Author Archives: Pat West

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About Pat West

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change, Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze's Common Sense Way of Change, and The Quantum Solution: What the Ancients Knew About Our POTENTIAL Future.

The Quantum Paradigm  

My contribution to the archetypal sacred geometry hidden in plain sight throughout nature, art and architecture, is to plug the three variables of Einstein’s famous formula, e = mc2, in to increasingly deeper levels of the Life Wheel, symbolically linked in an infinite figure-eight-shaped loop.   

Description

In this context, paradigm simply means worldview. The Quantum Paradigm offers a positive alternative to the prevailing, dysfunctional paradigms which cause so much harm and misery. It is an inclusive reality map that accords with the way life truly is, showing the full spectrum of human potentials. It explains how the world works, how the individual fits in, and what is required to survive.

For example, the individual fits in to the larger whole as if a tiny slice of an infinite pie, where like minds meet at the Center. The pinnacle of achievement is self-actualization, the antithesis of the globalist goal of world domination. It looks like this:  

Unlike exclusively materialistic, atheistic, hedonist or religionist paradigms, all levels of experience are present, and in balanced, correct relationship to each other. Nothing is missing. Nothing is out of place.  

The Quantum Paradigm wheels-within-wheels model consists of concentric circles around a common center. It places the three variables of Albert Einstein’s famous formula, e = mc2 (energy, mass and light) in a two-directional, infinite continuum.

The levels of concentric circles aren’t literally separate and discrete. Rather, they are a continuum along the infinite spectrum of creation. Within each layer are numerous degrees and distinctions which can be verified only by direct experience. For the sake of the following discussion, however, the three levels are described as if discrete, starting from the center of the Wheel and moving outwards.

This fundamental baseline is the starting point from which all else positive follows. Qualitative change begins from the inside out, and one person at a time. When enough people share a common passion for the same paradigm, changes on increasingly larger scales of magnitude occur.

The layered structure of the quantum Life Wheel gives new meaning to Einstein’s observation that a problem can’t be solved on the same level at which it was created. “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” It gives new meaning to “Go deep,” and “We can’t be satisfied with superficial answers.”

If mankind is to survive, what’s required is a fundamentally new manner of thinking which is substantially, that is to say, qualitatively better.

Einstein’s Variables: Mass, Energy and Light

m = Mass. The outer rim of the circle is the realm of the material, manifested world of creation. This level is the abode of empirical science which measures tangible, material phenomena and objects. It is the plane of duality, the fluctuating ebb and flow of mortal life, the ups and downs of daily experience.

It is the realm into which public school education too often squeezes and flattens children. This is the level of which Einstein said, “The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education.”

Those focused excessively here are unduly attached to material possessions as well as to money, social status and institutional power. Here appearances are more important than substance. Saving face replaces authentic virtue.

Paradoxically, out of balance, abundance on the material plane seems to foster an insatiable sense of lack. Limited connection with the center breeds insecurities and greed. The infinite variations of the same eternal pattern are misconstrued as grounds for cultural conflict and competition for illusory supremacy.

When people live primarily on the surface, with the middle (primarily “unconscious”) level clogged and in conflict, systems break down. Attempting to fix problems caused by this inner turmoil at the superficial level cannot achieve any lasting, qualitative improvement.

When internal dynamics remained unchanged, apparent re-forms are cosmetic only. Thus political theorists who write books about changing government without understanding human nature and the dynamics of Natural Law codified in the Book of Change (much less the central core which illumines the quantum field) miss the point.

Atheists who deny the existence of the inner levels are materialists in the extreme. Yet, however badly religious teachings have been misunderstood and abused over time, this doesn’t alter their essence — the functional facts of existence, now confirmed by physics as well as by the consistent testimony of sages throughout time.

e = Energy.

“The day science begins to study non-physical phenomena, it will make more progress in one decade than in all the previous centuries of its existence. When you want to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” Nikola Tesla

Unfortunately, perhaps intentionally, much ignorance, misinformation and confusion surrounds the energy level of the Quantum Paradigm. Einstein called it “the fateful fear of metaphysics.” The state of chaos into which the world has degenerated attests to this deficiency, as well as the urgent need to correct it. Only the basics are described here, suggestive of further exploration.

The middle level is the domain of Natural Law, whose dynamics are mapped in the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Change. This body of knowledge has evolved over eight-thousand years as sages continued to observe the operations of energy and document the repetitive patterns of change.

Natural Law maps the energetic underpinnings of the dynamic, physical world. It is experienced as the patterned recurring cycles of seasonal change, and is equally applicable to humans and their cyclical life changes: birth, growth, decay, death and rebirth.

The middle layer is the realm of less tangible but still measurable states of energy, including electricity. More subtly, it is the chi, ki or prana described by Chinese, Japanese and Indian traditions as the life force which animates all living beings. In Greek and Christian contexts it correlates with the breath, the psyche.

These subtle energies influence internal psychological states and drive external human behavior, which in turn affects social and political relationships. Knowledge of these dynamics is essential to personal survival and related leadership skills.

The e= energy level is the domain of emotional health and maturity or lack thereof. It’s associated with courage and confidence, with vitality and libido. It’s where many repress as the unconscious everything perceived as too fearful, dangerous or forbidden to know. Taboo. (Some conflate this subconscious level with the superconscious, the c=light level: a common but big mistake.)

Be that as it may, in this context, the “subtle” energy realm lies midway between the outer, surface level of matter and the deepest center of unchanging stillness. As the functional link between extremes, both on the out-going and the in-going paths, it serves as the unavoidable gatekeeper and bridge, the mediator between the two. “You can’t get from here to there,” except through this middle level of experience.

Historically, Asian cultures are more comfortable with this middle level. Asian healing arts including chi kung, tai chi and hatha yoga exercises used to intentionally circulate, balance, harness and direct subtle energies throughout the physical body. Westerners are beginning to catch up. As international business and educational exchanges increase, Western technologies and Eastern subtle sciences are cross-fertilizing.

Musicians, especially ones educated in the Eastern and Western sciences of sound vibration, are keenly attuned to this level. Inspired, harmonious music can heal the physical body and uplift the soul.

In part, the astral level is the place of astrology (versus astronomy). It explains why we react on an unconscious level to vibrational influences upon the collective conscious without being aware of what’s going on.

It’s the repository of short and long-term memories. The composite of emotions — fears, desires and repressed tendencies — are stored here in what Western psychologies call the “unconscious.” It is the stuff of dreams — inspired visions, nightmares and everything in-between.

It’s also stores what’s called the akashic records of all that’s ever transpired. Those who query in a meditative state can access this vast library for answers to their questions.

We use the I Ching as well as tarot cards and oracle decks as methods for making the unconscious conscious, restoring subliminal knowing to conscious awareness.

Within the vast realm of the e=equals energy, non-physical unhappy departed souls and demonic entities realm. It’s where personal karma and pastlife memories are stored. It’s the stuff of the bardo, where departed souls go when they leave the body on their way to the light.

When cluttered and undisciplined, the middle energy level is like a swamp full of alligators. Once the swamp is cleared out and the alligators are tamed, however, energetic potentials can be harnessed to worthy goals. They’re like the gas that fuels the car engine, or the horses harnessed to Plato’s chariot. They become the generator of what Tony Robbins calls “unlimited power.”

But easier said than done. The Quantum Paradigm model validates experiences which report a dark side to the subtle realm, the “chapel perilous” which the life traveler must be prepared to encounter and survive. There’s much truth to the classic lines from Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The beleaguered prince, haunted by the horrific vision of his murdered father’s ghost, tells his steadfast friend, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

But shutting down consciousness connection with this level is far from an optimal option. Inhibiting awareness of the energy level cripples efforts to acquire self-knowledge, much less enlightenment.

Religionists, moralists and even poets like Edgar Alan Poe warned against exploring the middle realm, portraying it as dangerous, fearful or unclean. But this, in effect, slams the lid on libido, the motivating life force. Doing so doesn’t avoid its dangers. It just banishes this level from conscious awareness. This part of inner experience then festers, rendered inaccessible, relegated to “unconscious” status.

Tragically, the belief-result connection holds true even when ideas and related attitudes aren’t consciously held. When they’re hidden away in the unconscious mind, they generate unintended, unforeseen consequences. Projecting a positive image to the world may succeed in fooling others for a short time, but there’s no diet plan, exercise routine or image make-over that can hide the stress or reverse the physical damage caused by internal conflict. So long as the levels of one’s inner organization remain hollowed out and/or out of alignment, the results will reflect this imbalance.

The kicker is that you can’t change what’s been relegated to the unconscious and become inaccessible to the conscious mind. “You can’t leave a place you’ve never been.” This is why increasing self-awareness is a survival top-priority. Positive change depends upon first being able to recognize the beliefs, attitudes and resultant emotions that generate situations which require change.

If one denies or rebels against the existence of the innermost creative life source, every outward level of experience is starved. Being cut off from inspiration and guidance, one’s ideas are limited and distorted. Attitudes suffer and destructive emotions take over.

Enforcing taboos on access to awareness of the energy level backfires, resulting in mental illness, socially aberrant behavior, addictions and personal tragedy. Carl Jung’s observation, quoted in relation to irrational prejudice, bears repeating here:

Our time has committed a fatal error; we believe we can criticize the facts of religion intellectually. . . The gods have become diseases; Zeus no longer rules Olympus but rather the solar plexus, and produces curious specimens for the doctor’s consulting room, or disorders the brains of politicians and journalists who unwittingly let loose psychic epidemics on the world.

The facts of religion Jung referred to include not only the existence of a supreme being residing at the center of and permeating the whole of creation, but also the middle energy level — including the dangers of satanic potentials — as an integral part of that whole.

Chinese sages, who trod lightly but surely in that middle realm, used the I Ching as their instruction manual. Jung understood the potential good that could come from introducing this wisdom tradition to the Western world, where it could be used as an instrument for making the unconscious again conscious, restoring intelligent competence at this level.

Effective leadership and the quality of life within organizations hinge on the quality of awareness brought to dynamics at this level. Some leaders understand the dynamics of change at a gut level as a matter of common sense. However, systematic logic and conscious awareness of their operations significantly improves the results of the decision-making process.

Those denied access to material and social resources are often forced inside. Of necessity, turning inward, they develop and depend for survival upon strengths like courage, patience and wisdom drawn from the middle and center levels of the Life Wheel.

Thus, at times, material deprivation and hardships yield the opposite and equal blessings of in-sight and emotional fortitude. At other times, however, excessive investment at the middle level results in delusions, latent with the potential for erupting into violence.

In any case, making a virtue of necessity by withdrawing from and rejecting the material world prevents completion of the pattern. It can’t correctly be equated with spirituality.

Cultures which enforce an exclusively materialistic worldview and deny the experience of everything not tangible and measurable place severe hardships on those whose inner lives are especially active. Working with the quantum Life Wheel offers opportunities to diagnose such imbalances, the better to remedy them.

Societies that deny their citizens practical outlets for articulating and harnessing inner energies creatively can literally drive people crazy, to suicide, or at best, underground. Many “sensitives” survive by channeling socially banned, unacceptable awareness and longing for self-fulfilling adventure into the arts: music, literature and film making, including romance, murder mysteries and science fiction. This is a great loss to society. The world would be better off if high-energy, creative individuals were identified as potential leaders, trained and given employment options accordingly.

c = Light. This is the pure level of quantum intelligence, the location of genius, guidance and inspiration.

C=Light is the pristine quantum field of information, the Matrix, Universal Mind from which inspiration arises, from which angelic guidance comes. With connection to the quantum field there arises the ability to redesign your life intentionally. It is the location of Con-science.

The hub of the wheel, the SOURCE of Light, is the eternal, innermost state of being. It is silent yet fertile, that from which all forms emanate and to which all return. It is the alpha and omega, the ultimate and exclusive source of infinite light and power.

Merging with this all-encompassing source of consciousness is what scriptures refer to, quite literally, as “enlightenment.” It is the “secret place of the Most High,” home of God the Father in Heaven honored in the New and Old Testaments. It correlates with the Hindu Brahman, the Chinese Tao, the Muslim Allah, and the Native American Great Spirit. In Star Wars, Jedi knights refer to the Force. Contemporary pastors sometimes defer to “the Boss.”

The deepest center is the original seed of life from which creative solutions and new beginnings emerge in answer to the prayers and sincere efforts of those who hear and do. It’s the unfailing source deeper than ephemeral fears which gives positive survivors the inner strength to withstand the sudden shocks and catastrophic changes of Titanic times.

It is to this quiet center of refuge that sages retreat in meditation to patiently outwait misfortune, the better to return renewed when the time is right. It is the healing place to which they turn when life becomes too difficult to endure without solace. It is the escape, far better than drugs, alcohol, sex or even music, that makes life’s challenges bearable and worthwhile.

The physical realm emanates from this still, quiet non-dual level, deeper than the e=energy cyclical laws of duality, which are extensions of Source. It is from this innermost level that the ancients operated when in foreseeing the cycles of history. They observed from a timeless point of view, as if through the eyes of Creator Source at the center of the life wheel, seeing the energetic potentials of the future and what their possible manifestations might be.

The core center is labeled Source. The still Zero Point of Source, which is the eternal NOW. With spokes radiating out in all directions. 360 degrees in a circle, in 3 or more dimensions, radiating out. True power is in the NOW, in the organizing, creative center of the Life Wheel.

In Life Wheel context, the presumption of any nation (for example ancient China, or later the Ottoman Empire), to be the “center of the world” are seen, in larger context, to be equally impossible and tragically mistaken.

From the true Center, from the observer point of view, natural cycles of time can be observed, understood, and to some degree, with conscious intention, be harnessed and directed to achieve intentional goals.

Unlike the levels of mass and energy, which can be described at length from experience, the levels of light and Source are by definition best honored by silence. Or at least as few words as possible.

Dysfunctional Paradigms

Here’s an important section from the Quantum Paradigm Handbook.

Common wisdom has it that “You can’t leave a place you’ve never been.” Positive change requires an awareness of where you are now, where you’d like to be, and how to get from here to there.

It starts by being aware of your current beliefs and recognizing that they’ve created the place you’d like to leave. It takes the courage to admit that a currently held paradigm, no matter how familiar and fiercely held, is part of the problem. Creating a happy, fulfilling life begins with shifting to a complete and correct Quantum Paradigm.

Distortions of the quantum Life Wheel generate attitudes that are similarly bent out of shape. These eventually manifest as violence, both internal or external. Like cancers at a cellular level, the results of life turned against itself take many forms. Conflict and stress-related illnesses takes their toll on every scale of magnitude from smallest, the individual, to largest — the entire planet.

Illustrations included here picture the major paradigm malfunctions that continue to cause great misery and horrific violence in the world.

Illusions of Separateness, Exclusiveness and Isolation

In the unified worldview pictured by the quantum Life Wheel, all the levels of experience are interwoven and interconnected. Time is an illusion. All of history is in fact going on at once. (See the Prado Painting section of The Quantum Solution for more detail.)

In this paradigm, everyone everywhere is connected by the invisible strands of energy and time. Living fully aware of the center while remaining present on the surface, linking the levels of the Wheel in a two-way, infinitely continuous loop is the height of attainment. In this reality, separateness isn’t possible. Isolation is only an illusion. Exclusiveness is a mirage.

A common ego-distortion of the Wheel is to carve out a pie-slice in time and place from the whole and identify with it to the exclusion of everything and everyone else.

PARADOX: The Illusion of Separateness

Illusion of separateness

Exclusiveness and Isolation

This ego mistake has many variations. One is to identify with a particular level of the Wheel to the exclusion and detriment of the others. For example, many identify exclusively with the surface. This results in the picture of the exclusively materialistic empirical science world view.

MaterialistAthest

It is also common for those who share a particular distortion to disrespect those who are focused exclusively on other levels or different sectors of the Life Wheel. Compounding this, they begin to think their particular viewpoint is exclusively right, and all others exclusively wrong. The next step is to attach the label “good” to what they like, and “bad” to whatever is unfamiliar.

