Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Making Peace with City Hall

The very first thing we are taught by our parents is that you can't (and shouldn't) fight Authority. Maybe they are right, but then again, if you really want to be a Peacemaker, then ..

The real trick in Life is to discover for yourself what you think is true, what is literally true, and what is neither. (Here come those two baskets again!) But before you can ever hope to exercise your Peace making ability to achieve your balance, prosperity, and success, you must be able to discriminate between the three levels of truth.
Something that's accepted as true is generally in the domain of the public lexicon. Enough People believe something, and, ergo, it becomes accepted into popular language as a "truism". You've heard (and believed) many of them.
All blondes are dumb.
Kids with red hair have freckles.
Father knows best.
There's gold in them thar hills.
Every cloud has a silver lining.
If you think unhealthy thoughts, you go to Hell.
If you're left handed, you're weird.
If you work hard, you'll be rewarded.
God helps those who help themselves.
And you can't fight City Hall.
On the other hand, a literal truth is that which is absolute, exact, precise, and faithful, and if something is "literal", then it is inarguably correct, no matter what you or anyone else may think.
As we will discuss, and consequently discover, your true Peacemaking ability comes from within. For your world to be whole, you first have to be whole. And it is the process of doing or learning from where you get your maximum benefit, not from your achievement. These can safely be regarded as solid examples of a metaphysical - (heavenly, or spiritual) - literal truth.
But consider this.
The absolute freezing point of matter, where all molecular activity is thought to cease, is minus 273 degrees Celsius. This is a scientific literal truth called "absolute zero", and is where "all parts of the system are at the lowest energy permitted ...". The assumption is that if there is no energy, then there can be no biological growth or molecular movement. In simple terms, if you are frozen down to "absolute zero", then you will be in a state of suspended animation.
You won't get any older, you won't grow any hair or fingernails, and you'll be preserved for "ever" in the condition you were in at the time of your freezing.

The science of cryogenics was developed around this principle, and the process of freezing tissue and halting normal biogenetic Life is reasonably well understood, and used in medicine routinely throughout the world.
You have probably seen the chilling images of a body packed in ice to lower its temperature, to slow the metabolic rate, while a hovering surgeon, gloved and gowned, waits anxiously for the arrival of the heart, kidney or liver that is to be transplanted. An organ that arrives in its own mini-cooler, designed to preserve the condition of the organ as close as possible to that at the time of removal from the donor body.
But one glorious day just a few years ago, a group of world renowned scientists skilled in the black Art of quantum mechanics, and working in a completely different area to Medicine, got their equipment down to "absolute zero", and discovered something quite amazing. New atomic particles popped up, moved in mysterious ways like UFO's, then disappeared for all time to a place that has yet to be adequately described. (Or located, for that matter.)
Bemused, and more than a little excited, they repeated the experiment, and watched in awe as these newly discovered atomic "bits" raced around in totally unpredictable, seemingly random patterns, only to suddenly disappear leaving no proof of their existence behind!
Now all this happened in a "space" the size of a thousand Angels - about how big the head of a pin is supposed to be. And suddenly, irreversibly, from that day to this, "absolute zero" is not such an absolute, or a literal truth, any more.
The principle of chilling down living tissue to slow its degeneration is still valid, and still in common use. But the literal truth - absolute zero - what the practice of freezing human tissue was originally predicated on, is no longer as absolute as it was once thought to be.
Conversely, the literal truths of inner power, self-wholeness, and benefit-from-process were discovered by scholars and philosophers thousands of years ago, and have yet to be shown to be anything but literally true, despite the most hardened sceptic's attempts to do so over the centuries.
What is the point of all this?
Science continually pushes our knowledge of the physical world to and beyond new boundaries, constantly shattering what once in History were regarded as absolutes. In the blink of an eye, whole structures of knowledge and understanding come tumbling down, replaced with the "new" truth - challenging the next generation to push the boundaries even further.
This is the way of a dynamic world, dominated by physical reality, constantly in search of its tangible answers. The two baskets of knowledge, their secrets pursued relentlessly by eagle eyed scientists determined to prove that the meaning of Life is not always “42”.
But the metaphysical truths just keep on keeping on, always constant, always available, always there for the taking and understanding. The mystic world of the mind and the personality seem to hold more constants, more literal truths, than the physical world that encompasses them. The point of this analogy is better understood after consideration of this simple observation.
What you take for granted forever escapes you. What you casually take to be the truth, unless it's accompanied by real understanding, is worthless, and subject to probable change.
All and any belief in the dynamic physical world is suspect, and most likely to evolve into something quite different to that which you currently assume, and expect.
And an assumed truth that you take from others or books is only of value to you if you internalise it, test it for your truth, then encompass it as part of your process, discarding its face value with all the components that do not suit your purpose, or prove to be true to your particular metrics.
Just as the other assumed truths mentioned earlier are of little if any consequence, so is the belief that you can't (or shouldn't) fight authority.
There is always someone in your Life that seems to have the psychological edge over you. The person seems to have an aura around them that you just can’t seem to penetrate. What they have is self-confidence. What they exude like an expensive perfume is focussed determination, supported by some deeply hidden belief that they are in the superior position.
And they are, for as long as you allow them to be.
You can fight City Hall, because City Hall is a physical manifestation of a totally predictable structure. City Hall is also a metaphor for any system or Organization that has a rigidity of culture born about by hierarchal imperatives predicated on their own survival at the expense of the very People who are required to support them.
City Hall is a building, an infrastructure, a system constructed in such a way that only certain types of personalities can work and survive there. City Hall recognises this, and only hires those types, forever perpetuating the limitations and frustrations that make it seem such a barrier to any reasonable person.
And like anything physical, City Hall is dormant, dead, Lifeless, until its shadowy halls and cloistered cubicles ring to the stenorous, laboured BREATHing of its human occupants. People just like you, but with a different view of their professional Life. A view that you must come to understand and respect, and a view that is very much pervaded by the looming unwieldy bulk of conformatism, and the power of “NO”.
To fight City Hall, which mostly represents all the authority symbols you come up against in a normal Life, you must first make a genuine attempt to understand its People, their attitudes and Behaviours, and the limitations that City Hall places on them in their daily lives. To use your Peace making ability to your advantage, you must first get to a position where you can use it to good effect.
And that means getting in front of the People who work for or represent City Hall, and developing a relationship with them that allows progressive Communication, or rapport. You must see the world through their eyes, from their perspective, and help them to help you. You must show them how to make Peace – firstly with their systems and processes, then with you. They may or may not be at Peace within themselves.
But first you must understand where they are coming from.
When you work for City Hall, you get the power to say "NO", but you don't get the power to say "YES." The only "YES" that is allowed is one that evolves from the completion of the process, removing any form of decision making. When every box is filled in correctly, at each stage of the process, the "YES" simply means that the process may continue beyond that particular point to the next stage of the process. It is not a procession of approval, but rather a motion due to the termination of resistance.
