Aristotle at my back

Today I had a quite overwhelming experience.

I walked around Aristotle’s Lyceum in Athens. I suddenly knew with total certainty I have been there before, strolling and debating the Big Issues. I was one of the so-called peripatetic philosophers!

Wave after wave of emotion hit me, in one of the most complete déjà vu experiences I have ever had. It took me by surprise.

I have no idea why. I have long known I was in Ancient Athens and was joined here by a spirit companion, with whom I still share my thoughts, visions and research.

Even so, this morning caught me totally by surprise. I was so overcome with flood of pictures (MIMPs) and emotions I had to sit down and recover.

Viv said she could feel the energies too, incidentally.

It’s a very modest site, as you can see, with only scant archeological remains of what was perhaps the most important location in the whole history of Mankind. Here Aristotle and his fellow thinkers (me included!) thrashed out the whole structure of Western scientific thought. Aristotelean logic was to stand for the next 18 centuries and Aristotle himself remained the preeminent thinker in just about every discipline of human knowledge, from astronomy and cosmology, to math, logic, medicine and physics.

With the exception of Sir Isaac Newton, there has never been a mind the equal of Aristotle. To just feel his presence was very unnerving.

He was suddenly very close indeed.

A Successful Success Formula

The key to healing in any context is the ability to make changes. If you can’t change the way things are, you’re stuck with something you don’t want. To heal disease, heal finances, heal work, relationships, whatever you are struggling with in life, you need to change.

Yet change is one of the most feared and resisted aspects of living—ask any coach or psychologist. Even when a person says they consciously want change, often the resistance it at a deeper level.

I’ve put together a few thoughts on change which I hope will be enlightening and helpful.

Working to a success formula

It is possible to structure the need for change in one’s life into a sequence of events that might be called a “Successful Change Formula”.

Aristotle had one; he said that there are three basic steps that you must take to get what you want out of life:

1. Understand that you can achieve success

2. Define what success represents, for you

3. Organise your life around its achievement by making the necessary changes

Don’t under-estimate the value of these simple steps because here you have the ultimate success formula. It is the secret that everyone who has ever been successful, in any field of endeavour, has used.

Properly adhered to, this will ensure far more efficacious actions than most people usually engage in.

However, I’d like to suggest something a little broader and more modern. Success is seen in terms of decisive change. Obviously, if you haven’t got what you really want, you need to change something. But what? It is vital to recognize accurately what it is that holds you back. Then remedy it. Dealing with the wrong problem will lead to failure. So this is pretty important stuff.

The formula given here will help you. All success and improvement can be mapped in these terms, whether the individual has consciously applied them or not. Obviously, knowing and willing application of its steps will bring a far higher success rate than mere unknowing and random encounters with one or two of the steps. Continue reading