Monthly Archives: May 2018

Good At What I do

I have a dear friend who is equal parts muse and sparring partner. For as long as I have known him, Thomas has been on the cutting edge of personal refinement and Self-development. In his more than 20 years of practice as both a healer, teacher and entrepreneur he has had the opportunity of interacting with literally thousands of people. One of the skills he wields so expertly is the ability to draw information out of individuals through his masterful use of insight-inducing questions. He recently told me that such a question he routinely asks of clients and students is “what makes you good at what you do?” I found his query to be intriguing and worthy of a well considered response; below is mine –

1. I make me good at what I do. I have to; no one else can do it for me.

2. My Life experience makes me good at what I do.

3. I am not always good at what I do. It is beneficial (and Real) to admit one’s shortcomings, failures and weaknesses. This Self-honesty helps to make me good at what I do.

4. My failures have helped to make me good at what I do.

5. The physical world around me helps to make me good at what I do. Natural Law is my ally.

6. I am curious.

7. I try to stick to fundamentals. Far too many people seek the fancy and are fascinated by the complicated. Showy filigree, however, is always suspect without a solid elemental foundation. Basics, basics, basics.

8. I value my Time.

9. I strive always to define my priorities and use wisely my power of Choice.

10. I recognize that there is always more.

+ + + + +

So, dear reader, what is it that makes YOU good at what you do?

©Billy Red Horse

A Single Sentence

I very often procure new reading materials from the fine folks at amazon.com. When researching a title I am interested in, but don’t already know a great deal about, it is my custom to consider any attendant reviews of the book that are posted there. As a rule I tend to immediately eliminate from consideration the 5 star (highest) and 1 star (lowest) ratings and focus on the remaining 2 through 4 star appraisals. (The 5 star ratings often tend toward giddy hyperbole in the positive while the 1 star reviews, should they be even remotely germane, skew regularly toward a cynical hyperbolic opposite. I find neither suitable to the making of an informed purchasing decision.) Depending on the genre and topic of the title in question I weigh, among other things, the relative merits discussed regarding the author’s grasp of the subject matter and ability to elucidate their understanding, readability and writing style, and the reviewer’s overall impression and comments on the book. While I might over the years have deprived myself of some otherwise satisfying reads by rejecting them on the basis of a generally unfavorable aggregative assessment, I cannot recall ever being particularly disappointed in a book chosen intuitively and with the aid of an assemblage of lucid favorable critiques.

I have noticed of late a tendency in many lower-rated reviews to include the seemingly disparaging assertion that the message of the book under consideration could be distilled down to a single sentence (or two) and that the book is, therefore, not worth the price of purchase or even the time required to read it. Though the intent of the reviewer might be to sound a warning, such a pronouncement engenders a likely unintended response in yours truly; rather than serve as an automatic disqualifier, a book that can be accurately described as reducible to a mere sentence or two appeals greatly to my sense of appreciation for fundamentals.

In my own work I take great pains to stress the basics in all that I do. While they may not be sexy or glamorous, experience has shown me time and time again that core practices and fundamental principles are nothing if not efficacious. A book that can have its central theme stated clearly and with brevity is a book that I can relate to and usually learn a great deal from.

Our contemporary Western culture seems to confer undue merit upon the notion of complexity. The more involved and Gordian (or so the thinking goes), the more significance and intrinsic value an object or thought holds. Is this always true? Time and experience would suggest otherwise. Sophistication does not demand complexity. In fact, true sophistication often dwells in the realm of the subtle. Simplicity and sophistication are not mutually exclusive.

Returning to the succinctly-themed discourse under consideration: how well does the author elaborate and explain their theme? Is the explanatory meat on the bones of concision lean in constitution and plentiful in amount, or is the greater portion fat, the likes of which truly does do very little to warrant purchase or consumption? Rather than whether the work is elaborately realized or not, it is these concerns that truly matter.

All things are composed of constituent elements. The elemental is the foundation upon which all movement, intricacy, and complexity is built. To find a comfort in and with the elemental is to better position oneself to witness magic.

©Billy Red Horse

Tend Your Garden

There is but one Element that constitutes the entirety of all existence in the Manifest Universe, and that Element is Energy. Energy is everything and everything is Energy. Even with a never-ending supply of this omnipresent stuff of Creation to be had, there are those that still somehow manage to dilute it, to weaken its situational efficacy, to squander both opportunity and promise.

Consider a certain aspiring gardener. Our novice wishes to be the warden of a small but thriving garden box of miniature roses He prepares the box with the finest soil appropriate for what it is he wishes to grow and then fixes within its confines several of the most healthy bare root bushes he can find. The box is then set in a place of prominence where the Sun will fall on it in just the right amount. Pure water and plant food are added as needed and then Nature is trusted to work Her magic.

For the first week or two, the incipient roses are tended daily. Any invading weeds are winnowed and, being a forward-thinking and conscientious chap, our gardener lavishes all this attention from a place of Love.

Then something happens. After a few weeks, the daily tending becomes every other day, then every three days. The more Time that passes, the less attention the box of roses receives.

