The Obscene Power Of Social Leverage, 1 of 2

"I want a bicycle. I want more exercise and to bike to work instead of making the five minute drive every day."

You might hear a comment like this and respond, "my sister has a bike she wants to get rid of. If you ask her I'm sure she'll give it to you." Three people benefit. Someone gets a bike, someone feels helpful, and someone clears space out of their garage. You've been on the receiving end of simple exchanges like this but, like everyone, you took for granted the awesome power that it demonstrates. To borrow language from the movie "The Secret," someone just effortlessly manifested a bicycle out of thin air. A few words are spoken, and then there is a bike where there wasn't one before. Consider also the secondary and tertiary benefits. The exercise eventually improves the cyclist's health and attitude, and improves his relationships. The garage space becomes used for a project with an unknown future. The secondary results are where the real magic occurs, and they spread out towards infinite. The exponential power of social leverage is consummate. It is a power beyond belief and description, and can be harnessed and directed at will. It is also freely accessible, yet used haphazardly on a daily basis by everyone.

Simply put, social leverage is the activity of leveraging a relationship in order to bring into reality a shared idea or goal. It is also the central and ever-present element in all achieved goals or met needs. To stay with our example, someone can want a bicycle the live-long day, every day, but will not receive it until the desire is voiced to at least one other person and both parties have a mutual interest in transferring the bike. It cannot be otherwise. The giver or seller of the bike might have financial motivation, a generous personality or be repaying a debt, but regardless the desire must first be expressed to other human beings. What is interesting is how little leverage and effort is necessary in order to achieve most goals. You might be surprised.

I seldom write in the first person, but while writing this post I bumped into an new acquaintance and arbitrarily mentioned a private ambition I've had for about twenty years now - something I had never pursued or given a voice to before (flying an ultra light airplane). "Have you every heard of ultra light planes? They are basically glorified hang gliders with a seat and a small motor."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about," he said and his eyes lit up. "I know someone nearby who builds and flies them. If you're interested then he's definitely the guy to talk to. Let me look up his number on my phone."

That conversation arose from considering the power of social leverage. In other words, I gained access to the ability to fly through the air over treetops, power lines, banks, brothels, and churches as a result of casually saying a few words. I use two calories to ask how to fly and the universe instantly gives me a phone number. I could just as easily have asked for a pencil. Perhaps I can help him realize a childhood dream should he decide to voice something. Maybe next time. This power which is hidden in plain view works with small things and it works with large things - with the very largest things. Play around and observe social leverage in action, because it's obscenely powerful and always at your disposal, plain and simple.

The Secret Spiritual Practice Lost To Time

The next time you read an inspirational text and come across insights that need incorporated into your life you will know what to do. You are about to learn an ancient spiritual practice first described by the third century Egyptian scholar/physician Origen and which has been further elaborated upon over the last two millenia. Although this powerful spiritual practice has long since disappeared from organized religion as a whole, even today Lectio Divina is a central daily practice of many monastic orders and is something very much worth learning on your path to getting what you want.

Essentially, Lectio Divina is the practice of reverential, meditative, prayerful reading.

Determine what you are going to read and separate yourself from daily activities by finding a quiet place where you won't be disturbed, taking a few moments to relax into a comfortable position. The process can been described in four parts. First there is lectio, or reading, which consists of closely listening to the text in order to hear what it is saying with special awareness to subtle shades of meaning. Read very slowly, gently, and deliberately, and when you come across a message of value that speaks strongly to you then pause and reread, slowing down even further while reflecting on the meaning of the text. Read as though gently touching the words with your hand. There is no minimum or maximum amount of text to be read, no goal to reach or state to achieve.

Next is meditatio, or meditation where one ruminates on the text. There will be moments where profound meaning opens up from the text; this is when to pause and reflect. Since there are no time constraints, continue reading only after feeling the phrase or message has been fully absorbed and it is time to continue. One might spend a moment or an entire hour meditating on a specific phrase.

