TRADITIONAL PROBLEM OVERCOME
A limiting point up to now about MLM is that for many of those involved their sphere of influence only extends to family and friends, and not the general public that a true salesman addresses. This limited sphere of influence to draw on often creates strife for the MLM distributor if he becomes incessantly persistent in his efforts towards his small social circle. The solution is the Internet and social media that for all practical purposes is an unlimited prospect market to draw on. This huge market sets the stage, the first step, for the internet royal road to riches.

UNIVERSAL APPEAL PRODUCT
The second factor necessary to a royal road to riches, now that we have the road, is a product that will appeal to a large spectrum of this population so that we are not spinning our wheels any more than necessary. Everyone gets older and Max International has a product that can naturally restore energy losses that start at age 20 and become much more critical after age 40. The buying public is pretty well covered by this except for the teen segment (and the maxATP energy drink appeals to them.) Unfortunately a prime target, the huge, aging and mostly financially comfortable baby boomer generation, is not the major group in the Internet universe. However the social media is so pervasively extensive that for all practical purposes even this segment is unlimited. Facebook alone just passed 500,000,000 users. The stellar product is maxGXL that acts like an elixir fountain of youth to bring back energy. A second product maxATP is an energy drink without sugar or caffeine and so no eventual crash. For younger and physically active people this has direct appeal.
Not yet mentioned is that Max International is a very competent company with an excellent compensation plan so that the residual income factor (repeat automatic commissions) is a fantastic incentive for associates. Becoming an independent associate to earn this residual income is a product in itself as who wouldn’t like some extra money? MLM is also about building a network downline so even more override income accrues from your efforts to bring in new associates.

SUPERIOR FLEXIBILITY
Getting on the royal road of social media is a 24/7 activity that can be approached whenever it convenient for you and can be done on a full or part-time basis. I have written a free PDF ebook titled the Viking Plan (click on the name for the PDF file at http://oyar.ca/vikingplan.pdf) that is a guide for approaching this lucrative work. Work might be the wrong term as you are creating your own business so it is entrepreneurship

And on a more related philosophical note by coincidence the quote on my daily calendar yesterday was by mythology professor Joseph Campbell (the DVD’s of his lectures are marvelous):
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life…I think that what we’re really seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will resonate within our innermost being and reality, so that we can actually feel the rapture of being alive.”
What a beautiful way of saying that we must create our lives, our “experience of being alive,” and not be sheep where “Life happens to me.” The synchronicity of all of this coming together for me I find astounding and so makes me want to share.
As a final thought on more I have come across very recently: “Bless that which you want” a Huna adage and in keeping with: “Rich people admire other rich and successful people. Poor people resent rich and successful people.” (Just another example of Lower Class “them” thinking where “they” are out to get you.)

   Neither computer hero nor adult god exists in the real world with both being just figments of the imagination. Teenagers can point to a programming author of their fantasy game hero but unfortunately adults must contend with the author of their god being lost in the mists of time. Otherwise the hero/god is the same fantasy figure because neither fantasy figure has a real concrete existence in the physical world. That is that there is no scientific proof of either; there is in both cases only the mental use of belief to make them believable and palpable

.

   But you protest: my religion teaches me about my “very real” god. So the question becomes what is so very real about your god? Legendary folk tales aside has anybody actually physically seen your god – even if the best your god can do is a burning bush version? Is there somewhere (like the traditional mountain top with its throne) where you can go to really talk to your god? (The imaginary conversations of “taking your thoughts to your god in prayer” that your priest tells you to have don’t count as substantiatable real world events. Nor do visionary meetings as anyone can visualize anything they want.) Likewise attributing real world events that you don’t understand to an adult god does not make that god real or constitute knowledge of a genuine cause/effect relationship. While you emotionally imagine it and want it, what is even one real world concrete thing that makes your god different from the teenager’s computer hero? Emotionally feeling that a fantasy figure, god or computer hero, is real is not the same thing as that fantasy figure having some sort of real world existence, other than in your mind. 

