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1. Welcome to Issue #139 (August 16, 2004) of MIND CHATTER
Mind Chatter is published once a month, on or about the 16th of each month.
Please send Mind Chatter to a friend, and please send us your questions, comments, and suggestions.
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2. If you would like to unsubscribe, you can manage your account via the links at the beginning and end of the newsletter. (But please don't. We like you and we want you to stay.)
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3. In This Issue
* MindQuotes (scroll to #5)
* A few recommendations that may benefit you (scroll to item #6)
* Ken Wilber update (scroll to item #7)
* Theory Into Practice: If You Can't Actually USE It, What Good Is It?
by Bill Harris, Director (scroll to item #8)
* Glowing Testimonial of the Month (scroll to #9)
* BOOK REVIEW (scroll to #10)
God's Debris: A Thought Experiment
By Scott Adams
2001 Andrews McMeel Publishing
Reviewed by Marc Gilson
* Important Announcements (scroll to #11)
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4. MIND CHATTER contains articles about:
*How you create your life--and how you can stop unconsciously creating experiences and outcomes you do not want, and instead begin to create exactly what you do want
*Personal and spiritual growth in general
*Meditation (high- and low-tech)
*Recovery from emotional trauma
*Pretty much any other subject I get excited about and want to write about. After all, it's my company and my newsletter, and I can do whatever I want with it. So there.
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5. Mind Quotes
Happiness is not a destination. It is a method of life.
- Burton Hills
People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.
- Dale Carnegie
Yesterday is but a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
- unknown
Happiness comes of the capacity to feel deeply, to enjoy simply, to think freely, to risk life, to be needed.
- Storm Jameson
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6. Something important for everyone who wants a close, loving, conscious relationship...
You can still participate in a relationship tele-seminar by internationally known relationship experts Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks.
This telephone seminar does not cost anything.
Gay and Kathlyn and I have become very good friends over the last year, and because their new book, Lasting Love (Rodale Publishers), hit the bookstores a few months ago, I convinced Gay and Katie to do a free tele-seminar for Mind
Chatter subscribers about the new information they've discovered about how to create close, loving relationships that really work. (Yes, it is possible.)
Two kinds of people will greatly benefit from this free seminar:
1) Those who want to make their current relationship into a GREAT relationship...
2) Those who aren't in a relationship right now--or even those who may have "given up" on relationships--but really would like to find Mr. or Ms. Right and create a relationship that really does have all the love, intimacy, and
companionship you've always wanted.
This is practical, cutting edge information that the Hendricks have successfully taught to thousands of singles and couples who wanted to stop the merry-go-round of conflict, fighting, and lack of closeness, and create relationships the
way you really want them to be.
Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks have appeared on Oprah twice, they've been on Good Morning America, Larry King, and many other television and radio programs, and they've published many best-selling books, including the classic,
Conscious Loving.
Gay and Kathlyn are super teachers, and in this seminar they will explain some key concepts that really will make a huge difference in your current relationship (even if you're the only one in the relationship who uses them).
Again, this seminar is 100% "no charge" to you, so there's no reason to not participate if you're even remotely interested in creating a close, loving relationship.
Here's how to participate:
1. Go to
http://www.therelationshipsolution.com/teleseminar
2. Type in your name and email address.
3. Click "submit."
You'll then receive the telephone number to call, along with the passcode to key in once you're connected to the call, by email.
Then, all you have to do is call in about 2 minutes before the seminar and enjoy listening to two of the world's top relationship experts in a private, no-cost seminar I've arranged for them to teach, especially for you.
There is a limit the number of people who can participate, so please register right away.
Here's the link again to sign up:
http://www.therelationshipsolution.com/teleseminar
Remember, this great seminar by Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks is my gift to you. Enjoy! And please feel free to send the link to all your friends.
**
Is it really possible to create the exact life you want--inside and out?
Yes, it is.
Unless you're new to Mind Chatter, you know that about fifteen months ago I started a series of teleconference lessons--three courses, of 12 lessons each--collectively called The Life Principles Integration Process. Now over 2,436 people
are participating in these courses, and people in these courses are experiencing huge positive changes.
These courses are now available in a very inexpensive and very easy to use on-line form.
