I feel like this book is much more abstract than many of Stuart’s other books, with topics like: divinity within, the nature of human limitation, starting with received notions and then going beyond, and of course, Wilde’s classic topic: skepticism for religions and hierarchies…. It’s not really a money-energy book like many of his works, but I feel like it’s not the typical “enlightenment” book like say his friend Wayne might (stereotypically) write: shed ego, come to know what Is, attain the Ultimate, walk the old enlightenment path (in a neo-divergent way). He does talk about ego crap you need to shed, but I feel like it’s more so that you function like a human being should be able to, rather than so you can attain the Ultimate like you “should”, right. It’s training for any goal. I feel like it’s for me, general life enhancement spiritual psychology, which I used to call, general applied spiritual psychology (realization for money, relationships, health, etc.); not enlightenment philosophy (kinda Buddhism without the Buddha, if you like). [I had to re-write that sentence, lol.] It is pretty abstract and foundational, but its flavor is definitely that of a money-energy book writer and not a monk. Stuart could be crabby at times, but I feel like he was very unique, even in a divergent subculture. Very, cool, or whatever. (Without giving a fuck if you think it’s cool.)

…. I’ll never be quite like Wilde Stu, and that’s not the point, but I do kinda get what he says now about religion/hierarchy, you know. (He’s very far from a kinda unimaginative, vanilla, crappy, pointless atheist, you know.) Once I thought I was supposed to be a monk, and that’s an unusual thought, right, but eventually I figured out it wasn’t the truth, so I took my monastery prayer book to my friend the stodgy-liberal girl-priest—who had like this thing about people dumping used books off at church—and I tried to explain, but she was like, basically—No you never throw away a book, right; just take it back and read it in small portions, one at a time…. And it’s like, you know of course I don’t say this, but it’s like…. You know, you don’t know what I want, you don’t know what you’re talking about; you just have these faintly absurd ideas about what’s “proper”, right….

…. I don’t quite agree about being “observant”; I think “non-reactive” is a more universally beneficial alternative to reactive, right. Joy isn’t a problem, but a sort of knee-jerk joy that is a lot like anger, and an anger that you didn’t choose, is unhealthy.

I like how he talks about having the experience of, or “doing”, a situation—you can “do” a mother-in-law or any sort of restrictive personality, you can “do” “no car” and so on—lack of sleep, maybe. His “classic” example he said was rain…. But yeah, life assigns you something, and then you choose it. This is subtly different from how a neurotic Five would imagine detachment to be, right—like say, your grandfather. Or even your mother-in-law: like I’m a Buddhist, but I don’t know what it means; I think it’s all fancy notions, right….

…. Definitely not apologizing/asking for permission/playing chess, you know. You’re trained to be like, I’m allowed to think…. Because…. ~And then someone has to go, Not so: if you move here, I move there: and then what?—right? The same people who fight against social control and tribe custom blocking the march of science, then kinda go around like, People are not allowed to think, X—right? And it could be about anything. Anything the mind of man can conceive, right. (You could say it’s the brain of the human, but the brain of the human is more: too hot in the Sahara; rent’s too high in LA, right. I’m talking about the mind of man, you know.) And especially things that are Weird, have to be destroyed—lest there be social control, right.

Mental thought—accurate mental thought—can be useful; imagine if people tried to take apart what they meant by “religion”, for example. But that can only happen once you realize that mental activity isn’t the only god…. That you can only honor mind, by honoring non-mind, basically.

…. There is a reason why books cost less than private coaching by someone who has written a book, right. I know I can’t force and guilt myself into loving and gushing. I know that’s not Stuart: although it is surprising how upright and moral he is, when you let go of uptight moralistic notions of what that looks like. I know I have to respect others. I don’t know if I respect others “well”, or just, above average, I would guess, lol.

A lot of it is knowing what is meant by words like “discipline”, although “definitions”, so to speak, aren’t always what’s called for. (Unless maybe if you get creative about definitions, like Brené Brown.) I can hate myself and think myself unable and not bother; I can hate myself and not trust myself and get paranoid with myself. Neither of those is discipline, which I guess is the ironic or whatever yet real need to husband the infinite resources I possess, right.

