quotes Frederic Bastiat

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Apr 162013

Who was Fredrick Bastiat

Frederic Bastiat was a French classical liberal theorist, political economist, and member of the French assembly. He was notable for developing the important economic concept of opportunity cost, and for penning the influential Parable of the Broken Window.

Bastiat asserted that the sole purpose of government is to protect the right of an individual to life, liberty, and property, and why it is dangerous and morally wrong for government to interfere with an individual’s other personal matters. From this, Bastiat concluded that the law cannot defend life, liberty, and property if it promotes “legal [or legalized] plunder,” which he defined as using government force and laws to take something from one individual and give it to others (as opposed to a transfer of property via mutually-agreed contracts, without using fraud nor violent threats against the other party, which Bastiat considered a legitimate transfer of property

Frederic Bastiat Quotes

“It is impossible to introduce into society a greater change and a greater evil than this: the conversion of the law into an instrument of plunder.”

“Thus, if there exists a law which sanctions slavery or monopoly, oppression or robbery, in any form whatever, it must not even be mentioned. For how can it be mentioned without damaging the respect which it inspires? Still further, morality and political economy must be taught from the point of view of this law; from the supposition that it must be a just law merely because it is a law. Another effect of this tragic perversion of the law is that it gives an exaggerated importance to political passions and conflicts, and to politics in general.”

“Legal plunder can be committed in an infinite number of ways; hence, there are an infinite number of plans for organizing it: tariffs, protection, bonuses, subsidies, incentives, the progressive income tax, free education, the right to employment, the right to profit, the right to wages, the right to relief, the right to the tools of production, interest free credit, etc., etc. And it the aggregate of all these plans, in respect to what they have in common, legal plunder, that goes under the name of socialism.”

“Society is composed of men, and every man is a FREE agent. Since man is free, he can choose; since he can choose, he can err; since he can err, he can suffer. I go further: He must err and he must suffer; for his starting point is ignorance, and in his ignorance he sees before him an infinite number of unknown roads, all of which save one lead to error.”

“They would be the shepherds over us, their sheep. Certainly such an arrangement presupposes that they are naturally superior to the rest of us. And certainly we are fully justified in demanding from the legislators and organizers proof of this natural superiority.”

“All you have to do, is to see whether the law takes from some what belongs to them in order to give it to others to whom it does not belong. We must see whether the law performs, for the profit of one citizen and to the detriment of others, an act which that citizen could not perform himself without being guilty of a crime. Repeal such a law without delay. … [I]f you don’t take care, what begins by being an exception tends to become general, to multiply itself, and to develop into a veritable system.”

“The mission of the law is not to oppress persons and plunder them of their property, even though the law may be acting in a philanthropic spirit. Its purpose is to protect persons and property…. If you exceed this proper limit — if you attempt to make the law religious, fraternal, equalizing, philanthropic, industrial, or artistic — you will then be lost in uncharted territory, in vagueness and uncertainty, in a forced utopia or, even worse, in a multitude of utopias, each striving to seize the law and impose it on you.”

“As long as the law may be diverted from its true purpose — that it may violate property instead of protecting it — then everyone will want to participate in making the law, either to protect himself against plunder or to use it for plunder. Political questions will always be prejudicial, dominant, and all-absorbing. There will be fighting to gain access to the legislature as well as fighting within it.”

“Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Sometimes the law places the whole apparatus of judges, police, prisons and gendarmes at the service of the plunderers, and treats the victim — when he defends himself — as a criminal.”

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all.”

“The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended.”

“Sometimes the law defends plunder and participates in it. Thus the beneficiaries are spared the shame and danger that their acts would otherwise involve… But how is this legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them and gives it to the other persons to whom it doesn’t belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish that law without delay … No legal plunder; this is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony and logic.”

“When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”

“The state tends to expand in proportion to its means of existence and to live beyond its means, and these are, in the last analysis, nothing but the substance of the people. Woe to the people that cannot limit the sphere of action of the state! Freedom, private enterprise, wealth, happiness, independence, personal dignity, all vanish.”