Another distortion is to identify primarily with the middle level of energy and emotions. Nature worshipers and pagans distort or invert the levels, sometimes placing nature above its Source, even replacing it. Hedonists (adventure and pleasure seekers) also live here.

Still others identify primarily with the inner levels of the Wheel. In the extreme, philosophers and religionists focus here. Making a value of necessity, they sometimes reject the world as an evil influence and suppress natural urges. This backfires, leading to hidden sexual abuse and other malfunctions.

Religionist

Yet another distortion is to fragment the levels of the Wheel. Different levels are experienced at alternative times, each part disassociated from the others. The result is the chaotic picture of a schizophrenic personality and/or lifestyle. In the extreme, the center floats alone, outside the rest. This explains how fractured individuals who seem like model citizens and pictures of propriety on the surface can live hidden lives of depravity and commit crimes of unspeakable cruelty.

Stress

Each distortion has negative consequences for mental health. This in turn affects relationships within and between families, and then relationships within and between every larger form of social, political, religious, educational and business organization.

Egoists — narcissists in the extreme — subscribe to the illusion that they’re separate and that they must compete against each other to rise to the top two-dimensional pyramids. They compete for control over presumably scare resources, both material and intangible. This includes money, possessions, political power, popularity — even love. “Me-first-and-foremost” believers feel justified in doing whatever it takes to get “ahead” — at the expense of everyone else.

Egoists behave as if getting what they want is the end-all and be-all of existence. They act with little regard for the future, oblivious to the concept of karma. Like Dorian Gray, they believe they can hide from the consequences of their actions and that there is no higher justice. But in this, they are sadly mistaken. Whether foreseen or not, the results of past actions inevitably return. For the unprepared, it is the hardest but surest way to learn life’s lessons.

Egoists are not in-dependent, for they see themselves as lacking inner resources. They are independent in the backwards sense of trusting and depending on no one and nothing but themselves. This is not only terribly lonely. It invites rationalizations, making it acceptable to exploit others and distance themselves from the pain, suffering and hardships caused by their selfishness.

Duality – Dividing the World into Opposites

In the positive worldview, light, peace, and higher love at the center are balanced at the middle level by the fluctuations of nature: day and night, light and dark, hard and soft, hot and cold, wet and dry, pleasure and pain. The elements of nature combine and recombine, proliferating to create diversity on the surface of the quantum Life Wheel, including the manifold species of plants, animals, birds, fish — and races of mankind.

The Complete, Natural Paradigm

Completion

However, in recent times, it has become the usual practice to separate the complimentary sides and alternating seasons of nature, pitting them against each other. Integral pairs of light and dark, day and night, white and black, positive and negative, male and female are opposed as if they were warring antitheticals.

Life, success and pleasure are chased after. Their opposites — death, failure and pain — are shunned with fear and aversion. In the extreme, even the compass directions of right and left are associated with political extremes. This produces a world of conflict within and wars without.

Exclusively “Good” – Yang without Yin

Duality Positive

Exclusively “Bad” – Yin without Yang

Duality negative

To make matters even worse, moral judgments of “good and bad” or “right and wrong” are arbitrarily assigned to opposite sides of the same coin. Instead of being equally natural parts of a single, unified pattern, light, day, white, positive and male are elevated to superior status. Dark, night, black, negative and female are subordinated to inferior status. The language of poetry, when misconstrued and taken literally, becomes perverted into sexist and racist bigotry, with wide ranging, divisive results.

Love

It is said that “Love makes the world go round.” Higher, unconditional love resides at the Wheel’s center. But much that is done in the name of this all-powerful influence is paltry parody. The natural impulse to extend outwards towards others takes many forms, positive and negative, as it manifests throughout the layers and sectors of the life Wheel. Some are creative, others destructive.

In creating your own personal Wheel, it is important to think about your own experiences, past and present, and what you would like to change for the better.

LoveLadder.sized

The Best Leaders Are Self-Aware

PPH Increase Self-Awareness

Albert Einstein, who had the Unified Field Theory of his heart’s desire but didn’t know it, was a world leader in science as well as humanitarian thought. What he lacked was yoga training and a direct experience of the wheels-within-wheels levels of the Positive Paradigm. The product of a repressive, European culture, he was congested at the middle level of emotions, an affliction that manifested in the form of a miserable family life. Despite early flashes of genius, he was unable to produce consistently brilliant work.

Notable leaders of modern times each have unique Life Wheel patterns that explain both their strengths and weaknesses.

Make the Choice

The paradigm choice and its consequences are summarized as follows:

  • Dysfunctional paradigms tie us in knots. They tear us apart. They drive us crazy. They push us to murder and even suicide. It’s imperative to identify them and root them out.
  • To survive intact, we must cleave to the essence of the perennial philosophy. The Quantum Paradigm of Change is a snapshot of the essential truth which the world’s great religions share in common. It offers us a way out of global madness. It gives us a means for restoring sanity to our world outlook.
  • It is a question of which worldview will prevail. Everyone must choose. (Failing to choose consciously is also a choice.) Do we cling to dysfunctional paradigms that have brought us to the brink of Titanic disaster? Or do we opt for Einstein’s new way of thinking? Do we choose to be, or not to be? To survive or to perish from the face of the earth, that is the question.
  • In Quantum Paradigm context, peace necessarily begins one individual at a time, and is accomplished from the inside out. So long as dysfunctional paradigms put individuals at war within themselves, general ignorance will continue to escalate into worldwide conflict.
  • Paradigm choices have consequences for long-term survival. The Western linear progressive theory of history puts leaders operating on dysfunctional paradigms at a loss to foresee cyclical down-turns or prepare for them in time.

Hidden in Plain Sight 


The following is an excerpt from Chapter 3 of The Quantum Solution: What the Ancient’s Knew About Our POTENTIAL Future.

The Quantum Paradigm imaged in the archetypal, universal Life Wheel has its origins in yoga philosophy, but is equally compatible with modern physics.

The sacred geometry of wheels-within-wheels repeats throughout nature, smallest to largest, from snowflakes and seashells to flowers, from microscopic cells to macrocosmic solar systems.

It appears spontaneously in the sacred art and architecture of all civilizations throughout history, from shamanic medicine wheels to Tibetan sand mandalas and the stained-glass windows adorning mediaeval churches.  

The quantum Life Wheel mirrors the microcosmic structure of atoms as well as the macrocosmic structure of planetary systems. At a microscopic level, its concentric rings mirror the structure of atoms with a nucleus surrounded by orbiting electrons and protons. It likewise mirrors the symmetry of our solar system with planets orbiting around the sun.

On the largest scale of magnitude, it reflects the in- and out-breaths of perpetually expanding and contracting universes.  

It speaks to universal awareness of an intrinsic inner structure common to all humanity, deeper than transitory lives or cultures. Each human, made “in the image of Creator-Source-All That IS, is innately divine at the center, and potentially whole, existing in the mid-range of creation, and when fully awake, in resonance with all of nature.    

Description, Einstein’s variables, explanation, applications, distortions and implications, will follow.

A Call to Positive Action

Malcolm Gladwell, author of David and Goliath, also wrote The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference. In the language of Einstein’s atomic physics, the tipping point is called critical mass. In the world of ideas, it’s the trigger point of a paradigm shift. Gladwell describes it as magic:

The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire. . . A precisely targeted push can cause a fashion trend, the popularity of a new product, or a drop in the crime rate.

His book identifies the catalysts which precipitate a tipping point. Psychological studies are analyzed to name the key elements of social change. At the right time, a handful of people with the right idea and the right messaging can make huge waves.

With three key ingredients in place, what seems to happen spontaneously, almost mysteriously, can be deliberately replicated.

That’s where you, the reader, come in. Three special kinds of people are necessary to precipitate a paradigm shift. Gladwell profiles the personality types whose combined effort makes the difference. He calls them mavens, salesmen, and connectors.

Mavens are the experts who know their subject in-depth and in great detail. They delight in sharing their knowledge to help others. They have no agenda other than to be of service, so people trust their information. In this case, the information being shared is the perennial philosophy embodied in the Quantum Paradigm. It radiates from the center of the quantum Life Wheel.

Salesmen have a knack for tapping into what the public wants. They’re keenly perceptive about human nature and are therefore persuasive in getting others to buy what they have for sale. Salesmen are in touch with the e=energy middle level of the quantum Life Wheel. They connect with human motivations to energize basic hopes (namely, for survival) and fears (of extinction).

Connectors take joy in building extended networks of acquaintances. They’re the matchmakers who introduce friends to other friends. They’re the doers who spin the Life Wheel round at the m=mass surface of the rim. In this case, they have the potential to spread the Quantum Paradigm message worldwide to everyone with the common sense to hear.

Put these three special kinds of people together and there’s magic in the making. The levels of creation can be linked and unified. A powerful idea presented persuasively to the public and carried around the globe by word-of-mouth can travel faster than a speeding bullet.

Rethinking Survival, as well as its next generation, The Quantum Solution, is the work of a maven. I’ve spent a lifetime refining these ideas. I’ve worked diligently to express them in a simple, clear and hopefully entertaining way. I take delight in the possible good that could come from sharing them.

But, true to life, there’s always a down side. The lifestyle optimal for writing such a book disqualifies me from wearing the hats of either a connector or a salesman. My strength in one context is a weakness in another. I’m a deeply private person.

Knowing my limitations, I’m calling on the strengths of my readers to balance out my weak spots. I’m not independently wealthy. I have no support network of family, friends, agents and publicists. I need you to ACT as salesmen and connectors on behalf of the Quantum Paradigm.

Together, we can work miracles.

Here’s the tipping point idea from Lao Tze’s perspective:

Passage 78

Nothing under heaven is as soft, receptive or pliant as water; but when massed, nothing withstands its tidal wave impact. As water penetrates and dissolves the hard, erodes and absorbs the rigid, those who yield and encompass their foes prevail long after evil doers have disappeared.

Like water, the sage absorbs the world’s suffering, endures its hardships, and responsive to the times, becomes the catalyst of collective action. So it is that the low and high trade places, and the forceful lose their influence; this is known by many, but practiced by few.

This passage applies to promoting the Quantum Paradigm idea in the following way. A solitary writer is like a single drop of water in the ocean. But an idea whose time has come, when spread by word-of-mouth and owned by the masses, can take on the force of a social tsunami.

I have no political clout or social standing. But I’ve allowed nothing to discourage me in my determination to be a catalyst of collective positive action. I’ve experienced my share of hardships. I identify with the world’s suffering. So I trust that, having done my best, it will be enough.

As the next generation of Rethinking Survival, The Quantum Solution will survive by surfing the tidal waves of Titanic times. Because there is a mighty zeitgeist stirring the air. Its force is obliging everyone on the planet to make critical choices. Its power is driving us to take action.

It’s a question of which worldview will prevail. Everyone must choose. (Failing to choose consciously is also a choice.)

Do we cling to dysfunctional paradigms that have brought us to the brink of Titanic disaster? Or do we opt for Einstein’s new way of thinking?

Do we choose to be, or not to be? To survive or perish from the face of the earth, that is the question.

If you’re ready and willing to tip the balance in favor of human survival, BE PART OF THE SOLUTION. SPREAD THE WORD.

Urge everyone you know who stands to benefit from Rethinking Survival to read it and then act on it. Do so with passionate conviction. Now! Fill the all-important roles of salesmen and connectors.

If you know any of the current authors I’ve quoted, tell them — as well as their families, friends and co-workers — that they’re mentioned here.

Most especially, contact Tony Robbins along with all of his fans and friends. If you know people involved social change movements, tell them The Quantum Solution is a MUST!

If you think the leaders you know could do much better, urge them to read The Quantum Solution and act on it. Tell them it’s a matter of survival, theirs as well as yours.

If you agree with bloggers who complain that government policies are pushing Americans to a tipping point, let’s turn looming catastrophe into a blessing in disguise. Find positive ways to use danger as the catalyst of a Quantum Paradigm shift.

If you know anyone troubled by thoughts of death, dying or suicide, give them a copy. The same goes for anyone with a history of abuse, victims and predators alike.

Let your creative artist and musicians friends know this is a book for them. Tell your yoga friends they’ll want to read it.

If your friends loved Joseph Campbell’s work on comparative religions, let them know The Quantum Solution completes what he started. If you know any Einstein fans, ditto.

If you adored John F. Kennedy and welcome the hope of seeing his world vision fulfilled, pass the book along for his sake.

Tell your survivalist friends and acquaintances to read The Quantum Solution; it will give them a new way to think about survival.

Tell all the school teachers in your circle to teach the Quantum Paradigm in the classroom. Inform every librarian you know that this book belongs in their collection.

Use your imagination. Who else needs to read The Quantum Solution? Include them!

Join in Operation Rescue. Be a founding member of the Fresh Start Movement.

Send emails. Give copies. Talk to friends at work, at school, and over meals. Call radio hosts. Contact book reviewers, or write a review yourself. Act as an advocate.

Be part of the push which tips the balance. Put your weight however you can behind the Quantum Paradigm shift. No matter how small the effort, every little bit helps.

May the Force be with you

now and into the future.

Alien Invaders

This is another section lifted from the 2014 Rethinking Survival.

Again, it remains timely today.

In the 1980s, when the Affirmative Action legislation was a subject of hot debate, one commentator made an astute observation. If foreign enemies had wanted to undermine the United States, they would have designed exactly this legislation.

Valid goals — the window dressing — were buried in burdensome regulations and punitive economic sanctions. Rather than bringing people together, it was alienating, causing an opposite and equal backlash.

Alien invaders infiltrating Planet Earth, weakening humans to eventually take over and enslave them, is a familiar theme in science fiction. For example, in his various incarnations, Dr. Who — television’s two-hearted time traveler — continuously detects nefarious alien plots and rescues heedless humans from annihilation.

Current events indicate there’s considerable truth cloaked in that science “fiction.”

Starting with the premise that hidden alien enemies are covertly scheming to undermine humanity, ask, “How would they set about to destroy us?” Logically, they’d create chaos, setting everyone at each others’ throats. They’d trick humans into mutual self-destruction by stirring up dissension and fragmenting their governments.

Now, the Old Testament and yogic scriptures both maintain that we’re made in the image of God. Each individual mind is a complete miniature of the Universal Mind. When open, receptive, and aligned, everyone everywhere mirrors the wisdom and potential power of the Creator.

Therefore, it’s an absolute priority for evil aliens to attack the mind. Their agents will do whatever it takes to pollute your mind. They confuse it with false paradigms. They clutter and distract it with the ongoing media circus. Every doubt planted in your mind, causing you to forget who you are, to disbelieve in your ultimate origins and creative potentials, is a victory for the dark side.

To totally undermine humanity, atheism is a must. The unifying beliefs which hold families and nations together and fortify them in times of adversity must be destroyed at all costs. Again, how would this be accomplished?

For one thing, language which makes communication and community-building possible would have to be polluted beyond repair. This ongoing process is described as the Tower of Babel factor.

In the English language, for example, every value word has devolved to mean both one thing and its opposite. So people often talk at cross purposes, unaware that they’re missing each other coming and going.

Timothy Daugherty nails this tactic from the radical adversarial-political play book. They have nothing of substance to offer and unacceptably destructive intentions to hide. So the political left uses language “not to communicate ideas, but to create a kind of rhetorical fog that obscures real issues.”

Alien agents are masters of double-speak, the child of deception and second-cousin of spin.

A good example is given by Wayne Allyn Root, who writes about the lessons learned together with Obama at Columbia on “How to Destroy America from Within:”

The plan taught us to hide your true intentions (in other words — lie, misrepresent, commit fraud) . . . A key component of the plan involved fooling the voters by calling yourself “moderate” and a “uniter,” even though you are a radical Marxist. We were taught to never admit what you really believe in. It involved demonizing your opponents, calling them “evil, greedy, extreme, radical, and terrorist.” Look in the mirror and call your opponents the very things you are.

He continues:

Why the lies? We were taught at Columbia that “It’s for the greater good” and “We know what’s best for those people” and ”The ends justify the means.”

Next, by every means available, alien agents would strive to pollute the idea pool. Make access to the law impossible and simple truth seem complicated. Because ideas have consequences, introduce false beliefs with predictably disastrous results.

