September 4, 2007
Mr. Amazing’s Magic Rocks
Blair Warren has a great blog on persuasion, and is always a joy to read. Recently he posted the following story, which he graciously allowed me to reprint.
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Mr. Amazing’s Magic Rocks
A man sets up a booth at a fair. He then places an ordinary rock upon his table and hangs a banner behind him that reads:
Money Back Guarantee
Onlookers gather around the mysterious salesman and soon one approaches him.
“How do I know these rocks really attract wealth?”
“They work based on universal laws and are proven effective by quantum physics. You don’t have to do anything except think about wealth. The rock does the rest.”
“And you’ll return my money if it doesn’t work?”
“Absolutely.”
The onlooker pauses, then slaps a $20 bill on the table and leaves with his magic rock.
Mr. Amazing pulls another rock from a box and gently places it upon the table.
Another onlooker steps forward.
“How do I know these rocks work?” he asks.
“Well, I could tell you all about universal laws and quantum physics, but instead I’ll prove they work right here, right now.”
“Okay. Prove it.”
Mr. Amazing points to the $20 on the table and says, “See that? It wasn’t there just a few moments ago. I manifested it using my magic rocks.”
The onlooker thinks for a moment, then realizes that Mr. Amazing is correct. The money wasn’t there just a few moments ago. He immediately slaps a $20 bill down on the table and he, too, leaves with a magic rock.
The remaining onlookers are now closing in on the table. They overhear Mr. Amazing and another customer talking.
“How do I know these rocks work?” the customer asks.
“You see that $40 on the table? It was only $20 a few moments ago.”
Hearing this, the crowd goes mad and everyone is now fighting to be the next lucky customer.
But soon, reality sets in on some of his former customers. Most are too embarrassed to ask for a refund, but a few do just that.
“I’d be happy to return your money, but are you sure you have been thinking about wealth?” Mr. Amazing asks them.
“Constantly,” one man assures him. “Why do you ask?”
“Because I know my rocks attract wealth. Just look at this pile of money here. It’s much, much larger than it was when you were here earlier today and I owe it all to my magic rocks. Perhaps you aren’t thinking correctly.”
The customers look confused. After all, Mr. Amazing is correct. His pile of money is much larger than it was before.
“You know,” says Mr. Amazing, “I really want to see you folks enjoy the same type of prosperity I enjoy so you might consider taking one of my wealth attraction seminars. They aren’t cheap, but they really work for me.”
His customers lean in a bit, but seem uncommitted.
“I’ll tell you what,” Mr. Amazing says, “I’ll even take $20 off the price of the seminar. That way you’re getting all your money back and get to learn my advanced success strategies.”
The customers fight to present him with their credit cards.
And soon the day is done Mr. Amazing tallies his earnings. To celebrate, he goes out and buys a new wardrobe, a luxury car, a new home, and plans his dream vacation.
The next week, he is spotted at another fair and overheard saying…
“How can I prove these rocks work? Just look at all my success. I didn’t have any of these things last week. And I owe it all to my magic rocks.”
With that, Mr. Amazing is mobbed and becomes a legend.
And though many will try, none of his customers will be able to duplicate his success or discover the true secret behind it. But they won’t give up for they’ll still have hope. After all, they’ll still have their magic rocks.
Of course, this is just a fable. Something like this could never work in real life.
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Does this story remind you of something you know about that was recently on Oprah and the like? "The Secret," which made Oprah and has gone on to make $20 million, offers this idea that you can attract good fortune to yourself just by opening yourself up to it, and projecting your needs and wants into the universe.
Baloney. Sloppy thinking. Ridiculous. And a bad influence to society to even suggest this with an absence of responsibility and hard work.
The karma you received is only the karma you deserve in life. If you haven’t created the merit to receive some excellence you desire, all the mental projection in the world will do nothing for you. What comes, good or bad, is ALL due to karma. And it’s karma you created, so don’t blame other people.
If you create good karma, then good fortune will result even if you don’t want it, and the opposite holds true. No matter how good your fortune this instant, some bad fortune from some ancient karmic life situation is always ready to come due – no one lives a perfect life. That’s why Zen teaches you it’s how you DEAL with what arises that matters.
Basically, if you want a new future in THIS life which is different from the karmic fate you already laid out (created) for this life due to past actions, you have to create it with actions other than just thoughts. Consistent, determined, wise actions.
What are the keys to accomplishing this?
The normal self-help crowd talks about being motivated, creating a model for success and working it with massive intelligent action, flexibility and a monitoring system to keep you on track.
But guess what? You can still fail at reaching your goal despite A+ marks along these lines.
What’s missing?
The merit to succeed. No merit = no karma for the result you want.
Secondly, keeping to and holding to habits that stand in the way of creating the future you desire, which meditation can help you overcome by the very act of shining light on them (vipassana practice).
Lastly, asking for help from heaven for changing a karma that has already been set.Yes, sometimes you need help from others to change your future, including heaven.
All this and more are the things I go over in White Fat Cow and related self-help articles on the website.
White Fat Cow is not like these hundreds of other self-help, New Age, prosperity books out there. It’s paradigm busting. It’s the real thing. It takes the life events that manifest, and proves that what manifests is from karma, and tells you what all the sages from various religions have said is the formula for changing the karma to come. Latet this year, after over a decade of preparation, I’ll even introduce a Chinese astrology/I-Ching karma calculator that lets you see what’s in store in your future, and tells how to change things.
Why write about White Fat Cow? Another testimonial just came in:
"I just finished reading ‘White Fat Cow’, and the only word that come to mind is gratitude. Thank you for sharing with us this amazing resource. Merging material and spritual success has always been a personal quest of mine, but I had been unable to find a comprehensive book on the topic… Until I came accross White Fat Cow…
This may sound a bit exagerate, but I believe in every word of it: this book is worth more than a full library of self-help books on how to bring success into your life. I read a lot of those, and at some point they all say the same things. Well, you go much further than that. Those books take one original idea, mix it with old recipes, dilute it over 200 pages and call this a book. You go much further than this, bringing an integral perspective on how to change one’s life for the better in the msot profound way. In short, White Fat Cow to me is the ultimate resource on how to profoundly and sustainably change one’s life for the better, both on the material and spiritual fronts.
In addition, it is a great read, full of anecdotes and concrete examples that make the concepts come to life. I was a bit overwhelmed with the information at time, but I guess it’s part of the necessary learning process.
So thanks again for this amazing book, I’d definitely recommend it to any seeker of material and/or spiritual riches out there !"
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