It has been rightly said that the spiritual path is not a way for the faint hearted. It can appear, on the surface of it, that it is all about getting in touch with one’s inner self, meditating in peaceful surrounds and ‘blissing out’ without regard to the physical world around us. This, in fact, is far from the case. The spiritual path is a returning to God. That means we must undergo the process of clearing our energy field of negative vibrations. You may have heard of this concept; it is commonly known as karma...
Christians preach that Jesus atoned for all our sins. This is only part of the story. While it is true, it does not mean that we are exempt from the influences of current life, or indeed, past life karma. It means, and I do not profess total understanding here, that the sins of man as a whole have been atoned for. It does not nullify the need for personal work, nor does it give us carte blanche to do whatever we want, then simply say a few “Hail Mary’s” and hey presto we are forgiven. This is one of the Churches most hideous lies.
Karma is a real phenomenon. It comes with a price too, although, it is the price, so that is neither here nor there! Karma cannot be simply brushed away. Each act we perform must be paid for in full. What this means is that all sorts of painful circumstances will befall us. This is even more so when we are on a spiritual path, for what has happened, when we commit to the path, is that we have, metaphorically speaking, placed our hand in the air and declared “I am ready to do the work”. The result of this is that we take on a larger amount of karma than most in order that we may work through it and learn the lessons that will take us home. Events from the past must be dealt with, and not just from this life either.
The thing with karma is that it is not a conscious process. What this means is that most people will have no idea where the things that happen to them come from. Illness, for example, is just one of the ways in which negative karma can manifest itself in our lives. A cold may be the spiritual clearing of an argument that took place at some point in the past. It is not without good reason that we have been unable to find a cure for the common cold. When we medicate that cold, we are simply numbing ourselves out to the healing effect of our spiritual energy field.
It is possible, indeed, if one is sufficiently attuned, to know when an illness is coming and to deal with it’s affects in the spirit body as opposed to having to deal with it in the physical. This is not something that can be attained straight away. A person must sufficiently raise their vibrational rate to the level at which they can perform such things.
If you have seen the excellent TV show, “My Name is Earl”, you will be familiar with karma. It is a universal phenomenon and it continues to operate whether we want it to or not. Theories abound as to the extent of karmic retribution. Some say that whatever one sows comes back tenfold. Others say threefold. Clearly we do not know, however, the general consensus is that whatever negative karma we incur is magnification of the original transgression. On this basis, it becomes evidently vital that we make all effort to ensure that we do not continue to create negative karma for ourselves, our planet or for other people.
How does one do this, then? To begin with it is quite simple. We merely follow a moral code such as the Ten Commandments, or the teachings of Jesus, or we may simply follow the old adage of ‘do unto others as you would have them do to you’. In the end, it is entirely up to the individual what moral code they choose to live by.
What is essential though, is that we must be aware of the concept of personal responsibility. This is really what karma is all about. If we hurt or cheat or steal or lie or whatever, then we must be prepared to face the consequences of this. In fact, whether we are prepared or not, the consequences will come, if not in this life, at least in the next. It is as simple as that; only it must be continually remembered that we cannot hide any of our actions from the spirit. We may well be able to get away with things in the material world, and it may be that our fellow man does not realise our actions, but this is not the case in with realm of spirit. All our actions, both good and bad, are recorded and must be accounted for.
When one starts on a spiritual path, these concepts will be incurred very early on. The reason for this is that, when begins to look at life in this way, it becomes easier and easier to understand how we create negative or positive karma. By this knowledge, we are able to start taking responsibility for ourselves and our actions. I have dealt briefly with the ways to begin to raise ones level of vibration in other articles, but this is one of the ways in which we can become more aware of ourselves. The key to releasing karma, until one is more advanced along the spiritual path, is knowledge.
When one comes to the point in life where spiritual concerns begin to be important, it is very good to read as much as possible. In this way one may come to learn for oneself what holds good and what does not. Do not take as truth any one writer’s words. Even the Holy Scriptures can not to be taken as on face value. This is because of the fact that they are spiritual books and therefore can only be understood by the spirit. Many of the atrocities of this world have been caused by the interpretation, on a physical level, of spiritual words.