Then evil aliens would systematically destroy trust, the cement of human relationships, at every level of organization. How? Make deceit the political norm. Convince people that no one’s motives can be trusted. Demonstrate that no one’s words can be believed. Make it “common knowledge” that no one’s actions, however apparently innocent and well-intentioned, can be taken at face value.

Diversions would be a must. Rile the public with non-issues to distract them from very real dangers. Using lame-stream media shills, manipulate the masses with the weapons of psychological warfare. Insult them with the lie that they’re not okay. Sell them on the belief that they’re helpless “victims” of oppressors who must depend on tough guys to rescue them (and pay the heavy price of obligation at the voting polls).

Agents of invading aliens would rationalize their lies, sanitizing them as public relations and expedient strategy. It would seem that Edward Bernays, Woodrow Wilson’s advisor and model for Nazi propagandists — the so-called “father of spin” — was a foremost henchman of the invading aliens.

If so, Saul Alinsky was their number one point man. The cockroach (opps, coach) of community organizers, most notably Barack Hussein Obama, but Hillary Clinton too, was a self-proclaimed radical.

[From a 2024 perspective, this admittedly demonic influence, after respite during Trump’s presidency, has driven Biden’s administration from the background– with all the devastation intentionally attached thereto.]

In a twist of our poor abused language, Christ was rightly regarded as “radical” in his day. He would be today as well (in the original meaning) were he to walk among us now. Compatible with the Quantum Paradigm worldview, “radical” meant “going to the foundation or source of something; fundamental.”

That’s a far cry from Alinsky’s extremist meaning of “radical.” He was intentionally the antithesis of Christ. In the front page of his book Rules for Radicals, Alinksy quotes patriot Thomas Paine (modestly) side- by-side with . . . himself. First, Paine:

Let them call me a rebel and then welcome, I feel no concern from it; but I should suffer the misery of devils, were I to make a whore of my soul . . .

Then Alinsky:

Lest we forget at least an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to . . . the very first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.

Associating himself with Paine, the champion of common sense, was a misleading pose. By his own admission, Alinsky was not a patriot. He was in league with the dark side that masquerades as light. He didn’t just make a whore of his soul. He apparently sold it outright, not for a kingdom, but for paltry influence.

It seems as if Alinsky’s particular Faustian pact involved not only selling his own soul, but also seducing gullible followers over to the dark side. It wasn’t enough for him to “suffer the misery of devils” alone. He was intent on bringing as many as possible down to join him in that suffering.

The seductiveness of Alinsky’s virile double-speak is extraordinary. He was well aware of the risks involved in using emotionally charged language. He defined “power”in a chapter called “A Word about Words.” He denied abusing language. But his awareness of language issues didn’t stop him from doing it.

His logic is so twisted that a critique would have to move line-by-line to unravel his spiderweb of tangled assumptions. The attempt would be like wading in quicksand. A Jesuit-trained logician would be hard-pressed to come out clean. Yet Rules for Radicals is sometimes made required reading for impressionable teenagers.

In contrast to Alinsky’s take on power, here’s part of Essay 57 on Power from The Ultimate Personal Survival Guide:

According to Taoist thinking, laws of nature explain why power over time reverts to the people. While drops of water are insignificant, they add up. The momentum driving a tidal wave is formidable. Divided by fear, ignorance, and narrow materialistic beliefs, individuals remain insignificant.

But unified by common purpose, people become powerful indeed. Leaders, whether a Stalin or a Mandela, ride the waves of time like energy surfers, directing their followers towards either slaughter or freedom.

Great temporal power of itself implies no value. Its effect, whether positive or negative, depends on the context within which it’s used, either consciously or unconsciously, skillfully or incompetently, for good or evil. The results of a warrior’s prowess, military arsenal and self-control depend on how, when, where and why they’re applied.

For example, in the last century Germany produced both a Hitler and an Einstein. Hitler was obsessed with the occult. He wanted to harness unseen forces to further his goal of world domination.

Einstein, on the other hand, searched for the subtle laws of physics. He hoped to discover a Unified Theory which perfectly describes how the Universe works. Had he prevailed, he would have re-invented the I Ching.

In contrast, Alinsky, with no logic or explanation whatsoever, dismissively rejects the idea of natural, organic evolution:

The significant changes in history have been made by revolutions. There are people who say that it is not revolution, but evolution that brings about change — but evolution is simply the term used by nonparticipants to denote a particular sequence of revolutions as they are synthesized into a specific major social change. . .

Here’s how Alinsky uses the “power” word:

The Prince was written by Machiavelli for the Haves on how to hold power. Rules for Radicals is written for the Have-Nots on how to take it away. . . . In this book we are concerned with how to create mass organizations to seize power and give it to the people. . . We are talking about a mass power organization which will change the world . .[emphasis added.]

Note the use of the “royal we.” This is a megalomaniac talking. He wants to change the entire world. His attitude is towards power holders is openly aggressive. He doesn’t just want to take what they hold. He wants to seize it. To violently “change the world” by means of a “mass power organization” makes no positive sense. Further, history tells us that repeatedly, when power is seized from one set of Haves, it merely passes to another set of worse ones. Never, ever has it been “given” to “the people.”

The pretext of creating a mass power organization for the purpose of seizing power in order to give it to “the people” is highly suspect. Unholy radicals mobilize “the people” as pawns to their own ends, hypocritically masking self-serving motives with phony idealism. Has the current jet-setting, golf-playing community-organizer-in-chief, for example, empowered anyone other than himself and his cronies? People be wary!

In the first chapter, Alinsky stated his exact purpose, namely to coach those who “want to change the world” from what it is “to what they believe it should be.” In I Ching context, this assumption-packed premise is an extraordinary feat of tragedy-fraught hubris.

First off, what blind, ant-like mortal would dare to think that he can comprehend what, in its entirety, the world — the elephant — really is? What human could possibly be so foolish as to think she is qualified — on the basis of one puny view — to judge what it should be? Alinksy’s rules extended an invitation for blind mortals to jump in feet first where good angels know far better than to tread.

Second, who really understands change? Many bandy the word about. But it’s a profound science of which few have in-depth knowledge. Confucius dedicated a lifetime to understanding the dynamics of natural law encoded in the perennial Book of Change.

Never in his wildest nightmares could he have anticipated anyone daring to force the world to conform to personal preferences.

So, for starters, the “belief” that anyone can change the world from what he assumes it is to what he assumes it should be is unspeakably misguided. Building on this false premise, Alinsky then fueled the undermining alien arsenal with a full battery of destructive tactics. In essence, political radicals should feel “free” to violate the ten commandments. The ends (getting what you want) justify any means.

His version of social change is engineered by stirring up conflict. Use fabricated information to bear false witness against inconvenient neighbors. (Herman Cain’s character assassination is one of countless examples.) Alinsky advocates scapegoating, not unlike the dynamic which propelled Nazis to power. Create the illusion of an outside enemy as the way to unify your base. (How is that for the ultimate double-speak? Conflict is the opposite of unity.)

Divide and conquer. Pit each group against the others. I can almost see alien puppeteers behind the scenes clapping their hands in glee over Alinsky’s contribution to escalating worldwide conflict. It matters not to them which side wins. Let Sharia law advocates, members of Putin’s Eurasian Union and American exceptionalists squander their precious resources duking it out. If they destroy each other and no one’s left, so much the better.

What seems comical in the context of ant and elephant fables isn’t so funny when played out in human history. It’s bad enough when local gurus play God or men like Frank Lloyd Wright turn to lenient pagan gods.

It becomes horrific for humanity (members of every class alike) is when leaders like Mao, Lenin and Stalin slaughter untold numbers of civilians. They destroyed prevailing religions only to turning the state into a god. They ransacked houses of worship to fill their own coffers.

Alien invaders delight in cheating.

They stack the deck, gumming up the works with false information

driven by dysfunctional paradigms.

IF you accept the game and its rules as alien agents define them and proceed to rebel against uncivil authorities, mindlessly hating and resisting, YOU LOSE. (Alien invaders win.)

IF you give all your attention to what other guys are doing wrong, playing the role of contrarian, YOU LOSE. (Alien invaders win.)

IF you quit on humanity and live only for yourself, leading a life of self-centered indulgence, YOU LOSE. (Alien invaders win.)

IF you persist in thinking narrowly in terms of personal game, political interests and institutions, not human survival, YOU LOSE. (Alien invaders win big time.)

The only chance of winning — ultimately, surviving — is to demand a new, clean, unmarked deck, one with all the cards.

In other words, make a fresh start based on an accurate, complete Quantum Paradigm.

It’s Time for a Fresh Start

Here’s a section — full of food for thought — lifted from the 2014 Rethinking Survival. Ten years later, the same hold true.

In a less wordy way, updated to reflect the times, the concept of a fresh start repeats in as concluding chapter of the 2024 The Quantum Solution.

We’re in a Terrible Mess

During high school years, I shared the following lines written for Miss Elson’s senior year English class with my younger brother, David.

Somewhere, Somehow,

Something Is terribly wrong.

Where to look? What to fight?”

Marginally impressed, he predicted that I’d end up like the closet poet Emily Dickinson.

Echoing the sentiment that the country is in deep trouble, in Common Sense, Glenn Beck details the mess we’re in:

America has been slowly pulled off the course charted for us in Philadelphia more than two centuries ago. Through legitimate “emergencies” involving war, terror, and economic crises, politicians on both sides have gathered illegitimate new powers — playing on our fears and desire for security and economic stability — at the expense of our freedoms . . .

Making the same point I made much earlier, Beck holds:

I humbly suggest that our government is once again out of step with the Laws of Nature. The government by, of, and for the people has been turned on its head. It is now a government by the government, of the government, and for the government, the people be damned. [emphasis added.]

Beck gets the basic Law of Karma: Actions have consequences. However he lacks an in-depth understanding of the dynamic laws of nature. And he needs a functional paradigm to put us (not just the U.S.) right-side up again. He challenges Americans to stretch outside their comfort level. But this requires expanding the array of tools in our repair kit for achieving positive ends.

Correctly, Beck recommends that we “declare the causes that unite us.” But while I look to the Quantum Paradigm for that foundation, he outlines Nine Principles which only add to the mess. His openly emotional biases are a disservice to his undeniably good intentions.

It’s important to clarify the points of agreement and difference here. I’ve used the Common Sense concept in my own work for more than thirty years. Especially because he’s become the spokesman for America’s ideals and best hopes, it’s important that I clarify my position.

We do have universal causes that unite us, but not the ones Beck lists. I’ve limited myself here to answering the first five of his Nine Principles:

1. “America is good.”

This generalization is full of assumptions. It’s too simplistic to be useful. America is not a static or uniform entity. The nation has evolved over time. Its components are mixed. We can love our homeland without having illusions about its unqualified “goodness.” Beck’s tacit premise, that he can single out one (superior) country to the exclusion of others alienates other nations. He’s slicing the pie the wrong way. Everyone everywhere is sometimes and in some ways “good,” in others not. In addition, time doesn’t go backwards. Beck’s sentimental attachment to America’s past is unwise. It’s a disservice to the immediate cause of human survival.

2. “I believe in God and He is the Center of my life.”

Sincere truth seekers everywhere hold a variety of beliefs. Not all assign either a name or gender to the Creator. Further, the nucleus of our lives remains the same, whether we acknowledge it or not. Agnostics who say they have no experience upon which to base religious beliefs can still be truth seekers. They’re often decent human beings doing their best as they understand it. Though they see things differently, atheists also thirst after truth and have been known to return full circle.

3. “I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday.”

Fine. But using what methods? The Quantum Paradigm approach, “Be aware of what you are doing and why,” is an excellent start.

4. “The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government.”

This is a mish-mash of culturally-conditioned assumptions. First and foremost, individual conscience that depends on the Universal Center is sacred — not family. An either-or choice between biological family and governments — as if either were “the ultimate authority” — is unacceptable. Otherwise, where do those raised as orphans or whose experiences of family were damaging and degrading look for authority? What about celibate adults or those who choose not to marry? Do they matter in Beck’s worldview? In practice, his grounds for common cause are painfully exclusionary. Further, families change over time (as those who’ve been widowed or married more than once are keenly aware). It’s the silent source which is constant.

5. “If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it.”

This feels good, but it’s way too general. What law — the laws of man, of Nature or Nature’s God? This seems to refer to human law. But considering how laws are made today and by whom, that’s dicey. Consider the evolving, punitive tax code, for example. What about the fact that laws are so numerous that you can’t do anything without violating one law or another? And what about our elective, highly politicized justice system? Principle Five is wishful thinking. It doesn’t match actual experience. Perhaps if Beck thought in terms of the three-tiered wheel, this would be better phrased. Certainly God’s justice is impartial and karmic consequences return to everyone across the board. But that’s a different subject.

So how have we gotten so far away from common sense? In large part, it’s due to the intentional strategy of polarization. The diversionary tactic of bad-faith bad guys is to confuse people with an overwhelming number of phony half-truths. We’re forced to choose between false, equally unacceptable either-or options. The noisy, superficial clash between apparent opposites bombards our senses through the daily news: Republicans versus Democrats. Conservative libertarians versus liberal progressives. Christians versus Jews versus Muslims. Atheists versus theists. Optimists versus pessimists.

Then there’s the straw dragon strategy. Virulent atheism is a product. It’s accomplished by setting up an illusory bogeyman in order to shoot it down. This is the inherent danger of claiming “divine right” for kings, emperors or tzars.

Associating kings (or communist leaders, for that matter) with omniscience leads to an opposite and equal mistake. Disillusionment with individual rulers is mistakenly transferred onto authority in general, whether organized religions or governments. Bouncing off of one problem, we’re pushed into even worse ones.

To repeat, this misses the point. In Quantum Paradigm context, what authorities do or don’t do is irrelevant to the creator’s existence. Human misbehavior has no direct bearing on timeless truth.

Dispensing with an entire belief system indiscriminately — emotionally, bitterly — is like shooting oneself in foot to get rid of a blister. We’re rarely taught the skills to discriminate between distortions — abusive misrepresentations — and enduring, substantive value. The extreme position of “all or nothing” is dramatic but self-defeating.

Another “alien invader” strategy is to blame human suffering on God. In the face of tragedy, people are tricked into believing that God has abandoned them entirely. Numerous popular songs plead with the Creator: “Can you hear me?” To ask is to admit we’ve forgotten about God. Of course the Creator is intimately aware of creation. Better questions would be, “Are we quiet enough to hear? Are we really listening?”

A great deal of the mess comes from the lack of a complete, correct and positive Quantum Paradigm. There are different levels of knowing. It’s essential to keep them prioritized. Con-fusing sub-rational with super-rational ways of knowing is a major mistake. It’s an alien sleight-of-hand to lump these extremes together and write them off them as “irrational.”

More of the mess is due to failing to adhere to a common center which serves as the fulcrum between see-sawing extremes. Here the law, “The larger the front, the larger the back,” comes into play.

For example, extreme rationality generates opposite and equally irrational results. Barring sub- and super-rational alike, atheists who claim to hold the rational high ground can be extraordinary irrational. They come across as angry, rude, intolerant and demeaning.

Journalist Peter Hitchens describes ironic inconsistencies in the wake of the Russian revolution. As a journalist, he observed that what claimed to be an egalitarian society was in practice highly stratified and unequal. Extreme corruption enriched a handful of vastly wealthy elites at the expense of the masses who lived in miserable poverty.

Peter’s brother, atheism apologist Christopher Hitchens, who claimed that religion spoils everything, called for a “new” enlightenment. This is nonsense. Light was, is, and always will be light. Reason is necessary, but not in itself sufficient. It’s not all there is. It occupies a middle ground, serving to link the material plane with the center.

Reason is not qualified to enter into super-rational realms. It cannot be appropriately used to critique what’s beyond it. But it can play an important part. At its best, used with Sherlock-like skill, it’s indispensable for detecting and foiling the schemes of alien enemies.

Once reason clarifies how we’ve gotten into such a mess — exposing the hostile aliens’ rules and methods — it’s important to move on to the next question. What are we going to do about it? How can using the Quantum Paradigm of Change protect us from the effects of alien schemes and lead to positive solutions?

