By Paul Johnson
A fascinating portrait of the minds that have shaped the modern world. In an intriguing series of case studies, Rousseau, Shelley, Marx, Ibsen, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Bertrand Russell, Brecht, Sartre, Edmund Wilson, Victor Gollancz, Lillian Hellman, Cyril Connolly, Norman Mailer, James Baldwin, Kenneth Tynan, and Noam Chomsky, among others, are revealed as intellectuals both brilliant and contradictory, magnetic and dangerous.
(Google Books)
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
–William Shakespeare (April 1564 – May 3, 1616) was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England’s national poet, and the “Bard of Avon”. Wikipedia
Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st President of the United States from 1929 to 1933. (via Wikipedia)
Herbert Hoover entered Stanford University in 1891, its inaugural year, after failing all the entrance exams (except mathematics) and then being tutored for the summer in Palo Alto. The first-year students were not required to pay tuition. Hoover claimed to be the very first student at Stanford, by virtue of having been the first person in the first class to sleep in the dormitory. While at the university, he was the student manager of both the baseball and football teams and was a part of the inaugural Big Game versus rival the University of California and friend (CAL Manager) Herbert Lang. Only 10,000 tickets were printed for the inaugural game and 20,000 people showed up. Both Hoover and Lang had to find pots, bowls and any other available receptacles to collect admission fees. Stanford won the game: 21–22. Hoover graduated in 1895 with a degree in geology. He earned his way through four years of college working various jobs on and off campus, including the Geological Survey of Arkansas and the United States Geological Survey. Throughout his tenure at Stanford, he was adamantly opposed to the fraternity system.
The author of the legendary bestseller Influence, social psychologist Robert Cialdini shines a light on effective persuasion and reveals that the secret doesn’t lie in the message itself, but in the key moment before that message is delivered.
What separates effective communicators from truly successful persuaders? Using the same combination of rigorous scientific research and accessibility that made hisInfluence an iconic bestseller, Robert Cialdini explains how to capitalize on the essential window of time before you deliver an important message. This “privileged moment for change” prepares people to be receptive to a message before they experience it. Optimal persuasion is achieved only through optimal pre-suasion. In other words, to change “minds” a pre-suader must also change “states of mind.”
His first solo work in over thirty years, Cialdini’s Pre-Suasion draws on his extensive experience as the most cited social psychologist of our time and explains the techniques a person should implement to become a master persuader. Altering a listener’s attitudes, beliefs, or experiences isn’t necessary, says Cialdini—all that’s required is for a communicator to redirect the audience’s focus of attention before a relevant action.
From studies on advertising imagery to treating opiate addiction, from the annual letters of Berkshire Hathaway to the annals of history, Cialdini draws on an array of studies and narratives to outline the specific techniques you can use on online marketing campaigns and even effective wartime propaganda. He illustrates how the artful diversion of attention leads to successful pre-suasion and gets your targeted audience primed and ready to say, “Yes.”
(Amazon.com)
Heard also goes on to say that “expansion of consciousness is as unfamiliar an idea to most as was Copernican’s idea that the earth rotates around the sun rather than the other way around. We cannot imagine that the way out of our dilemma, that the escape through the net of outer events which seems to have us toiled, lies in ourselves any more than practical minds and common sense in Copernicus’s day could image an earth rotating around the sun. This means not merely that we must understand that we happen to things rather than that things happen to us, but that until we have direct experience of the enlarged consciousness which transcends not merely individuality but Time, we see events under a completely stultifying misapprehension.”
Written by Wendy Cicchetti
The New Moon Solar Eclipse takes place on Thursday, September 1st, at 2:03 AM PDT. A new moon as well as a solar eclipse represents the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new cycle. The New Moon represents a monthly cycle and the Solar Eclipse represents an approximate 19 year cycle. On September 1st, 1997, there was a solar eclipse at 9 Degrees Virgo, which is almost the exact degree of this eclipse. It is appropriate to look back and see what was going on in your life 19 years ago. What was ending and what was about to be born? Where does this eclipse take place in your chart? This information can give you clues as to where you are expanding and evolving and what in particular you need to let go of.
This eclipse will only be visible in Africa and the Middle East even though its intense energies for transformation will be felt across the globe. The fact that Mercury is retrograde in Virgo at the time of the Eclipse portends a more powerful reboot than normally occurs during an eclipse. For a few minutes, the Moon blocks the flow of solar radiation from the Sun to the earth. The length of time the Moon blocks the Sun, tells us how long before we see and feel the important impact on the world. It is estimated that one minute equals one month of time. This eclipse is expected to last for 3 minutes and 6 seconds. So then approximately 3 months to feel the affects.
This does not mean you won’t feel anything. On the contrary, many people experience dizziness or lightheadedness. For some, the sensations will be hardly noticeable, while for others it can seem life-altering. Especially if you are a Virgo with your Sun degree very close to the eclipse degree. Even if you don’t feel any different at the time, it does not mean you weren’t impacted. How much sensation you feel depends on your physiology and how sensitive you are to strong energies, and how focused you are during the Eclipse. If you are sleeping, you probably won’t feel an immediate impact.
‘For those looking for the silver lining, this could be the best day of your year. This is the perfect time to evolve into a more enlightened phase of your life, taking steps, fueled by this eclipse cycle, to find greater harmony and joy and to be a source of love and comfort to others. This is also a great opportunity to move into a solid phase of your life purpose, ending self doubt and moving forward with confidence, joy and faith. This is a good time to ask the question,”What does the universe and creator want from me”, and reaffirming “I am now open and ready to receive!”
Written by Wendy Cicchetti
PLAN YOUR OWN NEW MOON CEREMONY. Give yourself some quiet time in meditation to see where you need to seed new ways of becoming. List these areas within your life you want to change. What areas do you want to break free from the norm and become more productive and discerning? The NEW MOON is the time to manifest the personal attributes you want to cultivate as well as the tangible things you want to bring to you. Possible phrasing: I now manifest ____ into my life. I am now _______ . Remember, think, envision and feel with as much emotion as possible, as though you already have what you want. Thoughts are things and the brain manifests exactly what you show it in the form of thoughts, visuals and emotions. The Buddha said, and I am paraphrasing, “We are the sum total of our thoughts up to today. ” If we want to be different then we must change our thoughts. “If you always do what you’ve always done then you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” CONSCIOUS CHANGE is the key.
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