All the elements of risk-taking are removed by the rigid implementation of "systems", which cannot ever be defiled or defied. The People of City Hall are highly trained in these systems, and judged and promoted on how well they implement them, not on how well they solve your problem. There is the famous example of the CEO of a Health Service who earned his bonus by delivering the organizational budget, in spite of a wayward record in delivering the health service!
City Hall sees the "system" as its means of protecting itself from error, or human mistakes. If the "system" is followed exactly, then only the "right" decisions can be made, no matter how wrong or inappropriate they may turn out to be in reality.
In City Hall, common sense and reality are not mutually compatible concepts, and its People are actively discouraged from thinking about them. The system is the system, and you either fit into it and comply, and are processed, or you don't, and you are not.
The sheer size of the entrenched and vested interests that thrive in City Hall provides its unstoppable, unyielding momentum. As its People move up the narrow ladder of success, they are encouraged by their superiors to develop "empires", for the size of a department in City Hall always determines its power and influence. The more People you have working for you, the greater is your perceived contribution to the success and perpetuation of City Hall.
However, the momentum of City Hall must never be mistaken for worthwhile activity or considered performance. The sheer size of City Hall, in even its smallest manifestation, the Local Shire Council, dictates that the beast will laboriously roll along the road of Life as if powered by all the devils in Hell, which may not be too far from the truth.
Any and all performance that is above the median level set by City Hall is frowned upon, and will eventually be crushed, either overtly or covertly. If a person within City Hall is ever singled out, then their future is doomed, as the potential for embarrassment at either the performance level (a subordinate does their job better than their boss), or the political level (a subordinate appears smarter or more clever than their boss), is a catastrophically negative motivational force.
Anyone, or anything, that does not fit into the general perception of who or what a City Hall subject should be, is seen as a threat, isolated, then removed. This, too, has a process, or rigid system, that guarantees a one-way ticket to oblivion.
The level of threat that you may represent is measured by either the potential for confusion, the application of pressure by the use of time, or the requirement to execute in a non-procedural way. In simple terms, if you try to get City Hall to do something that is not clear to them, or you appear to be applying pressure by the use of a deadline, or what you require does not fit a system or process that allows it to proceed, then you will fail.
City Hall is fatally and totally risk adverse.
The classic City Hall strategy to deal with a threat is to revert to "Original Process". And the foundation of "Original Process" is decelerated time. The longer it takes, the greater the comfort level in City Hall. Conversely, the harder you push, the greater will be you difficulty in dealing with City Hall, and the longer it will take.
The degree of resistance City Hall applies to a threat is directly proportional to the height and weight of the paperwork needed to arrive at a conclusion favourable to you.
A problem that requires but the one sheet of process, generates the greatest degree of resistance, even though it may seem on the surface to present the easiest task. It is a genuine threat, and will be scrutinized far beyond its real risk.
Conversely, the problem that requires volumes and volumes of documentation receives very little, if any, resistance at all, because the weight of effort required to process the problem serves to justify, and therefore perpetuate, the very existence of City Hall. The more paper involved, the more automatic "YES" steps as each laborious part of the system is processed, the more comfortable City hall becomes with the outcome. By its very nature, City Hall likes to distribute responsibility, to as many participants as possible.
The belief is simple. The greater the process, the greater the detail, the more prolonged the agony, the more steps in the process, and the more People involved, the less chance there is that someone will make a fatal mistake. (Fatal to City Hall, that is.)
It is City Hall's prime tenet that no criticism can ever be levelled by an outsider, if the system is followed to the letter of the Law, irrespective of the actual time it may take to do so. And because time to City Hall is simply a means of measuring the distance between pay-cheques, your time frame is of no real consequence or importance.
The longer it takes City Hall to process the system, the more likely it is that City Hall will win, even if you get the result you desire. (Because City Hall can never be seen to have made a mistake - how could they, every step of the system, every level of the process, was followed perfectly, to the absolute letter of the Law, producing the safest and only decision City Hall ever makes - the automatic one).
It is City Hall's greatest wish that the "P" word, Personality, never appear in the hallowed halls that link its humourless burrows like occluded veins in a heart patient. Personalities stand out, take sides in an argument, are likely to attempt to change things, and quite often do things that are viewed as either radical or dangerous. In a sea of calm and predictable weather, the emotional storm of an energetic, enthusiastic personality can wreck havoc on an unprecedented scale, and is to be avoided at all costs. City Hall is absolutely risk-adverse.
(Needless to say, if you are a personality, and possessed of strong measures of Peace making ability, you must disguise yourself at first contact, letting City Hall see only what is necessary for them to understand your seriousness and good intent).
The more invisible City Hall manages to become, the better it believes it serves the community, for the biggest Sin in City Hall is not doing something wrong, or even getting caught doing something wrong. It is allowing information of the wrongdoing to get out into the Public domain, a Sin for which the perpetrator will never be forgiven.
City Hall leaks like a sieve, and uses these leaks as a means of generating and welding Power out in the Public domain. By using these leaks for your personal gain, you are empowering the hidden faces within City Hall, and executing their program for them, like a Pavlovian dog. The risk you run is that you will degrade or pollute your Peace making ability by involving yourself with the sponge-like, intellect-dulling process that is quintessentially City Hall.
City Hall will never thank you or acknowledge you for using their leak. City Hall will always deny that a leak occurred, create a Review Committee, and prove that it did not happen, ultimately leading to the inescapable conclusion that you obtained the leaked information by illegal means!
Such Review Committees also leak like a sieve, allowing City Hall to freely publicise its good intentions, and prove conclusively that it did not leak in the first place. Against such a circuitous process, a simple honest man has very little real resistance, irrespective of his Peace making ability.
City Hall is at its most dangerous when it is prepared to argue its case openly, and in Public. The only time this happens is when it is impossible for the result to be in anyone's favour except City Hall. This means that the conclusion is foregone, known to all, accepted as "truth" because it is inescapable, and empowered by the general lack of will to fight it. The “Deal” has been done, behind very solid closed doors.
City Hall's greatest weapon is reasonableness.
City Hall's greatest force is inertia.
City Hall's biggest fear is that someone will eventually come up with a better system.
Consequently, City Hall is a place into which most of everything of value enters at one time or another, but precious little ever returns.
City Hall can easily be compared to a Black Hole.
Black Hole's defy normal gravity, absorbing all energy and light within their sphere of influence. Black Holes suck in on themselves, constantly devouring everything in their path in their unending quest to absorb the Universe. So far, it would seem to be an absolute "literal" truth that nothing is bigger, or more powerful, or less understood than a Black Hole floating around somewhere out in space.
Once something falls into a Black Hole, it is never seen again. At least, that is what the scholars of our Age tell us, based on their best guesses.
There are many theories that abound about Black Holes, but very little fact. In the whole of History to this date, less than twenty published Volumes exist on the subject, and all start with the words, "..... it is postulated that ...."
What this means is that they don't really know.
