The Power of Individual Choice
Life at its fundamental core is about choice. Each one of us has to make a choice at some point about how we are going to live. Are we going to live our lives at the sufferance of the planet host or are we going to get in sync with the plan of the planet? As Daniel Quinn so eloquently points out in his writings (Ishmael, The Story of B, etc.), the Taker culture will continue to usurp control of the food supply in order to ensure that the human species can proliferate, regardless of all other life on the planet or the environment. Takers hold the view that the world belongs to them, their divinely appointed destiny is to conquer and rule it and their way is the only "right way". Leavers, on the other hand, are humans who consciously choose to serve the earth, living in such a way that they seek to minimize their impact on the environment, modifying their lifestyle in order to preserve natural resources. They are people who do not seek to follow personal will, but rather to serve the planet’s evolution.
The current strategy of developing faster and more efficient ways to grow and produce food is getting more insane, consequently contributing to the explosion of the population. The answer is not to produce more cattle and grain or altering the genetics of plants to resist bacteria and pests; the answer is to stop expanding, let the dust settle and get back into the flow of nature.
It is here that individual choice becomes crucial. Society is not going to change any time soon. The karmic wheels are already in motion. The future is bleak. At the present rate of expansion, some have said we have only about 50 years before the population doubles and triples, causing a devastating consequence to future generations and the planet. The answer lies in the power of individual choice, personal life decisions that will disentangle the nemesis caused by the Taker society.
How can the planet handle 12 billion people, 20 billion, 25 billion? How many more cars are we going to produce? How many more landfills? How are we going to wash away the sewage of that many people, and where? Think about it! The choices we make right now about lifestyle, food, fuel consumption and entertainment are going to affect everything in the future.
The Taker mentality is all about control. That’s it in a nutshell. It’s not about care-taking and respect for the planet. It’s about personal will, personal evolution, expanding, even to the point of colonizing space and other planets…dominion and conquering…and yet, we can’t even master ourselves and our insatiable desires.
Life is about choosing between personal will or planetary evolution. Personal will says, "I want a big house and a nice car and lots of money and a big piece of land…I want security…I want to see the world, have fun… I want control of my life. I want to be comfortable". Planetary evolution says, "My life is about harmony with this planet…how can I live differently in alignment with the earth, in all aspects of my life?" The Takers, those with the power and the money and the control of the food supply are abusing this planet. Takers want to improve themselves; Leavers want to serve. That’s the difference.
"Social consciousness" is the term we use to describe the Taker mentality of living under the programming of society, which promotes personal evolution rather than planetary service. "Primal consciousness", on the other hand, is about making choices from a higher, non-personal perspective…in consideration of the environment and the planet. As we’ve said before, "the plan of the planet is in its’ plants". The survival of all physical life on earth depends on how we choose to live on a personal level, which has a rippling effect reaching all the way to the survival of the plant life on this planet. (Read Diet for a New America: How Your Food Choices Affect Your Health, Happiness and the Future of Life on Earth, by John Robbins.)
Unfortunately, in modern developed world , the term "environmentalist" has a nasty connotation to it. Environmentalists are regarded as wackos, misunderstood as people who want to mess up jobs and productivity in order to save the whales and the spotted owls. What other conclusion can one expect from an immature Taker mentality? It’s wise not to resist or lobby against these issues, but instead, to make responsible individual choices about the way we live our everyday lives.
For example, Sun Bear, a Native American elder who founded the Bear Tribe back in the 1970’s, taught a valuable lesson. There were a few members of his community who were outraged by the destruction that was being caused by a local utility company. They were asking him why he wasn’t telling people to protest the "big business monster" in order to save the environment. Sun Bear said, "Do you really want to stop that power company?" "Of course", they said, "yes, we do!" So Sun Bear walked over to the light switch and turned if off and said, "there, that’s how you stop them".
The more we resist anything, the more power we give it. The way to effect change is to make individual choices by considering the environmental impact and then seek to minimize that impact as much as possible. For example, we mentioned in our essay, Why I Chose the Simple Life, that Federal Income Taxes go toward dropping bombs and building nuclear weapons instead of dropping seeds. The only way to legally not pay so much in taxes is by earning less, specifically, below the poverty level (less than $18,000 per year.) That is a practical solution, but to do that requires a radical change in lifestyle, developing specific life skills that enable one to utilize such a strategy. Of course, we realize that this is not appealing to the vast majority, but none-the-less, it is a realistic answer. Yet how many people are willing to give up their personal desires in order to serve the planet? Probably not many.
Another answer is to radically change ones eating habits from commercially grown meat, dairy and non-organic cooked grains to a diet of sprouted seeds, grasses, fresh raw fruits and vegetables, and home grown, wild or free-range dehydrated meat. The Taker society has its’ expansive roots in agriculture and conquest, of mowing down the diversity of species in favor of only a few, such as wheat, rice and corn. As more and more people depend upon those huge corporations that grow the food, individual choice and freedom will continue to diminish. The answer is to choose to eat differently, to curb the gluttonous and insatiable cooked grain addiction. Learn to eat more simple, basic foods.
And what about our water supply? Living beings cannot live without clean water. Life would cease to exist if not for rain, rivers, lakes and oceans. And yet people continue to defecate and urinate in the water supply daily. Every time you flush a toilet, you contribute to the death of the planet. Can you imagine yourself looking into a clean bucket filled with 3 gallons of crystal clear water and then turning around and defecating in it? That sounds crazy, doesn’t it? It would totally ruin the water. But that’s what billions of people do every day when the toilets are flushed. And where does that polluted, toxic water go? It goes right back into the water supply, back into our rivers, lakes and oceans which is totally irresponsible. So what is the solution? One answer is to compost the "humanure" as it is done in nature. Here again, that’s not likely to happen on a grand scale anytime soon.

