How I Woke Up

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Interesting comments by Michael Ross about "waking up" in a thread below:

"It's good you have awoken. Most people never will. Most people do not want to. They are so enured in their mental slumber they will fight to stay asleep.

Usually, the only way to wake someone fully is... to remove them from the environment - from the group mind think - and let them awake on their own."

- see http://www.sowpub.com/forum/showthread.php?p=22217
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Thought I'd add to that and start a new thread. Might be interesting.

I look at it this way: When you are born, your vistas are unlimited. Your potential is unlimited. Your reach . . . that is, your willingness to look and explore . . . is boundless. But there's a problem: OTHERS!

Parents, for example, might not want you reaching too much for their own reasons. Perhaps they don't want to see you get hurt. Or maybe they don't want to have to bother looking after you and it would be "nicer" for them if you just sat still and stopped all this exploring of your environment.

Then there's religion. I'm not saying it's a bad thing . . . in fact, it can have some very good effects. But wrong-headed religion can also blunt your reach. "Don't YOU look! All the looking's been done for you, and this is what we saw and what we know to be true (and what YOU should believe without bothering to look for yourself)".

And don't forget the media. And businesses. The media want you to look at things their way and get you embroiled in their contrived controversies, and businesses want you to buy what they have to offer. "We provide everything you need . . . and everything you need to know". Again, individuals and groups wanting to do the looking for you. You don't have to look for yourself.

Friends and relatives . . . acquaintences . . . schools . . . . peers . . . special intrest groups . . . cults . . . on and on. Lots of sources of information and viewpoints about "how it really is" and how YOU should think about it. Well, guess what: If you buy into it to any large degree, you're lost! And what you've lost is your REACH . . . your ability to look and explore and see with your own eyes. Eventually, you only see what's put on the screen in front of you. And what you see on that screen and read in newspapers and magazines and hear on the radio is the sum total of your reality about society and "what is". Congratulations. You have been successfully hypnotized!

Well, back in 1972, I had just about had it. Truthfully, I didn't know what had happened to me at that time, but I knew that I wasn't happy with my understanding about life. There HAD to be more to it than what I was experiencing! So this is what I did:

I sat down on the couch in my living room, and in my mind's eye out in front of me, I a took a look at everything my parents had ever taught me and told me. And, again, in my mind, I put all that BEHIND me.

Then I looked at everything I read in newspapers and magazines, read in books, saw on TV and in the movies and heard on the radio. And I put THAT behind me.

Then I examined what I was taught in the religion I was brought up in. And I put it behind me.

Same for everything I learned in school. Put it behind me.

Friends, relatives, acquaintences, co-workers . . . all of the stuff they told me . . . I put it behind me.

Finally, after going though this process for some time, I ran out of outside sources of information. And I said to myself "OK, now *I* am going to look for MYSELF to see what *I* know for certain, without having been told by someone else."

And guess what: I found out that I didn't know ANYTHING for certain! But, having looked for myself, I did know THAT. I was totally certain that I knew nothing for certain, and that no one told me that and that I had found it out by looking for myself. That was a humbling but exhilarating experience!

But there's more. That was just the starting point. Now that I was looking for myself, I decided that there must be answers to what we call "life" . . . real answers . . . and that *I* could find those answers. And so I began, for the first time in my life, looking with my own eyes.

And that is how I woke up.

Have you had some kind of a similar experience?

---- Hugh

There was a book out awhile ago titled, "Everything I know I learned in Kindergarten"....or something like that.

Bosh! That's for a "Robot" programmed with certain input info. Humans are ALWAYS learning. Life is a continuous learning experience.

This summer I tasted "chocolate covered ANTS". This taught me to never again try to eat a Chocolate Covered insect of ANY kind.

I was educated (at Northwestern Univ Tech School) and trained (at General Electric) to be an "Engineer". When I discovered (at 22yrs of age) that I had replaced an engineer (52 yrs of age) who had been with the company for almost 25 yrs and was being "let out to pasture BEFORE his Vested Retirement Rights were set"....I decided to spend my Off-Time looking for a business I could start where I would NOT be dependent upon someone else for my income.

After about a year I found one and even though it had to do with "Selling", of which I knew nothing, (All my education and training was in Laboratories sans human contact) I decided I could LEARN by "experience" and "Trial & Error".

So...with a frightful wife and 2 babies, I gave my 2 week notice and started my biz. It was "Sink or Swim" time and...although it took me a few weeks to get my first sale...I quickly learned HOW to SELL. Which has been helpful to me my whole life. (And, I'm STILL learning)

Same with Religion. I knew there was "something else"..."out there", and I was not just a creature that evolved from a frog or monkey. That "something else" is God. And I "learned" of the different ways humans choose to worship Him.