Therefore, test everything and keep that which holds true and dispense with the rest. Likewise with these words. It is all very well me offering these teachings, but how do you know who I am and what manner of man I am? It would be seriously remiss of me to pretend to have the answers you seek. To do so would incur a huge level of karmic debt on my part, and I am aware, at least enough to know not to travel down that road. I offer only that which I have found along the path I have travelled. It is often said that each must take his own road and that the traveller must beware not to mistake the map for the territory. I have found this to hold true.
Monday, 24 December 2007
Karma: The Spiritual Path
Saturday, 22 December 2007
My Spiritual Path...
Currently there are many people in this world that are searching for more. They have reached that point where they genuinely ask themselves the age old question, "Is this really all there is to life?"
The fact is that this world is such a wonderful place to learn these lessons, by that I mean that it shows one very effectively that material things cannot bring happiness. In this world of ours, one can see it so very clearly if one wishes. The following is a brief description of my path so far...
When we look around it is easy to see people that earn the kind of money that one can only ever dream of. Our television screens are littered with them. In this world one can have more money than it is possible spend in a lifetime. The thing is, when I look at these people, I mean really look, they are clearly not happy. One only has to look at Britney Spears at the moment to see this very plainly. This is because the thirst inside for something more always remains.
I thought, a long time ago, that it was just a case of earning more money. I thought this would quench this thirst and so I went after it and got it. I had so much money, that I literally did not know what to do with it, but I was still not fulfilled. Then I began thinking that perhaps it was freedom that I thirsted for; to be the master of my own destiny. So I pursued that. I dropped out of the ‘rat-race’ and attained that freedom. Still, the thirst was stronger than ever...
I thought that it was love and family so that was my next target. This did provide temporary relief. Children are apt to do that. They are so wonderful and take an inordinate amount of work that can distract you for a while. Yet soon the thirst was there again. Next I began to think that perhaps I choose the wrong career in the first place and so tried to live out childhood fantasies in the hope that they would satisfy the constant craving. They did not. I found myself left with little more than my ambitions. I tried fulfilling those. It did not work. Nothing worked.
One by one all the things that this world offered were left by the wayside as I began to realize that nothing would fill the hole inside. That is when I began to despair. I had tried everything I could think of and found that none of it worked. I had been to all the wild parties, taken numerous drugs, slept with more people than should be legal, earned more money than I could ever need, achieved goals I never thought possible, and so on and so on until I finally accepted that what I needed cannot be found in this world.
This was when depression set in. Thoughts of suicide plagued me. This stage lasted a long time. What I came to understand was that this too was an illusion. All I was really doing was trying to convince myself that I had not made wise choices in this life and if I had then everything would be alright and I would not feel this way. So, I thought, let's end this life and just try harder in the next, (I believe in reincarnation, by the way). Fortunately though, I am strong and know deep down that this is not the way. Having said that, this did not stop me fantasizing about it.
Then, suddenly, and without my even realizing it for a while, a wonderful thing happens. God came to me. It was not a ‘road to Damascus’ type of experience; it was so much smaller and so much quieter than that. There is light but it is not the light that is visible to human eyes. It is light on the inside. It is the light of God that fills you. You suddenly know what you must do and where you must go. Life takes on new meaning.
And yet … yet, I had absolutely no idea how to get there; no idea even where ‘there’ was. I had read much about it. Indeed, in reaching this place, that had been an inevitable necessity. None of it really helped at this time, though. There is so much confusion in this world that I came to a point where none of the information out there added anything other than more confusion. I had reached the stage where it all said the same thing, in the end. The problem, though I did not know it yet, was that my cup was simply full, as the saying goes. How can the spirit pour anything new into you when your cup is already overflowing with the ideas of this world? Soon I came to realize this.
This is where I understood that it was time to stop. By beginning the process of emptying my mind of all the thoughts that had got me this far I slowly began to be receive the spirit. The paradox is that I needed all that information to get me to this point but, now that I was there, I needed to completely empty myself of it.
I discovered, as did Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz”, that I already possessed everything I would ever need to take me home. This is where the real work began; only it is not work at all. It is the absence of work, the absence of anything at all.
