Have you ever had someone jokingly tell you there was a spider crawling on your neck? (Think kids on April Fools' Day!) Or have you ever been in a similar situation, where you thought for whatever reason thatyou might have a bug or spider crawling on your skin? Didn't you feel creepy crawlies on your skin, even after being told it was a joke, or confirming the decided absence of any member of phylum Arthropoda?
It's the same with the "law of attraction". You THINK you see the law of attraction in action. I'm not just talking about confirmation bias. If you want to lose weight, your brain will convince you that you've lost a few pounds after you've done a few processes. (Is this why Esther Hicks tells people not to weigh themselves?) Or if you're trying to build muscle (via the law of attraction) you'll feel convinced your muscles are growing, without even needing to measure them!
Lets face it, we're good at imagining things that aren't there, good at attributing correlation when there is none. And people like Esther Hicks know (as her late husband Jerry Hicks knew) how to exploit these quirks of the human brain and trick people into believing their message full of lies.
StatCounter
Saturday, May 18, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Outrage over Sylvia Browne's Lies to Amanda Berry's Mother
I am outraged to think of "psychic" Sylvia Browne telling a mother that her missing child is dead. Truly outraged. Frauds like Sylvia Browne and Esther Hicks should not be allowed to continue lying to people and preying on the desperate and grief-stricken.
I am thrilled to hear of the woman's rescue, but join many others in expressing my disgust over Sylvia Browne's lies to the missing woman's mother.
I imagine the Stop Sylvia Browne page is receiving lots of visitors today!
I am thrilled to hear of the woman's rescue, but join many others in expressing my disgust over Sylvia Browne's lies to the missing woman's mother.
I imagine the Stop Sylvia Browne page is receiving lots of visitors today!
"The 12 Cognitive Biases that Prevent You from Being Rational"
In my last post, I wrote about taking charge of my mind and discussed how I had a lot of crazy ideas, extracted from various Christian, Abraham-Hicks, and other teachings. Now that I no longer feel the need to appease and/or align-with a supernatural entity, I am free to think about whatever I want to think about! Another aspect of taking charge of my mind is being aware of logical fallacies and cognitive biases.
For this post, I will highlight an article about cognitive biases that came out in January. I believe it's worth going over here a bit on this blog. I highly recommend reading the whole thing, especially if you're an Aber kind of person who hasn't ever explored this study of how our minds work. It's a pretty quick read.
The article starts with, "The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations." I wonder if Esther knows about any of this! I don't think "Abraham" has told her! In addition to relatively poor memories and less-than-impressive math ability (as compared to a calculator!), we are "subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions." When I was unaware of cognitive biases, I most certainly made questionable decisions and reached erroneous conclusions! And the point is that we all have a tendency to do this, not just Abers, and the more we recognize we're doing it, the less we will make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions.
The author distinguishes between logical fallacies, which I have written about here, and cognitive biases. A logical fallacy is "an error in logical argumentation" while a cognitive bias is "a flaw in judgment that arises from errors of memory, social attribution, and miscalculations (such as statistical errors or a false sense of probability)."
I am only going to highlight two confirmation biases in this post, although the whole list does make for interesting and enlightening reading. Confirmation bias and observational selection bias are the most obvious errors that Abers make on a moment-to-moment basis.
Confirmation Bias is described as "the often unconscious act of referencing only those perspectives that fuel our pre-existing views, while at the same time ignoring or dismissing opinions — no matter how valid — that threaten our world view" Almost every Aber I've ever met could be the poster child for confirmation bias. Wikipedia describes confirmation bias as "a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs". This bias comes into play when people really want to believe a certain teaching. Abers will "put out the desire" for some confirmation of their vibration, or proof that they are in alignment, or tuned in to their inner being, and will take anything that comes along as evidence. I recently read a post by a woman who had a vision of sorts of a dead animal on her doorstep. When she heard the news of the bombing at the Boston marathon, she reported that she must have been tuned in to her inner being, who gave her a heads up about the tragedy. Confirmation bias. My rational response was to wonder if she was so tuned in, why didn't she have a vision of runners and spectators being injured by a bomb? And what of the other "visions" not so easily explained? Another example of confirmation bias is the "success stories and manifestations" forum on the Abe Forum. People post to "milk" their successes and manifestations, never mind the fact that if one is in the vortex enough to manifest a new job, one should also be in the vortex enough to manifest the cancer cure and the new/improved relationship. Abers are happy to use any success (even a free coupon for 50 cents off a pizza or a $3.00 lottery win) as "evidence" that the process works. Confirmation bias.
