The world around you is just echoes to your own self-esteem.

Hit me again the other day - confidence is independent of what happens around you.

photocredit: duanekrip.com

"The world is what you think it is." So says the oldest known philosophy we have (Huna). And this is backed up by many others.

Confidence is self-generated, and takes practice, according to Napoleon Hill. He has it in his Chapter 3 on Faith.

It's just surprising to see this again in this light. Of course, I ran into it in Go Thunk Yourself over a decade ago. There I referred to Dale Carnegie who was quoting William James from the Gospel of Relaxation:

“Ac­tion seems to fol­low feel­ing, but re­ally ac­tion and feel­ing go to­gether; and by reg­u­lat­ing the ac­tion, which is under the more di­rect con­trol of the will, we can in­di­rectly reg­u­late the feel­ing, which is not.

“Thus the sov­er­eign vol­un­tary path to cheer­ful­ness, if our spon­ta­neous cheer­ful­ness be lost, is to sit up cheer­fully and to act and speak as if cheer­ful­ness were al­ready there. If such con­duct does not make you feel cheer­ful, noth­ing else on that oc­ca­sion can.

“So, to feel brave, act as if we were brave, use all of our will to that end, and a courage fit will very likely re­place the fit of fear ”.

 That is using your own action as a necessary crutch. Levenson's releasing and Silva's Active Meditation both work to create a point of release where you can simply assume a confident state rapidly (split-seconds, if you want).

And then, because you are confident, things tend to go the way you want. If you've been visualizing all along what outcome you expect, then you can simply apply Nightingale's attitude of Calm, Cheerful, Expectancy - and all turns out swimmingly.

You get exactly what you think.

So choose wisely.

Faith - one thing no one can take from you...

(from christianbook.com

Faith - one thing no one can take from you...except yourself. (a book review)

Earl Nightingale said often that the most valuable things in life were given to you free and you couldn't pay to get them back - such as your health and your capacity for thought.

Faith, as laid out by McKay and Abraham in their new book "Billy" - faith is one of these precious and incredibly valuable items which only you can put there and only you can take away.

This story starts and ends with the problems that one of the best friends Billy Graham ever had - he lost his faith and became an agnostic/atheist for the rest of his life. Through an interview on what later became his deathbed, we see the life of Billy Graham from his beginnings on a dairy farm through his decision to follow his call to the ministry and also to the most important incident of his life.

By comparing these two individuals, McKay and Abraham do not tell a cloying, over-pious, up-on-a-pedestal version of Graham's life - but they tell a story of that individual who was as human as the rest of us, warts and all.

Through the eyes of Charles Templeton, we see that talent plays no favorites - that a person of immense talent can yet ruin his own life through the different choices he makes in life. Talent doesn't prepare one for the depths of personal doubts and doesn't prevent anyone from the pitfalls each of us face.

But luck can fall to those who aren't as gifted or talented or brilliant. In Graham's case (as related by the authors through Templeton) the most average among us can live incredibly lucky lives and have all sorts of good fortune shine down on us. Templeton was gifted, physically and mentally - capable of putting women into a swoon and grown men into immediate respect, all with a glance and a word. He also had a native talent for illustration and as an athlete.

Graham and Templeton were best friends and lived through many adventures as up-and-coming evangelists. Why Graham went on to international fame and Templeton to relative obscurity is the question this book raises.

And perhaps the answer is too simple, too pat. But you don't see what this answer is until the end pages of the book. Skilfully drawn through the pages by the narrative, I found myself immersed in the life of Billy Graham and his counterpart, Templeton. Of course the story is all about Graham, but you also find the story of Templeton. One succeeds - and endures that same night on the mountain much as Jesus did, finding that his faith was paramount to all obstacles. The other finds that his faith fails him and so turns his back on his success, his wife, and his friends - to go seek an intellectual reasoning for the world around him.

Templeton has no real explanations for the lucky breaks Graham had - and how he rose to incredible fame and success. Instead, Templeton grouses about these breaks over and over.

I haven't seen the movie, but I can see why someone wanted to make it into one. This is an incredibly powerful narrative and one which has lessons for anyone in our modern times - where we are presented with all types and kinds of opportunities. As well, we are presented with every trial that can be faced by any person living on this planet.

Each one of us can be - and has been - tried in our faith as these authors describe the ordeals Graham experienced, and as well those of his best friend Templeton.

And so this book is a personal tale - personal to everyone who seeks answers to life and yet finds all roads lead back to oneself, one's own ideas - and ultimately, one's personal faith.

So I recommend this book to anyone and everyone who can read it. Life is meant to be lived. And faith is a cornerstone for living.

- - - -

Next up: Think and Make it Happen - Stay Tuned...

