aMusements

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:40:00 +0000

How and Why I wrote Alexandra’s DragonFire

The telling of this story of Alexandra’s DragonFire began when my daughter, Ashley Alexandra, was about one year old. Every night, she would receive a bedtime story read by either her mother or myself. Many a night, instead of reading her a bedtime story, I would make one up for her. Most times, these stories involved a little girl, who, wandering alone in the woods, finds a dragon, and together they share many adventures.

Now, although my little girl has since become a young woman, this story is still for her. Now, however, it is no longer a bedtime story. It is a wake up call.
When she was younger, and I was telling her of dragons and such, she would often interject with comments like, "Don't be silly, Dad. That would not happen like that." She would often question the adventures I made up; but never once, did she question the existence of dragons.

During the writing of this book, Ashley continuously read and commented on the story. She made suggestions about the characters' behavior. She insisted that I discard some ideas and add others. She changed Alexandra's dialogue. She still, never once, questioned the validity of the tale of a girl and her dragon.

This story is not just for her, (it is hers too, in the telling, as much as it is mine); it is also for all those whose psyche responds to myth and magic.
Myth and magic, as Joseph Campbell so eloquently pointed out, are defining features of the human psyche. Any individual's search for meaning and purpose, usually ignited in the teenage years, finds apt metaphor in the mythological, inspiration in the magical.

Mythic heroes like Hercules exemplify the struggles and virtues of a developing human being. He is half-god, half-human; half divine and half mundane; half saint and half sinner—such as are we all. Hercules and the other heroic characters of Greek mythology defined the cultural mythos of the time.

Alexandra's namesake, Alexander the Great was inspired—no, more than inspired—he was compelled to live as he did by his cultural mythos. The Oracle at Dodona had told his mother, Olympia, that he was a demi-god destined, like his ancestor, Hercules, to become a creature of mythology. Alexander lived his life accordingly. The result was the great city of Alexandria and its' glorious library, the genesis of the finest aspects of our current culture.

We are all, in some way or another, like the historical Alexander and the imaginary Alexandra, also compelled to live our lives according to our own cultural mythos. But what is our mythos?

Today, in this age of scientific rationalism, humanity is devoid of a defining mythos, vainly attempting to find metaphor in the pages of National Enquirer, People magazine or their broadcast counterparts, hopelessly struggling to find inspiration in materialism. We live our lives accordingly.

The heroes of today's youth are morally bankrupt sports figures, movie or pop stars with inflated egos; the tragic-comedies of their commonly amoral and irrelevant lives followed as avidly as once were the tales of Hercules' moral and relevant, divinely appointed tasks.

And what of our Oracles? Mythic, larger than life, dragons? NO! Instead we have double-speak politicians and drab-suited economists, interpreted, not by the poetic visions of the maidens of Delphi, but by the scripted sound bytes of television anchor persons.

What results from this lack of an appropriate defining mythos for our times? Inner city youths kill without conscience for a pair of their latest basketball hero's branded running shoes. Intelligent and educated teenage girls struggle to define their identity by dressing and acting like the latest and greatest, neurotic pop divas. Children use assault weapons to murder their schoolmates, emulating their movie house action heroes.

What results from our mediocre self-appointed visionaries, our oracles? Cities full of people turned into addicts, mind-numbed television junkies, who vote, as told to, for the war on drugs, or any war against the flavor or villain of the week, whilst imbibing their martinis, shaken, not stirred. There is always some dragon that needs slaying. A trillion dollars per year is spent on weapons of destruction. Mere millions are allocated for the health and education of those who need it most. Tens of thousands of children die, every single day of every single year, from starvation and disease whilst food rots in granaries and medicines sit on shelves waiting for those who can afford to pay the price. Our rainforests, coral reefs, mountainsides and the waters of rivers, lakes and oceans are despoiled, ravaged and plundered to assuage our fast food, short-term thinking.

There are many, unlike Ashley, who may question the validity, in today's 'rational' world, of this story of a Dragon/Oracle passing on the secrets of the meaning and purpose of life. This mythological tale is dedicated to them. This is not a bedtime story. It is a wake up call.

It is plain to see that we all need a little magic and a different mythos. We also need a new type of hero, one who does not need to go out and slay dragons, real or imagined.

The mythic hero of this tale is not Pythos, the dragon from the past. It is the heroine, Alexandra, to whom the future belongs, and with whom we can all empathize and identify as she takes on the Herculean task of creating the future. A future filled with ideals and visions that inspire each and every one of us to look to the god-half of our natures, to aspire to be worthy of becoming mythological.

Ashley is the muse; so are all our children. This is their story. I am merely the one who did the typing.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:28:00 +0000

When I was a young lad, it seemed like my mother knew way too much about me. “Don’t even think about it,” she’d say as I was planning some small deviation from the established rule book. How could she know what I was thinking?

Later, as my sins grew more adult-sized, it was the God of my Catholic education that was always looking over my shoulder and knew what was going on in my day-to-day life as well as my most secret thoughts and feelings.

For a while, I was concerned about the growing tendency of the governing power elites to act like Big Brother, tracking every element of our lives and using that data to control what we believed, thought and did.

My mother no longer seems omnipresent. The Creator is too busy playing with Quarks to pay attention to my insignificant stuff. Governments, power elites and Illuminati have proven to be bumbling idiots who can’t actually get their own act together, let alone control the rest of us.

So, who scares me now? Google, that’s who.

Google has become the omniscient and omnipresent presence in my life. It knows almost everything about me.

Google knows exactly what I am interested in each and every day. How? Like you and millions of other people, I search for information using the Google search engine.

Even if I'm not using Google search, Google still knows who I connect to, what information I have accessed, and all my online activities. How? My primary Internet Browser is Google Chrome. Feedburner tells Google what I subscribe to, so they know what I am reading. Just to ensure they don't miss anything, they've added Google Reader.

Google knows who my friends and business associates are and what we say to each other. How? I use Gmail.

Google even knows what I am thinking and talking about each day. Even when I blog using Wordpress instead of my Google owned Blogger blog, Blogger grabs my Wordpress blog posts and reposts them.
<<<--- See the left hand column? My most recent Wordpress blog posts are right here in this piece of Google property. And, of course, there are also my YouTube posts.

Google knows what projects I am working on before anybody else on the planet. How? I use Google Docs as my project planner.

And, now they’ve convinced me to tell them anything they might have overlooked about me by giving me the space to tell the world about myself and my activities by introducing Google Profile.

What else? They know where I am planning to go. I use Google Maps and Google Earth.

They are everywhere. They know everything. They see everything. They are watching all the time. GoOgle is the all-seeing eye. They're probably listening in to my cell phone calls and have installed mini-cams in my bedroom too. Google Streetview catching me exiting my local pub? Ha. Soon it will be Google watching me sleep at night, tracking my REMs to see when and what I am dreaming about.

It's gotten so bad that when I want to find out about myself, I no longer sit down to reflect about my life, I just Google myself.

Good Cop/Bad Cop?

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:06:00 +0000

Time to celebrate. Gone are Karl Rove’s lies. Gone is Cheney’s snarl. Gone is the worst president the USA ever had. Gone is eight years of bully politics.

Now we have a big sigh of relief, a shining ray of hope, a smile and plenty of charm. So, why am I titling this post “good cop/bad cop”?

Ok, we all know the scenario. After the tough guy who’s slammed you up against the wall and screamed in your face leaves and the nice guy with the cup of coffee comes in to offer you a cigarette and an apology for the other guy’s behavior, there is a big sense of relief. But the truth is that you are still in custody and the intention is still to lock you up in prison for the rest of your life.

So, here is the question of the day… is America still stuck in a police state?
I haven’t heard any talk from Obama about repealing the Patriot Act and the other assaults on the Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States brought in during the Bush administration.

No Habeas Corpus. Wiretaps without warrants. Search and seizure without warrants or probable cause. Indefinite incarceration without access to lawyers or a speedy trial. Threats to Congress of martial law.

