Category Archives: Metaphysics

The Either Or Pattern

We humans like choice, but not too much.

Choosing between 3 or maybe 4 things is pretty easy.

Which makes sense.

They say we can hold between 5 and 9 (7 +/- 2) things in mind at once.

So looking at three kinds and choosing one means we’re really thinking of six things at once.

The pros and cons of each choice (pro and con times 3).

When we get up to four, it’s kind of stretching our brains.

Looking at five things, it starts to get difficult.

This is what marketers have found when experimenting with different choices on supermarket shelves.

Three variations seems to be the sweet spot.

But there’s another way to look at choice.

How we compare things to one another.

Students were asked to put their hands in a bucket of water, and guess the temperature.

The “test bucket” was always the same temperature.

But their “guess temperature” was dependent on what their OTHER HAND was doing.

If their other hand was in warm water, they under-estimated the test bucket.

If their other hand was in cold water, they over-estimated the test bucket.

So when offering a choice to somebody, how you present that choice will have a HUGE impact on how they choose.

Example:

A marketer was trying to sell a kitchen gadget. It had a few features and was $150.

People would look at it on the shelf, all by it’s lonesome, and only a few people would buy it.

All he did was take a much more expensive gadget ($400 or so) and put it next to the $150 gadget.

The $400 gadget had only a few more features.

So the $150 looked CHEAP by comparison.

Simply by rearranging his shelves, he sold WAY more stuff.

There are tons of ways to leverage this.

Especially if you already have two choices, and there is ONE that you prefer.

Just present the costs of the other choice (the one you don’t want them to choose) as being disproportionately higher than the associated benefits.

Then when they choose, it will be THEIR choice.

Even though you “helped” them make it.

Luckily, this is pretty easy to do conversationally.

Just take a little bit of thought before presenting your ideas, and present them accordingly.

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Seven Laws

Purely Expressed Desires

Release Inhibitions

The best run of luck I ever had in Vegas was when I was under the influence.

Not of alcohol, but painkillers.

I had really bad tendonitis, so bad I was on crutches.

I also had a nice bottle of drugs to ease the pain. But they also significantly improved my mood.

I sat at the roulette table with a buddy for almost an hour. Because of my crutches, I could only “toss” the chips onto the table, instead of lean over.

The dealer didn’t seem to have a problem with it. She just put them on the closest number they landed on.

And I kept winning. For an hour.

Statistically, this was nearly impossible.

Once or twice? Sure. But for an hour? No way. At least not mathematically.

(But then again, scientists tell us that bumblebees aren’t supposed to be able to fly!)

Now, I’m not advocating taking drugs or purposely going under the influence of ANY substance. I fully believe it wasn’t the pain killing effects of the drugs, but the secondary feeling of “euphoria.”

I had zero fears. I didn’t care if I won or lost. I just enjoyed playing.

And I kept winning.

A year or so later, my buddies and I tried to “reverse engineer” that same effect.

We discussed on the way out that we would ONLY “think positive.”

Meaning we wouldn’t rip on each other, or laugh at each other when we lost, like we normally do.

Only mutual support. Only positive statements to each other.

I know, sounds pretty lame. Pretty new-agey.

But guess what?

On that trip, we ALL won. Consistently. The ONLY TIME the three of us (who’d been to Vegas before and since MANY times) came back with pockets stuffed with MORE CASH than on the way out.

Even AFTER paying for expenses (including, ahem, “entertainment.”)

Something else pretty cool happened on that first trip.

We were playing blackjack, and our cocktail waitress was GORGEOUS.

Once when she was walking away, on the spur of the moment, I shouted out, “I love you!”

My friends, (and the dealer) were shocked.

Maybe they were waiting for her to call the cops or at least give me a dirty look.

She just turned around, no big deal, big smile on her face.

“I love you too!”

Now, sure she was a cocktail waitress looking to get tips. Yea, she was hit on all the time.

But the flow of the moment was so incredibly natural. No hesitation on my part. No hesitation on her part.

Now, I didn’t “fall in love with her,” as I was just being playful, and so was she.

But this is what’s possible if you simply release inhibitions and not just live in the moment, but fully ENJOY the moment.

The risks you take will succeed. The expressions of your desires will be reciprocated. Normally closed doors will be open.