Get a clue - there's a whole system out there running your (and everone else's) universe...

Of all these self help books, all those self improvement tapes, all the religious dogmas, every ideologue, there is a single underlying system which explains how everything works and fits together.

Woooof. That's one heady statement to make.

But I've been working this over for over 8 years now as a steady research and collecting notes the earlier 40-some - on just about everything that crossed my path. So when I say that I've been able to boil down the universe into a single system, it just might be plausible.

The basic is back on the farm. Did you know that Nature runs the same, no matter what you believe, or practice, or what party you belong to? True. Plant a seed anywhere on this planet and as long as it has enough sunlight, enough nutrients, and is warm enough to do it's job - you'll have a sprouted plant. Keep these conditions long enough and that plant will make seeds so you can make more plants.

Heated greenhouses in Antarctica prove it.

So how do all these religions say they are the only way out and that all others are (whatever)? They are simply running marketing silos, trying to build a monopoly of belief and so finance their buildings and what-not.

That's a bit cruel, and perhaps steps on everyone's toes at once. But if you analyze organized religions against marketing data, that's what falls out.

Back up a bit.

All - and I mean all - religions and phil0sophies contain certain common points. One of these is the "Golden Rule". Every single historical belief-system we have on this planet has recognized that there is a definite reciprocity on this mud-ball we live on. What ever you do has consequences - and these all come back to haunt or elevate you. Your choice - treat people like manure and you'll get manure dumped on you. Treat people with respect and you'll get respect. Be charitable, get charity. Help others, get helped.

On and on and on.

Most nations have outlawed capital punishment - who wants to cast that first stone?

I think that if you looked hard enough, you'd also find some recognition of the Law of Attraction in all these - but it's a different search. I know it's been written about in both the New and Old Testaments. And Huna mentions it - which is the oldest-known philosophic system still practiced on this planet.

Of course, this above would then be a complete study all on its own. And I'll leave that to theologists to study up as part of the postgraduate studies. I'll keep to the broad strokes.

Let's just go with this idea that, like Nature, we are all living on this planet under the same rules. We all have bodies which are different hues and shades, but all function the same. There are only so many blood types, and they can all be fixed with varying degrees of success when they get broken.

It is just logical that all these religions, cults, and belief-systems (extremist, moderate, conservative) work because of that underlying common system, not in spite of it.

How would I go about explaining it?

1. Take Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" as the base, and back up to Huna's 7 principles to explain how this works.
2. Expand to his Law of Success, and widen the scope to include Haanel's Master Key System, as well as Mental Chemistry.
3. Compare with Science of Getting Rich.
4. Examine the phenomenon of "The Secret", which is pushing the Law of Attraction.
5. Review Atkinson's works along this line, as well as Earl Prevette.
6. Back this up through Genevieve Behrend to Thomas Troward.
7. Which then brings us right back to Huna as an overall and underlying base for all modern self help.
8. Then come forward through current religions to show their similarities and posit the point that all religions (and all belief-systems/world-views) depend on a common system of philosophy in order to work at all.
9. Now, the base foundation for a common system could be laid, taking just the key points held in common by all above authors and Huna.

And this is just the beginning. Once you lay out the basic principles, personal techniques could be approached, so that anyone could improve just about anything in their lives (thought being the first point of creation, any system of thought would then enable anything to be created/achieved/acquired).

As well, an approach to world peace is possible. If all war is either economic or ideological in origin, it would be possible to show that everyone would be richer if you allowed free commerce, as well as other human freedoms.

This underlying system does exist. Interestingly, it isn't a question of proving it, but disproving it... Because it runs on faith for fuel. Faith is based on knowledge and understanding. Those that doubt only limit themselves. The best gains to be had are by thoroughly immersing oneself in the subject. You can't try out a pair of boots to see if they fit and wear well unless you put them on, first.

Blogged with Flock

More dog food.

While I haven't written, lately, rest assured that my world continues, it's path toward truth inexorable...

While you can see that I dogged this last entry at schedules, this is exactly what has been bugging my life up in working out how to get Haanel studied. Interesting, I found that I needed to publish a smaller student guide, based on the original student handbook, so that I could study over lunch and breaks. This has worked out, remarkably. You see, I returned to working weekends at a local warehouse, while my festivals and their caricature work take a winter hiatus. So being able to study a spiral-bound 6x9 book in the scraps of time is essential to making any progress.

Haanel tends to build up a momentum, like any well-written book. Here, you study paragraph by paragraph and there is no skipping around, since the language is a form of English not commonly used these days. But that's fine, the book is written with numbered paragraphs so you can. I've planned a commentary on this book, which will find its way into GTY S'more.