Lovers of Abraham-Hicks demonstrate the Observational Selection Bias in spades! "This is that effect of suddenly noticing things we didn't notice that much before — but we wrongly assume that the frequency has increased." We've all suddenly noticed something that we've recently become aware of or started thinking about- people wearing scarves, yellow sportscars, our birthdate, "...a unique number or song. It's not that these things are appearing more frequently, it's that we've (for whatever reason) selected the item in our mind, and in turn, are noticing it more often. Trouble is, most people don't recognize this as a selectional bias, and actually believe these items or events are happening with increased frequency — which can be a very disconcerting feeling. It's also a cognitive bias that contributes to the feeling that the appearance of certain things or events couldn't possibly be a coincidence (even though it is). (Yes! There ARE coincidences!!) Note to Abers: Seeing 11:11 on your clock, or 154,154 on your odomoter does not mean a damn thing! And getting stuck in traffic behind the car of your dreams is not driftwood!
One of the reasons Esther Hicks' scam succeeds is because of human cognitive biases.
Source: The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational
For this post, I will highlight an article about cognitive biases that came out in January. I believe it's worth going over here a bit on this blog. I highly recommend reading the whole thing, especially if you're an Aber kind of person who hasn't ever explored this study of how our minds work. It's a pretty quick read.
The article starts with, "The human brain is capable of 1016 processes per second, which makes it far more powerful than any computer currently in existence. But that doesn't mean our brains don't have major limitations." I wonder if Esther knows about any of this! I don't think "Abraham" has told her! In addition to relatively poor memories and less-than-impressive math ability (as compared to a calculator!), we are "subject to cognitive biases, those annoying glitches in our thinking that cause us to make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions." When I was unaware of cognitive biases, I most certainly made questionable decisions and reached erroneous conclusions! And the point is that we all have a tendency to do this, not just Abers, and the more we recognize we're doing it, the less we will make questionable decisions and reach erroneous conclusions.
The author distinguishes between logical fallacies, which I have written about here, and cognitive biases. A logical fallacy is "an error in logical argumentation" while a cognitive bias is "a flaw in judgment that arises from errors of memory, social attribution, and miscalculations (such as statistical errors or a false sense of probability)."
I am only going to highlight two confirmation biases in this post, although the whole list does make for interesting and enlightening reading. Confirmation bias and observational selection bias are the most obvious errors that Abers make on a moment-to-moment basis.
Confirmation Bias is described as "the often unconscious act of referencing only those perspectives that fuel our pre-existing views, while at the same time ignoring or dismissing opinions — no matter how valid — that threaten our world view" Almost every Aber I've ever met could be the poster child for confirmation bias. Wikipedia describes confirmation bias as "a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs". This bias comes into play when people really want to believe a certain teaching. Abers will "put out the desire" for some confirmation of their vibration, or proof that they are in alignment, or tuned in to their inner being, and will take anything that comes along as evidence. I recently read a post by a woman who had a vision of sorts of a dead animal on her doorstep. When she heard the news of the bombing at the Boston marathon, she reported that she must have been tuned in to her inner being, who gave her a heads up about the tragedy. Confirmation bias. My rational response was to wonder if she was so tuned in, why didn't she have a vision of runners and spectators being injured by a bomb? And what of the other "visions" not so easily explained? Another example of confirmation bias is the "success stories and manifestations" forum on the Abe Forum. People post to "milk" their successes and manifestations, never mind the fact that if one is in the vortex enough to manifest a new job, one should also be in the vortex enough to manifest the cancer cure and the new/improved relationship. Abers are happy to use any success (even a free coupon for 50 cents off a pizza or a $3.00 lottery win) as "evidence" that the process works. Confirmation bias.
