The Eye of the Heart

The Eye of the Heart refers at a symbolic level to the perception of Divinity. Anyone who is on the winding road towards awakening know that this statement contains many more works than those written. If you, for whatever reason, don't understand the levels of thought in that phrase then maybe this book is exactly what you need. Schuon is a "practitioner" and a "believer" and this makes his work to be something more than a pure academic text, it comes to help in the search of the seeker. From the beginning, this eye of the heart will be explained followed by a segment dedicated to knowledge (that among other segments) composing the first part of the book dedicated to "Metaphysics and Cosmology".

Time and money

.: artist : Salvador Dali :. .: title : Persistence of Memory :. .: year : 1931 :. .: style : surealism :. .: observation : the clocks symbolize the relativity of space/time :.

There are work places where you feel like in a complicated relationship. You would like to quite but you insist on waiting for the other one to make the first move, to say: you know what, everything was nice but you should move on. And so, you, trying to mask that joy which the other one tries not to notice reply that you`re sorry and that's it. I don`t know if you`re in this situation, maybe yes, maybe no.

Georgia Guidestones reinterpreted

Somewhere in America, in the state of Georgia, a unique monument was erected on March 22, 1980. Unlike other stone monuments this one is more like a guide, hence the name guidestones. There are in total a number of six granite slabs, four of them bearing the message in eight different languages. One slab is situated in the center, with the four around it and a smaller one as a capstone. The structure has a hight of 5.87 meters and it feature some astronomic elements, like being aligned with the celestial pole, a horizontal slot indicating the annual travel of the sun, etc.

The languages on the four main slabs are English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Russian. The first thing I observed but no other commentator seemed to point out was the presence of Swahili. This language has around 800 000 native speakers with around 40 million learning it as a second language. It is the national/official language of five African countries, Kenya, Uganda, Comoros, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. On the other hand, languages like French, Japanese, Korean, German, Italian, Portuguese, Turkish or Persian are not present. The reason for this decision may have something to do with the desire of those who created the monument to represent, in large, the main language families with their best/most numerous representatives. This theory still doesn't feel right because Japanese, for example, is in a language family of her own. Nonetheless we can clearly see English and Spanish written on the same slab, and this also goes for Arabic and Hebrew while Russian and Chinese on the same slab is as logical as Hindi and Swahili. Around the edges of the capstone there presented the languages: Classical Greek, Babylonian (cuneiform), Ancient Egyptian (hieroglyphs) and Sanskrit. Strange, no Latin.

Now let's take every one of the ten "recommendations".

1. "Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature." - Out of all the possibilities, they had to start with this one. Notice the word "maintain", the people who created this monument and aligned it with the heavens would not write one word without thinking first. The number should be under 500 million, so we could even have 100 million, never 500 million and one (just exaggerating) but in a "perpetual" balance with nature. The idea that we must be in balance with nature is crucial. what could this balance mean? And why such a low number of humans? We could be 2 billion and still have room for more. I suspect it has something to do with control, not necessarily in a bad way... although control never has a "good way",

2. "Guide reproduction wisely - improving fitness and diversity." - This is strongly linked with the first and adds a little bit of eugenism, just the amount you would need to make Galton, Davenport and Hitler proud.

3. "Unite humanity with a living new language." - First of all, humanity must be united, and secondly, under a "living" and new language. Esperanto does not make I guess. It would be interesting to find out how this language could be accepted by everyone, and eventually unite them. Language is a very important part of one's personality, the first generation to adopt this new language would need to put some effort into learning it and rejecting their old one.

4. "Rule passion - faith - tradition - and all things with tempered reason." - Passion, faith and tradition must be controlled through the use of "tempered" reason. I like this part, I personally am in favor of this. In this context I feel it gives a hint to the previous phrase, language being part of someone's tradition. Reason is the key, as we are told and faith will lose it's power. This could be the part that motivated some to describe them as the "ten commandments of the Antichrist"... but if you think about the crimes done in the name of faith, of God... you will arrive at the conclusion that promoting faith would be the dangerous decision. So yes, reason must be in the minds of the people and even it should be tempered.

