This article is filed under the “Personal” section and is written in the hope that it will help some of you (critics especially) to understand me a little better. There is method behind my madness…
Last year I read the most amazing blog article by my “business guru”, Timothy Ferriss. I’ve been meaning to share it with you. It helps explain one of my motivations behind my blogs.
The original inspiring article is entitled “The Benefit of Pissing People Off” and is hosted here.
Tim’s key point – and mine- is this:
You don’t change the world by being nice.
Think for a moment about the people who have changed the world. Mandela, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr… These people changed the world. Have you noticed how visionary leaders are usually controversial and often widely disliked in their own time.
The point I’m making is, the people we admire are the people who changed the world with their words. They aren’t usually people who “play nice”. This is an article about how to be someone who can change the world – without getting imprisoned or assassinated.
Anyone who’s known me longer than about 10 minutes knows that I’m not afraid to speak my mind. And yes, I’ve made a few enemies, especially last year when I launched my old blog. (I am specifically referring to my public statements about another healing technique being dangerous. Controversial, but I was speaking my truth.)
Was it worth it? Hell yeah! Why? Well quite simply, you don’t change the world by making friends. You change the world by taking responsibility and speaking your truth. Doing this stirs up people who are making money from the status-quo, and this can make you a few enemies.
As Tim Ferris said in his blog:
Doing anything remotely interesting will bring criticism. Attempting to do anything large-scale and interesting will bring armies of detractors and saboteurs. This is fine – if you are willing to take the heat. …
Colin Powell makes the case: pissing people off is both inevitable and necessary. This doesn’t mean that the goal is pissing people off. Pissing people off doesn’t mean you’re doing the right things, but doing the right things will almost inevitably piss people off. …
Let the critics criticize. It’s the builders who count.
I have friends who are into alternative-energy production. They seriously threaten the coal industry, and they get lots of threats. I have friends that worked out how to run cars on the smell of an oily rag, and they seriously piss off the oil industry. I have friends dedicated to exposing the connection between childhood vaccines and autism, and they made a lot of enemies in the medical and drug industry. And I decided to speak the truth about a healing technique that isnt safe.
And guess what? I made plenty of enemies out of my friends in that community. Why? Well if people hear me out then they won’t make money selling stuff that doesn’t work. Coal, gas, vaccines containing mercury, Theta Healing… these are entrenched powers, money making enterprises (big or small) selling stuff that’s bad for your health.
They will fight to defend their territory, and you probably wont make friends speaking up about it. I’ve had lots of nasty and untrue things said about me since I started speaking my truth. At first this upset me, but then I saw the bigger picture.
I took a lot of comfort from the Fortune magazine article quoted in Tim’s blog post: “If you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative. Keep your head on straight, don’t get emotional, take the heat, and just make sure your clients are smiling.”
Well I’m a long way off having 95% negative said about me. At worst it’s 50/50! I guess I have a lot of work still to do to change the world!
So ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to change the world. Let go of caring what people say about you, that’s just ego anyway. Speak your mind, express your truth, and the world will be a happier place.
I highly recommend you read Tim’s full article and blog, and go out there and speak your mind! Create your own blog (it takes 15 minutes) and share your Truth.
I invite you to share your thoughts below, and use the comments section to link to your own blog (tell us what it’s about).
Blessings,
Simon
“Speak your mind, express your truth, and the world will be a happier place” – lol not necessarily. I think this blog entry is utter gibberish, but I do like the rest of the RPT blog as the information helped me clear some deeply held resentment.
[Reply]
simonrose Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Paul – just so I’m clear, are you saying the whole article gibberish or just that one sentense?
Reading that sentense again, I see that it’s very broad and prone to misinterpretation if read out of context.
If you are referring to the whole article then I need to ask, did you follow the links to Tim’s blog and the various sources he cites? Are they gibberish? (Just so I’m clear.)
I’m confused because I know how much you have benefitted from me speaking my truth about TH and many other topics, yet when I explain WHY I speak my truth in the face of adversity, you seem surprised?
I value your opinion. And I am grateful for all your have done (away from this blog) to support our quest for truth in healing.
Thank you my friend,
blessings,
simon
[Reply]
Paul Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 11:23 pm
I have not read the links provided, but I was referring to the suggestion that speaking your mind is generally a good thing. Many people hold varying degrees of malice within them, and it is only social, moral or legal standards which inhibit them from speaking their minds and causing offence, intimidation and embarrassment to others.
Hitler was another historical figure who also spoke his mind. I think the world would be an even worse place if people spoke their minds without regard for what other people think. But that’s just my point of view and interpretation.
Your old blog did help open my eyes to the dysfunction of TH, and I am very grateful for that. When you spoke out against TH you were motivated by a desire to do the right thing by helping others see TH for what it really is. To my mind it is a desire to do good which counts, regardless as to whether such a desire manifests itself through verbal expression, or through some other form.
Best wishes
Paul Carson
[Reply]
simonrose Reply:
March 8th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I accept all your points but have just one concern . To my mind Hitler was absolutely convinced that he was doing good. (I speak as the grandchild of Holocaust survivors, I have given the subject of Hitler’s psychology a great deal of thought.)
I don’t want to discuss TH on this blog, but since you refer to it, I can tell you that it’s founder is convinced she is doing good. That may be hard for the innocent victims to swallow, but I’ve known her long enough to be sure of it.
So we have an impasse – if the only good speech is speech for a good cause, and if everyone believes their cause to be good, then is all speech good?
You, as an Englishment, have answered that in the negative, on the basis that “it is only social, moral or legal standards which inhibit them from speaking their minds and causing offence, intimidation and embarrassment to others.”
I as an outspoken Aussie, agree with my teacher Tim Ferriss, that success, like freedom, requires free speech. One only hopes that the public has the discernment to find their own truth.
This is why the American civil liberties groups had to defend Larry Flint, and it is why people like myself are fighting the Australian governments’ new internet censorship laws. Of course I’m against terrorism and child-porn but I have to fight for people’s rights to access speech I disagree with. If I didn’t, then all our freedom would suffer.
Just my thoughts. I’m a neo-libertarian radical, you are a trifle more conservative!
End of philosophy for today, we just got back to Australia and I’m off to bed…
blessings
Simon
Gayanee Reply:
April 28th, 2010 at 5:47 am
Paul I’m going to assume you are a being who’s consciously working your way towards enlightenment just as I am because you are attracted this kind of work. Being a born a Buddhist in sri lanka i was lucky enough to meet this enlighten monk when i was only 8 One thing he told me has stayed with me my whole life and I’d like to share that with you.
According to Buddhist teachings once we let go of our physical attachments we will manifest our self in the spirit world where we are one step closer to the ultimate oneness. In this spiritual realm even though we spirit we all have a unique individual energy signature. In this realm everybody can see through your energy and know exactly what you are thinking, feeling, your desires and motivations without a filter. So being truth full is not a choice. It’s the way of life. You don’t have the choice to hold your thoughts from someone even if it’s to save their feelings as everyone sees your truth.
He told me. “Little one I want you to live like if you are already in that world. Never hold your true feelings and thoughts from the world because that’s where you are headed”
Just a little story a monk told me. I wanted to share that with you with lots of love.