1. Welcome to Issue #154 (November 16, 2005) of MIND CHATTER, 
the e-mail newsletter of Centerpointe Research Institute: 
http://www.centerpointe.com.

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 link at the end of this 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)

// Feature Article
   The Shadow Knows--Or, At Least Ken Wilber Does
   by Bill Harris, Director (scroll to item #7)

// Glowing Testimonials of the Month (scroll to #8)

// Book Review (scroll to #9)
   by Katie Sparks
   Why We Do What We Do:
   Understanding Self-Motivation
   by Edward L. Deci

// Important Announcements (scroll to #10)

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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

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character,
give him power.
       - unknown

We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see
our children do.
       - Brigham Young

Don't call me a saint--I don't want to be dismissed that easily.
       - Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker Movement

Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise
your Father in heaven.
       - Matthew 5:15 (see also v.14- 16)

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6. I want to show you how to create the exact life you want--
inside and out! Here's how to experience a FREE preview...

I know that many people may have promised that they can
teach you how to create the life you want.

I promise you that I really can--and have for thousands of people.

I've also arranged for you to be able to
experience a sample of how I do it, FREE.

So, here's a very special opportunity for you...something that can totally turn
your life around. And, it could be worth a considerable amount of money to you,
as well.

Just for a moment, imagine:

WHAT IF you could be IN CHARGE of what happens to you--including your feelings
and emotions and other internal states, as well as your external results?...

Wouldn't that be a lot better than waiting for life to "just happen," where you
sometimes get what you want, and sometimes you get what you don't want?

Are you willing to learn exactly HOW you can do this?

For the last year and a half, I've been teaching three 12-lesson online courses
called the Life Principles Integration Process, or LPIP, that teach you all of
this, and more. I've received thousands of emails and letters from the people in
these courses telling me how what they've learned has transformed their lives,
even saved their lives. (You can see some of the comments people have made
below.)

So more people could afford the LPIP courses, and as an introductory offer, I'm
offering them for an incredibly low $249 per course. 
 
And, if you sign up for all three, I'll give you the third course for FREE.

This actually made each course $166 each, about $13.83 per lesson.

If I taught the LPIP material in seminar form, it would probably take at least
ten long intense days to teach each course. And with all the personal follow-up
I include I'd have to charge several thousand dollars per course for you to
attend.

And even at that lofty price, it would be worth it, I promise you.

Not only that, there is an iron-clad money back guarantee on these courses.Take
the course and do the homework, and if you don't think this is the most
transformational experience you've ever had, I'll immediately refund your entire
tuition.
 
In other words, you have nothing to lose but whatever ways you have been
automatically creating what you don't want in life.

I will warn you, though. These LPIP courses are not your typical pablum-filled
feel-good seminars where you feel high at the end but realize three weeks later
that little if anything really changed.

If you take these three courses, EVERYTHING will change--and, for the better.
Your life will be transformed. You will have all the tools you need to be in
direct control of your life--your feelings, your internal state, your external
results, your behavior.

And, you will gain a huge insight into who you really are, why you're here, and
what life is all about.

Plus you'll learn, step-by-step, the exact strategies, internal and external,
used by the most successful people in the world to get anything they want. And,
I'll show you how to make sure you use them and make them work for you.

And, as I said, if you don't get what you want from these courses, for any
reason, you can get a refund. I'm taking all the risk, other than your time
investment in actually doing the lessons.

If you're not serious about changing your life, if you aren't willing to do what
it takes to operate at the highest level and really be happy, peaceful, and
successful ALL THE TIME, this isn't for you.

But if you're serious, if you're sincere, these three courses will utterly and
completely change your life.

Here's a huge and very unique benefit you'll get from these LPIP online courses:

In addition to everything else, all LPIP course participants get unlimited email
access to me for any questions they have about course content. I answer every
one of these emails personally--no staff members are involved--and some of my
answers, when necessary, are sometimes three, five, even seven pages long.

I put everything into this course, because I really, sincerely want you to get
everything I'm promising.

You though, have a part in the success of these courses--in fact, a big part. I
don't wave a magic want over you and change you into a happy, peaceful,
successful person in complete control of his or her life.

If just tell you how to do it, and give you an easy way to make the change.

Because I have such a huge personal time investment in answering all your
questions, I want to make one thing very clear, though. Please DO NOT take these
courses unless you're willing to do your part. I do not have the time to waste
on those who aren't sincere and aren't willing to pay the price to create the
internal changes they want.

But if you ARE sincere, and you really do want to change your life, I want to
show you how to do it, and I will take you, step by step, through everything you
need to know.

You CAN create an entirely new life for yourself, regardless of your past or
present circumstances. 

You can read more about each course and what it includes, and even listen to a
free preview lesson, just by clicking below:

http://www.centerpointe.com/life/preview

So please, go listen to the free preview lesson, and if you really are ready to
change your life, enroll in this amazing courses risk-free.

