in intelligence. We’re better off on our own.

God isn’t going to smite you for not formally worshipping him. If he didn’t smite me by now, it’s a safe bet you’ll slide beneath the radar as well. And if that doesn’t work, you can borrow my fake ID. I’ve been baptized and confirmed, and I’m the son of an altar boy and the nephew of a priest, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.

Praise Hestia!


http://www.stevepavlina.com

10 Reasons You Should Never Have a Religion

I have been thinking for a while that it would be a really good idea to have an article that would attract some comments. I think I may have found one, again courtesy of Steve Pavlina. Please add your comments ranging from "right on" to calling down retribution from your very own proprietary deity below. This article covers numbers 1 to 5. Part two of this article will be published on Saturday.


By Steve Pavlina

While consciously pursuing your spiritual development is commendable, joining an established religion such as Christianity, Islam, or Hinduism is one of the worst ways to go about it. In this article I’ll share 10 reasons why you must eventually abandon the baggage of organized religion if you wish to pursue conscious living in earnest.

Since Christianity is currently the world’s most popular religion, I’ll slant this article towards Christianity’s ubiquitous failings. However, you’ll find that most of these points apply equally well to other major religions (yes, even Buddhism).

1. Spirituality for dummies.

If you have the awareness level of a snail, and your thinking is mired in shame and guilt (with perhaps a twist of drug abuse or suicidal thinking), then subscribing to a religion can help you climb to a higher level of awareness. Your mindset, however, still remains incredibly dysfunctional; you’ve merely swapped one form of erroneous thinking for another.

For reasonably intelligent people who aren’t suffering from major issues with low self-esteem, religion is ridiculously consciousness-lowering. While some religious beliefs can be empowering, on the whole the decision to formally participate in a religion will merely burden your mind with a hefty load of false notions.

When you subscribe to a religion, you substitute nebulous group-think for focused, independent thought. Instead of learning to discern truth on your own, you’re told what to believe. This doesn’t accelerate your spiritual growth; on the contrary it puts the brakes on your continued conscious development. Religion is the off-switch of the human mind.
Leave the mythology behind, and learn to think for yourself. Your intellect is a better instrument of spiritual growth than any religious teachings.

2. Loss of spiritual depth perception.

One of the worst mistakes you can make in life is to attach your identity to any particular religion or philosophy, such as by saying “I am a Christian” or “I am a Buddhist.” This forces your mind into a fixed perspective, robbing you of spiritual depth perception and savagely curtailing your ability to perceive reality accurately. If that sounds like a good idea to you, you’ll probably want to gouge out one of your eyeballs too. Surely you’ll be better off with a single, fixed perspective instead of having to consider two separate image streams… unless of course you’ve become attached to stereo vision.

Religious “truths” are inherently rooted in a fixed perspective, but real truth is perspective-independent. When you substitute religious teachings for truth, you mistake shadows for light sources. Consequently, you doom yourself to stumble around in the dark, utterly confused. Clarity remains forever elusive, and the best answer you get is that life is one giant mystery. Religious mysteries, however, arise not from what is truly unknowable; they arise from the limitations of trying to understand reality from a fixed frame of reference.

A more intelligent approach is to consider reality through a variety of different perspectives without trying to force your perceptions into an artificial religious framework.

3. Engineered obedience training.

Religions are authoritarian hierarchies designed to dominate your free will. They’re power structures that aim to convince you to give away your power for the benefit of those who enjoy dominating people. When you subscribe to a religion, you enroll in a mindless minion training program. Religions don’t market themselves as such, but this is essentially how they operate.

Religions are very effective at turning human beings into sheep. They’re among the most powerful instruments of social conditioning. They operate by eroding your trust in your own intellect, gradually convincing you to put your trust into some external entity, such as a deity, prominent figure, or great book. Of course these instruments are usually controlled by those who administrate the minion training program, but they don’t have to be. Simply by convincing you to give your power away to something outside yourself, religion will condition you to be weaker, more docile, and easier to control. Religions actively promote this weakening process as if it were beneficial, commonly branding it with the word faith. What they’re actually promoting is submission.

Religions strive to fill your head with so much nonsense that your only recourse is to bow your head in submission, often quite literally. Get used to spending a lot of time on your knees because acts of submission such as bowing and kneeling are frequently incorporated into religious practice. Canine obedience training uses similar tactics. Now say, “Yes, Master.”

Have you ever wondered why religious teachings are invariably mysterious, confusing, and internally incongruent? This is no accident by the way — it’s quite intentional.

By putting forth confusing and internally conflicting information, your logical mind (i.e. your neocortex) is overwhelmed. You try in vain to integrate such contradictory beliefs, but it can’t be done. The net effect is that your logical mind disengages because it can’t find a pattern of core truth beneath all the nonsense, so without the help of your neocortex, you devolve to a more primitive (i.e. limbic) mode of thinking. You’re taught that this faith-based approach is a more spiritual and conscious way to live, but in reality it’s precisely the opposite. Getting you to distrust your own cerebral cortex actually makes you dumber and easier to manipulate and control. Karl Marx was right when he said, “Religion is the opiate of the people.”

