I have always been amazed by the number of self-promoters in the self-help field. Most of these guys are genuinely convinced they have the answers to happiness. They found their way and are trying to inspire you to do their coaching method or series of procedures, and I have no problem with that. But I do wonder why so many people feel the need to say that their method will work for you.
What only the true masters in this field (like Eckhart Tolle, for example) understand is that there is no right way to do it. I discovered this over ten years ago and it inspired me to write my own attempt, which I called The Keys to Deliberate Creation.
Keys is based on the idea that it is entirely possible to duplicate the procedures – that is, go through the motions or actions in the physical universe, or in the mind -- that led someone to a realization, but it impossible to duplicate the state of being that caused the person to attain their breakthrough in the first place. This idea is very important and if you understand it, can save you a lot of time and money.
The state of being that causes the breakthrough happens instantaneously, outside of time and space, in the consciousness of the individual, and is therefore not really knowable. The famous cartoon by Sidney Harris explains this perfectly (see the cartoon here). Two scientists are at the chalk board. In step one is a series of equations, and in step three is the solution. Step two says, “Then a miracle occurs.” The other scientist says, “I think you should be more explicit here is step two.” The scientist has the realization – which he cannot and never will be able to explain or write down or teach – because it is literally magic – the magic of conscious realization or cognition. It happens beyond the materiality of the physical universe and it is beyond protocols or coaching methods.
It’s one of the reasons I stopped coaching – because I understood I could never teach a state of being. It’s probably what all the great teachers eventually discover sooner or later.
When I published Keys I beta-tested it and in the first couple of years sold dozens of the courses. But I eventually realized that even trying to teach a state of being was impossible! If you read the information on the Keys sales page you can see that back then I was naive just like all the others: I thought I had a foolproof method for success and happiness that would work for everyone. But I was wrong! Teaching anything that involves cognition to a new state of being is, as far as I know, never going to happen. Or maybe I should say, there is no 12-step formula to success or happiness, no program or seminar that works broadly. All you can do is inspire people to figure it out for themselves.
What the self-help guys do is work backwards – a person has a realization (the person usually has no idea how it happened, all they know is that it DID happen) and then they dream up protocols to try and teach someone how to gain what they have gained. But it almost never works! And why don’t these methods work for everyone? Because you are here to discover your own way. That’s the brutal and magnificent truth of life, the universe, and everything.
Every single person who “makes it” does so in an entirely different way, because every incarnated human being is a unique Native State personality. That’s what the great teachers like Tolle understand. If you watch Tolle’s videos you can tell right away that he knows this. He’s not trying to impose something or teach someone HIS way – he’s trying to get the person to understand for himself or herself. Actually he’s trying to teach a new state of being, but he’s doing a lot better job than I ever did. That’s what Jesus the Christ did, that’s what all the masters who have come to this planet know.
Because we are here to find our own way to happiness, personal responsibility and integrity are absolutely imperative! No, not because it’s right, or moral, or ethical – that’s all bullshit. Following a recipe or a formula soon turns into doctrine and then dogma, and then you have “moral imperatives” that piss people off, or even religions. Happiness can only occur when a person takes personal responsibility for his or her life, and understands that what happens to him or her occurs because of what I call the Universal Operating System – the interface of personal, incarnated consciousness with universal consciousness. In the game of life accidents, coincidences, and luck (or unluck) is determined by your state of being. Not by your religion, or the Bible, or the Torah, or the Quran, or any sacred writings or teachings.
I’m not going to try to convince you of this, or dream up a coaching method and sell it to you, because that would take away your power – the power to discover who you are. The power of your own enlightenment resides entirely in your own consciousness, in your personal state of being.
The ancient Egyptians adopted a term called the MerKaBa – the integration of spirit-mind-body, which others have taken further and called your personal lightship. The idea is that each incarnated being is surrounded by subtle energy that interfaces or blends with the universal medium, or the aether, if you will. The aether could be called a subtle quantum field that is responsible, when it is agitated or vibrated, for the manifestations we see in the physical universe. But there is also an energy of life – called chi, or Qui, or Ka, or life force energy – that surrounds every human being. In my novel Beyond the Beginning I tried to describe this MerKaBa and how it could be activated and used to send your consciousness across the universe. But that’s an aside. That’s for when the human race finally gets up to speed and abandons self-limiting and foolish beliefs such as the biological basis for consciousness, or any belief system associated with dumbed-down materialism.
So what to do?
Go ahead and buy those self-help books, listen to the self-help videos, do the courses and seminars, or the coaching programs. Get inspired any way you can! But before you do you should understand about your state of being and recognize what your mentor is trying to do. Please go to the Keys webpage for the Keys course (I don’t want you to buy the course – unless you are fascinated with the idea – I just want you to read the information on the page, because it is beautifully written and expresses what I’m trying to say here. It also shows how naive I was back then, and how I was just as big a self-promoter as everyone else. I still keep the page up because the concept is good, although I haven’t sold any of the courses for a couple of years now).
What I want you to do is to take personal responsibility for your state of being, because it’s your most important possession. Your state of being is what all these books and seminars and courses are trying to change, even if the person running the seminar or writing the book hasn’t got a clue – even if he or she had some breakthrough and is so excited and inspired to teach you how they did it. Your state of being is 100% your responsibility, and your greatest asset. It’s what you play the game of life with.
Your state of being is what determines your success or failure and even what you think IS success or failure. Life responds to your state of being and whether you are lucky or unlucky, happy, or sad. By understanding this you can get much more out of the books and courses you are taking – and life gets easier too!