Author Geir Isene

Clear as Master Eric

Geir Isene 28 Comments

I wished I could have summed up my previous post as well as Master Eric. But then again, maybe it comes with the territory of being a master at martial arts. He captured the essence of my post nicely and added his own questions at the end:

“I am a 5th dan in Ryu Kyu Kempo. A form of Martial Arts. In it we have, like all modern martial arts a belt system. White belt and all the way up to Black belt and beyond to the so called secret moves of the upper levels 🙂

Yes, the upper black belt classes were not viewable by anyone under the black belt level. Considered too dangerous for the students who were not ready. Sounds familiar 🙂

Now, in the past, before the 19th century. There were no belt systems in martial arts. You only had a belt to hold your pants up 🙂

The only rule you had was that when you started you were given a very thick and strong white cotton belt that you did not ever wash. The reason for this was so that others knew how long you have been training and so they were careful not to hurt the lower level or inexperience students. The more and longer you trained, the belt will change colour from the sweat and so others will see the time of training you have had and know how skilled you would or should be.

So there were no Levels or grades in the old days. You progressed slowly by learning more and more and being more CLEAR about how to BE a MASTER of the ART.

Now the above is my way of trying to explain the concept of CLEAR. You never become CLEAR. You become CLEARER and CLEARER and CLEARER. Along the way you have AHA moments that help you move a big step forward but you are not CLEAR just CLEARER than before…..There are no states that are the same for everyone. Each will progress and get CLEARER as they work on themselves. There are NO ABSOLUTES…

To me I find the more I work on myself, the LESS MIND I have and more of ME expanded. Difficult to put in to words. I find that this thing called MIND is less and MORE of ME is HERE. But if I let go of my self work and focus on life only, then, I feel this thing called MIND more and more and I feel Less and Less expanded.

So what this thing called is or if it actually IS anything is an interesting subject. Maybe the MIND is the GLUE that holds our attention to this Creation that we apparently agree on altogether. Maybe, no MIND means total freedom… Just sayin 🙂”

Conclusion: There are no Clears

Geir Isene 585 Comments

I have come to the conclusion – through discussions on this blog and otherwise – that there is no such thing as a “reactive mind“… and that leading people to believe there is such may get them to “create it” it and dramatize it.

WHAT A BOMB SHELL. An OT 8 That Does Not Believe In The Reactive Mind!

I now believe there is an almost infinite gradient of consciousness – from being “in the zone” (as athletes express it) to “everyday life” to “tired” to “drunk” to “sleepy” to “asleep” to “sound asleep” to “unconscious” to “almost dead” to “dead”, etc. And that we create everything we experience at all levels of consciousness. We also create our worries and traumas etc in present time. Some of this can be grouped into a model and be called “a reactive mind” if one likes. But, I hold that this is merely a model and that there is no such “thing”. This opens the door to a gradient handling of a person consciousness rather than attacking a “thing” that doesn’t exist. So, there are no Clears, just “clearer people” who have increased “awakeness”. This would explain the constant trouble in the Church of Scientology regarding Clears – they try to pin down an impossibility. David Mayo described this in the early 90’s.

I see the level of consciousness paralleling the level of free will in a person.

The quest then, is how to increase the consciousness, the free will of the person and the clarity of the mind.

random event?

Working with people with drive

Geir Isene 38 Comments

Just got off the phone with a nice guy. We talked about helping people, and particularly about helping brainwashed people inside the Church of Scientology. And I told him what people I prefer to help these days.

Just a few months ago, I would get fired up about trying to help people “see the truth” or “wake up”. No longer.

While I appreciate other’s effort in helping a person wake up from a brainwashed daze, I find my own interest in such waning.

I prefer to work with those who have a drive rather than those who try their best to keep the status quo.

And it doesn’t matter where that “drive” leads – as long as the person really wants to change and reach some goal, I am all in. My interest and ability to help people with a drive is high, and that’s where I will focus.

Drop sales

Geir Isene 12 Comments

If you are selling products or services that you need to convince the customers to buy, you are doing something wrong. Either sell something else or figure out why the customers aren’t running down your doors to get what you are offering.

Brendan had a week earlier this winter where he didn’t convince anyone about anything. That got me thinking. And I decided to at least stop pushing products or services on people. Market and present, yes. But using effort, no.

I figure it’s much smarter to present something that customers really, really want. And then deliver that better than they expected. Push is a sign of failure.

selling

Kill PR

Geir Isene 73 Comments

While there are many valuable definitions and purposes of “Public Relations”, these are the ones I would like to see killed:

“Communication by a person or an organization with the purpose of creating a favorable public image; commonly referred to as PR.” (Wiktionary)

“The business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution.” (Mirriam-Webster)

I don’t want others to have any other impression of me than the correct impression of me. Not slanted, not puffed up, not embellished.

I would rather have an honest impression of a company than a PR impression. I want to see honesty and transparency in business, not favorable images.

Transparency rules.

And I think the best goodwill you can create is the goodwill based on raw honesty.

Your soapbox

Geir Isene 69 Comments

“A soapbox is a raised platform on which one stands to make an impromptu speech, often about a political subject. The term originates from the days when speakers would elevate themselves by standing on a wooden crate originally used for shipment of soap or other dry goods from a manufacturer to a retail store.”

The floor is open. Have your say. Anything goes. Throw out an idea and see if it garners discussion.