“Men naturally rebel against the injustice of which they are victims. Thus, when plunder is organized by law for the profit of those who make the law, all the plundered classes try somehow to enter — by peaceful or revolutionary means — into the making of laws. According to their degree of enlightenment, these plundered classes may propose one of two entirely different purposes when they attempt to attain political power: Either they may wish to stop lawful plunder, or they may wish to share in it.”

“The state is the great fiction by which everybody seeks to live at the expense of everybody else.”

“When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.”

“Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place.”

“No legal plunder: This is the principle of justice, peace, order, stability, harmony, and logic. Until the day of my death, I shall proclaim this principle with all the force of my lungs (which alas! is all too inadequate).”

“By virtue of exchange, one man’s prosperity is beneficial to all others.”

More Frederic Bastiat quotes:

Come On Eileen

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Apr 042013

Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen

Poor old Johnny Ray
Sounded sad upon the radio, he moved a million hearts in mono.
Our mothers cried and sang along and who’d blame them.
Now you’re grown, so grown, now I must say more than ever.
Go Toora Loora Toora Loo-Rye-Aye
and we can sing just like our fathers.

Come on Eileen,
I swear (well he means) At this moment you mean everything,
With you in that dress my thoughts I confess verge on dirty
Ah come on Eileen.

These people round here wear beaten down eyes
Sunk in smoke dried faces they’re so resigned to what their fate is,
But not us, no not us we are far too young and clever.
Remember Toora Loora Toora Loo-Rye-Aye
Eileen I’ll hum this tune forever.

Come on Eileen, I swear, well he means
Ah come on let’s take off everything,
That pretty red dress Eileen (Tell him yes)
Ah come on let’s, ah come on Eileen, please.

Bradley Manning to Receive the Nobel Peace Prize

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Apr 042013

Bradley Manning to Receive the Nobel Peace Prize

During the last week of March, more than 30,000 people signed a petition urging the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Bradley Manning. While the numbers continue to mount on the petition website, so do the comments from individual signers.

Thousands have already written personal notes to explain their support for the petition. I hope the Nobel committee reads the comments carefully when the petition arrives in Oslo later this spring.

As a U.S. Army private — seeing massive evidence of official deception, human rights abuses and flagrant killing of civilians — Bradley Manning did not just follow orders. Instead, he became a whistleblower, supplying vast troves of documents to WikiLeaks, exposing duplicity that had enormous impacts from Iraq and Afghanistan to Egypt and Tunisia.

Manning, now 25 years old, could be in prison for the rest of his life. But while the U.S. government tries to crush him, it’s clear that many Americans love him — and would be thrilled to see him win the Nobel Peace Prize. The following samples of comments from petition signers begin to explain why:

“Bradley Manning knowingly risked his freedom in order to bring the true facts of war to the public. The courage and insight of such a young person is worthy of the highest recognition.”

Sheila C., Kings Park, NY

“Manning is a U.S. political prisoner being persecuted for blowing the whistle on war crimes by the powerful, including his own corrupt government. He should be given the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Ruth K., Greenbelt, MD

“If you are looking to regain your reputation after giving the award to a warmongering president, I can think of no more important or honorable figure than this political prisoner.”

Catherine C., Santa Monica, CA

“This poor, incredibly brave person has been scapegoated nearly to death for his extraordinary heroism in revealing just a bit of the truth behind the ideological gloss of war and politics. Please give him the support and recognition he deserves — you may save his life and you will certainly support a higher consciousness in many if you do so.”

Cathy C., Boulder, CO

“Wall Street bankers who looted our nations go scot free. Petro chemical companies who poison millions go free. A young man who releases truth in a democracy is terrorized endlessly by his government. We must stand up for truth tellers.”

W.D., Overland Park, KS

“Manning has done more for peace in our time than any other individual. He risked his freedom to inform the world of war crimes and other wrongdoing by his country.”