I began to go inside myself, and now everything is becoming clearer. This has not happened overnight and the path from here is still a very long one. What I did not realize for a long time is that the process changes you anyway. Truly, it is not a destination but a journey. It is how we travel that is the most important thing. When we travel in the right way, the destination will come to us and we will realize that we were there already. Again, just like Dorothy, we will realize that it was all just a dream.
I have been on the spiritual path almost all of my adult life now. I have left behind much that once mattered in this world of form. This is good. This is necessary and the process will continue. I see now that everything up until the point where I started to look inside was just preparation, though very necessary preparation at that. It was then that the true journey began...
We are all beginners in this thing called life. Experience and knowledge do not make wisdom. Wisdom comes only from the God within. It is not of this world.
Friday, 14 December 2007
More Psychology of Selling
[Note: This is part of a chapter from my forthcoming book “The Art of Telesales”.]
That the customer is always right has become a modern day cliché. In his seminal work, “How To Win Friends And Influence People”, Dale Carnegie stated that if you want to get people on your side you must never argue with them. This is especially so for a salesperson, but why is this? Surely the whole idea is to persuade the prospect to your way of thinking, isn’t it?
The answer is that, as salespeople, we are not trying to get people to think that we are right and that they are wrong. If this was the case we would never get a sale. The times when we do prove a potential customer wrong, we will invariably NOT get the sale. They will resent us for highlighting their folly. If this is the case, then what is our role? ...
Our role as sales people is to present our product or service in such a way that the prospect can not, reasonably, say no to us. That is all there is to it, really. We must be guides and ushers at best – or at least that is how we must be seen to be.
I remember once, when I was fairly new in sales, I was out on a corporate night out. At the time I was selling alternative supply maintenance agreements on telephone switchboards. I happened to get talking to a rather attractive lady that was not part of our company but happened to be at the same venue as us. The subject turned to what we did for a living. I mentioned what I did and she exclaimed, in delight, that she was a sales trainer for her company. Jumping at the chance to learn, I offered to give her my pitch so that she could give me some pointers. She readily agreed.
During my pitch, it turned out that she also happened to be the person in her company that made decisions regarding their switchboard. Anyway, it was not long before I had her ready to be signed up as a customer. She was just about to give me her work number so that we could sort the paperwork out the following Monday morning, when she suddenly said "Oh, weren’t you going to give me your pitch, by the way?” To which I replied, “I just did!”
That was the exact moment where our blossoming relationship and my chance at a sale ended. It seemed that she was not impressed at all by my revealing that our whole conversation had been a sales pitch. It took me a long time to work out why, but the reason is simply that it showed her up to be foolish and naïve and also not a very good sales trainer, to boot!
The moral of this story is that, contrary to popular opinion, real salespeople are not wide boy Jack-the-lad types who can beat everyone in sight with their skill at rhetoric. What we are is highly skilled manipulators. If people can see your technique then you are not delivering it correctly.
How does this transfer into an actual sales situation, then? Well, the most important place is in objection covers. If someone raises an objection, what is the first thing you should do? Do you spend the next few sentences explaining exactly why they are wrong? NO! All that would happen is that the prospect will go into ‘fight or flight’ mode. They will either end up hanging up on us or getting into a verbal brawl. Both ways we lose out, in sales terms anyway. Be constantly on guard for this. Our task is to deliver our pitch in a way so as never to prompt the ‘fight or flight’ response in our potential client.
So, given an objection, therefore, what you do, first and foremost, is this:
Agree with the objection!
I do not care whether they have just come out with the most ridiculous statement ever, (we will go into how to deal with that later). Your line is simply and almost invariably:
“I appreciate that…”
Notice how, in terms of martial arts philosophy, we are like water; we are pliable, yielding, soft and playful even, yet when the time is right we can unleash devastating power. This is the art of sales at its very core. Remember the old saying, ‘no one expects the inquisition’? That was what gave it such power; the fact that no one expected it. We must be just like this – no one expects a good salesperson because all they ever see are the bad ones. When they do come across a good one, they do not even know it because all the customer thinks is that they merely spoke to a really friendly and helpful person who helped them buy what they wanted. The prospect never knew what hit them. It is probably true to say that the greatest salespeople are like cats toying with their prey, for only when they are absolutely certain that there is no more fight left in the quarry, will they go in for the kill.
