I’m about to make a bunch of new enemies in the “Spiritual” universe … as well as a few others out there in the New Age/NLP/Self-Help universes as well!

I’ve already got plenty of old enemies; people who cast me in the light of their need for me to be who they need me to be … e.g.: evil, stupid, corrupt, arrogant … whatever. Those enemies I can deal with, no problem. Those enemies are familiar … both as known entities and by type. Some of them even read this blog regularly.

The new enemies I’m referring to are those who will be more bent out of shape than usual by where I’m heading. Not that where I’m heading is new territory, just that I’ll be laying it out more directly than ever. These are folks who want a few things to remain status quo …

• Their own sense of status and respectability

• The consensus reality they live in remaining constant

• The ideas they hold as sacred untouched, e.g.: love, light, peace, happiness and the overall goodness of the human condition … 

Type 1:

You know Type 1 … they’re ones who wander the world preaching the perfection of the Universe as long as things are going well for them … and simultaneously decrying the evil of the political party they disagree with, the starving children here or there, the women who’s basic human rights are being stomped on by one evil regime or another … all while chanting … “It’s all perfection … perfection … perfection” out loud … and “Except who and what I disagree with …” under their breath.

These folks are bliss vampires. They want to feel good all the time … no conflict, no discomfort, no disagreement (unless they initiate it … and then without any pushback from anyone else) … these folks think happiness is the bomb, the ultimate, nirvana … they’ll follow anyone, any process, any method … as long as they’re promised it will lead to peace on earth, a new age blossoming and total bliss if they stay the course, all without having to really struggle or think for themselves. Their mantra … “My master/teacher/guru says …” 

Type 2:

Type 2 is the opposite end of the spectrum … they want everything under the sun that they can consume … you know all the material goodies possible. Heck they’re willing to do whatever it takes … as long as it pays. They have bought totally into the current social paradigm, i.e.: do what it takes to make money … get rich, live in comfort, become wealthy … it’s all about quality of life and lifestyle … you know somewhere between the “Four-Hour Week” and “The Apprentice” The Type 2 folks often find themselves getting heaps of praise for their achievements … they build businesses, employ people, demonstrate what the lifestyle of the rich and famous looks like to everyone else.

You have to wonder though, if the Type 2s really have so much what drives them to want even more … when is enough, enough? There are some folks in this group who are still “up and coming” … they haven’t made it yet, but they aspire to the success they perceive is present once they achieve fame and riches. These people are always looking for the next golden ring, the next thing to achieve, the next mountain to climb … they often find themselves dead long before their time running as fast as they can without getting anywhere, and leaving everyone and everything they truly love behind. Their mantra is … PROGRESS AT ALL COSTS, THE LOVE IN MY LIFE … OR EVEN LIFE ITSELF!

Type 3:

There’s a Type 3 that deserves honorable mention as well … the combination of the Type 1 and Type 2 … these folks who want to be spiritually AND materially wealthy … AND believe that they don’t have to sacrifice anything in their lives to have it all … These folks have fallen as deeply in love with Maya’s illusions as possible. Of course they also know in their heart of hearts that everyone else is living the delusion … that no one gets it … how wonderful life can be when you’re living the dream. Their mantra … No Pain, All Gain!

Spaciousness …

Here’s the primary challenge I present to these folks, in all three categories and others I could have referenced …

I Promise Them Nothing!

I totally understand how this is so underwhelming to some … and to others the epitome of what they don’t want … what they’ve avoided their entire lives … i.e.: looking within and finding themselves lacking.

Now, here’s the secret they’re missing …

“No One Is Ever Lacking Anything.”

It’s not that they have all they need, or that they don’t need anything … the deeper secret is that there’s nothing to find … NOTHING! But since the moment they were born they’ve been led to believe that there’s something to had … and IT’S OUT THERE SOMEWHERE. So they set off to find it … and everyone around them taught them how to seek and continued to reinforce their seeking “IT” … but here they are, still not  having found “IT.”

Most folks are limited by the idea that something is missing and has to be found “out there”  …
i.e.: they keep seeking and never finding.

