A critic warned that unless I reach out to readers right away, I’ll lose them. Accordingly, I added this acknowledgement to The Positive Paradigm Handbook:

This book is dedicated to YOU, the reader. It acknowledges that we each mirror the potentials of the entire universe. The problem is that you’ve forgotten! Because the times are increasingly dangerous, you urgently need to remember who you truly are. WAKE UP!

I firmly believe that you’re far greater than you’ve allowed yourself to dream, and need only the encouragement, tools and motivation to prove me right. I’ve pushed myself to the burn out point to deliver the best I can offer, while there’s precious time left.

He hated it. “Saying ‘WAKE UP!’ will come across as an insult to some, and all the caps make it sound as though you’re yelling at them, “ he wrote.

What??? Of course I’m shouting. When a locomotive is bearing down on sleepers unknowingly camped on railroad tracks, directly in harms way, you don’t whisper. There’s no time for the subtle indirections he recommends.

But my message is intended as high compliment, a confirmation that we’re all potential GIANTS, albeit sleeping. How does he get an insult out of this?

He overlooked the rest:

I’ve been cautioned that the “average jane-schmo” can’t relate to my ideas. I don’t believe such a person exists. I’ve also been warned that because people today are unusually stressed, they want to read something “tangible.” I understand stress. But “feel good” stories and false assurances don’t change the facts or truly help anyone.

Do we as readers really want to be lulled into forgetful sleep? I believe we’re hungry to know why things are going terribly wrong and are urgently seeking better options. Life isn’t a popularity contest, nor is the Handbook about me. It’s about YOU and your ultimate survival. Please remember in reading it that I dearly wish you all the very best.

I’ve been told my style is “intense,” or “in your face.” I suppose so. It’s the voice of a passionate mama bear, fighting for the survival of her cubs.

“Give a story about your parents, or a teacher, or a mentor. Make people feel warm, like they can relate to you as a person,” advised my critic. I responded, “I’ve already done all this in the autobiographical part of Rethinking Survival. It’s filled with childhood anecdotes and other personal stuff. The Handbook is the bare bones summary.”

He declined my offer of a complimentary RS copy. Too busy.

For now, I’m providing excerpts from RS below that put my WAKE UP call in context. It’s more than just a call to wake up to current political abuses. It’s also a wake up call that points out HOW and WHY we’ve gotten into our current predicaments, WHO we truly are, and on that basis, WHAT options for positive change remain at this late date.

 

I’m now convinced that the Positive Paradigm of Change is the ultimate answer to the ancient ultimate question. It’s the literal proof that humans are made in the image of the Creator — the microcosm resonates with the macro. I AM that I AM.

Put another way, “God don’t make no junk.” In this context, the exhortation, “Ye must be perfect like your father” makes perfect sense. Just as Einstein had the Unified Field Theory, but didn’t know it, each and every one of us on the planet is perfect in potential: made in God’s image. But we’ve forgotten.

And tyrants want you to sleep on. They’ll do anything to prevent you from remembering that you’re inherently okay. Because once you do, as Einstein did, no one can intimidate, control or dominate you. You’re aware that nothing anyone has for sale can make you more perfect. Nor can anything that anyone threatens to take away alter your essential okayness.

It’s your inalienable birthright. A given.

The Positive Paradigm is the viable basis upon which to build valid self-esteem. It’s the key to personal freedom — freedom from ignorance, freedom from fear. It’s the rock-solid foundation of functional democracy. It’s grounds for rethinking what the word really means and how to implement its promise.

One minor caveat: it all depends. While we all have the option to remember who we truly are, most of us are like Lambert, the sheepish lion. It takes a smack with a two-by-four upside the head before we’re finally ready to wake up. Often it takes the form of life-threatening danger to those we care for. A personal health crisis will also do the trick. So will job loss or a run-in with natural disaster.

But, like Dorothy stranded in the Land of Oz, when you want dearly enough to return “home,” you can click your heels whenever you chose — and come to find out, you’re already there.

———————-

The threat of evil giants in the world serves to awaken the true giant that resides deep within each of us. That’s the blessing hidden in adversity. It’s the opportunity latent in Titanic Times. The Greek Titans, the giants sired by Kronos, survived his murderous envy and returned to claim their heritage. Similarly, there are giants are among us now. It’s time for them to WAKE UP!

In the face of Titanic dangers bearing down from all directions, remember the stork and cobra cartoon. The snake is winding up the bird’s long, skinny leg, wrapping around its neck in a choke hold. The caption reads: “Never, ever give up.” To this, I would add more — essentially other ways of saying the same thing.

First, to the snake: “It’s never to late to change.” Second, to the bird: “Never, ever forget.” No matter how dark and dangerous life becomes on the surface, God the Creator — the Tao, the Source of all life — broadcasts love, wisdom and hope eternal from the center of the Positive Paradigm Wheel. Remember this: We’re not alone. We never have been. We never will be.