I look forward to having you in these courses and showing you that the
possibilities for what your life can be really are limitless...regardless of
your present or past circumstances.

Just click here to listen to the free preview lesson and to take advantage of
the old low price before we're forced to raise it on March 1st:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.centerpointe.com/life/preview
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Be well.

Bill

**

Are You a Positive Deviant?

Every now and again--if you're lucky, and if you're really paying attention--you
may "accidentally" stumble on a totally new way of thinking and doing
things--ideas that, if you act on them, could make a profound difference in your
life.

Well, I've recently done just that.
I'm extremely excited about it, and I want to tell you all about it. 

It's not for everyone, but if you have an existing business (or want to start
one), I've found something so big, so cutting edge, and so innovative, that I
just had to share it with you. 

And, learning all about it won't cost you anything.

I'm not talking about garden-variety business ideas and strategies that may
improve your business by 10, 20, or even 30 percent, but rather really big
ideas--the kind that can make a huge differences in your life and your business,
the kind that can quickly double or triple your business, or even cause it to
grow by ten times.

Well, that's exactly what I've tapped into, and I just wanted to send this
little note to you to tell you about it, and to tell you how you can learn all
about it at no cost to you whatsoever.

And, if for some strange reason you aren't interested in what I'm about to share
with you, just delete this message and forgive me for intruding on your day.

But if you're interested in some really amazing cutting edge ideas about how to
quickly make your business into a true powerhouse, you're going to want to take
advantage of my invitation to listen to my friend Marshall Thurber explain
exactly how to do it.

You may have heard of Marshall Thurber.  He's the only guy I know who was a
protege of, and worked side-by-side with, two of the biggest business
visionaries of the last three generations.  

That's right.  Marshall spent ten years working side-by-side with Nobel Prize
winner, Buckminster Fuller, and another eight years working with W. Edwards
Deming, the inventor of Total Quality Management (TQM) and father of the
Japanese Industrial miracle.

Buckminster Fuller was so impressed with Marshall that he
described him as "an evolutionary event in our time." 

Thousands of individuals worldwide have attended the many successful programs
developed by Marshall including Money & You, The Future of Business: The Essence
of Deming, The Leadership Development Training Program, The Accounting Game
(granted a US Patent), The Secrets of Powerful Presentations, and Make Change
Your Ally.

In the late 1970s, Thurber co-founded the Burklyn Business School in Vermont. 
It was designed to teach both the global principles of cooperation he learned
from Dr. R. Buckminster Fuller and the contextual principles of the human
potential movement.  Thurber?s teaching methods, including Superlearning
Technologies? (for maximum memory retention), simulations, music, and graphics,
and are known for being fun, memorable and powerfully effective. 

When Marshall worked as an attorney, he won 42 cases in a row. He has started
business schools, won all kinds of awards, and has even been honored by the
State of Hawaii for "outstanding contribution to furthering overall human
success." Today, thousands of people worldwide actively use ?Thurber Techniques?
in their daily lives. 

If I listed all his credentials, it would take forever. Just know that Marshall
Thurber is a true genius, and I've found a way for you to learn some key
business secrets from him...

...and it won't cost you a cent!

Frankly, I don't know of anyone else who can boast such credentials.

Anyway, Marshall told me about a very special new program he's been working on
called The Positive Deviant Network (no, he's not dealing with that kind of
deviant).  He's using the term "deviant" in the sense of someone who's
performance is so much higher than his or her peers that it's (literally) off
the charts.

I'm sure you know the type of person we're talking about, don't you?  Maybe you
are one of them.  Or maybe you know, or have worked with, one of them.

Marshall has a partner named Bill Seidman
(who has equally stunning credentials).  

Together they've developed an amazing system of finding and identifying these
Positive Deviants, discovering exactly what makes their performance so much
better than their contemporaries, and making it easy for everyone else in the
group or organization to adopt the same behaviors--thus dramatically raising the
performance of the entire group.

They've been doing this for a while now and have compiled a track-record that is
nothing short of miraculous.

Now, here's the best part...

Marshall and Bill have agreed to let me host a new teleseminar (no charge to
you, of course) in which they'll tell you all about it, and how you can apply
these ideas (and several others I don't have time to describe here) to your
business, or the business you want to start.

I have used several of these ideas in growing Centerpointe, and I can tell you
that they work, they are revolutionary, and anyone can use them to dramatically
improve their business success.

Oh, and don't expect some little fluff piece of a teleseminar, like some you may
have heard.  I'm really going to get them to spill their guts about these
exciting new concepts and ideas.

These guys each command huge fees on the seminar circuit, but you'll be able to
spend an enjoyable (and certainly profitable) hour or so with them at no charge
at all (other than your own long distance charges, of course).