So...yes...you can "say" you "put everything Behind you" BUT.....YOU, as a human being, have been INSTILLED with certain things by your parents, your early School and Church experiences AND...your "peer" group.

YOU have discovered, via your experiences, of what to expect in certain situations and HOW you have chosen to REACT to these stimuli.

And...you are continuing to learn....daily.

Don Alm
http://www.midasreports.com
50 ways to make $50K

It's been my experience that not many people ever wake up.
That's why the few lead the many. The many are always looking for the "pill".
Something... anything to quell they're "anxiety" of the "unknown".

I think that's why so many people cling to "belief " systems. That's they're "pill". But that "pill" keeps them from thinking for themselves. You Hugh and Don both woke up once you started to think for yourself and not to "follow" the crowd. Don, gotta hand it to you... with kids to feed and no immediate source of income, that takes some "cajones"(is that spelled right)
to do something like that. But you did have income, it was there the whole time. Just existing in a different format. A different "way".

Most can never begin to think like that because the fear, the doubt, and the disbelief "choke" them into submission. And most people are afraid of alot.

Mostly because from the time they were two they were told to "be careful", "don't rock the boat", "don't talk to strangers" and they were picked up everytime the fell down instead of being given the chance to pick them selves up once in a while.

In a world dominated by so much fear it's hard to be "objective" when everyone is giving you a "subjective" point of view. That's also why people usually wake up during times of crises in their lives. It shakes them into an "objective" point of view. A higher standing point.

I think most people look at life from a point that is like looking out a window on the world from the first or second floor. But then those fortunate enough to have a "crises" or something that shakes them up, get a chance to view the world from a "higher" perspective, say from the 5th, 6th, or 7th floor.

Looks different from up there. Remember "Charles Keating" from The Dead Poets Society when he stood up on his desk.

It's sad really. So many people asleep. But even when you wake up it seems there is more to learn.

One epiphany I had was when I realized that we all "sell" something but it falls into two categories. A product or a service. Sometimes both at the same time. So for me it's been like trying on a suit. All the ways to make money look good from afar. But when you try on the "suit" it doesn't look as good on or it doesn't "feel" right. Then you get everyone around you, friends, family, etc. telling you that you just didn't stick with it or whatever.

But my thing has been this... life is way too long and way to short at the same time. Too long to bang your head against the wall even if it makes you a million. Too short in the aspect that if you stay "lost in the wilderness" too long, you'll emerge at the end of your life having done nothing but been lost.

I think most people want the same things deep inside. Freedom to do what you want, when you want, with who you want, whenever you want, as much as you want without limitations. Not necessarily no limits to spending, but just not being limited to having to wonder..."hmm can I buy this now?" "if I do will hurt me financially in some way".

I know this, I've been and seen others who have been, in a positon in life where it didn't take a million to be "free". At that same time it does take a certain level of income to have freedom. But I don't think it takes as much as most people think. But it does take as much as you "think" you need/want.

And there is the paradox.

That's all the rambling I've got for now.

Fred

I would like to add my two cents in this topic .

Waking up is getting out of that comfort zone, it is something that an individual should do if he /she wanted to make change.
He/she should be prepared for different consequences , consequences like failing since it is one of the factor that needs to be considered if you wanted to succeed.

Sometimes life pushes you into waking up. Sometimes there's no other choice!

One of my favorite phrases... "The truth will set you free -- but it will piss you off first!"

Cheers!

-- TW

Originally Posted by Adman

So...yes...you can "say" you "put everything Behind you" BUT.....YOU, as a human being, have been INSTILLED with certain things by your parents, your early School and Church experiences AND...your "peer" group.

YOU have discovered, via your experiences, of what to expect in certain situations and HOW you have chosen to REACT to these stimuli.

And...you are continuing to learn....daily.

Don Alm

Hey Don,

Great story!

And I agree with what you say about learning.

Thing is, I really did put all that behind me at that particular moment in time. The good part is that after that I started looking for myself I eventually became able to begin sorting out what information I had been INSTILLED with that I wanted to UNINSTILL from my mind. It became a process of keep the good, jettison the bad.

And you're right about this too: I came to really appreciate all those good things I got from my parents, from my religion and peers, and so on. School experiences? Well, I got some good information about physics in high school!

---- Hugh

Ha! Ha! Ha!

Good one, TW!

I like that line . . . I'm going to remember that one.

---- Huhg

....our country, the Good Ol' US of A has turned into a bunch of "whining TAKERS"!

Most people would rather "HUNT" for ways to have someone (or a company or, da Gummit)....GIVE them what they want.