   Lucy in the Peanuts comic strip wisely said that she can be as intelligent as anyone else about things that cannot be proved. Religious people giving emotional rationalizations for the actual existence of their god is not the same as being able to present factual proof – so the truth is out there that a god of religion is as much a fantasy figure as a computer game hero. The acid test is do you have any scientific real world proof whatever that your god is any more real than a computer game hero?

   The adult god is just the adult Santa Claus. In the classic children’s story children are told to behave because Santa records who is naughty and nice to decide who will receive presents at Christmas. The adult Santa Claus god also watches over people to see who in their lifetimes were “good” followers and so deserve to join him in heaven for eternity. A parallel in the ancient Egyptian religion was that rather doing a recording or review (as in St Peter checking his book at the Pearly Gate) the person’s soul was measured against the weight of a feather. The only difference again between the children’s and adult’s version being in the value of their toys. Wise folk wisdom from the King James version of the Bible: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

ANIMAL BRAINERS

   The Religious Fervor game was devised by Mother Nature as an evolutionary success adaptation for survival for our troglodyte and Neanderthal (some claim we interbred with them) ancestors but is now a throwback paradigm. The Religious Fervor game is human thinking coming from the middle animal mammalian part of the brain (as opposed to the evolved, elevated and intelligent human frontal cortex conscious brain or the older originating reptilian parts of the brain) and is promoted by the VMAT2 gene. Strong players of the game are on the strong side of this gene’s Bell Curve of strength.

   The Religious Fervor game can be compared to the “application program” coat of a particular religion that is worn over the innate spiritual “operating system core” of a living human computer. You can always change the coat but you are born with the genetic push to play the game. Playing the Religious Fervor game is done because it gives the same animal base gratification the teenage computer gamers get. The players of the Religious Fervor game go to play it in church on Sundays with other players and teenagers are now evolved to play the game on-line against each other. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. It is an interesting observation that older “children” (i.e. adults) are now being “gamers” and so giving religions a run for their money (it’s only time before games become convoluted enough for the general public to make a direct comparison.) Life goes on!

The Wefan Wyrd Labyrinth comes from prehistoric northern Europe around the Baltic Sea and means “the weaving of fate.” Here it is presented as a finger labyrinth. This link http://awenman.com/wefanwyrd.pdf is to a free PDF file that gives detailed instructions on using the Wefan Wyrd as well as a full page labyrinth to print out and use. The Wefan Wyrd is included here because of the personal connection that it is a style of labyrinth that is local to the area where I was born. The information is gleaned from my book Accessing Awen and the link to download the Wefan Wyrd is also on my http://awenman,com/awen.htm page dedicated to the book.

Walking meditations in a labyrinth span all civilizations and time. Labyrinths are found from prerecorded historical times, to the elaborate classic one at Chartres Cathedral. Much, much more happens automatically with a walking labyrinth, but a finger labyrinth is capable of generating the same effects as its big brother, it just takes more work on your part.

A summary of classic general benefits as listed on my personal web site as an author are: Relieve stress … Comfort in mourning … Deepens spirituality … Improve relationships … Connection to ones soul … Access to intuition … Enhanced creativity … Satisfies inner need for simplicity … Mind and body integration … Greater sense of community … Accelerated healing … A path of, and to, prayer … Achieving wholeness … Engages body and soul in prayer … Reflective time in a busy schedule … Mirrors your inner self … Concentrates attention … Sparks imagination … Cathartic emotional release … Concrete expression of spirituality … Deepened meditation … Quiet sanctum away from life … Enhanced awareness … Right and left brain balancing … Enhanced lateral thinking … Ease life transitions … Facilitate reconciliations ,,, Builds sense of relationship … A sacred place to be

I recently came across some research that shows that regular meditation over time actually thickens the brain’s prefrontal cortex and right anterior insula, areas that normally thin with age. These areas are associated with attention, decision making, memory as well as sensory processing. This is physical evidence that aging problems can be ameliorated! And of course I recommend the Wefan Wyrd as a meditation tool.

