What is Michael’s Personal Story?

Hi there,

While I would much rather talk about you than about myself, I sense that giving you some idea of the journey I’ve been on will form a basis of trust between you and I.  After all, there’s a ton of trash online – I know, since I see it every day – and more than a fair share of charlatans. Hopefully you’ll get to know and understand me a little better after reading my story.

The first thing you should know is that I’m a little weird. Even the few friends I have tell me I’m totally wacko; I’ve lost the plot; I’m not rowing with two oars. I mention this because the stuff we’ll discuss if we ever have the pleasure of meeting, is seriously different to mainstream mentality. But more about that later.

So, if I’m such a nut case, why on earth should you invest your precious time with me?

Excellent question, and one which deserves a thorough answer, so here’s a little more about me.

I used to think everyone knew something that I didn’t. I used to feel that I had to fake that I knew what was going on.  I always felt awkward and different, which led to an all-encompassing desire to question everything that most people seemed to take for granted.  I had a burning desire to find out what this life is really about.  It confused me that while everyone around me seemed to have it all together: money, success and fame -  they never seemed to have true happiness, true fulfilment. I wondered why that was.

“Can we afford to be so arrogant as to pretend we know something we don’t know, the knowing of which could transform our lives?” — Werner Erhard, founder of “The Forum”.

Now I know we all ( for the most part) are searching for answers.  Searching for anything that will make sense of life in this senseless world. Material success is fleeting; answers to deeper questions seem elusive.

“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” — Jean-Paul Sartre

For as long as I can remember I’ve always had an interest in life – how we got here, what makes the world tick, what’s the purpose of life. You know, the usual stuff that might keep you awake at night. I remember always questioning those in authority: my parents, teachers, church leaders, bosses. I’d always be asking “Why”, and the answers I received never seemed to gel with me. The most irritating response I’d receive when people didn’t know the answer to my questions was that I should simply accept things (have faith), or ‘just because’. I hated that!

“I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it.” — Jack Handey

I didn’t realise it at the time but my desire to “know” put me on a path towards expanding consciousness. Perhaps a better way of saying this is that my thinking was beginning to awaken intuition. As if my questions were slowly answering themselves, opening my eyes to the insights that are latent in us all, but kept hidden behind the veil of Western busy-ness. As I walked this path, the questions I dwelled upon were somehow answered. I was never sure just when the answers had arrived. I only sensed, sometime after “illumination”, that an intuitive knowing had been imparted when I wasn’t paying close attention.

Religion

Although raised as a church-going Baptist, I found many of their teachings, rules and rituals contradictory, and more importantly, inconsistent with the answers I had intuitively stumbled upon. I’ve always believed, for example, that each of us is really doing our best given our own understandings, therefore if judgement were to be passed on anyone’s life, and I don’t believe it is, “sin” would only ever be regarded as an honest “mistake” due to deep misunderstandings. Not a demerit system that leads to eternal damnation. Wouldn’t a loving God, I reasoned, have more compassion than to seek revenge on his comparatively feeble children who are temporarily blinded by the illusions they’ve created? Even human parents are far more understanding of their own flesh and blood than the “Father” as portrayed in most religions. Sin, and its past and present connotations, must have been a term derived by man, I concluded, not an understanding, all-knowing God.

I’ve always needed explanations that made sense, and just as importantly, I believed they were attainable. I came to deduce, and still believe, that Jesus was merely a messenger, here to tell us, as others have, that we are all “of God”, that the things he did, we all can do, and that there are no sins, no evil, no hell, other than what exists in our own minds. His purpose was to be a living example of these teachings, to show a better way to his fellow travellers at a dark time in history when limiting beliefs were so ingrained into the population they no longer sought, nor could they conceive of, greater thinking.

The Joy of Reading

I’ve always been an avid reader. Since the age of 12 I’ve probably averaged 1-2 new books a week.  So it’s hardly surprising that over my life, several books, or authors, have helped define my own thoughts, and therefore my life, in the most profound ways.

During my early years I hadn’t been able to interlink the various books I’d been reading; they were all standalone lessons.  But in my mid-thirty’s I stumbled across the Triangular Theory of Consciousness, a phrase coined by a little-known South African neurosurgeon, Dr Ian Weinberg in ‘Quantum-determinism – an Integrative Model of Holistic Consciousness’. (Published in Quantum Leap, Sygma Books, 1998.)  It was a complex piece of work, but essentially Dr Weinberg was trying to explain that all themes of knowledge can be summarised. Imagine the tip of a pyramid as being the core teachings of any particular discipline. The discerning thinker genuinely seeking wisdom accepts all the proven peaks (even if contrary to personal beliefs) and amalgamates all these nuggets of understanding into a life paradigm. This approach leverages the results and outcomes of all prior research, learning and understanding. It’s a fairly difficult skill to master, since Westerners most often require proof before embracing or believing anything.

This mode of thinking requires discernment to filter out warped ideas and courage to accept new concepts without proof. In embracing all these peaks, a new paradigm is created, which then becomes simply another peak to be added to an ever-expanding life paradigm.

Aldous Huxley explained it this way:

“Every ceiling, when reached, becomes a floor, upon which one walks as a matter of course and prescriptive right.” — Aldous Huxley

As you break through the ceiling of previously-held limiting beliefs, you’re able to walk courageously on the foundation of new understandings, ready to smash through the next ceiling.