This morning, I'd like to tell you about the interesting connections I've found showing up around me. Right now, I'm on Lesson Fourteen in the book. By now, Haanel is talking about how one is tied in to the Universal mind through the subconscious - although he doesn't ever (at least so far) give much of the mechanical connection between the conscious, subconscious and Unversal Mind (superconscious). Serge King does a much better job of this, but Haanel comments:

22. Do you, can you, appreciate the value of this all-important fact; do you realize that a recognition of this tremendous fact places you in touch with Omnipotence? The subconscious mind being the connecting link between the Universal Mind and the conscious mind, is it not evident that the conscious mind can consciously suggest thoughts which the subconscious mind will put into action, and as the subconscious is one with the Universal, is it not evident that no limit can be placed upon its activities?

I've been interestingly working around the various metaphors we use in order to work at accessing data in the Quantum Hologram/Universal Mind via the subconscious mind. While King and others reference and use the Garden as a means of getting data and improving your life, there are many other means of doing this. Some, as Hill suggests in his chapter on the Sixth Sense, can use other metaphors, such as Hill's board meeting. There are traditions of departed spirits giving lessons to the living. (Which got Huna into trouble originally with the Christian missionaries.) One can have any number of your ancestors (or others) giving you data on an infrequent basis on how to live your life. The mechanical explanation is that your subconscious is giving you a means of filtering the data you need from the Universal Mind/Higher Intelligence. All you are doing with your conscious mind is setting up various agreements so that you are able to recieve this new data.

This is what any study of Haanel does. On a gradient scale, through doing the exercises daily and weekly, you start opening up your mind and training it so that you can start recieving this insight as you constantly "post" your own vision through the subconsious to the Unversal/superconscious. These various metaphors are a means of giving you your answers and guidence.

Another metaphor is dreams. If your start the habit of keeping a journal to write down your dreams (I lay awhile every morning and after every nap to work at remembering my dreams and distilling their content) you will start being able to remember their content vividly. (King devotes a whole chapter to this in his book, Mastering The Hidden Self - yes, I recommend him and his book highly. I'd link you to Amazon, but their system isn't that intutive and I fear leaving you with a broken link.)

The point of the conscious is coordination and cooperation. Mastering life means working with all of your various impulses and fears, as well as your hopes and expectations. Through my Go Thunk Yourself series, as well as the reference books I've provided, I hope that people can see that of the many routes up the mountain, they are all singing the same chorus. It's just a matter of studying the fundamentals and then working out the an effective system which you personally can use. As in Huna, "Effectiveness is the measure of truth." Or, as King writes,

The last principle, 'Effectiveness is the measure of truth,' indicates in a subtle way that you can choose to take someone else's word for what is true, or you can plunge into the stream of life and test it for yourself.

And that is the simplicity of it all, which is why I advise people to take up Huna after Haanel. I can see now that I have to do some major additions to GTYS before I finalise it in any fashion - but that's why it's a blog, afterall... and why I'm writing this blog as well. (Though I don't know that the "Dog Food" route is one I can use - it makes more sense to geeks than perhaps the bulk of readers, though it certainly is graphic.)

Back to my point - when you study Haanel, you gradiently get into this connection with the Supreme/Universal Mind. If you open up your senses, especially through the various metaphors mentioned above, you can have incredible things happen in your life. The more you discipline yourself to personal trust and faith, developing certainty of action and taking action - all the world becomes open to you. Just as Braden and others say that the Quantum Hologram/Universal Mind contains all known data, utilizing various spiritual metaphors will have this literally suggesting itself to you - like an always-on Google search button. Everything you do is constantly searched and the most relative results are given you - if you set up your metaphors to produce these results and you trust yourself.

What this will take is some work in sorting out and disciplining your subconscious/ku. You have to spend some time confronting life and not allowing people to tell you to run away from parts of it. While Haanel tells us the bottom line on creating your vision is love, you have all these people in your life (as well as TV and cable news) inviting you to hate or fear (which are simply absenses of love). There is a discipline (which Jesus of Nazareth found and illustrated) in keeping love in your life. But, as anything, it involves the disciplined action of turning that other cheek and not forwarding the hate and dispersal.

A simple method on this line: take a deep breath and physically relax before you do anything in response. If you develop this as a habit, you will find that you live a more peaceful life and can solve presented problems more rationally. Temper is a habit of uncontrolled emotions. One can replace any temper habit through a discipline of Love. Imagine if everyone around you would only give you constructive criticism - what a world we would be in. Things would continue getting better and better. Well, such a world is possible, is at our finger tips.

And perhaps, just perhaps, it is time for those among us to act in such fashions to solve those around us who deal almost entirely in hate (ie. the jihadists).

But above all, continue to study and pray/meditate and evolve. That is your only real personal hope, as well as any hope for anyone around you, much less this planet.

At least it's a fun ride...