Here's the idea: Whether you know it or not, you are creating your internal and external reality (if that doesn't seem to be true, it's because you're doing it, for the most part, unconsciously and automatically, outside your awareness).
When you live this way, part of the time you will get what you want and part of the time you won't--but it's not always clear why.
If, however, you can learn to operate the part of you that creates your internal and external results, and do so consciously and intentionally, you really can create whatever you want.
I can teach you how to do this. In fact, I GUARANTEE that I can teach you how to do it--if you're willing to learn.
This is NOT the same old stuff you've read about in all those books about "manifesting your dreams" and so on and so forth. I promise that if you take these courses, you will have a huge "ah-ha" about your life and how to create what you
want, both inside and out.
You can take the courses on your computer, either by audio-streaming, or by downloading the calls to listen to later or to burn onto a CD.
In addition, I am making myself personally available, by email, to answer any and all questions you have about anything during the course. This means unlimited email access to me for any questions you have.
You do not need to be a participant in The Holosync Solution to take these courses, by the way.
I've made these courses VERY inexpensive. If I had to teach this in person, in a seminar or retreat, it would cost a few thousand dollars. Instead, the cost is a small fraction of that.
What's more, I've created a free preview lesson, so you can find out what it's about with no risk.
Here are a few emails I've received from people in the course:
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!! The first lesson was worth the price of this course, and more. I have heard and read similar material before, but somehow you manage to present it so that it gets through in a
powerful way. I simply can't tell you how grateful I am to you-and you're plenty funny!
--Jean M.
*
Wow, you are not kidding when you say you really want to help. I knew that already though. Thank you so much. You, your program, and your teachings have changed my life completely -- much needed.
--Lee
*
You really know your stuff! Razor sharp.
--Andrew
*
Wow! I'm impressed by all the time and energy you are putting into this course. Thank you!
--Ellen
*
I absolutely love your impeccable program. You've summed up just about everything that I've heard from many other tapes and books, but they did not hand you the formula for the answers the way in which you did. I feel that there are many
thousands of beings who are truly grateful for all that you have gone through to bring about such change for so many. May we all find the joy and blessings that you have come to live. Bright Blessings,
--Janet G.
*
So please go listen to the FREE preview lesson, which is available now for you to listen to online. This free lesson contains some great stuff, so please go listen to it.
It really is possible to master the ability to create whatever you want in life, both inside and out. For more information about the course and to actually listen to a FREE preview lesson, click here:
http://www.centerpointe.com/life/preview
I'd love to get an email from you in a few weeks telling me how much YOU have benefited!
Be well.
Bill
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7. Part 2 of Ken Wilber/Bill Harris Conversation Now Available--at no cost to you...
In June I announced the online posting of a conversation I had with noted author and philosopher Ken Wilber, in which we discussed Holosync and how it facilitates personal and spiritual growth and evolution.
The entire conversation was recorded, and Part 1 was posted on Ken's Integral Naked website in June. Many thousands of people did go to integralnaked.org to listen to our conversation.
The feedback was incredible. People found our completely un-scripted discussion of how Holosync meditation affects the brain, creating higher states of consciousness--and higher stages of consciousness--to be very fascinating.
Now Part 2 has been posted. I'd like you to hear it, at no charge. We've called the whole 3-part series "Brainwaves and God" and if you're at all interested in personal and spiritual growth, I know you'll find it to be extremely
interesting.
If you didn't listen to Part 1, you can also do that, too.
Later, there will be a Part 3, and I'll let you know when it's ready.
To listen, you must be a member of the Integral Naked web site, but you can get a month's membership at NO CHARGE, which will allow you to listen to this conversation--and many other conversations with some other very amazing people.
For instance, you can listen to conversations between Ken Wilber and other well-known personal growth leaders, including Andrew Cohen, Nathanial Branden, Larry Dossey, Caroline Myss, Michael Murphy, and Deepak Chopra (plus many more).
There are also discussions with major artists, filmakers, and actors (I believe one has recently been recorded with George Lucas, for instance), and other notable persons.
If you don't know who Ken Wilber is...well, you should. Ken is one of the most noted philosophers of the last century, and a bestselling author whose 25 books have been translated into 30 languages.
