• How to Change Circumstances

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Create your reality through communication.

    Repeated communication perpetuates the subject exchanged. In contrast, don't talk about things when the objective is -- not only to prevent knowledge about but even more so -- to preclude wider and potentially irreversible manifestation.

    Nothing is irreversible. Nothing is absolute. And when you think it is -- it is not.

    Once a certain reality appears right and matches your desire and expectations, make it a fact, pin it down by communicating it as widely as possible.

    Try to consciously rethink and refine your working theories. Be liberal when it comes to replacing a hypothesis. This applies to relationships as well as to marketing strategies and even business plans. You will discover that your assumptions tend to be more negative than the potential outcomes and thus inhibit the quality of your results. Find the weakest links and reinforce them.

    Tweak your plans, goals, and objectives until they precisely match your idea, then work and fulfill your idea, and eventually strengthen the elements you like most by selectively stressing them over the less desired details.

    Please note that honesty, absolute honesty, is a prerequisite here. What we are doing here is not tweaking information about reality, we are not suppressing facts, nor are we beautifying mediocrities; instead, we are modifying and optimizing progress, once it is still, well, in progress.

    This is another instance of the concept of the self-fulfilling prophesy, this is the exact way it works. Project your idea, your desired outcome. Broadcast your desire, appreciate it, look forward to it and finally manifest it.

    The self-fulfilling prophesy? The law of attraction? Yes, the two are the same with the self-fulfilling prophesy ultimately delivering the instructions, the how-to, in its very name.

    You get exactly what you dare to communicate.

    Related Items

    Labels: , , , , , ,

    If you liked this post, please take the time to bookmark it or subscribe to get updates.

  • How to Legally Apply The Rules of Con: Guy Ritchie's Revolver

    edited by Alexander Becker

    This post is part of The Subjective Reality Series.

    You can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent.

    In 2005, Guy Ritchie made an extraordinary movie that's apparently not recognized for what it is. Here is the plot summary from IMDb --

    Jake Green is a hotshot gambler, long on audacity and short on common sense. He's rarely allowed to play in any casino because he is a winner. Jake has taken in so much money over the years, he is the only client of his accountant and older brother Billy. One night, Jake, Billy and their other brother Joe are invited to sit in on a private game, where Jake is expected to lose to Dorothy Macha, a crime boss and local casino owner who can't play for squat, but always wins because people are too scared to beat him. Jake isn't afraid of Macha, and not only beats Dorothy in a quick game of chance, but takes every possible opportunity to insult the man. Jake and his brothers leave the game, and Macha puts out the order for a hit on Jake, who ends up working for and being protected by a pair of brothers, Avi and Zach, who are out to take Macha down.

    Let's take a look beyond the plot and see what the characters say, who is who, and what is what. You obviously need to see the movie before reading the comments, in fact, they may appear to make even less sense than the film itself but once you've seen the film, everything will be fine. Really.

    Spoiler warning

    What is so fascinating about the rules of con -- besides the fact that they do apply to all of us? Without exception.

    To be clear, this is not about teaching you the rules of confidence tricks in order to con other people. Quite the opposite; take a look at how you (in)advertently con yourself and make it work for you instead of having it work against you.

    Prison

    Jake Green after leaving prison --

    One thing I've learned in the last seven years: in every game and con there's always an opponent, and there's always a victim. The trick is to know when you're the latter, so you can become the former.

    The quotes that accompany the chapters of the movie --

    The greatest enemy will hide in the last place you would ever look. --Julius Cesar; 75 BC

    What about the mind itself, right behind fear?

    The only way to get smarter is by playing a smarter opponent. --Fundamentals of Chess; 1885

    Who's your ultimate opponent? You.

    First rule of business, protect your investment. --Etiquette of the Banker; 1775

    Protect your belief?

    There is no avoiding war, it can only be postponed to the advantage of your enemy. --Niccolo Machiavelli; 1502

    To save the ego?

    Jake Green, upon deciding against taking the elevator, which he fears --

    Why should a man do, what he doesn't like to do?

    Dorothy Macha

    Dorothy Macha, meeting Jake on the gambling table --

    What's in it for me?

    Dorothy Macha, trying to evoke fear in Jake.

    You're a man who needs a master.

    Liberation from Macha?

    Jake Green, while winning the game of chance against Macha.

    Purple, between blue and white on the color spectrum.

    Jake's intuition

    On his way out, Jake's got a hunch, he encounters his intuition which has gotten reinforced after Jake's winning the game of chance against Macha. Jake decides to act against intuition, he takes the stairs and breaks down and falls.

    Another "hunch" prevents Jake Green from being assassinated by Macha's killers. He's on the right path now. Saved and rescued by -- intuition.

