ITS NO Secret

Mark Patrick Bruno

INTRODUCTION I have been on a journey since I was 18 years old, some 32 years ago. A journey to discover my authentic self and to discover the keys to living a powerful life full of passion, play and money. I knew that it had to be hidden because so few people I observed seemed to be able to function in the mental zone I really believed was my right. I reached an age of awareness in the 1960s. A time of huge trauma and massive change in the United States. I remember listening to my older brother and sister talk about the need to find yourself, let it all hang out and several other hippie sayings I really dont remember anymore. It all sounded good to me. The problem was that I could not get past the feeling that the life these free spirits were living wasnt really very

free at all. Neither was it very authentic. You know how you can just tell when someone really doesnt believe what they are saying, but they feel like they should be believing and so they preach the party line with all their heart? It wasnt only the hippies I got this feeling from. Later in my life I became a very devout born again Christian and saw a lot of the same responses. Of course the words werent the same and the people in my church at least werent into drugs and free sex, but the same pressure to believe existed. I have never been one that follows the crowd very well and needless to say, anyone with an opinion that challenges the status quo is likely to find themselves either strongly censored or isolated all together. If you dont believe me, just stand up at a scientology meeting and announce that you are a psychiatrist.

Tom Cruise is likely to have words for you (ask Brooke Shields). I wrote this book because I have suffered for over thirty years. Suffered the depression and anxiety of not getting it. Suffered the admonishing of many very well meaning people who didnt like hearing questions they had not been briefed on and most definitely did not like questions whose answers put a slash across their highly developed and polished faade. I am going to take on some very sensitive topics in this book and I am sure that I am going to offend a lot of people. So be it. A few of you will read what I have to say and be grateful that someone put it into words for you. I dont like to write long winded books and I dont believe a full answer can ever be given in a book. It takes too much

time to give a complete presentation, so I have tried to make this book brief and to the point. What I hope to give you is a little different perspective on some of our often asked questions and challenge you to think in a different way. I am not saying I am right, for I believe in matters of the spirit there is no right or wrong. What I am saying is that God is a big being. He is incapable of being known or understood. However I do believe we owe it to ourselves to try.

DOES GOD EXIST?

I dont know if you believe in the existence of a supreme being or not. Actually existence is a bad word to use because in order for something to exist it must be able to be defined. No definition, no existence. So technically God does not exist. So let me ask a different way. Have you ever felt the effects of a supreme being in your life. Although I had been raised in a Christian home, christian in this context meaning a place where the name jesus was mentioned and Christmas was observed, I only made a meaningful commitment to the lifestyle of Christianity at 18 years old. What lead me to this commitment was a series of events that were difficult for me to ignore. I come from a Sicilian family. A family that had its roots in a small town of

Siculiana, Sicily. Now Siculiana is a really beautiful town in the very south of Sicily. It is noted for a number of really wonderful things. First is its location overlooking the sea, secondly is an annual festival that involves marching a huge statue of Jesus on the cross down the narrow streets, while the statue miraculously picks out people in the crowd who have an overpowering desire to pin $100 notes to the satin covering of the statue. It really is an interesting thing to see. Jesus can be pretty astute at picking out the people with money in the crowd. The other notable thing about Siculiana is that it has no civil government. No mayer or city council. Apparently there is no need. If you manage to get past the locked gates at the entrance to the city, presumably you understand the rules you need to live by and you understand more

that the consequence for failure to understand is likely to be more painful than a fine of some sort. Needless to say one of my great aspirations as a young man was to somehow acquire the tremendous power and wealth that my fathers friends seemed to have. I mean to tell you that it can be very intoxicating. I can remember as a kid going downtown to a warehouse for school clothes. A knock on the back door opened up a huge world of levi jeans, designer suits and anything else I wanted. Funny thing is I never remember seeing anyone pay for anything. It seemed only a pleasure for the owner of the warehouse to be able to be a blessing to my father and his friends. I can remember when I was sixteen years old I wanted to change the color of the brand new car my father had bought me. It was already a really beautiful blue but I

wanted some sort of fancy fish scale paint that reflected the colors of the rainbow differently every hour of the day. I asked around and found a guy who did paint and owed another guy a favour. I made a deal with the guy owed the favour and sent my car for paint. Of course I had no idea how long it took to paint a car and nor did I really care. All I knew was that after a few days I was still without my car and this was not acceptable. I decided at sixteen that I should have a conversation with the owner of the paint shop. Here I come in all my sixteen year old glory about to have a conversation with a grown man who ran a car repair shop. You would think that this would not be a very even match. I mean I am not a small guy, buy I am Sicilian and we are not really known for our height. Here was this huge guy who worked in a tough industry.

I walked into his shop and began to complain bitterly that this very complex and expensive paint job (which remember he wasnt being paid for) was not complete. Of course he told me off in no uncertain terms. I am positive the word sonny boy was used more than once. What he didnt know was that I had seen the greatest intimidators in the world at work and I knew the game. Look I told him I am not threatening you, but I am warning you. IF this car is not done in 24 hours you will be very sorry. He looked at me very confused. I am certain no one, especially not a scrawny sixteen year old, had ever talked to him like that. I left telling him I would see him at 8 oclock day after tomorrow, and walked out. Thirty minutes later he was visited by some friends of my dad who were interested in the progress of the paint job.

I am not sure what happened to motivate him, but when I arrived at the 8 oclock time the poor guy had not slept in two nights and was absolutely beside himself that the paint may not have turned out how I wanted. Now I tell these stories to illustrate my mind set at the time of my designated meeting with God. A girl who worked for my father named Fran was obsessed with getting me to join her at a prayer meeting held at lunch time every Thursday. Every single time I saw her she would invite me to this meeting. As you can imagine, I was much more interested in converting her to dinner and a romp than being converted by her. None the less she persisted. One Monday I am visiting my father and Fran once again chirps in. This time convinced I will be there on Thursday.

She is so convince she slaps the address in my hand as I walk out the door. What she didnt know was that I had a very important meeting with a trust fund manager who myself and a friend were trying to talk out of a few million dollars. The trust fund meeting happened to be at the same time and day as the prayer meeting. Sorry for you God, I got places to be. I liked cars as a kid and managed to own some 6 or so of them by the time I was 18. Not at the same time, but one after another. On the Wednesday before my big meeting I was driving to meet with my friend to discuss the strategy of how we should approach the trust fund manager. I had written this very convincing proposal and we had really prepared for our meeting. It was raining that day and I was driving my 1 year old 280 ZX to my friends house. As I drive through a big

puddle something goes wrong. The car completely dies. Not being able to start it again I have the car towed to a friend of my father. I call for rescue and make it back to my parents house. That night I inform my father that I have this very important meeting for the next day and need to borrow his Eldorado. In the morning he comes into my room to tell me someone has come to pick him up and he has left his keys in the kitchen. I say goodbye and put on my suit. I needed to leave for my meeting at 9 oclock or I would be late so at just before 9 I start looking for the document that we are going to use to scam the trust fund manager out of his money. It is nowhere to be found. Needless to say I was a bit angry. Yelling and screaming throughout the house I couldnt find it anywhere. No matter, I think to myself, I can talk anyone into anything. I will wing it. Off I go to

