Manipulation

Here are a few phrases you might find people trying to use to manipulate you (or vice versa).The reason for this , is to stop you feeling the emotions that you are experiencing .In other words , another method of control-unfortunately we all do it to a greater or lesser extent :

 

• It 's for the good of the firm , family , religion , yourself
  
• It's for your own safety ( Health & Safety )
  
• Tears ( politicians & women – sorry ladies )
  
• I do so much for you – I have to do everything –you should be grateful . ( Victimhood )
  
• It's all your fault
  
• You're being oversensitive
  
• You let me down
  
• Think of people worse off than you ( eg the starving in Africa )
  
• I'm right
  
• I need or I want
  
• I'm so angry with you

Just go away

From today's Observer : " Airport –style metal detectors will be installed at hundreds of school gates under sweeping measures to confront the growing problem of teenage knife crime . Senior police officers and head teachers have persuaded Jacqui Smith , the Home Secretary , that their effectiveness in tackling knife crime outweighs any concerns over pupil privacy . " This government has become increasingly authoritarian and puritanical . Their normal excuse for enacting these type of policies is to protect the public from these exaggerated threats . From the banning of photographs at school plays , to the restrictions placed on demonstrations and the introduction of Identity cards , the core reason for these reactions is power and control . The government wants to control the public and is its raison d'etre . Underneath its shiny and smily façade , there is a cruel and ruthless determination to hold onto this power as anybody who has ever had dealings with government bureaucracy will testify . We do not need them any more – I feel the world has evolved to a point where it is perfectly able to make its own decisions and live how it wants . To all you mini Hitlers and Mussolini's – just sod off and go away .

The Book of Law

One of the twentieth centurys most iconic figures was the magician and writer Aleister Crowley .He was a major figure in several esoteric organizations such as the Golden Dawn and Ordo Templi Orientis and is best known for his work The Book of Law . During his lifetime , he was infamous for his behaviour and was called " The Great Beast " and " The Wickedest Man in the World " .He was accused of Black Magic and paedophilia . Whilst none of this was ever proved conclusively , he lost a libel case when he tried to defend himself against charges of Black Magic , it would appear that he was involved in very strange magical practices mainly based on sex . As with all great egotists it is difficult to distinguish between the truth and fact , but he appears to have been an unlikeable man relying on the strength of his character rather than any other redeeming features . A New Forest witch in a coven in the New Forest in Hampshire described him as " a dirty minded , evilly disposed and vicious little monster ". With regard to children he wrote " It would be unwise to condemn as irrational the practice of devouring the heart and liver of an adversary while yet warm . For the highest spiritual working one must choose that victim which contains the greatest and and purest force ; a male child of perfect innocence and high intelligence is the most satisfactory " and " All children shall be accustomed from infancy to witness every type of sexual act , lest they be misdirected . " Not nice .

He died in 1947 in Hastings broke and addicted to heroin . But his infamy lived on and his story continued to fascinate , especially in popular culture . On the Beatles famous album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Band he was included on the album cover and it has been claimed that the lyrics " It was twenty years ago today when Sgt Pepper taught the band to play " were written on the twentieth anniversary of his death and that Sgt Pepper was a direct reference to Aleister Crowley . Jimmy Page the lead guitarist of Led Zeppelin is notoriously interested in the occult and once owned a house , Boleskine House , on the shores of Loch Ness , which Aleister Crowley had been the owner of some years before. David Bowie ,in the song Quicksand on the Hunky Dory album wrote " I'm closer to the Golden Dawn immersed in Crowley's uniform of imagery . " Ozzy Osbourne , Iron Maiden and Marilyn Manson have also referenced him in their songs .

It is not only popular culture where Crowley's influence can be seen . L Ron Hubbard ,the founder of Scientology has been linked with Jack Parsons , a senior rocket science engineer with Nasa at the end of the 2^nd World War . Jack Parsons was the leader of the Ordo Templi Orientis in Los Angeles and it is claimed that he and L Ron Hubbard attempted to produce a Moonchild , with the aid of a willing sperm recipient . No record exists whether this was successful or not . It is recorded that Jack Parsons was in correspondence with Crowley and L Ron Hubbard was mentioned in dispatches and Hubbard described Crowley as his ' good friend '. Scientology has a big following in Hollywood and members include Tom Cruise , John Travolta , Will Smith and Lisa Marie Presley , Elvis Presley's daughter, amongst many others . Charles Manson also received Scientology training and one can feel Crowley's effect in Manson and his cronies in their descent into collective madness .