You can see the dates you can listen to this amazing no-cost teleseminar by
visiting this website:  http://www.positivedeviantnetwork.com/?jv=Harris/ Please
go there and read all about it right now.

Oh, and just to make sure you won't even think of missing this very important
event, Marshall and Bill have agreed to give everyone who participates in the
teleseminar another great bonus. I've seen it, and it, too, can dramatically
change your business. You'll receive this bonus, at no charge, just for
listening in to this exciting and informative teleseminar. 

So go to http://www.positivedeviantnetwork.com/?jv=Harris/ right now.  Read
about and register for the teleseminar.

Remember, it won't cost you anything (other than your own phone charges), but
you must register to participate.  And capacity is quite limited, so don't sit
on this--do yourself a favor and register right now before all the available
spots are gone.


Be well.

Bill Harris, Director


P.S.  This will probably be the only opportunity you'll ever get to hear
Marshall Thurber and Bill Seidman without paying their normal (stratospheric)
fees.  Don't miss it.  

P.P.S.  Remember, everyone who participates in this no-charge teleseminar will
also get the special bonus Marshall and Bill are providing for attendees.  Don't
miss out.  Visit http://www.positivedeviantnetwork.com/?jv=Harris/ right now to
register.

................................................................................

7. Feature Article
The Shadow Knows--Or, At Least Ken Wilber Does
by Bill Harris

An interesting way to look at spiritual growth, or at any kind of developmental
growth (it's actually all spiritual growth anyway), is to follow the development
of a person's sense of "I", their sense of what is "self" and what is
"not-self."

When a baby is born, it cannot tell the difference between self and not-self.
Researchers describe the infant's experience at this stage as "oceanic". The
child has no boundaries, and the experience is one of being undifferentiated
from the material world. Everything is self. (This is, by the way, not the same
experience as the oneness experience of enlightenment, because it does not
include a developed awareness of self.)

But as the baby interacts with the environment, it makes the distinction between
self and not-self. It bites its finger, and feels pain. It bites its blanket and
it doesn't feel pain. The baby begins to realize that the finger is self and the
blanket is not-self. This is the beginning of the awareness that such a thing as
not-self exists. Some part of what was thought to be the self (which in this
case included everything), now is experienced as not-self. The physical body
become subject (by which I mean the center from which everything else is
experienced) and the rest of the world becomes object.

Differentiation and Integration

Author Ken Wilber describes this developmental process as one of differentiation
and integration. The infant differentiates the body from the rest of the
environment and in doing so begins to identify with what developmental
psychologists call her emotional feeling-body, the source of her feeling sense
of "me." As this happens, the infant integrates the awareness of the body and
the environment (now experienced as not-self) together into one system.

As development continues the child begins to make a distinction between the
physical self and the emotional self. The child becomes heavily identified with
his or her own emotional body. The physical body, at this point, begins to be
seen as object, because there is a new awareness of the emotional body. The
emotional body becomes the subject capable of observing the physical body as
object.

Next, generally between ages 3 and 6, the conceptual mind begins to emerge,
which becomes a new subject. This means that the emotional body can be perceived
as object (another example of differentiation). The infant can observe her
emotions from another center, the newly forming conceptual mind. Because that
center is subject, what is observed can now become object. After successful
differentiation of the emotional body and the conceptual body, the two are
integrated into one way of perceiving the self and reality, and another
developmental cycle is completed.

The next developmental stage, between ages 6 and 12, is one of the adoption of
roles, generally those of mythical gods and goddesses, characters in fairy tales
or other literature, and even in the children's cartoons. The child discovers
and learns to follow the rules associated with the various available roles. As
this happens, the focus of what is the self changes; the previous center (the
conceptual body) moves from subject to object. Because of this new center, what
was previously subject can now be observed (object) rather than being merely
experienced (subject).


Gaining a Personal Identity

The next stage is the development of a personal and individual identity,
generally during the teenage years. No longer defined only by roles and their
rules, the person creates an individual identity which is independent of, or at
least less dependent upon, conventional ethics, rules, and roles. And, once
again, with a new center, the previous center can be observed. It moves, in
whole or in part (depending on the degree of success in integrating this new
stage) from being subject to being object. The experience of self as a playing a
role is differentiated from the self as an individual identity, and then the two
are integrated. Roles are not jettisoned, but rather included in the new
identity. 

Ken Wilber describes this process using two sets of parallel terms:
differentiation and integration (which I have been using up to now), and
transcend and include. In other words, the new stage is differentiated from the
old, and then the two are integrated into a new view of self and world, or, you
could say that the old stage is transcended as the new view of self becomes
developmentally available, and then the two are included (integrated) into a new
and more inclusive view.

In the next stage (and a person may or may not develop through all of these
stages--for a variety of reasons development could stop at any stage) the sense
of self moves from individualistic awareness (the individual identity) to a more
global "all of us" awareness, a new perspecitive which includes a new
integration of body/mind. And, as before, in each differentiation and
integration, each transcendence and inclusion, each new center allows the
previous center to be observed from a new perspective.