find my fathers keys. Another panic. He specifically told me he was leaving them and went to the trouble of getting someone to pick him up. The car was in the driveway for goodness sakes. Where the $&*! were the keys. Time was running out and so was my patience. I grab my mothers keys and make my way out to her car. Certainly there couldnt be a problem here. I mean the car was like a week old. As I stuck the keys in the ignition I heard the horrible sound of a car as it struggles to start with a bad battery. You know the sound. This was all too much for me. I had been stopped at every action. At that moment, it was as if a voice spoke inside my head. Do not fear him who can take your life it said fear him who can take your life and condemn you to hell. I actually started to laugh. I went inside to call my friend to explain I wouldnt be making the meeting. I didnt even bother trying to explain. He

was not impressed. As I hung up the phone, not only did I notice the document I needed sitting next to it, but it began to ring. It was my father explaining he had subconsciously picked up the keys to his car on the way out and he would arrange for them to be delivered. Dont bother I responded I will take moms car I told him. 100 percent certain it would start. And it did. Now the moral of this story is not that Jesus is the way and look how he saved this aspiring hoodlum. The moral of the story is that there is power and there is REAL power. I doubt that any of the Mafioso I so admired would have been able to organise the series of events that went into getting me to that prayer meeting. After that day there was little doubt in my mind that a higher power existed. Whether he was interested in my life or not was constantly in doubt, but as

to the shear existence of what we call God; I will always have that experience to remind me. I started with this story because little of what I say after this will have any context if you dont first understand that as much as I may sound to the contrary, I really do have a deep and abiding belief that there is a supreme being from which all things sprung.

GOD DOESNT LOVE US

I know this statement will shock you and you probably didnt expect to hear it in this book, but I believe it is an absolutely true statement. God does not love us. At least not in the way that you and I may think of love. For background purposes I was always taught that a personal God existed that looked over me and had a very strong personal interest in my future and well being. I relied pretty heavily upon this concept, in fact it was the driving factor in many of the decisions I made for my life. Particularly, the ones that ended up being huge mistakes.

Just for the record I do not blame God for the way I was taught, or what I chose to

believe. It was very comforting and convenient to relieve myself of the burden of living and to place the responsibility upon a much stronger being than myself. Especially, after I had outgrown my first set of gods; mom and dad. The difficulty came much later in life when the empirical evidence of my life did not really add up to the idea of a personal God with a very particular agenda for me and the guns to make it happen for me. I mean the biblical stories of David and Goliath, Solomon and all of the prophets were my stronghold until I realised that the bible only covers the lives of a dozen or so people. A quick search told me that since the dawn of time roughly 106 billion people have lived. The direct intervention of a loving God did not appear to me to be

statistically significant, given the facts at hand. This created a problem for me. I had direct irrefutable evidence of God, but a gap existed between what I believed about him and what I experienced. There had to be something I was missing. I began by going to the source that was always quoted to me when explaining that God love me. The Bible. But not the new testament in this case, which is a rather late addition to the foundational document. I went to the Torah. Now I do not claim to be a biblical expert, nor do I have a doctorate in theology. I can however read (in English, not Hebrew for you purest). I cannot find a single reference to God saying that he loves anyone. At least not in the way I have interpreted it. There are lots of scriptures that are interpreted to represents Gods love for his people etc., but an actual

direct statement from that mouth of God that he loves us; I havent found it. I did however come across a lot of references that seem to indicate that God is love. What, you just said God doesnt love us and now youre saying he does. That is not what I am saying. I am saying that there is a huge difference between the statement God is love and God loves you. The first statement denotes a state of being. Kind of like saying youre alive. That state, being alive, is not qualitative at all. It is certainly different than saying you are living. By saying you are living, you get the impression that you are active and involved in the process of life. To make the statement that God loves you indicates a certain involvement, a certain responsibility, even perhaps certain humanness. God is not human. To be so would me that He is limited. Limited by all kinds of

things; including a specific commitment to every one of the 106 billion people who have passed through this earth. That is what they call in business school a huge agency problem. How does God keep that personal commitment to so many people? The answer is He doesnt. If we look at life like a baseball game it might help us to understand. The game of baseball exists because there are parameters that define it. There are established rule sets, fields on which it is played and players that participate in it. Anytime a group of people get together and execute the actions dictated by the established rules it can be said that baseball is taking place. Of course it says nothing of the quality of play or what will be accomplished. Baseball therefore IS. What you get out of it as an individual player, how well you perform, whether or not you go pro has a

lot to do with how well you evolve in the environment. Baseball is therefore the substrate on which the baseball game is projected. Baseball does not change, however every player is different and every game played is different. By saying God IS love, I am using it much like the example of baseball. Whether or not I experience the love and comfort I desire; whether it inspires me and takes me to higher heights has everything to do with how I apply myself on the field of play. Fields of any kind by definition do not exist. Their effects can be measured, but you cannot really define them. Try and define the medical field for example. You might say it is made up of doctors and nurses and etc., but you will never be able to define it. So it is with God and love. He is love, but he does not love. To love would violate his ability to not be partial

and would eliminate his power to act as a balancing force in the world.

STRIVING VERSUS ACTING The difference between striving and acting is much more than just the degree of effort. Action involves intention, an objective and movement of the agent toward the accomplishment of the objective. Striving involves not only the intensity of the energy exerted; it also involves the perceived effect on the agent of the outcome of the action. This may sound like something really heady and intense but it isnt. In our society millions of people are suffering from depression, anxiety and the effects of stress. In fact stress has had such on economic output that it is often classified as a disease. It is hard to believe that humans today work any harder than our early mankind

ancestors. Can you imagine having to walk a mile to get water and then carry it on your head to get it home. Having to hand grind grain that you have picked by hand and hand mixing it into dough for bread. I read a book once (sorry I dont remember the name) that said that for people 150 years ago to live the same lifestyle as an average American they would have had to have 100 slaves working full time. Hard work cannot be the cause of all this stress and worry. The answer must lie in the way we perceive our life or what our expectation of it is. It would be interesting to know how we would live our lives today if we did have 100 slaves working full time. Would the extra capacity only drive us on to higher and more difficult to accomplish goals?