5. "Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts." Justice, it would be great if this will be achieved. It also makes me think about the situation when you will have a united humanity with one language but different nations, the explanation would come from the limitation in population that will lead to communities scattered around the earth and nations being mostly administrative in nature although politics will inevitably make some room for herself. What would happen if competition will start between the nations? The same old story. 

6. "Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court." - Strongly linked with number five, the same comments apply.

7. "Avoid petty laws and useless officials." - Small government, clean and clear laws. No need for a law legalizing breathing.

8. "Balance personal rights with social duties." - If you are given, then you must also give... but wait... it's about personal rights, wikipedia says that personal rights "are the rights that a person has over their own body". Could it be just an error in the definition, and these personal rights could be merely unemployment benefits? I don't believe so. Apparently militating for justice, this phrase could be an introduction to a "how to build your totalitarian state".

9. "Prize truth - beauty - love - seeking harmony with the infinite." - Truth... yes, beauty... hell yeah, love... sure, harmony with the infinite... definitely.

10."Be not a cancer on the earth - Leave room for nature - Leave room for nature. " - Cancer.. a cell that is constantly multiplying and that ends by destroying the body. "Leave room for nature" is repeated twice, making it a very important statement, maybe fundamental (or at least among the main ideas) to the group that erected the monument.

There is also an explanatory tablet, a real gold mine for archaeologists from 5000 A.D. I imagine. From there we find out that the name of the monument is "The Georgia Guidestones" and that the "center cluster [was] erected [in] March 22, 1980" continuing with "let these be the guidestones to the Age of Reason". The author, we are told, is R. C. Christian and the sponsors are "a small group of Americans who seek the Age of Reason", remember the "small" before the "group". The time capsule under the explanatory tablet mentioned remains a mystery, if it exists and there is no date when it should be opened although "to be opened on" is written.

More than six billion people need to either die or move to another planet or to the Moon and those who will remain/survive here will live in a cleaner, more balance world, but will have fewer liberties I suspect. Something that is created on genocide is nothing good, if we get there slowly and not through man-made viruses and wars I will be impressed. The Age of Reason must be reached through compassion, with God.

Who is R. C. Christian? We will leave this one for another article.

The Disadvantage of Being Born - Cioran

---

Largely regarded as an "incarnation" of pessimism, Emil Cioran (April 8, 1911 – June 20, 1995) is for me an excellent example of a man trying to overcome obstacles in the search for his own evolution. People tend to understand through his rejection of the world and ultimately, of humanity, only a dark vision fed by an anxious spirit. Although this may be the case, we also find incredible teachings about human nature hidden from those who do not search for them.

---

1.  "WITH what right do you start praying for me? I don't need an intercessor, I can make it on my own. From a miserable man, I'll accept, but from no one else, be he a saint. I can't accept others to be preoccupied by my own salvation. If I fear it and try to escape it, nothing more annoying than your prayers. To hell with them; anyway, we're not in the service of the same gods. If mine are incapable, I have every reason to believe that yours are not that great either. Assuming though that they are just as you imagine them, they will still lack the power to save me from a fear older than my own memory."

[ The idea of a salvation is possible only if it is a conscious undertaking. We should look carefully at the highly personal language used here . About the same subject he also writes: ]

2.  "I like the Hindu idea according to which we can entrust our salvation to somebody else, of preference to a "saint", allowing him to pray on our behalf, to do anything to save us. Meaning to sell your soul to God."

[ Once again, salvation/enlightenment is something one must fight for on his own. At first sight there is a contradiction, he is saying that he "likes" the idea (that he rejected in the first fragment) and that one's salvation could be entrusted to somebody else, to be preferred a "saint". But the ending "meaning to sell your soul to God" gives us his actual belief about the idea. ]

3.  "TO undo, to "un­-"build is the only task that man can set himself, if he aspires, as everything shows, to distinguish himself from the Builder."