Successive stages involve the development and integration of what are called
transpersonal stages or perspectives, where awareness of self goes beyond "all
of us" to include what most people think of as the "spiritual dimensions" larger
than just humanity. These are the levels of what is commonly referred to as
enlightenment, oneness with all of the material universe, then with all of the
spiritual realms, and finally beyond the manifest universe entirely to the
non-dual.

The Proximal and Distal Self, Enlightenment, and "One Taste"

Ken Wilber notes that this process is one in which parts of the self (the
emotional body, the conceptual body, the role identity, the individual identity,
etc.) move from being part of what is called the proximal self (the center from
which you experience yourself and the world) to the distal self (the parts of
the self that can now be observed as object by the new center, even though they
are still part of the self). Ken might very well describe this process in a
different way than I have, so my apologies to Ken if I have not used the same
degree of precision he might prefer. I'm not trying to put words in his mouth so
much as in a general way to credit him with these ideas.

The process of development, then, could be seen as one where everything in the
beginning is part of the proximal self, as when the infant experiences the
oceanic feeling of being everything, with no distinction between self and other.
As development unfolds, aspects of the self move from the proximal self to the
distal self until, in the end, everything is distal self and nothing (!) is
proximal self. 

In the beginning there is no "ego." Then, an ego, a conceptualization of self,
develops. Eventually, if development continues to a high enough stage, this
conceptualization of self (the term I have used for this is Internal Map of
Reality) finally becomes part of the distal self. Ultimately the sense of being
a separate individual, a separate self, disappears (another way of saying there
is no more proximal self). When this happens, the experience is one of unity
with everything, oneness, enlightenment, or what Ken Wilber calls "One Taste." 

Paradoxically, at the moment the individual self dissolves (or, you might say,
when the illusion of the separate self is finally seen to be an illusion), the
sense of self, the sense of who you are, "turns itself inside out," and the
disappearance of the experience of being an individual self paradoxically
becomes the experience of being the entire going on of it all, of being the
entire process of the whole of existence. Instead of perceiving many individual
doers, now there is just one doer. At this stage of development, the entire
universe is experienced as the doer and what were seen as individual doings are
not seen as the interconnected doings of the whole.

Developmental Problems

At each of these developmental stages, or fulcrums (again, to use Wilber's
terminology), problems can arise. Since each new developmental stage involves
differentiation from the lower level as well as identification with the next
higher level (or, you might say, transcendence of the lower stage followed by
inclusion/integration), a failure to fully differentiate creates certain mental,
emotional, or spiritual problems, and a failure to fully integrate creates
others. Wilber notes, for instance, that if the mind fails to differentiate from
bodily feelings, the person can be overwhelmed with painfully strong
emotions--not just feeling them, but being totally overwhelmed by them. This
creates serious emotional/behavioral problems with impulse control, tremendous
mood shifts, and other problems.

On the other hand, the individual may successfully differentiate between body
and mind, but not integrating the two successfully. In this case,
differentiation goes too far, becoming dissociation. Bodily feelings are
repressed and classic neurotic symptoms are created.

It is not the purpose of this article to describe the problems created by
differentiation/integration problems at each developmental stage. For now, just
realize that at each stage there could be a successful differentiation and
integration, there could be a failure to differentiate (creating certain mental,
emotional, and spiritual problems), or there could be a failure to integrate
(again creating certain problems). Handling the problems created by these
less-than-successful transitions are the reason we seek therapy, self-help,
Holosync, and other healing modalities.

As I shall discuss below, Holosync use, over time, seems to heal many of these
problems. The information taught in the Life Principles Integration Process
online courses and at Centerpointe retreats also seems to accelerate and
facilitate this healing process.

The Shadow

One of these developmental problems occurs at the third fulcrum, where the
conceptual mind begins to emerge. This emergence requires a differentiation
between the conceptual mind and the emotional body and its impulses, feelings,
and emotions, followed by an integration of the two into a larger and more
inclusive view of self. Let's look at some of the problems of this particular
stage of development, as many of the people who come to Centerpointe are
experiencing many of these problems.

What prompted my interest in this subject at this particular time was receipt of
an advanced copy of Ken Wilber's newest book, Integral Spirituality (which I
highly suggest you read when it becomes available in bookstores). One of the
topics Ken discusses--and correctly cites as one of the greatest discoveries of
Western psychology--is the idea that subjective feelings, impulses, and
qualities can be repressed or disowned by a person (you will recognize this from
the above discussion as a failure to integrate). 

When this happens, such repressed or disowned feelings appear to be in our
objective world rather than in our subjective world. Instead of integrating and
including these feelings, qualities, and aspects of self (part of the process of
its healthy movement from the proximal to the distal self), they are repressed
or projected outside of the self in an unhealthy way.

