 |
||||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|||||
|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|
Hello my dear reader, and welcome. Instead of perusing today's article, wouldn't you like to make a million dollars ? I don't mean "earn". I quite literally mean make. If you would, by all means, leave my rather useless site filled with rahter useless banter, and instead hurry on down to Mr. Pavlina's article teaching you how to make a million dollars.
Now that we're rid of the crowd trying to make that million dollars, let's look at things that interest us more. Or me, as the case may be. Oops. In this case, what interests me is to observe how little things change, historically, and how rarely people take any notice of it. Let's go back to 1620. The book is Novum Organum, and the writer is Francis Bacon. Quoth : The human understanding when it has once adopted an opinion (either as being the received opinion or as being agreeable to itself) draws all things else to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises, or else by some distinction sets aside and rejects, in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination the authority of its former conclusions may remain inviolate. And therefore it was a good answer that was made by one who, when they showed him hanging in a temple a picture of those who had paid their vows as having escaped shipwreck, and would have him say whether he did not now acknowledge the power of the gods — "Aye," asked he again, "but where are they painted that were drowned after their vows?" And such is the way of all superstition, whether in astrology, dreams, omens, divine judgments, or the like; wherein men, having a delight in such vanities, mark the events where they are fulfilled, but where they fail, though this happen much oftener, neglect and pass them by. But with far more subtlety does this mischief insinuate itself into philosophy and the sciences; in which the first conclusion colors and brings into conformity with itself all that come after, though far sounder and better. Besides, independently of that delight and vanity which I have described, it is the peculiar and perpetual error of the human intellect to be more moved and excited by affirmatives than by negatives; whereas it ought properly to hold itself indifferently disposed toward both alike. Indeed, in the establishment of any true axiom, the negative instance is the more forcible of the two. Now then. Four hundred years passed like a raindrop, and what do we read today ? Well, quoth : Welcome to the home of the Million Dollar Experiment. The goal of this experiment is to attempt to use the power of intention to manifest $1 million for each person who chooses to participate. [...] If you wish to participate, all you need to do is to decide to put forth the following intention: In an easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way, in its own perfect time, for the highest good of all, I intend $1,000,000 to come into my life and into the lives of everyone who holds this intention.[...] Spend time each day thinking about this intention. You can write it down, post it on a wall, recite it aloud, memorize it, visualize it happening, sing it, express it artistically, blog about it, discuss it with others, meditate on it, pray it, or otherwise put some positive thought energy behind it. Tell the universe to "make it so" in whatever way you feel is a good fit for your current belief system.[...] Current Results : Total Manifested = $5,267,590.45 ; 1911 Active Participants So. about 2.5k per capita, which isn't all that bad, or conversely a 0.25% success rate, 5 people of 2000 got their million. But where are the people who lost money through this experiment ? O, what's that ? Money could never be lost through it ? Well, that's true. However, money could never be made, either, so I don't see that whatever could or couldn't happen has any bearing on our little experiment, now does it. And here our friend Steve is walking a very tight rope. On one hand, he doesn't outright say this would work. He's just happily frolicing in the vast gardens of unrealised, potential possibility. And why not ? It's good for the brain. The sort of people that we lost way up on the first paragraph do not quite see the difference. And we know that. Need we presume Steve knows too ? Maybe he does, or maybe he just guesses it in a sort of shrewd, subconscious way, or maybe he doesn't, at all. Does it matter ? Well, maybe it does matter, in a rather narrowly arbitrary moral sense. If Steve happens to know that there are sheeple, and that they can be mislead, and that he's misleading them, and if he happens to believe he shouldn't mislead sheeple. But really, why should we be bothered with Steve's moral dilemmas ? Let's just in general say that it is a cursed field, that of "personal growth" or however it's called. You sell snake oil without even realising it, half the time. You need either the mental build not to care, or the sophistical sophistication of all Jesuits ever born (plus, probably, a sort of inner Torquemada with a fully equipped dungeon for your own mind). But for the humour of it, let's quote the mission statement of our charming salesman. We learn that the most burning questions, for him, would be : Is your content worthy of being read by millions of people? Remember that the purpose of content is to provide value to others. Do you provide genuine value, and is it the best you’re capable of providing? And do you know how strong content is writ ? Tis writ like so : When I sit down to write, I sometimes imagine myself standing on an outdoor concert stage before an audience of a million people. Then I ask myself, “What shall I say to this audience of fellow human beings?” If a million people each spend five minutes on this site, that’s nearly 10 person-years total. I do my best to make my writing worthy of this differential. I don’t always succeed, but this is the mindset that helps me create strong content. And to what purpose, you may ask ? Why, Think about the effect you want your writing to have on people. Since I write about personal growth, I want my writing to change people for the better. I want to expand people’s thinking, to raise their consciousness, and to help them eliminate fear from their lives. Ne sutor ultra crepidam ? Mayhap, but Steve holds a different view : I’m aware that anything I write today may still be read by people even after I’m dead. People still quote Aristotle today because his ideas have timeless value, even though he’s been dead for about 2300 years. I think about how my work might influence future generations in addition to my own. Personally, I think Aristotle would be stopping short. Why not pick someone really grand and important ? At any rate, let's continue : I write because my purpose in life is to help people become more conscious and aware — to grow as human beings. I don’t have a separate job or career other than this. Because my work is driven by this purpose, I have a compelling reason to build a high-traffic web site, one that aligns with my deepest personal values. More web traffic means I can have a bigger impact by reaching more people. Fair enough. And over the course of the next few decades, this influence has the potential to create a positive change that might alter the future direction of human civilization. If I fail, I fail. But I’m not giving up no matter how tough it gets. O. Please wipe that tear and compose yourselves. It gets better. What will you do if you succeed in building a high-traffic web site? If you someday find yourself in the privileged position of being able to influence millions of people, what will you say to them? I must confess that with one million readers or without a pair of them, it still wouldn't have occured to me to tell them I'm Aristotle. Which may be somehow connected with the conspicuous lack of lithium in my daily diet. I could go on and on forever with the quoting, but really. It's getting late and Steve needs his pills. So, I will leave you with an experiment of my own. It'd go like so : Welcome to the home of The Experimental Removal of Idiocy. The goal of this experiment is to attempt to use the power of intention to turn idiots into somewhat more informed, reasonable human beings. If you wish to participate, all you need to do is read a damned book. You could start with Ann Rynd. Thank you. Since the begining of time, a grand total of 12 cubic miles of snake oil have been imbibed. Positive results expected by next Tues. |