William P., Prescott Valley, AZ

“He has done more than anyone to challenge the hubris of a government’s foreign policy that is based on belligerence and aggression.”

Myles H., Baltimore, MD

“Please give the peace prize to those who truly merit it, like Manning, not to politicians who further militarism and war.”

Albert R., Naperville, IL

“The Norwegian Nobel Committee will need courage even to consider awarding Bradley Manning the Peace Prize.”

Robert B., Honolulu, HI

“It’s about TRUTH!”

Mary P., Center Moriches, NY

“Bradley Manning is a hero in the deepest and truest meaning of that word.”

Jennifer A., Dickson, TN

“This young man risked everything to reveal war crimes being committed by his government.”

Joanne H., Columbia, MD

“I feel Manning was acting in the spirit of the Nuremberg trials in taking individual responsibility for illegal activities that he was witnessing.”

Nick W., Point Reyes, CA

“I’ve personally been inspired by Bradley Manning’s courage and moral dignity. His actions and character give me hope that the world can be a safer and more just place for everyone.”

Brock D., Pittsburgh, PA

“The modern version of Daniel Ellsberg deserves the honor his efforts warrant!”

Doug W., Reno, NV

“Information is the lifeblood of democracy. Bradley Manning is a patriot and a hero.”

William C., Sherman Oaks, CA

“People who expose atrocities for the sake of humanity deserve to be publicly honored.”

Veda S., Camano Island, WA

“Giving Bradley the peace prize would send a strong message against the kind of secrecy that is associated with violence that Gandhi spoke so strongly about.”

Leo S., Chesterfield, NH

“He is definitely deserving! He did an extremely courageous thing. It’s wrong that he is detained and tortured. Awarding him this prize is the least we can do.”

Patricia M., Denver, CO

“As clear a choice as Jesus Christ. (And I’m not religious.)”

Kenneth K., Highland Park, IL

“This man is a hero for exposing the evil practices of our Government. We’re guaranteed a transparent Government, but what we get is shadowy deals, evil bargains, and more. We need to get back to basic principles of doing what’s right.”

Raymond P., Cathedral City, CA

“What an appropriate and great idea the Nobel Peace Prize for Bradley Manning!”

Lesley S., Santa Monica, CA

“Bradley Manning’s ‘crime’ was to bring the truth out into the open, to shine a light on evil policies our government wants to hide. He is a hero, and should be rewarded for his integrity.”

Patricia F., Ashburnham, MA

“The people of the United States and the world should be grateful to Bradley Manning for exposing the folly of U.S. wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has made a great sacrifice for peace.”

Laurence R., Highland Park, NJ

“I believe him to be one of the heroes of this country. Unfortunately The Media is owned by vested interests in this country, so the rank and file Americans only believe what they are told to believe, so because he and Julian Assange embarrassed the powers that be his heroics will never be widely known or appreciated.”

Thomas C., Albuquerque, NM

“Bringing covert actions and diplomatic operations out into the open helps make all governments and corporations better actors on the world stage.”

Greg C., Austin, TX

“You might also request President Obama to return his.”

Reginald S., San Francisco, CA

“One person deserving of the Nobel Peace Prize is Bradley Manning for bravery despite the risk to his personal safety. The criminals go unpunished, while the messenger is condemned.”

Helga G., St. Louis, MO

“This young man has put his entire future on the line to bring us information that he felt every American should be aware of. We have treated him terribly. If we cannot get the information that is concerning the behavior of our country, we are dooming our democracy to failure. Protect this young man for his courage and award him the Nobel.”

Laurie B., North Hollywood, CA

“You gave the prize to Barack Obama hoping for peace which was not delivered. Manning has ALREADY delivered. And is very much in need of international support.”

Peter B., Brooklyn, NY

“And free him too.”

Keith P., Boulder, CO

“Just as Daniel Ellsberg’s release of the Pentagon Papers exposed much of the ugly truth about the conflict in Vietnam, Manning has spoken truth to power and the masses. We can argue about justifications for military intervention more appropriately when some of the less savory realities are known.”