4.  "DURING the centuries, man tried his best to believe, he passed from dogma to dogma, from one delusion to another and reserved very little time for doubts, short respites between his periods of blindness. Properly speaking, those were not doubts, but interruptions, moments of rest, that followed the weariness of belief, of any belief. "

[ Here we can clearly see what Cioran thinks about humanity, that we are in a way best described through this blindness, belief as opposed thought. “The dream of reason produces monsters”, a quote by Goya. ]

5.  "A very long time I lived with the idea that I am the most normal being that ever existed. This idea opened my taste, my passion even, for being unproductive: what's the use of highlighting yourself in a world populate by madmen, submerged in stupidity and madness? "

6.  "IF the disgust for this world is enough to confer holiness, I don't see how I can avoid canonization."

[ Cioran often makes use of cynicism and irony in his work. ]

7.  "THE smallest atmospheric change makes me rethink my projects, even, why not say it, my beliefs. This type of dependence, the most humiliating of all, doesn't cease to overcome me, while it scatters the few delusions that remained concerning the chance of being free, of liberty, pure and simple. What's the use of being filled with pride if you are at the discretion of Moisture and Dryness. You'd like a slavery less worthy of mercy and a different kind of gods."

[ Man must learn to be free of all external forces in order to gain his freedom. This idea can be often seen in many philosophical schools. ]

8.  "YOU don't envy the ones that have the power to pray, while you are filled with malice against property owners, against those that know wealth and glory. It is strange that you live with the redemption of another, but not with the passing advantages that he can enjoy. "

[ Another lesson meant to open our eyes to the strange, or better said, faulty mentality that we can fall victim of. Many people don't think about what is important, they just stop at the surface. ]

9.  "WE always have the impression that we can do better what someone else does. Sadly, we don't have the same conviction when it comes to what we do ourselves."

10. "THE thing that makes those poets that have no talent even more clumsy is that they only read other poets (just like philosophers that have no value read only philosophers), although they would have more to gain from a botany book or a geology book. You can enrich your spirit only by entering into contact with disciplines distant from yours. A true thing, evidently, only for subjects where the ego does havoc."

More in the 6th issue of AWIL Magazine

Not Knowing God

---

Humans have great potential but they are still pulled down by a series of factors. This text should be read and understood by all of you, regardless of religion, nationality, wealth, and so on. I put an emphasis on the understanding of the text, if one does not try to see himself he will not accomplish anything apart from wasting a couple of minutes.

We have one life and most of us waste it knowingly or unknowingly, I know I did, and maybe still do. I present to you a fragment from Corpus Hermeticum entitled "The Greatest Harm for Man is not Knowing God", God stands for a state of mind and as you will see, there is an emphasis on Ignorance as being the basis for all evil and enveloping the entire Earth. The first thing somebody must do is to break through this ignorance.

In the fifth paragraph, the one you need to search for in order to guide you to the gateway of Truth and Knowledge could be understood either as a master, or as your mind. Do not forget the beauty of Truth and Goodness and try to move towards these and slowly you will have a clearer mind. This is not a New Age text, and also not a dogmatic one, it is only a philosophy of becoming human.

1. Whither are you carried, o, Men, drunk with the strong Wine of Ignorance? Which seeing you cannot tolerate, why do you spew it forth?
2. Rise, wake up and look to the sky with the Eyes of your heart, and if not all of you can do this, let there be as many of you who can.
3. For the wickedness of ignorance envelopes the entire Earth and corrupts the Soul, it chains it in the Body and so its rise to the Heavens of Salvation is not permitted.
4. Do not let yourselves carried by the Great Stream, but endure its torrent with all your strength, in this way you will be able to gain the Blessed Heaven.
5. Search for the one who can guide you to the gateway of Truth and Knowledge, where the Light is pure, undefiled by Darkness, where nobody is drunk, instead all are awake and in their hearts, look upwards to him, for his pleasure is to be seen.
6. For he can not be heard with the ears, nor seen with the eyes, nor expressed with words, only in the mind and the heart.
7. But first you must tear to pieces and break through the garment you wear, through the fabric of ignorance; this is the basis for all Evil, the bond of Corruption, the dark Veil, the living Death, a Corpse with senses, the Grave we carry with us, the Thief from within, which, through what he loves in us, hates us, envies us.
8. These are the painful garments with which you are covered, and that pull you down, you look up less and less to the beauty of Truth and Goodness; you should hate the wickedness of this Garment and understand the traps it lays for you.
9. That is why he works to make good the things that only seem and are perceived by the senses, while the true things he hides them and covers them in matter, filling what he shows you with hostile pleasure so you can not hear what you should hear and see what you should see.