Socrates had this to say:

“Employ your time in improving yourself by other men’s writings so that you shall come easily by what others have labored hard for.” — Socrates

The outcome of this method of disciplined thinking has paid handsome dividends, and it has definitely changed my life. Following this method of thinking allowed me to merge seemingly disparate concepts to create new understandings.

With my own inner search no longer lost in space I began to use and apply the understandings that were solidified by the Triangular Theory of Consciousness without any looking back. With the answers to my fundamental questions revealed, the focus of my life has become the application, or the living, of the truths I’ve stumbled upon – a mighty tall, but rewarding, order. Today it’s through the pursuit of my goals and dreams that I learn lessons and even greater secrets about life and myself.

Systems Thinking

I’ve always enjoyed figuring out how stuff works, but on a really grand scale.  At an early age I was heavily influenced by the writings of Ervin László, possibly the greatest modern systems thinker of all time.  The prolific writings of Ken Wilber and his integral theory of everything also struck a chord with me. Both of these authors, as well as many other writers pushing for change, seemed to imply that what was needed to fix mankind’s maladies was a dramatic shift in thinking, and so I stumbled headlong into the murky world of Global Consciousness and Quantum Physics.  But this is getting a little deep, so let’s take a step back.

If you’re familiar with Roger Hamilton’s Wealth Dynamics Profiling, I am a Mechanic, with a secondary profile of Introverted Creator.  Essentially this means I cannot resist trying to find ways to do things better.  This led to a frustrating period of 15 to 20 years in which I found fault (but no solution) in absolutely everything:

• Money, debt and modern economics;
• Government;
• Religion;
• Physics and science;
• Health and healthcare systems;
• Schooling, education and learning systems;
• Relationships, love and sexuality;
• The definition of success, and;
• A long list affecting almost every aspect of life.

I knew there had to be a better way, but couldn’t define it, and worse, couldn’t find anyone who seemed to have sensible, all-inclusive solutions.  It seemed to me that all philanthropic and charitable efforts were following the lead of the medical establishment, by addressing symptoms to global problems instead of root causes.  This is no way to achieve lasting change.

A Flash of Inspiration

There are times of life when random, disconnected ideas swirl around in your head and you aimlessly grope for answers.  And then there are moments in life when puzzle pieces suddenly snap into place and you have flashes of total clarity.

Have you had those moments? I know I have – many times.

J.K. Rowling has described how the entire plot for the Harry Potter series came to her in the same way, almost entirely at once. I guess that’s why “epiphany” is one of my favourite words. Because when you have one, it’s unforgettable and it changes everything.

My first epiphany happened on an almost deserted beach on a tiny island off the coast of Thailand, one of the many stops in my extensive travels. I’d left the corporate world a few weeks earlier with a handsome payout and no further plans except to go backpacking through Asia for 4 weeks.  Four weeks turned into two years – two years filled with epiphanies: flashes of understanding about how life works, and how to really make an impact during our time on this planet.

In late 2009 I was introduced to the work of Lynne McTaggart, who has amassed an impressive collection of scientific studies proving that thoughts do change the world.  This was exciting stuff, far more so than The Secret and all the spin-off Law of Attraction hangers-on who espoused overnight riches, fame and success purely by staring at a vision board.

Although Lynne did not specifically provide an answer to the long-standing debate on religion vs. science, her highly polished writing and impeccable meta-research suddenly and dramatically connected disparate ideas in my head.  In a flash, Lynne’s vast library of references provided the scientific proof for what I had long believed but was unable to voice: that the concept of ‘God’ is very simply a scientific force which, if understood, can be manipulated and influenced at will.  In essence, we are God.

A second reading of The Intention Experiment in March 2010 while on a family holiday provided the inspiration for myPreposterous Dream, and the launching of Noetic Business, my current passion.

International Travels

As far as career and ‘success’ go, by most standards I’ve been extremely lucky. After completing a highly rewarding and thoroughly enjoyable 2-year stint in the military, I seemingly accidently stumbled into the mobile phone world, which led to my implementing telephony billing systems around the world. This career helped me fulfil (with uncanny accuracy), a goal that I had written down less than 2 years earlier: to see the world at someone else’s expense.

Apart from my travels to more than 325 cities in 41 countries, I have lived in Australia, Malaysia (including running a jungle bar on one of their islands), South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom and United States. The time spent in the East was particularly helpful in realising that the way we do things in the West isn’t always conducive to a happy life. The English-speaking world is often too wrapped up in itself to notice other cultures. Living in the East provides a foreigner a better understanding of the mysteries of the East.

The lessons learned and my understandings have helped as much in other areas of my life from relationships to material possessions to what it means to ‘be successful’, and they continue to grow with their own momentum. I’m still a student, and in this journey I’ve begun to realise that as much as I enjoy thinking and living my thoughts, I enjoy sharing them too…

As Solomon Ibn Gabriol so wisely said:

“The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.” — Solomon Ibn Gabriol

But most of all, I enjoy learning from others… which I expect, is at least part of the reason, that our paths have crossed here and now, you and I.

Thanks for coming by, keep in touch, and be blessed…

PS. You might also be interested in My Vision.