Fresh Start

After facing up to the inescapable proof everywhere around us that our language and idea pools have been corrupted, what do we do about it? Extreme radical measures call for opposite and equal survival responses. Scrap everything. Back to the drawing board. Clear the decks. Empty the overflowing in-baskets and clutter on the mental desktop.

Religious leaders have abused the teachings, so atheists have been conned into rejecting the fundamentals of the timeless, perennial philosophy altogether. Human authorities have violated their responsibilities, so reactionaries have been conned into making the mistake of rejecting all authority on every level.

Let’s face it. Religious and secular institutions inevitably degenerate. They accumulate baggage over time and drift away from founders’ visions.

So from time to time in the repeating cycles of history, it becomes urgently necessary to sort out what’s worth holding on to and what not. Do a thorough cultural house cleaning. Right now, people everywhere are overdue for a major rethinking of their paradigms.

Start with the premise that we’ve been brainwashed. We’re ensnared in contradictory myths and misconceptions. So approach the work with humility and extreme caution. Accept the possibility that everything you thought you knew is wrong.

Initiate OPERATION RESCUE. One individual at a time, take back our most precious asset: our minds. Like tenacious truth-miners, sift through the mud to separate out nuggets of pure gold. Hold fast to truth. Fearlessly put the rest behind.

Go back to the drawing board. Wipe the slate clean. Start over with a fresh, unmarked deck. Rethink organizations by the standard of the Positive Paradigm. Start with the smallest unit of organization — yourself. Work with what’s possible. Be assured that every little bit helps. “One grain of rice can tip the scales.”

If this seems daunting, remember, the stakes. They couldn’t be higher: the survival versus extinction of all you love. Each contribution affects the whole. Everyone matters. As Einstein warned in “Ensuring the Future of Mankind”. . . “Each one of us would be at fault if the goal were not reached in time. There is the danger that everyone waits idly for others to act in his stead.”10

Remember the scare of thermonuclear war, Einstein’s worst nightmare. In 1962, Kennedy and Khrushchev engaged in a personal ego contest, going toe-to-toe during the Cuban missile crisis. It threatened Soviets and Americans with mutual annihilation. Only at the last hour did they relent.

We have Khrushchev’s personal letter to Kennedy:

Only lunatics or suicides, who themselves want to perish and to destroy the whole world before they die, could do this. . . . If you have not lost your self-control, and sensibly conceive what this might lead to, then, Mr. President, we and you ought not to pull on the ends of the rope in which you have tied the knot of war, because the more the two of us pull, the tighter the knot will be tied. And a moment may come when the knot will be tied so tight that even he who tied it will not have the strength to untie it. . .

Lest history repeat itself, let us urge world leaders not to replay this potentially deadly sword-rattling scenario.

Here are recommended positive attitudes for approaching Operation RESCUE:

1. Gird personal determination to win the inner war that matters most. Put pride and old attachments aside. Let the consequences of failing to rescue your mind along with the rewards for doing it motivate persistence.

2. Take nothing for granted. Appreciate what you have while you still have it. Remember: it took only nine seconds for one lunatic to blow John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s head away. It changed the world as his family and the world knew it. Two bullets was all it took to extinguish our best hope for the future of democracy and world peace.

3. Proceed with equal parts courage and trust. Revisit the basic, important life questions carefully. Scrap the old answers. Shed the emotional baggage and prejudices we all carry from personal experience.

Be willing to look at the world and how one fits into it with fresh eyes. Attachments to familiar beliefs as well as obligations to teachers and family are irrelevant to the TRUTH. So are old animosities. Trust that if old answers were correct and personal loyalties valid, they’ll withstand the test of time.

4. Focus on the values everyone everywhere undeniably have in common. Following Einstein’s example, learn how to “think like a genius:”

The scientist or the artist takes two facts or experiences which we separate; he finds in them a likeness which had not been seen before: and he creates a unity by showing the likeness. . . . All science is the search for unity in hidden likenesses.

Begin with respect humanity’s underlying similarities. Let them be our cause for ensuring human survival. Regardless of national origin or racial background, we’re all endowed with native intelligence and the capacity to reason.

Barring unnatural distortions, we’re born with the capacity to love life and cherish family. Most people, most of the time, have an innate capacity for compassion, a thirst for truth and profound desire for personal freedom. We also enjoy a good laugh.

On the cellular level, we’re products of the same DNA pool. Scientists say that all humans trace back to a mere handful of ancestors. It’s testimony to the human intellect to have discovered the DNA code. It serves as a reminder of the wondrous workings of an intelligent Creator. For how could such an extraordinarily intricate, miraculous pattern (much less its reproductive process) be sheer coincidence? How merciful, that we have been allowed this insight into the workings of intelligent design.

It would be a tragedy for us to forget our common blessings, their single source and the preciousness of life. They should unite everyone everywhere against the destructive schemes of genocidal aliens invaders.

5. Focus on TRUTH. Give it the benefit of the doubt. If familiar expressions don’t work for you, dig deeper. Or try a better approach. But cleave to the life-sustaining essence which sincere practitioners of every faith have held in common from time immemorial. Communicate from that center. And build community from there.

Just as each atom has only one nucleus, in Quantum Paradigm context there’s only one core at the center of creation. Logically, over time and in every circumstance, inspired teachings partake of it. If you delve deep enough into the teachings with a sincere heart, you’ll find the same universal source. Since the center is timeless, its TRUTH has always existed and always will.

There is great power in TRUTH. There’s great power in inspired scriptures to move and instruct us in our ways. This includes the venerable I Ching. The Book of Change instills in the receptive observer a profound understanding of human nature and relationships, the better to lead effectively.

Likewise, the complete and accurate Quantum Paradigm of Change has the power to serve as a road map. Use it as a guide for anticipating and overcoming troubles. Let it serve as a link to TRUTH.

Heavy duty bad guys will do whatever it takes to cut humans off from the source of their power. They block inner awareness any way they can. People conned by alien invaders into denying their origins have been castrated, disinherited — cut off from natural power. They’ve been left helpless.

So be determined to take your power back. This is the deepest meaning of “power to the people.” It’s the foundation of genuine democracy. Never, ever be conned into abandoning the inner source of strength. It’s our hope of ultimate survival.

Don’t waste precious time and energy quarreling about whose version of TRUTH is best. Life is too short and precarious. Urge leaders to stop squandering natural resources to add man-made disasters to the roster of survival-threatening perils. Call on them to stop squabbling over the ego-illusion of world-dominance. It’s the height of human folly.

Countless natural disasters are hovering on the edges of history. Indifferent to our insignificant concerns, they’re poised to wipe humans off the face of the Earth. Violent hurricanes and floods, volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis, comet strikes and increasingly intense sun flares are pending.

Future generations depend on each of us to transcend our petty animal nature. They demand that we draw upon the inexhaustible resource of inner strength to keep the wheel of life together for their sake.

In times of great calamities and sorrow, the truly great in spirit will rise to meet whatever challenges may come, sustained by the eternal center within.

6. Don’t get hung up on language. Don’t be confused by misdirecting spin. Stick to the facts. Don’t let double-speaking truth-twisters insult your intelligence. If you allow them to play on your worst fears, they’ll manipulate you into becoming your own worst enemy. Have a standard for knowing who’s who. If you refuse to be fooled by name-calling, empty labels can’t stick. Know friends from enemies by the fruits of their labors. Not by their whitewash excuses.

Don’t let baggage-burdened labels deter you from knowing what you know. “A rose by any other name still smells as sweet.” On the other hand, noone has a monopoly on the Truth. Don’t let anyone drive you off of “their” turf. Nor do you have to pay dues to partake of truth.

It’s no accident that Jon Huntsman, Jr., the son of a visionary father described above is now serving as point man for a group called “No Labels.” This organization would benefit by working from the deeper perspective the Quantum Paradigm has to offer. However, they are definitely moving us in a positive direction. Here’s how their vision and purpose is described on the website, NoLabels.org:

No Labels is a growing citizens’ movement of Democrats, Republicans and independents dedicated to promoting a new politics of problem solving . . . We welcome people left, right and everything in between as long as they are willing to collaborate with one another to seek a shared success for America. This new attitude is what No Labels is all about.

In this spirit, take back the TRUTH. Find common language that works for everyone. So what if false teachers corrupt the teachings? So what if politicians turn timeless truth upside down? Even if horrible things have been done in its name, that’s all the more reason to get back to the original unchanging basics.

For example, one term atheists might relate to is “Universal Mind.” I’m partial to the term “Creator.” Others choose to call the unnameable source of life the Tao, the Great Father, Holy Spirit, the Buddha or Allah. But author U.S. Anderson used “Universal Mind” interchangeably with “God.”

Perhaps atheists squeamish about the name God, who defend reason as their means for accessing TRUTH, would resonate with the concept of a Universal Mind. The awesomely powerful human intellect is its miniature and mirror. This is, in fact, an accurate representation of the TRUTH.

7. The Danger. Don’t let alien agents define who you are. For example, in the November 2013 issue of Esquire Magazine,14 an was article on “The New American Center.” The web posting put forth a definition of “center” diametrically opposed to the common sense center described here. On the basis of 2,410 registered voters surveyed, researchers generalized that American voters have been shifting on the ideological spectrum. They no longer have a comfortable political home or a champion. Of respondents, 49 percent agreed with the assumption-laden statement, “I never put faith in politicians of either party because they always end up disappointing me.” An additional 25 percent indicated that they were neutral.

This new center is said to agree that those in dire need should receive assistance, but would really prefer that government leave the rest of us alone. Researchers say that the new center wants government to spend less and go easy on regulation,. But they’re okay with raising taxes on the rich and on polluters. The new center “has had it with the rest of the world.” In particular, it doesn’t want American using its resources to fix things overseas when we have problems at home.

Researchers conclude: The center is up for grabs. More than one in three of the new center don’t “feel” that anybody in Washington represents them. They are, therefore, “waiting to be found.” Those on the Left are somewhat confident that someone in Washington expresses their viewpoints. But more than half of the “Righteous Right” feel that no one speaks for them. This conclusion is, apparently, an open invitation to political chameleons. It tells them how to paint themselves to please this new center, the better to “grab” their votes.

I’m deeply skeptical of such studies. My graduate school experience with research scientists wasn’t impressive. In that case as in this, the questions themselves were skewed. The way they were framed prevented accurate answers. Here, participant selection also supports predrawn conclusions. The opinions of those who opt not to vote are excluded. And as in my own experience, the conclusions not only appear to be foreknown. They seem intended to serve ends of political masters.

The dangers of media-influenced opinion polls, the precursor of media-selected politicians, cannot be underestimated. Who after all, funds and for all practical purposes owns the media, if not the likes of George Soros, the puppet master himself?

Regardless of what the agendas for redefining the Center might be, my first remedy is to take back the meaning of “Center.” Let it be defined by common sense in Positive Paradigm context, not by paid political researchers. The hub at the center of life’s wheel can’t be equated with a political center. Quite the opposite. Remember the Karate Kid? Pick one side of the road or the other. Good or evil. Truth or spin. As Mr. Miagi warned, middle-of-the-roaders get “squished like grape.”

8. The Opportunity. Inherent in endings are opportunities for new beginnings. “After degeneration reaches critical mass, regeneration follows.”

For one thing, no matter how extreme the danger, we’re never alone. This is so on both physical and metaphysical levels. Just as alien invaders are infiltrating society, there are conscientious souls who know very well what they are up to. They’re penetrating enemy ranks to reroute their plans. They’re also courageously calling public attention to blatant nonsense.

For example, follow Dr. Timothy Daughtry and colleagues at concordbridgeconsulting.com. He’s captured the dynamic of deceptive messaging perfectly: “Whatever you intend, say the opposite.” Here’s a sample from “Liberals Love It When We Fight:”

Helplessness, and not hope, is the left’s real message. . . the uniform message from liberal politicians to minority Americans is that the system is stacked against them, and that their only hope is through electing liberal politicians — not through personal effort. 

So, trust that people of conscience are embedded in the right places to say and do the right things at the right time. Just as invaders’ agents work to undermine humanity, modern-day sages are tenaciously working to expose and defeat their schemes. That’s why it’s imperative to cut across false boundaries.

Connect with like-minded boundary-spanners wherever they are to be found. If they’re true to the common sense voice of conscience, they’re humanity’s best hope. Heed them. Remember JFK’s vision:

I look forward to a great future for America — a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purposes. I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will reward achievement in business or statecraft, which commands respect through out the world not only for its strength, but for its civilization as well.

In this message, John Fitzgerald Kennedy left behind unfinished work and with it the key to a fresh start. We now have the opportunity to complete what his started. Here’s the vision he intended to make real.

With the tool of the Quantum Paradigm of Change now in hand, we have the opportunity to universalize his vision. Let us urge all nations to balance strength with restraint, wealth with wisdom, and power with positive purpose.

Kennedy’s death was a comma, not a period. The ideas he expressed in the speech meant to be delivered on the evening of November 22, 1963, the date of his assassination, can still be realized. Parallel to Einstein’s unfinished quest for the Unified Theory, the time is right to pick up Kennedy’s fallen flag and move forward using the Positive Paradigm as the basis of a common leadership initiative:

. . . our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to the nation, and indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom. . . So let us not be petty when our cause is so great.

Fifty years later, as he foresaw, not just one nation’s future is at stake. It’s an “all or nothing” challenge. So let’s call on our leaders to something truly extraordinary:

Forsake the conflict-driven quest for personal political power. Put it at the service of an even more powerful and truly worthy goal: human survival. Partnership in a leadership initiative to fulfill JFK’s vision.

But don’t just sit back, waiting for politicians to wake up. Follow Einstein’s advice. Don’t build another human institution, a conglomeration of internally conflicted governments.

Instead, build an international intentional community of like minds. The internet gives opportunities for connecting across limiting, artificial boundaries that Einstein would never have dreamed possible.

Bloggers, do your best. Put the pressure of public opinion behind a tidal wave of appeals to nation- and opinion-shapers.

The Right Reason

It keeps nagging at the back of my mind to revisit the standard I was taught to use for rethinking past decisions, and for making better ones going forward.

Here it is.

Twenty years ago, this approach seemed simple, clear and useful. It seemed that my life would go a lot better if I stopped to think through my choices before acting. Maybe other people’s lives would turn out better if they did too.

For example:

Right Action for Right Reason: I write books in order to enrich people’s lives, tipping the balance in favor of human survival.

Right Action for Wrong Reason: I choose to write books that will be bestsellers in order to get attention and make tons of money.

Wrong Action for Right Reason: I stop writing books because people aren’t yet ready to hear what I have to say.

Wrong Action for Wrong Reason: I stop writing books because I no longer have hope for the future.

Though it’s hard to second guess why others do what they do, much less foresee the long-term consequences of their choices, I’m tempted to make a calculated guess:

Right Action for Right Reason: I run for public office to serve We the People.

Right Action for Wrong Reason: I run for public office to defeat enemies I disagree with.

Wrong Action for Right Reason: I criticize opponents in order to be elected.

Wrong Action for Wrong Reason: I criticize opponents in order to diminish them.

But (obviously) things aren’t always so simple. If I overthink, I can sink way deep into swampy rabbit holes of no return.

Can I really know what is right? Are the reasons I give for my actions honest and sincere? Or are there hidden motives lurking in the personal past that drive me? Ones I’m unwilling or unable to admit to myself? Ones that perhaps color my thinking, possibly distorting outcomes?

For example:

Right Action for Right Reason: Ever since a librarian told the six-year old, orphaned me that books are my friends, I read and write seeking and offering friendship.

Right Action for Wrong Reason: I extend good-will as I understand it, I overlook the possibility that what is of value to me has no value to others.

Wrong Action for Right Reason: I offer unwelcome, unsolicited information hoping to prevent unnecessary mistakes and painful suffering.

Wrong Action for Wrong Reason: I offer unwelcome, unsolicited information in the mistaken belief that I can rescue those I care about from the consequences of their choices.

Projected on to others, similarly complicated inner dynamics might look something like this:

Right Action for Right Reason: I heroically carry on my family legacy in order to complete unfinished, worthy goals.