Classic Kundalini Yoga teaches the Kirtan Kriya meditation technique that literally translates as “song movements.”  It is in essence a rhythmic chanting accompanied by a set of rhythmic motions and is of interest because western medical research on the Kirtan Kriya has shown the combination practice will improve the memory function in seniors. You can Google Kirtan Kriya if you want to find out more about its Eastern mysticism and origins but I am suggesting here that just chanting the traditional classic ‘OM” mantra while finger walking the Wefan Wyrd will produce the same positive results. An interesting thought is that now that rhythmic body repetition has been found to be brain beneficial when coupled with some rhythmic vocalizations, could this be the unconscious source of davening (rocking) in Jewish prayers and the rocking sometimes seen in videos of young mid-eastern students learning holy texts?

THE WEFAN WYRD TECHNIQUE

What has been known for some time is that low self-esteem is one of the greatest obstacles to success. So raising self-esteem would seem to be a worthwhile activity.

A simple exercise to show the strong effects of suggestion is a classic test where someone is asked to put out an arm in front of them and repeat “I am strong and worthy” a number of times out loud. If someone now tries to push down that arm they will encounter a lot of resistance. Conversely if the person now repeats “I am weak and worthless” instead it will be easy to push down the arm. This is a simple experiment so find friend to try it with and see the results yourself.

This simple test and the recent findings about Kirtan Kriya suggest a constructive way to raise self-esteem and hence improve your life. Chant “I am strong and worthy” as an affirmation mantra while finger walking the Wefan Wyrd. Do this repeatedly for 21 days as this has been found to be the timeframe to pick up a new habit – and hopefully here a new mindset. You have only your low self-esteem to lose!

To generalize: it should be possible to adjust other personal aspects by chanting the appropriate affirmation out loud while doing the repetitive action of finger walking the Wefan Wyrd as outlined here in the Wefan Wyrd Technique.

FOR THE TACTILE AMONG YOU

If you find a finger labyrinth is a good fit for you then you might want to explore the pleasures of a labyrinth board that has grooves cut into it for your fingers to follow. From an excellent web site: “Irma Haggith is a Labyrinth Emissary and coach. Her mission is to bring portable Labyrinth left and right handed finger walking boards to schools, hospitals, retirement homes, corporate executives, and the public in general.” You can visit her site at http://amazeyourmindlabyrinths.com  and purchase direct from her company Amaze Your Mind Labyrinth Solutions. You can also read more about her on the SelfGrowth.com site at http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/irma_haggith.html as she has an interesting background and history.

A CREATIVE PLAN

Consulting your unconscious mind, what I call Awen in my books, is a time tried and proven way to reach correct and constructive decisions. On waking is a time for many, including myself, to come up with great ideas but your creative subconscious mind can be accessed anytime. Finger walk the Wefan Wyrd making use of the OM mantra as outlined above to put your mind in a quiet place, and for the extended brain growing benefits. Then go to the Ravens RuneCaster section at the bottom of my AwenMan home page at http://awenman.com to consult the oracle on how to proceed or just for a reading on where you are now. Walk the Wefan Wyrd again to consolidate and clarify your thinking but this time do it quietly so that you have the opportunity for lucubration. Enjoy a soothing cup of healthy tea with lemon while you cogitate and contemplate what is to come next. If you now settle on doing something then download a Project SMART worksheet available in the right column here to help bring your project to fruition.

As I personally find it convenient to use a zippered half letter sized binder case (my original Day-Timer is long gone but it served me well) the worksheets are set up for this format. These binders from very inexpensive plastic to luxury leather models can be found in the personal organizer sections of stationary suppliers. The set up of these worksheets is versatile though and the worksheet can be used as printed on letter size paper. Please see more details at the end of this blog.

Project SMART

SMART goals have been around for a very long time and this is a worksheet to help create them. The SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. These headings are guides for creating goals that are workable in the real world and are not just ideas, like most New Year’s resolutions. There is a lot of information available in books and on the Internet about how to apply these rules in detail and so will not be pursued here. Short phrases are listed as memory jogs of what is required for each heading. The terms goal and project are more or less synonymous here.

It has been found to be a great motivating factor in achieving goals if you clarify the personal benefits you will gain, On this worksheet you can list your immediate expected benefit(s) under Fortnight, the long range benefits that linger on under Year, and your lasting legacy of the goal under Decade.

