A stage magician performs secret actions in front of an audience without ever being detected. Why don’t people perceive those actions? Does this mean people are easily fooled? You bet. And is there something we can do to deepen our awareness so that we are less easily fooled? Yes there is. Let’s explore.
Deception and Power
In Japan there is a popular board-game called igo (image above). There was a time it was forbidden for commoners to play the game. Only the ruling elite could play, you were arrested for teaching it to normal folk. Still today, Business executives are expected to outrival others at the game. It teaches strategy, occupying territory, stealthy infiltration, patient long-term planning, surrounding an opponent and many other moves of deception. Today the game is available to all as commoners are apparently too docile to be a threat.
The ruling elite understood that playing games like this grew a persons awareness. With awareness comes power. I enjoy studying and detecting deception as a self-improvement vehicle. Familiarity with common methods of deception makes you immune to them.
But I don’t believe in using deception. I don’t use persuasion and influence techniques, don’t speak in codes and symbols and never strategize to gain advantage over people. I prefer to be straightforward because that’s also how I wish to be treated. Deceptive people are never straightforward. They try to achieve things in roundabout ways and that’s tiresome to me.
In the name of “national security” people have been convinced that it is necessary for their Government and the Media to deceive and lie and that “disinformation is necessary”. Such people believe you must use deception to defeat a deceiver, to “deceive the devil” so to speak. A lot of good people believe that. I don’t share that belief. To quote Aldous Huxley:
“The end cannot justify the means, for the simple and obvious reason that
the means employed determine the nature of the ends produced”.
When good people use the methods of bad people they are more prone to turning bad themselves. The undercover cop that stays underground for too long, develops traits of the underground. Because it “takes one to know one”, in order to “defeat evil” he needs to become a little evil. To avoid this pitfall, one needs to be very strong-willed. I’m reminded of a real-life spy story I once read. The spy was inserted into enemy territory, spending his entire life there. He played his role as “one of them” so convincingly that his allies began doubting he was “our guy”. But then, after 30 years of playing a role, he exposed the entire intelligence apparatus of the enemy! Such cases are extremely rare. More likely, when you spend your whole life with people, you stop seeing them as the enemy.
High-consciousness individuals are harmless. People of peace don’t scheme or hustle for power. The downside: They leave worldly power to deceptive people involved in pay-offs, bribery, blackmail, graft, treason, kick-backs and even murder. High-consciousness people can’t be bothered to play the games required to dominate others. Often they can’t even be bothered to play legal power-games. They simply don’t desire power (high-consciousness leaders are typically at first reluctant to assume a leadership role). The good people normally only intervene when things start getting really bad. An analogy: You hear your kids playing rowdy games in their room. You tell them to calm down. You tell them a few times. They don’t listen. But you are reluctant to intervene, knowing they have to learn their own lessons and develop responsibility. Suddenly a bang and a loud scream. One of the kids hurt themselves. You finally break up the game before someone gets more seriously hurt. Giving humans free will means angels have to work overtime.
Have you ever seen ducks swimming in a pond and thought about how to influence them? To control, coerce or weaken the ducks? If you’re a sane person, probably not! You let the ducks live the way they live and keep walking. A low-consciousness person doesn’t think that way. He sees the ducks and starts thinking of ways to exploit them. It’s parasitic consciousness. A hint that you are being ruled by people of this kind of consciousness is that, everywhere you go, you see attempts to coerce, control, influence and change you. Whoever is currently running the show, sees you as currency to be used to extract energy, labor, sex, money, etc.
Some argue that the naive populace deserve to be deceived because they won’t stand up to it. I disagree. That’s like saying the ducks deserve to be abused because they won’t defend themselves or a family deserves to be robbed because they didn’t lock their doors. Yes, the victim plays a part in attracting the event, but this doesn’t absolve the victimizer from responsibility.
If high-consciousness people won’t play deception games, how can we ever rid ourselves of a ruling class that will deceive to stay in power? It’s one of those old paradoxes that many philosophers have grappled with. As I’ve said in my books, I don’t believe there is a collective solution to this, only an individual solution. The law of attraction solves the problem at an individual level.
Takeaway: “Be wise as serpents but peaceful as doves“. You can avoid being deceived and at the same time not engage in deception.
Deception and Perception
A long time ago I purchased a fake rolex submariner that cost me $800. Yeah, I know, what an expensive fake watch! But the fake needed to be convincing. I had a similar watch in the original, which had cost me $12 000. Why did I do this? It’s just one of those silly things one does at a younger age. I sometimes wore the real one and sometimes the fake one. Nobody noticed. Both watches received compliments but most didn’t care that I was wearing a watch. Even when I pointed out to a group that it’s either fake or real, they couldn’t tell. The only way they could sometimes tell, was if I put both watches beside each other. So does it make any difference whether I wear the real or fake one? Does it make a difference to me emotionally? Are real vs. fake associated with different attractor-fields? Is wearing a fake one a form of deception or is it smart money-saving? I don’t know. All I know is that today neither a real nor a fake brand-name appeal to me.