Edward & Pamela B., Baton Rouge, LA

“As a Sgt USMC Vietnam 1966/67, I urge you to not only award Bradley Manning the Nobel Peace Prize, but to rescind President Obama’s award.”

Robert B., Orange, TX

“We should have a law against criminalizing whistleblowers. The government will continue to make stupid mistakes and the citizens have a right to know the truth.”

Sylvia D., Tulsa, OK

“Thanks Bradley. The truth will make us free.”

Blase B., Los Angeles, CA

“Bradley’s in prison while those responsible for these heinous acts of cowardice are free. It’s so easy to condone war when isolated from reality.”

Daria R., San Jose, CA

“He acted out of social consciousness. His actions were not treasonous and he was not aiding the enemy. It has been criminal how he has been treated since his arrest.”

Gregg D., Chattanooga, TN

“If anyone ever really earned the peace price, it is Bradley Manning. Please give the world a favor by electing him for this award.”

Liza F., Chapel Hill, NC

“Bradley Manning is the bravest, strongest and most righteous man in our military today. His treatment by our ‘government’ has been nothing less than criminal. This needs to be brought to the attention of everyone on Earth.”

Susan W., Pilot Hill, CA

“Someone in my family died on 9/11. How do we address the underlying causes that might drive someone to commit an act of terrorism in the first place? Might the information allegedly leaked by Manning galvanize people to hold their political leaders more accountable? And so we might be able to enact meaningful changes in the realm of foreign policy? Our current policies will only end in more blowback. Thank you, Bradley Manning.”

Rick C., New Milford, NJ

“Indeed, this young man DOES walk in the shoes of Dr. King.”

A.J. A., Potsdam, NY

“Bradley Manning knew what he was risking in taking his stand against the U.S. government and it was an act of inspiring selflessness. Please recognize his willingness to stand up against what has become a monstrous self preserving beast of a government.”

Robert B., Charlotte, NC

“Bradley Manning is a hero willing to put his life on the line to speak out about war crimes that are not acceptable in a civilized world.”

Linda L., Trinidad, CA

“This man has sacrificed a great deal for all of us who believe in honest government and genuine democracy.”

Kaye F., Longmont, CO

“Let’s walk the walk!”

Richard R., Albuquerque, NM

“My beloved country, the USA, is spending too much money and lives on militarism. We have invaded other countries on the basis of lies. I believe this young man will be seen as a hero some day. That he is in prison says much about the USA and its military.”

Marcie B., Flagstaff, AZ

“It is the hawks who are threatened by Manning and want to nip this kind of behavior in the bud.”

Shelley D., Issaquah, WA

“Wow, what it would do for the world to honor someone who actually acted for peace with courage and self-less-ness. Having that reference would give enormous hope for people around the world and for humankind!”

Connie S., Santa Barbara, CA

“This is a wonderful idea! Bradley Manning certainly deserves it, and if he receives it, it would have to shame the U.S. government into releasing him.”

Rose B., Austin, TX

“Rarely have I felt so strongly about a Nobel nominee’s qualification for the honor. PFC Manning has given a significant part of his life, night and day, to bring truth to light and reduce human suffering. History will judge him a hero. History starts here, now.”

John K., Laurel, MD

“Bradley Manning is a hero of the people. He should be freed and given the Nobel Peace Prize AND a ticker-tape parade in NYC.”

Leonard M., San Marcos, CA

“Give peace and Bradley Manning a chance.”

Martha L., Dixon, CA

“I am Proud of Bradley Manning and how he took action to expose the treachery of my government to stop it. Bradley Manning deserves the Nobel Peace Prize along with Julian Assange!”

L. L., San Diego, CA

“Bravery and altruism are what stands between us and the power and greed of unscrupulous might which has no conscience.”

Caroline T., Ann Arbor, MI

“Bring the trial into the light of day. Don’t let Manning be ‘disappeared.’ This is America.”