Lovers of Abraham-Hicks demonstrate the Observational Selection Bias in spades! "This is that effect of suddenly noticing things we didn't notice that much before — but we wrongly assume that the frequency has increased." We've all suddenly noticed something that we've recently become aware of or started thinking about- people wearing scarves, yellow sportscars, our birthdate, "...a unique number or song. It's not that these things are appearing more frequently, it's that we've (for whatever reason) selected the item in our mind, and in turn, are noticing it more often. Trouble is, most people don't recognize this as a selectional bias, and actually believe these items or events are happening with increased frequency — which can be a very disconcerting feeling. It's also a cognitive bias that contributes to the feeling that the appearance of certain things or events couldn't possibly be a coincidence (even though it is). (Yes! There ARE coincidences!!) Note to Abers: Seeing 11:11 on your clock, or 154,154 on your odomoter does not mean a damn thing! And getting stuck in traffic behind the car of your dreams is not driftwood!
One of the reasons Esther Hicks' scam succeeds is because of human cognitive biases.
Source: The 12 cognitive biases that prevent you from being rational
Monday, April 29, 2013
Abraham-Hicks: Discs and Pipes
So the buzz from the latest Abraham-Hicks workshop in San Antonio is more talk of discs and pipes. I think this one was webcast, so more of the online people got to hear about the grid discs and the laying of new pipes than just the hangers on reading notes from the Cancún event. I guess pipes are a metaphor for the state of a person's vibration. Esther is telling people they can "lay new pipes" rather than bother cleaning out the ones they've already laid. This kind of teaching has appeal; how nice to know that even though my life reflects some gunked up pipes, all I have to do is __________ and I can have brand new pipes. Sorry, I haven't looked closely enough to find out what it is that one has to do to get those new pipes. Get happy, presumably. Some sage advice: "Lay a few new pipes and your sensation of worthiness and blessedness and things working out the way that they should will multiply". Clear as mud, eh?
With grid-building and pipe-laying, one could almost get the idea that they were DOING something when they actually aren't. I know when I was an Aber, I thought I was being productive when I was doing an Abraham-Hicks process, or watching a good-feeling movie. What a joke! The only thing I was doing was wasting my life! It's Abraham quotes like this that give people the wrong idea: "You can lay new pipes at any time and as often as you like. As you tell your story on any topic, ask yourself how do my pipes feel in the telling of this story? Do they feel closed, constricted, and pinching off from the good feelings that I want for myself? Or do these pipes feel open and free-flowing? Is this a story of ease and flow?" Laying pipes (in this context) is not a real thing! Neither is building grids, for that matter!
As for the discs, I'm not sure if the disc is supposed to represent a vibrational place or a vibrational thing. I've got a few quotes regarding discs:
Just keep picking a disc and being very clear about it
People who are not on good feeling discs gravitate to the horror stories
While you may choose the disc that you get on, you're not choosing the disc that they get on
It doesn't matter if you don't like the disc you are spinning, it gives you information about what you want
The way discs have been spoken of from workshop to workshop isn't consistent. Has anyone else even noticed this?
With grid-building and pipe-laying, one could almost get the idea that they were DOING something when they actually aren't. I know when I was an Aber, I thought I was being productive when I was doing an Abraham-Hicks process, or watching a good-feeling movie. What a joke! The only thing I was doing was wasting my life! It's Abraham quotes like this that give people the wrong idea: "You can lay new pipes at any time and as often as you like. As you tell your story on any topic, ask yourself how do my pipes feel in the telling of this story? Do they feel closed, constricted, and pinching off from the good feelings that I want for myself? Or do these pipes feel open and free-flowing? Is this a story of ease and flow?" Laying pipes (in this context) is not a real thing! Neither is building grids, for that matter!