---

You can read this chapter in AWIL Magazine, issue 5. An error occurred in the final paragraph, read "That is why he works" not "That is why the works".

---

Rethinking Prices

---

Let's say you go to a hypermarket to buy a few things like groceries, clothes, a TV and a rubber duck for the bath tub. They all have prices with which you more or less agree so why not see how much the products cost to be built (the average pay of the workers, cost of raw materials, transportation, etc). I believe that this type of information would improve consumer awareness and will give everyone the possibility to put an end to "modern slavery" (insane amount of work hours with almost no pay). My belief is that people will think twice if they should buy a product that was made by those living on 10 euros per month.

I don't know if this type of thinking is implemented anywhere but if it is, please share your facts.

World Philosophy Day

---

At the National Library and Archives of Iran a conference celebrating the World Philosophy day was held this morning. Scholars from Iran and 42 other countries participated at this event. The decision of holding this event in the Islamic Republic is a welcomed one because we all know the importance Persian thought had and has on our understanding of the world.

The head of the Congress of the World Philosophy Day, Gholamali Haddad Adel gave the opening speech.

A philosopher has a deep and perceptive mind and great philosophers are the elites who devote their main attention to human beings.

Iranians comprise a nation that has inscribed their history with peace, justice and thought. Iran has trained great scholars and philosophers over the centuries, one of whom is Avicenna.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spoke next:

Man grows as his knowledge of the world and its Creator increases; man is greater than any single phenomenon of which he has knowledge. If an individual gets to know God and mankind, he/she would naturally get to know the other creatures, the main concern for man is getting to know himself and his Creator.

I don't care what some people say about Iran's president and I generally refuse to see an individual in only one color, the words presented above are worth keeping in mind.

UNESCO sadly refused to participate at this event, probably for political reasons.

Max Heindel about Atlantis

Plato sure did gave us some things to talk about, among them is Atlantis. This city/state/continent, real or invented is used to describe something very familiar for us, decay, either social, moral, technological or whatever. The stories linked to it are in a very great number and no one can actually prove the veracity of them. We should keep an open mind to all possibilities, even if the stories are false, we still can learn a great deal from them.

I present to you something most people did not have the chance to read although the text is now in the public domain. Max Heindel was a great Rosicrucian mystic and Christian occultist. He was born in Denmark, on July 23, 1865 and died in the United States of America on January 6, 1919. The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception, a book first published in 1909 is a fundamental book in the field of esoteric studies. My intention is not to comment on the fragment presented below, I only want to give the possibility for others to start on a very interesting journey.

Volcanic cataclysms destroyed the greater part of the Lemurian continent and in its stead rose the Atlantean continent, where the Atlantic Ocean now is.

Material scientists, impelled by the story of Plato to undertake researched regarding Atlantis, have demonstrated that there is ample foundation for the story that such a continent did exist. Occult scientists know that it existed and they also know that the conditions there were such as shall now be described.

Ancient Atlantis differed from our present world in many ways, but the greatest difference was in the constitution of the atmosphere and the water of that Epoch.

From the southern part of the planet came the hot, fiery breath of the volcanoes which were still abundantly active. From the north swept down the icy blasts of the Polar region. The continent of Atlantis was the meeting place of those two currents, consequently its atmosphere was always filled with a thick and murky fog. The water was not so dense as now, but contained a greater proportion of air. Much water was also held in suspension in the heavy, foggy Atlantean atmosphere.

Through this atmosphere the Sun never clearly shone. It appeared to be surrounded by an aura of light-mist, as do street-lamps when seen through a dense fog. It was then possible to see only a few feet in any direction and the outlines of all objects not close at hand appeared dim, hazy and uncertain. Man was guided more by internal perception than by external vision.