Jeffrey G., San Carlos, CA

“Bradley is a political prisoner in our country that preaches freedom and democracy on the outside but does so many illegal things behind our backs without transparency!”

Steve & Sharon B., Oxnard, CA

“Bradley Manning has done more than anyone in the world to let all people know the deplorable state of U.S. militarism.”

Gail O., Portland, OR

“In 2001, the world began a steep descent into terrible, ethical unknown. We are now in free fall, thanks to the unbridled and abetted preemptive strikes on two countries Afghanistan and Iraq. The most pressing issues on the planet — inequality and climate collapse — have effectively been negated and conflict is escalating daily based on new and old rivalries throughout the world. Soon, much of the world’s species will inevitably be condemned [to] death-struggles over food, water, air and brute force. Bradley Manning will go down — if we live to write the history of the world in 2200 — as one of great souls of our age. He deserves recognition now by all those concerned with the crises we now face and must solve together as a planet and a human society.”

Ari M., Lennox, MA

“Peace is unattainable without sacrificial lambs, apparently.”

William T., Ellicott City, MD

“No peace possible without freedom of information!”

John K., Elizabeth, CO

“Let this kid go. As a Vietnam vet I say put Cheney, Rumsfeld and Bush in jail. They actually got people killed — for nothing. And I mean nothing.”

Ken L., Pinehurst, NC

“I thought we would learn from Vietnam, but we did not. Exporting war for profit has to end, and Manning’s courage must not be forgotten.”

Roger S., York, PA

“The public has a right to information. That is the basis of democracy. Bradley Manning has the courage to give us the truth. I cannot think of a more deserving individual.”

Trish S., Sparks, NV

“The selection of Bradley Manning would put ‘Peace’ back into the Nobel Peace Prize.”

Gail H., Mesa, AZ

“Although I’m an Obama supporter, I’m ashamed that he is still allowing the military to persecute Bradley Manning.”

Cathy L., Grayling, MI

“He deserves it. Obama did not, though I supported it at the time.”

Burton C., New Castle, NH

“He is a hero to the whole world!”

Phoebe S., Berkeley, CA

“Manning is a sterling example of the power of one individual sacrificing himself for the good of humanity.”

Encke K., New York, NY

“The media silence is deafening.”

Daniel S., Manchester, NH

“He did break the law but he’s serving time for that. Sometimes to serve the greater good laws need to be broken.”

Rachel D., Seattle, WA

“He has done so much to expose the criminal behavior of some leaders of the American empire.”

Frederick C., Montclair, NJ

“Whistleblowers are the true heroes! And he really needs this.”

Carol Anne F., Berkeley, CA

“Give the Nobel Peace Prize to a true hero of the human race, a man who transcends borders and has placed his own self a distant second to the needs of others. Brad Manning is a great human being. Give him the Nobel, please!”

Eric W., Austin, TX

“According to U.S. military brass, it is ok to commit war crimes but it is not ok to expose them. Giving Bradley Manning the Nobel Peace Prize will give hope to millions of peace loving people around the world. Please consider it.”

Ali M., Princeton, NJ

“I suppose this enters me into a database somewhere, but this man deserves our thanks for revealing the lurid backstory of diplomacy and the hypocrisy of our ‘leaders’ (and I use that term loosely). This country needs the truth.”

Arthur G., Chamblee, GA

“Those who blow the whistle on the evil actions of government need to be applauded and rewarded, not imprisoned.”

Kenneth E., Ormond Beach, FL

“This is a moral imperative. Bradley Manning has already spent too much time incarcerated for supporting our right to know how our leaders betrayed us with war for profit. Do the right thing!”

Josephine P., Brooklyn, NY

“Bradley Manning has endured terrible conditions in a U.S. military prison because he thinks that citizens of a democracy should know what their government and military are doing in their names; that transparency rather than secrecy nurtures democracy and peace.”

