In this article, Jose Silva recalls some of the significant events in his research, such as being the first person to ever demonstrate in a scientific laboratory that people could learn to actually control their brain waves.
At the time scientists thought it was impossible. They were so impressed that they published an article about it in a scientific journal.
by Jose Silva
After reading about Sigmund Freud and the work he had done, we began to search for ways to help our children get better grades in school, and be more successful in all of their activities.
We began to seek ways to improve their minds. As we had success with this, we began to search for the specific factors that were producing the positive results.
In order to help us determine exactly what was going on that was leading to success, we set up projects in the following manner:
Problems were presented to subjects while they were connected to an EEG with a digital counter in the output.
We were training them with various mental exercises, including hypnosis in the beginning. Later we abandoned that for superior methods.
Some subjects, while trying to analyze and answer the problem question, would cause the digital counter on the EEG to indicate 10 cycles per second frequency.
However, the majority would indicate 20 cps while doing the same thing - attempting to analyze and answer the problem question.
This attracted our attention since the average brain frequency range of humans is between 1 and 20 cps.
We observed that when people enter normal, natural, deep sleep, the sleep-and-dream, cycles indicate a movement between 1 and 20 cps on the average.
However, when people are awake, the average brain frequency is 20 cps.
So it seemed unusual to us to observe that approximately 10 percent of our subjects would cause a 10 cps output when analyzing and solving problems.
Since 10 cps is the center of the normal brain frequency range, we began to call those people who did
their thinking at 10 cps "centered thinkers" and those who did their thinking at 20 cps "eccentric thinkers."
We then realized that our mental training exercises were teaching our subjects to learn to control their brain
waves consciously.
At the time, university scientists were saying that it was impossible for people to consciously control their brain wave activity. They challenged us to prove it at the University of Texas Medical School and also at Trinity
University, both in San Antonio, Texas.
We were successful in showing them that our trained subjects could enter the alpha level at will and could even activate their minds while at the alpha level, so as to analyze and solve problems. These results were published in a scientific journal in England in 1972.
Since then, it has become accepted knowledge that people can learn to consciously activate their minds at the 10 cps alpha frequency as well as at 20 cps beta.
People receive many benefits when they function consciously at 10 cps alpha.
*We have observed that they are healthier because they rarely get sick with psychosomatic health problems.
*They are safer because their intuition functions at this level and they rarely get into accidents
*One of the most outstanding benefits of being a 10 cycle thinker is that you can use your intuition at that
level, and can be more times right than wrong when making decisions, which leads to greater success in life.
All of these factors contribute to people being more successful in life.
We always believed that the 10 cycle alpha level would be the ideal level to solve any kind of problems, especially since the alpha level is the strongest, the level with the least impedance to neuron discharge, and the most synchronous. Thinking should be faster, thoughts and ideas should be more clear, and insight should be better.
Despite all of the benefits that were being received by people who used our method, some people were concerned that borderline psychotic patients could be thrown into psychosis when entering the 10 cycle alpha level.
In order to demonstrate that even borderline psychotic patients would not be harmed in any way, we set up a test project with a team of psychiatrists, Dr. Clancy McKenzie, and his associate Dr. Lance Wright.
At first they proceeded very cautiously, sending only one patient at a time and monitoring that patient very
closely.
Eventually they began to send groups of patients.
Finally Dr. McKenzie decided that they should recommend that all of their patients use our method to
learn to enter the 10 cycle alpha level, and use our techniques for problem solving.
Dr. McKenzie reported that none of their patients became psychotic or was harmed in any way, and virtually
all improved. He has provided us with many reports of patients using the alpha level to gain insight and, as a
result of this insight, having tremendous breakthrough and dramatically shortening their recovery time.
He has written of many patients who programmed themselves at the alpha level to have a dream that contains
information to help them correct their problems. When they gain insight on their own in this manner, they readily accept it and act on it, according to Dr. McKenzie. He said that he has found this to be one of the best ways for them to hasten their recovery.
Since that project was conducted, we have gone on to verify through many research projects that the Silva Method can help everyone who wants help and will use the techniques. We have conducted research and verified the many beneficial results with groups such as:
*High school students (Effects with Three High Schools).