Dr. Roger Walsh, author of Essential Spirituality, called him "one of the greatest philosophers of this century, and arguably the greatest theoretical psychologist of all time." Robert Kegan of the Harvard Graduate School of
Education called him "a national treasure".
Ken's books include A Brief History of Everything and A Theory of Everything (and many others). His view of the world and our place in it is known as Integral Philosophy, where integral means comprehensive, holistic,
balanced, and inclusive--an attempt to include all perspectives in a larger picture.
In our discussion of Holosync and its effects on personal and spiritual growth and evolution, Ken describes the natural stages of consciousness, and notes that as we develop through these stages of consciousness what previously were merely
occasional glimpses of heightened and expanded states of awareness become a permanent part of moment-by-moment living (as those of you in the deeper stages of The Holosync Solution have no doubt experienced).
Ken and I then discuss how Holosync appears to accelerate growth through these various stages of consciousness, and how Holosync is a very useful addition to any integral tool kit for growth and personal evolution.
Ken is so enthusiastic about Holosync that those who attend seminars and trainings at the Integral Institute meditate with Holosync each day during their trainings!
Here is what one Holosync user said about Part 1:
"I just listened to your talk with Ken Wilber on Integral Naked, and I just want to say how excited I am to hear you guys in dialogue. I am huge fans of both of your work, and I think you have a heckuva lot to offer each other."
I hope you will take the opportunity to go to the Integral Naked site (link below) and sign up as a member. The first month is free. After the first free month, the monthly charge is $10, but you can cancel at any time (including at the
end of the free month).
I'm told this offer won't last forever, so please sign up right away in case they discontinue the free month at some point.
To sign up, click on the link below and go to the blue icon in the right hand column that reads "The First Month is Free." This will take you to the sign up page.
The link is:
http://integralnaked.org/whatsnew.aspx
After you sign up, go to my page to listen to my discussion with Ken. That link is:
http://integralnaked.org/contributor.aspx?id=60
From there, you'll be able to choose several ways to listen online, or you can download an MP3 version you can listen to later or burn onto a CD.
If you haven't heard Part 1 yet, listen to that first, and then listen to Part 2.
I know you'll find the continuation of this discussion of Holosync and personal and spiritual evolution to be very interesting. Please let me know how you liked it.
Remember that you can get a month's subscription for no charge!
Again, here is the link to sign up:
http://integralnaked.org/whatsnew.aspx
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8. Feature Article
Theory Into Practice: If You Can't Actually USE It, What Good Is It?
by Bill Harris, Director
My job, as I see it, is to help people discover how they are unconsciously and unintentionally creating their internal and external reality--and, then, how they can become aware of this internal creative process and, in becoming aware of
it, learn how to use it consciously and intentionally to create the life they want.
I use two tools to do this. The first is Holosync audio technology, which creates dramatic increases in conscious awareness in those who meditate with it (plus a number of other very positive benefits). This is the same increase in
conscious awareness offered by traditional meditation, except that with Holosync the changes happen many times more quickly and allow you to begin experiencing deep changes right away, without having to spend years perfecting a technique.
Plus, listening to Holosync is much easier and more reliable than traditional meditation.
The second tool is my Life Principles Integration Process, in which I show you the actual step-by-step process by which you create your internal and external experience of life. In becoming aware of this process, you see exactly how each
person creates their own reality, and you see all the places where a change could be made that would give you conscious control over your experience of life.
These two programs support each other in a very elegant way. With the increased conscious awareness created by Holosync, you might discover--with no other information--the internal process you use to create your reality. Your increased
conscious awareness will allow you to observe this process, and if you're fairly sharp you'll see how it is structured and how you could easily change it to get any result you want. On the other hand, you might not put everything together
to identify the process, or it might take you several years to do it.
However, if you're familiar with the model I describe in the LPIP, you instantly recognize what you're doing inside, once you see it, to create your results in life. This saves you a lot of time and trial-and-error searching.