"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"

Let's say that a child is angry at her mother. This anger, however, is a threat
to the child because the mother has ultimate life-and-death power over her. The
child is totally dependent, and without the mother the child could, literally,
die. From the child's point of view, this anger is a huge threat to survival,
since from the child's point of view this anger could keep the mother from
providing the care the child needs to survive. This situation is exacerbated if
the mother is negatively reactive to the child's anger. The child, as a survival
measure, either represses the anger (stuffs it into the unconscious, out of
awareness), or projects it outward. The child feels the anger, but it isn't (it
doesn't feel like) her anger. You might say that the anger moves to the other
side of the self boundary, but in an unhealthy manner that hinders development.

Let's look at the case of the anger being projected onto others. The anger comes
up, but the child does not experience it as her anger. Since it cannot be owned
(experienced as part of the self) it must be the anger of another. And so, the
world appears to be full of angry people. This, Wilber notes, is often
depressing for the child, and anger turns to sadness or even to depression. And,
until the anger beneath the sadness is revealed, it cannot be re-owned. Until it
is re-owned, it cannot be healed, and until it is healed, the developmental
process cannot be successfully completed. Until that happens (if it ever happens
at all), a part of the person is stuck at this stage of development, which
manifests as various mental/emotional/spiritual problems.

This disowned aspects of ourselves are often referred to as our shadow. 

When our own impulses and qualities are projected they seem to be "out there"
and our perception of these disowned aspects of our self in others frightens us,
irritates us, depresses us. We often become obsessed with them. Psychologists
now know that those things that most distress us in others are really our own
shadow qualities, projected outward.

Wilber cites the example of anti-gay porno activists who, when studied, were
found to be more aroused by images of gay sex than were other men in the general
population. The activists' obsession and fear of gay pornography was a
projection of and denial of their own impulses.

What Hooks Your Shadow? 
or "It's You, Not Me!"

The fact that our irritations and fears about something outside of ourselves is
a really projection of our own shadow self does not mean that others don't
actually have the qualities that bother us. However, that we so strongly notice
these qualities in others, that we so strongly resist them and are so disturbed
by them, is a result of having disowned and repressed these qualities in
ourselves. The other person provides a hook for our shadow because they exhibit
a quality we hate in ourselves. Others without this shadow fail to notice these
qualities in others, or if they do notice them, do not have the same gut-level
resistance to them.

And, if the shadow material is even more strongly disowned, the shadow may show
up as neurotic symptoms such as fears, physical problems, illnesses, and so on.

(And though there is not room here to elaborate on this point, it is worth
noting that it is also possible to project or deny positive qualities we may
have, but cannot allow ourselves to own.)

When stuck in this developmental purgatory you may feel anger (or some other
emotion) but you dissociate from it. It is no longer a close subjective
experience that you clearly experience as your anger. You feel it, but you
experience it, in a sense, at arm's length. If this initial dissociation and
denial isn't effective, and you even more forcefully deny these shadow aspects
of yourself, you may completely dissociate from it so they are no longer in
you--instead, it's your wife, your husband, your child, your boss, the
government, the corporations, or whatever. Or, you become depressed or develop
back pain or stomach problems--or worse. 

In this process, the shadow quality went from "me" to "you" to "it." "This
depression," you say, "it just came over me." "This anxiety, it makes me
miserable." "I don't know where this headache came from." The shadow is still
there, but you've pushed it across the "I-boundary." Instead of integrating it,
owning it, you dissociate from it. Instead of "I am angry, I feel anger," it
becomes "He is angry," "They are angry." And then, finally, the feeling becomes
an "it" as it becomes totally dissociated.

The goal of therapy, or any healing modality, then, is to move these disowned
"it" feelings back to being "I" feelings, where they can be dealt with and
resolved. As long as they are repressed or projected, as long as they remain
unintegrated, we experience dis-ease, feelings of separation, unhappiness, lack
of peace, and other negative consequences. To be happy, to be integrated, and to
continue our mental/emotional/spiritual development, we must find the alienated
parts of ourselves, and re-own them.

The Cavalry Arrives...

Holosync seems to facilitate this process. When you first began using Holosync
you may have noticed that within anywhere from a few days to a few weeks (and in
a few more complex cases, after as long as a few months), many things that
bothered you, that angered you, that saddened you, that created anxiety in you,
that caused you to reach for a drink or a joint or a plateful of cookies, or
that triggered certain physical symptoms in you, don't seem to trigger you in
the same way. Somehow Holosync is helping you reown, integrate, and heal these
disowned parts. Once they are reintegrated back into the self and resolved, you
no longer project them onto others, and they no longer manifest as physical
problems and other neurotic symptoms.