*Alcoholics (The Alcoholic Study)
.
*Executives at a major corporation (RCA Records)
*Single mothers on welfare (The Ottawa County Project).
*Adolescent girls in a Catholic high school (Hallahan High).
*Average people (The Albuquerque Report).
*And of course mental patients (The Consciousness Movement and the Mental Patient).
The research confirmed that regardless of how much or how little success a person has had, they can achieve even more success by learning to activate their mind at 10 cycles alpha.
Now we no longer need to settle for only 10 percent of people being centered, and able to think at 10 cycles alpha, while 90 percent are eccentric, and think only at 20 cycles beta.
Now everyone can learn to center themselves at alpha, activate their mind and analyze and solve problems, and be more successful in life.
What we have accomplished is to convert the sub-conscious into what we call the inner-conscious level.
Now everyone can learn to use the sub-conscious, consciously.
--- --- ---
Thank you for reading this edition of the SIGA Success Strategies Online Magazine. Please stop by the Silva
International Graduate Association Clubhouse any time, we are always open and you are always welcome:
http://www.SIGA.org
The Silva Method, Silva Life System and Silva Intuition Training - sharing these is a joy. It's so uplifting and rewarding to see people learn the skills and techniques, apply them in their lives and increase their fulfillment and happiness. I am privileged to work with Silva Graduates in a coaching relationship.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Thursday, December 15, 2011
What is Your Legacy?
By Jose Silva
During my 82 years on this planet, I've learned that the only thing that's permanent in life is the legacy that you leave.
The radios that I learned to repair as a teenager are now antiques that are nice to look at but have no practical value today. When is the last time you saw a vacuum tube?
I've traveled all over the world presenting the Silva Method. I've seen the ancient ruins in Rome, that were once part of the greatest empire the world has ever known. They remind me of a story I once heard about a ruler who presided over a great city.
Archaeologists found the ruins of this city that had once been so great, and among the ruins they found a portion of the base of a statue.
The statue had been of the great ruler. All that was left was part of the inscription, which read: Here lies Ozymandeus, King of Kings. Look on these works, ye mighty, and despair.
The irony was that he had intended that they could never create anything so great as he had, but in reality, he demonstrated that nothing is so great that it will last forever.
Except the legacy that you leave.
YOUR LEGACY
Everybody leaves a legacy:
*World leaders who must carefully watch every word that they utter have an obvious impact on the world.
*Every child that is born produces a powerful effect on the parents and grandparents and perhaps many others. If you've ever had a child, or a grandchild, or even a great grandchild as I have, then you know that this changes you.
*You never know what small action of yours might bring about a big change. The psychiatrist in the Army induction center probably never even remembered that he suggested that I read The History of Psychiatry, but that one bit of guidance started me on the path that led to the Silva Method, which has now helped millions of people throughout the world.
WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE?
Sometimes a tiny kindness has a ripple effect that grows as it goes forward, until it makes a huge difference.
Sometimes a mean gesture also has a ripple effect that winds up hurting many people.
You never know, at the time, what the effect will be.
Think about some of the people in your life: people who gave you a word of encouragement that you still remember; people who were indifferent, or even cruel. They might not even remember it.
But you remember it. And perhaps it influences your life:
*You pass on the kind gesture to others, who in turn pass on that gesture.
*Your hurt and resentment cause you to say or do things you don't really mean, and people learn from your example.
Long after we are all gone, long after the great cities of today have crumbled, long after our modern technology is rendered obsolete, long after our greatest leaders are just names that students read in history books, your legacy will still live.
It will live in the lives of people who follow us. The things that you do spread out, and give you a type of immortality.
SUPERIOR HUMAN BEING
Here is a formula that I included in the Silva Method, that will help insure that you leave a positive legacy:
You will continue to strive to take part in constructive and creative activities to make this a better world to live in, so that when we move on, we shall have left behind a better world for those who follow.
You will consider the whole of humanity, depending on their ages, as fathers or mothers, brothers or sisters, sons or daughters.
You are a superior human being; you have greater understanding, compassion, and patience with others.
What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
Someone once suggested that you do every act as if it would be your last. How do you want to be remembered?