…. And the thing about relationships is, say you have a friend you make who’s a neighbor or a local person, and say sometimes you find them annoying or else you just don’t talk sometimes: but then before that you had your mom, who was more irritating (or your father, you literally Could Not Talk To, without having your lawyer sit in on it, right, so he could be like, “My client doesn’t have to answer that” lol)—then that’s actually a pretty good improvement, the annoying neighbor or whatever, right. I mean, you’ll always have your mom. But oftentimes parents represent very inflexible patterns we were attracted to because of past lives, and these patterns tend to be resistant to change…. Not everything has to be as profound as the parental relationship. These relatively common relationships where the person isn’t perfect/Totally Awake, can indeed add important influences to your life, you know.

…. Wayne Dyer and Stuart Wilde were friends, (they’re both dead now, lol)—and on the surface that can seem strange, because Wayne tended to give off the vibes of a tolerant older adviser, who counseled people to kinda let go of sadness and despair, and to smell to roses: to laugh, and to grow—while Stuart gave the impression of a hard, indomitable rebel who didn’t feel that rules and so-called wise men should overrule his wishes, you know: the money will set you free, but the rules’ll make you a slave…. You know, they give off very different energies: masculine and feminine, basically, although they hung out and liked each other, and they were both Western new agers who were influenced by the Tao, (although Wayne gives more of the impression of walking around with a library in his head—although unlike a vanilla academic many of his points don’t come copied out of books, right…. But with Stuart, basically none of them come copied out of books)…. But yeah: sometimes Wayne, the accepting flower, or whatever, would tell stories about that time he was a sailor and the neurotypical doctor was going to cut him up and didn’t care what he thought about it, because his ass was owned, right—and somehow he just figured out a way to sneak out of the hospital at the right moment and “break the rules” of “how things should be”, or whatever, (which realistically always happens: sometimes in organizations it’s almost the More common thing, right; the armed forces obviously have their own culture, but it’s no secret that it’s a machine, and that the flesh-parts that make it up don’t always…. Well, sometimes they have their own ideas, and sometimes the machine can be made to do something other than, you know, get oiled with your blood at the critical moment so that it can chew you up at and eat you, right—and those are the people who survive wars, generally, the guys who know how to break the rules, although Wayne himself wasn’t literally in combat, right…. Although just oiling the military flesh machine with your blood and all that is a bit of a struggle in the best of times, right)…. And yeah, and sometimes Stuart could write this stuff like, the 143 forms of discipline, right: how to discipline yourself, so that some shill selling a religion doesn’t do it, to you, right…. Which is obviously quite valuable much of the time, but I’m not sure I’d have that be the outro for my own book, right. The thing is people are all in different life-stages, right: so it’s hard to judge aright…. I do think you need a certain amount of joy in your regular sober part of life, you know, so that you can be habitually optimistic, however things go, since they might go bad, sometimes, you know…. I feel like that’s equally important to the, “I’m going to be strong so that nobody can take my independence”, right. (shrugs)…. But it’s kinda these questions of emphasis, right. As long as you value strength and independence, you’ll probably agree with much of what Wilde says, right. It’s just, we’re all kinda, gendered in a different way, you know. Some people might look at independence and see that as the battle they fight, right; somebody else might see their independence as proven by the fact that they have their own style, or creativity—and this even though people tend to not literally be in the military, or literally a musical recording artist, right. I don’t know. I mean, that’s kinda the reason why books are so cheap compared to one-on-one coaching, right. You’re not in buying a book having somebody look at your individual persona and your stage in fucking lifespan development, right: with a book, you’re taking a discount and doing that part yourself, right.

…. And yeah: Oscar Wilde also has one of his characters say, “There is more to be said for stupidity than people imagine.” And then people laugh and say, “That Oscar Wilde! He must not have meant Any of that crap that he had his people say! But, look at me! I can have all these ideas: and am exposed to them every day, and I don’t believe in any of them, or do anything with them…. And still respect people less because I have all these damn ideas! (slaps knee). (beat) Hey, what’s that you just said? Hey: I don’t agree with that—that’s not my idea! (pulls out gun) Now, you look here—I’m going to count to three, and if you don’t agree with me….”

