Choices and Illusions (4 page)

“There has to be another way” is a popular motto in politics

and in life. We get to this slogan when things simply don’t work

as well as we want them to. In our personal lives, we may discover

that life is flying by and, as with little Black Sambo’s tiger, we are just going in endless circles. Abraham Maslow believed that sooner

or later mature individuals come to a point where the question

becomes something similar to, “Is that all there is?” The principle labeled by Maslow as “self-actualization” then becomes important.

What is self-actualization? like success, it can be many differ-

ent things to different people. like success, it is a level of satisfaction that arises from within ourselves: a sense of somehow making

a difference to someone, a sense that our life has had purpose

and meaning—that in some way or another, our life has been

worth living.

I have heard so-called motivational gurus suggest that success

is all about money and power. I have heard them state such things

as “Spirituality is something you do when you get old.” I don’t

believe that. For me, life is about a deeper meaning. Each of us has unique talents and abilities. My experience suggests that most fail to recognize their own birthright and find themselves trapped by

beliefs that limit their personal possibilities. For me, life is about using those talents and abilities to the highest while serving an

inner calling to make a difference with our lives.

It has often been stated that insanity is doing the same thing

over and over while expecting a different outcome. To avoid this

definition of insanity, sometimes it’s necessary to convolute our

models and reexamine our possibilities. This book is designed to

assist and facilitate that alternative way of thinking for all who

choose to read it.

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CHOICES AND ILLUSIONS

I enjoy assembling puzzles. The most challenging puzzles

require assembling small pieces into larger pieces before linking all the pieces in a complete picture. In a way, it’s necessary to build the alternatives offered in this book in the same way. At times it may

seem to you that the subject at hand is either a tangential path or a digression. I have therefore used my own story to weave together

the many parts into a coherent whole.

This work is a road map for the person who is seeking a better

way. In it I suggest ideas, introduce research, and review data—all in a manner designed to lead you on a quest for your potential and

excellence. It is my sincere hope that this little book opens the door for you and encourages you to step through it. Enjoy your journey.

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The power of the mind has always fascinated me, and I have

been studying ways to access and enhance this inner force for more

than 25 years.

Eight years ago I was invited to speak at the Putra Medical Cen-

tre in Malaysia about “Change Without Thinking.” This full-day

presentation was eventually turned into a book, the first edition of
Choices and Illusions.
no one was more surprised than I was when it became a
New York Times
bestseller. I could only conclude that there are many people out there who are searching for answers to

the same questions.

Since
Choices
was written, I have written a number of additional books, all approaching the same issue from very different perspectives. Some individuals have questioned my varying angles of

approach, not understanding the connection between the miracu-

lous stories covered in
What Does That Mean?: Exploring Mind, Meaning, and Mysteries
and the darker side of brainwashing, as covered in the first section of
Mind Programming.
A number of people threw their hands up in disgust at
What If?,
choosing to believe that this book was designed to change their minds rather than open them

up to vast new possibilities. Everyone loved
I Believe,
but questions still were raised regarding the practical applications.

Choices
and Illusions
was always designed to be the overall package of ideas, with these other books considering different

topics in much greater depth. I therefore decided to prepare a

revised edition of
Choices
in order to explain all of these aspects more fully, clearly demonstrating the importance of integrating

them into one complete whole. My lifetime of work shows me

clearly that the only way you can possibly discover your true

self and become the person you were meant to be—free of self-

destructive patterns and ideas—is by doing the following:

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CHOICES AND ILLUSIONS

1. Understanding the way your mind works;

2. Becoming fully aware of the 24/7 effort made by

many to program your thinking;

3. Being able to look at yourself and your ideas with

fresh eyes, questioning all of your beliefs;

4. Reviewing the full experience of your own life and

those of your friends and family members so you can

stand back and see the big picture; and

5. Knowing the full potential of your mind and the

importance of controlling your inner beliefs to

thereby create a goal and a pathway to it.

It is with this aim in mind that I offer you this revised edition

of
Choices and Illusions.
Although I do refer to my other books throughout, this is only for the benefit of those who wish to explore certain areas in greater depth. My aim has always been to keep

Choices
as a complete work in its own right; therefore, I have provided within these pages all of the information I believe that you

will need to put yourself firmly on the path of reaching your own

highest potential.

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ChoiCes and illusions

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind

is a faithful servant. We have created a society that

honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

— A l b e r t e i n s t e i n

Paraphrased, J. Krishnamurti said, “Choice is an illusion. do I

do this—do I do that—all of this is confusion. I can only choose

when I’m confused. When I know clearly, there is no choice.”1

Thirty years ago, Benjamin libet showed that there is activity in

the subconscious milliseconds before a conscious thought occurs.