Go to level. Think about your life at the alpha level, the ideal level to think on. Plan what you are going to do with your life, so as to leave a legacy that you can be proud of.
--- --- ---
Thank you for continuing to read Jose Silva's comments in the SIGA Success Strategies Magazine. Please remember to visit the SIGA clubhouse occasionally at http://www.SIGA.org. We are always open, and you are always welcome.
During my 82 years on this planet, I've learned that the only thing that's permanent in life is the legacy that you leave.
The radios that I learned to repair as a teenager are now antiques that are nice to look at but have no practical value today. When is the last time you saw a vacuum tube?
I've traveled all over the world presenting the Silva Method. I've seen the ancient ruins in Rome, that were once part of the greatest empire the world has ever known. They remind me of a story I once heard about a ruler who presided over a great city.
Archaeologists found the ruins of this city that had once been so great, and among the ruins they found a portion of the base of a statue.
The statue had been of the great ruler. All that was left was part of the inscription, which read: Here lies Ozymandeus, King of Kings. Look on these works, ye mighty, and despair.
The irony was that he had intended that they could never create anything so great as he had, but in reality, he demonstrated that nothing is so great that it will last forever.
Except the legacy that you leave.
YOUR LEGACY
Everybody leaves a legacy:
*World leaders who must carefully watch every word that they utter have an obvious impact on the world.
*Every child that is born produces a powerful effect on the parents and grandparents and perhaps many others. If you've ever had a child, or a grandchild, or even a great grandchild as I have, then you know that this changes you.
*You never know what small action of yours might bring about a big change. The psychiatrist in the Army induction center probably never even remembered that he suggested that I read The History of Psychiatry, but that one bit of guidance started me on the path that led to the Silva Method, which has now helped millions of people throughout the world.
WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE?
Sometimes a tiny kindness has a ripple effect that grows as it goes forward, until it makes a huge difference.
Sometimes a mean gesture also has a ripple effect that winds up hurting many people.
You never know, at the time, what the effect will be.
Think about some of the people in your life: people who gave you a word of encouragement that you still remember; people who were indifferent, or even cruel. They might not even remember it.
But you remember it. And perhaps it influences your life:
*You pass on the kind gesture to others, who in turn pass on that gesture.
*Your hurt and resentment cause you to say or do things you don't really mean, and people learn from your example.
Long after we are all gone, long after the great cities of today have crumbled, long after our modern technology is rendered obsolete, long after our greatest leaders are just names that students read in history books, your legacy will still live.
It will live in the lives of people who follow us. The things that you do spread out, and give you a type of immortality.
SUPERIOR HUMAN BEING
Here is a formula that I included in the Silva Method, that will help insure that you leave a positive legacy:
You will continue to strive to take part in constructive and creative activities to make this a better world to live in, so that when we move on, we shall have left behind a better world for those who follow.
You will consider the whole of humanity, depending on their ages, as fathers or mothers, brothers or sisters, sons or daughters.
You are a superior human being; you have greater understanding, compassion, and patience with others.
What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
Someone once suggested that you do every act as if it would be your last. How do you want to be remembered?
Go to level. Think about your life at the alpha level, the ideal level to think on. Plan what you are going to do with your life, so as to leave a legacy that you can be proud of.
--- --- ---
Thank you for continuing to read Jose Silva's comments in the SIGA Success Strategies Magazine. Please remember to visit the SIGA clubhouse occasionally at http://www.SIGA.org. We are always open, and you are always welcome.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
What If You Didn't Understand Your Answer?
12-8-11
In meditation (or prayer) you've asked a question to obtain guidance from Spirit.
You don't understand the answer or feel you didn't get an answer. What now?
First let's look at the most important part of your answer...the question: The quality of the answer is determined by the quality of the question.
Sometimes what we're really asking is "How can I make this pain stop?" That will get a vague response.
How can you ask a better question? phrase the question differently?
Spend time considering your situation in detail. Yes, it will most likely be an uncomfortable process but it provides the clarity you need. THEN create the question.
"Should I do this?" is a poor question.
Hint: if the question starts "Should I..." it's probably looking for a way to stop pain instead of getting guidance!