    The killer himself -- Sorter -- is getting doubts. The hitman is conscience itself.

    Zach and Avi. Loan Sharks. Chess. They force Jake to do everything he doesn't like to do, as the only way to cure his fatal disease under two non-negotiable conditions --

    1. You have to give away all your money.
    2. Do not argue and do answer any question asked.

    The confidence trick

    If there's a rule, you can bend it.
    If there's a law, it can be broken.

    Jake Green, after facing choice and fatal disease --

    From now on, I am bending all the rules, because desperate men do desperate deeds.

    ... and not any earlier than that.

    Jake's money is his pride -- it even smells proud, says Avi.

    People come to Zach and Avi, the loan sharks, only as the last option, the last resort, when they have no choice anymore.

    People only get sensible when it's (almost) too late.

    The three Eddies

    Three Eddies, flash, loud, proud, and stupid, where proud refers to Macha, who happens to stand between loud and stupid. In the next scene, Jake takes the proud spot between the Eddies. The three Eddies, flash, loud, and stupid are dead. Evolution.

    Jake Green, citing one of the principles of the con --

    I know nothing hurts more than humiliation and a little money loss.

    ... and slowly starts accepting his reality --

    Don't try to make sense out of it, not now, because it doesn't make sense. I just know if you start a job then finish it.

    Sam Gold

    Macha and Sam Gold. Lilly Walker represents Gold. Eight pawns by her side, the rules of the game Gold/Walker sets the rules and the pawns. Ego. Everyone serves Gold. Gold is religion.

    Jake keeps winning in games of chess against Avi. He learned the game and honed his skills in prison, between a chess master and a master con man, after all. The objective is now to --

    ... create the ultimate con and win the ultimate game.

    Jake's already in the ultimate game.

    Here are the rules --

    1. You can only get smarter by playing a smarter opponent.
    2. The more sophisticated the game, the more sophisticated the opponent.

    Jake finally releases himself and stops resisting --

    I pay for my own pain and a part of me dies every time I think about it.

    A part of your ego dies -- and that's the whole point. Green learns that everyone has to pay what he owes.

    Jake Green vs. Dorothy Macha and vs. Sam Gold. Jake Green vs. Lord John, Macha's competitor. Jake Green plays Lord John against Dorothy Macha and Macha against Gold.

    The powder is for Gold, it is food for the ego, pride, vanity, arrogance, addiction.

    The awakening

    Jake's awakening puts to sleep anybody else.

    There is no such thing as problems, only situations. --Avi & Zach

    When Avi asks Jake how he keeps winning in chess he replies --

    You do the hard work, I just help you along.

    ... to feed pieces to you and make you believe you took those pieces.

    In every game and con there is always an opponent and there is always a victim, the more control the victim thinks he has, the less control he actually has.

    The formula is completely consistent.

    ... inside an environment he can control. The bigger the environment, the easier the control. ... so the opponent simply distracts their victim by getting them consumed with their own consumption.

    The bigger the trick and the older the trick, the easier it is to pull, because --

    1. They think it can't be that old,
    2. They think it can't be that big,

    ... for so many people to have fallen for it.

    Eventually, when the opponent is challenged or questioned, it means the victim's investment and thus his intelligence is questioned, no one can accept that. Not even to themselves.

    You'll always find a good opponent in the very last place you'd ever look.

    In your own mind.

    Gold -- the godfather -- doesn't touch Zach and Avi.

    Avi & Zach providing some hints to Jake --

    You can't see what's right in front of you.

    Rachel, Jake Green's niece. Good. Pure. Innocence.

    More revelations

    Jake Green gains some more insight --

    There is something about yourself that you don't know. Something that you will deny even exists, until it's too late to do anything about it. It's the only reason you get up in the morning. The only reason you suffer the shitty puss, the blood, the sweat and the tears. This is because you want people to know how good, attractive, generous, funny, wild and clever you really are. Fear or revere me, but please, think I'm special.

    We share an addiction.

    We're approval junkies.

    Ego gratification. Even the car accident would have been some sort of approval.

    Jake Green's conning the three Eddies --

    Nobody kills a man who's going to make him money.

    Lord John, with a hot girl under his eyes and a beautiful assassin under his command --

    Beauty is a destructive angel, how could anything that looks so good be so bad?

    Dorothy Macha, after the foiled assassination attempt --

    Greed gets them all in the end.

    Avi explains the game --

    You've heard their voice for so long, you believe it to be you. Mr Gold is pretending to be you. Everyone is in his game and nobody knows it.

    He's behind all the pain there ever was. Behind every crime ever committed. Embrace the pain and you will win this game.

    If you change the rules on what controls you, you will change the rules on what you can control.

    The more power you think you have in Gold's world, the less power you have in the real world.