Edith M., Milwaukee, WI

“Bradley Manning has been jailed and tortured. He has been denied his constitutional rights. He has sacrificed himself to prove war crimes and to help bring peace to Iraq. He is the Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King of this century. He should be awarded The Noble Peace Prize.”

Deb B., Pittsburgh, PA

“With all due respect, try giving the Peace Prize to a REAL champion of peace, for a change.”

Lionel S., Pahoa, HI

______________________________________________________________

Norman Solomon is co-founder of RootsAction.org and founding director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His books include “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.” He writes the Political Culture 2013 column.

Napoleon Hill – Think And Grow Rich

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Mar 252013

Napoleon Hill – Think And Grow Rich – ORIGINAL Full Length

Here is the full length original First edition video footage published by Napoleon Hill in march 1937 This video is perfectly named Think And Grow Rich which first popularized the Law Of Attraction.

The Law of attraction is defined simply by acknowledging that thoughts are things… to define clearer…. You Are What You Think…. Like Attracts Like…. You Become Your Dominant Thoughts…

For Anybody who is looking to change there life for the good and become successful in all areas not just business but personally, i would advise them to study this material.

Napoleon hill compiled this knowledge from the worlds millionaires back at the turn of the century..

The 4 Agreements

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Mar 192013

After I read “The Four Agreements”, by don Miguel Ruiz, my life has been forever changed. It was an eye opener and a game changer. I realized that everything in life is a sum total of all the agreements every human being has ever made. So now is the time to make new ethical agreements and learn to live that way. Below it says Living The Four Agreements can be one of the most difficult and the same time the easiest habit to keep. I agree. Once I committed to doing it it became easier and easier. This is why I dislike the word “t-r-y” so much it is impossible to be impeccable with your word using it. T-r-y implies failure and when I say I am going to do something there is no t-r-y. Like Yoda said in Star Wars “there is no t-r-y either do or don not”.

I love how The Four Agreements integrates with the concept of Titania so beautifully. By living The Four Agreements makes living the Titanian Ethic so much easier.

Be impeccable with your word.
Don’t take anything personally.
Don’t make assumptions.
Always do your best.

Living your life with these ideas in mind will only aid one in being more ethical and creative. I know it has for me. See how it works for you.

Living the Four Agreements: A life changing Journey

In the best selling book The Four Agreements don Miguel Ruiz gives four ethical principles to practice in order to create love, truth and personal evolution in your life. Adopting and committing to these agreements is simple. Actually living and keeping these Four Agreements can be one of the hardest things you will ever do. It can also be one of the most life changing things you will ever do.

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As you practice living these four practices your life will dramatically change. In the beginning these new habits will be challenging and you will lapse countless times. With practice these agreements become integrated into your being and every area of your life and become easy habits to keep.

The Four Agreements are:

1. Be Impeccable with your Word: Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the Word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your Word in the direction of truth and love.

2. Don’t Take Anything Personally
Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.

3. Don’t Make Assumptions
Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.

4. Always Do Your Best
Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Understanding how to Integrate and Live the practices

Upon reading don Miguel’s wisdom many people have their eyes opened to a new possibility for living life. They get excited when they see the potential for happiness, love, and respect with themselves and their relationships. What they fail to see is the challenges and resistance the mind will have to living just one of the agreements. Don Miguel briefly mentions these challenges in his book, but people fixate on the four chapters with the agreements and seem to miss these other important points. This is often the set up for expectations that lead to disappointment and frustration.

Domestication

During our early life we began making agreements. Our parents rewarded us when we did what they wanted and they punished us when we didn’t. We also learned behaviors and habits in school, church, and from other adults and children on the playground. The tools of reward and punishment were often emotional and sometimes physical. The impact of other people’s opinions and reactions to us became a very strong force in the habits we created. In this process we created agreements in our mind of who we should be, what we shouldn’t be, who we were, and who we were not. Over time we learned to live our life based on the agreements in our own mind. We learned to live according to the agreements that came from the opinion of others. In this process of domestication it turns out that the choices we make and the life we live is more driven by the opinions we learned from others than one we would choose on our own.