Right Action for Wrong Reason: I work to fulfill my family’s legacy by following the political path my predecessors.

Wrong Action for Right Reason: I excite peoples hopes and exhaust combined resources, fighting to create an idealized, better future.

Wrong Action for Wrong Reason: I am compelled to push past what is possible right now, sacrificing the long-term good that with patience could have evolved.

It gets ever more complicated. And only time will tell.

Be Careful What You Pray For

pray: verb

1) to entreat, implore — often used as a function word in introducing a question, request, or plea; 2) to get or bring by praying; 3) to make a request in a humble manner; 4) to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.

Where is the spirit of humility in the weekly prayer circle for RFK Jr? Since when do we presume to authoritatively tell God to give us what we want?

Are we omniscient? Or is God?

When we pray, are we open to receiving angelic guidance? Or is it okay be be closed to everything but what we visualize?

How can we presume to assume that we know all the currents, cross- and under-currents at play in current events, much less the best way to surf over, around and through them to survive . . . even prevail?

Just maybe, as Hamlet once said to his friend, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

Just maybe, there’s more at play than what meets limited human eyes. For example, remember apostle Paul’s warning in Ephesians:

11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Remember: there are two sides to every coin. Before praying, have we stopped to consider what deep, dangerous unforeseen consequences attach to what we think we want? Are there, just perhaps, other, wiser, more effective ways to achieve what we truly want, better than what we now know?

When we pray, do we limit ourselves to what is familiar and known? Why not be open? Ask for our leaders that which we would do well to ask also for ourselves.

For example, offer the white magician’s open-ended prayer: “May we be guided to know what serves the greatest good of the greatest number.”

Or, “Show us the way of the heart. Lead us on the path of all-encompassing compassion, so that, to the extent we show wisdom, mercy and loving-kindness to perceived friends and enemies alike, we receive it in return.”

Or, “Fill us with trust, that we may abide in the divine peace that transcends human understanding, that we be shown the path leading to true wisdom, well-being and enlightenment.”

Would it not be in the spirit of humility to SHUT UP? Stop filling the air with noisy words. STOP assuming we know best, telling God to give us what we want, exactly how it should play out and when.

And instead, simply be still.

Ask, “What is the will of God? What is the wisest way to proceed? What do we need to know now?”

And LISTEN!

Amen.

Rethinking Power

Here’s yet another musing on Power, excerpted from the 2014 Rethinking Survival.

We’re Never Alone: Gladwell’s Giants and Misfits in Perspective

When Malcolm Gladwell’s David and Goliath came out recently, I had to read it. The subject promised to be a perfect fit with the vision of Rethinking. After all, King David is my ideal: musician, psalmist, warrior and king in one.

It turns out this book is a perfect example of how sorely the Quantum Paradigm is needed. “We need a better guide for facing giants,” Gladwell wrote. I agree. Here it is.

As far as it goes, the book is a good read. What’s lacking is the Quantum Paradigm to put David and Goliath in context. From this perspective, Goliath was stuck on the surface. Despite his physical size, he was ultimately powerless. David, on the other hand, was connected to center. That gave him the advantage.

Using this model, we can place the source of David’s strength as well as his strategies and his deadly slingshot. Resting in the innermost hub of the quantum Life Wheel was the source of little David’s confidence — the timeless God of Israel. His strategies, however, belonged to the dynamic, energy level. His prowess as a straight-shooter depended on physical strength, visual acuity and years of experience. Those have their place on the material surface. In other words, the levels of David’s life were coordinated. They were in synch. Unified.

If David had drawn a blank on any one of the three paradigm levels, he wouldn’t have succeed then. Nor can anyone succeed today. Vision that’s not backed by good plan and technical competence is incomplete. Cunning strategies lacking equal competence and good will to execute them are lop-sided. Without a direct connection with the creative center, all the physical resources in the world aren’t enough.

There are several reasons, however, why the story of David and Goliath isn’t the best model for coping with adversity today. For one, we’re at a very different point in history. This is an end stage. Civilization was relatively young back then. Different times call for different responses.

Further, confronting a single foe face-to-face was one matter. The tangled mess of corporate-faced, alien-driven evil which little guys are up against now is a much different threat. Different dangers call for different protections.

Another point: Gladwell’s subtitle refers to underdogs and misfits. It’s not a good idea to romanticize misfits. Timothy McVey and Charles Manson were misfits. They didn’t fit in with mainstream society, but with good cause.

It’s the telescoping mistake. Extremes on both sides of the bell-shaped median are lumped together and written off as “deviant.” But spiritual geniuses and murderous psychopaths don’t belong in the same category.

Further, not all giants are enemies of the people. There are corporate CEOs who treat their workers decently and genuinely serve the public. When I searched my memory banks for a good example.

I thought back to Glenn Beck’s billionaire philanthropist friend. What was his name?! It took me a couple days to find it. Strangely, he doesn’t get much media attention. (Why not is an interesting question!)

But Jon Huntsman, Sr. is living proof. A corporate giant can be as much a part of the solution as the underdogs. Sometimes even more.

A web search comes up with several sides to his story. He gained his wealth by climbing the corporate ladder of success. In 1974, Huntsman Container Corporation created the “clamshell” container for the McDonald’s Big Mac. It developed other popular products, including the first plastic plates and bowls. This led to the 1994 founding of the multi-billion dollar Huntsman Corporation. He continues to expand into new business ventures.

As a philanthropist, Huntsman has given away more than $1.2 billion to both domestic and international charities. His humanitarian aid includes help to the homeless, ill and under-privileged.

He holds that the very rich should give not half, as Gates and Buffet say, but a full 80 percent of their wealth to worthy causes. It should be through voluntary choice, however. Not taxation. In this, he agrees with Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. His goal is to give away everything before he dies. But this isn’t an easy task. He keeps on making too much money.

On the personal side, Huntsman not only lost parents to cancer, but is himself a four-time cancer survivor. His response has been to turn adversity into opposite and equal good. The Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City accelerates the work of curing cancer through human genetics. It also focuses on providing humane care to cancer patients.

Huntsman has been married to his wife Karen for over fifty years. He’s the father of nine children. The eldest son, Jon Jr. is a public servant. He was the governor of Utah, and later an ambassador to China. (Small world.) The second son is a corporate executive who carries on his father’s business.

Come to find out, Jon Huntsman. Sr. is also an author. One of his books is Winners Never Cheat – Even in Difficult Times. Amazon’s editorial review calls him “one of the finest human beings, industrial leaders and philanthropists on the planet.” His book drills down on “ten timeless, universal values” for business and life. The review concludes that Huntsman’s work edifies, inspires and motivates all of us to model his common sense lessons.

Timeless? Universal? Common sense? I like it! Winners Play By the Rules is another of his titles. This book tells “how to keep your moral compass pointed toward true North — even when those around you are compromising their ethics.” True North? Compasses? WOW. There is a Quantum Paradigm shift going on. I am not alone in this.

Redefining Power

Gladwell says little guys need to redefine power. That’s what I’ve done. True power comes from within. Goliath, who drew strength primarily from the physical plane, was puny compared to the power behind David’s sling.

Gladwell notes that a single smooth stone to center of Goliath’s head probably destroyed the pituitary gland. He quotes researchers who theorize that the giant had a glandular disorder which explains his huge size. This same pituitary disease would have caused eye problems. That’s probably why a slave had to lead him into battle. Presumably his vision was failing.

But from a holistic perspective, the same story has a deeper meaning. David’s single shot went straight to the third eye, the ajna center located in the center of the forehead. It correlates with the pineal gland, a close neighbor of the pituitary. In yoga anatomy, this center is associated with spiritual vision.

David’s projectile put out the giant’s lights. It was poetic justice for an enemy who was closed to inner truth. That was the giant’s weakness. It remains the weakness of bad guys today as well. A single shot is all it takes, when you know where to aim.

It reminds me of the plumber with a golden hammer. The story is told about a home owner with a flooded basement who makes an emergency call. The plumber comes. Climbs a ladder. Reaches up to the leaking pipe. Takes out a golden hammer and taps. Once. “Tink.” Problem solved.

Then he gives the owner his bill. That will be $500. What? Why? That took less than five minutes! The plumber’s answer: The charge is for knowing where to tap.

Bad guys have blind spots. That’s their weakness and the good guy’s advantage. If they’ve cut themselves off from the center, no matter how rich and powerful in the world, or how charismatic at the middle level of energy dynamics, in the long run they’re the losers.

The middle layer of the Quantum Paradigm shows us what’s missing from Gladwell’s book. Applying David’s story to today’s dilemmas falls short without the complete picture. David’s God broadcasts from the center of the quantum Life Wheel. But today, noisy competitors are broadcasting from the middle, astral plane. In effect, they jam the air waves, making it hard to hear the still small voice of conscience.

When religionists comfort us that we’re not alone, they’re telling us a half truth. Christ is broadcasting from the center (even when we can’t hear or won’t do). But there are lots of competing distractions. Some voices mimic good angels, but aren’t. My description in of the e=energy level bears repeating here:

. . . spirits, ghosts, leprechauns, angels and demons or jinn acknowledged by various mystic traditions also reside at the middle level. From here, unseen hands from the “dark side of the force” reach out to derange the minds of power-hungry rulers and undermine political affairs. So long as their invisible influence remains unaccounted for, the failings and depravities of human governments remain mystifying.

St. Paul described it in his letter to the Ephesians:

6:12. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

This is why the David paradigm can’t be taken at face value. David told Goliath, “God is with me.” But since then, the same claim has been made by numerous demon-driven leaders. Combatants on both sides of every battle want their followers to believe that God is on their side.

What makes sense in Quantum Paradigm context is that David was with God. He was listening. He “knew” what he had to say and do. And he did it.

Here’s a time-tested way to know who is who. Ask who’s calling. If it’s Christ broadcasting from the center, or a true disciple, LISTEN. If a voice from the astral plane won’t acknowledge Christ, DON’T. Tell it to scram. Remember the words of the marvelous cartoonist James Thurber. He drew a panther lounging in a telephone booth with the receiver in its paw. The caption: “If it’s a panther, don’t anther.”

Here’s another way the David and Goliath book breaks down. Gladwell wants to identify ways for little guys to battle big guys. First, not all little guys are good guys. Nor do little guys have to come up with strategies now as if inventing the wheel from scratch. They’ve been codified in cultures saturated in I Ching philosophy for thousands of years.

The middle level is also the realm of the natural law encoded in the Book of Change. Energy dynamics are impartial. They work regardless of the user’s motives. For every David who uses strategies to defeat a wicked enemy, there are countless Alinsky-clones. They’ll use every underhanded strategy in the book to undermine anyone who gets in the way of what they want. Sometimes the motive is sheer greed. They fabricate excuses for confiscating other people’s wealth.

For every sage like Lao Tze who honored the Tao and wrote the classic Tao Te Ching, there many others also immersed in spin-offs of I Ching philosophy whose connection to the center of the quantum Life Wheel is uncertain. Sun Tzu, for example, applied the principles of natural law to describe The Art of War.

Later offshoots include versions of the 36 Stratagems. One has the suggestive title Lure the Tiger Out of the Mountains. This book pairs anecdotes from Chinese history with stories about current corporate practices. It shows how IBM, Apple, Microsoft, and other business giants overcame early odds to beat out the competition. They used the same yin-yang strategies which the advisors to Chinese emperors used in the past.

A more chilling version of the 36 Stratagems is Hide a Dagger Behind a Smile: Use the 36 Ancient Chinese Strategies to Seize the Competitive Edge. Musashi’s Book of Five Rings is a Japanese approach to strategy.

In fact, Saul Alinsky comes straight out of this tradition. He could well have taken his ideas from the Asian history books. Remember him? He’s the one who dedicated Rules for Radicals to “those who want to change the world from what it is to what they believe it should be.”

Change strategies are variations on the theme: “Extreme yin changes to extreme yang. Extreme yang changes to extreme yin.” In others words, giants and underdogs trade places. In this scheme of things, the apparently powerless, like David, have always had options for turning the tables in their favor.

Natural law also reminds us of the yin-yang paradox. “Whatever has a front has a back. The larger the front, the larger the back.” As described from personal experience, those who project the most holy image predictably have the most corrupt underbelly. Extreme size like Goliath’s is unbalanced. It changes into a liability. One’s greatest strength can be flipped to become one’s greatest weakness. (The same goes for governments, too.)

So, the David and Goliath story is a useful example that can be applied to current events. On the surface, it may not seem unique. Corporate executives who accept the Japanese maxim “Business is War” school themselves in taking advantage of yin-yang principles to maximize profits and power.

But here’s the important riddle to solve. What’s the difference between Saul Alinsky and David? What separates Alinsky-clones from Positive Action advocates?

The answer: Alinsky and his clones are functional atheists. Like Goliath, they’ve cut themselves off from the center of the quantum Life Wheel. They may be intimidating or charismatic, but they’re not enlightened. Far from it.

David, in contrast, linked the levels. He was in harmony with the source. He spoke for it and acted from it. Positive Action advocates aspire to follow David’s example.

Perhaps it’s time for the good (not necessarily little) guys to take the hint. Mastery of Natural Law can be a good thing. As I’ve labored to demonstrate in Quantum Paradigm context, it’s not opposed to Divine law.

There’s no either/or choice. Nature is integral to the whole. Stratagems aren’t good or bad in themselves. There are white magicians and black magicians. Both are adept at manipulating the elements of nature. It all depends on who’s doing what and why.

Bottom line: it’s a matter of survival to be savvy in dynamics at the middle level of the paradigm. A step in this direction is already being taken. Books coming onto the market now advocate using Alinsky’s tactics to protect and restore what infiltrators of both church and state are actively destroying.

David and Goliath has one take on the giants of the world. But there’s also another way to think about giants. The reverse, shadow side. The opposite side of the coin. Inspired by Awaken the Giant Within, I founded the +A Positive Action Press in response to Tony Robbins’ book. From a Quantum Paradigm perspective, his words take on new meaning:

If we want to discover the unlimited possibilities within us, we must find a goal big enough and grand enough to challenge us to push beyond our limits and discover our true potential. . . The answer to our current energy challenges will lie in the imagination and resourcefulness of today’s physicists and engineers. And the resolution to our social crises, like the alarming spread of racial hate groups, homelessness, and hunger, can only be addressed with the inventiveness and compassion of dedicated individuals like you and me.

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 frog cartoon. The frog has the stork 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 stork: “It’s never to late to change.” Second, to the frog: “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 quantum Life Wheel. Remember this:

We’re not alone. We never have been. We never will be.

Power vs. Control

During Tucker Carlson’s interview with Xi Van Fleet, a survivor of Mao’s cultural revolution, she explains that Mao rewrote history and controlled education as a way to secure what he regarded as absolute power.  

But here’s where an understanding of the perversion of the language becomes critical to defeating the globalists .. . among whom Mao was a precursor. 

Restoring the language is essential in the path to overcoming them.  

Understand this: they may have worldly the control. They may call it power. But it’s only control. 

True power is defined in Power vs. Force by Dr. David R. Hawkins.  

To the extent that we believe in God and in ourselves, We the People have the real power.  Because creative power is connection with Source.  It’s a subtle, energizing, quickening essence.

We the People have true power. Tyrants don’t. What they call power is merely control over resources. External, ephemeral illusory control.  

We the People overcome wannabe tyrants – the globalists — by remembering and claiming our innate inner power. We overcome external control and dominance with inner spiritual power. With knowledge, education, and by remembering who we are.  

There’s a recurring theme running through recent video posts. “Wake up, wake up, wake up” to what globalists are doing. But it’s not just to what they‘re about. More importantly, We the People need to wake up to our own power. Like Lambert, the sheepish lion, remember who we truly are.

That’s how we take back the reins. Then globalists are exposed for what they are. Powerless, empty shells. 

Remember the scene in movie version of Stephen King’s The Stand. In jail, the opponent of Randall Flagg, the darkside demon, scorns him, laughing, “You’re just another scurrying rat going about your rat business.” No power at all, in the true sense. 

