with obstacles and that for them, something always goes wrong. That something of course is balanced forces and pendulums that arise as a consequence of the excess potential generated by their self-importance. It is like in the children’s game that goes: “Geese–geese!” – “Honk! Honk! Honk!”–“Are you hungry?” – “Yes, yes, yes!” – “Well, fly on home then!” – “We can’t. We are afraid of the grey wolf that stands at the foot of the mountain!”
If a person does not fit the role of the needy they may choose the role of the indignant, expressing their dissatisfaction and demanding to be given what they are supposedly due. By being so very demanding the indignant person harms the potential shape of their destiny even more. Imagine a man who visits an art gallery but does not like the exhibition and so has a tantrum believing that he has the right to express his dissatisfaction. He stamps his feet making threats, breaking things and demanding that the organisers take the exhibition down. Naturally, the man would be punished for his actions which would make him even more resentful and all the more inclined to express his indignation. A person who believes that their own wants and needs should be a priority for others would never dream that they are merely a guest in this world.
From the point of view of Transurfing, both roles appear equally as absurd. Transurfing offers a different path: if you want something, don’t plead for it, don’t demand it, just go ahead and get it. There is nothing new in this position. It is the natural stance of a person who makes their own choices and believes that their destiny is in their own hands. However, people tend to take this too far in their struggle for a place in the sun. Taking a hard stand people declare war on pendulums, get drawn into competition and elbow their way forward. Their entire life becomes a continuous struggle for survival. This is their choice and the choice will be played out because it also exists as a possible reality in the alternatives space.
We already know that passive acceptance and overt dissatisfaction cause a person to become dependent on pendulums. Perhaps you recall the content of the chapter on importance and excess potential. The needy create excess potential via their feelings of guilt, voluntarily offering themselves into the hands of manipulators. The victim automatically assumes that they are condemned to have to ask for what they want and waits until someone decides to give it to them. The indignant person creates excess potential with their continuous expression of dissatisfaction and ruins their own life by endlessly invoking balanced forces.
Having chosen to battle, the fighter takes a more productive stance, but their life is hard and demands a huge amount of energy. No matter how hard a person tries to resist, if they take this position that will just get more and more entangled in the web. The fighter believes that they are battling for the sake of their own destiny, while in fact they are simply wasting huge amounts of personal energy. Sometimes a person wins but at what cost? Their example goes to convince everyone that the laurels of victory can only be hard won. With that the widespread belief that if you want to achieve something you have to slog away and fight for it is further consolidated.
Public opinion is mainly shaped by pendulums. The excess potential of self-importance serves as a feeding trough for pendulums and so beliefs based on some aspect of self-importance are widely supported. The belief that a personal goal is difficult to attain represents a projection of outer importance, whereas the belief that the goal can only be achieved by a personality with extraordinary qualities is a projection of inner importance. Either way the individual is fleeced. They may be allowed to reach the finish line which will no doubt make them very happy, but what the person will not realize is how much energy was wasted, not so much on reaching the goal, as on indulging the exactions of the pendulum.
Metaphorically speaking, it is like a person trying to make their way through a crowd of pleading beggars in order to reach their goal. The beggars bustle about, block the way, and grasp at the person’s clothes and body. The person tries to justify themselves, apologises, gives the beggars money, pushes them aside and forces their way through the crowd. Finally, and not without great difficulty, the goal is reached. The energy that was spent on actually achieving the goal is comparatively small, enough to place one foot in front of another. The remaining portion of energy went on battling with the needy.
When a person learns to break the loop with the pendulum they will have their freedom. The scroungers will leave them in peace and focus on some other individual. To free yourself from the burden of pendulums you have to abandon inner and outer importance. If you manage to do this the obstacles you would have encountered on the way towards realizing your personal goals will simply fade away. Then you will be in a position not to ask for what you want, not to demand it, and not to struggle for it, but simply to go ahead and get it.
Now the question arises as to how the phrase “go ahead and get it” should be understood specifically and how to go about it. The rest of this book is devoted to answering this question, so soon you will have the answer. So far we have outlined general strategies for choosing one’s personal destiny. None of the roles described above, the needy, the indignant or the fighter are for us. What role do you think Transurfing would ascribe to the master of their own fate in the game called life? That is the homework. The answer can be found in the next chapter.
Now we are going to look at different tactical ways of behaving in various situations.
Going With the Flow
The needy and the indignant go weakly with the flow of life while the fighter pushes against the flow. Of course, in life, no one person is a pure example of either role. We all adopt one or more of these roles to a greater or lesser extent as life changes and yet none of them are particularly effective. If it is not advisable to fight and going with the flow is too limp what other options are there?
Earlier we described how reason authoritatively asserts its will based on common sense. Some people rationalize in a very reasonable, intelligent manner and yet are totally incapable of solving their own problems. How useful can common sense be if the mind cannot use it to provide an ideal solution to a problem? The thing is that even though the mind is being rational it remains unaware of the fact that it is influenced by the thought patterns created by pendulums. Certainly, while a person is playing the role of the needy, the indignant or the fighter, there can be no question of freedom of movement. In reality, the fighter has no more freedom to assert their true will than the little paper boat.
Metaphorically speaking, this is how the fighter moves with the flow of life: pendulums provoke the fighter who then swims against the current, not understanding that it would be easier and more advantageous to use the flow. The fighter’s mind is gripped by pendulums, but the fighter is resolutely set on battle and, by making resolute decisions, whips the water with all his might, in places where calm, smooth movements would have sufficed.
Now imagine a person who neither goes against the flow causing additional eddies in the water, nor lets the current carry them utterly, like a little paper boat. They would be intentionally moving in harmony with the flow noting the sand banks, obstacles and dangerous areas along the way, making smooth movements to keep to their chosen course. This is the person at the helm.
How useful is it to think of life in terms of flow and why is it so injurious to swim passively or try to resist the flow? The information that lies in the alternatives space is stationary, like a matrix. At the same time, the information structure is organized into chains of cause-and-effect which give birth to the flow of alternatives. This is what we mean when we talk about flow in the context of Transurfing.
The main reason to avoid actively resisting the flow is that in doing so you expend a huge amount of energy either in vain or to your own detriment. Neither can you rely entirely on the alternatives flow, for it could carry you into a calm lagoon as easily as to the edge of a waterfall. One should therefore, proceed with a sense of caution correcting one’s movements with smooth actions. A person should also be aware of the general direction of the flow which is determined by their chosen goal and the means of achieving