There are also many theories that abound about City Hall, and incredible volumes of facts, but for all the good it does you, it may as well be about a Black Hole. Because when it comes to dealing with City Hall, there are as many theories based on assumptions and warped opinion as there are Black Holes!
And as you already know, ".....it is postulated that......there may be hundreds - perhaps even thousands, of Black Holes......."
But you can fight City Hall, and win. One way is to have the patience of Job, time to kill, be a person of Independent Means, and start your fight early, with no expectation of a settlement within any reasonable period of time.
The other is to understand and accept City Hall for what it truly is, and remove all and any sense of frustration in trying to deal with it. By analysing City Hall's attitudes and habits, it becomes apparent that for you to win, City Hall must perceive you as no real threat to its systems; able to allow it to follow its due process; and able to cope with its awesome time demands.
You must also be able to face its People in a way that allows them to survive within City Hall, without perceived threat. This means that you must never give them a problem or information in a form that forces them to say "NO" to defend themselves or the system, or creates the need for them to have to find the person who ultimately can say "YES".
This is a degrading, humiliating exercise, for which you will get no thanks. On the contrary, you will attract the full force of City Hall's wrath, as it intuitively fights to protect its own.
Everything must be presented in a way that allows the easy application of the automatic, process driven non-decisive "YES", the one that keeps your application or problem flowing throughout the dusty corridors of assumed power. If your application or problem flows swiftly, it means that you are not a perceived or actual threat, and the speed of the process becomes an indication of the probability of a satisfactory conclusion being reached.
However, this does not always mean that you will succeed, just that your application or problem has got through the system, with a minimum of difficulty.
You need exquisite preparation, and exacting detail, and the ability to control your temperament. The realisation that you will never succeed, no matter who or what you are, or how much Peace making ability you have developed, unless you can get City Hall to endorse your application or problem, should provide the greatest motivation for you to be in self-control.
The key issue at all times is that you never, never ask City Hall to do something that it cannot automatically do, either because of regulatory limitations, or process limitations. If you make this mistake, then the ensuing confusion will haunt your every move throughout the corridors like a deadly wraith. Always take the time to find the right section or department before you launch yourself at City Hall.
Where possible, use the City Hall reliance on systems to find out the who, what, when, where, how and why of it all, before you launch yourself into the fray. One kind word, one understanding smile to a lowly City Hall worker can bring you faster and greater rewards than an atom bomb's worth of power.
And of course, the primary consideration must always be, if at all possible, never to do anything that leads you to get involved with City Hall in the first place!
If City Hall represents Authority, in all its many forms and vested interests, then you need to seriously consider what changes in your Lifestyle and your Behaviour you must make to prevent City Hall from ever taking an interest in you. Generally speaking, the causal factors break out into two general types. (Here come those two baskets again!)
The first is obvious - through your efforts (or lack of effort) you break an accepted convention, and incur the wrath of The Powers That Be - City Council, Government Body, Police, Service Authority, or some equally City Hall-like bureaucracy. These types of arguments will seldom go in your favour, because City Hall takes great pains to see that the minute detail involved in protecting its system is such that you either need huge, well-stuffed pockets, or a brother-in-law in the right place.
If you speed and get caught by a radar gun, even though your emotional quotient will get quite high, and your Stress will rise, you must come to grips with the fact that the radar operator, and the issuing officer, are not after you personally. They are executing the policies of the day, to the best of their abilities, based on the convention that the "majority rules". No matter what your opposing attitude may be, there is simply no justification for you to have broken the convention of a mandated speed limit.
Council ordinances are the same. Whether they are correct, fair, reasonable, well-serving, or just plain stupid is immaterial. Because they exist, because they have been promulgated, they have the full force of City hall behind them, and woe betides the human being that flies in the face of their intent.
In essence, avoiding a clash with City Hall is the single most effective way of dealing with it. No one likes to be ignored, not even City Hall. And if it is ignored, and under-utilized, then it is quickly exposed for the self-serving fraud that it is. An empire survives and thrives on process and system, but if you remove the need for either, then the whole top-heavy structure will come tumbling down.
The second type of causal factor is more insidious. When City Hall comes-a-calling, watch out! Why would City Hall come to you? A prolific number of reasons, from inspecting a Public Facility, like gas, water, electricity, fences, boundaries, to compliance with regulations, census reports, Tax audits, and field work to assess the potential for threat from the unknown. Irrespective of the reason, if you trip up the person from City Hall, become entangled in a debate with them, or take a stance that clearly suggests that they should cease and desist, then you will create the psychological phenomenon called "Fight or Flight". You will Stress them out, and they, in turn, will Stress you out. This is where your attitude as a Peacemaker will be sorely tested, but never more needed.
If City Hall runs, or is seen to retreat, you can expect the full majesty of its repugnant, immovable, unyielding bureaucratic might to descend on your head, and not necessarily just in the area you offended. Worse, if City Hall decides to fight you there and then, outside the corridors of power, then you are in real trouble. Sit back, relax, and let the process begin, and try to keep your sense of humour at all costs, because the more emotion you show, the greater their perceived victory!
Like a bellowing tractor with a locked-up gear box, the only thing that will stop or slow City Hall is when it runs out of steam - vents its collective anger, and regroups to assess what it has to do to appear conciliatory (in the best interests of its public face).
And, as we saw before, City Hall is never more dangerous than when it appears to be reasonable. When the lull does come, then it's time for some well-tested tactics.
You fight fire with fire, detail with detail, and summons with response. You must show them that you can master their process, meet their demands, and comply with their regulations. You must demonstrate that you can match them page for page, line for line, and meeting for meeting. You must always remove the perceived threat, or even the possibility of a threat. Unless you do this, why then, "You can't fight City Hall!"
The moral to all this can be found in an intriguing story taken from the Mayan Scrolls, unearthed some years ago deep in the Koonya Valley. How ancient scrolls from a South American culture managed to find their way into the foot of Turkey, is not yet clear. But what is clear, is that even back then, two and a half thousand years ago, City Hall loomed large in the Life of the ordinary man!

"In the year 455 BC," or so the story goes, " a simple herder, herding a flock of motley goats along a well-worn path suddenly came upon a rock, which was so massive it blocked his easy passage. Sitting next to the rock was a Tax Collector, brewing java over an open flame. He looked up as the approach of the smelly herder blocked his sun, and smiled, gesturing at a small patch of flat mud to his side.
"Would you care to sip with me, old man?" he asked politely. The herder sighed, looked around to confirm that his goats had not wandered, and bowed gratefully, using his gnarled staff to lower his ancient bones to the ground.
The Tax Collector poured the rank black liquid into a small earthen cup, and offered it to his guest.
"This is a fine aroma," the herder commented, sniffing the wafting steam that rose from the small cup. He bowed his thanks, and sipped. The Tax Collector mimicked his guest, drawing in the vapour through well-used nostrils, then sipped gently at the rim of his cup. The sun, tired after its daylong journey across the cloud-flecked sky, sunk gratefully behind the mottled hills, casting long shadows across the track.
