We are more than our names. We are every word we speak, every word we write and every decision we make. We are reflections of everyone we have ever known, spoken to or seen. We know only what we know and we don't know everything else. Thus we all are experts at some things and idiots at others. No one person can know everything so we must all be selective about the truths we pursue

Through different experiences, different truths, different thoughts and different actions, we each have a different focus on what is true.

Once we know that we are the sum of our experiences, actions and knowledge, we can select those attributes with the purpose of molding our personalities. Once we understand the crossroad, we can select our beliefs with the purpose of molding our spirit.

Because they believe the matter of religious reality to be defined by the sages and priests as an absolute which they must study to learn, most people don't realize that they have a choice in the method of developing their spiritual side.

Even if one is not interested in changing one's worldview or religion, understand the reality lens can still be beneficial in every day life. Stress, anger and depression are all self-reinforcing. So are happiness, calmness and control. Keeping your sunny side up, rolling with the punches and maintaining a stiff upper lip really do change how you will deal with crisis situations because they develop a pattern of behavior that focuses on the positive, self supportive side. It really is as simple as seeing the glass half empty or half full. It's all in how you focus the reality lens.

Advertisers understand that what we perceive to be true is often more important than what is really true. If we think of their product as being associated with success or accepted style, we are more likely to buy. The advertisers use the fact that our perceptions of reality can be changed and they do everything they can to change those perceptions in their favor. The smart consumer, however, disassociates his buying decisions from the emotional imagery provided by the advertisements.

It doesn't really matter which brand of potato chips or chewing gum I buy so there is no real harm in being manipulated to buy a pack of juicy fruit gum because I happen to remember the happy-go-lucky, good looking blonde that was chewing it on the commercial. However, just as attempts are made to influence our consumer buying behavior, we are also the target of carefully packaged political and philosophical ideologies which are also tied to deep emotions within us.

If they understand that your view of reality can be altered through these ideological advertising techniques but you don't, then you are at a severe disadvantage. A good minister knows just what to say to strike the resonant chords of fear and insecurity within his parish to sway them to accept his sermon. We hope that when he does this he really does have their best interests in mind but we can never forget the ways in which this power can be abused. We need only remember the power that Jim Jones held over his People's Temple followers which allowed him to convince over nine hundred people to follow him to Guyana and voluntarily commit suicide.

This is of course an extreme case, but it is not the only way in which religious or philosophical authority can be abused. It seems profoundly ironic to me that wars can be fought in the name of God. Joseph Campbell points out ...

In the popular nightmare of history, where local mythic images are interpreted, not as metaphors, but as facts, there have been ferocious wars waged between the parties of such contrary manners of metaphoric representation. The Bible abounds in examples. And today, (1984-85), in the formerly charming little city of Beirut, the contending zealots of three differing inflections even of the same ideas of a single paternal "God" are unloading bombs on each other.

(Campbell 58)

Of course such wars have nothing to do with spiritual development. They are no different than any other war fought over territory or ideology. But to have a prominent leader invoke the name of God to justify the killing of others is a tried and true method of convincing brave men do die for someone else's cause. The old "Do as I say because I know God and God wants it this way" argument strikes right at the very heart of people's spiritual insecurities. Usually the argument is punctuated with "and if you don't do this, you will burn in eternal hellfire and damnation. You don't want that do you?"

When a group of people is told repeatedly to believe without understanding and to accept without explanation, such abuses of the purpose of religion become possible.

It is okay for any person to devote time and energy to any cause which the person feels is important but when a church leader attempts to make his congregation feel less faithful unless they accept and help fight for a political principle, he is being manipulative and is abusing his position of spiritual leader.

Knowing the way in which your own view of reality can be manipulated gives you an advantage. Not only can you recognize when someone is trying to refocus your vision of the truth, you can consciously control these changes that take place in your own mind.

This is what so many self-help seminars are trying to teach. Focus on success. Tell yourself that you can succeed. Make a list of goals that you want to achieve and work every day toward them. Within the context of a properly applied religious metaphor, this focusing of intent, which changes one's self image and abilities can be expressed in prayer. "God, give me strength to continue working toward my goals and let me proceed with clear vision and determination." One could just as easily have said, "I am strong and I can work toward my goals one day at a time with clear vision and determination."

Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea explain this strategy in an appendix to their Illuminatus! trilogy.

THE TACTICS OF MAGICK

The most important idea in the Book of Sacred Magic of Abra-Melin the Mage is the simple-looking formula "Invoke often."

The most successful form of treatment for so-called mental disorders, the Behavior Therapy of Pavlov, Skinner, Wolpe, et al,.could well be summarized in two similar words "Reinforce often." ("Reinforcement," for all practical purposes, means the same as the layman's term "reward." The essence of Behavior Therapy is rewarding desired behavior; the behavior "as if by magic" begins to occur more and more often as the rewards continue.)

Advertising, as everybody knows, is based on the axiom "Repeat often."... there is no essential difference between magick, Behavior Therapy, advertising and Christian Science. All of them can be condensed into Abra-Melin's simple "Invoke often."...

The reader who seeks a deeper understanding of this argument can obtain it by putting these principles to the test. If you are afraid that you might, in this Christian environment, fall into taking the Christian Science mantra too seriously, try instead the following simple experiment. For forty days and forty nights, begin each day by invoking and praising the world in itself as an expression of the Egyptian deities. Recite at dawn

I bless Ra, the fierce sun burning bright
I bless Isis-Luna in the night
I bless the air, the Horus-hawk
I bless the earth on which I walk

Repeat at moonrise. Continue for the full forty days and forty nights. We say without any reservation that, at the minimum, you will feel happier and more at home in this part of the galaxy (and will also understand better Uncle John Feather's attitude toward our planet); at a maximum, you may find rewards beyond your expectations, and will be converted to using this mantra for the rest of your life. (If the results are extremely good, you just might start believing in ancient Egyptian gods.)

(Wilson, Shea 768-771)

Such a mantra is very similar to the Christian mantras: "Now I lay me down to sleep", "God is great, God is good, thank you Lord for our food" and "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Catholics chant "Hail Mary, mother of God, blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus Christ." The Buddhist repeats quietly to himself "Om Mani Padme Hum," which means, "Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus."

Each of these sayings nurtures our spiritual identity by focusing our attention on the part of our intellect that is searching for control. If we constantly reinforce through ritual sayings, prayer and belief that we are all children of a single paternal God, then this will become the context within which we face the world. However, if we earnestly pray to Tweety Bird, the three stooges or the ocean, those too can be imprinted, through repetition, as our spiritual context. Yes, it is brainwashing, and so is Christianity. So is any religion. That's the whole point!

As long as you are choosing to wash your own brain, you are in control of your spiritual destiny. If you believe in the literal reality of any metaphoric representation, you risk becoming a pawn which can be led by fear, sentiment and blind faith.

So accept whatever world view that you best identify with and which will help you gain the most control over your emotions, goals and finances but always realize that everyone's reality is subjective and this allows each of us to find the truth that is most appropriate for ourselves. Discovering that subjective truth and finding peace with it sets us at the beginning of the road to happiness.

This is the reality lens.