Not only the country, but also the man of that time was very different from anything existent on earth at the present time. He had a head, but scarcely any forehead; his brain had no frontal development; the head sloped almost abruptly back from a point just above the eyes. As compared with our present humanity; he was a giant; his arms and legs were much longer, in proportion to this body, than ours. Instead of walking, he progressed by a series of flying leaps, not unlike those of the kangaroo. He had small blinking eyes and his hair was round in section. The latter peculiarity, if no other, distinguishes the descendants of the Atlantean races who remain with us at the present day. Their hair was straight, glossy, black and round in section. That of the Aryan, thought it may differ in color, is always oval in section. The ears of the Atlantean sat much further back upon the head than do those of the Aryan.

The higher vehicles of the early Atlanteans were not drawn into a concentric position in relation to the dense body, as are ours. The spirit was not quite an indwelling spirit; it was partially outside, therefore could not control its vehicles with as great facility as though it dwelt entirely inside. The head of the vital body was outside of and held a position far above the physical head. There is a point between the eyebrows and about half an inch below the surface of the skin, which has a corresponding point in the vital body. This point is not the pituitary body, which lies much deeper in the head of the dense body. It might be called "the root of the nose." When these two points in the dense and the vital bodies come into correspondence, as they do in man today, the trained clairvoyant sees then as a black spot, or rather as a vacant space, like the invisible core of a gas flame. This is the seat of the indwelling spirit in the man--the Holy of Holies in the temple of the human body, barred to all but that indwelling human Ego whose home it is. The trained clairvoyant can see with more or less distinctness, according to his capacity and training, all the different bodies which form the aura of man. This spot alone is hidden from him. This is the "Isis" whose veil none may lift. Not even the highest evolved being on earth is capable of unveiling the Ego of the humblest and least developed creature. That, and that alone upon earth, is so sacred that it is absolutely safe from intrusion.

These two points just spoken of--the one in the dense body and its counterpart in the vital body--were far apart in the men of the early Atlanteans days, as they are in the animals of our day. The head of the horse's vital body is far outside the head of its dense body. The two points are closer together in the dog than in any other animal except, perhaps, the elephant. When they come into correspondence we have an animal prodigy, able to count, spell, etc.

On account of the distance between these two points, the Atlantean's power of perception or vision was much keener in the inner Worlds than in the dense Physical World, obscured by its atmosphere of thick, heavy fog. In the fullness of time, however, the atmosphere slowly became clearer; at the same time, the point spoken of in the vital body came closer and closer to the corresponding point in the dense body. As the two approached each other, man gradually lost touch with the inner Worlds. They became dimmer as the dense Physical World became clearer in outline. Finally, in the last third of the Atlantean Epoch, the point in the vital body was united to the corresponding point in the dense body. Not until then did man become fully awake in the dense Physical World; but at the same time that full sight and perception in the Physical World were gained, the capability of perceiving the inner Worlds were gradually lost to most of the people.

Source: HEINDEL, Max,  The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception

web: http://www.archive.org/details/rosicruciancosmo00heiniala
        http://www.rosicrucian.com/rcc/rcceng00.htm

Truth is...

I've been asking myself this question all day, what is truth, what is the truth? It's one of the questions you either need to read dozens of books about or you don't have to read anything, because the truth is, in the end you don't know the answer.

We could start by saying that truth is absolute or relative. If there is an absolute truth about something we should know it and accept it, if truth is relative for everyone, then the concept of truth is something only we humans have, in the sense that it is something different for all of us, like musical preferences.

Relative truth

There could be a relative truth when it comes to human interactions and experiences, lets say that two brothers who committed a robbery go to prison for 10 years. After that period it is time for them to get out, one feels that this period was good for him, it helped him be a better man, the other thinks that he lost ten years of his life. We can't say that a general truth about convicts exists in this case.

Let's take this game on a global level. During the Cold War two sides, in some ways different, began to combat one another. Communists knew the truth about capitalism, and capitalists knew the truth about communists, but did they really? The truth about one ideology and another is different in the eyes of different people and if we try to be objective and travel a "middle road" we will find "another" truth.

There is also a spiritual realm which must not be forgotten. We have an easy example of Christians and Muslims and what they know about Jesus. One side believes he is the Son of God, while the other that he is a Prophet. Can you speak against the word of God? If we throw an atheist in the fight the picture is clear, truth is whatever you want to believe.