The real question, though, is how we turn them round after agreeing with them. The answer to this is revealed in my book, "The Art of Telesales".
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Two inspirational stories
I had the urge to relate a couple of very short stories that I once heard. I must stress that these are not mine and I do not know the origin of them so I cannot reference them. All I can say is that I have found both to be a source of inspiration...
The first is a little silly, to be honest, but ... well, here goes anyway. I like it!
Two ants were admiring the Taj Mahal. After a while, one turns to the other and remarks, "Aren't the creations of Man wondrous to behold?". To which the other replies, "What?! Don't tell me you believe in Man, do you?".
The second is a little less frivolous.
Upon dying, a man goes to heaven where he meets God. After a while he plucks up the courage to ask God a question. "When I was dying", he says, "true to the stories, I saw my whole life pass me by. My question relates to this. I was wondering why I saw it represented as footprints in the sand - two sets of footprint to be precise, side by side?"
"Ahh", replied God, "That is because throughout your life I have walked by your side".
"In that case", the man retorted, "why were there sometimes only one set of footprints?"
To this God said that they were the times when the man had had trouble in his life.
"What?!" cried the man, "You mean you deserted me whenever I had any trouble in my life. What sort of a God are you?"
God simply replied "You do not understand. When there was only one set of footprints, it was because I was carrying you".
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Telesales Book
I have received a number of requests asking where people can get copies of my forthcoming telesales book.
It is currently still in the production stages but should be ready very early in 2008. Please check back here for progress updates...
Thank you.
End of post.
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Ramanama
I have, of late, begun to read Gandhi’s autobiography. I have not proceeded very far with it, as yet, but one thing has struck me with such a force that I am already thankful for beginning this reading. This is the concept of “Ramanama”.
Gandhi purports to have gained immense strength from this practice. I have conducted a brief web search but profess that I have yet to find the exact methodology behind this practice. However, I am particularly impressed at the notion of having a ‘practice’ that possesses the potential to imbue one with such power and motivation as had Gandhi.
I am, therefore, set to the task of finding such a practice as this for myself. It, of course, does not have to be ramanama, since that is based around the Hindu deity of Rama. Just as long as I find something, that is what counts. I am exceedingly glad to have discovered that such a thing as this exists”
Who Wants to Live Forever?
As I look around me, everywhere I see people giving up. I overheard a conversation this morning where one man asked an old acquaintance that he had clearly not seen in a while, what he was doing with himself these days. To this the other replied that he was not doing much at all other than playing a little golf occasionally. This struck me of a man that sees no future for himself. Of course this is a judgement on my part and one should always be wary of such a tendency, yet I feel as though I hit the mark in this case.
I see example of this type of thing all the time. It is as though people are programmed by this world to accept the inevitability of old age and death, which of course we are. Think, for example, of the old saying that there are only two certainties in life, namely, death and taxes.
The difference between this ‘worldly’ thinking and the thoughts that arise when one dwells in God are that, in God, one assumes life. Indeed, that is the entire premise of religion, is it not? That one will surely die without God, yet with God one can have everlasting life. In was not without a certain smile that I once read of one man’s response to this which went along the lines of “Why on earth would I want everlasting life? Don’t you think this one is hard enough?”
The Christian Church plays on this everlasting life aspect. It is essentially their sales pitch. I see this now. Yet, the problem is that the bible does not promise this to all believers. In fact it goes so far as to declare that most will actually not be chosen.
“Many are called, but few are chosen”
Matthew 22:14
The Church does not teach this. It implies that one is guaranteed salvation and eternal life if one simply believes in Jesus, attends church and leads a good life. This is totally incorrect. One of the core messages that Jesus tried to teach was that belief and leading a good life are just not enough. He held up the scribes and the Pharisees as an example:
“For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 5:20
The Pharisees were considered, (or considered themselves, at least), to be among the most righteous of all. They were well versed in scripture and held perfectly to the letter of the law. And yet they would not see the kingdom of heaven. How, then do we imagine that things have changed today?
We are taught that Jesus’ death on the cross has fully atoned us for all our sins, and that this has guaranteed our salvation, if we believe, that is. If this was indeed the case, do you not think that Jesus’ message would have been more along the lines of “Hey, don’t worry about a thing guys, I’m going to die for all of you so all you need to do is go to church and believe in me and we’ll be sorted!”