Why Living the Four Agreements Is Such a Challenge

We have out of years of habit not paid attention to how we express our self. The responses that come out of our mouth are often automatic. They were learned from years of habit living by the agreements we learned. We do not consciously choose our words, or the emotion, tone, and attitude that we express.

Over years our mind has filled with beliefs that generate incessant thinking. In all that thinking we have many assumptions that we are not aware of. We even make the assumption that what we think is true. We imagine and assume what others think of us and how they will react. We also assume that the judgments and self criticisms we have are true. We have learned to make so many assumptions that we aren’t aware of. These assumptions are not the truth. These assumptions and the faith we express in them is just one way that we are not impeccable with our word.

Through our domestication we have also learned to take things personally. We assume that when someone has an opinion about us that their opinion is valid. Their opinion becomes our belief about our self. We end up having an emotional reaction to our own belief because we assumed their opinion it is true. We can also take personally our own opinions. We take personally our own self judgments. These self judgments are nothing more than an assumption. Over years the mind has developed many habits of making assumptions and taking them personally.

Just because you adopt the Four Agreements doesn’t mean that all these habits in the mind will stop with that commitment.

When you decide to change your life and adopt the Four Agreements you are challenging the beliefs you learned and the habits you practiced since your childhood domestication.

Adopting the Four Agreements creates a conflict in the mind between expressing your self Impeccably with love and your existing fear based beliefs.

Avoiding Double Jeopardy

One of the hidden assumptions that people often make when adopting the Four Agreements is about time. Without awareness the mind makes the assumption that they should immediately be able to keep the Four Agreements 100% of the time. The mind completely ignores that there are already existing agreements and habits of taking things personally that have been in place for years.

With the expectation of the new agreement that we will not break any of the Four Agreements we are set up for failure. We have an emotional reaction and take something personally which feels bad. (but is completely normal part of our old habits) But then the inner judge reprimands us for failing to not take something personally. Now we feel twice as bad. The inner judge tells us that we failed and the voice of the victim in the mind accepts this proposal.

The result is that we are not only upset, but we also feel like a failure. If you just look at your emotional state at this point it will seem like things are getting worse instead of better. It can seem like attempting to keep the Four Agreements is causing more problems and making you feel worse.

If you are aware that you are judging your self for taking something personally, you can feel even worse. Your inner judge might use that awareness to judge and reject your self for judging your self for taking something personally. In the beginning the myriad of voices in your head are likely to use your new found awareness as material for self judgment. This is when the fourth agreement, Always Do Your Best, is most important. It gives you immunity from self judgment. Your best isn’t perfect practice of these agreements on day one. Your best will include a lot of stumbling in the beginning and improve over time as you practice. Just like walking, learning a language, or playing a sport, you can’t play at top level on your first day learning.

Awakening

In actuality the problem is not that you adopted the Four Agreements. Nor is the problem that you are a failure. What is really happening is that you are having an awakening. You are waking up to how your mind makes assumptions, has emotional reactions, and is so quick to make self judgments. These realizations about the belief system in your mind are not usually pleasant but are part of an awakening. It is usually uncomfortable realization, but through it your awareness is growing.

With some more awareness and practice you can move beyond this uncomfortable awakening about the mind. You will come to see that it is not You that is judging your self for failing. It is the inner judge. With practice you will see the ridiculous expectations and assumptions for what they are and not feel like a failure when you lapse in your journey to impeccability. This comes as you gain more awareness and gain more personal power over your agreements.

The Challenge of a Spiritual Warrior

Don Miguel refers to some of these challenges throughout the book. However, in the excitement of the Truth in what don Miguel writes, people often overlook where he points out that this endeavor is not easy. The agreements may be simple, but he never says they are easy to keep.

At the same time living the Four Agreements has taken me on the most rewarding and profound journey of happiness and fulfillment beyond anything I could have imagined. The hard work in the beginning is rewarded to me in every interaction every day of my life. This is a very big return for a small investment of time and effort.