Specific steps to be taken in reaching your goal are to be listed under ACTion Measures. Again motivational research shows that if you know what you are facing and don’t keep coming up with surprises your chances for a successful outcome are greatly increased. Take time to think through all important things that need to be done and list them. If you find you need to list more items then please use the Project To Do worksheet as the rows there are set up in the same format.

Project To Do

This worksheet does double duty as a To Do list and supplemental pages for the Project SMART worksheet. It is not meant to be a To Do list for the dozen or so items that you need to grocery shop for but to handle more complex situations where some evaluation is necessary. This worksheet can be helpful in evaluating and deciding between a number of available options after first just brainstorm listing all of them.  

The Project To Do worksheet repeats the same Project SMART header information for continuity. This worksheet also gives some hints on prioritizing and using the leading boxes of the lines.

Project Decision

The Project Decision is an application of the classic Ben Franklin Decision Technique that is implemented here. The basic traditional way to do this decision making is to take a blank sheet of paper and then to draw a vertical line down the center of it. The left column is headed up “For” or “Pro” and the right column is headed up “Against” or “Con.” The question problem is then brainstormed and as many items as possible are entered in each column. The two columns are then evaluated to arrive at a decision. Hopefully one column is much longer than the other so that a course of action is obvious. If an answer is not obvious this worksheet allows for each item being assigned an importance weight to help the evaluation process.

Once a decision has been made on what to set as a goal it can be followed up with a Project SMART worksheet to turn it into reality.

As a personal note this was a favorite closing technique of mine in all the many years that I was in sales.

Project Team

The Project Team worksheet allows you to keep track of more factors then just those involved in a Project SMART situation. This worksheet again starts with the Project SMART header for identification so that if needed it can be used in conjunction with other worksheets in this series.

An example of where this worksheet can be used is if you are asked to organize and head up a committee to stage next month’s special sales meeting. This example will be used to explain the headings. If you are into multi-level network marketing this worksheet could help with planning a small meeting. In a non-business setting this worksheet could be used for planning a weekend get-a-way trip or other small gathering with friends.

Project Journal

 There is a humongous amount and variety of journals that are available. For this set the Project SMART header is provided for continuity. There are three variations of a journal presented: a regular ruled worksheet, one that is checker box ruled (I have found them in stationary departments so there has to be a demand out there) and a blank sheet with just the header and hole punch guides.

Project Set ZIPed

All five worksheets with their cover pages can be downloaded as a zip file by clicking here. This primary cover entry and the explanatory Runes Memory Guide (see Project SMART) are also included.

Printing Instructions for PDF worksheet pages

The worksheet can be printed back to back on the same sheet and then cut in half and hole punched for a half letter size binder. A one side printed sheet can also just be three hole punched at the top long side for regular letter sized binders. If this worksheet is worked as a letter size page it can then be folded in the center and hole punched to store in a half letter size binder. I use a zippered case that is handy everywhere.

Wishing you well in achieving all your goals and successful completion of projects

May the force be with you

along all the dark and empty paths

you must walk.

   First let me very highly recommend another book: The Power of Focus by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen and Les Hewitt to anyone who is serious about improving their life. To give an idea of what the book is about it is subtitled: ”What the world’s greatest achievers know about The Secret to financial freedom and success.” The book is extremely well written and is crammed full of practical advice on how to motivate yourself and get things done.

THE TA-DA FORMULA

   The focus here is on their TA-DA Formula found in the book. TA-DA is an acronym for Think, Ask – Decide, Act. In their words: “This will help you stay alert as you head into the uncharted waters of the future.” This entry here is not about a detailed study of how to apply the formula (the authors do an excellent job of that) but about how basic human wisdom is timeless and recurring as the same progression of activities can be found in the ancient Runes.

THE RUNES

   My book RnR Runes and Remedies goes into a complete exposition on the Runes but we are here interested in the left half of Freyja’s Eight (the creativity Runes) that runs the progression of Ansuz, Thurisaz, Uruz and Fehu. Note the progression of meanings as these Runes are here explained. The ancient name is followed by the modern name and a brief meaning description from the book is given.