Clearly this is not the case, so what more must we do? While it may well be true that Jesus’ death on the cross atoned for our sins, we cannot expect that this automatically ensures our salvation. We must come to know the Christ in each of us. In John 17:3 we are told:
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
How do we come to know God? This passage is interpreted by far greater scholars than I as meaning to be at one with God. Therefore we must achieve what is known as Christ Consciousness. This is known by varying names around the world. Some call it enlightenment or nirvana. Jesus quoted Psalms 82:6 when, in John 10:34 he said:
“…Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?”
Clearly, in our present state, we are not Gods, or at least we do not think we are. We must realise our God nature and become God before we can escape this cycle of life and death. Zen Buddhism teaches that you are Buddha. It is exactly the same as saying “Ye are Gods”.
How do we achieve this feat, then? By first realising that we can do nothing of our selves. The self is the anti-Christ, the very antithesis of our true God nature. We have often heard it called the ego. Society has diminished the meaning of this to a large extent. We often think of it in terms of merely just being big-headed. This is erroneous and dangerous. To underestimate the ego, the anti-Christ, is the route of our ailment. It wants nothing less than to continue to rule our earthly lives as it does already.
In its effort to accomplish this, it will stop at nothing – even killing us. It knows we do not need it and that we are perfectly capable of existing without it, (though not in the sense you now think of existence). The result is that it hides from us. Remember, that the devils greatest feat was convincing mankind that he does not exist. The vast majority of people are not even aware of its existence and almost all are unaware that the entity, with which they identify themselves, is actually the very thing that would deceive them.
We live under mass hypnosis. Spiritual disciplines speak of the awakening process. This is what is meant by this. It is an awakening from the sleep that is our everyday consciousness. It is an awakening to the fact that “Ye are Gods”. It is the death of the ego, the anti-Christ within each of us that has taken possession of our lives.
Once we come to realise this, we can approach an understanding of the doctrine that we, of our own efforts, can do nothing; for the very reason that ‘our’ efforts constitute the efforts of the great deceiver. The Churches have this, at least, right. Yet, by attempting thus, we send out a message or a distress call if you will, to the Higher Self that we are ready to begin the process of return.
The process can and almost invariable will take many, many lifetimes to achieve and during each we must face many more trials and tests of our commitment along the way. Do not be discouraged, though. For, by the mere fact that you are reading this, the chances are that you are already well advanced in this respect anyway. Those that are will understand of what I speak. They will know already that this is so by the unmistakable leap of your soul in recognition of these words. This will be so even if you have not consciously contemplated these concepts before.
We will be guided by our Higher Selves to read the right words, to seek out the right things for our development. Our inner direction shall act as a compass and as we progress along the path, we will gradually learn to heed this more and more. It is our intuition. The truth is that this is the inner guide alerting us to the things that will take us home. This is how we shall achieve unity with the Christ Consciousness. Not by our own efforts, but by the grace of God and by following our inner guide. Jesus came to show us the way. The Church and the State have conspired to pervert this message. When Jesus said:
"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me"
John 14:6
He did not mean that Christianity is the only religion. He meant that we should become God, achieve unity with our Higher Self. None come to the Father except through unity.
In this, do not be further deceived, though. The Church and the State have indeed deceived us, yet their motives were pure, (by and larger, anyway). They truly believed that the things that have been done have been so as to benefit the world. In this they acted nobly, but the problem is they have been guided not by God but by the anti-Christ. Anyone that looks at the history of the Church can plainly see this.
It is this that is the challenge we face today. While we must realise our own error and the error of our ways, we must not condemn those that would guide us for their folly, for, had we been in their position, the chances are that we would have made the same mistakes and probably many more also.
Around us we may observe the masses turning from the religion of their birth, whatever that may be. In tandem with this, we see people giving up hope of another way. People turn instead to illusory sensory pleasures and carnal vices to numb the pain of everyday existence. There is so much more than this. The journey is not an easy one, but it is the path we must tread to ultimately escape this trap, this earthly life.
Friday, 7 December 2007
Michael Jackson Caricature
I did this a few years ago. He has changed his looks again since then so I may have to update this.
