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Over 70 years ago, Napoleon Hill wrote a book called “Outwitting the Devil”, yet it wasn't actually published until quite recently. At the time of its crafting, he had already made quite a name for himself in the business world, especially from the success of his seminal tomb “Think and Grow Rich.” (If you have not read it, I suggest typing in Amazon.com in your web browser as soon as you are done reading this post!) So why exactly did this particular vision from his inner mind lay hidden from public consumption for decades?!? After all, Hill was the author of numerous books that transformed the cultural zeitgeist of a society that had been been fiscally stripped and spiritually annihilated by the horrors of the Great Depression. He had made it is life's purpose to take on the near Herculean task of setting aside over 25 years of his life to uncover the underpinnings of life success and what nuances existed that separates those of us who merely survive from those of us who actually eat PASSION FLAKES for breakfast and thrive the rest of each and every day of their brief time here on the planet, fulfilling their Hero's/Heroine's journey along the way. He went so far as to partner with the iconoclast Dale Carnegie who assisted him as a mentor on this mission of a Lord of the Rings worthy proportion! Frodo who?!? :0)
“If you undertake this job, you should interview not only the few who have succeeded, but the many who have failed. You should carefully analyze many thousands of people who have been classified as failures, and I mean by the term failures, men who come to the closing chapters of their lives disappointed because they DID NOT achieve the goal for which they had set aside their hearts toward achieving. As it is inconsistent as it may seem, you will learn more about how to succeed from the failures as you will from the so-called successes. They will teach you what NOT to do. Among toward the end of your labor, if you carry it through successfully, you will make a discovery which may be a great surprise to you. You will find that the cause of success is not separate and apart from the man/woman. That is is a force so intangible in nature that the majority of men never recognize it. ; a force which may be called ‘the other SELF.’ Noteworthy is the fact that this OTHER SELF seldom exerts its influence or makes itself known excepting at times of immediate emergency, when men are forced, through adversity and temporary defeat, to change their habits and THINK their way out of temporary defeat."
~~ Dale Carnegie (OUTWITTING THE DEVIL)
In fact, this New Age Nerd credits a portion of his found commitment to life purpose on the profound Re-membrance that was gifted through Hill's luminous prose that contains a radical template for the law of attraction that FAR pre-dates this generation's proclamation that “The Secret” is the cure to our feelings of lack of abundance, inadequacy, and disconnection from our authentic SOURCE. The only real secret he could find for manifesting extraordinary success in one's lifetime came from finding and following your purpose and desire for being here, and doggedly pursuing it with a concrete plan that is backed by daily ACTION STEPS. Basically, know where you are going, and bust your butt with no complaining or explaining to get there! Funny that the real ‘secret’ to, well, ‘The Secret’ is that THERE IS NO SECRET! Perhaps Sean Connery summed it up best in “The Untouchables” with his wicked quip to Kevin Costner's lawman tasked with capturing Chicago's shiftiest crime lord, “Yes, but what are you PREPARED TO DO to get Capone!” That line can be applied to all of our goals and desired manifestations. Because you will most often find that those that simply DO, practice the ART OF ACTION. As my my pop used to implore to his students, in life there are only two distinct camps. You are either ‘working hard’ or ‘HARDLY WORKING.’ Nuff said!
Conspiracy theories aside, I believe the reason the Napoleon Hill estate was reluctant to release the contents within “Outwitting the Devil” is due to its narrative premise. For it is written from the understanding that Hill had an actual dialogue with SATAN himself. A sit-down for the ages to say the least! And what exactly would one even dare to wear for such an occasion! LOL Even in our contemporary exploitive and sensationalistic media landscape, the announcement of such a journalistic coup would cause quite a furor of frantic frenzy. So can you you even attempt to ponder the marketing of such a seemingly preposterous declaration back in the days before Marty McFly innocently donned his Calvin Kleins before their time?!? Although, ironically enough, it does feel like we are having continued dialogue with the DEVIL himself with each and every Donald Trump media debacle! Forgive me Father, for I have sinned... ;0)
So while reading the book, I took a page out of the Michael Beckwith (The founder of Agape Spiritual Center in Los Angeles) self actualization playbook, and substituted the ideation of the Devil, into THE EGO. During many of his fiery Sunday soliloquies, he would often refer to the Devil as being No Thing less than our own EGO, and it's attempt to keep us feeling separate from our authentic selves.(More on this masterful application in a future post!)