As for the discs, I'm not sure if the disc is supposed to represent a vibrational place or a vibrational thing. I've got a few quotes regarding discs:
Just keep picking a disc and being very clear about it
People who are not on good feeling discs gravitate to the horror stories
While you may choose the disc that you get on, you're not choosing the disc that they get on
It doesn't matter if you don't like the disc you are spinning, it gives you information about what you want
The way discs have been spoken of from workshop to workshop isn't consistent. Has anyone else even noticed this?
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Taking Charge of My Mind
This post ties in with my previous post, Taking Charge of My Life, although I admit I didn't plan it that way. Now that I am no longer following any kind of spiritual teaching or tradition, I find that I quite like deciding for myself what I'm going to think about! Not only am I taking charge of my life, I'm back in charge of my own mind!
Cults such as the Unification Church (Moonies) are condemned because of their use of mind control. In my experience, both Christianity and Abraham-Hicksianity teach their fair share of mind control as well. Perhaps one can argue that the degree or type of mind control is different, or perhaps not. I realize now that in the past, I let others tell me what I should or should not be thinking. I used to monitor my thoughts quite seriously. At least once a week I find myself noticing that the yoke of thought-monitoring is no longer there! It is a wonderful realization!
I did a quick Google search for the Bible phrase "take every thought captive", which is commonly quoted in evangelical Christian circles. It's from the book of 2 Corinthians, and the New International Version of the verse reads, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Near the top of the list was a "devotional" titled, naturally, "Take Every Thought Captive". This devotional sums up nicely the thought-control teachings of at least some sects of Christianity. According to these teachings, "Positive thoughts are of God, Negative thoughts are of the devil. Even if the thought you are thinking may be true in nature, perhaps someone did do you wrong, but we are to still 'think' good thoughts all the time." One is also supposed to always be thankful to God and live in a constant state of prayer.
I speak of Christianity here for two reasons. One, I was a Christian for 7 years or so as an adult, and now find those teachings as dangerous and disempowering and erosive as I find the teachings of Abraham-Hicks. The other reason is that Abraham-Hicks hardly differs from Christianity in any way that matters. Sure, Esther makes fun of the crazier themes of Christianity, like the Day of Judgement, or sin, but she doesn't offer anything better and perpetuates the evil theme that humans are bad and god is good.
In the above-referenced Bible devotional, the author gives suggestions for how we might monitor our thoughts so that we can have "the mind of Christ" (from 1 Corinthians). He (I assume it's a he!) writes, "Understand that these thoughts don't just pop in our heads, these thoughts come from what is in our heart! Mark 7:20-23, "And Jesus said, "that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man, for from within , out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, coveteousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." We need to come face to face with what is truly in our hearts." We think bad thoughts because we have evil in our hearts. Or, as Ester-as-Abraham would say, we think negative thoughts because we have a negative vibrational setpoint.
I spent an awful lot of time as a Christian, and as a Hicksian/Aber, thinking about what I was thinking. It seemed there was always someone in my head evaluating what it was that I was thinking. As a Christian, I wanted to make sure I spent enough time thinking about God. (Since the command is to ALWAYS think about God, one always falls short, but one can at least try!) I recall one particular day where I had a wonderful visit with my family, and on the drive home I berated myself for completely forgetting about God the whole time I was there! As a Hicksian/Aber, I wanted to make sure that my thoughts were vortexy (I didn't have to worry about setting grids, or grid disks, because Esther hadn't made up that analogy yet) and that I was "picking up the right end of the stick". (Hicksians know what that means, and it's not worth explaining to the fortunate non-Hicksians who read my blog.) I don't experience any of that anymore, of course, and it is a huge relief! Each time I find myself not really thinking about anything in particular, and I realize I'm not SUPPOSED to be thinking about anything in particular, I am happy to be free! It's interesting how I am almost two years "Post-Abe" and still noticing ways that following those teachings (and Christian teachings) had a negative impact on my existence!
Another aspect of these teachings vis–à–vis our thoughts is that both give actual thoughts far too much credit in our day-to-day existence. Both also teach to fear certain thoughts. The Christian pastor will say that some thoughts are from God and some are from the devil, and it's important that we know which is which and ONLY think thoughts from God. (We can't do that ourselves, of course, we need God to do it, but that's a different ugly facet of Christianity.) Abraham-Hicks will say that your thoughts create the reality you will soon experience, therefore be careful of what thoughts you think. Both are wrong, and thoughts in and of themselves are nothing to be afraid of! It seems both systems tell followers that "you will shoot yourself in the foot with your own mind, unless you do what we tell you to do with it." No thank you!