"You know," the herder commented, in a wishful voice, "it is not fair and proper that the District Legionnaire collect a tithe from a poor working man, simply so that he may go around an obstruction, carefully placed by the Gods to test his mettle, and be on his way. It is simply not fair."
The Tax Collector looked into the rheumy eyes of the old man, and smiled again, offering more java as he did so.
"You are not being taxed to pass the rock, old man," he said gently, pouring the sweet black liquid into the herder's cup, "an Act of the Gods is an Act of the Gods, and let no man place a value upon it." The herder bent to his cup, thinking, then raised his head, one eyebrow cocking quizzingly.
"Then why a Tax Collector, even such a nice one as you, at this exact spot?" he asked. The Tax Collector laughed, carefully placing the boiling pot back on the fire, stoking it with a broken shoot of burnt bamboo.
"Old man, it should be obvious. If indeed the Gods went to all this trouble to create an impasse, why, then, we must honour Them with recognition, and celebrate Their mighty feat." The herder shook his head, not understanding this explanation in the slightest. He slowly stood, his rickety frame unfolding itself like a rusted erector set.
"Then if you are not here to tax me, I will humbly thank you for your hospitality, and be on my way." The Tax Collector smiled, and rose to look the herder in the eye. He placed one arm on his shoulder, in the style of greeting that was in vogue at the time, and placed his other hand palm up below his chin, fingers pointing at the other man's heart.
"With my blessings, old man, with my blessings. Just as soon as you have paid for your tea!"

Like Death itself, some say, you cannot escape the Tax Man. And the Tax Man works for City Hall.
So what really is City hall? It's no more than an Attitude, one formed from the process of conformity. We are all expected to conform to accepted norms within the society in which we live, or the Team or Group within which we work, and just like the difficulties you sometimes experienced growing up with your parents, as you mature and develop your Peace making ability you are sure to have the occasional brush with a City Hall like Attitudes or process.
It's like falling rain. It's great when it comes at the end of a long hot spell, but it's a nuisance on top of a deluge that has flooded your yard. Affirmation by City Hall that you are a good and worthwhile citizen is a Life-enriching experience. A traffic ticket, parking notice, speeding fine, or code violation is simply the system reminding you that for the good of the majority, rules have been agreed to, and you have transgressed these rules, to your detriment.
Now, understanding where real potential for Making Peace can come from, and being a student of experiential learning, how hard a problem is that to overcome?
So you can fight City Hall, after all, as a Peacemaker.
Making Peace with the Fox

One of the secrets of the Peacemaker is in knowing who you really are. In this respect, the humble Fox is an interesting study as a Peacemaker.
The unlucky Fox, in the good days past, got to snug up against the skin of all the most beautiful women in the world. He or she was skinned and stretched into a pelt, then hand stitched into a warm coat, and worn not necessarily for comfort, but for show. They also got to be chased by the most expensive horses in the land, barked at by the most pedigreed dogs, and shot at by the inebriated and most proper of gentlemen.
Now this, mind you, was the unlucky Fox!
The lucky Fox missed out on all this sport and luxury, preferring to use his cunning and guile to eat well, and live long, but perhaps without all the excitement.
The principles of survival emulated by the Fox bear close examination, for how often do you see some poor person's ego mounted on someone else's horse, being displayed for all to see?
In fact, how often have you felt that your precious ego has been temporarily possessed or controlled by another person, and you've all but been powerless to stop it? Let's look at the Fox, and see what lessons you can apply to your own Life, and the development of your Peace making ability.
For starters, the Fox has a very clear perspective of who and what he (she) is. He (she - he will do from now on, the point on sexual equality is either made by now, or never can be!) is a smallish four legged animal, with a big bushy tail, pointed nose, deep black eyes with sharp focus, excellent developed sense of smell, good reflexes, good burst of speed, and medium endurance.
Now never expect a Fox to tell you all this - they are what they are, well, because they are. And lacking any need to be something else, they always are what they appear to be. A Fox, pure and simple.
A Fox uses all his skills and instincts, to the fullest of his ability. He doesn't shirk from a fight, but avoids them if he can. He has a highly developed sense of society, but is equally capable of surviving on his own. He only kills what he needs to eat, and is perfectly happy to share his conquests with other Foxes. He guards his young, sees to their development and survival, and accepts their growth and independence as a fact of Life.
They may never know that the title we have given them is "Fox". However, their instincts are such, that from the day they are born, until the day they die, they act, think, hunt, eat, move, sleep, mate, and live, as a Fox is supposed to.
Why? Because that is how we see them acting, and it appears that they don't know any different way to act. (Notice that it is the point of view of the observer that determines what we see and think, not what the observed thinks or feels). The Fox doesn't stop to examine his role in Life, he just gets on and lives it. He doesn't make anything special of what he does instinctively, he just does the same things over and over again, in the fiercely competitive world he lives in, learning from his mistakes, and fixating on those things that seem to work for him.
In Nature, like everything else, there is a natural order, and what the observer sees is the interaction of the various species within a given environment. It was the human need to quantify and qualify, to unravel the secrets of the Universe, that created the need to define and title, to understand and label, hence all things that look and act like a Fox are called "Fox".
But what makes this work for us is an external observation, based on experiential learning. The poor Fox, lacking the ability to read, choose, and develop any sort of Peace making ability, has no option but to be a Fox. To be observed by us being a Fox, and consequently judged by us on how good a Fox he really is.
To the Fox, survival is his only reward. Starting and growing a whole lot of little Foxes is but a passing need, dictated by instinct, to protect the species labelled "Fox" from extinction. (Not that he knows this of course, he is only answering the call of nature). Concepts like heat, cold, wet or dry are but passing phases for one who lives in the hollowed tree stump, or carefully sculptured lair.
When one temporary home becomes untenable, for whatever reason, he simply moves on, and establishes another. Personal possessions are unnecessary, but staking out his "turf" is of prime importance. He demands and gets respect from other Foxes, until he is perceived as weak. Then he will either be killed, or left to die on his own. And just like us, Foxes don't take anything with them when they die. Not that they would if they could.
In getting comfortable with this information, and so long as the Fox acts like our perception of a Fox, we become essentially happy, and our curiosity, for the time at least, is abated. We know all there is to know about the Fox, and nothing stands out as a puzzle or a threat. But should the Fox suddenly start acting like a Chicken, then all Hell will break loose!
"It can't do that!" we rage, reaching for the nearest shotgun, Stress eating away at rational abilities.
"How dare it pretend to be a Chicken!" we shout, unleashing the Dogs of War.
Our fury knows no bounds, and our emotional levels rise to new heights. Simply because our perception of reality has been challenged, and by a dumb animal, no less!
The first secret of the Fox is a simple one.
You, as the observer, determine what your reality will be. It is as you see it, experience it, taste it, visualize it, and finally, internalise it.
If you want to be rich, and you believe that you will be rich, and act like you want to be rich, then you will become rich.