We can now see how experience, faith and belief can influence what we know to be true. In such cases it is better to show tolerance than to impose your side of the story. The sad thing is that wars are generally started because people lack tolerance and that they tend to want a world that is only black and white, nothing in between.

Absolute (Objective) truth

When I talk about "absolute truth" I refer to things we all know to be true. In this case I would like to concentrate on "consensus theory".

"That which is universal among men carries the weight of truth."

- From antiquity

The funny thing about this theory is that not all people agree with it, thus making it false. But let's say it is true, we can find the example of how Christ is perceived only by Muslims, in this case the theory is true, but if we extend the field to encompass Christians and Jews the theory falls, or no one knows the truth. Let's talk about simple objects, like a chair, when we say "a chair is made for sitting on" we attribute a function to it. Everyone agrees because all of us sit on chairs if we have any. But if we say "a chair is made for hitting someone in the head" people like the two robbers might agree, but some might not. Now we have attributed a function that is not (apparently) part of the original design, but nonetheless it is real.

"Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is the truth."

- Mohandas Gandhi

If an alien for example visits our planet and sees a chair and has no legs because he levitates, what will he think? He has no need for chairs, so he shows tolerance and accepts whatever function we give it. In this situation I wanted to show that we need to know the truth about things, and in some situations, consensus theory can be applied. But if he asks who is Jesus, then we have some explaining to do and eventually he would even use a chair after all the talking is finished.

Humans have the ability to use their senses and make judgments based on those senses. It is like an input-output relation. This is actually a very complex activity and it seems that as complexity rises the risk for errors increase, otherwise it would be impossible for me to explain the vast quantity of truths.

The color red is the color red for everyone, except those who have dichromacy for example. We use our eyes and we do not need to judge whether red is red. Even if we use different languages, the words change, but not their meaning. In a way, simple things that are part of the senses more than the mind, can be considered true by consensus theory, by definition, and other means.

Time to end

My objective was not to write a history of "truth", or a list of philosophical ideas about this concept, I only wanted to turn the wheels in the mind and hope something interesting pops out. I don't believe in the kind of philosophy you learn from books at the University, the real philosophy is inside all of us (well, not quite all), and it is called thinking, reading some Plato and ibn Sina (just examples) along the way should be part of basic education.

So, in the end, our perception of truth is the same, we just added some categories that look good.

I will end by sharing a riddle I came acrosse while doing research for this article:

There was an explorer on his way to a secret city. As he struggled through jungles inhabited by two intermingled tribes - one of whom always lied, while the other always told the truth - he came to a fork in the road. There a native squatted. The explorer was minded to ask his advice but, as the locals all dressed identically, could not tell to which tribe he belonged. The tribes shared a custom: they ate anyone who asked more than one question. How could the explorer formulate an enquiry so as to elicit a useful answer?

Do you know the answer?

In Search of the Miraculous

Some time ago in my hands fell "In Search of the Miraculous", two volumes wrote by P. D. Ouspensky. He was an important russian philosopher, one of the best pupils of Gurdjieff. The text begins with Ouspensky revealing to us his immeasurable need for knowledge. A need that never left him.

He traveled to places rich with history like Egypt and India, but time eventually came to return to Russia, doing so he met Gurdjieff in the year 1915. About his works that predate this important meeting i hope to talk as soon as time will let me.

After this short introduction i feel it is time to start with some facts about Gurdjieff. He was part greek part armenian and lived most of his early life in Russia were he headed a school dedicated to esoteric knowledge. 'In Search of the Miraculous' was writen by Ouspensky after he participated in this school and after years of being around Gurdjieff. It was published in 1947.

While i was studying this book i could not ask why knowledge must be controlled, kept secret. I eventually got an answer that at list in some part satisfied my search. In the first place, knowledge is not kept secret and second, that by definition, by its nature, knowledge can not become a public good. It must be treated like something material ('knowledge is material and this means it has all the characteristics of materiality'). Small quantities of information in the possession of a large group don`t lead to nothing, only the holding of an adequate quantity by a small group gives a result (if knowledge is reserved to a few, each will receive enough of it, not only for keeping what he earned but also to increase it). Gurdjieff adds 'in fact, the majority of people do not want any kind of knowledge, they refuse their bit of knowledge, they neglect even to take,at the general repartition, what they need for a normal life'. It is important to remark that for Gurdjieff knowledge is material, here i must disagree. While it is true that the vast majority of people are not attracted to the idea of evolution, knowledge, by no means has the properties of a material object.