Cults such as the Unification Church (Moonies) are condemned because of their use of mind control. In my experience, both Christianity and Abraham-Hicksianity teach their fair share of mind control as well. Perhaps one can argue that the degree or type of mind control is different, or perhaps not. I realize now that in the past, I let others tell me what I should or should not be thinking. I used to monitor my thoughts quite seriously. At least once a week I find myself noticing that the yoke of thought-monitoring is no longer there! It is a wonderful realization!
I did a quick Google search for the Bible phrase "take every thought captive", which is commonly quoted in evangelical Christian circles. It's from the book of 2 Corinthians, and the New International Version of the verse reads, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Near the top of the list was a "devotional" titled, naturally, "Take Every Thought Captive". This devotional sums up nicely the thought-control teachings of at least some sects of Christianity. According to these teachings, "Positive thoughts are of God, Negative thoughts are of the devil. Even if the thought you are thinking may be true in nature, perhaps someone did do you wrong, but we are to still 'think' good thoughts all the time." One is also supposed to always be thankful to God and live in a constant state of prayer.
I speak of Christianity here for two reasons. One, I was a Christian for 7 years or so as an adult, and now find those teachings as dangerous and disempowering and erosive as I find the teachings of Abraham-Hicks. The other reason is that Abraham-Hicks hardly differs from Christianity in any way that matters. Sure, Esther makes fun of the crazier themes of Christianity, like the Day of Judgement, or sin, but she doesn't offer anything better and perpetuates the evil theme that humans are bad and god is good.
In the above-referenced Bible devotional, the author gives suggestions for how we might monitor our thoughts so that we can have "the mind of Christ" (from 1 Corinthians). He (I assume it's a he!) writes, "Understand that these thoughts don't just pop in our heads, these thoughts come from what is in our heart! Mark 7:20-23, "And Jesus said, "that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man, for from within , out of the heart of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, coveteousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness." We need to come face to face with what is truly in our hearts." We think bad thoughts because we have evil in our hearts. Or, as Ester-as-Abraham would say, we think negative thoughts because we have a negative vibrational setpoint.
I spent an awful lot of time as a Christian, and as a Hicksian/Aber, thinking about what I was thinking. It seemed there was always someone in my head evaluating what it was that I was thinking. As a Christian, I wanted to make sure I spent enough time thinking about God. (Since the command is to ALWAYS think about God, one always falls short, but one can at least try!) I recall one particular day where I had a wonderful visit with my family, and on the drive home I berated myself for completely forgetting about God the whole time I was there! As a Hicksian/Aber, I wanted to make sure that my thoughts were vortexy (I didn't have to worry about setting grids, or grid disks, because Esther hadn't made up that analogy yet) and that I was "picking up the right end of the stick". (Hicksians know what that means, and it's not worth explaining to the fortunate non-Hicksians who read my blog.) I don't experience any of that anymore, of course, and it is a huge relief! Each time I find myself not really thinking about anything in particular, and I realize I'm not SUPPOSED to be thinking about anything in particular, I am happy to be free! It's interesting how I am almost two years "Post-Abe" and still noticing ways that following those teachings (and Christian teachings) had a negative impact on my existence!
Another aspect of these teachings vis–à–vis our thoughts is that both give actual thoughts far too much credit in our day-to-day existence. Both also teach to fear certain thoughts. The Christian pastor will say that some thoughts are from God and some are from the devil, and it's important that we know which is which and ONLY think thoughts from God. (We can't do that ourselves, of course, we need God to do it, but that's a different ugly facet of Christianity.) Abraham-Hicks will say that your thoughts create the reality you will soon experience, therefore be careful of what thoughts you think. Both are wrong, and thoughts in and of themselves are nothing to be afraid of! It seems both systems tell followers that "you will shoot yourself in the foot with your own mind, unless you do what we tell you to do with it." No thank you!