Don Miguel refers to people who decide to adopt the Four Agreements and create love and happiness in their life as Spiritual Warriors. It is Spiritual because it is about living your Life. It is also referred to as a war because you are challenging the old fear based beliefs in your mind. It will take more than a week and a half to break free of fear, the tyranny of the inner judge, and old emotional habits. There will be some battles lost along the way, but that is of minor concern in the longer term strategy of creating happiness in your life.

The Quest for Personal Freedom

The quest of a Spiritual Warrior is for Personal Freedom. Personal Freedom means freedom from fear, illusions, and the fear based beliefs in the mind. In essence it means to win the war over the beliefs in the mind. It is with Personal Freedom that we are free of the human condition of emotional suffering. Spiritual traditions around the world have their own names for this state of awareness including nirvana and heaven. It is a state that is simply described as living your life with unconditional love, gratitude, and respect, for your self, and for others.

The Opportunity

I’ve spent many years personally studying with don Miguel Ruiz. After my life and relationships were completely transformed I asked him if there was anything that I could do for him in return. He said, “If you want to, share with others what you have learned and how you live your life so they can be happy as well.”

That help has taken the form of material on my web sites, personal coaching guidance, online audio course in Self Mastery, and Spiritual Intensive Journeys. I am also working on a book about my experiences.

There are many practical actions you can take to speed up changing your life and live more impeccably. In my years of study with don Miguel what he has written in his books is a small fraction of his teachings.

Sign Up For The

On Line

Study Course

Self
Mastery

While don Miguel is no longer teaching, you can still learn the practices, process, wisdom and insights from those he trained. You are invited to take advantage of the material in my web sites, my personal coaching services, and the workshops and Power Journeys I lead.

The best place to start is the Self Mastery Audio Series. It is a self paced program of mp3 audio files that you download and listen to. Each session has very specific practical exercises to help you implement aspects of mastering the Four Agreements. The first four sessions are free so that you can sample the material and see if it will work for you. The next 10 sessions are only $99.

As an alternative you can listen to many of the free mp3 audios that I have placed on line that deal with issues like, How not to take thing personally, Changing Core Beliefs, Free Will, Feeling Not Good Enough, Hidden Assumptions, Do We Have Free Will, and others.

I wish you much Love, Joy, and Laughter in your Journey,

Gary van Warmerdam

Roll the Bones

motivation, music No Responses »

Mar 182013

Roll the Bones

Rush – Roll The Bones

Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, Neil Peart

Well, you can stake that claim –
Good work is the key to good fortune
Winners take that praise
Losers seldom take that blame
If they don’t take that game
And sometimes the winner takes nothing
We draw our own designs
But fortune has to make that frame

We go out in the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That’s the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones

Why are we here?
Because we’re here
Roll the bones
Why does it happen?
Because it happens
Roll the bones

Faith is cold as ice –
Why are little ones born only to suffer
For the want of immunity
Or a bowl of rice?
Well, who would hold a price
On the heads of the innocent children
If there’s some immortal power
To control the dice?

We come in to the world and take our chances
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That’s the way that lady luck dances
Roll the bones

Jack, relax.
Get busy with the facts.
No zodiacs or almanacs,
No maniacs in polyester slacks.
Just the facts.
Gonna kick some gluteus max.
It’s a paralax, you dig?
You move around
The small gets big. It’s a rig
It’s action — reaction
Random interaction.
So who’s afraid
Of little abstraction
Can’t get no satisfaction
From the facts?
You’d better run, homeboy
A fact’s a fact
From Nome to Rome, boy.

What’s the deal? Spin the wheel.
If the dice are hot — take a shot.
Play your cards. Show us what you got –
What you’re holding.
If the cards are cold
Don’t go folding.
Lady Luck is golden;
She favors the bold. That’s cold
Stop throwing stones –
The night has a thousand saxaphones.
So get out there and rock,
And roll the bones.
Get busy!