But what is the reason for Aleister Crowley's long lasting renown.From his famous book , The Book of Law it is the phrase ' Do what wilt shall be the whole of the Law . ' which has been the main influence on western society and came into full bloom in the 1960 s with 'free love ' and ' let it all hang out ' , and ended with the Manson family bloodbaths. With hindsight it was probably inevitable that the sixties would end in a rush of acid and blood.The concept of free will is very powerful as we have the subconcious belief that we are trapped and are somehow imprisoned . We feel trapped in our relationships and jobs and being told that we can do what we want is a potent belief to an imprisoned soul . I actually believe that we should be allowed to do as we wish and find anarchy in its purest sense an appealing concept and I find our increasingly controlled society very difficult to deal with .

The difficulty I have with Crowley's view is that I am not sure that our wishes are really our true desires . The majority of our desires some from the subconcious . Anybody who has had an addiction problem will recognize this – even though you really want to stop smoking , drinking , reduce eating or taking heroin there is something within , which urges you to continue and this is mainly mental/emotional rather than physical . Our subconcious tells us that we are deprived so we pursue a mainly material life filling our homes with more and more , even though we are never fully satisfied .Our survival instinct commands us to to take jobs that we dislike ,so we can maintain our standard of living and our sex drive compels us to seek out partners , who a lot of the time are completely unsuitable apart from being sexually compatible . And then we turn round and say we are just exercising our free will . Who's fooling who here ? We are controlled by our impulses but what if these urgings are false beliefs ? What are our real desires ? I think the only way is to question our thoughts and emotions when confronted by choices and find out what we truly want . Freedom and Free will are vital to the way we live our lives , but sometimes we confuse slavery with freedom . I do agree with Crowleys's ' Do what thou wilt ' but the real question ' Is this what I really wilt ? ' remains.

The Time Loop

2007 was the year of the great rock band reunions.Led Zeppelin, The Spice Girls , Prince , Take That , The Police , The Sex Pistols and The Eagles all reformed . All their gigs were sold out almost immediately and they were able to charge large sums of money for the pleasure of seeing them . The audiences were not just confined to the age groups that grew up with these artists but included many younger fans who were probably not even alive in the groups heydays. But why do so many people want to see mainly middle aged men , with grey hair ( if they have got any ) , pot bellies and dodgy hips and knees prancing around a stage to songs , that in some cases are nearly forty years old . The television clips of the Spice Girls reminded me of some ghastly school reunion when all the mums get drunk , on their one night out in the year and give everybody their rendition of Its Raining Men badly out of tune . The groups' voices are worse , the energy levels are lower and in many cases more bland than when they were at their peak. The reason is nostalgia - this is a sentimental yearning for some period of the past and is a universal habit . Our ego tells us that the past was better and urges us to replay it even when we know that it wasn't all that pleasant .

In the film Groundhog Day , a weather man is reluctantly sent to cover a story about a weather forecasting " rat " ( as he calls it ) . This is his fourth year on the story and he makes no effort to hide his frustration . On awakening the ' following ' day he discovers it is Groundhog Day again, and again , and again . First he uses this to his advantage , then comes across the realisation that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place seeing the same people do the same thing every day. Finally , he manages to find break the cycle by losing his selfish attitude and doing good deeds .

Don't our lives seem somewhat like Groundhog Day ? Even when we change ourselves , with new jobs , new relationships , new houses etc we still seem to fall back into our old ways . In fact our relationships and jobs seem to mirror what has happened before . In my view we are actually replaying a moment in time which occurred a long , long time ago. This is best described in the Bible : " And when the woman ( Eve ) saw that the tree was good for food , and that it was pleasant to the eyes , and a tree to be desired to make one wise , she took of the fruit thereof , and did eat , and gave also unto her husband ( Adam ) with her and he did eat . And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons . " In effect Original Sin . This thought of guilt , as well as other unreal concepts as death , fear , anger , hatred and the rest all came into being at this time and have continuously been repeating themselves like some eternal Broadband permanently pumping itself into our psyches . Wars follow wars , dictators follow dictators , abuse follow abuse .

We are living in the past . This is actually physically true-whatever you look at you are seeing the past . Light needs time to travel between two objects and by the time your eyes receive this information that moment has passed . We are seeing the world through the eyes of guilt and an instant in time eons ago . Our ego does not want us to live in the present and view the world , and ourselves, through guiltless eyes and so it keeps repeating itself in a never ending Groundhog Day or Time Loop .If we want to see the real world our belief in guilt needs to be expunged from ourselves . Otherwise we will be forced to watch the Spice Girls when they are grandmothers - YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED .

We are all guilty now

Here is a quote from today's Daily Mail :
' Patients' rights are to be spelled out in a new NHS ' contract'.It is likely to cover core treatments to which they are entitled , minimum waiting times and the right to be treated in clean hospitals.
But with the rights will come the responsibility to lead a healthy lifestyle . There were fears last night that this could lead to smokers and people who drink or eat too much being refused treatments.The contract could include a ' general requirement ' for people to keep themselves healthy ' .

It is up to you how you live your life - nobody else has the right to tell you what to do .