How can it be improved? One suggestion might be "If I do this, will it move me further along the path of my life purpose?"
Bottom line: give yourself the opportunity to really think about the situation before posing the question.
Next, when in your meditation, make sure you're at that perfect place where you know you're successful at getting guidance. Some people call it "being in the groove".
Perhaps you need to go deeper. How? One of the simplest ways is to count downward from 100 to 1...any number down to 1 will do. There's something about counting down that causes almost anybody to relax.
Then, assume your answer is coming at any moment. All you have to do is be 'on the alert' for it.
In Silva classes we often talk about this when discussing use of The Glass of Water technique yet it's true virtually all the time. We ask questions, look for Guidance, on a regular basis.
Bottom line: what we look for, we find. This applies to answers, ideas, opportunities...everything! Keep your eyes focused on what you desire and you'll see it.
Barbara Hawkins
In meditation (or prayer) you've asked a question to obtain guidance from Spirit.
You don't understand the answer or feel you didn't get an answer. What now?
First let's look at the most important part of your answer...the question: The quality of the answer is determined by the quality of the question.
Sometimes what we're really asking is "How can I make this pain stop?" That will get a vague response.
How can you ask a better question? phrase the question differently?
Spend time considering your situation in detail. Yes, it will most likely be an uncomfortable process but it provides the clarity you need. THEN create the question.
"Should I do this?" is a poor question.
Hint: if the question starts "Should I..." it's probably looking for a way to stop pain instead of getting guidance!
How can it be improved? One suggestion might be "If I do this, will it move me further along the path of my life purpose?"
Bottom line: give yourself the opportunity to really think about the situation before posing the question.
Next, when in your meditation, make sure you're at that perfect place where you know you're successful at getting guidance. Some people call it "being in the groove".
Perhaps you need to go deeper. How? One of the simplest ways is to count downward from 100 to 1...any number down to 1 will do. There's something about counting down that causes almost anybody to relax.
Then, assume your answer is coming at any moment. All you have to do is be 'on the alert' for it.
In Silva classes we often talk about this when discussing use of The Glass of Water technique yet it's true virtually all the time. We ask questions, look for Guidance, on a regular basis.
Bottom line: what we look for, we find. This applies to answers, ideas, opportunities...everything! Keep your eyes focused on what you desire and you'll see it.
Barbara Hawkins
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Jose Silva on Religion
In this article, Jose Silva gets a little controversial. He would always remind people that he was expressing his personal opinions when he gave these comments.
As always, you are free to accept them or reject them - or to "mentally shelve" them for now, and come back to them later on when you have more experience and information.
By Jose Silva
This column will not be popular with some people. I've been advised not to talk about politics and religion. Well, I'll meet them halfway - I won't talk about politics.
Why talk about religion? Because we hope that this will get you to examine your beliefs, to analyze why you
believe what you believe.
Throughout history we have seen that virtually every religion insists that their followers accept their doctrines. Some religions become very violent if you do not accept their doctrines - sometimes they become violent if you only question them. Unfortunately, we have experienced that personally.
But we are not the first to face this kind of arrogance and fear. Yes, fear. History has shown us that some religious leaders are so afraid of being proven wrong that they will even kill those who dare to challenge their
dogma.
A TORTUROUS EXPERIENCE
Take Galileo for instance. More than 300 years ago, he confirmed what Copernicus had figured out: That the sun and stars and planets do not revolve around the earth; it is just the opposite: the earth and planets revolve around the sun.
That was unacceptable to the Catholic church. Their insisted that since man was made in the image of God, it
had to follow that everything revolved around man -- that man was at the center of the universe.
This was not their first mistake, of course. For centuries everybody agreed that the earth was flat. Wrong.
In Galileo's case, his discovery proved to be very painful. He verified Copernicus' explanation of why some planets - like Mercury - seem to stop and back up from time to time. But they only appear to back up - which would be a physical impossibility of course - if you think that they revolve around the earth. Once you realize that they revolve around the sun - as does the earth - then you realize that they all keep going the same direction all the time.
But the church didn't like their teachings being challenged. After all, according to them they got their messages directly from God. So church officials took him into custody and tortured him until he recanted, and agreed to agree with them that everything revolved around man.
