It has always been so. Without question, the world's oldest profession is not prostitution, but "power broker", because power is intangible; it can only be touched by belief.
Power broking has always been more competitive than Wall Street or Hollywood. In the "holy" city of Jerusalem, the brightest of the bright, the most gifted of the gifted, the most blessed of the blessed have joined Jewish, Moslem, or Christian religions; yet not once has there been an omnipotent sign favouring one religion over the other two.
Our laws are based on the concept of "a reasonable man", yet a reasonable man would conclude that even an "Heavenly Father" could not sit idly by and listen to his children squabble and destroy each other day after day, year after year, century after century. What father would not intervene to settle the dispute?
More importantly, why would "a reasonable man" choose a masculine god?
During the past decade, virtually everyone qualified for some type of award just for being "special" or "here", yet Father's Day remains a greeting card event. Men rarely achieve recognition for parental abilities!
Males (human/god/bird/animal/reptile or otherwise) are just too cocky to be gods. Every day, thousands of men join kings, presidents, chairmen and priests on that historic list of men who let their libido do their thinking.
Every woman knows men are so wholly focused on their own penis that the world can collapse around them and the man won't notice - nor care (because men are so cocksure they have the best tool in the world for creating a brave, new world!).
In contrast, a woman enjoying the greatest orgasm of her entire life will still hear the footstep of a mother/father/sister/brother/child/husband/fiance/lover/complete stranger from a mile away!
It doesn't take "a reasonable man" to decide who should be minding the world during some heavenly moment, a man wholly focused on his libido, or a woman alert to what else is happening in the world!
I once read a survey which reported that Directors of international corporations rated themselves as making the right decision only about 50% of the time. Men don't make decisions; men make compromises.
As every child knows, if you ask your mother for permission, she says, "Go ask your father." When you ask your father, he says, "Go ask your mother." No one should be surprised when prayers to an Heavenly Father don't get answered!
Civilised people call women "homemakers" in recognition of a woman's ability to bind people together at a particular time and place. Uncivilised people worship Mother Nature as Mother Earth because they recognise a woman's divine ability to organise and distribute resources - but all knowledge is useless until it is applied!
Great minds, science, computers, and "alien" technology can not settle the dispute over "one true god" nor "one true religion" because none can explain how pagans, heretics, heathens, ignorant savages, felons et al can possess and demonstrate the same power as "God's Chosen" possess and demonstrate.
The solution is as intangible as power, and described with one word: belief!
Every day I go to the beach, lay down on the water, and take a wonderful nap. Almost every day someone will ask me how I can just lie down perfectly still on the water and fall asleep; I inavriably respond, "Because when I lay down on the water, I believe I'm going to float, and when you lie on the water, you believe you are going to sink, so you sink, and I float." There is no other difference between us.
Dead people, or anyone who plays dead, will float to the top of the water, but people never think about that; they reason that if most people are like them and sink, then the people who stay afloat must have some power, some talisman, some secret method to stay afloat when everyone else sinks.
Most people can't relax in the water because the fear of drowning makes them resist natural law which would keep them afloat, so they exhaust themselves fulfilling their expectation of drowning.
The same power which floats one and sinks the other varies only by the strength of our belief - and time.
Throughout written history, there is no evidence to suggest that there was any god with more power than any other god. The power of each and every god grows and wanes according to the level of belief.
In the history of these United States, nowhere is this more evident than in the assignment of 1/4 of the entire U.S. Army to destroy the "devil" known as "Geronimo".
Geronimo, a "primitive" Apache shaman, believed no bullet could kill him, and publicly demonstrated that belief by repeatedly baring his buttocks and laughing whilst U. S. Army sharpshooters - and just about everyone else - took potshots at him without anyone ever hitting the "bullseye".
Despite a multitude of Protestant and Catholic prayers and sermons intended to destroy this "devil incarnate", despite having the desire to succeed, all the resources, and numerous opportunities to do so, not one bullet ever found its way to Geronimo's buttocks, so Geronimo died an old man with over $10,000 in his Lawton bank account.