What I have seen from Obama is support for bailouts of banks by taxpayers. Citicorp, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs are shareholders in the so-called Federal Reserve, the guys who get to print and control the money. Think about this, the Federal Reserve is giving money to its own shareholders and getting the American citizen to be responsible for paying it back. They are foreclosing on your homes and you get to pay for their bad debts. And when you end up behind bars or razor wire, they will probably charge you rent too.

Hey, I know it is too soon to be too critical. And I am, like so many others, hopeful that Obama will bring about real meaningful change. I also know that he is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He’s been left a huge mess to clean up.
I like the guy, he looks good, he carries himself well and he communicates exceptionally well. And he appears really sincere in asking the American people to communicate with him in order to shape a real grassroots democracy.

I really truly hope he is the real deal; I think that he is genuine about wanting to bring about real change; but I am cynical enough to keep the metaphor of the bad cop/good cop alive in my mind and hopefully yours too.

The globalists have an agenda. The Bush regime made it easy for them to push forward this agenda by putting the interests of the corporatocracy ahead of the individual American citizen. Let’s see how Obama deals with that. On January 20th, Obama swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of The United States. The Patriot Act violates the protections provided in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

In any case, let me remind you that real power is internal. Your own conscious awareness, your own willingness to stand up for what is right, your own ability to think for yourself, to discard outmoded beliefs and limiting paradigms is your true place of power.

True political power lies not in the barrel of the gun as Chairman Mao once said and as the Bush/Cheney regime sought to impose on the world. True political power lies not in the control of money and the economy as the international banking cartel believes and is attempting to prove right now with this manufactured global economic crisis. True political power lies not in the backrooms of Washington where lobbyists seek to buy off Congressmen and Senators for the special interests they represent.

True political power lies with an enlightened, courageous and committed people.
Obama says that he wants to empower you. Great!! Be empowered.

Educate yourself. Speak your truth. Stand up for yourself and those others who cannot stand up for themselves. Join Obama’s “Organizing for America” and tell him what you think needs to be done. It is not just your democracy that is at stake. It is your future and your children’s future that is at stake; it is the choice to be free or to be imprisoned.

I’ll leave you with some quotes from Thomas Jefferson.

“A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.”

“All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.”

“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

Jefferson fought to secure your freedom. He struggled to ensure your rights as a human being. What will you do for yourself and for future generations?

Finding Your Purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 20:07:00 +0000

The purpose of life is to live with purpose and on purpose. That is easy to say; but, for many people, it easier said than done. It seems like the great majority of people tend to go through life without any real sense of purpose while vainly struggling for some imagined ideal of material success.

Of all the many questions that people email me to ask, there are two that I get asked over and over again… How do I achieve the success I desire? and… How can I determine the purpose of my life?

They are, in a way, the same question, phrased differently. If you know the purpose of your life and you are living it, then you are successful.
The how of life may be complex, but the why of life is simple. It is to revere, relish and contribute.

If you honor the sacredness of your life and all creation, you are living on purpose and with purpose. If you enjoy the pleasures afforded by life and are grateful for them, then you are living on purpose and with purpose. If you are making a conscious contribution to life, then you are living on purpose and with purpose.

How you choose to honor the sacred is up to you. It does not matter if you do it in a temple or in a forest. It does not matter what ritual you choose to use and what form you imagine divinity to have. It only matters that you consciously, and daily, honor the sacredness of your own beingness and the sacredness of all creation. Being grateful for the gift of life by honoring the sacredness of your own existence within a miraculous universe provides both meaning and purpose to life.

How you choose to enjoy life is up to you. It does not matter, so long as you harm no other, what form your pleasures may take. Of course, if you are already honoring the sacred in all things, you will not be choosing to take pleasure from harming anything, including yourself. Relishing the many pleasures that life has to offer is, in fact, one way to honor the sacredness of life. Being in a state of gratitude for these same pleasures is yet another way to honor the sacred. Life is meant to be a joyful event. Get out there and enjoy it.

How you choose to contribute is up to you. It does not matter how you choose to contribute, only that you do. Maybe you want to contribute by helping to end world hunger; maybe you want to contribute by making the world’s best chocolate chip cookies for yours kids and their friends. Both are valuable contributions. It does not matter how you choose to be of service. It only matters that you choose to be of service and that you are grateful for the opportunity to be of service.

Now let me tell you a BIG secret. If, every day, you wake up to recite a little prayer of gratitude to the sacred for the immense pleasures of life and the opportunity to be of service, you will never, ever wonder what the purpose of your life is, for it will become clear to you and you will simply go about living it.

Wake up. Connect for a few moments to the sacred. Say thank you. Then get out there and enjoy what you do, or do what you enjoy, while doing your best to make a contribution to all that you are honoring as sacred and you will be happy, fulfilled, and, this may surprise you…extremely successful.

How do you discover the purpose of life? Find your passion. Pursue it. Honor it as sacred. Enjoy the ride. Commit to being and contributing more and you will become wealthy. You will have found the purpose of your life. You will have a life of purpose and meaning. You will live each moment ‘on purpose’ instead of accidentally. You are blessed. Life is abundantly sacred. Life is abundantly enjoyable. Life is abundantly in need of your contribution. Become an ever-greater blessing and you will be even more abundantly blessed.

The most practical way to find your own unique purpose is to decide what your ideals are and what you are most passionate about and then simply go about making these personal ideals and passions manifest in your world.

The how of life may be complex (and thankfully it is, or it would not be very interesting), but the why of life is simple. Revere, relish and contribute.

How do you create the success you envision and desire? Live your purpose. Be passionate about it. Pursue it. Persist. Purpose plus passion plus persistence = prosperity.

Your Prosperity Paradigm

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 12:19:00 +0000

I am so jazzed. I am celebrating. Today is the official release date of my new book entitled Your Prosperity Paradigm.

This is part of my ongoing, self-assigned mission in life to empower,enlighten and enrich the lives of other people.

I know that this book will add great value to your life, so go get yourself a copy right now. You too will soon be celebrating.
http://www.lulu.com/content/4204761

You might even think about gifting the book to someone you care about who has yet to create the success they want to have.
http://www.lulu.com/content/4204761

The Winner's Edge

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 12:17:00 +0000

The Winner’s Edge

Raphael Nadal won at Wimbledon this past Sunday. So did Roger Federer. In his post game interview with the players, the great John McInroe (who won at Wimbledon himself 3 times) told them that it was a privilege to have watched them play and that it was the best tennis match he had ever seen.

I agree with John. The level of excellence demonstrated by both players was almost unbelievable. Point for point, they battled it out, forcing each other to play better and better. It was a joy to watch.

Since I do not own a TV set, I went over to a friend’s house to watch. I have said many times before that watching TV is a waste of time. Watching these two champions play was, however, one of the best investments of time I have made in a long time.

It was beyond inspirational to see two people so committed to excellence; so focused on their game, so capable of being truly in the moment, that nothing, not even the two rain delays, distracted them from playing full out.

When the match was finally over, after more than 4 ½ hours of intense competition, the two players hugged. They knew that each had brought the best out in himself and in each other.

I don’t know about you, but I recognized that my own level of play in life can be improved upon. Tennis, after all, is only a game. Life is the greater game; and this is no practice run, this is it: our one chance at playing for the championship. These two guys play big at life. They are committed to being winners. They are focused on being their best.

What about you? Are you committed to winning the game of life? Are you focused on playing at your best?

These guys are the best in the world at their game. They both have a coach. If you want to be the best at playing your game, maybe you should get some coaching. Maybe you should start playing with people who will bring out the best in you. Come on over to the community of people committed to excellence. Join the Prosperity Paradigm Community and start playing big. You deserve it.

Meta-Rational Thought

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:28:00 +0000

We, the human species, stand on the threshold of a new era… the Age of Conscious Awareness.