A few years ago, the Catholic church officially apologized to Galileo - three centuries too late to make any difference to him, and a feeble gesture that could never erase the horrible pain that they inflicted upon him.
TRUTH EVOLVES SLOWLY
We could give many more examples besides these two, to illustrate the mistakes that people made in times past. Even religion has evolved through the years. We have moved from human and animal sacrifices, and from worshiping animals and idols, into the multitude of religions that we have in the world today.
Yet for all of that religious evolution, there is still no universal agreement.
All religions believe that they have the answer, and that others are wrong.
And unfortunately, most of those religious seem to be willing to fight to the death for their beliefs!
They are very quick to destroy the highest creation of the Creator in the name of the very Creator that created
that creation - and we're talking about human beings, of course.
*Catholics and Christians are killing each other in Northern Ireland.
*Arab and Jewish children are taught to hate and kill each other.
*Hindus and Moslems and Sikhs and other religions are not exempt from this tendency to hate their rivals.
Just as Christians say that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, most other religions can point to
their scriptures - the divine messages that they believe that they get from God - to prove that their way is the
only way!
Could they all be right?
Could be.
Might they all be wrong?
Could be.
Is it possible that there is some truth in every religion, but that no religion has the complete answer?
Could be.
By now you have probably figured out that when I say could be, it is because I know that we don't know all of
the answers yet.
WHO HAS THE ANSWERS?
Doesn't it seem terribly arrogant for anyone - preacher or priest or philosopher or scientist or anybody
else - to insist that they have all the answers, and refuse to listen to anybody else?
Scientists like Copernicus and Galileo, as well as explorers like Columbus, have expanded our knowledge far
beyond what religious leaders and scientists of the day accepted as proven knowledge.
And they are still doing it.
We have put together a scientifically researched and proven program to help people actually use parts of their minds that they have never consciously used before, to help correct problems and make the world a better place to live.
During our research in the 1950s and 1960s we were criticized - and yes, even condemned and threatened with excommunication - for daring to ask questions!
What were they afraid of?
What did we do that threatened them so badly that they were willing to go to all the trouble to call me in to
consider kicking me out of the church?
Are they afraid of the truth?
Or are they afraid of losing some of their power of people if they are shown to be wrong about something?
Is it God who governs people, or is those who claim to represent God - the human beings who choose to take on the role of representing God?
Would an all-powerful God worry about a man - who was created by that God - assuming so much power that it would threaten the position of God? On the other hand, what about men - "mere mortals" as they say - who fear losing their tremendous power over people, a power they hold because they tell us from birth that they represent God and that we will suffer forever in a fiery hell if we fail to do everything they tell us to do?
Is God running scared - or the men who claim to represent him?
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
I had thought that this was all in the past. The Bible says, "By their fruits ye shall know them." If a tree bears
good fruit, the Bible says, then it is a good tree.
For more than half a century we have been producing good fruit from the research that we began in 1944. But
that doesn't stop religious leaders from panicking when I question one of their claims.
They point to the Bible and say that I have no right to question it.
I point to the fact that the Bible was written by men, often long after the events took place.
And then the Bible was translated into other languages - again, by men.
And then various versions were written, to satisfy the needs and wishes of various people - like King James, who wanted permission to get a divorce. A version, in case you don't know, is defined by the dictionary as a variation of the original. That means that it is different from the original.
And I also point out that they men who wrote the original, and men who wrote the translations, and the men
who wrote the variations, and the men who translated the variations - all of these men lived in times when we didn't know very much about what was going on:
*Those men thought the earth was flat.
*Those men thought that the sun and stars and planets all revolved around the earth.
*Those men thought that natural disasters represented the wrath of God.
*Those men thought - and apparently many religious leaders still believe - that the Creator will approve of
our destruction of other human beings because they do not believe the same things that we believe!
WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN?
And I ask this question:
If those men were wrong about so many other things, is it possible that they might also be wrong about some of the things that they wrote - or translated - in the Bible?
The Bible - and the other sacred books, such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Talmud, and others - were not written by God; they were written by men.
Were the men inspired by God?
Could be.