Friday, April 19, 2013
Taking Charge of My Life
Lately it has really sunk in that *I* am in charge of my life. I had gotten so used to letting "God" be in charge, or the universe, or my vortex, or whatever, that even though I've known for awhile that I'm in charge, it's taken some time to sink in. I have to say, I'm pretty excited about it! Today I've been researching a new career path, something I've wanted to do for a long time. Because of my financial situation (which sucked the entire time I was "spiritual"!) I've been pretty stuck where I am. As my taking charge of my finances has at least gotten me out of debt and with a small amount of savings, I feel ready to pursue other career options. I admit, I wish I hadn't been so financially stupid for so many years, as it would be nice to have a bigger cushion during the transition, but I'll do my best with what I have!
I find it ironic that Esther teaches "you create your own reality" but the teachings aren't empowering in the least. One can work on one's vibration, which gives the illusion of being in control. But (since the teachings don't REALLY work) one must remember that the universe supposedly delivers all the goodies through the crack of least resistance. The "crack of least resistance" might be a car crash or a lost job. Or even death, as was explained in Jerry's case. These are hardly examples of creating the life one wants to create.
Esther also strongly discourages anything other than "inspired action". This leads to a lot of doing nothing, waiting for inspiration, or, conversely, imagining oneself to be inspired and heading down an unproductive path. I could hardly call my decision to change career paths (or to at least find out if I want to relocate to do so) "inspired action". It's more the result of realizing that I AM in control of my life, and I really CAN do what I want with my life (instead of hoping my vibe is good enough or what I want happens to coincide with god's plan.) I have also ditched the notion that I am an eternal being; life has become precious to me as a result. I have this one lifetime, and I'm choosing do with it what I really want to do.
It's been almost two years now (but not quite) since I stopped practicing the Abraham teachings and stopped believing that Esther Hicks has anything useful to say. My sense of personal empowerment has been growing steadily during that time! It's a very nice thing indeed to have gotten past the stage of relegating power in my life to an imaginary being, or to imaginary woo woo "laws" of the universe. I feel solid and grounded, and I would even use the word courageous, in a way that I have not felt in decades, or perhaps ever!
I find it ironic that Esther teaches "you create your own reality" but the teachings aren't empowering in the least. One can work on one's vibration, which gives the illusion of being in control. But (since the teachings don't REALLY work) one must remember that the universe supposedly delivers all the goodies through the crack of least resistance. The "crack of least resistance" might be a car crash or a lost job. Or even death, as was explained in Jerry's case. These are hardly examples of creating the life one wants to create.
Esther also strongly discourages anything other than "inspired action". This leads to a lot of doing nothing, waiting for inspiration, or, conversely, imagining oneself to be inspired and heading down an unproductive path. I could hardly call my decision to change career paths (or to at least find out if I want to relocate to do so) "inspired action". It's more the result of realizing that I AM in control of my life, and I really CAN do what I want with my life (instead of hoping my vibe is good enough or what I want happens to coincide with god's plan.) I have also ditched the notion that I am an eternal being; life has become precious to me as a result. I have this one lifetime, and I'm choosing do with it what I really want to do.
It's been almost two years now (but not quite) since I stopped practicing the Abraham teachings and stopped believing that Esther Hicks has anything useful to say. My sense of personal empowerment has been growing steadily during that time! It's a very nice thing indeed to have gotten past the stage of relegating power in my life to an imaginary being, or to imaginary woo woo "laws" of the universe. I feel solid and grounded, and I would even use the word courageous, in a way that I have not felt in decades, or perhaps ever!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Grid Disks and More-- Abraham-Hicks Cancún Workshop, Week One
It's been a while since I've blogged, and, while I do have lots of ideas for future blog posts, it seemed timely to write about the recent workshop in Cancún. I prefer to call it a workshop, even though Esther Hicks and all her groupies are calling it a Land Cruise. Esther can get her followers to use whacky new terms like land cruise, but I will pass on adopting it into my vocabulary.