In other words, our so-called conscious thoughts are given to

us by our subconscious.2 Indeed, we have recently learned that

the subconscious, or unconscious—here I use these terms as syn-

onyms—makes 90 percent of our decisions for us. In fact, an fMRI

technician can know what we will decide many seconds before

we know our own decision simply by watching the brain in real

time. That fact alone should give every thinking person pause to

reconsider the content of his or her own mind.3

What Is Wrong?

People everywhere want to know how to improve their lives.

Typically they believe that if they had more money, more power,

more success, and better relationships, then they would be happy.

Because of such beliefs, the world is full of fixers. There is a motivational guru on every corner, and there is no shortage of individuals 1

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CHOICES AND ILLUSIONS

waiting to spend their time and money on learning the “secrets to

success.” In a sense, I’m no different; however, after more than 30

years of working with those who are in emotional distress, people

seeking inner peace, athletes looking to win gold medals, sports

organizations striving to win championships, ordinary folks try-

ing to find a place in this world, and so on, I have learned this: the model is all wrong!

What is wrong with more money or better relationships? noth-

ing! Then what do I mean that the model is wrong? The model is

upside down, and it needs to be inverted—but before I can explain

what I mean, it is necessary to digress a bit.

An Interdependent State of Being

In the beginning was the big bang. According to preeminent

physicist Stephen W. Hawking, before the world of shoes and ships

and sealing wax, there existed only singularity. Somehow singu-

larity divided itself, and
bang
—everything was born. Out of something we can only think of as super-super-compressed nothing—

everything! To say this with a slightly different twist, from no

thing came every thing. Based on the creation stories of most major religions, in the beginning the Source, or Creator, reflected upon

itself (typically Himself) and divided Himself, creating everything.

notice that the words
singularity
and
Creator
are only reference points for a perspective. That is, if one is inclined to find a
G
rand
O
rganizing
D
esigner (GOd), then the chosen noun
Creator
declares so; and if one tends toward avoiding such an agency, the noun
singularity
declares so. In other words, only one word separates these initial views of creation. Be that as it may, my point is that from the same source came everything. As such, everything is necessarily

interrelated and interdependent. I will discuss this more fully later, but for now I am asserting (and I am not the first to do so) that you, your neighbor, and the atoms in your pet are all participating in

an interdependent state of being with the whole of the universe.

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Choices and Illusions

The Chicken People

All right, let’s use a little imagination and begin with the

beginning. Please just assume for a moment that instead of being

human, you are actually a chicken. not just any chicken, but a

special, advanced species of chicken. Your species has a history of great thinkers. They have struggled with the first question, “Where did I come from?” Many philosophers have used your language

to confuse everything: “Which came first, the chicken or the

egg?” Your science-minded best thinkers have insisted that the

question was irrelevant, stating flatly that you originated from the evolution of a single cell built from molecular building blocks, ever adapting to the conditions of your physical environment, despite

the fact that the very building materials needed to construct the

first dnA molecule did not exist—and only dnA can create dnA.4

Many of your psychologists have advanced the general opinion

that your basic need for survival, your drive mechanisms—fight,

flight, feeding, and fornication—underlie most behavior. Indeed,

survival-of-the-fittest mechanisms, basic drives necessary for the

propagation of your species, explain advanced theories defining

behavior in ways even psychologists disagree over. Some of your

metaphysical teachers are preaching a theory of imperfection and

an earth age of just a few thousand years, despite overwhelming

evidence to the contrary. According to this theory, chickens could

have been created perfectly, but they were not. They were made to

suffer, and the more they suffered and the better they suffered, the more likely they were to be saved, or go to chicken heaven. Chicken believers in this paradigm worked to convert other chickens to

their belief, and believe it or not, many chickens converted. life

sucks and then you die, but when you die, something wonderful

happens if you have demonstrated your willingness to be punished

for your imperfect deficient self—the self the Creator created.

Your social scientists have quantified group behavior and pro-

vided statistical inferences as a result. They are now able to make many predictions about the nature of your social organization,

mating habits, and more. Specialized groups have even developed

interdisciplinary theories, including those that have mapped your

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mind and informed you what every corner of it was up to, how it

processed information, and so on. Your sciences are truly amaz-

ing. Why, even the dnA of your species has been mapped. Such

an advanced species you are!

With all this advancement, your chicken yard, or community,

still consists of group chicken houses with individual nests. now

let’s add just a little extra imagination and use a story to get the full picture of what I’m trying to describe. We’ll just imagine a creature raised by the chickens in this story.

The Chicken and the Eagle

It seems a female eagle fell from her nest at a very young age.

She wandered until she happened onto a chicken yard, where an

older hen adopted and raised her. The chickens taught the eagle

the way of chickens. She learned to dig holes and wiggle down

into them on hot days to stay cool. She learned to scratch with her talons and soon became valued for her ability to scratch deep into

the earth. She learned many things from the chickens, and despite