With the LPIP alone (without Holosync), you might become conscious of how you create your reality as you learn the model I share in the LPIP, but I've found that many people who take the LPIP courses without Holosync have trouble becoming
consciously aware of their own internal processes, as they happen. They get how the model works, but they have trouble consciously spotting how it operates in themselves. Those who are using Holosync, however, have a much easier time
seeing these internal processes--which are ordinarily unconscious and flash by very quickly--in themselves.
Though these two work tools create dramatic changes for those who use them together, there is one other key skill I find to be crucial to really gaining control of how you create your life. With this key skill, you can create a dramatic
acceleration in the results you receive as you use Holosync and the LPIP. I cover this key skill in the LPIP courses, but it takes a bit of internal contemplation and external application and effort to master. With it, you're able to
quickly apply the information in the LPIP courses, and the awareness you gain from Holosync, to your life.
This skill is deceptively simple: it's the ability to apply a given principle to a real-life situation in your life--to do what some people refer to as "chunking down."
Chunking is one of the keys to learning, to creativity, and to practical application of any principle. Chunking up is moving from the details to the big picture, moving from isolated examples to principles and overall purposes. Chunking
down is moving from the general to the specific, from principles to application of principles.
Principles are useless, other than for playing intellectual games (I almost said "mental masturbation," but this is a family newsletter) if you can't apply them to specific situations. It is in their application that principles become
powerful. Without application, they are inert.
As I teach some of the principles I believe to be keys to personal and spiritual growth, most people nod and smile in agreement. They agree that the principles are accurate descriptions of reality, and that applying them is beneficial.
Then, five minutes later, I see them in a real-life situation where they fail to recognize an opportunity to apply a certain principle. Because of this, they lose an opportunity to end the suffering they are creating by not following the
principle in question.
One of the biggest challenges you face in your growth is learning how to apply theoretical principles to specific, real-life situations. For some reason, this is very difficult for almost everyone. If you can master this ability, you can
transform your life very quickly. In fact, one of the main reasons that personal growth seems to be such a long and tedious process is that people fail to actually apply the principles they already know.
Let's look at an example. Probably the most basic principle I teach, a principle that if not followed makes all the other principles useless, is the idea that you create your reality--that you are responsible for your internal states and
nearly all of your external results. I say "almost all" because there are eight billion other people on this planet taking action to get the external results they want, it is possible that their actions could conflict with yours and
sometimes make it more difficult for you to get what you want. However, this is less of a problem than you may think, and if you learn certain ways of thinking and acting (ways I clearly spell out in the LPIP, and which are actually
pretty easy to implement), you can get nearly everything you want in the external part of life, too. Not all, but so close to all that you can pretty much get anything you want from life.
That you create your reality is clearly a key principle, since it puts you at cause. Without it, you're living under the mistaken (but often compelling) impression that outside forces beyond your control are creating your feelings and your
results. In such a case, you've declared yourself to be a victim. You see yourself at the effect of causes over which you have no control.
Or at least it seems to be so.
This principle is somewhat controversial among the general public (in fact, victim thinking seems rampant, actually), but nearly everyone who has been in personal growth for any length of time would agree that we each create our own
reality, and that we are responsible for what we create. At least, most people in personal growth would agree IN THEORY. I find, however, that in practice many people act as if they don;t really believe this principle at all. Whenever
anything happens they don't like, whether in their personal life or in society at large, they immediately look for someone or something to blame. And, by not being able to actually practice this principle, they get the same results as
those who don't believe it.
Now here's a little secret: those who take 100% responsibility for what happens in their life are those who are happy, peaceful, and successful in the world. It really is a KEY principle. People who actually follow it are the most
conscious people on the planet--and the happiest. This principle is worth following for no other reason than that it gives you tremendous positive results and tremendous personal power. For this reason, it's well worth the effort to learn
how to chunk this principle down so you can apply it to specific situations.
So what does that mean? It means that you have to recognize when a situation in your life is an example of this (or any) principle in action. This requires a certain amount of conscious awareness, which you can gain through using Holosync
(though there are other ways, of course). It also requires that you not get sucked into bad feelings that often overwhelm you at a key moment when you might actually use the principle. It also helps if you realize another key principle:
that feelings, especially bad feelings, are notoriously unreliable and should always be checked with rational facts before you "believe" them. (Yes, Virginia, you don't have to believe every feeling you have.)