Finally, one day the gardener is taken aback by the sad state his once thriving box of roses has achieved. “Why has this happened?” he asks. “What can I do to remedy this situation?” After careful consideration, he settles on a plan.

Rather than redouble his efforts to nurture the now neglected roses by tending more diligently to this first box, he acquires a new box and populates it with . . . tomato plants.

Again, Time passes. Tomato plants follow roses, then bonsai trees follow tomatoes; and so the proceedings go, box after box, on and on, one after another after another.

And what of those like our gardener? Are they lazy? Hardly! Their inattentiveness cannot be ascribed correctly to laziness; the very fact that so much effort is, Time and Time again, expended in creation of an ever-lengthening chain of enterprise is irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Lethargy is not the culprit; a lack of focus, the absence of diligence, and a dearth of patience is.

So many are like a butterfly flitting from one flower to the next, chasing thoughts or undertakings or dreams, constantly in motion but seldom given to abiding long enough for an agreeable denouement to be experienced. Sometimes, the thought process is “this didn’t work right away so I’ll try something else” or “this sort of worked, but I think I’ll try something else” or “this worked really well but it could have worked even better, so I think I’ll go try something else.” Distraction and boredom are the enemies of focus and follow-through. Knowing when (or if) something should be dispensed with is one thing; effectively aborting a still-viable potential is something else entirely.

To see a thought through takes Time. It takes more Time still for complex things or endeavors to bloom in their fullness and to grow into the totality of their Beauty. It is nothing short of foolish to give something less attention than it requires only to then express subsequent frustration or bewilderment that this something is now found wanting.

Tend your garden. Nurture. Persevere. Acknowledge. Respect. Focus. Repeat. Then plant something new.

©Billy Red Horse

The Sixth Sense: A Radical Theory

Have you ever had a gut feeling? Of course you have. And it is very probable that, more often than not, any time you chose to “follow your gut” in a given manner, things likely worked out very well for you. And how many times have you opted to ignore your gut, only to find yourself in a predicament, one where, after all was said and done, you berated yourself for failing to listen to that inner voice saying, “I knew it, I knew, I knew it!…”?

Intuition. Perception through extrasensory means. The sixth sense. Whatever one chooses to call this faculty, it is one we all possess. The line of demarcation is in how attuned we are to information of this nature when it is presented, how accurately we interpret its meaning, and how consistently and efficaciously we apply it in our lives.

It is highly unlikely that the means of intuitive insight are the result of any sort of supernatural or otherwise inexplicable origin. Just as the five commonly acknowledged senses are all based in the physical, so too must this heightened perceptual ability be grounded in the corporeal.

One hypothesis (and, perhaps, the most mundane) is that intuition is simply the result of an unconscious awareness on our part through the observation of common everyday environmental signals or patterns that, because they are so common, tend to go unnoticed by the conscious eye and mind. When intuiting and interacting with other people specifically, it is posited that we perceive and respond instinctually to the myriad of all but undetectable facial behavioral tells known as microexpressions. Moving along this avenue of supposition, what you see, even if you don’t know that you see it, is what you get.

Another and, to my way of thinking at least, more intriguing possibility is the gut itself. Dr. Michael D. Gershon relates in his book THE SECOND BRAIN that the neural pathways in the human intestinal tract are so numerous and complex that the enteric nervous system (ENS) is capable of functioning independent of the central nervous system (CNS). Dr. Deepak Chopra has opined that a gut feeling originating in the ENS is quite simply every cell in the human body making a decision. Though there is currently no hard and fast evidence to support an unqualified declaration that the ENS is endowed with a consciousness that is in any way comparable to that operative in the “first brain,” is it possible that this “second brain” which we all possess is capable of a form of autonomous “thinking” that, in tandem with the CNS and the Human brain, contributes to a fuller perception and sensate awareness of things seen and unseen?

There is yet another possibility. Perhaps our thoughts are not our own.

The Human Microbiome Project, a multi-disciplinary medical research program initiated in 2008, has compiled some rather startling (and some would say disturbing) findings regarding the makeup of the human body and the microorganisms that are present in the very fiber and filament of our earthly transits, not the least of which is the fact that, for every Human cell a body contains, it is outnumbered by a factor of no less than 10 to 1 by microbes of various make and model. Percentage wise, we are 10% human and 90% microbe. The greatest portion of this microbial mass is bacterial in origin; the average Human body contains between two and six POUNDS of bacteria and other microorganisms in and on its surface, with the majority of this bacteria contained in the digestive system. We are not just Human beings; we are veritable ambulatory self-contained ecosystems.

Before proceeding further, let me put any overwrought minds at ease – these bacteria are absolutely critical for the function and maintenance of the Human body. Without them, we would die, plain and simple. The synthesis of needed vitamins, reducing our susceptibility to infectious disease, and the growth stimulation of needed critical lymphatic tissues are just a few of the necessary functions these tiny friends perform in the continuance of our species.

The full extent of our relationship to and dependence upon bacteria for our survival has yet to be explored but continues to expand with each scientific discovery. For instance, we have always been admonished to get outside more often and be in nature for the benefit of our health. But are you aware that exposure to certain bacteria (Mycobacterium vaccae) found in the great outdoors may well make you smarter?