I mean, we like to insult the stupid in the Information Age: what we neglect to mention is how the people we call “stupid” tend to be processing information all the time, and propounding The Way Things Should Be, right…. THAT is how the shenanigans happen, right…. What we call “stupid” should probably be called, “inappropriate intellectualism”, you know: I mean, the most crass kind of: I mean, say they’re anti-trans, anti-non-normative gendering, right. That’s an ideology. They may be cracking open a can of beer, but they IMAGINE themselves as the fucking Expert, right. And obviously correct ideas is an Important part of ~appropriate~ intellectualism, you know: but it isn’t the only part. You can have lots and lots of good knowledge about the Rise of Naziism, or Inorganic Chemistry, or something, but if it’s just an excuse to flame people and imagine yourself to have a sort of importance that you don’t have—that maybe no one has, right!—and to disrespect people, and to get stuck in your head and not live your life…. I mean, the little monograph you write about the role of chemical compounds in the Weimar Republic is going to go obsolete probably relatively quickly, anyway, right. Even if it’s creative enough to be enduring, sooner or later people will wring their hands like, that was before the rise of (progressive trend X), or before the Second Coming of Christ, or some shit, right—and I mean, if you didn’t Honestly Live Your Life, no fucking words you wrote are going to have any lasting significance…. And anyway, what fucking difference would it make, to you!, even if such a thing were possible, right?….

I mean, the ironic thing is: if you’re going to read books, if that’s going to be a major hobby, right: you probably should NOT read Only “good” books, or even, you know, the honestly, really good, outstanding books, you know. You should read some crappy, neurotic, shit books, too. In moderation. But you should remember what these wonderful things called “books” are really like, you know. You shouldn’t forget what the mind is—basically a shit factory, you know; at least when left alone, or whatever. The Excellent!, sorts of books, had to have the mind having some kind of help from ‘something else’, and if you misconstrue that important truth, your thinking is going to turn into a goddamn shit show, you know. And you won’t even begin to imagine that it’s not the goddamn Revelation from God and Goddess, you know—because that’s obviously all you are capable of, as a hoomi, right. How could your mind be capable of manufacturing bilge and bullshit, right? Why, just yesterday I shot somebody for saying the wrong thing—aimed perfectly. I ought to have a mansion. “Yeah, you’d get a mansion, alright…. We’d check back in five hours and it would be fucking Saddam’s mansion in 2003, right….”

…. And yeah: we think of culture as an intellectual construct, but it has more to do with a certain emotional stance or emotional strategy, than anything else. Intellect and ideas are part of it: but in these times, their role is generally comically overstated, you know…. Like, if Irish culture were intact enough in a certain time/place for you to meaningfully call yourself and be “Irish”—then you would process life and emotional events different from an Anglo. (There might also be cultural conflict with Anglos—that’s kinda how most people “buy into” a culture, is to kinda be pushed into its battles: and then that’s how they buy into its emotional strategy, through sharing sorta collective neuroses around shared trauma, usually.) If you just read and read—I mean, some of it, linguistic or religious stuff, might be meaningful: other stuff, like how the IRA planned operations in 1920, less so…. But you could KNOW about “the Irish” and not buy in: whereas you could BE Irish: to feel a certain way when something “bad” happens to Paddy Murphy, or, even when you romance a girl the way a mick does, basically…. And you might know Very Little, “Irish lore”, you know. Usually that’s not a good thing, because then you’ll probably just modeling yourself on other people—most of whom are fucking crazy, batshit, ill, you know. But you could BE Irish without being an Irish language/James Joyce scholar, or a Catholic priest, or someone who knows why Irish folktales end a certain way, or whatever chords go into the music, right. All that knowledge (except maybe the Catholicism—although that’s a different conversation, it really is! lol) would help you be a more informed, independent practitioner of “Irish culture”, but…. Yeah, knowledge for its own sake, or knowledge for the sake of tribal battles in the North, or whatever…. It tends towards a life/stance that is either delusional/promotes an ego identity not congruent with reality, or else a violent, vicious ego identity bent on killing, and following/justifying idiot customs/culture…. All kinds of bullshit, right. If you forget that being “Irish”, or Anglo, or Black American, or Chinese, or whatever, is primarily an emotional strategy built to facilitate happiness: if you forget that…. Fucking good luck, right. You’ll need it.