In my own life, before Holosync I was extremely angry, often depressed, and a
regular drug user. And, I lived in what seemed to be a world filled with
irritating people. Obviously I had a lot of disowned shadow material, and it was
being projected onto others, as well as manifesting as anger, anxiety,
depression, and a number of dysfunctional feelings and behaviors. Despite years
of therapy, participation in scores of self-help trainings, and years of
meditation and other growth-oriented practices, none of this really
changed--until I developed Holosync and began using it.

Resistance and The Shadow

As you may know, I have been contemplating (and sharing with Holosync users) my
thoughts about the subject of resistance for many years. Usually I have spoken
about resistance in terms of resistance to feelings we are aware of (and which
are not necessarily projected outward or repressed), or to people, things, and
situations we encounter. It is interesting, then, to apply some insights about
the process of resistance to resistance toward our own disowned qualities,
parts, and feelings.

You may be familiar with the idea that each person has a threshold for what they
can handle, and that when this threshold is exceeded by events we begin to
resist, and this resistance manifests as dysfunctional feelings and behaviors.
Stay under your threshold, and there is no resistance. Exceed it, and everything
changes. The idea of repressed and disowned parts, feelings, and qualities
suggests that our threshold is about more, however, than just our response to
others, or even to feelings we are aware of but do not like. Threshold is
apparently also a function of a part of ourselves we are largely (perhaps
entirely) unaware of--the shadow self, those parts that we had to sublimate,
repress, and project outward in order to deal with a traumatic environment while
growing up. At those times when you are over your threshold, then, it would be a
good idea to keep in mind that what you are resisting is, ultimately, yourself,
and that discovering and embracing those aspects of yourself causes your
threshold to move higher--through completion of the process of integration and
inclusion described by Wilber. 

This is, in fact, what I believe is happening when people use Holosync. The
unconscious is accessed, and it is accessed while we are in an altered
state--one where we are not directly associated into strong feelings, and while
our conscious awareness is greatly expanded. If during this time we encounter
shadow aspects of ourselves, they are apparently easier to re-own and easier to
view without the usual strong emotional charge that caused us to disown them.
Something in this process apparently dissolves whatever made us think we had to
disown this material, and the integration we did not create or allow at the time
the material was originally disowned takes place.

This Isn't Your Grandfather's Meditation

That this happens makes Holosync meditation very different from traditional
meditation. Wilber is very clear in saying that traditional meditation does not
heal this material, and that other approaches are needed. I have always
considered Holosync to be the "jet-plane" version of traditional meditation,
accomplishing the same goals but at a dramatically accelerated pace (and, of
course, much more easily, since you don't have to spend decades mastering a
technique before dramatic changes take place). Yet, if Ken is right that
traditional meditation cannot heal shadow material (and I have noticed this
myself in thousands of dedicated seekers over the last 35 years), there is
something unique about Holosync beyond the acceleration and ease-of-use aspects.
I say this because I have seen Holosync users, over and over, reintegrate shadow
material and totally leave behind the issues (and their symptoms) created by its
initial lack of integration. Our support coaches, along with several experienced
therapists who use Holosync as a key part of their work with clients, concurred
with my view.

What the key difference is, I can't, at this point, say, but you can be sure I
will be looking for it, and I plan on discussing this with Ken when I have the
opportunity.

I also suspect that certain kinds of cognitive functioning are unavailable
(i.e., unconscious and outside of awareness) when shadow material is disowned.
When you are in resistance to something, whether something outside of yourself
or something inside, you are making internal representations of what you do not
want. This is, cognitively, the definition of resistance--focusing on (making
internal representations of) what you do not want. 

A great deal of this negative focusing is unconscious and automatic, and it
takes a great deal of diligent effort for a person to go inside and notice what
they are doing (a huge part of my first online course, The Internal Map of
reality Expander, addresses this problem--see www.centerpointe.com/life/preview
for a free preview lesson). Looking at Wilber's explanation of the repression
and projection of shadow material, I can see at least one reason why this is
so--it was necessary (or at least it seemed to be necessary) to remove this
material from conscious awareness in order to deal with it at the time of the
trauma. Once removed from awareness and pushed across the "I-boundary" this
material is extremely difficult to locate in consciousness. And, if you cannot
locate it, you cannot deal with it.

Somehow, Holosync use allows this material to become conscious, in most cases
without its reemergence being emotionally traumatic (if the reason for disowning
is powerful enough, the person will experience temporary upheaval, but a huge
amount of material is reintegrated without upheaval--only the really big issues
create upheaval). Holosync creates a new level of awareness that somehow allows
a person to more easily (though not always) experience this dark side material
without resistance and reaction. Even if there is resistance and reaction, it is
dramatically less than it would have been without Holosync. This increased
awareness causes the material to reintegrate. This moves the threshold higher
(i.e., the next developmental stage is successfully integrated). This reduces
the amount that the person focuses on what they do not want in life. Since what
you focus on manifests in reality in your life, when you stop focusing on what
you want to avoid, many problems of life vanish.