THINK, ASK

Ansuz / Lucubration: Ideas and thoughts but not yet any decision. Upright Objective meaning: Enlightenment: knowledge imparted to the inquirer

DECIDE

Thurisaz / Decision: some planning to do before you can go into action

ACT

Uruz / Passages: Turning point, almost at ultimate success but still some work to do

and the result of

Fehu / Success: Ultimate achievement on the worldly plane

THE PARALLEL IS CLEAR EVEN IF THE TWO TRAINS OF THOUGHT WERE INDEPENDENTLY WRITTEN ALMOST 2000 YEARS APART!

IN PRACTICE

   Why all this fuss and bother about ideas?

   To start lets quote Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” This translates into our modern industrial society that you should not follow the path of the lower and middle classes to work for a wage (or even expend effort to try to obtain a better wage) but to follow the path of the rich to wealth by concentrating on increasing your net worth; i.e. putting ideas into action. Lots of studies and research confirm this difference in mental philosophy. This concept has been niftily stated as well that: “you can turn hours into dollars or ideas into millions.” The TA-DA Formula shines here as the guiding light on how to bring ideas to successful fruition.

   I will first highlight this diet and then try to humanize it with the 80% Rule into something that fits in more easily and realistically with what is manageable in a real world; with at least fitting my lifestyle in a practical way.

THE DIET

   There are, as already pointed out, many authors who are “experts” on what troglodytes ate but without anyone being able to time travel to the past it means that there are variations on what constitutes the diet.  The diet typically requires you to eat meats, eggs, seafood, vegetables, fruits, and nuts and seeds. These hunter-gatherer foods are also found to be super healthy in terms of concentrated nutrients and antioxidants. Primarily water but also coffee, tea, and limited alcoholic beverages and juices are the drinks allowed.

   As an added benefit this caveman diet appears to be a natural diet solution for the victims of the shocking rampant rising epidemic of diabetes in our western culture as it is difficult to find anything that is High Glycemic Index as part of it. Something unusual like an intermediate range glycemic fruit like pineapple, GI=66, (where the low GI range is 0-55 and intermediate is 56-69) can be judiciously consumed if you first eat a small handful of slow digesting unsalted mixed nuts as this lowers the overall index value of what has been consumed. Some feel that the ubiquitous banana at GI=52 is too high glycemically so the same small handful of nuts can be used.

   Forget about eating anything that comes from the agricultural revolution like grains (wheat, rice, corn, etc.), legumes (peanuts are a legume as are green and other beans and peas), soybean or dairy products and starchy tubers such as potatoes that require cooking.  (A rule of thumb that some authors propose is that if it cannot be eaten raw, don’t eat it. But it is OK to cook what you do eat.) Some authors do allow for very small amounts of whole grains so a bowl of steel cut large flake oatmeal would seem to be permissible if you top it with a trail mix of nuts and seeds. The industrial revolution added to this verboten list any processed or refined food, any food with added salt, sugars and food additives such as artificial sweeteners, preservatives and other chemicals: “natural” or otherwise.

   Unfortunately all this means that close to three quarters of the typical North American daily diet is off limits, and hence it can be difficult to follow. Please also realize that this is an elitist diet as the world cannot be fed except through modern agriculture. However you should not try to avoid this diet by in any way, shape or form and consider or rationalize altruistically sacrificing yourself by showing united solidarity with humanity in their diet. (Your mother telling you to eat your plate clean because there are people in this world who are starving wasn’t much better.) Your being the healthiest that you can be is the one of the greatest gifts that you can give so if you are privileged enough to be able to follow this healthy natural diet, DO IT!

THE EIGHTY PERCENT SOLUTION

   What is often recommended by the authors (and has been a personal rule of mine forever for all sorts of things) is that if you stay true to your diet 80% of the time it can be effective. At three meals a day it means that you can cheat at four meals a week. This is psychologically important as something too restricting is normally quickly discarded as unworkable. So enjoy the family get together where spaghetti, dinner rolls, or traditional trimmings of peas, corn and potatoes are served and join in the office party and have that pizza. The human capacity to process food is not unlimited and only about 500 calories of any single sitting meal (but not an extended ongoing bacchanalia) can be processed with the rest being eliminated. If you feel a single meal has added substantially to your weight, then it is just water retention that you are experiencing. Diets often show fabulously first week results for this same water loss reason. The body just cannot gain/lose fat that quickly. So when you cheat, pig out and enjoy it to the hilt!