I added this chapter because I feel it is very much at the center of our spiritual failing. I cannot tell you how many people I know (myself included) who have totally burned out while trying to reach God. I read on average about 10 books a month; most of them dealing with one spiritual revelation or another. Usually after I finish reading one I realize something I hadnt previously realized and I work to incorporate it into my life. When I say work I mean work. Hours of meditation, writing list and noting behaviours. Only recently have I noticed that the years of work really havent done much to improve my life or change my effectiveness in it. I guess you can say I have been striving. Striving is driven by the need to control the process; to prove to myself and the world that I have the power to change

things. Outcomes become very important to the person who is striving. The problem is that outcomes are often very much not in our control and are affected by thousands of little variables that we have no control over. The answer I believe lies in focusing on the process not the outcome. There is a great story told about a great Samurai that was approached by a poor tea maker for help with a Samurai bully. The tea maker had apparently offended the Samurai bully and had been challenged to a sword duel. Honor dictated that the tea maker could not retreat. Having no knowledge of the art of the sword the tea maker approached the great Samurai for help. The great Samurai looked the tea maker over and then asked him to make him

some tea while he considered what help he could offer the tea maker. The Samurai noticed the great care the tea maker took in slowly and mindfully engaged in the ritual process of making the tea. When the tea was finished the Samurai took the tea maker outside and showed him how to hold the sword and to position himself for battle. He then instructed the tea maker to put himself in the same frame of mind he had when making tea as he faced the bully. The next day the tea maker and the bully faced off. Slowly the tea maker raised his sword and positioned himself just as the great Samurai had taught him. He placed himself in the same mindset he had when making the tea and accepted the process that was before him. Seeing the tea maker standing before him with no fear and so aligned to the

process, the bully dropped his sword and apologized to the tea maker. Seeing you like this, I realize I cannot defeat you spoke the bully as he bowed and withdrew. It was not the tea makers great accomplishments or power that had frightened the bully. It was his acceptance and alignment with the process. We strive because it makes us feel powerful and in control. It gives us the illusion of being able to take the credit for what we have accomplished. Ask any billionaire or famous person and you find that they struggle to reconcile the effort the have exerted to get what they have with the immensity of the reward. Not that we dont have to act. We do. I am only saying that the outcome is affected by millions of variables you have no control over, so why stress about it.

Adopt the attitude of the tea maker. Give your best efforts to your chosen role and detach yourself from the outcome.

YOU LIVE IN A DREAM WORLD

I am sure that I am not the first person you have heard say this. There are probably hundreds of books that have been written about the quantum universe and how we create our own reality, etc. etc. To be truthful there is not a lot that I can add to the subject. I can however give a personal experience and share with you my thoughts on the subject. Long ago during a very intense period of religious intensity I used to go into very long sessions of what traditionalist would call praise and worship. Of course modern religious people think that Christians invented it, but of course there are literally thousands of years of recorded history that list individuals who through discipline and complete attention of mind were able to enter into altered

states in which they experience the world in a very different way. The basic principal never changed. Well anyway, one day I was particularly devout and spent quite a bit of time in praise and worship. At some point I could feel a change in my demeanour and I looked up from my position. To my surprise I observed the walls, floor and ceiling of the room I was in had been transformed. In fact they appeared to me to be made of mist. That is to say I could see straight through them. Nothing else was noticeable beyond the room I was in. It was total darkness. To me it looked a lot like a movie set. For those of you, who are not from Los Angeles like me and have not seen a movie set, let me explain. When you see a family sitting in a room in your favourite television series you are convinced that there is a real house that these people are sitting in. The stairs in

the background make you believe there is a top floor and everything. However if you see the set from the perspective of the cameraman you know that there are three walls and a floor that have been set up an lit to look like a room in a house. There isnt even a ceiling because it would interfere with the lighting and sound. That chandelier you see hanging is actually hanging from a rafter 20 feet above the room. This is very much the experience I had. Here I was all alone in this illusion of reality. The experience didnt last very long and after I grounded myself everything returned to normal. But I never forgot it. When I discovered quantum physics and the idea that everything is made of energy and that we are creating the images we see in our mind by interpreting that energy, my experience began to make sense. Our brains utilise trained

filters and established pathways to interpret that energy and present the picture of our life in our minds. For those intellectuals amongst you, your immediate question will be if we are using our brains to interpret energy, what is our brain made out of? Great question. Well the answer is of course energy. More specifically, light energy moving at a specific frequency. There is a whole bunch of theory behind this and I wont boar you with all of it. What is important to understand is that light waves, or any other wave energy for that matter, have different characteristics and different behavioural rule sets depending on the velocity of the wave movement. A light wave moving at a very high rate of movement may not be even visible to the human brain, where as one that is moving much slower may take on the appearance in our brain of a chair.

It becomes much easier to understand if we accept that for anything to have form it must have limits. A chair and a Rolls Royce Phantom are made out the exact same material. They are both composed of atoms. There may be subtle differences in the atomic structure but they are both made up of atoms, which quantum physics tells us are just little packets of energy modulating at a specific frequency. So what makes the difference between a chair and a Rolls Royce (other than the obvious difference in price)? The answer is the way the atoms are configured, or put another way how the limits of the form are set. In computer language we would say that the major difference between one database program and another is the rules set. What does the system interpret that data to mean and how is it processed within the system.

If we view that world we live in as a system of light energy that has been limited in its form and has very specific rule sets to its operation, I think we can begin to see the vapour like walls I described earlier. In my view of the world, there is a limitless field of energy made up of moving waves of energy that get progressively slower as you approach the theoretical center. At that center sits mankind and the powerful brain we have been given to interpret all this outside energy. Does the world exist. The fact that it can be defined means it does. But it is also part of something that cannot be defined and so mankind sits in the center of an infinite being whose energy surrounds us. Whether we accept it or not.

DISCOVERING YOUR PURPOSE

I dont know about you, but the question of what my purpose is in life has dogged me for as long as I can remember. To be truthful I think a lot of it has to do with my brain style and how I was hard wired as a kid. Some of us feel a tremendous need for context and are looking to figure out what our role is in this big play we call life. Others dont really care. If this concept interests you there are loads of books, test and even philosophies that can help you. I myself have a very close friend who is an astrologer that often helps me to put things into context within the framework of my personality. The main point I want to get across here is that the beginning point of your search should be whether or not the search is valid or not. What I mean is this; is your

need to understand your purpose driven by some God prompt that is waiting to awaken you to greatness, like king David in the Bible, or is it driven by some sort of personality or brain preference that needs to be accommodated. This is very important to understand. Religion has taught many of us that God has a WILL for us. We interpret this as a specific mission like a prophet of old and we end up spending our whole life trying to find it. I have fallen victim to this foolishness and have lost out on tens of opportunities that could have made my life much better. Dont get me wrong, its not that I dont believe that men like Ghandi had a special call on their life. I think he did. I just think that Ghandi was one of 700 million or so Indians alive at the time. If everyone of them had a special plan for their life than the playing field would have

become very crowded. I mean think of it logically. Some people believe that Moses lead as many a 3 million people out of Egypt. What if everyone of them had the same sense of authority as Moses. I think they probably would have all died in the desert. It is not my intent to discourage anyone. I just think it is important to notice that there are other reasons for feeling this deep down need to know your purpose in life than a SPECIAL calling from God. Purpose has a value in itself and is the foundation for satisfaction and happiness. But it doesnt have to be earth changing or based upon the heavens breaking open or anything. I do not believe that it is a sin to want or even strive to be equal with God. I believe that is exactly Gods purpose in your life. Where the problem comes in is when we strive to be SEPARATE BUT

EQUAL. When being equal with God by being a part of God is not enough, we need to consider our motives. Remember the Gnostic saying, Blessed is the Lion that becomes a man because he is consumed by man. This is a very deep saying. Every time you eat something it becomes you. Think about it. The steak you ate last night was once a cow that is now so intertwined with you as to have become you. You could say the cow became man. So is it so outrageous to believe that man, by whatever means, can become so intertwined with God so as to become God? Equal but not separate. In fact I believe this to be the lost message of Jesus. If you want to follow me you have to become so much like the Father that you lose your own identity. So much so that someone observing from the outside would not be able to tell the difference. Choose God and lose your

own personal identity. Oh well I am pretty sure that 99% of Christian pastors just put the book down. Lose my identity! Are you crazy?! I have spent millions differentiating myself. Why on earth would I want to lose my identity? EXACTLY. That is why so few are converted. Back to the idea of finding your purpose. If we can agree that having a purpose is necessary to happiness and that the purpose does not need to be so special as to separate me from everyone else and bestow power, prestige and a book of the bible dedicated to my efforts, then I think we can make some positive steps. Ask yourself a few really simple questions: 1. What makes you happy? 2. What do you do really well?