This threshold is, however, also a precipice on which we are poised and from which we cannot turn back. We must make a leap into the future, into the unknown. In order to survive that leap, we need to develop a new vision of who we are and how we fit into the rest of the universe.

Humanity must undergo a transformation. We must decide to change the current image of seeing ourselves as creatures of circumstance into a new vision of seeing ourselves as creators. More distinctly, we must learn to become conscious, rather than unconscious, creators.

In order for the human creature to become fully aware of its’ own nature and creative potential, it must first come to understand the concept of consciousness.

It is typical for most people to think of consciousness as something uniquely human—at least that state of mind referred to as self-consciousness. Some even go so far as to say that consciousness is a state that is caused by the human brain, an epiphenomenal result of brain mass, an electrochemical accident of biological evolution.

Most people tend to believe that their own ability to be aware of their own consciousness is so unique and special that, in this world, and, perhaps, even in the entire universe, only Homo Sapiens is fully conscious or sentient.

This is a critical error. The idea that only humans possess consciousness is a delusional deceit. Human consciousness is so enthralled with its' own discovery (ability to self-reference) that it interprets its' inability to perceive of all that which lies outside of its own perceptual abilities as evidence that consciousness is a unique activity of the human brain.

The general conclusion is that consciousness is a product of mind and mind is a product of brain. Not only is that a critical philosophical error but it is also a spiritual dead end. The belief that consciousness is a product of mind prevents the individual, and our whole culture, from realizing its unity with all that is and from experiencing the state known as cosmic consciousness or transcendent consciousness.

To decide that simply because something is outside of, or beyond, our normal perceptual abilities should be interpreted to mean that it is nonexistent, is the folly of fools.

Human consciousness, or intellect, stares blindly at a 5 billion year-old star, which sustains not only itself, but also, all life on planet earth and perceives no conscious activity, and therefore, concludes that there is none. Modern humans also walk around on this planet, whose biosphere ‘magically’ enables their existence, along with the myriad of other life forms, without sensing and thus not believing in a planetary consciousness.

We marvel at the complexity of matter, the behavior of our own cellular structures, and the vastness of the universe; but we decide that it is mechanistic, unconscious stuff simply obeying the laws of nature. We refuse to imagine that each and every part of the entire cosmos is conscious and acting in harmony with a creative pattern emanating from a common source--a universal consciousness.

This universality of consciousness has been experienced by individuals for millennia, but has not been accepted in our modern worldview because it is non-rational.

The rational approach says that what can be perceived and then validated through experience or experiment is real and all else is not. If an individual happens to have an experience of transcendence (or a glimpse of the universality of consciousness), it is either ignored by our culture or dismissed as a chemical incident of brain. It is either ‘not real’ or ‘not really real’; that is to say, it is judged as being ethereal.

Other ethereal things are sacredness and spirit. They, too, are not rational, not real. Those who have experienced the transcendent speak, almost poetically, of the spirit of things as being the true reality and assert, irrationally, that everything is sacred.

In sum, they aver that the physical arises out of the metaphysical; the real emerges from the ethereal.

This should not be a difficult concept even for the strictly rational mind to comprehend. We know that the cellular structure of our brain is determined by its molecular construction; molecules are predicated upon atomic combination; atoms constructed out of quantum particles; quantum particles defined by sub-quantum wavicles; sub-quantum stuff being constituted of light tied into knots—self-referencing light.

The physical emerges from the metaphysical. The real from the ethereal. Brain cells emerge from light. Consciousness is in the light prior to it existing within brain cells or neural connections.

What is it to self-reference? It is to be self-conscious, or conscious of being conscious. So, in order for light to self-reference with a purpose (i.e. the creation of matter), it must be filled with consciousness. It must have or be spirit. Things of the spirit are understood to be sacred. So this self-referencing, self-conscious light must be sacred. If all there is, is light, then all must be sacred. ALL.

This is not a new perspective. Aboriginal cultures around the world held this view long before the ‘age of reason’ became our dominant mythos.

Our current attitude is to dismiss this, our own historical wisdom, by labeling those beliefs as primitive, pagan, superstitious and ignorant.

BUT, it is our current society’s primitive conceptualization of consciousness that leads us to denigrate our environment by denying the sacredness of all things.
It is our present pagan attitude that allows us to sacrifice entire species on the altar of material progress. It is our contemporary superstitious fear of our own natural surroundings that prevents us from recognizing our intimate connection to all things made manifest by this universal consciousness.

It is our modern ignorance of this universality of consciousness that keeps us trapped in separation and fear.

In order to learn to live in harmony with the rest of creation, and not leap to our own demise, like lemmings, off this precipice on which we stand, and in order to become enlightened creatures, we must learn to reconceptualize our understanding of consciousness.

We must learn that consciousness is the non-physical source of the physical. It is what creates the tangible from the intangible. Consciousness does not arise from the physical (the brain); the physical arises from consciousness (the light).

Consciousness expresses itself vibrationally, geometrically, mathematically, physically forming patterns out of the potentiality created through the process of self-referencing. Consciousness is the primal source that chooses to become matter by immersing itself in its own imagined creation through the sub-quantum dance patterns of light that spontaneously emerge to form quantum particles; then further complexify to form atoms, then molecules, then cells, then you.

Every quark, every muon, every graviton, every electron, every photon and every neuron is consciousness.

In order to step of the precipice into the unknown, into the void, and fly free into our creator potential, we must learn to become consciously aware creators (not just creatures) and then, intentionally, self-evolve or transmutate into becoming co-creators with universal consciousness.

We need to learn, as individuals and as a culture, to become meta-rational. That is where our true potential, our potency lies. That is where our enlightenment lies.

What is it to become enlightened? It is to know your self as light infused with consciousness. AND, to recognize that so too...is all else in creation...SACRED/LIGHT/CONSCIOUSNESS!

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 14:31:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:41:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:34:00 +0000

My Podcast

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 20:53:00 +0000

Beliefs, Opinions and Purpose

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:12:00 +0000

The things I hear about me. Some are so imaginative, I wish they were true. Some are so malicious, I wonder if I could even be capable of doing them.

I have done a lot of things in my half-century on this planet; some of which have been great things, most have been quite ordinary things and some have been bad things. I am also reputed to have done some astounding things that I don't remember having done. Of course, I recognize that other people quite often have a totally different perspective on the things that actually happened than I may have.

However, when I hear about some of these things I am reputed to have done, sometimes I wonder of there are three of me wandering around on this planet: 1) the wonderful saint, 2) the badass sinner and 3) plain old ordinary me. Anyway, my take on me is here for you to explore.

It is my belief (opinion) that most people don't have clue why they believe what they believe. They are unaware that their personal reality picture is shaped by the consensual reality picture of their culture; that they are in fact, brainwashed; that is, their culture has become their cult. They have assumed a set of beliefs without examining them for veracity or usefulness and thus, instead of being empowered by their beliefs, they are imprisoned by them.

Beliefs: I use the following criteria to examine the beliefs I choose to hold:

• What do I believe about ________________?
• Why do I believe that?
• Where did that belief come from?
• What evidence do I have to support that belief?
• What % of that evidence is experiential?
• What % is merely anecdotal?
• Did I consciously choose this belief?
• Did I inherit or assume it?
• What purpose does it serve to believe this belief?
• What is my intent in holding that belief?
• How does it serve me to hold that belief?

I always remind myself that, no matter how profoundly I hold to a certain belief, it is only my opinion. And, I also always remind myself that my beliefs shape my reality; NOT, my reality shapes my beliefs.