Another paragraph that stirred my attention is this one 'The masses do not want nor even search for knowledge, and their political leaders, by selfish reasons, act only to strenghten the masses fear and aversion to all that is new and unknown. This state of slavery in which humanity seems to be drowning is based on this fear.' This, i must admit, hit me like a rock in the head. The truth is so obvious and no one seems to try to change this situation. Don`t let fear rule you. 'Nobody hides nothing; there i not even the smallest mystery. But obtaining and transmitting true knowledge takes hard working and great effort, both from the one receiving and the one giving.' If you want something you have to fight for it, nobody receives nothing for free, you must earn it, your actions must deserve it. Maybe that is why the ones who manage to accumulate great wealth in a short time with little effort lose it just as fast.

How to Manipulate Man

The origins of this article are in a book written by Bogdan Ficeac which I recommend as a basic reading for all those who are interested in this topic (it is written in romanian). Mind control is on the agenda of many organizations and governments and let`s face it, the electoral campaigns are a mind control fiesta.

In the first place access to information is of great importance in trying to manipulate someone or a group of people. The presence of only one information source can amplify to the maximum the effects of mind control. For example let`s take the radio show named 'War of the Worlds' hosted by Orson Wells. In one of his shows he simulated an alien invasion which brought panic in the hearts of listeners. Maybe you don`t know this but the romanian revolution of 1989 which brought down the communist reign, was largely a televised event. A group of people got control of the central television station and manipulated the romanian nation in the way most favorable for them. That is why now it is unofficial called a coup d`etat. Totalitarian regimes, like the fascist and the communist systems, strictly control all kinds of information, for example read about the Google conflict with the Chinese government.

"In critical moments, people prefer to be guided by feelings and instincts dictated by their sens of conservation."

In terms of social psychology we can talk about mind control when a social situation is created for the purpose of influencing the behavior of the ones manipulated in the way the "ruler" wants.

Let us talk about totalitarian systems now. In this case uniformity is a standard, there is very little motivation, the leveling of the human mind/thought creates vulnerability. Those who promote this kind of government see humans as an amorphous mass, depersonalized, ready to be remodeled. When we talk about communication we forget that a tipe of dialogue is done with our own mind, this too can be observed. Think about the secret police which has tendencies to construct a mentality where you are not allowed and you do not wish to question yourself or to ask questions in the sens of finding the truth. In totalitarian regimes there are no shades, everything is black and white and a kind of language appears, a ''wooden tongue'' as it is called in romanian. Simplicity is also sought for in this societies because it does not encourage thinking.

"We must get out of obscurity, let them swear us, let them acclaim us, let them beat us, it is important to hear about us" - Goebbels (photo left)

The most powerfull types of mind control are achieved by isolating the individual. To completely manipulate someone, his thinking, his behavior and his feelings must be controlled with the pure purpose to create a citizen incapable of making his own decisions.

"The essence of obedience is that a person comes to believe in himself as an instrument of fulfilling the wishes and orders of another person and therefore is no longer responsible for his own actions" - Stanley Milgram

Leon Frostinger had arrived to the conclusion that the identity of an individual is composed out of thought, feelings and his actions (behavior). The individual can bear only minor differences between this three components. When a major discrepancy appears we have a sense of discomfort, this being cognitive dissonance. This means that someone can change from the exterior one of the components and the two left will modify themselves to achieve harmony once again.

Controlling the behavior is determined by the control of the physical reality in which one lives, think about rituals and strict schedules. To manipulate someones emotions we have to induce feelings of guilt or fear (terrorism, or the fear of terrorism).

Unfreeze, change and refreeze are the three steps that make a change sustainable. The total destruction of the old behavior, putting a new one in its place and then freezing the new personality. The general lines of this model were drawn by Kurt Lewin (foto right) in the 40`s and in the 60`s Edgar Schein and Rober Jay Lifton developed the concept.