Apparently, Esther introduced two new analogies at the recent Cancún workshop. The first one being something about the laying of pipes, and the second being some thing about grid disks. I'm not sure if she meant "grid disc" or "grid disk" but perhaps a common spelling will emerge as people discuss it and try to figure out what "Abraham" meant by grid disks/grid discs. (According to Grammarist, "There is no consensus on the difference between disc and disk, and in many contexts the two are used interchangeably." You write "grid disc", I write "grid disk", let's call the whole thing off..)
On the notion of laying pipes, apparently we can lay new pipelines the same way we could lay new pathways, it's just a different way of saying it. Boring.
By the way, Hicksians like to take Esther's new analogies (downstream, vortex, grid, all the way down the line to grid discs) and talk about how Abraham is so wonderful at coming up with new analogies for us so we can really get it. Esther's understanding improves all the time, so the analogies get better. No. The new analogies are because the teachings really don't work (it's not that you don't really get it, my friends, it's that the teachings really don't work) and Esther has to say SOMETHING or admit she's wrong. Now she's saying "grid disks" rather than admit she's wrong.
As to what is a grid disk, well, that understanding is still being revealed. Those who were in attendance at the workshops think they understand it, because they were there and they heard it. I've heard that many attendees immediately adopted the term into their vocabularies. I guess there are high-flying grid disks, to be encouraged, and low-flying grid-disks, that are not worthy of our attention. OK.
Sounds like people had a blast. Who wouldn't, in a resort setting? I guess some people who attended the Cancún event did experience some respiratory problems, only the ones who need to "clean out their pipes", of course. (I mean, how could you attract respiratory problems unless you had resistant pipes?) I read talk of blaming it on the hotel and the need for cleaning of the air conditioning system. Could it possibly be that the hotel is in Mexico and has different building and maintenance standards? Or could it have nothing to do with the hotel at all?
I haven't heard yet whether "Abraham" commented on the Boston Marathon tragedy, or the 6 people strangled and 1 found decapitated in Cancún this past week. Perhaps those events are too low of a grid disk to warrant any discussion.
One guy told a story of signing up for the Cancún workshop without knowing how he'd pay for it. (I suspect several did that, and this would explain why there were suddenly available rooms a short time before the event started.) Anyway, this one Aber dude reported that he was able to manifest enough money to attend, because the universe delivered HURRICANE SANDY and he was able to work 12 hour days and earn enough money to go. Holy f---ing crap, I can't believe someone would think the universe created hurricane Sandy so THEY could go to a resort in Cancún and attend the Abraham-Hicks show. Unbelievable.
There was some discussion on the logistics of humans and their relationship to their inner beings. More talk of how we're really not separate at all, but that humans, including Esther, forget this. That "Abraham" would like Esther to remember more often that there is no separation. But, Abraham, if Esther remembered more often, then she couldn't make a show of connecting to the Abraham part before every workshop. She couldn't speak of herself in the third person. She couldn't get "Abraham" to promote products while pretending not to care herself. She couldn't have "Abraham" say "Esther doesn't like the word prophet" because then she'd have to say "I don't like the word prophet" and then no one would think of her as a prophet anymore. She'd have to stop pretending that she doesn't want people to think of her as a prophet. The whole act would fizzle immediately if Esther "remembered that she really is her inner being". (I do not believe there is even such a thing as an "inner being"- at least not in the way Estherdescribes makes up, but when I DID believe in an inner being, I thought Esther was stupid for not getting it!) The fiction of Esther "connecting" to "Abraham" is a very useful gimmick. I would LOVE to see Esther get up on stage and do the whole thing in the first person. I would actually respect her if she did that! She could get up there and just start talking, since she's a blended being, no need to breathe deeply for a few minutes. Just start talking. She could tell stories of her childhood and use "I" instead of "Esther"... wouldn't be the same, would it?
So Week Two of Cancún workshops begins this week, I guess. I'm assuming they are back to back, but I never really scrutinized the schedule! I wonder if she'll keep up with the grid disk nonsense or just move on to something else. I'm sure we'll find out!