Opinions: So, with all that said, here are some of my opinions:

• The physical Universe is created anew in each moment by a Universal metaphysical consciousness. That same consciousness exists within its creation just as its creation exists within this all-encompassing consciousness.
• Individual human consciousnesses are contained within this universal consciousness and each also contains this universal consciousness
• Universal consciousness seeks to empower its component parts, including individual human beings, to become as self-aware and self-actualized at it is itself in order for itself to become more.
• Human beings have, therefore, an infinite capacity to grow and become more; but many are inhibited from doing so by adopted false beliefs and limiting conceptualizations.
• The institutions that people depend on for truth, support and succor are more interested in retaining power over individuals than contributing to individual empowerment and therefore are continuously reinforcing false beliefs and limiting conceptualizations.
• Therefore, it is necessary for individuals who seek empowerment (and who desire to harmonize with the Universal urge to become enlightened) to opt out of the institutionally manufactured meta-memes or consensual societal group mindset.

Purpose: The purpose to which I have dedicated my life is to provide individuals with the information, ways and means to become free, empowered and consciously creative participants in the ever-unfolding universe. My purpose is to empower, enlighten and enrich the lives of others.

Passion: A life without passion is not a life, it is merely an existence. The why of my life is to revere, relish and contribute. I am passionate about recognizing and honoring the sacred in all things. I am passionate about enjoying the gift of life and consciousness. I am passionate about making a contribution to the universal by contributing to my fellow human beings.

Past: Everything that has ever happened was necessary for me to be who I am and what I am capable of doing. Therefore, I am grateful for all that ever has been and all that is now. However, the past is not evidential of anything that the future holds for me.

Present: Nothing that has ever happened or will happen is as important as this present moment. It is all I will ever have, ever. Eternity is now. Revere now; relish now; contribute now; be grateful now.

Prescience: (future) The future is created by thought and desire, belief and intent. I am creative. The future is mine to design.

Questions I ask myself: What more can I become? What more can I contribute? How much love can I receive and give? How big is my imagination? What do I need to let go of? How much am I willing to accept?

Action Speaks Louder Than Words

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:13:00 +0000

I have written much about how, in order to have more of what we desire in life, we must first do more and, that, in order to do more, we must first become more. In fact, the focus of the majority of my articles and books is about how to become more. I reiterate, time and time again, how important it is to acquire the specific knowledge of success if you want to have success.

I also make it a point to emphasize that knowledge alone is not power; that it is applied knowledge (or action) that begets the personal power to create. Nevertheless, I get many emails from people telling me that they have spent years studying and learning the metaphysical principles of success, without having any demonstrable increase in abundance, prosperity or material success. "Why?" they ask does this stuff not work for me.

In most cases, after some email discussion, I find it is because these people are not actually doing the necessary things to make a practical application of their education.

Just as you can obtain a degree in medicine, but cure no illness or save no lives if you do not actually work at being a doctor; you can know all the principles of success, but if you do not actually put them into practice, they will not work to produce results for you. You must act.

You can, for example, fully understand how the law of attraction works and you can have a harmonious mental attitude; but, if you want to create material abundance or financial success and you do not enact what you know by applying it within the available and proven ways to produce success, then your knowledge and education is wasted.

Many people mistake the self-satisfaction they get from acquiring knowledge as being sufficient unto itself. It is, perhaps, enough, if your only goal is to become more educated. It is not enough, however, if your goal is to use that education to produce measurable effects in your personal world.

Financial abundance, or success, is attained, not just because you know certain things, but when you also DO certain things. Things like applying money management techniques. Things like creating or providing valuable goods or services that people will pay you to obtain. Things like marketing your goods and services so that people will know what value you have to offer.

Use your understanding of the metaphysical principles of success and creation by taking action. If you have or represent a product or service that would appeal to a certain segment of society, then use your understanding of the law of attraction in your marketing activities. Don't expect those people who want and need what you have to offer to just somehow find you . Your harmonious vibrations won't stand out that much amongst all the noise and commotion of the world unless you do the necessary marketing.

Enhanced or advanced knowledge and education produces an enhanced ability to perform; but it is the performance, your actions, that produce the results (or circumstances or effects) in your life. Your actions do speak louder than your words. Don't tell me, or the world, what you know and understand; SHOW me and the world by enacting that knowledge in practical, result-producing, ways.

The ultimate value (and proof) of what you know is in the application or use of that knowledge. Do the doing and you will produce results. Face up to the fact that if the results you have in life are not to your liking, then it is likely that your doing is incorrect. If you don't know what to do to create success, then get the knowledge of success; but don't stop there, do something about it. Make the application.

Of course, indiscriminate action is not an effective way to produce your desired results. You can run around like crazy, climb 100 mountains, cut down forests full of trees and be generally frenetic enough to power up a small city without producing the exact results you wish to have. You must do the correct things in the correct way. That is why you must get the knowledge...so that you will know what to do.

Become more, so that you are capable of more. Then, do more of what needs doing. Then, and only then, will you get to have more of what you want.

I'll say it another way... enlightened actions produce desired results.
Understanding how things work is not enough. You must also do the things that work.

You can sit and stare at your navel all you want, but if you don't actually pull the lint out, it will still be there tomorrow.

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noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:54:00 +0000

How Do You Spell Success?

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 09:57:00 +0000

A person who is illiterate can look at a word without knowing what it means. Perhaps he can recognize the shape of some of the letters; perhaps she even knows that certain of these shapes are representative of certain sounds; still, the veil cannot be pierced. Each written word (‘success’, for example) becomes an arcane mystery like Egyptian Hieroglyphics before the discovery of the Rosetta stone. There is a code that enables a person to see and understand the meaning of a word, but, for the illiterate, it is a secret and undiscovered code.

For most people, success (the actuality…not the word) may as well be an arcane secret. Success might as well be a word written in Hieroglyphics. Like the illiterate person who can look at the written word ‘success’ and not know how to translate it into their spoken language, the average person can look at the ideal of success and not know how to translate it into their day-to-day life or reality.

It is a shocking and sad fact that about 20% of people over the age of 15 (or almost 1 billion adults) remain illiterate and cannot discern the secrets of written language, cannot see the word success and read it or translate into a spoken word; but it is even more shocking that over 90% of people are in the dark when it comes to being able to discover the secret of applying the word—success. They can look at the word and read it; they can even say it; however, they are unable to translate it into a meaningful and applicable message.

These people are also functionally illiterate. The word success has no real meaning.

It may as well be another word, any other word…like ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ (from the song in the movie ‘Mary Poppins’). It can be read; it can be said; but it has no meaning. It is nonsensical.

It may even be fun to say it, but it has no real meaning. This is how the word success is for most people…it is fun to say (it sounds nice to the ear), it is repeated over and over again (like a song lyric), but it has no real meaning.

Close your eyes. How do you spell supercalifragilisticexpialidocious? Now, what does it mean? Define it. Achieve it.

Close your eyes. How do you spell success? What does it mean? How do you define it?
How do you achieve it?

Some people imagine success means having more.
I imagine that success means enjoying more.

Some people imagine that success is defined as greater accumulation.
I imagine that success is defined as greater contribution.

Some people imagine success is achieved by doing more.
I imagine that success is achieved by becoming more.

Some people imagine that it is spelled succe$$.
I imagine that success is spelled with 3 ‘c’s (see below).

Clarity, Constancy and Congruency of ideal, purpose, belief, passion, intent, thought and action are necessary to create (spell) success.

This is how I spell success...

Sincerity is genuineness and authenticity. You are you; you are true.
Unique is distinctness and exclusivity. You are special; you are one of a kind.
Clarity is lucidity and preciseness. You are clear; you know what you are about.
Constancy is fidelity and persistence. You stay the course; you persist.
Congruency is harmony and accordance. You are whole and holistic in word and deed.
Excellence is quality and worth. You give or produce value.
Spirit is strength and élan. You know that the inner reality creates the outer reality.
Service is benefit and sacrament (to make sacred). You are a gift and you offer you.

Success is the ideal you define; it is the purpose you live; it is the way you walk through life; it is the passion that drives you; it is the joy that you derive from each day; it is the gratitude you feel and express for the gift of life and the opportunity to be, do and have that which you aspire to; success is the way you become. To be successful is to be self-actualized. You don’t have success. You don’t do success. You be success.