Does this prove Ussen had more power than Jesus, or that Ussen had a greater interest in protecting Geronimo that Jesus had in protecting His flock? Does it prove Geronimo's belief was indeed in the "one true god", or the "one true religion"?
History books tell us Geronimo was not "blessed", just plain "lucky". History also tells us that Geronimo profited from others seeking his power (even today, people pay many dollars for genuine Geronimo artifacts with the vain hope some of Geronimo's power will rub off on them).
There is no question it would be wonderful to have Geronimo's power to deflect bullets; books, movies, and the internet are loaded with power recipes, remedies, relics, and mystic paths willingly exchanged for property ($$$$!).
"Knight" has been synonymous with "shining armour" for more than six hundred years, yet our scientists are still working to perfect body armour for law enforcement officers and military personnel.
Geronimo, an "uneducated" half-naked Apache medicine man, was much closer to Mother Earth and understood the power of photons (which magnets use to attract/ repel lead bullets) and gravitons (which we call "gravity"),those two "magic" powers which remain invisible to the naked eye today.
Geronimo is no more; his times and his power are gone forever. Yet, as can be seen in just about every movie made about the supernatural, people still believe that an old book with secret chants, spells and mystic rites will somehow unlock historic powers to change the future.
It is a fact that Americans under the age of 60 can go to any dance school in America and learn to expertly execute every step and nuance of the foxtrot, but they can NEVER do the foxtrot as their parents/grandparents danced it because they have absolutely no comprehension of the social pressures which made the foxtrot so popular in its era.
Anyone can mimic the tilt of the head, the touch of the hand, and the precise distance between bodies, but they will never experience the emotions, the excitement of actually "doing it" sixty years ago.
Ask anyone over 60, and they will tell you that a peach doesn't look nor taste anything like peaches did 60 years ago, beef doesn't taste like beef, and no matter how secure it may be inside its shell, eggs don't taste anything like eggs tasted 60 years ago.
Just about everyone knows "organic" food doesn't taste anything like "farm fresh" food, and that even the names of many food products have been changed just to make them more appetizing - and profitable!
Life is perpetual change.
Today, most people only hear about penicillin when a nurse asks if they are allergic to it, but penicillin was THE wonder drug of the World War II era!
Penicillin made it possible for people to survive battle wounds, surgery, disease, and adultery.
The Pill is usually credited with giving women sexual freedom, but that "honour" belongs to penicillin. Love, religion, and law have always been subservient to opportunity, so the reason most women were chaste was the very real fear that one indiscretion could result in a lifetime of shame marked by "The Pox." Penicillin pushed those fears aside, but VD didn't lay down and die.
Like cockroaches, during the 1950s and 1960s, VD life forms enjoyed millions of opportunities every day to mingle, merge, and produce strains impervious to penicillin until there was a season when penicillin was shoved aside.
Life is perpetual change.
Yet priests, shamans, wiccans, charlatans and Chinese herbalists continue churning out the same age-old remedies, faithfully following ancient recipes although the ingredients, the ailments, and the patients have dramatically changed from the original power structure.
In 1953, science discovered DNA as the thread of life collecting life stories and intricately weaving them into the web of life where constant grooming meets the needs of our changing world.
Grooming requires working together in harmony, because the slightest discord reverberates through the web where it amplifies with distance and can knock us on our butts when it returns.
Since we fear the consequences of our own actions, instead of investing in resolving conflict, we invest in defense, thus increasing the power of discord and diminishing the power of harmony.
In the 20th century, Geronimo's power remains a mystery. We still credit rocks (magnets) with the power to attract or repel, yet we've all seen a loving mother - who knows all about allergies - shoveling food into her baby's mouth cooing, "mmm, good!", and the baby crying and repeatedly spitting out the food because it isn't good to the baby.