Now, you balked at a Fox trying to be a Chicken. A Fox is not gifted with wisdom, the ability to choose, project his ego, or the ability to develop as a Peacemaker. A Fox is a Fox is a Fox.
But you can be anything you choose to be, whenever you choose to be it.
Want to be a politician? Easy. Want real wealth? Easy. Want fabulous success? Easy. Want to take control of your Life, and prosper? Easy. Want to be a Peacemaker? Learn from the Fox.
"Animal cunning" is a metaphor you have heard often, and most times the person who uses this phrase does so with a wishful sound in their voice, as if they wanted this magical “animal cunning” for themselves, to use in some part of their lives.
“Animal cunning” is no more than basic instinct, one usually honed around a strong desire to survive, and a lot of practical application doing so. This is a primitive, but enormously powerful, motivating force, and if you examine it closely, it is no more than a statement about "self". You must be preserved. You must be perpetuated. You must be honoured. You must be recognised. You must be a pivotal force in your Universe. You must be in control.
So what is stopping you?
The Fox travels through Life instinctively, reacting to the forces of Nature. He is a moving, predetermined entity in a random environment, and how well he survives depends on how well and how quickly he adapts. He cannot control his environment, and is at the mercy of the natural order of things. (Every species has a natural enemy, designed by God to prevent one species dominating the world. A question of balance.)
You, however, have the ability to decide what you want for yourself, and manipulate your environment accordingly. You can choose to be anything you want to be, and become it, simply by initiating positive actions that take you toward your goal. You must have the desire to become what you want to be. A desire so strong you can taste it.
And because you can taste it, you can become utterly convinced that it is possible, no matter what anyone else may think or say. And the moment you convince yourself that your goal is true, it becomes your reality, and all you need do to make it happen is to make it happen.
The biggest single factor in determining your Peace making ability is your belief in what you do. And belief comes from the strength of your vision and commitment.
You can create reality - you are the observer - you are the one who determines what is what. If it is not real to you, then it is not real. But if it is real to you, then you can empower your vision with the strength of your belief and commitment and see your reality come true.
This is a mind power thing, and many good books have been written about it. But the essence of the understanding is that you recall the image of the Fox - in your mind, he can never be a Chicken, because you have predetermined what the characteristics of a Fox are. Change those determinations, change your perceptions, and you can change you beliefs. If you change your beliefs, then you can change reality.
And a Fox can become a Chicken.
And you can become anything in the world you want to be, any time you choose to.
Another attribute of the Fox is that he has a clearly defined comfort zone, out of which he rarely moves, if at all. Again, he is instinctively protecting himself from a harsh environment he has no control over, and very little understanding of, beyond his needs to survive, reproduce, and eat.
This comfort zone is like a barrier to the outside world, both protecting the Fox from unexpected surprises, and protecting the outside world from the Fox becoming a Chicken. If he ever does make the switch, then he moves us out of our comfort zone, threatening our perceptions and beliefs, as we have discovered earlier.
However, unlike the Fox, we can actively change the self-imposed limits of our comfort zone, considerably enhancing out ability to achieve the things in Life we hold so dear - wealth, prosperity, success and the ability to be a Peacemaker.
First, you have to determine what and where the existing boundaries of your comfort zone are. This is easy, just ask yourself the following questions - What am I most afraid of? Success? Failure? Ignorance? Disability? Lack of stature? Poverty? Sickness? Relationships? Something else?
Your honest answers will provide a guide to where your current comfort zone is. Fear is an emotion, and easily soothed by understanding. True understanding removes barriers for you, whenever the understanding is applied in an honest way. Just like being scared of the dark is temporarily fixed by turning on a light.
Your fear of the dark hasn't gone, just the dark.
You can also expand your comfort zone by a quick influx of knowledge. However, to gain any permanency in this expansion, you have to internalise your new understanding, and make it a part of your truth. You have to taste knowledge, and let it infect you with its new ideas and creativity.
If you are afraid of success, as many People are (but don't know it), then you will have an inbuilt resistance to achieving your goals. You've seen People like this, they always seem to shoot themselves in the foot just as they are about to achieve great things. "What a pity" we all say in sympathy, not realising that some hidden inner subconscious force determined their downfall. This fear is more common that you would expect, the primary drive being a fear of being shown to be unworthy of any great achievement.
Now the Fox doesn't have this problem. Not being the possessor of great intellect, he operates on instinct, and uses his senses to keep him out of trouble. But we humans constantly strive for things that are just out of our reach, many times without knowing the ramifications of what we are doing, blindly ignoring our instincts. We open ourselves up to massive doses of self-induced Stress, killing ourselves in the process.
This is the second great secret of the Fox
Tread carefully, and slowly, until you understand the dynamics of what it is you are striving to do. Sniff the winds of change, search out the mysteries of your environment, and use all your senses to determine your course of action. Consider all the options, and, if necessary, and practical, try the lot. The only limitation you have is the one you place on yourself.
Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, and learning from them. But be sure to make your mistakes in such a way that they don’t prove fatal!
For once you have decided on what you really want, and visualised it so strongly that it has become your truth, you must take the time to learn how best you can achieve you new ambition. Not instinctively, like the Fox, but purposefully, like a visionary with a magic dream. And in a manner and a fashion that is true to your instincts, because you cannot change who you are, only what you may become.
We are each born with a bucket of ability, always available for us to dip into. The raw talents and intuitions can be honed and expanded, but the basic "I" can never be altered. You are who you are, and can never be someone else. But you can change what you do with your Life, and what you become in it.
Like the Fox, you will never get away with trying to be a Chicken.
But you can successfully emulate what the Chicken does, and benefit from the experience.
Foxes are often trapped by things that look and smell correct, but are fatally flawed. These "baits" come in many forms, the most common being the classic piece of poisoned meat, rich and succulent, enough to make the strongest jowls dribble with anticipation. Because the Fox is instinctive, he is all too readily taken by the external trappings of an easy, attractive meal. It is not until he has consumed his fill that the acid suddenly turns to bile, and his guts vomit the poison back up, in a last ditch attempt to save him.
Human history is riddled with metaphors that accurately describe this phenomenon - all the way back to the Trojan Horse. "There's no such thing as a free lunch" is a modern day equivalent. Thus the third secret is revealed. You get nothing for nothing. Beware of the easy solution, the quick fix, the promise of riches, the almost irresistible lure of instant fame and fortune.
The path to glory is booby-trapped with hundreds of "baits", all poised to take the unwary, unthinking pilgrim, who confuses opportunity with ambition. Because it is your truth that you are attempting to give Life to - it is your vision of what you want to achieve for yourself - it is extremely unlikely that a ready made, instant, easy, immediate solution exists, that you can just step up and take without cost.
As the Swiss banking fraternity are oft to say, “In God’s plan for the Universe, it is unlikely that there is a sub-plan in which you get rich!”
You get in this Life what you pay for. The People you most respect are those that have achieved great things - they weren't given them, they went out and got them with energy, vision, and great effort.