The FACK

Geir Isene 129 Comments

It’s a cross between a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Fuck It!

Having noticed that my recent blog posts gathered lots of comments around the Net and on e-mail lists, I have decided to answer a bunch of them here. Rather than answering on the various sites, I think it’s better for people to find a collection of some of my views here… regarding Scientology, Hopefully this will be the last blog post on that subject for at least a little while.

Here’s some relevant and some weird statements that I will answer:

  • Geir has abandoned Scientology altogether?
    I have basically abandoned all methods in favor of doing what is right to deliver value in a given circumstance. Goal is senior to method – always.
  • You are ditching the best mental technology known to Man
    I don’t know if Scientology is the best mental technology. I am open to any tool that may help a person reach his own goals.
  • All you want to do is to prove Hubbard wrong
    I don’t care about Hubbard. But I am interested to find out where the root cause of abuses perpetrated by the Church of Scientology comes from. It seems to me they are rooted in the writings of Hubbard – and locating these root causes may help prevent recurrence.
  • He is influenced by some SPs (Suppressive Persons)
    I am influenced by all sorts of people. But my main influence is my curiosity and relentless quest for my own truth.
  • Geir is still stuck in the cult mindset
    I am not stuck. I am a work in progress. Hope you are too.
  • He will eventually wake up and realize that there is NOTHING good in Scientology
    I think absolutist statements about a subject as big as Scientology is stupid – whether the claim is that it is absolutely perfect or absolutely useless. I prefer tolerance and respect for other’s views.
  • He will soon understand that he didn’t have any real gains in Scientology
    It’s like saying I will soon wake up and understand that my childhood education didn’t give me anything after all. I gained what I gained in Scientology and it was great – even though some would love that not to be true.
  • Geir has an annoyingly haughty writing style
    I am curt on my blog and on forums and have been labeled “the champion of conciseness”. That may come across as haughty. I am a fan of Winston Wolf. I have limited time. I prefer to spend my quality time together with my family and friends face to face. I so love personal contact. You will find having a coffee with me quite different than discussing with me on the Net. You are hereby invited.
  • He has gone over to the dark side
    I am on nobody’s side. I am on a quest for my own truth and I bring my own torch.
  • You need an L1C on Scientology (an auditing action to handle a person’s upset)
    I am not at all upset with Scientology or with Hubbard. Scientology has been a good stepping stone for me on my personal quests.
  • Geir wants people to have lofty goals. It’s akin to Scientology’s “Clearing the planet”
    I don’t want any goals for others. people should find their own paths and goals (or not). I want to help those who have a burning desire to reach some goal – whether that is a small personal goal or a goal to make the World a better place.
  • Geir is only focusing on “a person’s own goals” – that’s so first person oriented, so Scientological
    I don’t care what goals people have. But I am always ready to lend a hand if anyone needs it. And I do help a lot of people do things they didn’t think possible. I love to see others succeed.
  • Geir is setting himself up as another guru
    No thank you. The one thing I hated about having reached OT 8 in the church was to be treated as someone’s Personal Jesus. Let’s do away with guruing altogether.
  • He wants to take over as the leader of the Church of Scientology
    What have you been smoking? I am done with organized religion.

That was some of the statements that I picked up. I am sure I have missed plenty. Got more questions or statements for me? Feel free to post a comment.


(Hugh at Gapingvoid.com)

A shift in viewpoints

Geir Isene 128 Comments

The past two weeks have been the busiest ever on this blog. I have been blogging like crazy and some 4000 people have been reading. Lots and lots of comments. And through the many concurrent discussions on half a dozen threads, I have seen a shift in how people here view Scientology. Save for a few commenters, the majority seem to have expressed a rather pragmatic view on Scientology. That Scientology as a whole is indefensible and that one must use what valuable tools there are, combined with any other tools, to serve an individual’s own goals and purposes. That it is wise to not abide by Hubbard’s own goals for you and instead seek to fulfill your own.

 

Personally, I have clearly expressed that I am not interested in salvaging Scientology as a subject. I want to instead focus on the personal goals of those crossing my paths – using whatever tools needed to help them reach those.

It would be interesting to hear from you what you consider to be the reason for this shift in atmosphere (or if I’m totally off the mark here).

Create the problem… or chill

Geir Isene 227 Comments

Here’s another one in the “Fuck it!” series.

My good old friend Mårten Runow (OT 8 still in the Church of Scientology) once said to me: “The good thing about non-scientologists is that they don’t know that they have a reactive mind they can dramatize).“. What got me thinking about that quote was an excellent comment from Spyros:

“I thought it could be useful to have a book or books that contain SCN stuff that don’t require a line of trainning to be applied. I thought stuff like study tech and assist in particular, would match this criteria. And then, I got a cog: Ever since I stopped considering study tech -the misunderstood word(s) phenomena in particular- I stopped having that phenomena. I can read a text and see a word that I don’t quite grasp and continue reading and have no problem with the rest of the text at all! No blankness, no wondering about it, no tendecy to blow etc. I’m sure Ron knew about this. Actually it is mentioned in an instance somewhere in Student Hat. But not much stress is put on it. If I wanted to relay something from SCN to the broad public, that would be something like “if you want to have a problem, consider that it exists –or that it can potentialy exist!”. Want to have a reactive mind? Consider that there is one….then to make it even more real, try to resolve it (counter-create it)”

And I believe there is a great deal of truth to this. Chill.