Applying a principle in real life also requires that you really understand the principle. It requires that you realize that the principle in question has universal application. If you apply a principle in some situations, but make
exceptions when it seems inconvenient, you're probably going to fail to apply it in the very situation when it would help you the most.
Finally, if you just learn how to recognize situations in which the principle applies, and know how to chunk up and down, you can experience the benefits of this principle.
How do you chunk up and down? You ask certain key questions. To chunk up, you ask "For what purpose?" or "What is this an example of?" To chunk down, you ask "What specifically?" or "What is a specific example of this?"
Let me give an example. You're up for a raise, but after your performance review, your pay remains the same. In fact, another person managed to take responsibility for a lot of great work you did, and she got a raise instead. The whole
thing was unfair, no question about it. If you're like most people, you'll bitch about what happened and spend a fair amount of time feeling angry and upset, or perhaps feel misunderstood, wronged, invisible, or something along those
lines. The last thing that comes to mind (for most people) is "how did I create this?" (even though you just read that book about taking responsibility for everything you create--after all, you really were wronged in this situation!).
Taking responsibility for what happened doesn't mean you did something wrong, that you are "to blame" for what happened (this isn't about right or wrong, it's about personal power and the ability to create your reality), or that you
"deserved" what happened. Obviously other people contributed to what happened. By asking how you created what happened, though, you tap into some inner resources that allow you to turn whatever happened into a positive.
First, you might ask what you did that allowed someone else to take responsibility for your work. You might also ask how you managed to work at a place where management doesn't see your value. After all, no one made you work there. You
might also consider that perhaps there's something you did that really did diminish your value to the company, and that what happened actually was fair. Since all of these things are something you can do something about (whereas what the
other people did is mostly beyond your control), focusing on how you created what happened gives you power to do something about it.
You have even more power when it comes to your internal response. In fact, you have total control over how you respond internally. If you ask yourself how you created the bad feelings you experienced you'll have to admit that you had a
choice as to how to react, and you chose to feel bad. If you've taken the first of my LPIP courses, the Internal Map of Reality Expander, you should be able to see exactly how you've created whatever feelings you're experiencing.
But before you can do any of this, you must recognize that this is a situation to which this principle applies. So how do you do that?
First, as I said, the more conscious awareness you have, the better. Second, the greater your commitment to really exercising your role as the creator of your reality, the better. But here's how to apply the chunking question: ask yourself
"What principle applies to this situation? What principle is this an example of?" Actually, I can think of several principles that apply (including Let Whatever Happens Be Okay), but in any situation where something has been created in
your life, whether an external result or an internal state, the principle that you are 100% responsible for what happens is ALWAYS going to apply.
So every time you create something (which means moment-by-moment all day long, every day) you want to be asking yourself, "How did I create this?" You want to be constantly reminding yourself that you did it, even if you're not sure how.
This, by the way, is the real meaning of the term karma. Karma is from the Sanskrit root "kri" which means "to do," "to act," or "to happen." So your karma is, literally, what you do, what happens to you. It is NOT cause and effect.
Whatever happens to you, you did it, one way or another. (Yes, there is a more popular understanding of karma, believed by the average Hindu, Buddhist, or American New Ager, but I'm telling you the true meaning.)
How have you, then, failed to perceive that you are creating what is happening so many times? Why isn't is obvious? Why should you have to go to a lot of effort to remember? The reason this principle isn't so obvious is that what you
create happens in three big steps. Step one is that something happens in your environment. In other words, you have an experience. Step two is that you process that experience, using the processing methods I describe in great detail in my
Internal Map of Reality Expander online course, and which I have described in a broader sense in several previous articles in Mind Chatter. This processing leads directly to step three, your internal state and your external behaviors and
results.
The problem is that the second step happens unconsciously and automatically in almost every human on earth. In order to become aware of this internal creative process requires a great deal of meditation and internal personal investigation,
something few people (present company accepted) are willing to do. If this processing is unconscious, it's invisible, and then you will see only steps one and three: your experience, followed by your internal state and/or an external
results. In such a case, it looks as if the external experience caused the result, when really the invisible step two--the internal processing--was the real creator. Looking at things in this way is kind of like a two year old thinking
that milk comes from refrigerators.