3. What would you do with all the money you expect to make from finding your purpose? 4. What do other people always seem to ask you to do? 5. Who did you pretend to be when you were a kid? Have you asked yourself those five questions? Were you able to answer them? Then you have found your purpose. That simple. Before you throw the book in the fire, lets talk about what I am saying. Those five questions are all you really need to figure out what is going to give you a sense of wholeness. This is all you are after. Unless you are one in a billion who was picked out especially to change the world, your purpose is simple. Find the methodology necessary in your life to restore balance. The balance that was

lost when a spiritual being became bound by the limitations of a physical world. For me this came down to writing a few really simple statements that all started with I WANT. I want to be rich. I want to have lots of sex. I want to have a Ferrari. I want to change the world with my words. When I went through this exercise I listened very closely to my inner feelings. Which part of me felt warm and excited by the prospect? Some of them appealed to my poor self image and made it feel better. Some appealed to my fear of not having control of my environment and so I felt better in that area. Only one of

them really filled my whole being with a warm sense. Can you guess which one? I wish I could say it was the having lots of sex one. It wasnt. I also noticed that the statement aligned to most of the other questions. People always ask me to write things for them, or to speak at events; even when I was little. It was where I felt most in control and most comfortable. However a problem still existed. When I made this discovery I was well into manhood, had children to support and had not created a character named Harry Potter. There was a need to develop a plan. A way to transition from where I was to where I was going. In my book Confessions of A Serial Entrepreneur I call it building a credible bridge, and I want to talk about it here again. For those of you who read the other book forgive me. I had the opportunity once to watch an Australian motivational speaker

that was visiting my home town at the time. There wasnt much he said that was different, but he did open my eyes to a universal truth. At some point in the evening he calls a young man on stage and ask him to tell him his goals for his life. As the young man spoke his goals the speaker put them onto a projector that had two sections. On the right he wrote the goals. They went something like this. To make $250 000 year To own a 100 foot yacht To own a black Merecedes 500 To his credit the young man had read some of the goal setting books and was very specific. What color the yacht would be, how long it would take him to get it, etc. After he had finished the speaker then asked the young man to tell him where he

stood in his life now. He wrote that on the left hand side. I am 23 years old I left school at 15 I have no special skills I do not like to work. After he had written the current status on the left the speaker asked the young man to build a credible bridge from where he was to where he wanted to go. Needless to say he couldnt. The point of the exercise was not to embarrass anyone, but to give a great lesson in one of the key laws of life. Once you have discovered your purpose, you still have to build a credible bridge to its implementation. This I believe is where many people fail. I had the fantastic experience of once

owning 36 Gyms. We had a sales force that approached 500. We taught every one of those sales people how to create an image in the mind of the person they were selling to. The image of what they would look like at their ideal weight and fitness level. Our people were brilliant at it. Once that client could see in their head how attractive they would be, how good they would feel, they would sign the contract. The problem for us came on their drive home. Suddenly it would become apparent to them that to get from where they were, to their ideal , they would have to work. They couldnt hire someone to run on the treadmill for them. They actually had to do it themselves. Less than 15% of them ever returned to pick up their membership card. What they wanted and what they had to do to get it were two totally different

things. Isnt this a lot like most of us. We struggle to understand our purpose when it is right in front of us. The problem is, it just doesnt look like what we thought. It also includes work which we didnt count on. Deep down inside everyone of us is a part of us that is screaming why cant I just have the money or why do I have to actually leave Egypt. It is natural and to be honest I dont have an issue with that. If we get to the point where we can honestly say I dont care what my purpose is, then maybe we just found the real secret. The secret being that happiness isnt having what you want, its wanting what you have. Just one final word of advice; dont make the mistake of thinking that your true purpose in life has to be the way you make money and feed your family. I really want to say that again. The way you make money DOES NOT have to the same

thing as your purpose in life. The apostle Paul believed he had a purpose, to bring Gentile unbelievers to a belief in Christ, however it is not what he did for a living. In fact he tells us that he continued to make tents specifically because he did not want his need to make money to get in the way of his purpose. This is a very important thing to remember. If my observation of people is correct, it appears to me that most individuals have an expectation that God must be responsible for providing everything necessary for them to fulfil their purpose. So in the end, who is really fulfilling the purpose; you or God. Doesnt it seem a little self centred that mankind should want all of the rewards of the purpose of their life, but not want to have the responsibility for making it happen.

FAITH Nothing in the world is as important as faith. Faith is the foundation of most religions and in fact is the foundational concept in almost every belief system. However faith does not mean the same thing to everyone. Faith is one of those words that has caused me a lot of confusion over the years. I have tried with all my heart, mind and soul to hold the faith and have lost it. I have worked with all my might to maintain a posture of faith in certain circumstances and have had my heart rent in two when my faith failed. I learned to curse the idea of faith, only to return again to the name it and claim it crowd. Christians by the way are not the only people to be obsessed with name it and claim it. Many new age gurus preach

exactly the same thing. It may have a different name like the law of intention or the law of attraction or whatever, but the bottom line is, it is very much a name it and claim it concept. So what is faith, how is it derived and how do we use it? To begin I think it wise to examine the word itself. Our English word faith derives from the latin fides, the root of which is fidere. A common understanding of latin would render the concept of reliance, trust or conviction. To a Roman or Greek, to have faith would be to trust that a person or thing would act in a certain way. This faith being based upon the nature of the thing we have faith in and the benefit of past experience. In Hebrew the word faith is emunah and has the connotation of an active support of someone or something in their

activities. An ancient Hebrew may say I have faith in God but she would think I will do what I can to be in support of Gods actions. With this as a foundation, it is interesting to note the modern concept of faith. Every Christian and many non-Christians have heard Pauls definition out of Hebrews; Faith is the essence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This modern concept of faith seems to deal almost exclusively with the creating of something out of nothing by way of a certain mental attitude, presumably toward God. Doesnt the bible also say that without faith it is impossible to please God and if you have faith like a mustard seed you can say to the mountain be moved and it will be.

