Thursday, March 22, 2007

The Secret Teleseminar

Last night I had the pleasure of listening in on a teleseminar discussion of what is no longer, nor ever really was, the real secret.

Needless to say, it could have gone on for two more hours - perhaps I would have personally gotten more out of it.

However much I applaud the speakers who sponsored this event I do hope this can be turned into a serial, because much benefit can be derived from many more people participating and contributing to its final construction.

Here are a few words I supplied in advance.

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Kevin Hogan | Dave Lakhani | Blair Warren | Pastor Bob Beverley

I believe the real secret to living a more enlightened, purposeful and meaningful life can be easily learned... first, by fashioning the simplest actual words... we choose to co-opt as our own... and, secondly, by constructing our slightly-more-complex conscious thoughts with these words.

To construct proper true thoughts requires clarity and definition for these words; and personally I've found that having a dictionary and an encyclopedia at hand is really helpful – even for those simple words of which “I only thought I knew” their specific, contextual meanings for my purpose.

Only once this foundation has been properly built from ordinary words and simple sentences can we begin to re-introduce new distinctions and subtleties with more sophisticated words back into our conscious thoughts - without causing undue harm or by leading us astray from our more principled, and simpler, original grounding.

And, by principled, I mean scientific – because what is universally true can be understood only by use of the scientific method.

It's not good to have a “miasma of words” in, or a “word cloud” hanging over, our heads... to cloud our judgments... if we're not instantly and consciously aware of each word component’s relevant meaning in organized sentence structures; since it’s these “language pieces”...

symbols-words-sounds-thoughts-images-feelings-perceptions

...which constantly and directly impact our “conjuring” of relevant thoughts... hence informing our daily actions.

This “healing” can take place only when we learn to separate opinion from fact – using our own clearly understood words – then ingesting these words into transformed thoughts... as unthinkingly... as we are wont... to breathe the air.

In a culture conditioned by sound bytes, convenience, and instant gratification - against the drumbeat of competing thoughts at cross-purposes with one another - it’s easy to see why many of us seek comfort from those who can plausibly explain away our miseries.

Through their confident, smiling deliveries, sounding of a cacophony of nonsensical psycho-babble, I’m often less-than-charmed.

So I'm not a fan of these charlatans who've been crawling out of the woodwork all my life who really do nothing to advance the discussion in these areas – whose claptrap includes talk about the Law Of Attraction and other forms of regurgitated New Age gobbledygook!

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cla1.htm

http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-gob1.htm

Aside from buying in to most authoritarian constructs, which is harmful, it is the ignoring of utilitarian principles which is even more disturbing.

And the mere fact these success-mongers are usually just selling the same old hot air doesn’t necessarily endear them to me either.

When I listen to mimicry from one not advancing new substance from his/her perspective into the dialog - which is inconsistent with even the Golden Rule - I tend to smell burnt toast, and temporarily go deaf, all over again!

Because motivation and reward, at least as far as I’m concerned, always takes center stage of my attention, I’m likely to dismiss those motives which bring less than co-equal reward to all parties... as risk is only good if it’s borne from a complete absence of suspicion, fear or doubt. Belief can be believed if one wants – but only if it is principled – that is, if it is scientifically established as a universal truth as well.

And I also don’t believe one must “get over on someone” or conquer the world in order to achieve mastery or success in this life.

Chinese Proverbs:

"If you believe everything you read in books, don't read books; and if you rely completely on teachers, then don't have a teacher."


“Harming others means you first harm yourself.”


Here's an example from the founder of the New Thought movement which better illustrates my points regarding consistent everyday word usage in bringing about more successful thought exchanges.


http://masonc.home.netcom.com/quimby/quimby.html
http://www.ppquimby.com/concord/concord.htm
http://www.websyte.com/alan/qtech.htm
http://website.lineone.net/~cornerstone/quimby1.htm


The first link takes you to a PDF compiled from his many notes after his death. The last link above takes you directly to P.P. Quimby's own words which drive these points home best for me.

An early devotee of Anton Mesmer, one can detect his training as an early practitioner of mesmerism. But also as one who eventually rejected its teachings, you can plainly see this man's devotion to the betterment of the human condition... by his explorations in helping to define and clarify the meanings of common words used by everyday 19th century people.

This was the basis of his healing technique – he simply sought to guide his patients with a methodology by which they themselves could undo... what would simply be regarded as error.

Tell us if you don’t agree if the simpler language used in this instructional dialog – from more than 150 years ago – might not be helpful to us today... if we were but to define each word employed beforehand... so all can easily understand their particular usages and meanings.

As the dialog is more easily processed... it’s being framed and presented via genuine interactive conversation... between healer and patient.

By these examples, if we can learn to act as facilitators or collaborators – and less like teachers or experts – we will eliminate many of the communication barriers which tend to inhibit meaningful dialog.

Though I don't profess to be a church-goer, or even a New Thought convert, I've always been cognizant of the fact that most doctrinaire religions begin as cults, and then become mass movements, before splintering into several subgroups over time.

I believe that by employing economic values to words and actions we can learn to preserve our powers to leverage our economic activities better – so we can focus our energies on those things which do us the most good in the world.

Finally, if this be the case, tell this appreciative listener if the four of you can agree with this statement:

"Words which unite us empower us; and words which divide us, weaken us."

These words are meant strictly for your amusement...

... So... thanks – I hope they help contribute to our discussion!


Best regards,

Lark

http://www.MarkandLark.com

[P.S. – Quimby had a useful take on what is scientific, and what is not, which you may find illuminating - all this before we knew about such a thing as a string-net liquid, or even a string theory!:)]