…. And yeah: you have to get over the idea that you can’t make a decision without a bunch of fucking random bullshit facts that don’t mean anything; you have to get over not trusting yourself; you have to get over not ~knowing~ how you feel even, let alone realizing that you ought to know, and assign value to your feelings, and not just to the fucking computer side of life, basically. You’re not a robot, dammit. You’re not a Dallek. This isn’t “Doctor Who”. YOU are not Doctor Who. (Because you’re not a Dallek. LOL. (Conformist Brits everywhere swarm me) (I laugh; and then disappear)).

…. “The central point of spiritual discipline is to remind yourself that you are not….”

To remind myself that I am not just a witch, right. I am a witch; I am not just a witch. In a way, how I evolve my craft and identity matters and means something and says a lot about who I am and where I’m going…. But it also does not ~really~ mean anything…. Not like he’s talking about…. It is an evolving, developing dream; despite all it is, it cannot divide or unite me to another, by a mere fiction, you know….

Like, Freud talked once about “using the currency of the country you’re in”: he meant, if your client started talking about a dream, you didn’t take the physics textbook off the shelf and start making fun of the bugger, right…. I mean, the ideal thing, to me would be to have your country, your own island, where you could be the Merlin of that Britain, and issue your damn currency, however you liked, you know…. But apart from the compulsive judgment that comes into things being “fiction”—like, anything individual, it’s easier to tell, right: unless the individual things are pictures of you and your spouse, and your kids, and your parents~ because after all, as long as there’s nothing creative in those shots and you’re just saying that you’re ‘just like the others’, (laughs)….

But yeah: dreams change, personal or collective: religions, scientific paradigms, to say nothing of data…. “Our religion will never change, hahaha; it’s set in stone!!….” 📉…. Countries change, both literal and metaphoric, (eg the Brooklyn Irish, etc)….

You create your life: and then you give it back, right. It was a fiction: your life was a fable you invented, to amuse your Mother….

…. Re: “the initiate”

This isn’t meant against only one aspect of society, but it’s funny how almost the only “initiation” the average person even has a real chance of being part of, is union “initiation”, right…. I mean: I guess there’s graduating from a school, right—but it’s like, They laboriously teach you, right, that symbols and symbolism doesn’t matter—and that You!, don’t matter!—and then they throw a big ceremony for you, right…. Or maybe kinda for the school, even though you’re almost not supposed to like it, if you’ve assimilated what they taught you, right…. But yeah: union initiation—yeah, thanks for the fifty dollars…. No, there’s no ceremony…. Yeah, we keep it simple, right; you give me money, and I…. I’m happy with you, now. 👌

Although when it comes to that, the Freemasons, who used to be stonemasons, had a good idea: people’s jobs are important to them; a profession should be informed by ceremony, symbolism, initiation, etc…. (Although they were corrupted by society, too: They’re like, Women aren’t part of the professional world; they can’t be Masons, for sure…. (chuckles) I mean, do women get paid for giving birth? What else do they do? 🤔 I guess they make sandwiches; but not in a restaurant, right…. They probably make ~low-quality~ sandwiches, right….)

But yeah: there’s no reason why one’s official-religion should have a monopoly over all of it, right…. Like, living in the same town as somebody, or whatever, is a reason to bond and share ritual; but literally facilitating your survival or your lifestyle?…. 🤔 But what’s valuable about that? You know, in the Bible it says blessed are the philosophers, for they will harass the workers; the ancient man word here translates for “workers” literally means “idiots; people not like me”: I think that’s harassing people like that, comes from God, you know….

…. “…. because in the end, a philosophy is a feeling as well as a concept.”

People literally didn’t realize that men have feelings, right; they were all: No, not men, or at least…. (stunned) ~Grandpa? Really?…. (recovers) No, no: that’s BS….

I read this when I was twelve. It helped open my mind to new thoughts and ideas. ( )

Type: Book
Publisher: Brighton-Le-Sands, N.S.W. : Nacson & sons Pty Ltd, 1996.
ISBN: 0947266194 9780947266196
OCLC: 222026008
Related Subjects: Spirituality. | Self-help techniques.

Type: Book
Publisher: Brighton-Le-Sands, N.S.W. : Nacson & sons Pty Ltd, 1996.
ISBN: 0947266194 9780947266196
OCLC: 222026008
Related Subjects: Spirituality. | Self-help techniques.