Those are some of my thoughts on success. I’ll leave you with some other thoughts from some successful folks.

"People are anxious to improve their circumstances but unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore remain bound." –James Allen

“What's money? A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.”—Bob Dylan

"If money is your hope for independence and success, you will never have it. The only real security that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability." –Henry Ford

"Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others." –Danny Thomas

"The man who does not work for the love of work but only for money is not likely to make money nor to find much fun in life." –Charles Schwab

"Someday I hope to enjoy enough of what the world calls success so that someone will ask me, "What's the secret of it?" I shall say simply this: "I get up when I fall down." –Paul Harvey

"If you want to be successful, it's just this simple. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing. And believe in what you are doing." –Will Rogers

"There are only two real requirements for success in life. The first requirement is deciding exactly what you want. Most people never get to that point. They never decide exactly what they want in life, and because of this they simply go around in circles. The second requirement, after a person has decided what he wants, is determining the price he's going to have to pay to get it and then resolving to pay that price.” -H. L. Hunt

All of the above may be insightful and even, perhaps helpful and inspirational; but the most important thing of all is this…what are your thoughts on success??????

What is your ideal? What is your belief? What is your purpose? What is your passion? What exactly is your intent?

What is your passion? What is your purpose? What are you idealizing? What are you becoming? To what end do you journey through life? Each day? Each moment?

Answer these questions and you will know and have success. You will have found the key to translate the previously indecipherable and inapplicable to your life. Success will now have real meaning.

Top Ten Reasons People Do Not Succeed

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:24:00 +0000

I’d like to be able to tell you, like some motivational speakers I’ve heard say, that there is no reason why you cannot succeed, but the sad truth is that there are many valid reasons why people do not achieve any great measure of success in life. In fact, there are so many reasons why people fail to achieve the success they imagine they want that I could not possibly list them all; so I present only the top ten for you to ponder.

#10 Lack of opportunity. This is not, for you who are reading this, a valid reason.

Perhaps it is possible to say that a child born into extreme poverty, with severe handicaps, in a small impoverished third world country, does not have, and may not ever have, the opportunity to succeed; but this is not you. The mere fact that you are reading this puts you into a privileged group of people with boundless opportunity to create a successful, prosperous and fulfilling life. If you ever think, or are tempted to say, that you did not have the opportunity, then you are making up excuses, not providing a legitimate reason, for your failure to create a successful and fulfilling life.

The cold hard truth is not that you do not have (or have not had) the right opportunity; it is that, when the many opportunities that have already come your way were open to you, you were not the right person to take advantage of these opportunities. Right now, all around you, opportunities abound. You may like to pretend that they are not the right opportunity for you, but the reality is that you are not the right person for whatever opportunity is right in front of you. Fortunately, whenever you want to, you can become the right person in the right place at the right time for the right opportunity. Yes, whenever you want to finally and definitively decide to choose success, it is right there just waiting for you to say yes.

#9 Bad influence. Here are two tough but enlightening questions for you…

First: Who are you hanging around with - winners or losers? Many people suffer from being in the wrong peer group. There is a perverse comfort in hanging around with other losers, but it will do you no good to associate with people who affirm paucity and struggle or who have adopted the societal groupthink of mediocrity. Winners hang around with winners so that they can mutually affirm their own right to success. If you are really determined to create a successful life, then you will need to learn to choose your friends and associates carefully.

And second: From whom did you receive your basic education and/or fundamental attitudes about life? I know that it is likely that your parents loved you and that your teachers were probably well-intentioned; but, be honest with yourself… if they really knew how life works, then why were they not successful? Did you pick up a bunch of inappropriate information about how life works and are thus subconsciously programmed to be, to do and to have less than you deserve? If you truly desire to be successful, it is probable that you will have to re-program your mind to expect success.

#8 Fear. This is the big crippling inhibitor that prevents many from succeeding.

The primary fear that stops many from even attempting to achieve outstanding success is the fear of failure. This is truly ironic. People do not attempt great things for fear of failing; yet the simple choice to not make the attempt actually guarantees failure. So you shoot and miss. Big deal. Every shot not taken misses the goal. Babe Ruth may have been the home-run-king of baseball, but he also struck out more than any other player. Do you imagine that when he stood up at bat that he was focused on the fact that he was the strike-out-king of baseball? Everybody fails sometimes. Winners know that they will fail often. Some extremely successful people that I have interviewed have told me that the only reason they were able to achieve more success than others is simply because they failed more others or were more willing to accept the possibility of failure than others.

Strangely enough, the second biggest fear that prevents people from attempting to go for the gold is the fear of success. They may fear that success will change them and change their values. They may fear that success will cause them to lose their friends. The fear of success then, when clearly seen and understood, is the fear of change. This is another of those infamous good news/bad news things. The bad news is that, yes, success will change you. It will change your values, your perspectives, your lifestyle and your attitudes. It is also likely that your unsuccessful friends will drift away from you; because they will seek comfort and reassurance that their own choices are ok by hanging out with other losers, instead of winners like you. That’s the bad news. The good news is that your values, perspectives and lifestyle will change- for the better; and you will end up hanging around with new successful friends. You’ll be ok with that. In fact, you might be deliriously happy about it.

#7 No faith. Belief — that big lurking monster in the closet. I could give a week-long seminar on belief and how it shapes your reality.

I will, in this case, keep it short and simple. Much of what you believe does not serve you and has been imposed on you to keep you enslaved. You need to adopt some fundamental new beliefs about life, about yourself and about success. If you do not adopt these beliefs, you will not likely succeed; and, if by some chance, you do manage to create some measure of success, you will probably find a way to sabotage that success by losing it or by being unable to enjoy it.

Here are those basic core beliefs: 1. You deserve success. 2. The universe and/or whatever you choose to call divinity desires your success and is all set up to provide you with the success you envision and desire. 3. Success is not related to morality or spirituality. It is not morally superior to be poor and it is not spiritually pure to forsake material success. 4. It is your own method and quality of thinking that will bring you success or failure, not how things are in the world around you.

Have faith. It can move mountains. But be very careful where you place your faith. Have faith in yourself. Have faith in your ability to create a self-designed destiny. Have faith in your right to have the success you desire.

#6 Lack of education. Most folks, even the highly educated, don’t have the right knowledge or information to succeed.

I believe, quite strongly, in the value of formal education. In fact, I think that the classic, university-level, liberal arts education is a great foundation for anyone who wants to be able to live a fulfilling and contributory life. However, a person can have a PhD in any discipline offered in the best universities and still know diddly-squat about how to succeed. And you can have little or no formal education and still have figured out, like Andrew Carnegie or Richard Branson and many others, how to create enormous success.

There is a science of success. There is a technology of success. There is a specific knowledge set that is needed to create success. If you want to succeed, you will need to obtain that knowledge and then apply it to the way that you live your day-to-day life. You spend your coin on so many frivolous things to satisfy some passing fancy. You spend your time learning so many meaningless things like the game score or the date that some historical event took place. Make a wiser decision: invest your time and money into getting the education that will empower you to create a successful and fulfilling life. One way to do that is to buy, read and apply what is available to you in the Prosperity Paradigm website. It has worked for others and it will work for you.

#5 Fuzzy ideals. Most don’t know exactly what they want. Their ideals are not clearly defined.

Almost everyone will say that they want to be or to have success. Ask them what that means, however, and they will be unable to tell you with any exactitude. Fuzzy thinking. Whenever someone says to me, “I want to be wealthy.”, I ask, “What does that mean?” The common answer is, “Well, you know, to have lots of money.” Well then, “How much is lots?” ??? What does success mean to you? Can you define it in one written paragraph? Can you tell someone in a sound byte at a noisy cocktail party? If not, then you don’t know exactly what success means to you. Without that knowing, you have no clear vision of where you want to end up.