This entire process seems to take a number of years, which may seem like a long
time. But when you consider that most therapy is ineffective (think of the
people you know who have been in therapy for ever with no real change in
mental/emotional health), and that even when it is effective it takes decades, a
few years of Holosync use seems a small price to pay for being jet-propelled
into higher levels of self-development. And, when combined with the material
taught in the Life Principles Integration Process and the Centerpointe Retreats,
this process is greatly accelerated.

In future articles, we'll look at the problems that appear when differentiation
and integration go awry at other developmental fulcrums. Until then, keep
listening to Holosync, and if you aren't yet in the Life Principles Integration
Process online courses (or if you haven't attended a Centerpointe retreat
lately), I urge you to get involved.

Be well.

Bill Harris

................................................................................

8. Glowing Testimonials and Letters
 
I just wanted to drop you a line to fill you in on my last two years. I was
intrigued by the series of cd?s for weight loss etc and decided to try the only
one I could truly measure ­ the weight loss.  That was when I was a size 18. 
For 6 weeks, the cd only put me to sleep, but as it did help me sleep, I kept
listening.  Within 6 months I lost 50lbs without trying.  That was 2 years ago
and I just bought myself size 1 jeans.  No, that is not a typo, I?m wearing size
one from an 18.  No short term weight loss here and I haven?t listened to that
cd in quite a while.  Well, with proof like that, I bought more.  I had been
unemployed on and off for a few years and never made more than $33k / year even
tho? I have 2 college degrees.  I started listening to the Success cd and had a
job offer within 2 weeks for $83k / year.  That was a year ago, now I?m making
$120k / year.  Now I?m not saying these will work for anyone because I don?t
know that, but they worked for me and I am very grateful.  I?ve just purchased
the Learning Strategies Paraliminal series on your recommendation and I cannot
believe the results I?m getting with it.  Thank you so very much for your help! 
As I just reread what I?ve written, I realize this may seem completely
unbelievable, but I swear to you it is the absolute truth.  Again, thank you!
 
**

By age 7, I knew that there was something worng with me. This summer I was
introduced to Judith Lewis Herman's book TRAUMA AND RECOVERY. I have survived
chronic childhood trauma which is characterized by having no reserves. Now I
know what things that left "normal" folks unscathed sent me in to orbit. I sent
off for a demo CD for The Holosync Solution. I have been using the headphones
and the recordings regularly for about six months. Recently I face several
intensely difficult situations which would have sent me in to a tail spin. Not
only did I stay focused, I also stayed calm and able to hold my ground as three
people bombarded me verbally. I had not ever had an experieince like it. I
amazed myself with how collected I stayed. It is my opinion based on my
experience with Centerpointe Research that reserves are being built up as I
listen to the music, the words and the sounds that get the two hemisperes of the
brain communicating with each other. I plan to stay with what has been for me,
THE solution to what is wrong with me. I am being "fixed".   

--Laurel

**
 
I pursued Holosync myself on the recommendation of another psychologist in AZ,
who has been using it. I am receiving great benefits.  It has helped resolve a
GI problem of two years duration, which medication did not!  About 11 months
ago, I was drugged and sexually assaulted by a physician acquaintance.  Perhaps,
because of being drugged, many of the cognitive and behavioral strategies I
tried to use to calm my PTSD symptoms and somatic symptoms were not working. 
The Holosync meditation is helping immensely bring these issues to resolution. I
don't always understand what is happening somatically as I meditate, but that is
quite o.k.  Although there have been many gifts to me stemming from the trauma
of the assault, Holosync meditation has been a very beneficial one that will
enable me to help better my clients (who are open to it) as well as myself.  It
is helping me stay focused, relaxed, uninvolved with the outcome of the various
legal proceedings but participate as needed in the process of the
investigations.  Also, I am better able to find an inner peace, live my life
focused on what my priorities are, enjoy the present moment, regain my old sense
of centeredness, albeit in a new and more profound way. Thank you. 

--F.B.

................................................................................

9. Book Review
Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation
by Edward L. Deci
review by Katie Sparks

***If you would like to read more about or order this book click here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140255265/centerpointer-20/103-0342751-4
020620

If you are looking for direction on motivating yourself or changing your
behavior in some way, you needn?t look any further than the personal growth
section at your local bookstore. The shelves are full of new ideas on how to
motivate yourself and gain control over your behavior. But how well do these
approaches work?

In his book, Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation, Edward Deci
explains why such behavior control approaches may not be working for you. In
fact, he argues that there simply are no effective techniques to truly motivate
a person. 

Deci is a social psychologist who has spent much of his career exploring the
concept of motivation as it relates to autonomy, authenticity, freedom and the
concept of "true self". The book provides a fascinating look at why we do what
we do based on the latest psychological research in motivation.