Here’s a pondering on various meanings assigned to the word Power, dating back to the millennial year 2,000. Interestingly, definitions of power span all levels of the quantum Life Wheel.

57. POWER

Nothing under heaven is as soft, receptive and yielding as water.
Its gentleness dissolves the hard, erodes and absorbs the rigid.
Thus, those who bend endure long after the unbending have snapped.
So it is that the low and high trade places, and the forceful loose their influence.

Like water, sages embrace humility to endure,
remaining flexible and responsive to the needs of the time.
This is known by many, but practiced by few.
— P.E. West, Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change

The principle aim . . . is to unfold a Tao of economics; it has always seemed to me appropriate to establish and re-establish a truer alignment of political and economic forces with the natural processes and, through the ancient Chinese I Ching, such an endeavour is possible. — Guy Damian-Knight, The I Ching on Business and Decision Making

Part of what goes into acting decisively in any life situation, along with aggressiveness, clarity of thinking, the awareness of one’s own death, is training. The warrior energy is concerned with skill, power, and accuracy, with control, both inner and outer, psychological and physical. . . He has developed skill with the “weapons” he uses to implement his decisions. — Moore & Gillette, The Warrior in His Fullness

THE FRONT
The root of power means to be able, potent.

Webster’s first definition is the ability to do, act or produce.

It refers to a specific ability or faculty, like the power to hear.

It refers to a great ability to act or affect strongly using vigor, force, or strength.

Power is used to describe the ability to control others, or the authority to influence, such as legal authority.

Power refers to the source of physical energy or mechanical force that can be put to work, like water power.

It points to a person or thing having great influence.

It can mean a nation which dominates other nations.

Power also refers to spirit or divinity.

An archaic use implies an armed force: army, navy, or military strength, like air power.

In optics, power refers to the degree of magnification of a lens, microscope or telescope.

R.L. Wing elaborates on the adage, “Knowledge is power,” pointing out the unique advantage gained from focusing the I Ching like a magnifying lens on daily life.

“The power and astuteness that we gain from this universal perspective,” she writes, “can be applied to any of life’s situations.” In addition, “We recognize situations that hold no promise because they are structured in a way that will cause their own downfall.” In other words, knowledge gives us insight to recognize where various choices are likely to lead, resulting is better decisions.

In Taoist thinking, laws of nature explain why power over time reverts to the people. While drops of water are insignificant, they add up. The momentum driving a tidal wave is formidable.

Divided by fear, ignorance, and narrow materialistic beliefs, individuals remain insignificant. Unified in wisdom by common purpose, people become powerful indeed. Leaders, whether a Stalin, Mao or a Mandela, ride the waves of time like energy surfers, directing their followers either towards slaughter or towards freedom.

Great temporal power of itself implies no value. Its effect, whether positive or negative, depends on the context within which it’s used, either consciously or unconsciously, skillfully or incompetently, for good or evil. The results of a warrior’s prowess, military arsenal and self-control depend on how, when, where and why they’re applied.

For example, in the last century Germany produced both a Hitler and an Einstein. Hitler was obsessed with the occult. He wanted to harness unseen forces to further his goal of world domination. Einstein, on the other hand, searched for the subtle laws of physics. He hoped thereby to discover a unified field theory which perfectly describes the operations of nature. Had he prevailed, he would have re-invented the I Ching.

THE BACK
The opposite of power is powerlessness. Though energy is inherent in every life form, and every individual has the potential to express a unique variation of power, through any combination of external circumstances and personal choices, it can remain latent and dormant, an opportunity lost.

A perversion of power is malicious aggression. Using force to harm others, even destroying life to steal material possessions or gain political power, violates Natural Law. In time, harm returns to the abuser in equal proportion to damage done. Herein is practical proof of biblical wisdom, “Justice is mine, sayeth the Lord.”

As the Kaleidoscope Turns

Definition of kaleidoscope: 

  1. an optical instrument in which bits of glass, held loosely at the end of a rotating tube, are shown in continually changing symmetrical forms by reflection in two or more mirrors set at angles to each other. 
  1.  a continually changing pattern of shapes and colors.

I’m applying this definition, as I see things differently every day, to a conversation between Joe Rogan and Bret Weinstein. It went like this:

Bret Weinstein: The problem is, the folks who have been loyal democrats, who will “vote blue no matter who,” need to wake up!

That party has been captured by something that is not interested in the well-being of the country, of the West, of the citizens. It is time for them to go.  

Personally, I think RFK Jr. is the solution to this problem. I don’t know that anybody can solve the problem of the capture.  

Joe Rogan: Can he win? Is there a pathway that he could become the president?  

Bret Weinstein: Yep, there are multiple pathways. That said, do I expect it to go that way? I think we all need to start thinking differently. 

I think we need to recognize that the capture of our system is such a profound threat to the well-being of the country. to the future of our kids and grandkids, that whatever needs to happen for us to come together and usher those people out in favor of something that is at least just not part of that plan has to happen.  

So as far as I’m concerned, the best shot we’ve got is Bobby Kennedy.

Now here’s the interesting essence I picked up on. Let’s explore its implications.

The democrat party has been captured . . . . tacitly, by covert operatives pushing a globalist agenda. This poses an existential threat to humanity so urgent that we must come together to overcome it.

Bobby Kennedy is our best shot for defeating the globalist agenda. However, we all need to think differently about how this can be accomplished.

His conclusion echos the words of Einstein, to which I often refer:

We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive.

Yep. The problem is that serious. It calls for a quantum solution. Perhaps given the larger commitment to saving humanity from the globalist agenda, Trump and Kennedy need to set aside personal differences and join hands, perhaps across the public and private sectors.

It’s critically important to note that while Bret sees Kennedy as the solution, he does NOT say that his being president is the solution. Though Kennedy is our best shot, it isn’t at all clear how that will play out. We have to keep our minds open to other possibilities, be willing and able to think differently about solutions.

WHAT IF the proper path for Bobby to follow is NOT the path which killed his uncle and father?

While I agree with his publisher and friend, Tony Lyons, that RFK Jr. is by far the most authentic, courageous and knowledgeable candidate, standing head and shoulders above everyone else in the field, I have to ask: Why waste him in a draining, debilitating campaign just to land him in a role that might just destroy him?

Why not, instead, let him serve as a leader the private sector where his virtues/shinning attributes can best manifest, lead to successful outcomes, be used, expressed freely, without resistance/conflict/obstruction.

Consider the possibility that it’s far more likely possible for RFJ jr. to complete the legacy of his father and uncle in the private sector than in the public. 

Let me tell you what I’m envisioning, how the kaleidoscope looks to me today.

I’ll divide my observations in two parts. First, why the political route isn’t best, and second, why the private sector path is filled with positive potentials. It depends on cooperation, of course . . . the “we all” piece of Bret’s comment.

For starters, there’s no overnight solution. Because, in 2024, there is no sufficient base of supporters to effectively implement a Kennedy agenda.

If RFK Jr were elected president in 2024, he would find himself (much as Trump was) surrounded by jackals –political hacks who Yes him to his face, but secretly use him for their own personal reasons.

Presidency would be a nightmare. Subordinates, all schooled in the fragmented paradigm, themselves internally pulled apart in multiple directions, would continue to give superficial compliance and support, while covertly going their own directions.  

Removing individual representatives of a dying paradigm who are each fighting for their lives inside deep state bureaucracies would be a horrendously difficult job. Negative. Punitive.

Rather than punishing pseudo-leaders who are really symptoms of a deeper problem, why not go after the problem itself? The real problem is the obsolete paradigm — the pervasive, culturally conditioned mindset of hollow, incomplete empirical science.

RFK Jr. deserves better than to be hemmed in on every side by the political demands of a presidency. Let him be a free actor, a truly independent leader and visionary accomplishing something truly worthy of him.

Let him start small, building one exemplary intentional community where all the health goals he advocates – clean food, air, water that he advocates are implemented. Not by law and legislation, but by positive action. Let it be organized around leadership based on merit, not big money and hardball politics. 

Let it be located not in neither extreme, East or West coast, symbolically as well as physically in the Center of the country. Let the intentional community be a center of light in a dark world, far away from the corruption of Washington, DC. The capitol city is a swamp. Relocate to a place of sanity and wholeness, literally centered in heartland the United States.

I recommend central Wisconsin for its location, for all the reasons that OA chose it as most likely to survive long-term from disasters, both natural and man-made, safe from possible tectonic plate shifts, tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes and even predictable paths of fallout from atomic attacks – all taken into account. 

Let this community demonstrate with how-to examples, a model for other communities to follow. Look to the precedent set during the last dark ages, where monastic communities both in Europe and China (think Shaolin) served as centers of healing, hospitality and light (as well as mutual self-defense) in an increasingly dangerous world. 

But let Bobby work hand-in-glove with the federal government led by Trump, doing things government isn’t suited to do. Let him devote his time/attention/energy in this creative, positive direction rather than wearing himself out doing combat with the deep state from within the government.

Concurrently, let him spearhead a School-Without-Walls which he uniquely has the reputation and clout to draw sponsors. Let it be an interdisciplinary school designed to build the next generation of leaders in every field of endeavor, intended as a quantum solution to the current, deleterious leadership gap.

A School-Without-Walls would recruit qualified mentors from all walks of life. They would advise self-responsible students in designing tailor-made, purpose-based programs of study. Students would be given access to whatever learning resources — academic and experiential — necessary to achieve their unique learning goals, and earn a degree as proof of competence.

Increasingly, small cohesive intentional communities will become the real power bases, with the role of federal government being to be to support and be supported by them.  

And at every incremental step along the way, let every mentor and student in the School-Without-Walls dedicate themselves serving the community with integrity by quantum standards — meaning whole, integrated. Let this new generation of leaders approach problems from unity consciousness, with wholeness objectives.

Civil War

In a video titled Adamus St. Germain REVEALS About 2024 ELECTIONS & The Coming FUTURE WAR it is foreseen that the U.S. is so polarized that whoever wins the presidential election, it will only be by a small fraction of the votes. And If Trump wins, there will be riots the same night in the streets of major cities, as prelude to possible civil war.

Is imperative to foresee and forestall the globalist, intentionally polarizing dynamic that would lead to civil war. And beforehand, as a matter of mutual survival upon which most can agree, let’s restore sanity and genuine unity on all sides. Community interests must prevail over strife between political parties.

In a public-private pact between Kennedy and Trump, let there be mutual agreement that it’s a top priority to call out deliberate, self-serving provocations to unnecessary civil war and proactively move to overcome that danger. 

There’s potential danger in Trump’s declaring that when elected, he’ll attack and deport illegals. It invites a backlash from the very minute he’s elected. It’s a mistake to let Illegals believe they have nothing to lose, and everything to gain by tearing the country apart, in an effort to prevent deportation.

To soften that threat, emphasize possible opportunities to assimilate the honest workers among them onto the land in intentional communities. Downplay enmity to illegals (versus the real problems: Cartels, leftists allowers, etc.). Offer a ray of hope. Keep a lid on the potential for explosive backlash. 

As a back up, have a strong presence of National Guard at the ready in the large cities and the most endangered rural areas. Put potential rioters on notice that they are well advised to desist. They can’t get away with rioting. Quite the opposite. They’ll be quashed from the get go. 

Possibilities

  • Attach to the +A intentional community a healing center based on the model of Patch Adams’ Gesundheit Institute. Make an end run around the for-profit alliances amongst insurance providers, pharmaceutical corporations and large hospitals to render the drug and surgery-based allopathic medical model obsolete. 
  • Let Kennedy and Simon Parks along with his international Connecting Consciousness community join ranks. Share resources, information, savvy, clout, and influence to achieve similar ends. 
  • Bring Elana Danaan onboard. Include in curriculum as basic what she has to teach about our place in the universe and our kindred intergalactic brethren. 
  • Invite Elon Musk onboard as a participant, advocate and financial backer of the School- Without-Walls. 

Conclusion

When I recall the quotes which sum up JFK’s vision and the legacy yet to be fulfilled, the vision he described could just as easily be fulfilled through service in private sector as in the public realm. Perhaps better.

JFK said:

I look forward to a great future for America — a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purposes. I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will reward achievement in business or statecraft, which commands respect through out the world not only for its strength, but for its civilization as well. 

Had he not been murdered on the day of its scheduled delivery, JFK would have delivered the words of this speech:

. . . our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to the nation, and indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom. . . So let us not be petty when our cause is so great. . . .

This link between leadership and learning is not only essential at the community level. It is even more indispensable in world affairs. Ignorance and misinformation can handicap the progress of a city or a company, but they can, if allowed to prevail in foreign policy, handicap this country’s security. In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America’s leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason . . .

But, in today’s world, freedom can be lost without a shot being fired, by ballots as well as bullets. The success of our leadership is dependent upon respect for our mission in the world as well as our missiles – on a clearer recognition of the virtues of freedom as well as the evils of tyranny. . . .

We in this country, in this generation, are – by destiny rather than choice – the watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of “peace on earth, good will toward men.” That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: “except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

Healing & the Book of Change

Yoga Anatomy and the Hexagrams 

Yoga anatomy explains the unifying effect of working with the Book of Change. It isn’t necessary to know about its details in depth to receive the benefits of using the I Ching. However, the basics are highly suggestive as to how the hexagrams work and why their healing effect often seems magical. The following image shows the energy centers which correlate with lines of the hexagram. The seventh center, being beyond physical time and space, is not represented.

Both Chinese and Hindu versions of yoga describe subtle energy centers located along the physical spine. They are associated with the flow of electrical energy currents through the nervous system, but at a deeper level, along subtle pathways called nadis or meridians.

Both traditions draw on this knowledge in the practice of their healing arts. Both prescribe meditative practices that balance these centers for the ultimate purpose of achieving spiritual enlightenment. 

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and related martial arts work with three centers called “tan tiens,” or cauldrons. These correspond roughly with the head, heart and solar plexus. In this tradition, the bottom two lines of the hexagram correlate with the lower dan tien. The middle two lines correspond with the middle dan tien. The upper two lines correspond with the upper dan tien. Tai Chi, practiced as moving meditation, unifies the three centers with holistic effect. 

The yoga practiced in India posits six energy centers described as spinning vortexes or wheels, called “chakras.” These subtle centers correlate roughly with the physical anatomy of the brain, throat, heart, solar plexus, genital and anal regions.  

The six lines of the hexagram each correspond with one of the chakras. The top line corresponds with the ajna center near the pituitary gland, called the third eye. The bottom line corresponds with the base chakra. Increasingly higher centers correlate with progressive stages of human development.  

The chakra system of energy transformers which traverse the spine is another knowledge matrix that affects how we process and transmit information. Each chakra filters perception. Each influences the way we interpret experience. . . . One proof of this process is the wide array of Western psychologies, each relevant to a specific chakra issue.  

Skinner’s is a first chakra psychology based on behavior. Freud focused on sex, a second chakra issue. Adler thought in terms of power, the third chakra. Fromm wrote about love, the fourth chakra focus. Jung was interested in literary symbols and self-actualization, which are fifth and sixth center interests. 

Asian sciences, however, have recognized the interactive relationships amongst these concerns. They provide practical methods for integrating the chakras to pave an optimally functioning highway of continuous energy and information. 

Similarly, psychologist Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs sums them up. His five stage model starts with basic physiological and safety needs. Once these are satisfied, the individual pursues issues of love and esteem. Only when these needs are met is one ready to focus on personal growth needs – ultimately “self-actualization.

Most of us function primarily at one or a combination of the chakra levels. Blind spots prevent fluid, integrated thinking, making it difficult to relate to other people’s perspectives. Working with the I Ching helps to open, coordinate and align the specific mental, emotional, and social issues associated with each of the six energy centers. This greatly improves the quality of personal relationships and professional effectiveness. 

Further, yoga anatomy has implications for human survival. In this world view, each individual is a miniature of all creation. Every unit, from atom to individual, mirrors the structure of the solar system and universe entire. So restoring order and balance to one’s own life does in effect save a world complete, one life at a time. 

Yoga Anatomy and the Caduceus 

The Greek caduceus, the familiar symbol of the Western medical profession, is a vestigial reminder of the origins (albeit forgotten) common to the Western and Asian healing arts, perhaps dating still further back to ancient Egypt’s Hermetic tradition. In Greek mythology, the caduceus is the healing staff of Mercury, messenger of the gods. It links heaven and earth. 