This is why you have to remind yourself about step two, and you do that by chunking the principle (that you create your reality) down in order to apply it to specific situations, such as this work-related example. A good way to learn to do
this is to carry around a 3x5 card for a couple of weeks with "In every situation, I create my reality" written on it, along with the two chunking questions ("For what purpose?" and "What is this an example of?"). Then either chunk the
principle down to whatever is happening in the moment (in other words, go from the general principle to the details), or look at each specific internal state or external result you get as the day goes by and chunk it up to see how it is an
example of the principle (go from the specifics to the general principle). After a couple of weeks you'll begin to remember that this principle applies in all situations. Once you get this, you will begin to experience the benefits of
applying it, which are enormous.
Anyone can blame outside circumstances or other people for how they feel, how they behave, or for what happens to them. To do so is intellectually (and often morally) lazy. Superficially it looks easier to blame whatever is going on around
you. Actually, though, it's a very hard way to live, because you have little or no personal power when you look at life this way. But when you actually take responsibility for EVERYTHING that happens, you gain so much power that other
people wonder how in the heck you became so masterful in dealing with life.
So take a look at the general principles you claim to believe in, and take the trouble to chunk them down to specific situations. If you do, you'll be able to actually live the principles you claim to believe. If you don't, they're
useless.
Be well.
Bill Harris
[If you found this article helpful, please send a copy of this issue to a friend!]
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9. Glowing Testimonials and Letters
Holosync, Thresholds of the Mind, Your Retreat CDs and now this Online Course is helping me in an amazing way. I started Holosync in December and I have seen nothing but amazing growth in my emotional and physical health. I also did EMDR
work after a couple of months using Holosync and it really changed my life. EMDR uses bilateral stimulation. I was able to go very deep while using EMDR very likely because of using Holosync.
I believe Holosync is comparable to the discovery of antibiotics. Antibiotics for the Psyche! Thank you so much for your willingness to grow and help others!
Charles C.
*
dear centerpointe staff...
have been meaning to write and tell y'all how incredible the Awakening level cd's have been...i'm now on level 3 and really it took me til towards the end of level 2 to stop spacing out while doing the dive and immersion and start focusing
a bit... my meditating changed (obviously) and i started getting much more benefit from it...when i started level 3 i noticed a real difference in how deep my meditating became...i don't know what made the difference, but it was
extraordinary...
i just went ahead and ordered the rest of the levels ( thru level 12 ) and look forward to doing each level...you know, you don't really believe the claims made about this program until you actually do it and see for yourself...i can't
thank you enough for offering this technology...i tried to meditate for a long time using different ways of meditating and never got very far...already Awakening meditation has proven itself amazingly useful in helping me make positive
changes in my thinking, in my life, in my relationships...
thank you again...nellie w.
*
After having done meditation with use of your preliminary Holosync Solution, it was something.. My life changed because of the amount of issues that came up for me, I seem to have been completely transformed into a higher sphere by the
emotional release.
I feel that I have benefited so much with so little and this makes me so excited that I am anxious to move on and complete the rest of the program
I credit you with being instrumental in taking me through hell and back, I had found myself floundering in an abyss of abandonment. It was like the whole world was against me. The Holosync Solution was my saviour it brought me in
direct conctact with my soul.
During this lapse of time I found myself broke and with no fixed place of abode. I sought lodgings from relatives and friends to and fro until I was forced to move out of Canada. I am still not settled and still at lodgings at relatives,
but my emotional status keeps me in a sense of peace and comfort. I still have a long way to go but I feel confident that I will get there with your help.
I am practicing to live steadfastly in the present moment with no qualms and total lack of fear. I am contented and accept my destiny as ordained by God.
Thanks.