So in the modern view, if I can muster up enough faith or will power, I can somehow tap into the supernatural power of God and create whatever it is I think I need. A new car, a house, more money, maybe even a parking space during the Christmas rush. No need for action, just faith. That is a pretty power tool to have. I certainly want more of it and I imagine you do too. The problem is that none of this modern day concept stands up to the test of the original meaning. Nor does it align itself with the bible. Think about it, what do the Hebrew and Greek words for faith say about faith. Well, first of all, it implies that faith is active on our part. Faith is an active alignment of our actions with those things we believe God is going to do. We believe

it because of past experience and our limited knowledge of Gods nature. Secondly faith is an activation of that part of your nature that is already aligned to God. Take for example the parable of the mustard seed. If you have faith like a mustard seed. What do you think the mustard seed believes itself to be? Do you think the mustard seed lays around every day frustrated that it is not an acorn or some other seed? How much energy do you think the mustard seed needs to exert to have the characteristics of a mustard seed? NONE. That is the point. Faith is about alignment. Alignment not only with what you know about God, but what you know about yourself. If you are trying to have faith to be something that is completely against your nature you will fail. Why? Because the definition of faith

tells us that it is about alignment, it is about living yours and Gods true nature. You know the great thing about having faith like a mustard seed? The mustard seed has no illusions; it is 100% who it is, where it is. A bird can eat that seed, fly 1000 miles, drop it out its backside and plant that seed. Provided conditions are aligned to the nature of the seed it will grow into a mustard plant and fulfil its purpose perfectly. So why all the frustration, beating of breast and anxiety over faith and the manifestation of its power? The answer lies in the vanity of man and that constant return of man to the sin of sins. We do not just seek equality with God (which I have already said is a good thing); we seek to be separate and equal. We seek to create, but not in a constructive way. We want to build, but we must maintain control over what we built. In other

words we do not act in alignment with God or ourselves. If we want to see the power of faith in action, it is not that difficult. But I didnt say it was easy. First and foremost faith has to be directed toward something. You cannot have faith, if the faith does not relate to something. That faith can be in the nature of God or yourself or even the wooden idle in your bedroom. It doesnt really matter. To manifest faith, you must direct it. Secondly, faith requires that we have an intimate understanding of the nature of the situation we want to effect. It requires that there is no conflict between my faith and the faith of others. I heard on TV once that an internationally known pastor had roused his television audience to stave off a storm that was

moving into the area that he lived and broadcasted from. Of course he was concerned not only for his very expensive roof and equipment, he was also concerned for others living in the area. Night and day good people applied their faith to turn that storm. Apparently it worked. I understand the storm burned out at sea. Of course what this powerful man of faith didnt know (and of course didnt really care about) was the thousands of little congregations further inland that had been praying for the rain they needed for their crops to grow. Now you tell me, with all this faith going around who should God have listened to. Being a cynic, I am sure that many out there would say that the gospel is much better served by keeping the glorious pastor on the air. Bulldust I say. God is not partial, nor can he take sides. He

doesnt care who wins or loses, he cares how the game is played. Using your faith to get what you want is witchcraft, I dont care what you call it. So decide, either stop cursing the witches or start to align yourself. Just a note, most witches I know are extremely careful not to exert their own will at the expense of others. Religious people have a thing or two to learn. Thirdly, faith requires a very clear view of what it is you want to achieve. When God creates, He knows what the end state He is going to create looks like. He has clear forms and rule sets that define the creation. We must do the same. If we try to use faith to create something that we cant fully imagine, we will fail. Try and build a house without a blueprint or form a sculpture without a clear vision of the end result. This is faith without design.

The final aspect of faith is action. If you are anything like me you hate that word. Action in my mind equates to work and work is not fun. But action does not have to be hard work. It just has to be consistent. If I am truly applying my faith, then my thoughts, routines and actions will align with what I am trying to achieve. It will reflect in how I do things and why. Take for example the writing of a book. To write a book takes faith. Faith that you have something to say, as well as faith that you have the language and typing skills necessary to complete it. However the book does not write itself. You must actually dedicate time to writing and you must keep in your mind at all times an awareness of the activity you have undertaken. Most of all you must be committed to putting words on screen. If you dont do those things, a book will never be written.

So let me try and summarize. Faith is an active alignment of yourself and your actions with something you believe meaningful and that is also in alignment with the nature and purpose of God and yourself in this world. Not so hard is it. Next time you find yourself struggling with faith, go into the garden and ask yourself, how much faith did it take for the grass to grow. That is exactly how much faith it should take you to achieve your desires. Align yourself to God and put your efforts toward assisting Him in His endeavours and you will have found faith.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GIVING AND SHARING

I know I seem to give Christians a bad rap in this book. Perhaps its because they deserve it or perhaps it is just because I have more experience with them. In any case, for those Christians still reading the book, dont take it personal. All religious people have a lot to answer for; its just that Christians have turned hypocrisy, self righteousness and injustice into an art form. One of the many areas I have experienced pain amongst the brethren relates to the area of giving. Now most churches will readily refer to Nehemiah chapter 10 as the definitive command of God for the believer to tithe. I have heard this and many other references quoted so many times I could

just puke. I have also sat through many impassioned speeches that the tithe must be paid gross income and not on after tax income or with allowance for any other set offs that the church goer may feel entitled to. God apparently did accounting as a major and has worked out the conflicts that may exist by supernaturally affecting the tax code. The really interesting thing to me is that tithing is an Old Testament concept. For a Jew the concept of tithing is a legitimate one, founded in several of the 613 laws found in the Torah. I say several because unknown to most Christians the law dictates not one tithe (meaning ten percent), but three. So if we are really going to be accurate here we should be collecting three tithes. We should also be applying them toward the legal recipient as defined in the law, which means all Christians should be seeking out Jews

with the last name of Cohen (the priesthood) and giving them a portion of our money. We should also be contributing heavily to the temple building fund or else we are in violation of the law. What is that you say? That Jesus came to fulfil the law and we are therefore no longer bound to it. Of course you mean we are no longer bound to 612 of them. Certainly the blood of Christ did not release us from the law covering tithing; did it? I think that point is made. The effort that pastors go through to enforce a law that is, by their own words, no longer in effect is amazing. But that is not really what I wanted to talk about. I am just pissed off and thought I should mention it.

What I really wanted to talk about is how easy it is to give and how difficult it is to share. The difference may not be easy to see. If someone comes to me and ask for money or food and I have plenty, I may out of my surplus give to that person. That is a good thing. If that same person comes to me and I give out of my lack, in other words I dont hold back even though I may suffer a little, that is even better. But neither one of these is sharing. We took something we had and we had a little less of it. No long term or permanent effect on our person. However if I share, I give up something long term. Let me give you an example. Many powerful Christians I know make a point of having trust that they put money into so they can give to the poor in an efficient way. This is very good. However ask them to share of themselves or to give

credit to another person for some of their accomplishments and you will see a different side of them. You see sharing is very difficult. Giving is pretty easy. I have watched this in action many times. An individual will horde contacts, knowledge, understanding and insight because it gives them power. They use that power to acquire money. The money is the end result of the core of the value they really hold. If I ask them for money, they may give it. But if I ask them to share the source of their money I am likely to get a backhand. So let me ask you. If God commands us to tithe, what is He demanding of us? Does he demand that we give up a portion of the crop or the crop itself? Does God expect us to give or to share? I know what I think. I wonder how far the pastor would get if he asked the rich in his congregation to find a deserving person

and give him or her ten percent of their talent or capacity to make money. I think you might see a lot of empty churches.