Far earlier than the Greeks, however, the caduceus is the model of yoga energy anatomy. It comes from a time-tested tradition thousands of years old. The axis represents the human spine. The pair of snakes winding around the axis represent alternating, cyclical patterns of negative and positive (yin and yang) energy currents. 

The six chakras are the intersecting points where the curving snake-like energy forces meet and cross at the axis. These are the major centers of transformation and evolution. The wings at the top of the axis represent the integrating seventh crown chakra. 

The Caduceus and DNA 

Just as the I Ching hexagram structure correlates with the chakras of yoga anatomy, the chakras in turn are associated with DNA.  

Further, the hexagrams have been directly correlated with DNA. In fact, the Chinese ideogram for the word I Ching looks remarkably like not only the caduceus but also the spiraling structure of the DNA double helix. This cannot be coincidental.

The I Ching Pictograph

The Double Helix of DNA

A shorthand rendition of the pictograph is featured on the Wilhelm/Baynes translation of the German version into English with its famous introduction by psychologist Carl Jung.

Many striking resemblances between the structure of DNA and I Ching hexagrams suggest at least one fascinating explanation for how/why this information source resonates with quantum inner knowing. It can’t be accidental that both the DNA helix and the I Ching matrix are based upon a binary-quaternary code that generates a system of 64 possibilities. 

The I Ching matrix with its 64 possible combinations of yin and yang lines along with their endless permutations lend themselves to medical diagnosis. For example, according to the Medical I Ching by Dr. Miki Shima: 

The practice of traditional Chinese medicine is based on the recognition of patterns of change within one’s patients. When these patterns of change are harmonious and foster life and well being, we say the patient is healthy or recuperating. . . Without going back to [the I Ching] . . . one cannot fully understand and appreciate the height and depth of the immense body of Chinese medical wisdom. 

Interestingly, Da Liu correlates a 64 form practice of tai chi with the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching, 32 of which are yin, inward and 32 outward.

Conclusion

These energetic correlations suggest the potential for a quantum approach to health and healing on all levels – mental, emotional and physical. It’s an approach from the inside out, a quantum solution to the medical madness currently plaguing our civilization.

Your Ultimate Personal Survival Guide 

PREFACE 

The 2000 millennial year title of the 64 Essays was The Ultimate Personal Survival Guide. It came from a brainstorming session with a business consultant for marketing The Common Sense Book of Change. She was unfamiliar with the I Ching. 

We went back and forth with questions and answers about its use and value. Finally, she sat back and blinked. “It sounds like the ultimate personal survival guide,” she concluded.  

She’d hit the nail right on the head. She got it! 

However, before she drew me out with her questions, I’d taken my answers to her valid concerns for granted. Others were likely to have similar doubts. 

So a further step was necessary. A follow-up book was required, one which would lead others to draw the same conclusion that she did. It had to dispel myths and misconceptions which prevent this gravely misunderstood and underrated treasure from getting the international acceptance it so richly deserves. 

I’d become certain that the worldwide leadership deficit (and related budget deficits) are explained by an underlying knowledge deficit. For lack of what The Book of Change has to offer, people everywhere remain perplexed as to how and why so much continues to go so horribly wrong, even despite the best of intentions. 

It seemed urgent to clear the decks. Making this compendium of Natural Law — the premier leadership training and decision-making manual in China for thousands of years — widely accessible now to fill in this fatal knowledge gap. 

Mainstreaming this vitally important information is the first, necessary step towards the positive change which many call for, but remain unable to achieve. 

Fourteen years later [now 24], I find myself in the same predicament. How does one shake up the sleeping public? What will it take to make people worldwide aware of how important this information is, and how gravely we’re at risk due to its absence? 

As a possible solution, I returned to The UPSG. In the process of updating the Introduction, I had an “Aha” moment.  

In the text, I’d made the conscience connection: The I Ching is called The Ultimate Personal Survival Guide because it refers to ULTIMATE timeless wisdom. This wisdom is accessible on a PERSONAL level, facilitating inner and outer change, one person at a time. This change gives us the edge on SURVIVAL, influencing who will survive, how, on which levels of experience. And it’s a GUIDE that helps put us in resonance with the ultimate inner guide — conscience. 

Taken out of context, however, the title left The USPG open to misunderstandings. It could be misconstrued as suggesting that the benefits of working with the I Ching come from the book itself. However, no physical book, no matter how inspired or useful, is correctly called an ultimate survival guide. Books are just material things. 

Conscience alone is the ultimate survival guide. The value of using The Book of Change is that it leads the individual back to personal conscience. It serves to reconnect the user with the eternal center which resides at the hub of the quantum Life Wheel.  

Exactly what is meant here by “conscience?” As with each of the 64 Essay terms, definitions of “conscience” have devolved over time. Here, the word refers to the pristine meaning of the term, associating it with “inner light.” 

In I Ching context, Conscience is associated with the innermost center of the quantum Life Wheel. This yoga-compatible model, as detailed in Rethinking Survival and summarized below, layers the variables of Albert Einstein’s famous formula, e = mc2. 

Einstein’s view of conscience was consistent with I Ching use. He regarded an enlightened person as one liberated from limiting selfish desires, who has turned instead to aspirations of transcendent value. Einstein described the experience of an “inner voice” that brought him closer to the “secrets of the Old One.” 

Essay 12 on Values gives a snapshot glimpse of the word’s appropriate use: 

Conscience not only puts us in touch with our own uniqueness; it also connects us with the universal true north principles that create quality of life. 

The extraordinary value of the I Ching is that it reveals the secrets of dynamic Natural Law. Working with its changes opens inner access to the middle level of the quantum Life Wheel, the “e” energy layer of Einstein’s Unified Field Theory.  

This middle level serves as mediating, two-directional gate-keeper between the ever-changing surface rim and the universal, timeless center. You can’t get from here to there, except through the middle layer which, in Western thinking, is effectively taboo, buried in the inaccessible “unconscious.” 

To the extent that Natural Law is a blind spot in the prevailing, linear and exclusively empirical paradigm, we are left powerless to move beyond the surface level of experience. The realm of light and conscience which rests beyond, on the far side of the dynamic energy level, remains functionally inaccessible. 

Moral codes promoted by religionists or politicians are sometimes equated with conscience. But they’re no substitute for direct experience. Only by becoming intelligently competent in managing the subtle energies of the middle level is it possible to travel further inwards for the immediate, personal experience of inner light. 

When the middle level becomes clogged with painful memories, negative emotions and socially taboo urges, it becomes a barrier to deeper knowing. The Book of Change is indispensable as a tool for restoring the unnecessarily “unconscious” to conscious awareness, so that the levels of human potential can be linked and unified. 

In Quantum Paradigm context, survivors who prevail in dangerous times aren’t those with the most material wealth, possessions or political power. They’re the ones who’ve successfully navigated the middle realm, reached the far shore of enlightenment and returned to the surface with their new information intact. 

Those who succeed in linking the levels of experience are genius leaders in whatever fields they choose to engage. They’re the fortunate ones who’ve acquired the inner wealth necessary to both hear the inner voice of conscience and act on the guidance they receive. 

Q. & A. 

As yet, an exclusively materialistic. linear paradigm continues to generate the dysfunctional results experienced in every aspect of personal and public life. The powerful benefits to be gained from shifting to the more inclusive Quantum Paradigm are blocked by so-called authorities and experts who are highly invested in the limited and limiting empirical science paradigm. 

The I Ching is misrepresented with numerous assumptions and prejudices which have effectively kept this critically important information in the shadows. Answers to some of the most familiar doubts are listed below: 

  • Question: What does an ancient book from a foreign land have to do with me, here and now? 
  • Answer: Everything. As the compendium of Natural Law, the I Ching is neither time nor place-bound. It speaks to the questions we all ask about the human condition. For over 8,000 years, with good reason, it has endured as the foundation of Chinese healing, governing and military arts alike. No equivalent exists in the West. It fills a fatal gap in the way we think. 

  • Question: If it’s so important, why isn’t it taught in schools? 
  • Answer: Good question! Probably because the objections raised here are taught as assumptions instead. 

  • Question: Isn’t the Book of Change unscientific – just hocus pocus or New Age superstition? 
  • Answer: Like any other wisdom tradition that has endured over time, the I Ching has inevitably been subject to misuse. This doesn’t, however, reflect on its inherent value. This compendium of Natural Law is so highly sophisticated, in fact, that Western science is just beginning to catch up with it. For example, in the 1800s, Leibniz acknowledged that its mathematical foundations long preceded his calculus. The single and broken lines of the hexagrams are analogous to binary-digital computer code. Further, as described elsewhere, its 64 hexagrams are analogous to DNA structure.

  • Question: Is the I Ching a sacred book, like the Bible? Is it part of a religion? 
  • Answer: Yes and no. Taoists, Buddhists, and Confucians, despite their differences, all hold the I Ching in highest regard. It is used to connect with deity, on the one hand, and consulted for practical advice regarding every aspect of daily life, on the other. Sacred is in the eye of the beholder.
  • Question: Is The Book of Change pagan and therefore off-limits to Christians? Does it contradict or oppose the teachings of the Old and New Testaments? 
  • Answer: There is no conflict. Natural and Divine law are two different but interdependent levels of the quantum Life Wheel. Pagans by-pass Divine law, choosing to worship nature instead. In contrast, sages observe and work with the laws of nature, the better to serve humanity by serving the divine. Both the Old and New Testaments show an understanding of nature which is compatible with the I Ching worldview. 

  • Question: Can the I Ching be fully understood or appreciated without knowledge of the Chinese language? 
  • Answer: Hindu’s have a similar attachment to the exclusive value of the Sanskrit language, Jews to ancient Hebrew, and Muslims to the original language of the Koran. However, the Source of truth is beyond language. Its cultural expression at a particular time and place varies, but the basic essentials are necessarily the same. As translations into English and other languages continue to improve, this will become increasingly apparent. 

What is the I Ching? 

The Book of Change is a text that consists of 64 interactive, six-lined graphs — hexagrams — placed within the matrix of a circle, a square, or both. In combination, they map of the Natural Laws of change. Each graph is assigned a name represented by a Chinese pictograph. Translations are comparable to Plato’s perfect Ideas. 

The 64 hexagrams represent the bare bones of the life process. They are to Natural Law what basic axioms are to geometry. The open and closed lines the hexagrams are a convenient shorthand used to represent alternating energy valances. A broken line stands for negative (yin) energy (chi). A solid line stands for positive (yang) energy. 

For example, the hexagram for Awareness, looks like this:  

Each hexagram is like the common denominator of a math equation. Each reduces expanded, complex relationships back to their most simple, recognizable form. No matter how complex or convoluted specific variations on the basic themes become, all experience can be reduced back to these fundamental dynamics. Over time, meanings have been associated with each of the hexagrams. These, in turn, have been elaborated upon by a succession of interpretations.

Because the hexagrams are universal, they can be applied to virtually any discipline. For example, one version of I Ching correlates the hexagrams with DNA discoveries. There’s a medical diagnostic version. Da Liu correlates his 64-form practice of healing tai chi with the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching. Another version applies the readings to Jungian psychology. A constitutional law professor at Yale University has published a commendable version. Yet another correlates the hexagrams with meditative Taoist practices. Other versions reflect on the order of family and social relationships, on successful business practices, and on the conduct of war. 

The basic readings are descriptive and informational only. There is no moralistic or prescriptive bent. The content is observational and practical: If this, then that. For example, if one squanders resources during times of prosperity, then times of adversity will follow. If one is respectful towards others, then they will be moved to behave respectfully in return. 

Using the interactive Book of Change is a powerful way to get in touch with the native common sense (conscience) we’re all born with, but too often forget under the pressures of hectic daily life. It is used first to increase self-understanding, then to create harmony between the inner world of self and outer world of others. 

There are many ways to select the relevant hexagram. All involve approaching the book with a quiet, open mind, analyzing the current situation, framing a question regarding that situation and then finding its answer. These methods are described in The Common Sense Book of Change. 

Whichever method is used, it yields a hexagram which represents the immediate moment. Each hexagram, however, has the potential to mutate. This is because any one or any combination of the six lines can change into its opposite. This produces one or more new hexagrams. 

The “direction of change” reading associated with the mutating line(s) indicate which level(s) are kinetically active and what the possible consequences could be. This information is regarded as a warning, which heeded, may influence future results. 

The correlation between actions and predictable consequences is called the Law of Karma. In biblical terms, this law is expressed as the familiar warning, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” It is the practical basis of ethics. It underscores the wisdom of the advice, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Because actions do, in fact, inevitably return in kind. 

Among other things, the I Ching works like a cosmic clock, telling us the time. In the Old Testament, King Solomon expressed the natural, rhythmic alternations of time in poetic form: 

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven: 

A time to be born, and a time to die; 

a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. 

A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down and a time to build up; 

A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance; 

A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together; 

A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; 

A time to get and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 

A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence and a time to speak; 

A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace. 

Working with the Book of Change puts its users in touch with these pulsating, alternating rhythms of life. It connects them with inner knowing – call it intuition or conscience – that anticipates approaching changes, the better to prepare for what is to come. It serves as a reminder that our lives change like nature’s seasons. Fall follows summer. Spring follows winter. It lends perspective to the current times and what is likely to come next. 

Historically, the I Ching has been held in the highest regard throughout Asia for over eight-thousand years. Its cultural influence has been roughly equivalent to that of the Bible in the West. Leaders in philosophy, religion, healing, government, business, martial arts and the military were all trained from this single, universal text. It is still widely accepted as the basic manual of relationship dynamics and effective decision-making. 

How to Approach the I Ching 

The I Ching offers a comprehensive understanding of how the world works. It doesn’t, however, fit neatly into the usual book categories. It can be approached as an historical document or philosophical tract, but is far more than that. It can be used as a self-help book, but is more than that too. 

Above all, it’s a practical decision-making tool based on a comprehensive science. It challenges us to jump outside the narrow boxes within which we’ve been taught to reason, to qualitatively change the way we think. 

The method of working with the I Ching requires stilling the mind and entering the receptive, meditative state in which inspirational thoughts become available. As such, it is an invaluable compliment to the practice of any religion. 

Why Use the I Ching? 

In an age of ever-accelerating, sometimes bewildering change, working with the I Ching helps its users remain focused on the basics. Ephemerals on the surface of the quantum Life Wheel inevitably pass away. Social customs continue to change. Old friends move on or prove fickle. Jobs disappear without warning. Fortunes are lost over night. Buildings are blown out of the skyline.  

Loved ones leave or pass away. If we neglect ourselves long enough, even health becomes precarious. 

The more chaotic the uncertain world becomes on the surface, the more personal balance depends upon the opposite and equal anchor of inner strength, accessed with the help of timeless wisdom. The I Ching serves to remind us of the constant within change. It grounds us in unchanging reality, the better to sustain the courage and confidence required to endure and prevail during tough times. 

Working with the I Ching gradually changes the way we think, intentionally linking the levels of experience. It disciplines us to ask better questions and to be receptive to answers which extend beyond the parameters of empirical science.  

The I Ching advises, “It is futile to hunt for deer in a forest where none dwell.” Issues which can’t be solved with rational logic, money, mechanical engineering or brute force, soften and open in the light of inner wisdom.  

As such, The Book of Change is an invaluable life companion for everyone facing ongoing personal changes in a rapidly changing world. Its premise is the assurance that even when social, economic and political chaos seems staggering, taken one instance at a time, there’s always hope.  

The world at large is an unmanageable unit. But by focusing on the smallest unit closest to home, oneself, one needn’t be overwhelmed or paralyzed. Whereas forcing change on others is a violation of free will, one can always — especially with the aid of wisdom tools like the I Ching — change oneself. 

The important first change is not image or behavior, but more fundamentally, one’s vision of life’s potentials and the way to transform from within. The rest follows. It is, after all, possible to change the hearts and minds of others through one’s example. Perfected, one individual’s life can have a ripple effect that emanates outwards in all directions across the boundaries of time and space. Buddha and Christ both demonstrated this. 