This meditation leads into oratio, or prayer, where one allows the self to be opened up in order to accept the wisdom and power of the text. The text and the meaning rising from it directs the prayer.

Finally is contemplatico, or contemplation, which is to simply stop reading and silently rest in the message that has been imparted. Although there are no "correct" feelings or experiences when practicing Lectio Divina, it is at this point that many experience gratitude and thankfulness for their existence and for the opportunity to meditate on the empowering message of the text. Lectio Divina can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience either with or without any specific destination in mind.

Rather than quoting from a sacred text of The Church Of Mammon, here are a few popular passages by some famous authors that are dense and pregnant with meaning. You're welcome to spend some time with them and explore. The authors names are not included in order to facilitate reading (Benjamin Franklin, Cicero, and Byron, among others), and the material is strung together in no particular order.

He who surpasses or subdues mankind, must look down on the hate of those below. We trifle when we assign limits to our desires, since nature hath set none. No gain is so certain as that which proceeds from the economical use of what you already have. Action to be effective must be directed to clearly conceived ends. The noblest spirit is most strongly attracted by the love of glory. Gain is gain, however small. Every human mind is a great slumbering power until awakened by a keen desire and by definite resolution to do. The downright fanatic is nearer to the heart of things than the cool and slippery disputant. In great attempts it is glorious even to fail. Energy and persistence conquer all things. Mass production is for the masses. If you wish to reach the highest, begin at the lowest. We make way for the man who boldly pushes past us. Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds. It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues. There is no knowledge that is not power. Most powerful is he who has himself in his own power. A man who waits to believe in action before acting is anything you like, but he's not a man of action. You must act as you breathe. Not failure, but low aim, is crime. No bird soars too high if he soars with his own wings. We make our own fortunes and we call them fate. The world belongs to the energetic.

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A Mental Technique To Expand Income

Learn a secret to great power. Imagine that the amount of income you receive in a typical month is an abstract shape up in the air in front of you. For some it takes the appearance of a type of cloud, for others it's a more concrete shape. It might have a color, be clear or opaque, stationary or moving, emitting sound or quiet. Just allow yourself to view a mental representation of your monthly income up in the air in front of you wherever it feels natural, and take a moment to describe it to yourself taking special note of it's size. For some it is like a white and puffy cloud, for others it's a shape rich in dark color which slowly undulates. Whatever it is for you, just notice it, again with particular attention to its size.

Althought for many it is difficult to do, expand the size of the shape by a full one hundred percent in your mind's eye. Double the size of your mental container called "monthly income." Does it budge when you try it? Does it expand? For many it only moves a little if at all, and immediately contracts to it's previous size, as though there is a degree of resistance in the way. Maybe your mind asks questions such as, "where would the extra money come from," or make comments like, "I've never earned that much before," "that's more than my family has ever earned." If you were able to double the size of your income easily then you're done. Go read something else more helpful. Otherwise, if you're like me then you first found resistance to the new thought, so follow me a while longer.

In a moment I'm going to remind you of some money you made this past month which you had forgotten about, and as soon as I do so you will notice some movement or disruption in your reprepresentation of your monthly income. Once you notice that disruption, shaking, or whatever it is for you, then you must run with the moment and allow your shape to fully double in size. Are you ready, and do you understand what's going to happen? I'm going to "give you more money," and your shape will be disturbed. It's at that moment that you need to put some energy into the image and allow it to expand until it is double in size, and then lock that new larger image in place. Ok.

This past month you earned money in interest from your checking account. Fact. If you have any money in a bank whatsoever, then you earned something in interest last month, and this month also. It might not be a lot, maybe a few cents, but it is money which you received and which you didn't need to work for in order to receive. Now, consider your shape representing your monthly income. This new information causes it to move or change somewhat - it's unstable. Right now use that instability and expand it until it is twice it's previous size. Yes, there it is, much larger. Excellent. Hold that image. That is your new "default" image when you consider what you receive in a typical month.