Undefined ideals are intangibles that seldom, if ever, become tangible. The simplistic statement of “I want to be successful,” is no more meaningful than, “I want to have a nice haircut.” Would you trust your hairdresser who has purple spiked hair today and blond streaked hair tomorrow with giving you an undefined “nice” haircut? Get exact. What do you want????? The universe has infinite possibilities. How can it know what you are asking for when you say, “I want to have success,”? Fuzzy thinking produces fuzzy results. Get clear about what you desire.

#4 No passion. The average person just plain doesn’t have enough desire to succeed.

Wanting success is not enough. You have to have a burning desire. This may be a crude example, but this point must be emphasized… You must develop the ‘tear your clothes off right now’ type of lust if you truly desire to create success. Wishful thinking does not make things happen. We all know that simple truth. Passionate desire, however, does have the necessary vibratory energy to bring forth things from the un-manifest into the manifest.

Become passionate. Light a fire in your belly, in your heart, in your mind for the realization of your ideals. Feed that fire with the fuel of belief and don’t let anyone put it out with negativity or words of caution or even reasonable doubt. The side benefit about being passionate about something is that you get to feel more alive. A life without passion is not a life; it is merely an existence.

#3 No resolve. Resolve, grit, gumption, tenacity, determination, persistence, discipline are major attributes of a winning attitude.

You might as well know in advance that when you embark on the journey to creating success, your tenacity will be tested. In order to succeed, you will need to develop a kick-butt attitude a firm resolve. Your results will be determined by your determination.

Fortunately, if you have clearly defined ideals that you are passionate about seeing realized, then your resolve to succeed will come easily. You may need to dig a little deeper in moments when it seems like nothing is going right with your plans. Which brings us to…

#2 No game plan. How can you expect to win the game if you have no plan to score goals?

The majority of people don’t have specific written goals. If you want to succeed, you have to define your goals. They are the specific objectives you must reach as you proceed to realizing your ideals. Goals are so critically important to your success that I won’t even try to summarize goal setting in a couple of paragraphs. Instead, I’ll point you to the article I wrote about the subject called The 11 Basics of Goal Setting.

#1 No action. The single biggest reason that most people do not succeed is simply because they don’t do anything about it.

People do all kinds of things. In fact, most people are so busy doing stuff that they actually don’t take time to examine why they are doing what they are doing. Look around you and you will see lots of frenetic action without any apparent purpose. Stop for a minute and ask yourself, “Why am I doing the things I do? To what purpose? To what end? What exactly is my intention in doing what I do on a daily basis?”

Assuming for a moment that you have the desire to create a successful life, even if your concept of success is not yet specifically defined, are you taking the actions that are necessary to create the results you’d like to have show up in your life? Everybody has dreams and desires. Not everybody does what is necessary to fulfill those dreams and desires.

In fact, most people do not even get started. They procrastinate. They make up excuses why they will start tomorrow instead of today; or they say, “I’ll start when the conditions are better, or when my financial situation permits, or when the stars are aligned properly, or when this current project, distraction, TV program, whatever, is finished, then I’ll start.”

NO. NO. NO. Start Right Now! Right now. This minute. Create a vision. Create a game plan to enact that vision. Start doing what is necessary. Keep going. Create momentum. Don’t stop.

Most people never get started; and then, sadly, most of those who are inspired to get started, quit too soon. They get distracted. They allow obstacles to deter them. They lose sight of their goals and ideals. They lose the motivation. They resign themselves to mediocrity. Do you desire success? Create a vision. Believe in its reality. Stay focused. Never give up. Never, never, never, never give up. If you persist, you will prevail. If you desist, you will fail.

Here’s what you do, right now.

Step One: Clearly and distinctly define your ideals.

Step Two: Write down your specific time-dated goals.

Step Three: Take the first necessary action. Then, the next.

Step Four: Persist.

Make the decision to become a success. Reach deep down inside yourself and find the gumption to act now. Develop the resolve to always continue to reach toward your goals. Affirm your right to have the success you desire. Educate yourself about the principles of success. Read my other articles. Read my books. Get excited about yourself, your life and your goals. Be grateful for the incredible opportunities that lie before you. Be grateful for all the blessings that you already have in abundance.

Yes, there may plenty of reasons why you may not succeed; but all those reasons can be made meaningless, invalid and inapplicable if you will only do one simple thing… make up your mind to create the success that you desire and that you deserve.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:44:00 +0000

I published this last year in another space, but a full moon discussion over dinner at the home of some friends reminded me of this piece, so I will serve it up here.

Moonshine and Madness

Many of my subscribers have written recently to suggest that I should not write, in this aMusements column, about drinking beer; so, in the following article, in deference to their sensitivities, I avoid the mention of beer all together.

There was a full moon two days back on November 26th. I checked the calendar. There will be another on December 26th. That is 30 days apart. " What the hell happened to the 28 day lunar cycle??" I thought as I sipped my rum and looked at the moon with my binoculars a couple of nights back. So, of course, I Googled a bit to see if there was an explanation. I found this one...

The orbital period of the moon from perigee to apogee and back to perigee is called the anomalistic month. The period of the moon's phases, that is the motion of the moon with respect to the sun, is called the synodic month. The ellipticity of the moon's orbit also causes the duration of a half-lunation to depend on where in the elliptical orbit it begins and so, effects the age of the full moon.

The average duration of the anomalistic month is approximately 27.554549 days; while the average duration of the synodic month is approximately 29.530588 days.

The fumocy is slightly more than 14 synodic months and slightly less than 15 anomalistic months. Its significance is that when you start with a large full moon at the perigee, then subsequent full moons will appear ever later after the passage of the perigee. After 1 fumocy, the accumulated difference between the number of completed anomalistic months and the number of completed synodic months is exactly one.

" Hmm," I thought. " I'd better have another rum." So, I did; and, as I stared in marvel at that floating orb, so beautifully reflecting the light of the sun, I reflected some more on what I had read. I saw some sense to it. Where in the ellipse the moon was when it was full one night might determine the time span to the next full moon. Maybe. There had to be more to it. I sipped my rum and I pondered the mystery. An hour later, I was no more enlightened. I was, however, a little bit buzzed; and it was this dual intoxication of moonlight and moonshine that lead me to the conclusion that, despite any pretense to the contrary, I don't know shinola from synodic.

I have learned that the anomalistic moon cycle is close to 28 days, but that the synodic, or full moon, cycle is about 29.5 days. Now I am left to wonder if anomalistic is synchronistic or synonym-istic with animalistic and that, perhaps that might explain werewolves, menstrual cycles and the periodic madness of imbibing the demon rum.

The degree of my ignorance is staggering I realized as I made my way to bed. It is lunacy to pretend otherwise; but how else can I make it through the days of my life, except that I imagine I know a thing or two about the moon and why it does what it does every 28 or 29.5 nights or so.

By the way, sugar cane is traditionally cut on full moon days to maximize the yield of juice. Cut the cane on a full moon day and reap more juice to make more rum. That's a good thing since people seem to drink more rum on full moon nights. I, of course, will never touch the stuff again, full moon or not. Well, perhaps on a blue moon, which happens, on average, every 19 months; although I am not exactly sure whether that is anomalistic or synodic months.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sat, 23 Sep 2006 17:27:00 +0000

A few days ago, I was sitting in the departures lounge in the Simon Bolivar airport at Caracas, awaiting my flight connection to Trinidad, with my laptop open on my lap, writing material for a new seminar presentation. I was in the groove, totally focused, unaware of the activity around me.

I glanced up from my screen. The waiting area was empty. Where was everybody else that was here also awaiting the flight? I looked back at my screen and checked the clock. 6:45. Ok. Time enough to catch my 7:30 flight; but maybe I had missed some announcement. Maybe I should get to the gate. As I was shutting down Windows, it occurred to me. Time zones. It was actually 7:45 DUH!!

No wonder everyone was gone. Had I missed my flight? I rushed to the gate. There was my crowd and it was busy creating pandemonium. I waded in. What fun. Absolute chaos. I stood there tuning in to the Spanish. Ah-ha. The flight is delayed. No exact time for departure is able to be set. It seems we are to fly on a brand new plane and the certification has not been stamped by the relevant authority.