It’s incredibly simple, and at the same time magically complicated.

Get Yours:

Luck Activator

Are You Resisting The Flow of Life?

Open Up

In physics, there’re many different kinds of equilibrium.

The term equilibrium itself can mean many different things in many different instances.

But it basically means “balance.”

When I was in high school, I was on the track team as a pole-vaulter. Me and the other pole vaulters would goof around and see if we could balance the poles on our chins.

Interestingly enough, the longer the pole, the easier it is to balance, up to a certain point.

For example, take a pencil, and try to balance it in your hand. Not so easy.

But take a broom, and it’s a lot easier.

But if you took a piece of wood that was fifty meters long, it would be pretty impossible.

No matter what you’re doing in life, balance is always a key component.

Playing music, for example, requires you balance the time with musical notes and the silence in between.

Working a job requires you balance doing the part you like doing, with the part you need to do.

In the beginning of a relationship, you’ve got to balance the time you spend with your partner with the time you spend alone.

In any case, too much of one thing, at the expense of something else is pretty dangerous. Things get out of whack, and nature will eventually correct itself, with or without your permission.

In physics, there are two broad types of equilibrium, or balance. Stable and unstable.

Stable equilibrium is when you’ve got a small ball, for example, resting comfortably in the bottom of a big round glass. All the forces are equal, and unless you apply some pretty concentrated force, that ball’s not going anywhere.

On the other hand, you could have a ball balanced on the top of a seal’s nose. The slightest push, or even shift in wind (or the seal’s attitude) will send the ball to another location.

Many of us wish that life would be filled with “stable equilibrium” situations. Where everything’s set and we don’t have to do much.

Unfortunately, the world around us doesn’t always cooperate. Situations are always changing, people are always changing.

They may change slowly, but they change.

This is precisely what they mean when they say, “Stay on top of things.” There you are, balanced right on the tip (like a ball on a seal’s nose) and everything keeps shifting. So you’ve literally and metaphorically got to “stay on top of things.”

Life is one big flowing and unfolding of situations, events, mysteries and secrets.

Just like a river, you could fight the current, hang on to something and hope you don’t drown, or simply embrace the ever changing nature of reality.

Because when you swim with the current, you can get going pretty fast, and get to some pretty interesting places.

Release resistance, and embrace the flow of life.

Kundalini Activator

The Boundaries Of Science

The Boundary Between Physics and Metaphysics

Peer Over The Edge

When I was a kid, I loved Quantum Physics.

I read a bunch of books on the subject (that had all the math taken out).

Then later on, in university, when the math got involved, it got even stranger.

(At least as much as I could understand it).

It’s NOTHING like “regular” physics.

But still science, not magic.

It’s just that our eyes, ears, brains, senses, etc, are tuned to intuitively understand things on large scale.

Rocks, trees, animals chasing us, etc.

Stuff on an atomic level is completely different. Completely outside of our intuitive understanding.

Neils Bohr (one of the original Quantum Physics guys) said, “If you understand Quantum Physics, you don’t understand Quantum Physics.”

To be sure, a lot of elements are “borrowed” and used in the metaphysical sense, metaphorically, to describe things we don’t really understand.

Now, to be honest, a lot of these terms are used kind of liberally, and incorrectly, to make the underlying discussion sound a lot more “woo-woo” than it really is.

But in a sense, they are sort of correct.

They are terms we use to describe things we understand, to approximate things we don’t understand.

One things humans HATE is confusion and uncertainty.

This is why letting go (at least temporarily) of the need to classify and categorize everything can be so liberating.

Sure, there are some VERY STRANGE things going on just below the surface. And it WOULD be very cool if some alien could come and explain everything to us in great detail.

But since that’s not likely going to happen, it might be a good idea to simply accept the vast mysteries of life. Appreciate them, embrace them.

Obviously, you need to balance between the real world and the “metaphysical” world.

As the expression goes, “Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water.”

Part of enlightenment (whatever that means to you) is simply accepting that which can’t be controlled or explained.

Open yourself to it, embrace it, let it flow through you.

Awaken yourself to your deeper power. Your higher self.

Do you really need to understand the physics of a rainbow to appreciate its beauty?

There is great wonder within you. Amazing potential. Unlimited energy. Ancient life force.

Are you willing to embrace and appreciate it?