ALL THINGS ARE LAWFUL

If asked to summarize the entire New Testament in one sentence, most people say love your neighbour as yourself. It may be a great ideal but it is wholly unrealistic. I dont even like most of my neighbours let alone love them. The one sentence I would use would be; All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. This pretty much sums it all up for me. If the message of the cross is true then the blood of Christ covered all sin; past, present and future. No matter what I do neither God, nor my pastor, nor the judgemental underachiever in row 7 can judge me. PERIOD.

Of course some of you will say, PROVIDED YOU HAVE TRULY REPENTED. That is not what it says. It says if I confess with my mouth and believe with my heart.. There are no added conditions or codicils. Repented or not the blood has done the job, or so the theory goes. However, and this is a big however, it doesnt mean that I am free from the law of cause and effect and that I will not pay for my mistakes. It means that from a cosmic level, a God level, my sin is unimportant and not measured. If I jump from a four story building the blood of Christ is not going to suspend the law of gravity. Anymore than it will stop the husband of the woman I am stooping from kicking the tar out of me. God may not judge me; and you have no right to, but her husband sure can.

I find this thought very comforting. All things are lawful; in other words there is nothing that I can do in this world that can possibly alienate me from a God whose nature is love. Not all things are profitable. This is the best concept in the world. The reason I believe this is because humans are so hard wired to understand the concept of self enrichment. Every person I have ever met naturally responds to the concept that doing things that are not in your own interest should be avoided. They dont need to be religious to get this. The problem comes in determining what will be profitable for me and what wont. That little difference means all the difference in the world. As long as I believe that an action is profitable I will continue to do it. The minute I believe it no longer profitable, I stop.

For thousands of years religions have been trying to control society by convincing them that certain actions are profitable and certain actions arent. Evolution has a lot to do with this. Many of our customs of today are based upon evolutionary developments in society (Just for the record, you dont have to believe men came from monkeys to believe in evolution. Todays Ford Trucks are evolutions of the Model T in some way); the custom of monogamy and marriage for example. There was a time when women outnumbered men and the species needed growth. Thus, polygamy was acceptable. At a later date the issue of marriage revolved around the evolution of personal property rights. We seem to forget that many of the moral objects that consume us today were not really issues 5000 years ago. Has God changed or are those particular behaviours just no longer profitable.

We live in a highly dynamic society where issues of expedience and profitability are changing all the time. Dont you think its about time for us to drop the false image of MORAL PROTECTOR and begin to understand that what we really are grappling with are issues of profitability; for ourselves and our communities. If we can learn to do that, then I think we have made a very strong step in the right direction. God does not change, but morality does. We cannot expect that things will always stay the same. We must also understand that change does not take place in an instant. As someone once said to me, white fades to black in shades of grey. Be careful what you judge as unacceptable today for it may become the standard of tomorrow. I want to leave on this note. It always amazed me how people will curse others

with statements like slut, fornicator or devil worshiper. Yet these same people forget that Jesus was called all of these things. Could it be that perhaps they just dont understand the law of God? Is it possible that God is more concerned with how the overall game turns out , as opposed to how each motion is executed? If that is too subtle for you, let me say it more plainly. God is far beyond our ability to envision him. His understanding is far deeper than ours can ever hope to be. How foolish do we have to be to think that we can determine what is and is not acceptable in the mind of God. The Taoist tell a great story. A church and a whore house face each other across a busy street. Every day the priest of the church looks across the street and noticing the whore coming out to greet and say goodbye to her customers beats his chest and calls to God for justice to be

done for the sin being committed so close to him. Every day the whore looks across the street and notices the priest going about his business. After many years the priest and the whore die. They both appear at the seat of judgement at the same time. Looking over their lives, God tells the priest he has not measured up and must leave. He likewise tells the whore to enter into eternal bliss. Obviously the priest is really put out. God he says every day I observed her sin and begged that justice be done. How can you judge me when I was always on your side. God responded to the priest. You were born into a world of leisure and ease. You did not need to work or to feed yourself; and how did you choose to fill your mind. With thoughts of her sin. She on the other hand was born the daughter of a whore and knew little else. She could not free herself from the

prison she was in. But even when on her back and filling her body with sin, her mind was on your church and the God who was thought to dwell there. I hope this story touches you and makes the point I am trying to make. Morality is not a fixed thing. The very fact that circumstances determine what is and is not acceptable tells me that morals are not something fixed in the mind of a God that does not change. Why then are we so dedicated to trying to enforce laws that could not have ever come from God. Perhaps it is time to grow up and realise that all things are lawful but not all things are profitable.

THE TOOLS OF RELIGION

Like it or not religion is a business. A very large and for the most part tax free business. Churches, like any other group, need to differentiate themselves from the others that are competing in the same space. If they do not, then they will not attract members and without members they will not have the money to survive. Since survival is the primary goal of any organisation, churches have had to develop very sophisticated methods of not only attracting members, but also retaining them. Political parties also have a similar problem and unlike most churches have had the resources to invest heavily in understanding the mechanisms of the

human mind that allow them to attract and maintain members. I was blessed to have an uncle who was an OSS officer in World War II and who was part of the body of people who were the foundation of the Central Intelligence Agency. Through him and due to other circumstances in my life I had opportunity to meet and get to know many covert operatives from around the world. Perhaps it was just my destiny that I should attract these people into my life, but I certainly seem to have attracted them. I have always been interested in the training that operatives seem to have had in human nature and the way they seem so able to influence, even manipulate responses from individuals and groups. I figured there had to be a science around this and wanted very much to learn it.

In my research I came across a number of works dedicated to the science of mind manipulation and the pacifying of society. Not all of the works say the same thing but there are some common threads I hope to share with you. I also hope to show how religion has become a tool for the powerful throughout history. How it is used to pacify society (a positive thing) and to control it (not necessarily a positive thing). None of these activities are new and in fact most have their foundations in some pretty ancient philosophies. Now , before we get to the heart of it please let me state that I am not a psychologist nor do I qualify in any way as an expert in sciences of the mind or mind

manipulation. I am merely an observer of behaviour and someone whose gifts do include the ability to pay attention. I can however read and have done so with a certain veracity. The things I hope to point out are not original concepts but published ones that I have come across and have tried to apply in my observations of how religions work. It is also important for me to note that I am not anti religion nor do I believe that the tactics used by them are necessarily evil in intent or used in a disreputable way. They are however used and I think that it is important for all of us to be able to recognize the ways that we are being programmed so we can choose to accept or reject the programming given. The modern concept of this programming goes under the name of propaganda. A word that due to Nazi Germany has taken