Even if they were inspired by God, we know, from our scientific research, that even the best clairvoyants only
average 80 percent accuracy.
Even though we know much more today than we ever knew before, we still know that at least 20 percent of what we think we know is wrong!
Is it worth fighting for every last word in the translation of the variation of the translation of the Bible that happens to be popular today?
Or we so sure that there are no errors, no mistakes, no misrepresentation, no misunderstandings, and no outright propaganda and lies inserted by someone for their own selfish purposes? Can we be sure of that?
Or should we be tolerant with one another.
Should we be patient with each other, and explore together to find out what will help us to solve more problems, and to make the world a better place to live?
Isn't it interesting that those who believe in devils, find devils everywhere they look for them?
We explain, at the beginning of the Silva Method Basic Lecture Series, how that happens - go back and review Mental Housecleaning.
People who believe in God - and do not believe that there is any such thing as the devil - find God everywhere.
In the Bible, we read many stories about Jesus practicing tolerance. "Let he who is without sin cast the
first stone." "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."
We also read stories about the religious leaders of the day accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil. They rationalized that the only way a person could be so good at casting out devils, was if he was in league with
the devil.
It seems to me that times never change, for religious leaders have accused me in the same manner!
Well, at least we're in good company; while we in no way believe that we are as highly evolved as Jesus, we
don't mind being compared with Him. It makes us believe that we might be on the right track, that we must be moving in the correct direction.
We don't want to go too far in that direction, though. Remember - they crucified Jesus!
WHY DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE?
Well, we've gotten that off our chest. These ideas will surely be unpopular with some people. They will surely
rationalize and find ways to condemn me for expressing my feelings.
But ask yourself: Throughout history, what kind of people have refused to tolerate people thinking for
themselves? Dictators. Despots. Bigots. Totalitarians.
What kind of people welcome questions and new ideas? The constructive and creative people who lift humanity to new heights, who lead us to a better future, who do not cause suffering but who relieve suffering, who do not kill other human beings but who save the lives of human beings.
So ask yourself why you believe what you believe.
Does it make sense? Someone once said that there is nothing less common than common sense. What does common sense tell you?
Is it worth sacrificing all of the good work that a person has done because that person questions whether Jesus claimed to be God? After all, Jesus taught us to pray, "Our father..." He seems to be saying that He was one of us.
But even if this is wrong, why would religious leaders fear the question so much? Do they think that God cannot handle it?
Or do they fear that people might begin to question some of the demands that are place on them by these men who claim to represent God? Do they fear the loss of their power over people?
Which is more valuable:
*That religious leaders maintain their power over people, so that they can -- hopefully - keep people in
line.
*That we continue to ask questions, to search for the real truth, even if that means that we have to stop
believing that man is at the center of the universe and the sun and stars and planets all revolve around him.
We staked out our territory a long time ago: We'll keep searching for truth, and we will continue to do
anything that helps to correct problems and make the world a better place to live.
And if they crucify us for doing that - if we must drink the cup - then so be it.
--- --- ---
Thank you for joining us for this edition of the SIGA Success Strategies Magazine. Please stop by and visit us occasionally at the clubhouse: http://www.SIGA.org. And please be sure to take advantage of the many resources we've put together for you.
Thank you.
Avlis Productions Inc., P.O. Box 691809, Houston, TX 77269, United States
As always, you are free to accept them or reject them - or to "mentally shelve" them for now, and come back to them later on when you have more experience and information.
By Jose Silva
This column will not be popular with some people. I've been advised not to talk about politics and religion. Well, I'll meet them halfway - I won't talk about politics.
Why talk about religion? Because we hope that this will get you to examine your beliefs, to analyze why you
believe what you believe.
Throughout history we have seen that virtually every religion insists that their followers accept their doctrines. Some religions become very violent if you do not accept their doctrines - sometimes they become violent if you only question them. Unfortunately, we have experienced that personally.
But we are not the first to face this kind of arrogance and fear. Yes, fear. History has shown us that some religious leaders are so afraid of being proven wrong that they will even kill those who dare to challenge their
dogma.
A TORTUROUS EXPERIENCE
Take Galileo for instance. More than 300 years ago, he confirmed what Copernicus had figured out: That the sun and stars and planets do not revolve around the earth; it is just the opposite: the earth and planets revolve around the sun.