Individual choice is very important. There is no way one cannot choose. Each volition comes with a resulting effect. That is why it is so powerful. The world we experience is the result of what we have made collectively.

A beautiful mystery



Crop circles have been around for a very long time. The earliest reports date back to the Middle Ages. Back then, as now, no one knew what to make of these apparitions. On August 22, 1678 a crop circle discovered in an oat field in the British county of Hertfordshire was imputed to be the work of the devil, who '… considered it beneath him to harvest the grain in the usual manner and therefore made round circles, laying each stem so perfectly that it would take an ordinary human over a century to do what he could in a single night.'

The number of crop circles has increased dramatically since the 1970s, particularly in the south of England. But they are also regularly seen in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Israel, the US, Canada, Russia, Japan, China, New Zealand and Peru, to name but a few countries. There have been some 10,000 sightings since 1976.

Crop circles are geometric patterns of flattened plants in farmed or fallow fields that are designed with incredible accuracy. They are commonly referred to as crop circles because the first known formations were circular and were discovered in crop fields. But they also include complex geometric symbols that were discovered in fields containing other types of plants or in ice, snow and sand. Tree circles have even been observed where mature trees were bent at 90-degree angles into circles spanning 10 metres, while no storms were reported in the area.

Many people still think the circles are manmade and that the entire phenomenon is some kind of global joke. If they are right, then it is an incredibly complex joke. The enormous dimensions - often over 100 metres wide - and the extremely complicated designs are virtually impossible to replicate, and certainly not within the brief timeframe in which they were created. Take the crop circle found near Stonehenge on July 7, 1996. It comprised 151 circles, spanning 115 metres. And, according to three independent witnesses, it appeared in broad daylight … within a half-hour. The field is clearly visible from the motorway and there were a lot of tourists in the area that day within view of the field. If there had been signs of the colossal circle patterns earlier, someone would have noticed.

Searches have also often been made for footprints that should have been visible in the soft sand around the circles. But none have been found. Crop stalks often appeared to have been burned. Strange substances have been found in the circles, such as jelly-like fragments or a powdery deposit on the plants on the ground. The powder appeared to be silicon dioxide, made up of microscopically small glass balls. Extremely high concentrations of magnetite (magnetic iron ore) have also been detected, similar to the material found in meteorites. Such substances fall to the earth's surface from the upper atmosphere every day. In some crop circles, concentrations were over 600 times the normal levels. This could indicate the presence of magnetic fields around the crop circles that attract substances containing iron. The substance also links the crop circles to the upper layers of the atmosphere. Could the crop circles be the result of magnetic fields combined with enormous heat from above?

There are some 70 eyewitness accounts from people who have seen crop circles being created. They all say that the circle is completed within a couple of seconds by something that appeared to be an enormous air current. They also report hearing an electric buzzing, a hissing noise or a high whistle. Frequently a ball or balls of light are seen, and on several occasions have been recorded on video.

So far, no one has been able to solve the mystery of these marvellous creations. And they are attracting increasing interest. In addition to the many documentaries that have been made, crop circles are a central theme in three new films. In Signs, by writer/director M Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense and Unbreakable), Mel Gibson stars as Graham Hess, a widower who tries to solve the mystery of a crop circle near his home. There is also A Place to Stay, a romance that includes lengthy footage of crop circles from the English county of Wiltshire. The third film, currently being shot, is William Gazescki's Crop Circles: A Quest for Truth. Gazescki previously won an Oscar for WACO: Rules of Engagement.