on sinister connotation. It did not however begin with the Nazis. Propaganda has existed for millennium. You need only look at the walls of ancient artefacts from Egypt to see it in operation. Certainly the accounts of Ramses II battles with the Hittites are expressed in a way the Egyptian leader wanted them to be. They are there to illicit admiration and support from the populace. They are not there to give an accurate account and to let the people decide. Propaganda in the modern world was highly influenced by a nephew of Sigmund Freud with the publication of his 1928 book entitled Propaganda. He begins the book as follows: The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and

opinion of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of the country. We are governed, our minds are moulded, our taste formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. Pretty interesting beginning dont you think? It is not too difficult to see why political parties and religions so naturally adopt the concepts of propaganda and mind manipulation. Most religions are certainly reliant upon influencing us with the words and dictates of men we have

never seen. Even if we have heard of them. Certainly most religions and political groups meet the criteria of having to keep harmony and coherence amongst vast numbers of human beings. They also need to convince the vast numbers that what they are involved with has relevance and that it is important to the individual that they stay involved. To do this the religion or political group needs to take a generational view and slowly change the neurological programming of its members. It is much easier for the religion to keep the second generation in line then the first one. It is also important that the religion or political group build context for new and existing members.

By context I mean that they need to build a belief system that its members can define and that will not easily be given up. In politics this is done with history and slogans. In religion this is accomplished through stories and examples of supernatural activities of the founders. Of course all of this, needs to align with the natural desires and needs of the people or it will not last. It is interesting to note that I once read a report that was supposed to have been compiled by the CIA on the effects of torture on the subject ( this fact was never verified and the validity of the report must therefore not be accepted at face value) . The test involved the accounts of a number of experiments undertaken on individuals with the intention of changing their basic

neurological patterning. In other words they wanted to discover if you could change the core values of a person by way of torture. The conclusion of the report was interesting. Although the conditioning sought may be able to be taught to the individual, it did not become a permanent component of their thinking. In other words the effect would wear out with time and distance from the threat of further torture. I found this very interesting. For a society like a church or political party to continue to have influence, it must continue to apply the actions of propaganda or they will lose their member. Unless of course they get you early enough to make the behaviour part of your long term patterning. I suppose this explains why I was always taught that I should raise up

my children in the way they should go. The fact that the way they should go was predetermined by my church leaders was merely coincidental. This concept was reinforced by studies undertaken by Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton. Although they were not dealing with the effects of torture they have done a lot of work mapping the development of the brain and the long term processing of information that results in behaviour in human beings. In their book Now Discover Your Strengths the authors inform us that from day 42 of your development in the womb to the age of three years old an average person has developed one hundred billion neurons and each neuron has formed fifteen thousand synaptic connections. That represents a lot of behavioural connections. Interestingly,

they also indicate that by the age of sixteen you have lost half of those connections. Those that remain are the permanent footprint that determines how you will perceive and process information. In other words how you are likely to act in given situations. Given this is the case, it is easy to see that the master propagandist will need to get you early and keep you until the age of sixteen to create an almost unbreakable pattern. What age do we leave school again? If the propagandist is unable to have had this early life influence, they will be forced to rely upon tried and true methods of mind manipulation to shape your behaviour and keep you where they want you. At this point it is necessary for me to rely upon the works of someone much more

knowledgeable then me to make my point. I turn to the volume of works produced by Dr. Haha Lung. Specifically to his book Mind Control. In the book Mind Control Dr. Lung gives an abridged summary of the major methods of mind control that have been used over the centuries. He calls them the killer Bs. For those of you who are really interested in learning from an expert I suggest you purchase all of Dr. Lungs books and read them carefully. What I will attempt to do is take each of the six Bs he defines and give you my version of how they are used. Please note that I am using Dr. Lungs headings and some of his theory but you are not to interpret everything written here to have originated with him.

BLIND In this mind control methodology it is necessary to blind the target with emotions and make him doubt his own belief system. In Dr. Lungs version you befuddle the target to the point where they have nowhere else to turn but to the clarity you are placing before them. Most of us have encountered this in both religion and politics. Some really smart and articulate person creates such a smoke screen of information that you start to adopt their line of thought just to keep from losing orientation. Once on the path put before you it is unlikely that you will change direction unless something moves you. The use of emotion is a very well tried and proven method of placing you in a receptive frame of mind. Black magick is

based on the same principal. Create an environment that overwhelms the subject, direct them to worship or chant themselves into a stupor and then implant the message. The idea being that the conscious mind which acts as a filter is so worn out that it allows the message to go directly to the subconscious. Once in the subconscious you will begin to automatically reinforce the information that has been planted with your behaviour. As evidence have you ever noticed how people from a specific religion or political belief tend to see everything through the filter of the belief system they have been given. BRIBERY AND BLACKMAIL Bribery can take many forms. Every human being has within them a set of desires that drives them. It is these very desires that are the reason people get

involved with a religion or political party in the first place. When I was a young man and heavily involved in the church my desires revolved around acceptance, feeling part of something bigger than myself and the need to feel forgiven. The church offered me these things as payment for my continued loyalty and my considerable tithe (I made a lot of money as a young man). As long as I met the standard of the ruling board I was given access to these. Some religions have even more to offer. Without mentioning names, I have noticed that, access to capital or certain industries can be aided by certain religious affiliations. There are any number of perks that can be offered to the upstanding member of a particular religion or political group. Of course these are not given freely and the exchange required is often very subtle, but an exchange it is.

The other side of the coin is often even more subtle. Blackmail is often thought of as payment in exchange for keeping something quiet. But it doesnt have to be. Blackmail could mean that you risk losing your place in your existing social network, or the continued support of your boss. It could also mean that keeping your wife and children may be at risk should you not do as you are expected to. This type of emotional blackmail is absolutely rife in the world of religion. I remember being told as a young man that the car I drove was a little too expensive for someone of my age and that the fact that I liked expensive suits was causing some of the younger women to have improper thoughts. I should adjust my behaviour in order to please God and keep the sisters from falling into sin. A pretty heavy thing to lay on someone in their twenties, the eternal damnation of someone was riding on the kind of car I

drove and the clothes I wore. I dont imagine that the idea of spending my money the way I wanted had ever entered the Pastors mind. The point here is that once we buy into a set of rules and completely commit to a specific group we give the leaders of that group a lot of leverage to use in the adjustment of our attitudes and lifestyle. BLOODTIES In Dr. Lungs book he describes this method as that which the mafia uses as an initiation requirement. Make the member do something so heinous that they would sooner subjugate themselves to the leadership of the group then allow this information to get out. There is an example of this that has been in the news recently. There is a group (I am not sure if they consider themselves a religion or

not) that utilizes a system of behaviour modification that involves asking the member to disclose secret information about themselves so that the ill effects of that behaviour can be audited out. The information given in these sessions is recorded for posterity and kept within the archives of the group. Recently high profile members have been complaining in the press that the leaders of the organisation have made direct and indirect threats that this information might make its way into the public domain should the member leave the group or disclose information the group finds damaging. Although this is not a common technique of mainline churches, the idea remains the same. Should you not be with us then you are against us and all is far in politics and religion.