You must do the same.
If the Fox wants to eat, he must hunt. If he wants to sleep soundly, he must build a lair. If he wants to survive, he must avoid his enemies. It's only when he gets lazy, and takes an easy bait, that he gets himself into real trouble.
Trouble that can easily be fatal for a simple Fox.
As the Fox stretches out in the Sun, letting the warmth revitalise his tired muscles, his tongue lolls out one side of his mouth, and he pants, his black eyes roving the horizon. Every so often, he stops this, points his long snout at the sky, and sniffs the air. Even at rest, he is crucially aware of his environment, and those in it who would threaten him and his pack. He has many natural enemies, and just as many unnatural ones.
And like other dog-like animals, he uses his unique smell to wet down trees and shrubs, letting other Foxes know that this particular piece of turf is his, and that they should stay away.
Unfortunately, this specific odour is also his greatest weakness, because many of the predatory animals who rate Fox as their number #1 choice for dinner have a highly developed sense of smell, and easily locate their unfortunate prey by finding where he urinated, and track him to his lair.
This is the Fox's biggest secret. He doesn't understand (because no one has told him) how his enemies find him, but he soon realises that unless he is ever vigilant, he will soon be the centrepiece in someone's banquet. He is constantly on the alert, never taking anything for granted, always wary of a new scent or odour, suspicious about anything that is out of place, and curious about anything that doesn't look and smell right. He doesn’t rest on his laurels, and let others do the work for him.
So must you on your chosen path to becoming a Peacemaker.
Always have an enquiring mind, always seek the truth in what you observe, never take anything for granted, and always be on the lookout for new understanding. In this way, the natural wisdom of the Fox can be yours, and where all he gets is survival as his reward, you will get the power of your vision, and the ability to make your dreams come true! You will become a true Peacemaker, and your reach and influence with be great.
In the days of conquest ahead, always remember the cunning of the Fox, and his secrets, and what they can do for you. Never take anything for granted. Always make new knowledge and experience a part of your truth, empowering your intellect to the fullest. Be on the lookout for false symbols, and empty promises. And never, never, take a poisoned bait. Tread carefully, in small measures, at least until you fully understand the full ramifications of your actions.
And be what you are meant to be, not what others project you to be. Learn from their expectations, but profit from your considered opinion.
Realise that the world is full of promise and opportunity, just as it is full of black pits and snares. Think of the Fox often, and learn from his highly tuned instincts.
And become the true Peacemaker you deserve to be.

Making Peace with Space

Your intellect can wander through the heavens, occasionally peeking at a Star, or it can rocket through the Universe, latched onto the tail of a Comet. Your first big step is overcoming the limitations of the speed of light!
What really is "intellect"? Is it how smart you are, or appear to be? Is it a measurement of your cleverness? Has it something to do with how witty you may be?
Yes, and no.
A close scrutiny of the word shows us that "intellect" is defined as comprehension, or ability to understand; ability to reason, or to discriminate; insight; intuition; perception; sensitivity. It is clearly a grab bag of many emotions, feelings, and character traits.
Your eyes are regarded as the window to your soul. They are also, along with your ears and your other senses, the doors to your intellect. Unfortunately, the outlets for your intellect are your mouth, and your body, or what you demonstrate physically in the way you do and say things. Your Behaviour and attitudes that are observed by others.
The word "intellect" is usually associated with clever People, geniuses, or those much smarter than we are. In truth, we all have the same God given ability to develop our intellect, if only we choose to do so. And developing your intellect is a fundamental requirement of developing your maximum ability to make Peace. The two go hand in hand, and you can't have one without the other.
It is true that some People seem to have a greater mental capacity, or are able to learn things faster and easier, than others. It is also true that some People seem to develop their intellect better than others. But the fact remains that anyone can choose to develop their intellect, to whatever level you desire.
As always, it’s up to you!
Comprehension is simply your ability to understand things that you read, hear, or observe. How well you comprehend is determined by many factors, such as your present frame of reference, the accuracy of the input, the state of your mental faculties, your desire to process the information, and your ability to filter what you learn into its component parts.
Your frame of reference is dependent on your experience, and your retained memory of things (mental models). If you've never read or heard about a small animal called a Fox before, then the first time you see one, you won't know what it is. You will have no comprehension of what you should call it, or do with it. If you have heard of it before, but have forgotten what you learned, then you will still be confused, and uncertain. Two words that you know rob you of your Peace making ability – confusion, and uncertainty! And both lead to self-induced Stress.
It is possible to have a very wide, general-purpose frame of reference, simply by reading extensively, and staying in tune with your environment. Newspapers, magazines, books, Current Affairs programmes, and computer-accessed data bases all offer a wealth of information, on literally any subject you choose to pursue. The greater your frame of reference, the greater will be your comprehension, and the greater will be the development of your Peace making ability. You don’t necessarily have to try to remember all that you review, just the “markers” so you can find the data when you need it.
It has often been said, that there is nothing more powerful than an informed person, able to share their knowledge with those around them. You will never hear this statement refuted by anyone who is really successful, but you may well hear it challenged by those who are not. Coincidentally, your ability to make Peace will often be underwritten by the knowledge you can bring to the process at any one time.
The accuracy of what you absorb, will be dependent on two factors. The first, and most obvious, is the absolute truth of the information you are receiving. If you are reading, then the written word needs to be factual, or understood and stimulative. If you are watching TV, then the pictures need to be unbiased, and honest in their construction. If you are listening, then what you hear needs to be unfettered with colour and personality. And if you are feeling, then the sensory perception must match what the other object is really transmitting, and not offer confusing signals.
The second factor is a little more complex, and it's all to do with you. When you are exposed to data, you tend to automatically filter what you see, hear, and feel, by what you expect, have experienced previously, or believe to be true. There's nothing wrong with this process, in fact, it's vital that you do apply these filters to everything, or you'd be swamped to the point of numbness by untold volumes of irrelevant data.
The issue is how true you are being in applying these filters. If you are limited by what you know, you deny yourself access to new knowledge. If you are prejudiced towards what is being Communicated (attitude formation) then you will colour it with your negative attitude. And if you are applying the limit of what you have experienced previously, then you will prevent the synergistic process of stimulation from occurring, reducing the potential of the new experience adding to your reservoir of understanding.
All this is controlled by the state of your mental faculties, or how perceptive and receptive you are willing to be. Just as People only learn what they want to learn, and when they want to learn it, you will only be receptive to new knowledge when you want to be. Your receptiveness is directly related to your energy levels, your thirst for knowledge, and your desire to succeed, and how much you really want to become a Peacemaker.
By looking at you, others can easily judge the state of your intellect. If you carry an easy smile, your eyes sparkle with truth and trust, and your body is alive with energy, then it is obvious that your intellect is comfortably maxing it to the limit. Just this persona grants you a serious measure of Peace making ability, before you even say or do anything, to either confirm the truth of the observation, or destroy it.