I once used the fake watch as a decoy for thieves in hotel rooms. I’d leave it lying out in the open, while hiding the expensive one. In most cases, thieves want to be in and out as quickly as possible, so they will go for what is lying around openly and just escape. If I left the fake watch out in the open, they would take it without finding the real one . It’s a classic method of deception – to throw the dog a bone while hiding the gold. Neither watch was ever stolen. Nor do I take this approach today. I’d rather not think about thieves in the first place.
The method of throwing the dog a bone is often used in politics and it’s a useful one to know! It is used every time massive corruption is revealed. A scapegoat is arrested while everyone else involved in the crime remains untouched. The reason this method works is because people easily settle for less. They don’t set high standards, are too easily satisfied. The same pattern of accepting lesser manifestation I’ve often spotted during my Coaching work.
The topic of deception has always fascinated me. I chose my job as a success-coach out of compassion at how naive and easily programmed with false beliefs the mind is. There is a wider cosmic game of peek-a-boo we have been subject to, and the joy of revelation, first requires deception. The audience follows the magicians focus. The magician never looks at what should stay concealed. The eyes of the audience follow the entertainment. Like the eyes of little children, they get immersed in the action. This depth of focus, creates a blind-spot by which the viewer becomes oblivious to anything else going on. Look here, not there!
People whose attention is guided internally, instead of externally (like children), are less likely to be deceived. Instead of automatically following the magicians activity, they look at the big picture or the background. This is why there is so much fanfare, music, color, light and sound in a magicians stage show. He needs to get the audience distracted, putting them into a more childlike, gullible state. Magic shows, of course, work best for children. And this is why Government propaganda is best placed within entertaining, well-produced movies, couched in a context of lights, sound and fanfare.
Takeaway: What is your attention drawn to? Are these the things you have chosen from the heart or have you been enticed to focus on a thing through fear, desire and persuasion?
Ignorance is Bliss?
Some people become more aware of deception as they age. Old people are usually more grumpy than children. The downside of deception-awareness is the loss of childlike wonder. Cynics and critical thinkers are not always fun to be around. When the band is playing they don’t start dancing but stand stiffly, suspiciously observing the show. I recall a scene from childhood: I elatedly brought home a comic magazine that was packaged with a little plastic toy. I was radiant about it. But my grandmother criticized the price and told me I’d been duped. She spoiled the party.
What’s the best approach here? Should the child be left in naive joy or set straight on the economic reality of his or her choice? That depends on the extent of harm done. In this case, there was no need to spoil the kids fun over a couple of Dollars. I recall my grandmother always being grumpy. Had I paid a good price for the comic, she’d find issue with its contents.
Of course it’s not either/or. One can enjoy a state of childlike wonder at some times and turn on my BS-radar at other times.
Takeaway: Sometimes your wisdom are called for, other times it’s better to let go of what you know and enjoy the present moment for what it is.
Beliefs and Self-Deception
The internally guided are really, really hard to deceive! But even they have their blind spots. Everyone has a blind spot, both mentally and visually. Within your field of vision, there is an area you can’t see. Sometimes we don’t even see what’s in front of us. If we don’t expect a thing to be there, we may not see it!
I recall taking a walk in town. There was an antique shop. I spotted a friend in there, talking to the cashier. So I walked in. The cashier saw me, but the friend didn’t notice. Even when he looked in my direction, he still didn’t notice me. So I stood there, with a big smile. He didn’t see me because he didn’t expect to see me there. Beliefs are so powerful, they can make entire realities invisible or visible.
It is because of your visual blind spots you should turn your head all the way around to see whether there is a car pulling up beside you. You may think you know it all, but it’s just not the case. Because of our blind spots we rely on intuition. Intuition comes from the soul/heart that processes things a million times more quickly than the mind.
There are many ways of seeing the world. There are creatures that see an entirely different world than you and also see things in this world that you don’t see.
Hidden in Plain Sight
One of the factors that make deceiving people easy is that we quit paying attention to “normal” things such as a coffee cup, a tree or a car. We then no longer perceive what is right in front of us but instead see a mental projection of what the initial object suggests. If the initial object suggests “blue hyundai” as we’ve see hundreds of times each day, we dismiss it and perceive what we believe is there, not what is actually there. In other words: If I were on a secret mission and wanted to go undetected, I would choose the most boring and unassuming cars of all – the blue hyundai. If I choose that car, 99% of the people won’t bother even looking at it and will never see me sitting inside. I’m hidden in plain sight and can go about my undercover mission without being bothered. Now you know why ostentatious people – those drawing a lot of attention to themselves – are usually harmless. The really dangerous ones draw no attention. Nobody ever sees them or knows their names.
Having moved from country to country several times in my life, gives me an advantage. It helps me see things about the society in that country that the people living there no longer see. The things that have been normalized for them are strange to me.
