When one gets right down to we have been and are countless times over the course of each and every day.

But that's not what I'd like to refer to as an example. Rather, I shall draw from my one and only experience on stage with a professional stage hypnotist. Orman McGill - a good friend of EJs and one of this centuries outstanding hypnotists gave a presentation at one of the Institute's yearly Conventions. The Ross Relles' Convention to be exact.

Several of us volunteered to be subjects of the experiment.

We went on stage.

Orman put us into trance.

And as usual we did stuff. Raising of arms, barking like chickens and laying eggs like dogs. Or, something to that effect.

Throughout the experience my inner world was one of "I'm just going along with it."

I was utterly convinced that at any moment, if I chose to. I could stop participating and not carry out a suggestion.

Later I had an opportunity to ask Mr. McGill about that perception of events. He confirmed that for the most part that was everyone's experience.

They all assumed that they could stop going along with it at any point. And that they were just sort of going along with the moment.

They were not actually under the will of an outside agency. They really could stop barking like a chicken and laying dog eggs any time they chose to.

Thing is they almost never did. It was always easier to just go along.

The ins and outs of how this works could fill volumes. In fact it does -- The Secret Talks Volumes. Ask someone about those at another time.

At this moment let's consider this issue of "just going along."

Consider the opening paragraph from this workshops description on the website:

"If we excuse our passing states by protesting that we are unable to  gather the authority to change our moods, we are lying to ourselves,  which is the worst form of lying. "

We knew sitting on stage that we were in fact choosing to participate. Even though everyone agreed as a social courtesy that the Hypnotist made us do it, we knew we were going along with it.

As the quote from the Workshop page continues.

"To say we are unwilling to change  our mood is more true, because even in ordinary life, the authority  to produce changes in mood is accessible to anyone."

"This artificial  barrier is the imaginary accumulated result of having pampered the  cravings of the machine for many years."

"We may have pampered our machines for a very long time, over  many years, but we still have the power to suddenly adopt another  mood entirely, if we choose to take the authority."

"We have given  this authority away for so long that we have forgotten that it belongs  to us."

"This form of hypnotism confines mechanical man in a  powerful but an imaginary emotional prison-without-bars."

At this point one may surmise displays of abrupt and contrary action would be proof that one was captain of their own barge.

Here I should confess that while on stage I did in fact try a few little experiments of my own which were not part of the verbalized agenda.

At a certain point during the stage performance I stopped participating for just the briefest of moments.

When a command was given I would not do it. I would pause just a brief moment. Then voluntarize the action a half-beat behind the others.

I would also continue with the action a half-beat after told to stop.

In my inner world I was playing with participation and non-participation. But then I began to wonder was this another form of self-delusion while obediently proceeding.

Was this inner theater of momentary noncompliance before compliance the norm? Was this all par for the course?

Unfortunately the drive back to town wasn't quite long enough to ask Orman this question.

Here it becomes a mute point. Whether I was following along or not on that one stage is now water long under the bridge.

Or is it?

Those few moments of that experiment have left a mark. A very vivid and stimulating mark.

I entered into an unusual experiment with the mood of adventuresome participation.

I played around in ways that were in fact not the norm for me.

And, it was in a domain that made no specific sense to any life strategies I had at the moment.

Somehow all of these elements contributed to my use of the experiment for my work.

There is another experiment which EJ has introduced us to of late.

I'm reminded at the moment about a phenomenon in which anything EJ says which is esoteric and not possible to confirm is taken as gospel truth and instantly accepted as "truth" without actual personal investigation.

I'm also reminded about another phenomenon in which anything EJ says which involves "doing" and is available for confirmation through actual personal investigation is also instantly processed. Sometimes instantly processed as bull-loney, and sometimes instantly processed as gospel "truth". Either one equally without benefit of actually carrying out the easily accessible experiment.

This is so stupid.

Either EJ is a shaman or he isn't.

Either EJ is a Worker in the Work or he isn't.

This isn't a sometimes yes. Sometimes no kind of thing.

I'm not suggesting that one accept without question anything told to you. Quite the opposite. I suggesting that one those occasions when something which can be tried, something which can be tested is presented do it. Question.

To put this into context, let's consider the aforementioned current project: OnLine Auctions.

Nevermind why to do the auctions.

While standing in traffic, if your attention is drawn to the existence of an on-coming car because someone honks a horn. Or maybe because someone turns up some music, or maybe because a bird flies across the sky. It doesn't matter what drew your attention to the existence of the car.

Taking action relative to the on-coming car should quickly rise to the top of your todo list.

If you continue to walk along as if the current situation has nothing to do with you, then you are sadly mistaken. Who else could it have anything to do with?

I'm reminded of two of the lines in the opening paragraph from the website:

"We have given  this authority away for so long that we have forgotten that it belongs  to us."

"This form of hypnotism confines mechanical man in a  powerful but an imaginary emotional prison-without-bars."

Let's continue along these lines and see where it leads.