For example, the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Bible frequently contradict each other with various rules of conduct, yet both are quoted during mass. Church leaders also behave in direct violation of the Church’s teachings, such as by covering up criminal and immoral activities by their own priests. Those who try to mentally process such glaring contradictions as coherent truth invariably suffer for it. A highly conscious person would reject membership in such an organization as patently ridiculous. So-called divine mysteries are engineered to be incomprehensible. You aren’t meant to ever make sense of them since that would defeat the whole purpose. When you finally wake up and realize it’s all B.S., you’ve taken the first step towards freedom from this oppressive system.

The truth is that so-called religious authorities don’t know any more about spirituality than you do. However, they know how to manipulate your fear and uncertainty for their own benefit. How nice of you to let them.

Although the most popular religions are very old, L. Ron Hubbard proved the process can be replicated from scratch in modern times. As long as there are large numbers of people who fear the responsibility of their own power, religions will continue to dominate the landscape of human development.
If you want to talk to God, then communicate directly instead of using third-party intermediaries. Surely God has no need of an interpreter. Don’t fall into the trap of becoming a mindless minion. It’s a mistake to think that turning off your neocortex and practicing mindless “faith” will bring you closer to God. In truth it will only bring you closer to dog.

4. Toilet-bowl time management.

If you devote serious time to the practice of religion, it’s safe to say you practice toilet-bowl time management, flushing much of your precious life down the drain with little or nothing to show for it.
First, you’ll waste a lot of time filling your head with useless nonsense. This includes reading some of the worst fiction ever written. Then there are various rules, laws, and practices to learn.

Seriously, if you have insomnia, try reading religious texts before bedtime. You’ll be asleep faster than you can say Methuselah. Why do you think hotels put Bibles next to the bed? It’s the greatest sedative known to man. I have to give props to the Scientologists for at least incorporating space aliens into their stories. It’s a shame Gene Roddenberry didn’t formally invent his own religion; Stovokor sounds like a lot of fun.

Once you finally realize your head has been filled with utter nonsense, you must then purge such garbage from your mind if you want your brain to be functional again. That can take considerably longer, assuming you succeed at all. It’s like trying to uninstall AOL from your hard drive.
Next, you can expect to waste even more time on repetitive ritual and ceremony, such as attending mass, learning prayers, and practicing unproductive meditations.

If I add up the time I attended mass and Sunday school, studied religion in school as if it were a serious subject, and memorized various prayers, I count thousands of hours of my life I’d love to have back. I did, however, learn some important lessons, many of which are being shared in this article.
I especially remember listening to a lot of bad sermons; most priests are hideously poor speakers. Maybe it’s because they drink alcohol while on duty.

Now if you really go overboard and throw in learning a dead language for good measure, you can kiss years of your life goodbye.

The more time you devote to religious practice, the more you waste your life on pointless, dead-end pursuits… and the more you’ll want to delude yourself with a phony “Hehe, I meant to do that” attitude.

5. Support your local pedophile.

In addition to being a serious waste of time, religious practice can also be a huge waste of money.
For starters when you donate to a major religion, you support its expansion, which means you’re facilitating the enslavement of your fellow humans. That isn’t very nice, now is it? If you feel the urge to donate money, give it to a real and honorable cause, not a fabricated one. Better yet, go outside and do something that really helps people. If you can’t think of anything better, grab a can of paint and clean up some local graffiti.

Your religious donations fund freeloaders who mooch off society but who generally provide little or no value in return. Sure there are some religious people who perform valuable public services, but for the most part, that isn’t their bailiwick. These freeloaders typically operate tax-free, meaning they’re effectively subsidized by taxpayers. That’s a great racket if you’re on the receiving side… not so great if you’re funding it though.

Religions offer a suite of special services to generate additional income. They’ll spout some gibberish while feeding you a crusty wafer, pronounce you bonded to a fellow human being, snip some of your excess skin, pour water on your head, proclaim your manhood, cast out your demons, pronounce your transgressions forgiven, and so on. When they can’t think of anything else, they make up some drivel like confirming you’re still loyal to them. The bill may read “suggested donation,” but it’s still a bill.
When you donate money to a religious organization, you’re doing much worse than throwing your money away. You’re actively funding evil. If you think that spending a billion dollars to defend pedophiles and rapists is a good use of your hard-earned cash, perhaps you should run for Pope. You could hardly do worse. At least Wall Street is honest about its greed and lust.

One of my Catholic high school teachers was later revealed to be a repeat child molester… written up in the newspaper and everything. I didn’t see any suspicious behavior at the time, and to be totally honest, I actually liked that teacher and was shocked to learn of his extracurricular activities. He was shuffled from one location to another by those who knew about his appetite for young flesh. I’m glad I wasn’t on the menu, but I feel sad for those who were. Methinks God should raise his standards… just a tad.

Why aren’t Catholic priests allowed to marry? This has nothing to do with what’s written in the Bible or with any benefits of celibacy. This rule was invented by the Church to prevent their priests from producing heirs. When the priests died, their property would go back to the Church, thereby enriching the rich even more. Apparently God needed more cash. It was a very effective policy, as the Church is now among the richest and most powerful organizations on earth. It’s hard to fail when you have a loyal force of lifetime indentured servants who work cheaply and then yield their life savings to you when they die.

Lay religious people (i.e. non-clergy), on the other hand, are encouraged to have lots of babies because that means more people are born into the religion, which means more money and a bigger power base. Condoms are a big no-no; they’re bad for business. Marriage is a big yes; it means more brainwashed babies will be made.

Would you seriously consider this sort of structure a “good cause” worthy of your hard-earned cash?
I have got to get me one of these…



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