The primary distinction Deci makes throughout the book is between what he calls
intrinsic motivation, or autonomy, and extrinsic motivation. Autonomy could be
described as the feeling that one?s behavior is truly chosen rather than imposed
by some external source. As you might guess, extrinsic motivation is behavior
controlled by external or internal forces. External forces could be rewards of
money or the approval of a parent or teacher, while internal forces could be
shame or pressure due to a conditioned belief system.

Deci explains, "Self-motivation (autonomy), rather than external motivation, is
at the heart of creativity, responsibility, healthy behavior, and lasting
change. External cunning or pressure (and their internalized counterparts) can
sometimes bring about compliance, but with compliance comes various negative
consequences, including the urge to defy."

One of the main aims of Deci?s research was to discover the circumstances that
increase or decrease intrinsic motivation. He looks at things like money,
competition, and praise and their often negative effects on one?s sense of
autonomy. His findings have broad implications in the fields of parenting,
employer/employee relationships, and personal development. 

Deci stresses that rewards can be delivered in a way that supports ones
autonomy, but that most approaches are based in controlling behavior. Take the
case of a violin student whose teacher motivates her students to practice by
giving gold stars and the student with the most stars will win a treasure. But
for one student, her motivation to win the gold star overtakes any motivation
she originally had to play the violin. And in the long run the pressure to do
well to receive rewards becomes more important than the joy she originally
experienced in playing the violin.

Deci makes it clear that respecting and building the autonomy of someone you
seek to motivate does not overrule the need for limitations, boundaries, and
consequences. Autonomy also differs from individuality or independence in that
these behaviors can exist in someone who is intrinsically or extrinsically
motivated.
 
"The main thing about meaningful choice is that it engenders willingness. We are
empowered by the ability to choose. And this ability to choose is neglected when
we are controlled by rewards and praise, which can be well-meaning, but have an
implied sense of control," says Deci. 

He explains, "One of the most common approaches to discipline in modern society
involves making the provision of love, acceptance, and esteem contingent upon
people?s behaving in certain ways."

We thus maintain the cycle of attempting to control ourselves to match what we
think our behavior should be, often without long-term success, because we
believe we need more control rather than less. The problem, Deci suggests, is
that more control will only make things worse, rather than better. 

Deci adds, "When people are really ready to change for their own personal
reasons, and when they are willing to face and cope with the myriad
feelings--anxiety, inadequacy, rage, terror, or loneliness--that underlie their
maladaptive behaviors, then they will have the motivation for change. Once that
has happened, various techniques may be useful for them, but without true
resolve, without reasons for change that are personally important, techniques
will not help. 

"When people put stock in techniques as something that will change them, they
are expressing an external locus of causality rather than an internal one; they
are holding the misguided belief that being controlled rather than autonomous is
the means for bringing about meaningful, personal change," he says.

Why We Do What We Do is full of insight and although its academic tone is
difficult at times, Deci?s passion for the topic makes it an easy read. While it
is categorized as a psychology/business book, it is equally useful for
meditators and those seeking increased freedom in their lives as it is for
managers, teachers and parents.  

It is useful for those of us on the path of personal and spiritual growth to
look at this issue of motivation. We generally come to personal growth because
we become aware of some part of ourselves that isn?t working. With the growing
awareness of the problem, our first attempts to change the problem generally
involve trying to hate it away. In many ways we attempt to motivate ourselves to
change through withholding love, in the same manner our caregivers may have
motivated us to behave in line with their wishes (though often with good
intentions). 

The final chapter, "The Meaning of Human Freedom," defines human freedom as
being truly autonomous. "It means to act in a way that is not bounded by
introjects (internalized pressures), by rigid inner structures, by paralyzing
self-criticisms, or by the push to defy limiting forces. To be free means to
feel volitional; it means to be governed by one?s actions by a true self."

***If you would like to read more about or order this book click here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140255265/centerpointer-20/103-0342751-4
020620

................................................................................

10. Announcements

East Coast Retreat a Success!
In fact, to say it was a success is an understatement. It was a HUGE success.
Breakthroughs were happening so fast we couldn't count them.

Really. People's lives WERE changed. (See below for some comments from those who
attended the retreat.)

The dates for Centerpointe's Spring Retreat, at The Omega Institute at the
Crossings in Austin, Texas, are April 9-15, 2006.

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: 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
www.centerpointe.com/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:
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
www.centerpointe.com/retreats 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Or, you can call retreat coordinator Katie Sparks at 503-906-6027 to learn more
about Centerpointe's retreats.

Here's a letter from one of this year's participants:

To Dr.	Bev:
Thank you for being with me as I was on my breathing journey.  My partner, Pat,
told me later that you had been there holding my head, protecting me as I was
releasing energy.  I was aware of somebody being there and did not know who. 
Thank you, thank you for assisting me.	You are an inspiration and wonderful
presence in the seminar. 

=//=