    The end of pride

    Jake donates to charity in Macha's name to further illustrate and manifest the difference between the both of them.

    Jake apologizes to Macha.

    Avi teaches --

    Use your perceived enemy to destroy your real enemy.

    Controlled vs. free man. Forgiveness is the ultimate act of liberation. No pride.

    The end of ego

    Jake Green, struggling with ego, pride, and fear --

    Wherever you don't want to go is where you will find him.

    Meeting the ego in the elevator. Stuck in the voluntarily taken elevator between the 14th and the 12th floor, Jake is struggling with his ego, the ultimate showdown.

    The greatest con, that he ever pulled... was making you believe... that he is you. --Avi

    You are not your ego.

    Liberation. Jake is invincible now. Macha isn't able to shoot nor impress him anymore. No fear.

    Macha gets and takes the credit for the donation, thus again feeding his vanity and ego which earns him a strange applause from Mr Gold.

    Macha demonstrates his adherence to the system by eventually begging and submitting to Gold. Fear.

    Sorter, the hitman, in a twisted scene, hinting at the bigger picture --

    None of this is real.

    Avi and Zach, the chess master and the master of con ultimately aren't real either.

    Liberation

    Avi's epilogue --

    Nobody knows where the enemy is. They don't even know he exists. He's in every one of their heads. And they trust him because they think they are him.

    If you try to destroy him to save them, they'll destroy you to save him.

    Jake loses the last game of chess with Avi, he left the game through his own liberation.

    Zach and Avi finally reveal it --

    We didn't do this because we like you. We did this because we are you.

    The ultimate con, the ultimate confidence trick, is absolute -- yet delicate -- confidence in your self. Beyond ego, that is.

    The greatest con, that he ever pulled... was making you believe... that he is you.--Avi

    Related Items

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    If you liked this post, please take the time to bookmark it or subscribe to get updates.

  • There Are No Misunderstandings

    edited by Alexander Becker

    This essay is part of The Subjective Reality Series.

    A misunderstanding is a failure to understand or interpret correctly. The theory is that there is no failure involved and each and every subjective interpretation is inherently correct.

    A misunderstanding is a disagreement. Then again, if both you and I were talking about the exact same thing, there would be no disagreement. But we're not. Instead, we are talking about your interpretation of what's going on and mine.

    We are describing different sides of the same coin with different, conflicting terms and the mutual assumption that both sides look alike. The ultimate argument deals with the surprising fact that the sides are not equal -- despite our best efforts to match our communication. Please note that we never argue about different things, we always argue about -- apparently -- one and the same thing. Once it becomes clear that both sides of the coin do in fact differ from another -- the fight is over.

    Don't get me wrong because you can't -- there are no misunderstandings. Only asynchronous thoughts. Consider the déjà vu situation from the matrix.

    [Neo sees a black cat walk by them, and then a similar black cat walk by them just like the first one]
    Neo
    Whoa. Déjà vu.
    [Everyone freezes right in their tracks]
    Trinity
    What did you see?
    Neo
    A black cat went past us, and then another that looked just like it.
    Trinity
    A déjà vu is usually a glitch in the Matrix. It happens when they change something.

    Something has changed. That's the point. Something has changed and isn't -- yet -- communicated to everybody involved. Misunderstandings are indicators of unfinished, incomplete communication. Misunderstandings are the expectation of linear development based on prior, obsolete knowledge while current knowledge has already advanced. You misunderstand because you're not up-to-date, you're not in the present.

    It's not that you know less than I do nor do I know less than you do. You and I know different.

    But I thought you meant, ...

    Apparent misunderstandings are born when one and the same situation, scene, or outcome is perceived and eventually analyzed and compared from different perspectives, through different lenses. Prior knowledge and experiences result in unique expectations which in turn lead to unique conclusions. Misunderstandings are the exchange and forced comparison of different levels of progress, quality, and contextual truth. Yes. It's exactly the way you think it is.

    On a sidenote, if there are no misunderstandings, is there any chance that there is no paranoia either?

    The paranoid person blames and/or fears intelligent beings for their supposedly intentional actions. The question is whether the supposedly intentional actions are in fact intentional and this again is a matter of perspective. Suppose I, myself am not aware of my intentions but instead you are. You make my actions intentional. Whose paranoia is this in the first place?

    Related Items

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    If you liked this post, please take the time to bookmark it or subscribe to get updates.

  • Subjective Reality: Create an Atmosphere

    edited by Alexander Becker

    This essay is part of The Subjective Reality Series.

    Do you ever wonder what your vast, unused mental potential is busy doing at any given moment? An obviously significant part of it is creating atmospheres out of your sensory input, it combines previously stored patterns and expectations and judgements into your very own subjective perception of intangible and often indescribable qualities.