That was unacceptable to the Catholic church. Their insisted that since man was made in the image of God, it
had to follow that everything revolved around man -- that man was at the center of the universe.
This was not their first mistake, of course. For centuries everybody agreed that the earth was flat. Wrong.
In Galileo's case, his discovery proved to be very painful. He verified Copernicus' explanation of why some planets - like Mercury - seem to stop and back up from time to time. But they only appear to back up - which would be a physical impossibility of course - if you think that they revolve around the earth. Once you realize that they revolve around the sun - as does the earth - then you realize that they all keep going the same direction all the time.
But the church didn't like their teachings being challenged. After all, according to them they got their messages directly from God. So church officials took him into custody and tortured him until he recanted, and agreed to agree with them that everything revolved around man.
A few years ago, the Catholic church officially apologized to Galileo - three centuries too late to make any difference to him, and a feeble gesture that could never erase the horrible pain that they inflicted upon him.
TRUTH EVOLVES SLOWLY
We could give many more examples besides these two, to illustrate the mistakes that people made in times past. Even religion has evolved through the years. We have moved from human and animal sacrifices, and from worshiping animals and idols, into the multitude of religions that we have in the world today.
Yet for all of that religious evolution, there is still no universal agreement.
All religions believe that they have the answer, and that others are wrong.
And unfortunately, most of those religious seem to be willing to fight to the death for their beliefs!
They are very quick to destroy the highest creation of the Creator in the name of the very Creator that created
that creation - and we're talking about human beings, of course.
*Catholics and Christians are killing each other in Northern Ireland.
*Arab and Jewish children are taught to hate and kill each other.
*Hindus and Moslems and Sikhs and other religions are not exempt from this tendency to hate their rivals.
Just as Christians say that the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ, most other religions can point to
their scriptures - the divine messages that they believe that they get from God - to prove that their way is the
only way!
Could they all be right?
Could be.
Might they all be wrong?
Could be.
Is it possible that there is some truth in every religion, but that no religion has the complete answer?
Could be.
By now you have probably figured out that when I say could be, it is because I know that we don't know all of
the answers yet.
WHO HAS THE ANSWERS?
Doesn't it seem terribly arrogant for anyone - preacher or priest or philosopher or scientist or anybody
else - to insist that they have all the answers, and refuse to listen to anybody else?
Scientists like Copernicus and Galileo, as well as explorers like Columbus, have expanded our knowledge far
beyond what religious leaders and scientists of the day accepted as proven knowledge.
And they are still doing it.
We have put together a scientifically researched and proven program to help people actually use parts of their minds that they have never consciously used before, to help correct problems and make the world a better place to live.
During our research in the 1950s and 1960s we were criticized - and yes, even condemned and threatened with excommunication - for daring to ask questions!
What were they afraid of?
What did we do that threatened them so badly that they were willing to go to all the trouble to call me in to
consider kicking me out of the church?
Are they afraid of the truth?
Or are they afraid of losing some of their power of people if they are shown to be wrong about something?
Is it God who governs people, or is those who claim to represent God - the human beings who choose to take on the role of representing God?
Would an all-powerful God worry about a man - who was created by that God - assuming so much power that it would threaten the position of God? On the other hand, what about men - "mere mortals" as they say - who fear losing their tremendous power over people, a power they hold because they tell us from birth that they represent God and that we will suffer forever in a fiery hell if we fail to do everything they tell us to do?
Is God running scared - or the men who claim to represent him?
THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES
I had thought that this was all in the past. The Bible says, "By their fruits ye shall know them." If a tree bears
good fruit, the Bible says, then it is a good tree.
For more than half a century we have been producing good fruit from the research that we began in 1944. But
that doesn't stop religious leaders from panicking when I question one of their claims.
They point to the Bible and say that I have no right to question it.
I point to the fact that the Bible was written by men, often long after the events took place.
And then the Bible was translated into other languages - again, by men.
And then various versions were written, to satisfy the needs and wishes of various people - like King James, who wanted permission to get a divorce. A version, in case you don't know, is defined by the dictionary as a variation of the original. That means that it is different from the original.