   The very ancient Greek Oracle of Delphi advised to take and do everything in moderation so this 80% rule means that it is OK to eat a meal that is eighty percent and more caveman: such as including a small amount of a forbidden legume, very very thin wheat based coating (just a flavor dusting really), condiment, dessert or additive. In our real world it is difficult to be a purist so don’t try by figuratively “throwing out the baby with the bathwater” to eat “pure” while discarding valuable nutrition. Just try to avoid doing this regularly. If you do break this minor variation rule then you have used up one of your four allowable cheat meals.

   The rationale for 80% is quite legitimate. Before electronic calculators engineers would use slide rules giving plus or minus 10% variances in constructing actual real world projects. Pareto’s Principle also known as the 80/20 rule finds that 20% or less is a natural limit. So the net outcome is: don’t be afraid to enjoy yourself sometimes!

FAST FOOD JUNKIE

   As a single male who doesn’t cook I eat far too much of what is known as fast food. My first experience in a very large fast food court in a shopping mall was a disaster. Try to find something that doesn’t include bread, rice. potatoes or pasta as part of the offering. Settled on a Chinese combo of only a meat dish and mixed veggies with the empty large section of the divided plastic plate not having any of the normal rice or noodles. What I got was so little that I was still hungry afterwards. After that I got smarter and ordered a double meat portion with mixed veggies and that was filling. Chinese take-out I find good as you can order a large entrée plate of something like beef and broccoli.

   My latest MacDonald’s combo meal was a bunless quarter pounder with side salad (but no croutons for the Caesar) and coffee as a safe caveman meal. Remember that you don’t need to count calories and you are not supposed to be able to overeat on this diet (so go for the double quarter pounder if you are really hungry!) Most fast food burger joints will serve a hamburger without the bun if you ask. Subway restaurants are also my darling as they let you turn any six inch sub into a salad, which can be good variety, and I usually order double meat.

   Fast foods are OK under the “eighty percent and more” rule above (if properly applied by eating the most appropriate options, and eschewing the breaded meat products, the fries, soft drinks, etc.)

DAIRY PRODUCTS

   An epiphany of a revelation came to me: cavewoman mothers nursed their babies! And guess what? You started out the same way too! The loss of the ability for adults to metabolize milk protein (and so dairy products) came about in evolution as an efficiency matter since pre-agricultural adults didn’t need to be able to do this and the continued production of unused enzymes was wasteful of resources. But it means milk is historically natural to consume, even if dairy is forbidden in write ups of the caveman diet. This early age nursing suggests that dairy products are OK for people of European extraction (and other select groups) as in very early era history they have through dairy farming relearned to retain milk protein metabolism into adulthood. Since Europeans and North Americans of European extraction make up large populations who might be interested in the caveman diet then knowing that dairy products are beneficial for them is good news. Some authors acknowledge this genetic recidivism but are apparently too afraid to accept dairy as part of the diet (possibly to be politically correct or avoid milk dominating antioxidant absorption – see tea entry below. Try the Kosher practice of dairy dishes, i.e. courses/recipes, separate from others.) But not being allowed dairy in a currently written version doesn’t mean that you need to turn away from a natural food if you are in the right group. Research doesn’t show any actual studies relating to dairy consumption for a caveman diet but research does show milk is a slimming product. (Hurray!!! I can have my ice cream in the summer – if naturally made of course – and my probiotic, antioxidant, omega 3 enriched yogurt as well!) A science trick I picked up is that if you are slowly drinking a cup of coffee while people watching in a Starbucks or other cafe then have it with a milk product. Whitened coffee stays warmer longer.

THE SWEET TOOTH SIDE

   No refined table sugar or manufactured substitutes allowed but zero calorie veggie spoonable stevia (a powdered plant leaf 300x sweeter than sugar) from a health food store is an acceptable replacement; as well as being a blessing for diabetics. Even Wal-Mart carries an individual portion tube form. Apparently proven safe through centuries of use, though government food agencies have done little research as of yet. A glass of water with a squirt of bottled real lemon juice and one of those Wal-Mart tubes of stevia powder makes a very acceptable quickly prepared drink.