Dying to Live

ot too long ago, a good friend of mine reached a stage in her life where she did not know what to do any more. Having just survived a marriage crisis, she had recently severely dislocated her back. Meanwhile her family life with husband and children, work and a whole range of social engagements continued. At one point she took on the role of assistant supervisor on a school trip with her children. She was put in charge of a small group of boys. A tough and energetic bunch who became progressively more energetic. She felt the tension mounting and decided to shock them into line by telling them horrific stories. She proceeded to dish up detailed accounts of the sufferings of humanity ranging from Indians strung up with hooks sticking out of their bodies to extermination camps. The little tykes were quickly reduced to a trembling little huddle that could only listen dumbstruck. That would fix them!

That night she woke up in a cold sweat: ‘My God what have I done? I have damaged these children for life. I must be mad!’ She realised that she had spent the entire afternoon talking gibberish. The final bastion on which she had been able to depend all her life, her strong ability to rationalise, had deserted her that afternoon. It was all over. She had lost her mind.

A terrible fear took hold of her and she found herself unable to move. Her legs began to tremble followed by her entire body. She forced herself to get up and walk around the house. Once she got downstairs, she did something she had never done in her life. She started to pray. ‘Dear God please undo the damage I have done. Please make the children forget what I told them, so that they will not be traumatised in any way by what I said. Please, please help me.’

A few days later she had a dream. A building was on fire. She started to run away from it. But she came up against another building that was also on fire. She changed direction and soon encountered yet another building on fire. It was then that she stopped moving. She stood motionless – possibly for the first time in her life – and saw the three buildings engulfed in flames.

A month later we are walking on the beach. She looks at me and smiles. She is quiet and there is a sense of peace about her. A new kind of tranquility. Even though the three buildings were almost razed to the ground, she has discovered another building that had been invisible up to now. A spiritual building. Most people only discover this building at the very end of the line, when all the other buildings have collapsed. My friend got there early.

Sometimes you have to die in order to live.

Advertising - AIDA model - Caples' Principles - Advertising examples - TV advertising - Copywriting
Advertising

Advertising - Advertising is any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.

There are three goals of advertising. These goals are to: Inform, Persuade, and Remind.
Goals of advertising

The major media types for advertising are:
Newspapers, Television, Direct mail, Radio, Magazines, Internet, Outdoor (billboards, blimps, etc.), Yellow pages, Newsletters, Brochures, and Telephone

The traditional conceptual model for creating any advertising or marketing communications message is the AIDA Model: get Attention, hold Interest, arouse Desire, and then obtain Action.
AIDA model
The AIDA Model

John Caples, one of the greatest copywriters of all time, provides us the following principles (although he was talking about direct response marketing--more about that later--the wisdom is directly relevant to all forms advertising) when it comes to communicating an advertising message:
Caples' Principles:
+ Get attention
+ Hold attention
+ Create desire
+ Make it believable
+ Prove it’s a bargain
+ Make it easy to buy
+ Give a reason to buy now

An even newer paradigm, according to some, is Interrupt, Engage, Educate and then Offer. In any of these models, the first step is to somehow get a person's attention.

It should be noted, however, that there is a growing trend of consumers being more resistent to advertising messages and less open to marketers communicating with them without their expressed permission. As such, advertising models are continuously evolving due to an explosion in media outlets and shifting public opinion. As new communications channels expand at a fast rate, advertisers are exploring the new media options at a rapid pace and exploring new ways to reach an often fickle target audience.

How do we do that?

In my opinion, there is one overriding rule that should guide all advertising: Tell somebody something helpful to them and make sure they are receptive to your message in the first place. Also, do not underestimate the importance of strong copy or content and do not overestimate the importance of graphic design/creative. Whether writing copy for print ads, a website, a Youtube video or writing a script for television, radio, or multi-media presentations, a strong headline is the most important element of the advertisement. This is the element of the message that needs to quickly connect with people and pre-communicate some benefit that is coming soon in the remainder of the ad.

An effective headline is important for many reasons. The headline:
o Attracts attention
o Communicates a strong benefit
o Appeals to the self-interest of the reader. It answers the question, "What's in it for me?"
o Sets the tone for the offer
o A headline acts like a marquee does for a movie theater and selects the right audience.

Advice to copywriters:

"When you are assigned to write an ad, write a lot of headlines first. Spend hours writing headlines or days if necessary. If you happen to think of a headline while walking down the street or while riding the bus, take out pencil and paper and write it down." - John Caples

"On the average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that, unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money." - David Oglivy

Once the headline has done its job, then prospects are so engaged in what we have to say that we can educate and inform them about the benefits of what we offer so that they can't wait for us to tell them what next step they should take to learn more or get the product or service. Most advertising today falls short. Too much energy is spent on glitzy art or cool graphic design and the resulting ads absolutely fail in the first step of interrupting and capturing attention.