Of course people are upset. They are concerned about missing connections. I make my way over to one of the reps and ask, "So, does this mean I have time for a sandwich and a beer?"

"Oh yes, plenty of time. It looks like about a 3 hour delay."

"Cool," I reply, "Thanks. That is great news." My earlier distraction had not caused me to miss my flight and for that, I am grateful.

"Hang on a minute," she says and gives me a coupon for $10 to pay for my beer and another one for $50 for a discount on my next flight.

"Hey, that's nice of you," I answer. "Thanks so much."

"No", she says, "thank you; almost everyone else is so upset and they get nasty to me as if it is my fault their flight is delayed."

A lady pushes in beside me, "If I miss my connection and my appointment tomorrow morning, I am going to sue the airline. I don't believe all this crap about new planes and such."

"Yes, ma'am, here is the complaint form. If you fill it out, I will personally see it gets to the right person." answers the rep, "and here is a $50 discount coupon for your next flight."

No beer coupon for her.

The flight leaves at 10 pm. 2.5 hours late. The plane is so new, you can still smell the glue they used to stick down the carpet. No one else has ever sat in this seat I occupy. How cool is that. The flight attendant offers me a free beer. I doze off and wake when the plane is landing an hour later.

Shortly after midnight, I am sitting in the lobby of my hotel in Trinidad, sipping a cold beer, chatting with the night duty clerk, when this same angry lady shows up.

"Good evening ma'am," greats the clerk.

"I need a cheap room and a wake up call," she answers. The clerk gets her registered and gives her a room key, organizes the wake up call. Never once does she say thank you.

"Hi," I interject, "we were on the same flight. I see you missed your connection. I hope it all works out for you."

"No, my connection is in the morning to Dominica." she answers, "damn airlines. I hope that one is on time at least."

"Oh," I say, "we are on the same flight again in the morning. Do you want to share a taxi?"

"No," she answers, "I'll make my own way. I've already booked a taxi."

"Ok, buy you a beer then, a night cap?" I ask her. Maybe I can cheer her up some, change her attitude?

"No!" she turns away and goes to her room, without saying another word to me or the hotel clerk.

Next morning, the night clerk drops me off at the airport. I check in with the airline and get myself a coffee. I am sitting there enjoying it when she goes by. "Good morning," I say, "How are you today?"

"Damn taxi was late," she answers without slowing down. Of course, there is a line up at the LIAT counter by then. Oh well. Life's a bitch, ain't it.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 20:08:00 +0000

I went to the beach the other day. Not an unusual event in and of itself. I go to the beach every second or third day. What was unusual about this particular visit was that I stumbled across a small tear in the fabric of reality. Literally stumbled. Here is what happened; I'll leave it to you to decide what it means and how to classify it.

I was strolling down the beach, thinking about what to talk about during my presentation at an upcoming Magnetic Thinking seminar in Costa Rica, when I stubbed my toe and stumbled, falling to my hands and knees in the sand. I'd had my head in the clouds; now I was definitely back on the ground. Ouch.

With some degree of annoyance (ok, I'll admit to uttering some profanity), I got back to my feet and turned to see what had caused my fall.

Well, it was a yellow knot. Boats occasionally lose lines and they often get washed up on shore. I've been out on boats where such escaped lines had gotten tangled in the propeller. That really sucks. This one had gotten buried in the sand on my beach and this protruding knot was the source of my jolting discomfort.

Now, I could have simply gone on with my walk; but I didn't. Instead, in my annoyance, I decided to pull this rope out of the sand. I can't say what I intended to do with it once I got it free from the sand. I wasn't entirely of sound mind at this point.

After digging and pulling for a few minutes, I had about six feet of line freed. Ropes are made of entwined strands and as I was pulling with all my might, one of these strings snapped and slapped me in the face. I let go abruptly and ended up sitting on my butt in the sand. Needless to say, I had a few more choice expletives to offer in response.

Most people would have given up at this point; (it is probably the wise choice) but I have a stubborn streak in me. I renewed my assault, digging and pulling. After several minutes of this, I had freed about twenty feet of line; and, I had also built up quite a sweat and so I stopped to catch my breath. I sat down on the sand, this time on purpose, and a degree of reason and objectivity returned. Just a degree... enough to see how funny and futile this effort was; not enough to forget the damned rope and continue my walk.

I played with the rope in my hands, examining it. It was a standard, five-strand, braided 5/8 inch, yellow mooring line, almost as common in these parts as the sand I was sitting on. As I mentioned, one of these strands had snapped. This strand itself was composed of numerous smaller strings or filaments. I rubbed this strand between my thumb and forefinger, loosening the weave of these smaller filaments. I separated one of these filaments. Please don't ask why I was doing this. I don't know. I was just mussing about.

This filament or mini-string was about twice as thick as a human hair. I stretched it tight, holding the broken end in my teeth and the other still entwined end in my left hand and plucked it. "Twang" sounded a small but distinct note. Cool. I did it again. "Twong" it sounded.

"Watcha doin?" a small voice queried.

Startled out of my reverie, I turned to stare into the amazingly beautiful face of a dreadlocked child. Four, maybe five years old. I was sitting. He was standing and we were eye to eye. He smiled.

"Playing'" I answered, smiling back.

"Do again," he commanded.

I grabbed the filament, bit down on the end and plucked. Everything shimmered. The boy giggled and shook his head. The beads braided into his dreadlocked tresses rattled. I plucked. "Twong!!" Again the world shimmered. Again, the beads rattled. Half a dozen times, we played this improvised beach harmony.

And then it came to me... I would talk about Superstrings, super-symmetry and the symphony of thoughts that create our reality.

"Fun," said my little friend.

"Yes, it is" I agreed.

My little messenger ran off down the beach. I got up and walked into the sea to float on my back, stare at the sky and work out the thread of my talk.

__________________________________

Later, driving home, Steve Marriot of Small Faces singing Itchycoo Park reverberated in my mind...

Over bridge of sighs,
to rest my eyes in shades of green
under dreaming spires
to Itchycoo Park. That's where I've been.
(What did you do there?)
I got high...
(What did you feel there?)
Well, I cried...
(But why the tears then?)
Tell you why...

It's all so beautiful!
It's all too beautiful!

I'll tell you what I'll do.
(What will you do?)
I'd like to go there now with you,
you can miss out school.
(Won't that be cool?)
Why go to hear the words of fools?
(What did you do there?)
I got high...
(What did you touch there?)
I touched the sky...
(But why the tears then?)
I'll tell you why...

It's all too beautiful!
It's all so beautiful!

I feel inclined to blow my mind,
get hung up, feed the ducks with a bun.
They all come out to groove about
be nice and have fun in the sun.

(What did you do there?)
I got high...
(What did you touch there?)
I touched the sky...
(But why the tears then?)
Tell you why...

(It's all too beautiful!)
It's all so beautiful.
(It's all too beautiful!)

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 17:54:00 +0000

As I am wont to do, I was in the bar at the SunSail marina some days ago watching the sunset, sipping a cold Hairoun, thinking about what a glorious adventure life is when you allow it to be, when a total stranger came up to me and asked, "Would you please tell me what direction I am facing?"

I blinked. This is surely, I thought, a surreal moment; not a real question, but an angel's message for me.

"Well, I am facing the sunset," I answered, "so it is my best guess that direction is called West on this planet. On a larger scale, I suppose I am staring down the gravity well of old Sol."

"Huh... oh yeah; silly of me," he replied, with a touch of an embarrassed smile.

"No, not at all," I replied, "I thank you for the question. It reminded me to be aware of what direction I am facing."

"And that is?" he queried. Now I knew for certain he was an angel, perhaps disguised as some poor holiday sailor who was about to go out on a rental not knowing anything about sextants or pole stars, but an angel nevertheless.