We have all heard about babies choosing death over breast feeding or formula milk which should clearly establish what every mother knows: each baby is born with its own individual affinities/aversions to food/clothes/indoors/outdoors/sports/books/sex/celibacy and their own individual positive/negative power flow system.
Yet every day a child dies because people do not understand how that child could possibly be allergic to aspirin/penicillin/dandelions/cat hair, etc. when that ailment does not afflict anyone else in the family.
Every computer operator understands software can run perfectly on one computer and crash on another computer with exactly the same configuration, yet, in the 20th century, we still can't accept the attract/repel power of the living.
We know plants will wither up and die when they don't like a neighboring plant, yet you can drive all around your home town without finding a single garden where plants grow according to their affinity for each other.
It doesn't matter whether your city's Landscape Architect has a Ph.D., you are mostly likely to see plants which absolutely detest each other rooted side by side.
Grouping a bunch of daffodils together and expecting harmony is just as senseless as grouping men together and expecting harmony; it won't happen because each man has individual power links to religion, politics, family, sports, pets, sexual orientation and a never-ending list of other extensions which can short-circuit or crash against the power forces of other men.
We have known this for thousands of years, yet no school teaches its students how to recognise their own individual affinities and aversions, i.e., no one is taught how to amplify their own natural power.
By most religious accounts, we are of this earth, each of us with our own unique links to rocks, flowers, trees, birds, animals, the ocean, lakes, rivers, the moon, stars, the sun, to animals, and to other humans.
Every civilisation on earth has recognised that fact by exalting just about everything of earthly and heavenly origin to the status of a god. Museums are filled with solid gold replicas of popes' fingers, touchstones, amulets, monuments to sacred snakes, cats, beetles, unknown fantastic creatures, and an incredible variety of earthly and heavenly aromas intended to please the divine.
Yet it is still the culture, not the individual, which chooses and celebrates that affinity.
Almost every adult knows about Linus and his blanket. Every child feels an affinity toward something they want to keep with them all of the time, a preference for a particular spoon, bowl, cup, etc. Even the smallest child can easily relate to something found in nature, a particular place, stone, tree, a plant in the garden they like to eat, another creature, real or imagined, etc.
Older children want mementos of their idol or, like Linus, some tangible security, some link to the past.
Such habits are considered normal, but should they be?
Ancient wisdom warns us that the magician who lives by a magic wand has no living when the wand is gone. Children need to learn life is endless choice, discovery and revision of all they learn, to competely understand that "if the shoe fits, wear it" describes only a moment in time, not a permanent condition!
Isn't it silly that every state in the United States has an official list of affinities (State song, State bird, State tree, State flower, etc), yet the citizens of each State invariably limit their "official list" of affinities to one of only twelve zodiac constellations or gemstones?
Personal power is easily enhanced or decimated by knowing whether flowers bring delight or discomfort to the recipient, yet there are people who don't have a clue if their own mother really prefers roses, carnations, daisies or dandelions!
We all have unique affinities for what we see (e.g., style), what we hear (e.g.., music), touch (e.g., textiles) taste (e.g., seasonings) smell (e.g. soap) and ESP (e.g., angels/monsters). Like putting money in a jukebox, the right selection turns on our power, so an "official list" of affinities encourages people to push the right buttons!
Every electrical appliance sold in the United States is labelled with its ability to conduct power, but we only know about people from static electricity shocks!
TV and computers can open windows to the world, but how can children discover their own affinities if the closest they get to natureis touching a remote control manufactured of man-made materials?
In 2003, we still have academics who believe a university library is the real world and happily continue to dispense nonsense such as, "Turkey vultures don't attack living creatures" or "petroglyphs are the idle doodlings of a primitive race", "facts" that people who live in the real world immediately recognise as false.