Confidence breeds its own success, and success walks in the shadow of intent.
To be receptive, you must be at Peace with yourself and your environment. Your energy must be centred in your Paradise, and you must be capable of accepting the new knowledge for what it is, not what you want it to be. Your attitude needs to be that of the observer, not the judge. You need to have the biggest ears in the world, and the willingness to use them. And you must be able to discern what it is you are really hearing, seeing, or feeling, not necessarily just what it appears to be.
The ability to process is vital to your growth as a whole person. Take a leaf out of the Ancient Scholar's Book, and start with the two baskets. One for what is, and one for what might be. Actively apply your experience to the data, sifting through it for things that taste right. Examine them minutely, then swallow them into your consciousness.
That which you cannot use, don't like the taste of, or don't understand yet, tip into the second basket, to await their turn. Some will arise at a later date because of new information that allows them to become useful. Others will call you like a siren, demanding that you take the time and effort to understand them, and learn from them. The rest is better off left where it is, because your lifetime is finite, and not only do you not need to know everything in the world, you couldn't if you tried!
Once you have accepted information, filter it into its component parts, storing all the bits in the different parts of your memory and experiential data banks, for future use. But above all else, grow to enjoy the process, because learning is a dynamic activity, one that has the ability to charge your ego with short-term stimulation, and flush your soul with the power of new truth. People who are truly alive learn something new every minute of every day, every day of their achievement-filled lives.
That's why they are successful.
Knowledge is power. The more you know, the more power you will have. And it's not just the ability to know things that is important. Knowledge protects you from attack, because if your have developed your intellect, you are less likely to be tricked, fooled, be taken in by a lie, or led down the dark path of deceit and evil. And this means that you are less likely to become Stressed by events or activities that stretch you outside your comfort zone.
Your ability to reason or discriminate is something that grows with your experience. In many ways, how well you reason something out, or apply your discriminatory process, controls the amount of time you need to absorb new learning. The faster you can reason, the more you can learn. The better you discriminate, the least amount of time you waste chasing ghosts.
There is a dark side to reason, and it can often lead to misunderstanding and frustration, and Stress. When someone tells you that what you are saying sounds "reasonable", what they are really saying is that they either aren't sure of what it is you have said, and they are considering it further, or that it hasn't threatened them at any conscious or unconscious level. Unfortunately, we often hear this as acceptance of what we are striving to achieve, rather than as a request for more information.
You know that a "reasonable" person is not always the one you would trust with your life, or your future. Don't know why, but the very reasonableness of "reasonable" seems to depower it, the moment the word is used to describe a person, rather than a process!
Insight, or the knowledge that comes from within you, as part of your truth, is what fuels your ability to be clever and shrewd. An insightful person is one who is regarded as being on the ball, quick to take advantage of opportunities, and one who generates a lot of respect for their ability to rapidly understand and Communicate well. This is the first of the attributes that is also influenced by your skill levels. The greater your personal skills, the more insight you can bring to bear on a problem. It’s almost like having the roadmap in your head before you start your journey.
And the more insight you have available, the greater and more efficient is your ability to process. Understanding, learning, experience, wisdom and unfulfilled curiosity funnel stimulus towards your inner self, and as you become more efficient and more discriminatory in how you handle the influx of information, you empower your insight to work for you, autonomously. And you lessen the opportunity to self induce Stress.
Intuition is something quite different. When you think you know something, but you're not sure why or how you know, you are exercising your intuitive ability. This is a "feeling" thing rather than a physical thing, and is very much up to the individual as to how much you have, and how often you can use it.
It takes great trust and belief in yourself to let your intuition guide you, because many times there is nothing to show but a vague "feeling" of uneasiness, or a warm glow of positive reassurance. Intuition is totally in the mind, and its usefulness is dependant on the state of your mental health, your inner stance, your energy levels, and your truth.
When you are powerful, your intuition will serve you well. When you are not, it will simply not be there, because intuition is generated by the positive side of your nature, and driven by your subconscious mind. You cannot dictate to it, you cannot call it up on demand, and you cannot force it to obey your will.
It is either there, or it is not, and the harder you try, the further away it will get. Conversely, the more you learn, the longer you study, the better your understanding becomes, the greater will be your intuitive abilities. The more at Peace you become with yourself, the harder you chase down your goals, and the more energetic you get at developing your Peace making ability, the better your intuition will serve you.
Perception is a many-edged sword within your personality. It involves your awareness, your consciousness, your powers of observation, the depth and breadth of your vision, and your keenness to get in amongst the swimming pools of life. As you grow stronger and more aware, your perception heightens.
How aware you are goes all the way back to your desire and focus. If you want to achieve something hard enough, then you will generate the desire within you to motivate you to get the job done, and done well. As your desire increases in intensity, your awareness of all around you increases, erg for erg. In a sense, the more aware you become, the more perceptive you are, because awareness is the secondary building block (after desire) for achievement.
The observer in you, the voyager, the adventurer, the seeker of knowledge, will always strive to heighten your awareness. And as your awareness reaches its peak, so does your ability to absorb new understanding. The keener your awareness, the greater the quality of what you take in to be your truth.
Your state of consciousness, or your span of attention, is all to do with how well, and how long, you can concentrate on something. There are many different elements at work here, all the way from your physical fitness level, your inner stance, the level of your desire, the degree of your commitment, the perceived difficulty of the task, how well you have created your strategy, the simplicity of your tactics, and the amount of will-power you can allocate to achieving your goal.
You will learn what you want to learn, at a time when you most want to learn it. It is that simple. And your attention span, or consciousness, will exactly match your commitment to the task.
Your powers of observation wax and wane with your arousal levels. To observe is not just to "see", it is also to think, internalise, compare, filter, judge, absorb, relate, accept and use wisely the information you are gathering from your senses. How well you can do this at any one time is dependant on all the other things you are trying to do.
There is a classic military situation that exactly fits this state of mind. It is called "Situational Awareness", and it is the result of two factors - training and Stress management.

Way back at the start of the last century, aeroplanes were stately things flown by adventurous People. They were essentially simple devices, made from wood and fabric, and were so stable that some almost "flew" themselves. Just as many ended up as piles of burning rubble, as the more adventurous pilots attempted to push back the barriers of aeronautical knowledge, giving up their lives in the process.
The DH82 Tiger Moth, famous as a World War 2 trainer, is one such aircraft, and it flies sedately along at 85 knots. Once the pilot has mastered its peculiar quirks, he only has to watch three instruments to know where he is, and stay right side up, for as long as his fuel, or the call of the clear blue sky lasts.
The Tiger Moth holds its place in history not just for the valuable role it played in the Allied War effort, but in the fact that as aeroplanes go, it is a classic. Simple to fly, true to its pilots, and able to survive 70 years and longer on the strength of its unique character.