The solution of course is letting go of everything you have been taught to believe it … everything you believe is true or real as you know it today. It’s not adding in anything new, start by removing all the untruth and unreal so you can begin anew from what is true and real. This upends virtually everything you’ve heard or read from just about every master/teacher/guru or whomever out there. They’re all selling the idea you need something they have … learning, skills, whatever. I’m not selling anything, but the idea that to move forward you have to begin by removing what you already have, beginning with your beliefs … and you don’t need me or anyone else to do that, the journey I’m suggesting is singularly personal and ultimately utterly up to you and you alone.

The key to moving forward begins with releasing your beliefs, starting with the ones nearest to the surface … and then moving onto those that are most deeply held. Ultimately you’ll find the process leads you to question everything … including your relationship to everything else, who you are … and what if anything is real in a way you can count on. It begins with the process of undermining your most closely held and cherished beliefs, everything you now believe you know.

You’ve been led to believe that you have you’re own thoughts … thoughts that are in fact what you’ve been taught and told to believe before you could think for yourself. This process then continued and continues with all the masters, teachers and gurus who want you under their spell, and they have an ace up their sleeve … they’ll tell you just what you want to hear, e.g.:

• “You can have everything you want … and as long as you believe it, it will be yours.”

• “There’s no reason you have to give up being successful to be spiritual, or visa-versa.”

• “Unlimited riches and wealth are yours as long as you’re willing to work for them.”

• “You can do what you love and make all the money you desire too.”

• “You were born to be happy and successful, and you deserve it because you’re you.”

• “The secret to lifelong happiness and bliss is simply residing in the light and love.”

• “Once you put the right system in place lifelong wealth is yours for the asking.”

• “When you access your true self and tell your story everything you ever wanted will come to you.”

• “Over millennia the world’s greatest masters, teachers and gurus have known the secrets of enlightenment and if you’ll follow their system you can become enlightened too.”

Let me help you understand all these statements you might have come across or may come across someday …

BULLSHIT!!!

This kind of stuff is complete and utter bullshit if you’re seeking the freedom to have the experience of your life.

When you begin the process I’m suggesting by asking the question, “Is this/that real?” … or “Can on count on this being true without question?” … and asking and answering these questions for yourself based on self-verification, NOT SOME EXTERNAL SOURCE OR ANOTHER … will lead you to the source experience, i.e.: what comes before you know anything based on external sources. 

There are better and worst ways to run the kind of process I’m suggesting, but if you run the process it will all lead to the same place … you’ll wind up with NOTHING. What you’ll have instead of the falsehoods and all the things those falsehoods suggest you need and want is a profound sense of spaciousness … i.e.: the space to perceive the world as it is and to be yourself in it. This is the difference between being sane and insane … and being sane in an insane world is both a blessing and curse.

The blessing is that you’ll be free to act in alignment with what’s real, instead of living in relation to the delusions and distortions most folks around you are living under … the illusions of Maya. These folks are what I referred to as insane in my book, “The State of Perfection, Your Hidden Code to Unleashing Personal Mastery” unable to anticipate the effect of their actions, because they are unable to perceive the world as it is:

“It’s only possible to be declared insane in relation to the declared definitions of normal. They are always determined by society-at-large, and the definitions of normal change significantly over time. One way to define sanity is in relation to insanity, e.g.: reverse the rules of sanity and you get insanity. If sanity is defined as ‘to be healthy in mind and body, and to be able to anticipate and appraise the effects of one’s actions’ – then a working definition of insanity could be stated as ‘to be unhealthy in mind and body, and to be unable to anticipate and appraise the effects of one’s actions.'”

Riggio, Joseph (2012-04-21). The State of Perfection: Your Hidden Code to Unleashing Personal Mastery (p. 8). IM Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

The curse is that since most of the world lives in a state of delusion, distortion and illusion they’ll perceive you as the one who’s insane. However, there’s no way an insane society, or anyone operating in alignment with such a society’s norms can declare anyone insane, in fact rejecting the norms of such a society is the only sane thing to do:

To recognize sanity or insanity in another requires sanity in one’s self. If the society-at-large is insane, e.g.: unhealthy in mind and body and unable to anticipate and appraise the effects of its actions, then how can it possibly declare it’s citizens insane? Only a sane society could reasonably claim the right to declare its citizens sane or insane. Therefore, while it may at first seem counter intuitive, “If society-at-large is insane, when a person rejects the insanity of that society, they must by default and definition be sane”. in context, is actually logically sound.”