In 2003, we are overpopulated with Ph.D.s insisting everyone must wear sunscreeen to hide from our changing world. Have you heard ANYONE - Ph.D., TV anchor, or man-in-the-street - point out that people who hide from the sun and/or wear sunscreen are dooming themselves to extinction because, like the magician without a wand, without sunscreen, they will have no future in our changing world. Like the West Wind Witch, or a vampire, their future must be to wither up and die when they - or their offspring - venture out into sunlight without sunscreen, just like a plant without water withers up and dies.
Our survival and our prosperity depend upon our ability to resonate harmoniously with the flow of power.
Nazis linked to Hitler's power, and millions of Jews followed that flow of power to their doom. A magnet tests metal, not mettle.
A flash flood warning tells everyone with an ounce of common sense to get out of the way, i.e., move to higher ground. Common sense tells us that no individual, no family holding hands and praying together, no holy artifact is likely to withstand the rushing power of more water than space to contain it, which is why you can find Napoleon Bonaparte in an insane asylum, but not Moses!
Power to divert a raging river doesn't come from going with the flow. That power comes from belief, and how do you believe in yourself if you've never done something before?
Since Geronimo died, how many people do you know who dropped their pants so Army sharpshooters take potshots at their buttocks?
Neither the power of meditation nor any other of an un-ending list of religious rites, practices, and gurus have induced anyone to step in front of a firing line and bare their buttocks!
Throughout the entire history of mankind there has only been ONE power which has consistently proven to be reliable, a power available and used by both the good and the "evil" ("evil" is the backward approach to "live"), a power available to everyone but used by few, and that power is simply
Plan
Organize
Work
Evaluate
Refine
To be a shaman (or a rock star) you must first imagine yourself as being that, then formulate a strategy to make it happen.
Planning is simply drawing a line between where you are today and where you want to be at a specific time, writing down the logical steps you need to take to reach that goal, and asking yourself at each step, "What if this happens? What are my alternatives and the consequences of those alternatives?"
Organise your resources to ensure the efficient achievement of your goal. Geronimo claimed a vision gave him the power to divert bullets, but Geronimo was no mental slouch. He orchestrated his "performance" so that wind, distance, light, etc. flowed with his power and not with the power of the sharpshooters!
Consistent success requires uninterrupted flow of power. Remember this example everytime you even think about procrastinating the organization of your resources: You could be reaching a climax of love when your mother/father shouts, "What's going on in there?"
That brief interruption stops the flow dead in its tracks, and it rarely regains its momentum!
Work your plan! DON'T alter your plan in any way, work it exactly as you planned. You know you planned for alternatives and consequences, so you should be prepared for almost every circumstance. Just like Geronimo, once you've dropped your drawers, its too late to make changes!
Evaluate your performance. Geronimo carefully considered the effect it had on Apaches, as well as its effect on U.S. Army personnel. Like an actor on center stage, Geronimo recognised who was clapping (shooting), what it took to get them clapping (shooting), what it took to keep them clapping (shooting), and what to do for an encore!
Refine your plan! Geronimo wasn't satisfied with a perfect performance! He thought of ways to make his next performance stupendous to everyone. Like Calvin Klein advertisements, the more "outrageous" his performance, the more people bought into his power, and the more people bought into the power, the easier it became for him to achieve the unbelievable.
That is the secret of every powerful person in our history books. As Benjamin Franklin wrote, "God helps those who help themselves."
According to every page of history, it little matters to which god you attribute the flow of power, as long as you really believe in his/her/its power. All the trimmings DO matter because YOU can only be yourself, no matter how great some artifact or ritual worked for someone else, it isn't yours.
Just like an "earth ground" three-prong electrical plug won't fit into an old fashioned two-pronged power outlet, and your cellular telephone battery won't power up your camera, you can not appropriate someone else's power and expect it to work for you.
You must build your own power just like everyone else: step by step.
A latest psychology "buzzword" is "empower"; if you want to EMPOWER yourself to succeed in the next century, just add a cheerful supply of
Enthusiasm and
Motivation
to your POWER!
�1989 Rico Leffanta
n.b. For up-to-date information about Geronimo's powers, see the August, 2005 edition of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS!
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