    Atmospheres are objective environments which are subjectively created by your thoughts and emotions. An atmosphere is the pervading tone of a place or situation. The very same place, when perceived at different times under different or even similar circumstances may be experienced as if it was a completely different location.

    Note how time and circumstances are shaped and suddenly change at your fingertips when lived through a slightly changed context.

    Take your current environment as an example. Look around and consciously scan the setting which surrounds you right now. How does it feel? And back. What is there to evoke that particular feeling? If it is hard to describe it is because there is obviously some more to a situation than the sum of quantifiable and thus tangible parts.

    Develop and create an environment, your environment and make it your personal, your branded space. Take your environment and make it yours. You will be amazed by the unlimited options you encounter when it comes to configuring and fine-tuning your setting.

    And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Genesis 1:28 (King James Version)

    Create your atmosphere to your own and complete satisfaction. Recreate yourself in and through your environment and shape the resulting atmosphere until it is yours. Take special care of the more subtle elements, an air, think appearances and manners of objects and circumstances.

    Ultimately, the sequence is your mind creating an environment; you, perceiving that environment, perceiving it consciously; and finally shaping it through active and creative perception. If, for any reason, you are not absolutely, positively content with the atmosphere you created in the first place, go no further than your very own mind and -- if not working on the manifestation itself, at least improve your perception -- the rest, reality that is, will take care of itself.

    Your creations develop a life of their own. Try to always make sure that your intention perfectly matches the atmosphere that comes along with the manifestation. And vice versa.

    Related Items

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    If you liked this post, please take the time to bookmark it or subscribe to get updates.

  • Quick Motivation: You Live in Paradise

    edited by Alexander Becker

    The first moment you spent on earth was the beginning of a new world, the world at your fingertips. You grew up and you noticed the nature of the nature of every living thing.

    You have the most beautiful life imaginable. You have it all. Everything is coming to you. Everybody adores you. You have, at your disposal, some unique, natural gifts that are waiting to get explored.

    You indulge in whatever passion you want. You have the capabilities and the potential to achieve it all.

    Your mind is more than able to handle even the most demanding questions and to produce answers comprehensible to anybody who would ask.

    Your presence is shining brightly and your glow illuminates the ground you walk on. In whatever guise you appear, your light is impossible to dim.

    Your talents are unique in their realm. You walk on paths that nobody else has ever touched.

    You can have it all. Reach out and grab what is rightfully yours. You deserve it and you won't take it away from anyone else because there is enough for everyone.

    You are special. You have the means to have everything you ever dreamt of.

    Deal with it. Accept your responsibility.

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    If you liked this post, please take the time to bookmark it or subscribe to get updates.

  • A Simple Technique to Experience Amazing Productivity Gains

    edited by Alexander Becker

    You plan your objectives in written form. You live Getting Things Done and the accompanying struggles.

    That is the easy stuff; mindsweeps, making lists of things, organizing and structuring the always up-to-date lists into contexts and working according to the circumstances, the environment, and the available energy. You will most likely end up with lists that grow longer and longer without even the slightest chance to ever satisfactorily complete any one sub-list.

    Enter the advanced stuff.

    Since you're working with and alongside intentions anyway, let's try to build a somewhat idealistic, but nevertheless fully functioning, productivity model based on only the best intentions.

    1. Start with the ubiquitous mindsweep.
    2. Recognize and accept the Must Do tasks.
    3. Collect your intentions for the desired outcomes of the Must Do and the Want-To-Do Really Badly stuff.
    4. Inject as much positive thinking as possible into your mental process. Sanitize every thought of potential auto-sabotage.
    5. Feel the synchronicities and the manifestations show up in waves depending on your faith in the actual reception of the intended goal or subject of desire.

    It is as simple as reaping what you sow, only more elegant.

    You act in accordance with your intentions, you set out your intentions and everything flows naturally, almost effortlessly, you take occasional glances at your plans and lists and you select instinctively, without much conscious thinking, the most appropriate and highest value-yielding task to subsequently accomplish in your sequence of events.

    Now that is productivity, where the world seems to run in slow-motion while you are, in high-speed mode and fully alert, observing the fulfillment of your laid out plans and the arrival of your results.

    The next -- and the last -- project you are going to tackle the old-school way will be the raising of your consciousness to the level where the magic becomes possible in the first place.

    Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

    If you liked this post, please take the time to bookmark it or subscribe to get updates.

Subscribe to the new format to have the latest items conveniently delivered for free. You can also subscribe by E-mail.

Previous Posts

Free Download

Peer pressure, vanity and behavior, motivation tricks and hacks, success and pain, and how to excel, Celebrate Your Beauty -- whatever it takes. Download your free ebook.