They'd rather sit on their keisters and figure out ways to 'GET MONEY" from Da Gummit or Dere Company....money that they did NOT earn but felt they were ENTITLED to.

Especially the Inner City people. (Detroit, Chgo, NYC, New Orleans) Look at what happened in Katrina. 2 DEMOCRAT Politicians, Mayor Nagin and da Guv (I forgot HER name) The people just sat there, waiting to be "taken care of".

At least THIS time in the big hurricane, there was a REPUBLICAN Guv who got things going.

Take a look at all the cities run by Democrats. High Crime & Corruption and FULL OF TAKERS! NON-Producers.

AND...if you didn't see the new VP Elect, Sarah Palin, last Wednesday night at the Rep Convention....you missed an HISTORIC EVENT!

ONE WOMAN! ONE person who was NOT a "Taker" who was a "DOER", SHOOK THE HECK OUTA THE POLITICAL SYSTEM....of BOTH PARTIES!

ONE person (If they don't kill her of attack her too much)...has SHAKEN UP "DA SYSTEM" SO MUCH...it may not recover...and could be CHANGED forever into something GOOD.

This ONE Woman from Alaska has given HOPE and EXCITEMENT to people like nothing I've ever witnessed in my life.

ONE person is "TEACHING" America what it's like to 'GRAB THE BULL BY THE HORNS AND....GO FOR IT!"

ONE WOMAN...is bringing COURAGE to a downtrodden and morally and ethically corrupt society.

ONE WOMAN...as you get to know her...is showing BY HER OWN EXAMPLE, that people CAN do what they want to do. That they can SUCCEED by getting out there and TRYING.

The next few weeks are going to be VERY EXCITING. And this woman named Sarah Palin COULD go down in our history as one of THE GREAT Motivators in our history.

Watch her close! And...get to know her. SHE can teach us ALL about "Courage" and "Hope" and "Committment" and...."Look FEAR in it's ugly face and SPIT on it!"

I don't know about where you live but, my entire neighborhood and community, especially the women who hardly ever get excited, let alone Vote, are JAZZED like they've never been JAZZED before in their lives.

The next few weeks are going to be EXCITING!

Don Alm

Heyl Don... it's obvious that you 'woke up'.
So much so that you've discovered exactly what's wrong
in the good 'ole' USofA and know exactly how to fix it.

Originally Posted by Adman

....our country, the Good Ol' US of A has turned into a bunch of "whining TAKERS"!

Most people would rather "HUNT" for ways to have someone (or a company or, da Gummit)....GIVE them what they want.

They'd rather sit on their keisters and figure out ways to 'GET MONEY" from Da Gummit or Dere Company....money that they did NOT earn but felt they were ENTITLED to.

Especially the Inner City people. (Detroit, Chgo, NYC, New Orleans) Look at what happened in Katrina. 2 DEMOCRAT Politicians, Mayor Nagin and da Guv (I forgot HER name) The people just sat there, waiting to be "taken care of".

At least THIS time in the big hurricane, there was a REPUBLICAN Guv who got things going.

Take a look at all the cities run by Democrats. High Crime & Corruption and FULL OF TAKERS! NON-Producers.

AND...if you didn't see the new VP Elect, Sarah Palin, last Wednesday night at the Rep Convention....you missed an HISTORIC EVENT!

ONE WOMAN! ONE person who was NOT a "Taker" who was a "DOER", SHOOK THE HECK OUTA THE POLITICAL SYSTEM....of BOTH PARTIES!

ONE person (If they don't kill her of attack her too much)...has SHAKEN UP "DA SYSTEM" SO MUCH...it may not recover...and could be CHANGED forever into something GOOD.

This ONE Woman from Alaska has given HOPE and EXCITEMENT to people like nothing I've ever witnessed in my life.

ONE person is "TEACHING" America what it's like to 'GRAB THE BULL BY THE HORNS AND....GO FOR IT!"

ONE WOMAN...is bringing COURAGE to a downtrodden and morally and ethically corrupt society.

ONE WOMAN...as you get to know her...is showing BY HER OWN EXAMPLE, that people CAN do what they want to do. That they can SUCCEED by getting out there and TRYING.

The next few weeks are going to be VERY EXCITING. And this woman named Sarah Palin COULD go down in our history as one of THE GREAT Motivators in our history.

Watch her close! And...get to know her. SHE can teach us ALL about "Courage" and "Hope" and "Committment" and...."Look FEAR in it's ugly face and SPIT on it!"

I don't know about where you live but, my entire neighborhood and community, especially the women who hardly ever get excited, let alone Vote, are JAZZED like they've never been JAZZED before in their lives.

The next few weeks are going to be EXCITING!

Don Alm