   Dark honey gets its color because it is naturally rich in minerals, natural occurring minerals that are better absorbed then from a supplement pill. I usually have my daily dark honey dose in a mug of tea with some lemon juice. The antioxidants in tea are normally 20% available to you but this jumps to 80% with the addition of lemon. Warning: adding milk interferes with the antioxidant absorption

   As a sweet footnote: it may seem strange but some authorities recommend a daily dose of honey even to diabetics for the superior health benefits that honey bestows. Surprisingly honey has a low GI of only 55 and a 55 gm (about 2 3/4 tablespoons) food serving size has a Glycemic Load of 10 which is also the upper scale limit of the low side. For comparison a forbidden caveman diet small 5 oz potato has a GI of 90 and a GL of 14. But then again a daily dose of cider vinegar (regular vinegar is a petroleum product) in a glass of water is also recommended by some health authorities for its alkalinizing effect on the body, but not me who sometimes drinks it this really awful way. (Most of the general population is held to have too high an acidic body pH level. A supply of litmus strips is a cheap home test that can be purchased easily on the Internet and will show you your pH balance.) “Honegar” or “honeygar” is the classic health promoting and body alkalizing honey and vinegar mixture (about one tablespoon each raw unfiltered honey and cider vinegar in 8 oz water) where honey is supposed to enhance the healing power of the vinegar. I bring all this up here because it is not difficult to eat too much meat on a caveman diet and so create an acidic body state, an acidic state that is claimed to be responsible for much bad health and loss of energy. So Eat Your Veggies And Stay Balanced!

Caveat emptor disclaimer: my actual experience with this diet is just started and very limited but the information seems sound.

   Their training was to have people from the general public for 10 minutes a day, three days a week and for only six weeks be part of the test by doing puzzle games (apparently some of the games didn’t even qualify as training material.) The BBC then tested to see if cognitive skills had improved. Anyone with half a brain about these things could predict the results without seeing the actual test results.

THE PERSPECTIVE

   One of the things that most authorities agree on is that if you want to increase your brain capacity then learning a new language is a proven way to do this. There are a lot of good language learning programs available, they are successful at teaching the new language (people can and do learn), and they will all tell you that it takes a considerable amount of concerted work on your part.

   What the BBC claims they have proved is that these successful courses don’t work because if you do the course material for their 10 minutes, thrice weekly for six weeks effort you will not have learned the language!

   Another example is a young man deciding to try out for his nation’s Olympic team and wondering why he failed because he did after all train for 10 minutes a day, three times a week, for six weeks.

   A lot of people already say that what’s on TV is a lot of crap and the BBC hasn’t done anything to dispel this,

   Whether atheist or theist, as humans, they are functioning with the same brain, a brain that in its older animal brain level supports the VMAT2 “god” gene that gives propensity to a surreal alpha-male being cult.  You would expect similar results to ensue. The differences can be compared to different flavors of ice cream. The atheists are vanilla, the core basics of what we as human beings represent. The theists are chocolate, strawberry, etc.; all with the added flavor of their imaginary gods and holy books of usually mostly part real and construed folk tale history.

   So what is the real difference between atheists and theists? INTELLIGENCE! The atheists are able to use our advanced human forebrain to see past the fairy tale stories of religions while the troglodyte theists cannot see past their animal brain thinking noses. Atheists are what Confucius would call the “superior man.”

    On one point I agree with the authors and don’t need two chapters of a book to talk about and that is that Jesus was a real person. Most things start with a germ of truth and not out of thin air. After that the authors ask why would anyone fabricate a false history? Good researchers but if it is not in front of their noses in writing they are so incredulous about the obvious in human nature. Jesus was a charismatic peasant class cult leader with an otherwise typical humdrum peasant life, but a life that ended in him being strung up by the Roman authorities as a nuisance. The cult leaders of the time, who were very emotionally committed to their cult, now had a dilemma on their hands of how to get and keep new converts with such a poor history. The solution that came as manna to them was from neighboring Egypt and the Horus cult. They now had a noble reason for the execution/death and the rich history of a man-god to incorporate into Jesus’ dull peasant life to give the cult the drawing power it needed. The myth even gave the idea to giving Jesus a royal lineage to perk up his image above that of peasant stock. Unfortunately two Gospel writers independently created the lineages so two different ones are now in the Gospels. The two lineages are the crack that let us see the truth of the fabrication of the Gospels as only one would appear if it and the rest of the text were true.