Kazi H. (from Trinidad)
*
Dear Bill, I bought your holosync tapes some time ago and have used them regularly over the last few months. I just wanted to let you know that they had changed my career in a very positive way. In my career I have been working as a
social worker since 1988 but have suffered from crippling lack
of self-confidence due to my difficult childhood. Since using the tapes I have begun to consider a senior position and have put an application in for a senior post in my office. Many thanks for your help. Regards Doreen (UK)
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10.Book Review
God's Debris: A Thought Experiment
By Scott Adams
2001 Andrews McMeel Publishing
Reviewed by Marc Gilson
***If you would like to read more about or order this book click here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0740721909/centerpointer-20
Imagine you're a delivery driver in San Francisco, making a delivery to an address you've never been to before. You manage to locate the recipient of the package: a very old man sitting in front of a warming fire in his rocking chair who
says he's been expecting you and then asks you a question:
"If you toss a coin a thousand times, how often will it come up heads?"
So begins the story of God's Debris, by Scott Adams. Yes, this is the same Scott Adams who created the tremendously successful Dilbert comic strip. But God's Debris is not a Dilbert book, as Adams makes clear in the
introduction. In fact, it's not a comic strip at all. It is, Adams says, a "thought experiment."
Adams takes care in preparing his reader for the book:
"The story contains no violence, no sexual content, and no offensive language. But the ideas expressed by the characters are inappropriate for young minds. People under the age of fourteen should not read it.
"The target audience for God's Debris is people who enjoy having their brains spun around inside their skulls. After a certain age most people are uncomfortable with new ideas. That certain age varies by person, but if you're over
fifty-five (mentally) you probably won't enjoy this thought experiment. If you're eighty going on thirty-five, you might like it. If you're twenty-three, your odds of liking it are very good.
"The story's central character has a view about God that you've probably never heard before. If you think you would be offended by a fictional character's untraditional view of God, please don't read this."
Having sufficiently screened his readership (actually only succeeding in piquing his reader's curiosity) Adams proceeds to take the reader on a short but intense philosophical and metaphysical adventure. The majority of the story is
conveyed through a conversation between the narrator (the delivery man) and an enigmatic old man who, as becomes apparent over time, knows everything about everything. He seems to have inside information on subjects like quantum physics,
gravity, psychic phenomenon, and even the nature and will of God.
By artfully using questions and "what if" stories, Adams successfully creates a compelling dialectic in which ideas crackle and jump like the sparks in the old man's fireplace. Through this exchange between the two characters, a view of
the universe emerges that is at once unique and intuitively satisfying.
God's Debris is a short book--about 130 pages--and could be read in an evening. But readers should allow themselves time to contemplate some of the ideas expressed in the book. I found myself frequently re-reading certain pages to
allow my mind more opportunity to enjoy and absorb the concepts Adams offers. While not particularly complex intellectually, the book does present elegantly simple ideas that tend to catch most readers off-guard. This is a book that you
will find yourself reading more than once.
While intriguing on many levels, Adams does not pretend to offer a "book of answers." In fact, like so many of the most fascinating books that challenge our beliefs, this one seems to only shed more light on the questions. But what great
questions!
Where is free will located? Who or what is God? What is probability? What makes dogs bark, cats purr, and plants grow?
I would suggest to those people who tend toward philosophical criticism to let the ideas in this book flow through the mind unhindered by intellectual analysis. Some of the ideas expressed in the book are completely made-up and probably
false, as Adams himself states in the introduction. And some of the more profound and unbelievable ideas actually reflect current accepted scientific knowledge. It's not always easy to tell the difference, and that's half the fun of
reading God's Debris.
Those already familiar with Adam's work with Dilbert will detect the author's sly wit on occasion. But God's Debris is not a comedy. It's written with one main purpose in mind: to make the reader think. More specifically, Adams says
that the point of the "thought experiment" is to "try to figure out what's wrong with the simplest explanations." Whether intentional or not, this statement feels to me like some sort of Zen koan. And I'm still pondering the idea in the
wake of having read the book.
Throughout the book, Adams' characters dialog on the nature of probability one moment, and reincarnation the next. It's a roller-coaster ride with some steep inclines, and sudden drops. Nevertheless, it's fun, entertaining, stimulating,
and sometimes startling, like any good rollercoaster ride should be. Some will find their core beliefs challenged and shaken by this book. Others will simply be mildly amused and entertained. Either way, God's Debris is a rousing
mental romp through the universe, fueled with insights by one of the most imaginative minds at work today.