When you’re in a neighborhood for the first time, everything seems interesting. You notice every detail. Over time, your noticing reduces. You don’t really see the houses, trees and cars anymore, until something unusual happens. A tree might fall on the street, one of the houses painted orange or something else pattern-breaking, and you start looking and seeing again. Until then, you’re in a kind of trance of “already knowing”. It is this “already knowing” that most slows down your learning and perceiving. It creates a half-asleep, lazy state.
Strange things can be hidden in plain sight if they are among normal looking things. Lies can be hidden in plain sight if they are couched in between truths. I learned this early on as a success-coach. If I wanted my students to believe something good about themselves that they didn’t yet believe, I’d first have to warm them up with things they already agree to. Once I had gotten them on “yes street”, they’d also more readily agree to what they wouldn’t at first. Am I manipulating them? Of course I am. Which is why I quit the practice long ago, even if it was for a good purpose. History is rife with manipulative people who believe they are working for the greater good. But ultimately, tricking others into “bettering themselves” doesn’t work. Somewhere down the road, they will have to learn it for themselves. Too much “intervention” really reduces a persons ability.
Takeaway: The remedy to the “already knowing” trap is to assume you know nothing. That’s how to stay awake.
Deception and Intelligence
I said I don’t use deception, but there’s one exception – when I play games. In using deception, I develop intelligence. Games are the safe-space where I can deceive all I like without causing real-life harm. Games were created so that we can train the mind without debasing our soul.
While playing tennis I sometimes steel a glance at where I am going to play the ball and then play it in the opposite direction. If the opponent is unaware, they simply follow my gaze and body language and misdirecting is easy. The trick I keep using is to intend one path and then play another. It works like a charm. As I intend to play in a certain way, my whole body-language communicates that I will play that way. My demeanor changes last minute, when it’s already too late for my opponent to adjust. I intend for a long ball and play a short one, intend for a short one and play a long one. It’s easy to deceive in this manner and it makes opponents frustrated and angry. Until they finally see through the deception and quit expecting anything from me. They then stay awake and have broken the spell and can defeat me. Unintentionally, the people deceiving us, are doing us a favor by keeping us awake.
Poker players keep their minds occupied with something unrelated – such as their family – so that their mood can’t be read. I apply the same thing in Tennis. Sometimes I need to keep occupied with something so that the opponent can’t read my intentions. This is how we know that Telepathy is real. Sometimes I keep my mind occupied in between shots so that my mind doesn’t get nervous or fixated. If it’s a really important part of the match, I can’t allow worry-thoughts to arise, so I’ll distract myself with counting the birds in a tree or something. Here it’s my own mind that needs to be deceived.
There’s a famous quote, without attribution that says: “Honesty is everything. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made“. That sentiment is both tragically true and untrue. Short term it’s true. But long term you can’t fake your frequency. People who use deception don’t know that at the level of spiritual essence, fakery is impossible. Over time it takes more and more effort and resources to cover-up deception. Living without deception (including self-deception) makes your life effortless. In the long run, “by their fruits you shall know them”.
When I was younger I was an excellent liar. If my parents asked me where I had been, I’d simply recount places I had really been. I was “telling the truth” without mentioning where I had just been. The best lies are couched in truth. Later I realized that telling lies is self-defeating. Every time I lied I was weakening the power of my word and undermining my relationship to people. One of the ways I lied was to train my parents attention on things completely unrelated to the item I was trying to hide. I skipped school the whole day. I had gone to the lake with some friends instead. To mask this fact, I told my parents about a conflict I was having with another person at school. I dramatized the conflict. Soon my parents were talking about nothing other than the conflict and attention was far away from what had really happened that day. Later I was sad and embarrassed that they were so worried about an issue that wasn’t really that dramatic. I had only made it dramatic to cover up the real drama. I notice this trick being used in society. The ruling class is using it all the time. If they wished to keep a reality secret, they erect two opposing sides that are unrelated. The two opposing sides make a lot of noise fighting each other. The eyes of the public stay trained on the conflict, never seeing what goes on behind the scenes. To mask reality C, create a fight between A and B. It’s really that simple to deceive. Too simple! Unless you tell people about the trick.
You find the “two sides” making a lot of noise over secondary issues all over the world. For example, in America, so-called “Democrats” and “Republicans” will have a fierce month-long, widely publicized fight over a particular History book used in school. They will fight over whether that particular book is appropriate or not with lots of fanfare and publicity. Never-mind the fact that the entirety of History is completely fake to begin with. Has there ever been a politician who brought that up? Or who has in fact asked the fundamental question “What is reality?” Nope. That would be just a little too REAL for them to address. In fact, the fake psychodrama of these two “political parties” is so very ridiculous I’m going to have to write a separate article about it.
Deception is a matter of directing attention and expectation. Deceivers use suggestion-hypnosis and exploit already implanted preconceptions and falsehoods. Thus, most people don’t even have to be deceived anymore, they deceive and limit themselves through their own misunderstandings and false beliefs.
Takeaway: Someone who has mastered life can be aware of darkness without him or herself turning negative. You can remain a beacon of light. Becoming the deception does not overcome it. Higher consciousness levels overcome lower ones.
Instead of being bogged down by deception, you can use it to refine your intelligence and awareness.