Riggio, Joseph (2012-04-21). The State of Perfection: Your Hidden Code to Unleashing Personal Mastery (p. 8). IM Press, Inc.. Kindle Edition.

So you’re be confronted with a choice … to be insane and considered to be sane in an insane society … or to be sane but considered insane in an insane society. The only thing I’m offering here is the the second choice:

… to be sane but considered insane in an insane society.

Sanity means giving up identifying with anything that the insane society you’re a part of suggests is of value, including what seems obvious from within it … happiness, wealth, relationships … all of it. I’m sure you’re getting why I said “I’m about to make some new enemies …” now.

When you give up the insanity, i.e.: the beliefs imposed upon you by society-at-large, and your tendency to identify with them you begin to become less and less egoistic, and more and more ego-less … less associated and identified with “self” … you begin in this way to move beyond the limited sense of self you now operate from to a more unlimited position that transcends self … and self-interest.

Making this work requires you to employ a big “trick” in your favor … i.e.: not replacing the beliefs you give up with any new beliefs. Instead of replacing old beliefs with new beliefs the “trick’ requires you to remain open to not knowing, i.e.: not knowing anything … what you think is true or real (before you verify it for yourself) … what you think you want or need (before you verify it for yourself) … what you think others think or believe (because you can’t verify this at all). All that remains is …

SPACIOUSNESS …

Spaciousness is another way of referring to having nothing. Being spacious means being able to remain open to notice and explore whatever comes up, and responding in the moment based on what’s indicated by the signals in the system. This way of operating often means you won’t know where your going or what will happen when you do … just that you’re able to trust that what is, is what is … (the utter opposite of goal setting … another social favorite I personally despise … because when the criteria is having your own life it simply doesn’t work).

Foolish Wisdom, Inc.

Okay, enough for now, other than one last point …

All this is really an introduction to a new phase and revisioning in my public work … becoming even more direct and up front about the idea that I offer nothing … and that I’m damn proud of it too!

This isn’t anything new for folks who are familiar with me and my work. I’ll still do the stuff I’ve always done, just less of it … more simplified:

1. Small group retreats where I’ll explore these ideas and how they apply to the unique place your in with regard to them … except they’ll be called “Foolish Wisdom Retreats” and I’ll be charging a minimum of less than $50/day for them based on the venue cost where they’re being held (Yes, you read that correctly, it’s not a typo … depending on the venue you could attend a two-day Foolish Wisdom Retreat with me for less than $100 USD total investment on your part!) … I intend to hold them in the U.S. on the East and West Coast, and in the U.K. next year … and maybe one or two in Asia as well.

2. Private Work with individual clients remotely via telephone or the Internet, in person and with a limited access for business clients where there’s a deep match and fit … this work will be arranged individually and will be offered on a first come/first serve basis based on my availability, I also plan on continuing to run my yearly membership mentoring program, UA Sapphire Private Access – but with a radical revision of access to virtually everything I do.

3. MythoSelf based skills training and a brand new program I’ve developed in association with the Society of NLP/Richard Bandler – the first and only Licensed NLP Consultant Certification  … I’ll be running two sessions of MythoSelf personal/professional development training next year, once in the U.S. spread out over the year and once in Europe as a twelve-day intensive, and I’ll run one NLP Consultant Certification (for anyone who already has an NLP Master Practitioner certification only) here in the U.S. – we’ll kick it off with a couple of sessions of the wildly successful and newly revised “Kick-Ass Consulting” program I delivered with John LaValle years ago …

That’s it! I’m cutting it all back to the essentials … so I can play the role I was born for … the Wise Fool and Provocateur Extraordinaire …

The new entity I’ve organized to offer all my live public programs is Foolish Wisdom, Inc. … so if you don’t hate me or what I’ve laid out here yet keep an eye out for what’s coming up in 2013 …

Looking forward to it …
Joseph Riggio, Wise Fool and Provocateur Extraordinaire

Princeton, NJ

P.S. – The offerings of Foolish Wisdom, Inc. are all about becoming a Wise Fool yourself. In that regard I’ll leave you with a few things to think about before I go:

• Foolish wisdom is about dealing with the world in ways you have not before 

• Foolish wisdom is based in reflection that leads to resolution

• Wise fools treat life as less of a problem and more of a puzzle

• The wise fool knows how to communicate with themselves and how to communicate with others 

Get the details … MythoMania 2013