"If", I explained, more to myself than to him, "I am standing in the present, I can face into the past or into the future. The direction I face is my choice, isn't it?"

"How's the local beer?" He replied. Maybe he thought I had had a few. Maybe he was just changing the subject. Maybe he was just thirsty. Maybe he had more wisdom to offer me. It mattered not.

"Pretty good," I answered, " Can I buy you one? It is the least I can do."

"Two Hairoun please," I told the barkeep. "Where you are from?" I really wanted to hear this answer.

"Los Angeles," he said, without even a hint of irony in his eyes.

"I figured it would be something like that," I said. "Long way from home then. Here to do some sailing?"

"No, I've come to visit some friends in Mustique. That's south of here, isn't it?"

"Yes, that way," I pointed, "you could see it if we were on that point out there, instead of in this bar."

"This beer is good." he said.

"Yes, it surely is," I replied. "My name is Leslie. I'm happy to meet you."

"Michael," he said, "how are you?" sticking out his hand. We shook.

"Blessed," I answered, "and you?"

"Yeah, I am feeling pretty good too. You live here?"

"Yes. I do."

"Good place to live," he said.

"Yeah man, it is," I smiled.

God, life is such a pisser.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 15:57:00 +0000

Been away for a while. Lots going on in my life. New beginnings and some endings.

2006 has come in with a big bang and my universe is expanding in potential.

Life is such a miracle. Full of contrasts. Full of surprises. I am constantly amazed by the wonder of it all.

I'll be back soon to update you on some of the fun and funny things going on in my life.

In the meantime, here's a cool way to up your vibratory levels.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 18:48:00 +0000

Every once in a while, I log onto CNN.com to see what lie of the week is being promoted.

Today I see that they have a poll posted that asks, "Is the Canadian Supreme Court right to OK group sex among consenting adults?"

So many important things going on in this world and that's all they can think of to ask people's opinions about?

Does anyone, who is emotionally healthy, really give two hoots about whether another person likes to get it off by him or herself or with one other person or two or twenty? I find it hard to believe that this should end up in the Supreme Court; but seeing as how it did, it is reassuring that they had the common sense to vote to keep the Government and the police out of the private affairs of consenting adults.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sun, 25 Dec 2005 19:37:00 +0000

Today is Christmas day. In honor of that, I'll post this...

In town this past Saturday morn for the farmers' market to get our fruit and veggies, I stopped in after shopping to a local bistro for a cup of coffee. I ran into a young Canadian lady who works as a botanist here on the island.

'Are you going home for Christmas?' I ask her.

'No', she replies. 'Christmas is a ho-hum thing for me. Just another day.'

'Not quite Bah Humbug, I hope,' I say with a smile. 'You could have a sleepless Christmas eve.'

'Yeah, maybe it is bah humbug,' she says, 'even here, it is just another Hallmark commercial event. Shop til you drop.'

'You are awfully cynical for someone so young,' I say, 'no spirit of Christmas at all?'

'It seems to me that too many folks are more concerned about having a toyous Christmas rather than a joyous Christmas. It seems to me that too many folks attempt to have a joyous Christmas by satiating their bodies with food and drink rather than satiating their spirits with love and peace. It seems to me that too many proclaim their Christianity in words and defame it in their actions. It seems to me that the spirit of the season has become a pale ghost. Celebrate Christmas? Where are all the Christians? Christians preach peace, not war. Christians propagate love, not fear. I don't see any real Christians around, do you?' she spurts.

'You and Mark Twain,' I say.

'Huh?' she asks.

'He wrote, "There has been only one Christian. They caught him and crucified him--early." in one of his cynical moods,' I tell her.

'Truer words have never been spoken,' she tells me.

'So, you are not a Christian then?' I ask.

'Nope. If I was to be anything religious, I'd be a pantheist,' she says.

"A pantheistic botanist or a botanical pantheist?' I ask. She only gives me a hint of a smile in response.

'Don't pantheists love a good party?' I ask, 'It seems to me that they have that reputation. I'm sure any good pantheist would be happy with an excuse to enjoy a feast day, no matter whose name it was called in.'

'Bah, humbug,' she says.

'Oh, yes, thanks for reminding me, I need to buy a bottle of rum,' I say, 'Thanks for the chat. I must run. I wish you joy, peace and abundance this winter solstice. Watch out for the mistletoe.'

'Phoradendron macrophyllum', she muttered. I blew her a kiss on my way out the door.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 13:37:00 +0000

We went to the home of some friends to have dinner and view their newly decorated Christmas cactus. This was the view from their deck last night. Who needs lights when this kind of decoration exists?

The closest we will get to having a white Christmas this year is visiting the white sand beaches on Bequia. Maybe I'll also look up on the Net some beautiful winter wonderland photos of snow covered trees and change my screen saver for the season.

noreply@blogger.com (Pythos) — Sat, 17 Dec 2005 03:13:00 +0000

I participate in a few forums from time to time, some regularly. One of my favorites is Powerful Intentions. In one of the topic discussions that I monitor someone posted something that inspired me to post something I'd written some time ago.

I post it here also, in case it amuses you also.

Beer, Beamers and Born Agains

> Owning a BMW reduces risk of Prostate cancer?

A recent study by the American Cancer Society showed that men who had more than 20 ejaculations per month had a 33% reduced risk of prostate cancer and men who had between 13 and 20 ejaculations per month had a 17% reduced risk.

A recent poll by the German magazine, Men's Car, found that BMW drivers had more frequent sex than owners of any other make, with strangely, Porsche, at the bottom of the list, behind even Ford.

So, it would seem to follow logically that BMW drivers have a lower risk of getting Prostate cancer. All you middle-age-crisis types should pay some attention to which little red sports car you buy.

> Putting beer on your corn flakes reduces risk of Prostate cancer?

In addition to the other proven health benefits of drinking beer (reduced risk of: heart disease, strokes, diabetes and gall stones), drinking 2 glasses of beer a day has been shown to reduce the risk of getting Dementia and/or Alzheimer's disease.

On the other hand, drinking just two glasses of milk per day has been shown to double a man's risk of getting Prostate cancer. (Women who drink two or more glasses of milk per day are twice as likely to suffer broken hips in old age.) AND, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study (on Feb 14, 2002) that shows that drinking milk doubles the risk of getting both Dementia and Alzheimer's.

It sounds like a pretty good idea to substitute beer for milk on your morning cereal.

> Drinking fluoridated water leads to mental deficiency?

The US Environmental Protection Agency reports that 58% of Americans have a high health risk from drinking fluoridated water. Other recent scientific studies have shown that ingestion of fluorides lead to mental degradation and Alzheimer's disease.

Coincidentally, according to a recent Time Magazine poll, 58% of Americans believe that the Revelations of St John, commonly known as The Apocalypse, will come true in their lifetime.

Ronald Reagan, milk and fluoridated water drinker, prostate cancer victim, fervently believed in an immanent fulfillment of the so called prophecies of St John AND he suffered from advanced Alzheimer's.

g.W. bush stopped drinking beer and now believes in the Apocalypse. Hmmm. I wonder if he drinks milk. Does he brush with fluoridated toothpaste? How often does he do the wild thing? How's his prostate doing?

Is it possible that a brain chemical imbalance (excess fluorides and homocysteine (milk protean) leads to end of the world delusions? Or, is it possible that simply adopting strange beliefs leads to mental degradation and Alzheimer's? Or just maybe, it is simply that the lack of sexual activity leads to the loss of the prostate gland and to insanity.

Obviously, according to the evidence, if you want to live longer, be healthier, both physically and mentally, have more fun and get more of the horizontal bop, it is a good idea to have a beer or two each day and avoid milk and fluoridated water. (And maybe drive a BMW.) If you start imagining that you hear angel's trumpets, or start imagining that you see 7-headed, red dragons in the sky, I'd suggest you check yourself into an advanced care retirement home and get your doc to lube up his glove.