Another very interesting recent discovery about this unseen world within each of us is the fact that bacteria have the ability to communicate, not only with members of their own “tribe” but with bacterial species other than their own. Bacteria are aware of their surroundings and aware of their neighbors, cognizant of changes in their environment and responsive as a group to those changes. What I wonder is this: can these organisms, which are undeniably as much a part of us as our bones and our brains, communicate with us? Can the intuition and insight which our very language positions as being in our gut have as their point of origin a collective life form with billions of years of history on this planet? Can we understand and in turn communicate with them through hormonal and enzymatic secretions resulting from our emotional and mental states at any given moment? Are they us and are we them?

All language is symbolic, whether it be written, auditory, or otherwise; chemical language is no different. The language of chemistry communicates to our bodies how to move, to heal, to reproduce, to digest, to adapt. It is not inconceivable that we are equipped and adept at eavesdropping on the group mind that resides on us and deep within our viscera as it/they respond in kind to chemical thoughts and questions we unknowingly present to them.

Do I think the microbiome exerts a conscious influence over our actions? No. Their goal is survival and continuity, and they have billions of years of precedent to vouch for their success in the achievement this goal. Any actions they take will be solely to that end. Do I believe the microbiome to be the singular locus of Human intuition? No, in fact, I think it more likely that the intuitive sixth sense is a combination of all three of the previously discussed options: unconscious awareness, the enteric nervous system, and the microbiome, all three performing in concert with the aware conscious mind to achieve apparently improbable results.

A fifth ingredient yet to be added to the stew is that of spatial energy. What do I mean by this? Spatial energy (for want of a better term) is that spatial/temporal displacement/non-displacement that exists between even the smallest subatomic particles that may well be the informing and energetic potential that is the binding and enlivening force of creation. Spatial energy must surely contain information and/or itself be a conduit for such information. Again, nothing supernatural is suggested here, just a function of physics as yet to be understood. But that is another topic for another day.

I am certain that many a doctoral thesis could be researched and authored on the role of the microbiome and its cognitive interaction and function in the Human arena. Perhaps, one day, I’ll have the opportunity to read such a thesis and find my intuition on the matter validated.

So, there you have it. How did I arrive at this most unusual theory? A little bacterium told me…

Hell On Earth

I am here today to convey a warning that, alas, only the wise shall heed: Hell is VERY real. I know for I have been there. I have experienced first hand the misery of the place, smelled the stench of the ovens and the countless bodies that have passed through the gates, and heard with my own ears the cacophony of the tortured souls contained therein. How I found myself, an unwilling guest, there among the damned, I do not know; obfuscation and confusion are allies of the tormentors and the scourge of the tormented. I recognize my good fortune in that I somehow managed to escape, by what means I cannot say. I know only that my gratitude at being free of that wretched realm is without bounds. I now feel it my duty to sound the alarm, to alert the unknowing, the unwitting, and the unbelieving, for the portals of damnation are often close and perilously easy to enter.

Through subtle plea or determined summons, the unsuspecting are enticed into the maw of the abyss, as if guided by the hand of an innocent little child. The curious and the obliging make such easy prey. Once through the gates the assault on body, mind, and senses begins. The false promises of fun and games give way swiftly to a stunned awareness that condemnation is at hand.

Hell is a place of darkness, yet it is filled with lights of dazzling color and variety, oscillating madly and blinding in their intensity. From every shadowy corner they shine on the assembled throngs, oppressive and unrelenting. There is no solace to be found, for should one light begin to dim, another will take its place, more offensive and more odious than the one it superseded.

Detritus litters the ground, piled high and scattered all about, decomposing where it sits. Cries and shouts like thunder assault the ears as demonic orchestras grind out their tortured melodies. As for respite, there is none to be had, only discomfort and mayhem and distress.

The last thought there is of hunger, but the minions of blackness foist their potions and poisons on the gathered denizens, so-called “food” prepared and served that at once offends the nostrils and turns the stomach, a mockery of the real needs of the cursed.

In this land all is frenzied and kinetic; demons run to and fro, laughing as they torture the masses and even one another. The den of suffering is populated by creatures difficult to describe, with no comparison to be found in nature. Vile Myomorpha the size of full-grown men, taunting and teasing, beasts that sing high praise and dance with glee at the folly of the damned. Lurking in mazes or trapped in cages, it is often difficult to discern the prisoners from the ungrudging sentinels of Beelzebub.

No more, no more, I can speak of my travail no more! Should, by hapless circumstance, my shadow ever again darken the kingdom of torment, I fear I would not be so lucky as to elude for a second time the fiends abiding there which delight in the agonies of another. I confess the very thought brings a sweat to my brow and the trembles to my knees.

Hades, Tartarus, Sheol, Gehenna, and Tophet, all ancient names for the Land of the Lost. But be warned and be wary for there is yet another name for Perdition’s abode. Be vigilant and permit no one to lure you there and dare not even to utter its infernal name:

Chuck E. Cheese’s.