***If you would like to read more about or order this book click here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0740721909/centerpointer-20
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11. Announcements
A. Our Fall Retreat at The Inn at Spanish Head, on the beautiful Oregon Coast, is full. In fact, we currently have twelve people on the waiting list! However, spots are still open for our next retreat, at the beautiful Glen Ivy Hot Springs
and Spa in Corona, California.
The dates are April 13-19, 2005.
If you have a big issue you'd like to resolve, if you're in a transition period in your life and you just can't seem to complete it, or if you just want to take things to a higher level--one where you understand more completely how you're
creating your life--please, do yourself a favor and come spend a week with me at Glen Ivy Hot Springs.
I promise that you'll have an incredible experience you'll never forget.
I tell people they'll receive six months of growth in just 5 days at these retreats, but they keep improving every time, and people now tell me they're received much more than that.
I tailor each retreat to the needs of the specific people who attend (which means YOU). My goal is to help you see the ways you may be unconsciously and unintentionally creating your internal and external reality, and how easy it actually
is to consciously and intentionally create the life you want, both inside and out.
This is your chance to make a big change, and to work with me personally.
So click on this link for more information:
http://www.centerpointe.com/index.php?page=retreats
And, I guarantee results! Here's the guarantee: Attend the entire retreat. If by the end of the retreat you don't think it was the most incredible growth experience you've ever had, just see me before you leave, and I'll refund your
tuition.
You do not need to be a program participant to attend (though most people who attend are). (And if you're not a program participant, why the heck aren't you? Quit procrastinating and join.)
Click here for more information:
http://www.centerpointe.com/index.php?page=retreats
Or, call us between 9:30 and 5:00 Pacific time, M-F, at 1-800-945-2741 or 503-672-7117.
Here's what some of the participants in our last retreat said:
I really appreciate your dedication to helping others (including me) achieve personal growth in their lives. You do so out of a passion and true interest in helping others; it is your calling. Having met you, I experienced a truly
multifaceted (point of consciousness) - music, flying, intellectual, fun & love. It is my pleasure and benefit to meet you personally. I hope that we connect again soon. Many Thanks,
John
**
Yes I did find the seminar a peak experience, saw many things in a new and different way and have started to make some noticeable changes. Thanks again for the work that you do and the lives that you touch.
Ethel
**
Since the retreat, my life has been filled with moments of deep joy I had not previously experienced. These moments happen frequently and leave me with an outward smile and a profound peace. I feel as if I am glowing and radiant inside
with joy.
I'm not sure exactly what happened to me at the retreat, but I know my life is different. Something is healed and life is joyful. Thank you for providing the environment, the people and the teachings for this to take place. And thank you
for taking me on this wonderful journey of a life of delicious surprises.
Take care-
Anne
**
I did have a very positive experience at the retreat and plan to return next year, hopefully with my husband. As I mentioned in the closing remarks, I laughed a lot, and I felt joy and a real connection to others despite only knowing them
a little or not at all. I was able to drop the separateness (being different, better, or worst, or just separate) that I usually identify with/carry around. How liberating!
I really appreciate, as I dive more deeply into the Life Principles Integration Process how much you've integrated and explained in these lessons with such clarity and depth. It's taken me years of practice (~18 years) and a lifetime of
dharma talks to have a basic understanding of some of these principles. You clarified so much in just a few lessons.
Colette
**
Thank you from my heart for your words of wisdom and mostly for your kindness and love. Thanks for the chance to open my heart wider and feel love flowing from almost 60 hearts during our retreat! We call this retreat "Circle of LOVE"!
I was in blessing condition after the Retreat, than in chaos state (with pleasure!), now I am feeling growing process and enjoying that! Thanks for my jump!
You are doing amazing job, Bill! I am sure this is REAL help for people! I am ready to send information about Centerpointe to everyone in my mailing list. It will be nice to get from you idea how to do it the best.
I would like to send my daughter to next retreat! It will be my birthday gift for her!
Love-
Alla (from Russia)
**
I will just say that I appreciate you VERY much and that the fact that I have access to one such as you and your work and staff is the best indicator of where my life is and is going. I cannot wait to see what happens next! Thank you very
much Bill.
Dave
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