Who Benefits from working with the I Ching? 

Natural Law is written in our hearts, in our very DNA. It is equally available to everyone with open ears and a ready willingness to hear. Those able to think with uncluttered, childlike simplicity resonate most easily with the I Ching call to conscience. 

Often, individuals at a cross-roads in life, where they suddenly find themselves in unfamiliar territory or it seems as if they have nothing to loose, take new interest in a book that helps them navigate life’s passages with dignity and grace. 

Importantly, the Book of Change isn’t the exclusive property of highly-educated people, nor of a particular gender, age-group, culture, class, time or place. It’s an indispensable basic, a valuable teacher to everyone who chooses to make themselves whole. 

A caveat: it’s not those who understand, but those who also follow through who benefit most from the value The Book of Change has to offer. Its concepts may be relatively easy to comprehend. But they’re not always easy to put into practice. 

Working with the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching requires the time to pause and reflect. It’s not like fast food that can be taken in at one gulp and then forgotten. 

But it nourishes on many levels. Its benefits are cumulative and enduring. Returns on the investment of time and effort made are exponential. 

Over time, I’ve come to understand that the I Ching’s value is measured by the quality of focused attention, self-honesty and positive intention with which it’s used. Those who dismiss it, who “believe” it is superstitious nonsense, fulfill their expectations. As such, this vastly powerful book has its own fail safes.

Context 

In Rethinking Survival, discrimination, violence and sexual abuse are linked to an information deficit. The Natural Law codified in the Book of Change: 

. . . fills in an information gap. It’s the missing link in our knowledge banks. In a complete worldview, the dynamic law of change occupies the middle level. It links the outer material surface with the innermost center. You “can’t get from here to there” except through that middle layer. 

This explains why many leaders, even with the best of intentions, go terribly wrong. When authorities operate from an incomplete paradigm, they’re blind-sided. Lacking what has been mainstreamed as “emotional intelligence,” they can’t identify the place where things are messed up. When they take a left-hand turn, they don’t understand why. Worse, they don’t know how to return to the positive path. 

Here’s the context: Laws of nature emanate from the Divine. It’s a mistake to romanticize (or demonize) nature. It’s a worse mistake to worship nature in place of the Creator. But being competent at the practical, middle (energy) level of three-part experience is essential to the whole. Again, it’s a sorely missed link in our functional knowledge base. 

The “subtle” energy realm lies between the outer, surface level of matter and the deepest center of unchanging stillness. As the functional link between extremes, both on the out-going and the in-going paths, it serves as the unavoidable gatekeeper and mediator between the two. “You can’t get from here to there,” except through this middle level of experience. 

Without wisdom and skill at this middle level of experience, spiritual aspirations cannot be realized nor can political policies be effectively implemented. Ongoing sex scandals which plague high-level politicians and clergy give a hint of what’s missing from their training, causing them to fail miserably at great expense to those they claim to serve. 

Using a well-familiar example from American history, here’s how I expressed the place of Natural Law in the Introduction to The Common Sense Book of Change: 

THREE LEVELS OF LAW. The American Declaration of Independence names three kinds of law: the laws of man, of nature and nature’s God. The Book of Change is based on the laws of natural change. They emanate from and depend on divine law and serve as the rightful foundation of civil law. Clearly, laws legislated in ignorance of or in opposition to natural and divine law are not likely to work out well. Policy makers at all levels would do well to give this point careful thought. 

In Common Sense, Thomas Paine wrote about the relationship of divine, natural and human law in a way that inspired readers at the time of the American Revolution to fight for freedom from tyranny. Approaching natural law from the deeper understanding of the ancients could inspire a reinvention of democracy now.  

Sages say that freedom from tyranny begins with dispelling ignorance and overcoming negative emotions. True freedom starts with the self-awareness and self-mastery which can be gained by diligent use of the I Ching. 

I had this in mind when critiquing Affirmative Action, and in formulating Positive Action alternatives to achieve the valid goals of misguided legislation bound to trigger backlash. 

Overcoming Fear of Change 

Lacking the balancing anchor of that which is beyond change — that which puts short-term change in perspective — people stuck on the surface of the Life Wheel become fearfully addicted to the familiar. 

But resisting change doesn’t prevent it from occurring. It only leaves the fearful unprepared to meet change when it inevitably arrives. They’re perpetually behind the eight-ball, left out of “luck,” a day late and a dollar short. 

Addressing unnecessary fear was a large part of my incentive for bringing the Quantum Paradigm to the public. It speaks to those who struggle in dark, doing best they know how as they continue to live lives of “quiet desperation.” 

They intuitively know, as I did earlier, that somewhere somehow something is terribly wrong. But they too don’t know where to look, or what to fight. 

They feed insatiable appetite with all the wrong foods. They take vacations to escape from angst, but in the wrong directions, and wake up afterwards, hung over and broke. They hunger and thirst, but things of the world do not satisfy.  

27. GROWTH

People seek help according to what they need for their own growth.
Unless hunger is fed with the right food, no amount of input will satisfy.
To understand others, watch how they nourish themselves. Nature provides for all.
Leaders promote those who have the ability to serve many. Avoid greed.

Conclusion 

Although The Book of Change is held in highest esteem by philosophers of every nationality, as well as the followers of the world’s enduring religions, the I Ching is not a religion. It is a map, expressed in binary mathematical code, of Natural Law. It explains not only the observable patterns of natural events, but also repeating cycles of dynamic personal life, social systems and nations throughout history. 

In its essence, the perennial Book of Change is timeless. It continues to help thoughtful users tap into the source of universal wisdom which all enduring spiritual, religious and healing traditions share in common. It resonates with a fundamental inner core of experience which, despite apparent diversity, all truth traditions share in common. It therefore has the potential to link people of good will across the globe with a basis of shared understanding. 

Whether the context be therapy, spiritual practice, personal introspection, or practical decision-making, working with the Book of Change is the quintessential method for cultivating mindfulness and self-awareness. It enables users to move beyond the theory of their personal philosophy and into its practical applications in positive action. 

As such, this book which touches the heart of all religions, is the universal key sought by religious scholars. It embodies The Perennial Philosophy of Aldous Huxley, the common thread which links all human experience. 

Rethinking VALUES in 2024

In watching Watching JFK Jr. Birthday Celebration, it seemed clear that this noble soul is “here for a time such as this” to remind us all of our core values.

In rereading Essay 12 on Values, I’m reminded to be aware that whatever time left is precious, and to use it wisely.

12. VALUES

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. — Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, quoted by Sarah Ban Breathnach in Simple Abundance

Conscience not only puts us in touch with our own uniqueness; it also connects us with the universal true north principles that create quality of life. We can use conscience to align our values and strategies with principles, ensuring that both the ends and the means of our mission statement — both the contribution and the methods used in making the contribution — are principle-based. — Stephen R. Covey, First Things First

All this turning away from one another is terrible for our souls. When we live in a world in which ethical and spiritual goals have been excluded and ridiculed, we find the human spirit shrinking with disastrous consequences. Selfishness and cynicism are bad for our physical and psychological health. . . On the one end of the continuum, people approximate the extreme of caring only for themselves. On the other end, people begin to approach the biblical ideal; seeing every single human being as created in the image of God, and hence as infinitely precious and deserving of our care and respect. — Michael Lerner, The Politics of Meaning

THE FRONT
Value has the same root as valor, meaning strength.

Webster’s first definition pertains to money. It means a fair price for something sold or exchanged. It refers to the worth of a thing in money or goods at a certain time, the market price. It describes purchasing power.

Value means whether a thing or idea is regarded as more or less desirable, useful, or important. It points to that which is esteemed for its own sake, having intrinsic worth.

Value also pertains to social principles, goals or standards held or accepted by an individual, class or society.

In music, value is related to timing: the relative duration of a note, tone, or rest.

What a person holds in esteem defines his character. Whether a person consistently acts according to these values is the measure of her integrity. Living congruent with beliefs and promises affords peace of mind. Ignoring beliefs or violating commitments tears individuals, businesses and communities apart. We sicken and fail mentally, then physically, one at a time and then collectively.

Used divisively, “family values” is a polarizing slogan that stirs up political animosities. It places moral assumptions above the timeless values of wisdom and heart-felt compassion. In The Bible Code, Michael Drosnin observes that the family of man has fragmented into competing religions whose extremist leaders would rather destroy the planet than share the holy city of Jerusalem. According to him, placing the values of pride, ownership and sheer hatred over love of life signals the end of times.

In contrast, in I Ching context, moderation is esteemed as the greatest social value. For example, R.L. Wing’s version of Hexagram 15, “Moderation,” observes: “The enlightened person reduces the excessive and increases the insufficient. He weighs the outside world and bring about equality.”

Thus, to react with extremes of hatred towards those act hatefully endangers us all. Reacting with extreme fear to end-stage prognosis poisons the quality of whatever time remains. I Ching wisdom would call us to center and balance, moderating cultural conditioning with self-confidence and self-discipline. Where there is insufficient love and trust, they must be restored. Where there is excess fear, panic and resistance, they must be reduced. If the span of life, whether individual or collective, be short, then the value of each moment left is so much the greater.

Wisdom traditions regard survival in terms of soul, not body alone. We do our best when we focus not on the fact that we eventually die, but on how we use our allotted time on earth. Then, every day becomes a precious opportunity to earn what Elizabeth Kübler-Ross calls a “good death:” safe passage to the beyond with our life-work accomplished — lessons learned and commitments fulfilled.

Increasingly dangerous times heighten the sense of urgency and value placed on making the best of every day. Prophecies simultaneously warn of the end and promise a new beginning for those who live the law. The Bible Code can be read as yet another wake-up call, a reminder that the time to put our lives in order is NOW.

Mortality is a given. Experiencing immortality, however, is a choice. We can either follow the sleep-walker’s path to oblivion or value I Ching wisdom, heeding the DNA Bible code written in our hearts, remaining alert and awake to hear and do whatever it takes to ultimately survive.

THE BACK
Opposites of value include scorn, contempt, and rejection. Closing off awareness of connection results in failure to honor life. By denying creative potentials in ourselves and others, we underrate and debase our collective worth.

Overestimating the worth of money, status and physical beauty is a perversion of value. Unthinking acceptance of others’ opinions as more important than personal health, integrity, or self-esteem has a corrupting effect, resulting in puppet-like behavior. Portfolio value can vanish overnight; the soul’s worth is eternal.

A Pivotal Time

GONG!!!!! 

Today, March 20th, 2023, strikes a gong of new beginnings on increasingly larger scales of magnitude.  

  • First, it’s a New Moon, the first day of a 28-day lunar cycle.  
  • Second, within four hours, it enters the spring equinox, regarded by astrologers as the first day of the zodiacal New Year. 
  • Third, within three days, Pluto, planet of transformation, changes sign, entering Aquarius, regarded as the abode of inspiration, innovation and upheaval. In sum, its duration lasts some 284 years. 

The New Moon is located at one degree of Aires, the first sign of the zodiac. The Sun and Moon lead an impressive line-up of planets and asteroids in the same sign, adding up to a powerful alignment of Mars-ruled energies. In the higher octave, it’s a great time for courage, initiative and vigorous, positive action. In the lower octave, look for irritability, belligerence and outright conflict. 

In the higher octave, in the northern hemisphere, the entry of spring bodes a season of renewal and hope after a dreary winter. In the lower, we’re in for lots of rain, mud and windy bluster. 

With Pluto entering Aquarius, we can expect, though not necessarily over night, radical social, economic and political change. Astrologers, for example, point to the French and American revolutions, which occurred early on during Pluto’s last stay in Aquarius. In the higher octave, it supported the overthrow of oppressive rule by monarchs in favor of individual rights and freedom. In the lower octave, it witnessed cruel bloodbaths, massive dislocations and widespread suffering.  

Compounding the affect, the United States is currently going through its Pluto return. It’s a time of massive rethinking. In this case, being in the second house related to values both social and economic, great shifts in how the nation sees itself and intends to evolve are already in the works. 

It’s a momentous, pivotal moment in time, either for better or worse. How will YOU use it? 

My greatest fear is that, as a nation, the US might fail to learn from the lessons of history and simply mindlessly repeat the same old mistakes, yet again. For example, the revolution in France gradually devolved back into tyranny. Napoleon, who at first was welcomed as a hero, eventually crowned himself emperor — tyranny dressed in new clothes. 

Similarly, in the United States, the values enshrined in the Bill of Rights have devolved and are currently under siege. Cloaked in liberal rhetoric, the oppressive influence of socialism has undermined its institutions — from education and healthcare to the government and military, dangerously undermining the values for which the founders fought. 

My dearest hope is that we will learn from the lessons of history and do the Pluto thing better this time around the astrological block. Much better. 

This time, let’s seek freedom from the inside out, rather than the other way around. Let’s do it more mindfully. Less violently. 

Words matter. A lot. And freedom in particular is a powerful word, much used, less often understood.   

In the year 2000, I wrote a collection of 64 essays based on the premise that, over time, the value words of the English language have devolved to mean both one thing and its opposite. The Tower of Babel Dilemma. All too often, we miss each other coming going, using the same words, but meaning very different things, sadly unaware of the disconnect.  

From the I Ching, the Chinese Book of Change, comes the awareness that in duality, there are two sides to every coin. Thus, for each of the value words explored, one section was called “The Front,” while a contrasting section was called “The Back.”  

Here’s part of the exploration of FREEDOM, which we would do well to revisit at this powerful, pivotal time of change: 

THE FRONT 

Freedom is the state or quality of being free, implying exemption or liberation from the control of other people or arbitrary powers. It means liberty and independence.  

It implies exemption from arbitrary restriction or a specified civil right.  

It can mean exemption or release from imprisonment, or being able to act, move or use without hindrance or restraint.  

It means being able of itself to choose or determine action freely, at will, implying ease of movement performance or facility. It means being free from the usual rules or patterns.  

It can also mean irresponsibility, easiness of manner, or sometimes an excessive frankness and familiarity. 

Most people fail to recognize that, like peace, love and unity, freedom is attained first on the inside as a state of mind and being, only then authentically reflected in external circumstances.  

In I Ching context, freedom is a state of in-dependence, depending primarily on inner resources – rather than undependable, imperfect mortals — for guidance, protection and peace.  

The freedom sages seek is the cessation of negative, involuntary patterns of behavior. Breaking the chains of destructive cause and effect is a function of deliberate self-awareness, forgiveness and atonement (at-one-ment). 

Those secure in themselves dedicate their lives to extending the freedom they value for themselves to others without prejudice. Abraham Lincoln, for example, had the soul of a sage. He intuitively knew the basics of magic, and recognized the difference between black and white rules. He wrote, “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master.” 

In any case, while human laws might change outer appearances, they cannot change the underlying attitudes and beliefs that drive slavery. Nor is saying and doing whatever one wants as a puppet of blind impulse true freedom. Seeing through negative filters of fear, pride, or hatred is as limiting as literal bondage.  

When its people are disconnected from inner wisdom and out of touch with nature, though a society may call itself democratic, it isn’t truly free. 

THE BACK 

The opposite of freedom is imprisonment or slavery. This includes not only external, physical incarceration, but internal, programmed or self-imposed limitations. Ignorance and bad attitudes, along with negative emotions and self-destructive habits can be as addicting as tobacco, alcohol or drugs, undermining personal freedom. 

Recklessness and heedlessness are perversions of freedom. If a mistrusted authority says not to drink, smoke or drive too fast, for example, the first thing a rebellious teen will do to assert “freedom” is disobey, regardless of the consequences. Sadly, this is the hard way to learn the connection between foolishness and disaster. 

This time around the repeating cycles of history, let’s be mindful that we have free will, and use this pivotal time of new beginnings as the opportunity to choose wisely. Let’s learn to live in the higher octave, and get better results for ourselves, our loved ones and for the collective community. 

Patricia West is author of The Common Sense Book of Change and Two Sides of a Coin: Lao Tze’s Common Sense Way of Change. She’s currently working on The Phoenix Response: Dying To Be Reborn – in the Same Lifetime.