And just as in my beloved “Conversation with God” series, I implore my fellow truth seekers to try and set aside their contemplations on where the information is coming from, and instead intently focus on WHAT in the narrative actually RESONATES with their intuitive feelings. CAPICHE?!?!
Fantastic!
What did I find from this Devil's philosophical musings and declarations from the ‘Dark Side of the Force’. While nothing revelatory in nature, it can be summed up within the context of one potentially destructive paradigm: DRIFTING! Napoleon Hill fastidiously used a simple, yet nearly flawless indicator of a person's current probability of achieving stupendous life happiness and success. Before beginning work with a new group of corporate students, he would line them up and one by one, ask them just two basic questions. The first being “What is your life purpose?”, and the second being “What is your plan for achieving it?” After working with tens of thousands of well intended, highly educated individuals, he found that LESS than 10 percent could answer the questions he posed to them. Many of them staying in jobs they detest, and in relationships that have long passed their intended expiration date! And this, my fellow New Age Nerds, is the epitome of DRIFTING!
The Devil (EGO) said that this pattern of living energy is his greatest ally toward keeping people from a life filled with soulful expansion, peaceful platitude, and the ability to complete their Hero's/Heroine's Journey. I can tell you from first hand experience that DRIFTING can become a horrible hindrance to any semblance of lasting happiness. It's like ‘punching in and punching out’ of the time clock in life. Living a surface existence instead of a deep, authentic, mindful co-creative process with life. And it can touch upon and eventually erode what I call the PILLARS of LIFE. Similar to the load baring posts that hold up any structural foundation, these pillars consist of personal support structures of our existence. Relationships, jobs, health, fiscal abundance, spiritual practice; these are all the pillars that inform and maintain our sense of well being.
When we drift in one or all of these areas, we are aimlessly sleepwalking through the precious moments of our days. In the book, the Devil(EGO) specifically says, “A drifter is one who permits himself to be influenced and controlled by circumstances beyond his control. He would rather have me occupy his mind and do his thinking rather than go to the trouble of thinking himself. A drifter is one who accepts whatever life throws his way without putting up a protest. He doesn't know what he wants from life and spends all of his time getting just that. A drifter has lots of opinions, but none are his own...... I would advise him to WAKE UP AND GIVE. Give some form of service to as many people as possible. He must learn to give before he gets.”
So what can be done if you have found yourself in an habitual pattern of aimlessly DRIFTING through life? I invite you to contemplate incorporating the following suggestions that can support you away from your EGO and it's treacherous temptations to keep you in a zombie like state of disillusionment, and bring back that ‘authentic swing’ that brings back the PASSION, JOY, and ZEST that makes life such a MIRACULOUS and Majestic experience!!
1. Decide what you want from life and what your God given talents might be. The things that make time seem to FLY while you are participating in them is a great guidance system toward what those talents and passions truly are!
2. Create a plan for how to go about attaining your goal/purpose/mission. Hiring a life coach is a wonderful way to start building a support team to assist you in this Journey in a compassionate, loving, and even fun manner!
3. Analyze your past and present defeats or seeming failures. (They are really not failures, just ways you now know something does NOT serve you.) Again The New Age Nerd's definition of sin is to SUFFER without meaning. Allow yourself to truly FEEL your feelings about the state of affairs in your life and ask Spirit for the guidance to help you understand the seed of equivalence in the form of an opportunity that is waiting to be discovered.
4. Become hyper aware of your daily habits and actions. How much time are you spending surfing the internet, daydreaming, writing scripts in your minds for movies that will NEVER get made. Anything that is actually keeping you away from tangible action steps toward your purpose.
5. Understand that FEAR is simply FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL. It is the EGO's way of keeping you small, and is the biggest ally to the nasty nature of DRIFTING!
And if all else fails, seek out your SEARCH and RESCUE TEAM. Let them shower you with the Love and respect you deserve. And don't be afraid to ASK FOR HELP. Sometimes just breaking up our larger purpose into bite size chunks can help maintain the courage to step forward and simply BEGIN! And a warm, trusting support team can be your own ‘Gateway to Narnia’ that initiates the start of a great big JUICY exciting chapter in your amazing new life!!
Nerdmaste,
Jeffrey Louis Martinez
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