And I also point out that they men who wrote the original, and men who wrote the translations, and the men
who wrote the variations, and the men who translated the variations - all of these men lived in times when we didn't know very much about what was going on:
*Those men thought the earth was flat.
*Those men thought that the sun and stars and planets all revolved around the earth.
*Those men thought that natural disasters represented the wrath of God.
*Those men thought - and apparently many religious leaders still believe - that the Creator will approve of
our destruction of other human beings because they do not believe the same things that we believe!
WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN?
And I ask this question:
If those men were wrong about so many other things, is it possible that they might also be wrong about some of the things that they wrote - or translated - in the Bible?
The Bible - and the other sacred books, such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Koran, the Book of Mormon, the Talmud, and others - were not written by God; they were written by men.
Were the men inspired by God?
Could be.
Even if they were inspired by God, we know, from our scientific research, that even the best clairvoyants only
average 80 percent accuracy.
Even though we know much more today than we ever knew before, we still know that at least 20 percent of what we think we know is wrong!
Is it worth fighting for every last word in the translation of the variation of the translation of the Bible that happens to be popular today?
Or we so sure that there are no errors, no mistakes, no misrepresentation, no misunderstandings, and no outright propaganda and lies inserted by someone for their own selfish purposes? Can we be sure of that?
Or should we be tolerant with one another.
Should we be patient with each other, and explore together to find out what will help us to solve more problems, and to make the world a better place to live?
Isn't it interesting that those who believe in devils, find devils everywhere they look for them?
We explain, at the beginning of the Silva Method Basic Lecture Series, how that happens - go back and review Mental Housecleaning.
People who believe in God - and do not believe that there is any such thing as the devil - find God everywhere.
In the Bible, we read many stories about Jesus practicing tolerance. "Let he who is without sin cast the
first stone." "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."
We also read stories about the religious leaders of the day accusing Jesus of being in league with the devil. They rationalized that the only way a person could be so good at casting out devils, was if he was in league with
the devil.
It seems to me that times never change, for religious leaders have accused me in the same manner!
Well, at least we're in good company; while we in no way believe that we are as highly evolved as Jesus, we
don't mind being compared with Him. It makes us believe that we might be on the right track, that we must be moving in the correct direction.
We don't want to go too far in that direction, though. Remember - they crucified Jesus!
WHY DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE?
Well, we've gotten that off our chest. These ideas will surely be unpopular with some people. They will surely
rationalize and find ways to condemn me for expressing my feelings.
But ask yourself: Throughout history, what kind of people have refused to tolerate people thinking for
themselves? Dictators. Despots. Bigots. Totalitarians.
What kind of people welcome questions and new ideas? The constructive and creative people who lift humanity to new heights, who lead us to a better future, who do not cause suffering but who relieve suffering, who do not kill other human beings but who save the lives of human beings.
So ask yourself why you believe what you believe.
Does it make sense? Someone once said that there is nothing less common than common sense. What does common sense tell you?
Is it worth sacrificing all of the good work that a person has done because that person questions whether Jesus claimed to be God? After all, Jesus taught us to pray, "Our father..." He seems to be saying that He was one of us.
But even if this is wrong, why would religious leaders fear the question so much? Do they think that God cannot handle it?
Or do they fear that people might begin to question some of the demands that are place on them by these men who claim to represent God? Do they fear the loss of their power over people?
Which is more valuable:
*That religious leaders maintain their power over people, so that they can -- hopefully - keep people in
line.
*That we continue to ask questions, to search for the real truth, even if that means that we have to stop
believing that man is at the center of the universe and the sun and stars and planets all revolve around him.
We staked out our territory a long time ago: We'll keep searching for truth, and we will continue to do
anything that helps to correct problems and make the world a better place to live.
And if they crucify us for doing that - if we must drink the cup - then so be it.
--- --- ---
Thank you for joining us for this edition of the SIGA Success Strategies Magazine. Please stop by and visit us occasionally at the clubhouse: http://www.SIGA.org. And please be sure to take advantage of the many resources we've put together for you.
Thank you.
Avlis Productions Inc., P.O. Box 691809, Houston, TX 77269, United States
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