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The Ultimate Foundation For Power And Wealth

Learn a secret to great power. A bucket holds more water than a pair of cupped hands, and a lake holds more than a bucket. It goes without saying that the size of a container determines how much water it can hold. Power and money are like water in that they need containers to hold them. Most people give little thought to this fact, and tend to carry around only as much power as they can fit in their pockets. Most people have a bank account to contain their money, and most bank accounts only insure up to one hundred thousand dollars. These are small, limiting containers.

Decide what sort of vessels you are going to use to contain your growing power and wealth. Never mind getting the containers filled up right now. First and foremost the vessels must exist and be firmly in place. Stop before dismissing this idea because of it's ridiculous simplicity. Consider an eight ounce water bottle. Nine ounces of water will not go into it. It won't happen. It can't happen. You can't wish, force, or in any way make nine ounces of water go into an eight ounce bottle. Freezing doesn't help. It's only one ounce more, but it won't fit. Reflect on this.

If you are in a big city you likely encounter people asking for money, usually a quarter or some amount of change less than one dollar, and they often have a cup or hat with change in it. Without judging the person consider for a moment the containers he has for wealth - a cup and a mental habit of asking for change. The causes of poverty aside, if a person’s capacity for accepting money is small, then without question if given thousands of dollars he will in a very short time be back to quarters and dimes. There simply isn't the means to hold or possess larger amounts, and any excess simply spills over like the water off the edge of the bottle.

There are conceptual, figurative, idea "containers" that are held in our minds, but more importantly take notice of actual, literal, physical containers for wealth and power. Imagine every evening coming home and emptying change onto the dresser. Eventually a pile grows and you grab from it when you want gum, cigarettes, or a newspaper. The money leaves the pile easily because there are no borders, no container. It sometimes spills over and onto the carpet. The "container" is simply the flat surface of your dresser. Pouring water on your dresser wouldn't create a different effect.

Now suppose you had a box instead, and every evening tossed your change in it. You could easily take some out, but the effect is different. Not only can it contain more, but the box and lid create a different psychological effect as well. Being less visible and by not pouring over the edge of the furniture, the money collects more easily, and after becoming sizeable you might toss some paper money in as well. Include a few empty paper rolls that are used when depositing change at the bank. After filling up with coins someone will eventually notice, wonder how much is in there, and start filling the paper rolls without any effort on your part. It always happens, guaranteed. After the box reaches a critical mass it screams to be counted. Once in rolls the money is less likely to be used for buying a newspaper or bus fare, and may end up in a bank account or in an investment. This is all simply to say that the attributes of a vessel determines it's ability to hold or accept a quantity.

Think about the fountains and streams in shopping malls, the type that have pennies and nickels in them. They collect money simply because they are there, open and waiting to receive. Look at the trash receptacles in the park. Daily they are almost full of trash, but were they not there the trash would be spread out over a wide area or people would hold on to it until home. They collect trash because they are there, and are empty. If you want to gain something you must first prepare for what you want to receive. If you want money, create containers for money. Open a brokerage account, or partition off part of your house or apartment in order to start a business. Essential to growing in abundance is the creation of literal, physical spaces or vessels with which to hold what you would receive. It's the same principle with any commodity or any concept. Someone wanting a supply of food must prepare a refrigerator and a cupboard. Someone wanting children must obtain one or more wombs and then get a nursery and strollers to contain them. The person who wants a car must prepare a place to park it. People with no space to park a car, whether in a garage or on a nearby street, do not, and cannot, have a car. All material goods, as well as every concept, emotion, or experience must have containers to hold them; and don't forget that time, especially scheduled time, is every bit as much a type of "container" as is a wooden barrel.

Go now and make, buy, rent, or borrow the containers you need. They must exist and be firmly under your control before they can hold anything useful for you.

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