Consider the garbage that Sarah Palin has gone through recently. Like her or not, it is not very difficult to see that she has incurred the wrath of insiders and is being made to pay for it. I would like to add one more this to this technique. It is common for religious or political groups to strongly suggest that close members of your family and friends join the group themselves. Of course the reasoning is that since you have found the truth you must certainly want those closest to you to enjoy the benefits. Of course there is also a benefit to the group. Aside from the additional clout that numbers give them and the money that comes with it, they also obtain a wealth of information about you that can and will be used against you. BRAINWASHING

Brainwashing is used by every institution known to mankind. First break the person down so that their personal identity is weakened and then offer them an alternative. Of course this alternative personality must be reinforced as we discussed or else it wont last. The truth is that it rarely last anyway. Most people reading this book, if they were able to be totally honest, would admit that they have experienced the complete change of personality in individuals that have undergone a religious conversion. I dont mean this in a good way. The once tolerant, happy go lucky person, becomes consumed with making sure that everything and everyone around them complies to the standards set by their particular religious affiliation. The fact that they isolate themselves from, and become aggressive towards,

people who are not part of their group are classic signs of brainwashing. They are just as much under the influence of their religious leader, as a prisoner of war is under his interrogator. The methods are just a lot more subtle. I wonder how much church attendance and tithing would have to drop for the religious leadership to revert to waterboarding? BULLIES Bullies do not have to threaten you physically to make you feel beaten. Since as Dr. Lung says majority makes reality, all it takes is for someone to make you feel unaccepted and unaligned for you to feel the pain. Want to know what I am talking about, just walk into a Pentecostal church

wearing a Marilyn Manson T shirt. Half of the crowd will begin muttering in tongues under their breath and the other half will become visibly aggressive. Churches and buffalo herds in Africa have a lot in common. There is always some old female who looks out over the group and has pre-established signal that danger is present. Once the danger is identified, the animals lower their horns in unison and stand together against the invader. God have mercy on anyone entering their territory that is not willing to submit to the herd. You will most surely be trampled. By the way, this bullying does not confine itself to the church hall. If you are deemed to be found unacceptable, you better hope you dont meet one of the herd on the other side of a business deal or at a job interview. Before you say boo

your reputation will be ruined and all hope you had of being able to be judged on your actions and your merit will be lost. BURY Can you say Jim Jones. I do not need to go into a lot of detail here. The ultimate form of control is to destroy the life of the one you find unacceptable. This could be literally or figuratively. I was involved once as an investor and shareholder in a company that was under development. I had risked three years of my life (with no salary) and most of the cash I had on this venture. All of the major shareholders were Christians. At some point in time one of the shareholders whose father happened to be a pastor was told of some behaviour I had which he felt disqualified me as a

Christian. I still to this day do not know exactly what it was, but it must have been really bad. Overnight letters were sent and meetings set with other shareholders to demand that I be forced to resign my position, forfeit my shares and leave the venture. The letters indicated that his belief was that my presence cursed the venture because I could not be a true believer and we were all unequally yoked. There was a concerted effort to defame me in any way possible. I do not need to tell you that facing utter financial destruction because I was not deemed worthy felt like someone trying to kill me. I suffered, my wife suffered, my children suffered. In the end the other shareholders could not find evidence of my apparent deal with the devil and refused to act. Not long after I resigned on my own accord.

Who would want to do business with such idiotic people. The point of this, is that in most religious environments, the members of the group would rather see you dead and burning in hell then not support their position. The penalty for non compliance is death. Of course there are many other tools utilised by religious and political groups to enforce the group think propaganda machine. To try and cover all of them here would take another book. All I am asking is for the reader with an open and honest mind to ask themselves; have I myself had these techniques used against me, have I used them against someone else, have I seem them used by the group I am part of. If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then the bad news is that you have been involved

in the same techniques used by CIA operatives and black magicians to manipulate the mind and you yourself may be a victim yourself. SO WHAT

Believe it or not when I started this book I was hoping to write something uplifting that helped expose some of the difficulties that exist in modern religion. Not for the purpose of attacking just for the sake of attacking, but with the thought in mind that if I can help anyone to free their mind there would be one more person in the fight; kind of like Morpheus in the Matrix. As I look back across the pages I realize that I may come across as a bitter. I suppose in truth I am. But not towards God. I myself, and countless others I

know of, have been treated rather roughly at the hands of supposedly loving and demur religious people. The religions of the world are unfortunately populated with people. It is they who take up the mantle of their founders and try to carry forward the message. Most fail miserably. It is not fair to judge God by these people. Nor is it fair to judge all people in a religion by the fact that a majority of the others dont have a clue what they believe or what the founder of their religion believed. One thing I do know for sure is that God does not dwell in buildings. That the nature of God is love and that anyplace or anyone who manifest that quality is in alignment with God. No matter what rules they live by. I would sooner follow an individual that exhibits love and

worships frogs than one who claims to know God and cant even spell love, let alone live it. The God of the universe is beyond our puny minds to comprehend and his/her ways are far deeper than our capacity to understand Him. If we hope to make it into the new world that is promised by virtually every religion, surely we will need to understand the foundational concept of love. Love is action and the ability to consistently act according to its precepts. That is all it is. No great amount of faith or knowledge will teach us love and if we cannot become love we cannot become God. I heard this story long ago that I hope will summarize for you what I have been trying to say.

A group of missionaries were working with the natives of a conquered territory. For years the missionaries taught the natives that it was sinful to live they way they did and that they if they ever wanted to experience Gods power the natives had to learn the pray the way the missionaries did. After some time one of the tribesmen told the missionaries about a holy man that lived on a nearby island. The holy man practiced the traditional religion and had not ever been exposed to the missionaries God or His way of living. Rising to the challenge the missionaries set off to convert this man. After a trip across the short strip of ocean the missionaries landed and set off to find the man. A little while later they came across a strange man dressed in almost nothing. The man was involved in a strange ritual that involved thanking his

unnamed god for all the abundance of his island. The missionaries quickly clothed him and insisted (at the end of a gun no doubt) that he learn the Lords prayer. After many hours the native appeared to have learned the prayer and the missionaries decided to depart. Since it had grown dark the missionaries decided to sleep in their ship at anchor before departing the next morning. Later that night as the missionaries were on deck they noticed a light approaching from the shore. As it grew closer they could make out the outline of a man. The figure was walking on the water toward them. It was a miracle. Surely Jesus was approaching to thank them for their efforts. Frightened but bolstered by their pride in what they had accomplished the men watched intently.

When the figure was just a few feet away they noticed that it was not Jesus at all but the native from the island. He had walked out to them on the surface of the water. Suddenly he stopped, the missionaries stared in wonder. What was the last line of that prayer he asked them I seemed to have forgotten. A cute story but meant to make a point. The native did not need the faith of the missionaries to find God. He had found God in the food he ate and the water he drank. In the beauty that surrounded him and the sound of thunder. No amount of theology could add to what he had. Shouldnt this be our goal as well.