Meanwhile, the workshop recordings from Australia are available, but I haven't listened to any of the You Tubes yet!
UPDATE- It looks like the grid disc analogy started before Cancún. Esther mentions it here: Abraham-Hicks video from Australia mentioning grid disc
Apparently, Esther introduced two new analogies at the recent Cancún workshop. The first one being something about the laying of pipes, and the second being some thing about grid disks. I'm not sure if she meant "grid disc" or "grid disk" but perhaps a common spelling will emerge as people discuss it and try to figure out what "Abraham" meant by grid disks/grid discs. (According to Grammarist, "There is no consensus on the difference between disc and disk, and in many contexts the two are used interchangeably." You write "grid disc", I write "grid disk", let's call the whole thing off..)
On the notion of laying pipes, apparently we can lay new pipelines the same way we could lay new pathways, it's just a different way of saying it. Boring.
By the way, Hicksians like to take Esther's new analogies (downstream, vortex, grid, all the way down the line to grid discs) and talk about how Abraham is so wonderful at coming up with new analogies for us so we can really get it. Esther's understanding improves all the time, so the analogies get better. No. The new analogies are because the teachings really don't work (it's not that you don't really get it, my friends, it's that the teachings really don't work) and Esther has to say SOMETHING or admit she's wrong. Now she's saying "grid disks" rather than admit she's wrong.
As to what is a grid disk, well, that understanding is still being revealed. Those who were in attendance at the workshops think they understand it, because they were there and they heard it. I've heard that many attendees immediately adopted the term into their vocabularies. I guess there are high-flying grid disks, to be encouraged, and low-flying grid-disks, that are not worthy of our attention. OK.
Sounds like people had a blast. Who wouldn't, in a resort setting? I guess some people who attended the Cancún event did experience some respiratory problems, only the ones who need to "clean out their pipes", of course. (I mean, how could you attract respiratory problems unless you had resistant pipes?) I read talk of blaming it on the hotel and the need for cleaning of the air conditioning system. Could it possibly be that the hotel is in Mexico and has different building and maintenance standards? Or could it have nothing to do with the hotel at all?
I haven't heard yet whether "Abraham" commented on the Boston Marathon tragedy, or the 6 people strangled and 1 found decapitated in Cancún this past week. Perhaps those events are too low of a grid disk to warrant any discussion.
One guy told a story of signing up for the Cancún workshop without knowing how he'd pay for it. (I suspect several did that, and this would explain why there were suddenly available rooms a short time before the event started.) Anyway, this one Aber dude reported that he was able to manifest enough money to attend, because the universe delivered HURRICANE SANDY and he was able to work 12 hour days and earn enough money to go. Holy f---ing crap, I can't believe someone would think the universe created hurricane Sandy so THEY could go to a resort in Cancún and attend the Abraham-Hicks show. Unbelievable.
There was some discussion on the logistics of humans and their relationship to their inner beings. More talk of how we're really not separate at all, but that humans, including Esther, forget this. That "Abraham" would like Esther to remember more often that there is no separation. But, Abraham, if Esther remembered more often, then she couldn't make a show of connecting to the Abraham part before every workshop. She couldn't speak of herself in the third person. She couldn't get "Abraham" to promote products while pretending not to care herself. She couldn't have "Abraham" say "Esther doesn't like the word prophet" because then she'd have to say "I don't like the word prophet" and then no one would think of her as a prophet anymore. She'd have to stop pretending that she doesn't want people to think of her as a prophet. The whole act would fizzle immediately if Esther "remembered that she really is her inner being". (I do not believe there is even such a thing as an "inner being"- at least not in the way Esther
So Week Two of Cancún workshops begins this week, I guess. I'm assuming they are back to back, but I never really scrutinized the schedule! I wonder if she'll keep up with the grid disk nonsense or just move on to something else. I'm sure we'll find out!
Meanwhile, the workshop recordings from Australia are available, but I haven't listened to any of the You Tubes yet!
UPDATE- It looks like the grid disc analogy started before Cancún. Esther mentions it here: Abraham-Hicks video from Australia mentioning grid disc
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)