   A question may arise that did the Gospel writers really know about the Egyptian man-gods? The authors provide this answer: “the New Testament was written and the Gospel first preached in a world where the Egyptian religion, especially the myths of Osiris and Isis, were well known.” And the authors later openly admit: “Are there legitimate parallels and echoes of Egyptian myths in the Bible and early church? Yes.”

    “The time has come,” the Walrus said, “To talk of many things: Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax– Of cabbages–and kings– And why the sea is boiling hot– And whether pigs have wings.” Most of the book now deals with a potpourri of examples of historical interest about pagan deities, other things the authors deem of relevance and of how the Gospels don’t match exactly the historic documents the authors have available about Horus; and of course in their view this means that the Gospel writers wrote a “true” story and it wasn’t influenced by outside information. None of this rumination (which I personally found fascinating to read) directly addresses the copycatting other then to provide innuendo circumstantial relevance.  The new science of memes (memes like the authors’ mentioning the recurring numerological image significance of twelve) tell us that borrowing from the well known man-god myth is what Gospel writers as living humans most likely did and the correlations to the Horus story prove it (even if they aren’t the exact one to one relations that the authors’ pedantic minds want.) The Gospel writers lived their world and not like academics in ivory towers of scholarly perfection.

    As missionary attuned zealots the Gospel writers cherry picked what they wanted as useful and for scholars to now expect that these choices will conform to academic historic accuracy is ludicrously introverted thinking. What is also ludicrous is to try to compare the Gospels to exact pagan texts that scholars have today. In the time of Jesus it was primarily an illiterate society that depended on oral tradition. The cult leaders would have had information available that modern scholars only dream about. By admitting in their book that many similarities exist between the Gospels and the ancient myths they are actually confirming the copycat rendering. Geniuses like Harper are able to piece together from random sources what a true picture of the Gospel writers minds looked like and not the cold robot-like attempts of the authors who want everything in black and white even if that doesn’t exist.

    What can we deduce about the truth? I would apply Occam’s razor and look for a simple proof rather than get into philosophic discussions. When a college professor wants to see if a student has plagiarized his homework they will use a program that searches the Internet. The program does not look for philosophic unities but for point by point comparisons. You can use Google to do a search on the similarities between the Gospels and the Horus myth and come up with a plethora of sites that offer umpteen similarity comparisons. The Horus myth came first. So to quote Shakespeare: “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”

    Academics like the authors can do their self-superior naval gazing all they want but it doesn’t change the truth that the Gospels are cherry picked copycatting from the ancient man-god myth and the Horus legend in particular. Their wide ranging ruminations in their book can also be looked at as a diversionary tactic from their not having any real direct rebuttal to the copycat assertions of Harper. In their conclusion chapter they do not specifically summarize why the Gospels could not be a copycat text but just emotionally dismiss the idea by saying the Gospels aren’t the ascendant of anything (and how many things do you know of that don’t have any antecedents and come out of the clear blue. The Buddhist saying is “This existing, that arises.”) The authors say that “Mithras was not a dying and rising god prefiguring Christ” but give no explanation as to why events like that should be looked at in isolation and distanced from later stories. Their theories only work if you put a bubble around the Jesus story and follow what seems to be their implied preferred dictum of “trust me” that my reasoning is correct. It only works if you can really believe that people are never influenced by what went before. Their stating that only rigorous academic research like theirs is what is only worth looking at is self-serving poppy-cock. Albert Einstein said: “Everything that can be counted does not necessarily count; everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.” Genius level work like that of Harper is in a different ball park than these authors and leaves these authors way behind.

    It also remains a fact in the game of life that there are about 2 billion Christians on this planet so that they overpoweringly win out over the Lions of Truth by sheer numbers in propagating their “truth”. But the real truth is out there: Christianity is the result of a successful advertising ploy!