But the simplicity of the Tiger Moth evolved into the complexity of the legendary Spitfire and Hurricane, Mustang and Hell Cat, and the three primary instruments were replaced with switches, dials, radios, pumps, levers, and a multitude of complex procedures. Finally, jet-propelled coffins with tiny wings, ripped up the sky faster than the naked eye could follow.
Today, the lucky pilot of a jet fighter under combat conditions is faced with the awesome task of monitoring up to three hundred different instruments, switches and radios, fly his aircraft, watch his radar, monitor his threat receivers, find the enemy, keep track of his own People, and avoid flying into the ground while not getting lost, or getting disorientated at night or in bad weather. And all this must be done while zooming around the sky at up to 1,450 nautical miles per hour!
During the evolution of the modern jet fighter, the military very quickly established the need to create an extensive training regime, where all the uncertainty could be removed from the demanding task of maximising the pilot's performance. They found that the sheer weight of what the average pilot was expected to do exceeded most People's ability, without massive training.
By attending to every little detail, analysing the human-factors requirements, and the ergonomics of the jet cockpit, they devised a series of procedures to handle each single activity. In effect, they broke down every action into its component parts, and prioritised every step.
They then trained the pilots until they could fly and fight by instinct, and recite the procedures off by heart. The pilots were bundled into ground-based simulators, where they practiced every manoeuvre under the pressure they could expect when flying in real conditions. This process removed ninety-five percent of the workload modern technology had forced on them, and allowed the pilot to focus on what is the most important thing in his life - staying in front of his speeding jet, and his enemy, and consequently, staying alive.
The pilot doesn't have to watch three hundred instruments, he only has to scan them fleetingly, noticing only those that are outside normal limits. Because every aspect of flying the speeding aircraft is ingrained in his memory (both mind and muscle), he is freed up to keep his head outside the cockpit, scanning the skies for the bad guys.
The application of mental pressure, induced by the necessity of getting home alive, heightens his awareness and his powers of observation, which would be severely limited if he still had to mechanically watch everything, think about every little detail, and fly the aircraft at the same time.
Ask any jet pilot when he "sees" the best, when his awareness is at its highest, when his vision is the purest, and when his mind is full of clarity, and invariably he will give you one of two answers.
When he is threatened with a bogey on his tail, or when he is in a terminal area, amongst other aircraft, and about to land back on either his carrier or runway.
These are the two times of maximum arousal, and maximum Stress, when his survival is on the line, and a mistake could cost him more than just a slap on the wrist.
If he gets caught by a bad guy, he gets shot down. In a terminal area, fast jets congregate in large numbers, both landing and taking off, and the possibility of an aerial collision increases dramatically.
Any lapse in concentration, and any time his head is looking inside the cockpit at his dials and instruments, robs him of his ability to "see" outside. It could well cost him his life.
But what allows him to use his situational awareness to the fullest, is the incredible extent of his training. Everything is ingrained in his subconscious, to the point where he can do it literally in his sleep. All the pressure of the moment does, is focus his attention where he needs it the most - outside the cockpit, intently scanning the few million cubic metres of sky he is responsible for.
His "situational awareness" allows him to fly his complex aircraft without necessarily thinking about it, while he retains his ability to maximise his outward looking focus. In effect, this is a "super-human" performance, because without his training, the task would be almost impossible to achieve. While fully aroused, our pilot is not Stressed, operating in that narrow band of performance some call the “Zone”.

Likewise, if you break down your strategy into simple tactics, then analyse which actions can be "trained" into your system, then you too, just like the fighter pilot, can enjoy a high level of situational awareness, and a minimum level of Stress. The more aroused you become about what it is that you are doing, the better your powers of observation will be. The more you "see", the more you take in and understand, the greater the knowledge you gain.
And it is axiomatic that as you get better and better at the process of discovery, the greater will be your advantage, and the better prepared you will be to face uncertainty and confusion.
Sensitivity is a well-worn word, and one that, until just a few years ago, was very much out of fashion in the macho, male ego-dominated world. Yet true sensitivity is the one reliable precursor to great intellect. Just as you can never hope to attain your fullest Peace making ability without doing the real work, or achieve the maximum benefits of it without force multiplying, you can never achieve your intellectual potential without developing great sensitivity. This emotional awareness is what will put you in tune with your Universe, help you to find your harmony within your environment, and create the basis for your inner Peace, and consequently, your inner stance.
You can learn to be more sensitive, more considerate, more tolerant, more giving, but first you have to honestly assess, like watching the dial of a radio, where exactly your sensitivity is on a scale of 1 to 100.
Research over the past twenty years shows that the average "degree" of male sensitivity, when measured against 40 standard parameters, is slowly increasing from a mean "36" to a present mean of "46". To be successful in your relationship with other People, you need to be at least in the high 60's!
The one person you most admire in your life is probably the most sensitive person you know. Where would you place them on the scale? Now, where would you place yourself, compared to them?
Sensitivity has a lot to do with the little things in life. In fact, the smaller and more insignificant the task or thing appears, the greater the sensitivity required to acknowledge it, and honour it with your intellect. Most times, you relate your sensitivity to how you feel about someone, or how they have dealt with you. This emotional barometer has very little to do with real sensitivity, it is just an emotional spark in an otherwise dull day.
True sensitivity is a mindset, an all-encompassing attitude, a vital part of your bearing and your external stance, and persona. You can't switch it on and off like a light bulb, you either have it, or your don't. But just like wisdom allows you to properly exercise your Peace making ability, sensitivity allows you to truly develop your intellect to its fullest potential.
Again, you can't have one without the other.
Sound travels around the world at approximately 720 miles per hour. (approximately 1,200 kilometres per hour). Light flashes around the Universe at approximately 186,000 miles every second. (That's an astonishing 298,000 kilometres every second!)
When you talk, you speak at the speed of sound. When you think, you work at the speed of light. Consequently, energy used to think is 928,800 times better used, than the same amount of energy used to talk. Your mouth actually reduces your capacity to achieve things!
The synapse's in your brain, the little electronic connections that link all the cells together - the dark places where all your memory, intellect, and motion controllers live - spark constantly at the speed of light - 186,000 miles every second. This means that you have an enormous intellectual capacity, one that has to be seen to be believed.
Research shows that most People, in their entire lifetime, only ever use 13% of their brain capacity. Yet the key to your very being is rooted in your cerebral cortex, which is the basis of the brain's intellectual capacity, the seat of learning and memory, and a centre for associative functions, for many sensory perceptions, and for many motor activities.
Simply put, it's where the "real" you lives! And like any energy-dependent activity, if you don't use it, you lose it. Your opportunity is limitless.
Develop your intellect, and you develop your mind. Develop your mind, and you develop your Peace making ability. Develop you Peace making ability, and you can achieve all the wealth, prosperity, and success you could ever want!
And now that you know what intellect is, what's stopping you?
As one wise scholar once said, long before the knife of the surgeon first revealed the quivering grey mass that is central to our powers, "The heart is where the desire is, but the head is where the action is."
So be like the ubiquitous Fox, use your head, and make Peace!

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