“From the Fixed part of ourselves, we get those things that are like time-release capsules, they are in us all, waiting to be activated. 

One of the superstars of our identity gathering process is puberty. Children don’t know what’s about to hit them; adults look back and the very thought of puberty makes them wince. Unless you are a hermit, there are always Peer Groups. Groups of fellow professionals, people with common interests or activities who represent peer groups; we are going to consider the onset of puberty and the supercharged potency that the young adult or adolescent Peer Group takes on.

In this commentary, we will not take one special friend but will explore the collective group of friends. Here they will be referred to as the Peer Group. It is that gathering of adolescents that draw comfort from the mutuality they are forging as they alone tackle life’s dilemmas, propositions and the who spectrum of colours that emerge over the horizon of young adulthood.

Around this time the emphasis upon where we are based, our centre of gravity, shifts significantly. The place of the family is usurped by that infinitely more glamorous and omnipotent collective who are the Peer Group. Your family have provided you with a foundation and now it’s time to experiment. To take the vehicle that you built out for a spin. Parents metamorphose from being guardians and protectors into something else. Often the familial discourse can become antagonistic and oppositional; you are compelled to seek the sanctuary of those like you, whose experiences are similar and are probably confronted with the same challenges you are facing.

At this time you begin to take an interest in yourself that has not been there before. You desire to create an individual identity that expresses yourself and also an identity that is considered acceptable by the Peer Group.

The Peer Group has its drivers and mentors who set the agenda, the look and the tone of the group’s identity. The adolescent peer group is a pumped-up sequence of events; hormones are being released into the bloodstream for the first time in such concentrated doses. Young people are trying to accommodate a hormonal cocktail that can create all manner of stresses and place them into improbable situations.

Testosterone is the most unreasonable hormone around and the territorial aspirations of young men are extraordinary to watch and be involved with.

Recent experiences with elephants at a game reserve in Pilanesberg, South Africa presented a disquieting phenomenon. Other animals in the supposed safety of the reserves, notably rhino, were killed in what appeared to be a gratuitous manner. Initially the culprits were a mystery. Elephants tend to be very even tempered and these were particularly nasty and uncharacteristic killings. Quite out of keeping with any previously experienced elephant behaviour.

Eventually it was discovered who was culpable; witnesses watched in disbelief as young male elephants made unwelcome sexual advances on rhino. The unfortunate rhino rejected these advances and the enraged elephants systematically bullied and killed the hapless animals. Experts were called in and worked out the common theme in the elephant’s life story was that they were all orphaned. They had been grouped together as displaced youngsters by well intending agencies without older role models to mentor them.

Subsequently they moved from their elephant childhood and entered a state of ‘super-adolescence’. Fuelled by unmediated testosterone surges they wreaked havoc. The missing link was the moderating influence of older and wiser elephants who were custodians of the elephant way. In its simplest terms, there were no role models for the young bulls to take their lead from.

When the Pilanesberg rangers worked out what was happening, they introduced mature bull elephants to the herd. The killing spree and unruly behaviour stopped instantly as the regulating influence of the older bulls asserted itself. The implications of this are far reaching. The principles involved illustrate the dynamics at play in adolescence and Peer Group acquiescence.

How do we learn? Take academia out of the equation and we are left with the oral tradition, observation and modelling or copying the behaviour of others, we look for role models. If we are fortunate, there will be positive role models whose behaviour we can integrate. As children, we all played copying games; essentially a rehearsal for later life whereby we replicate the behaviour of adults. We play the role without understanding it. Many years later, perhaps when we are adults ourselves, the significance and understanding of the role becomes clear to us. Something innate within recognises that the adults are keepers of a quality that we do not understand, but accept the authority of. They are the guardians of the community, keepers of the ways and the guarantors of social cohesion. In this way, we can see how generations pass along what they have learned. Adults show and tell their offspring what they have learned and understood themselves. Theoretically, each generation takes and refines that knowledge and so progress is assured.

None of the displaced, orphaned elephants had recourse to the body of knowledge that mature elephants had. The transference was interrupted. That collective intelligence that passed from generation to generation had no opportunity to establish itself within the young elephant’s cognizance. When adolescence kicked in, the restraining influence of their elders was simply non-existent. The very thing in the young elephants that sought guidance had no focus. The most dominant male, invariably the one most powerfully affected by the hormonal releases, became the role model that set the standard. The prevailing order among the herd collapsed and anarchy took its place.

The Pilanesberg scenario can be transposed to human societies. In the context of our inquiry, the key question you must ask is: were there situations in your own formative years where similar behaviours or attitudes were allowed to grow unchecked? You may well find things that developed due to lack of sound guidance.

At this point, I hope I’m not addressing someone who went on a rhino-killing spree! I’m sure you will recognise rather less extreme manifestations of the phenomenon of adolescent identity asserting itself in your own case.

Young women experience a different process. While young men are sampling the delights of testosterone, pubescent girls undergo changes brought about by the hormones oestrogen and progesterone.  When they reach puberty, young women experience menarche (from the Greek ‘Moon beginning’). They begin to menstruate and find themselves in a monthly cycle of hormonal fluctuations, which can influence their mood and state dramatically.

Their mental and emotional furniture is rearranged, they become subject to a blend of influences that are quite new and alien to them. Throughout all of this, there is a pressure to conform to a particular prototype that the Peer Group has created. This gives plentiful opportunities for stress, conflict and drama.

This is a time when people are falling in and out of love with stunning rapidity. Making huge statements one day and completely reversing them the next; a time when lifelong friends are suddenly bitter enemies and there is general confusion afoot. The combination of erratic influences gives rise to implausible situations; young people coerced by influences that they struggle to manage find themselves compromised. In extreme instances, these are unplanned life altering or defining moments.

No doubt, you will recall disarranging and embarrassing experiences from your own personal adolescent saga. Take solace in the knowledge that we all went through it. The crucial factor here being, how much of it came with you when you left it behind? How many items of excess baggage do you carry that really belong in the adolescent cocktail shaker you eventually managed to escape from?

It’s a time when young people seek out the support and companionship of others who are experiencing similar upheaval. The wisdom of the Peer Group becomes the oracle they consult. The territory is ripe for misinformation, urban myths and confusion. Unless you have taken time to update ideas formed at that time, they’re still in there, exerting their influence.

There are attendant factors that give the Peer Group its identity. How it deals with new issues such as sexual activity, boyfriends, girlfriends, alcohol, tobacco and drugs. The fashions and styles of the moment, music and youth culture.

These factors create an environment that influences the young person massively. That environment can program them in ways that stay with them for the rest of their lives as determining features of how they respond and react to anything that crosses their path.

So the question now is, what was your Peer Group like? Within the hierarchy of the micro-society you belonged to, where did you gravitate towards? The academic, the rebellious, the sporty, the conformists, the nerds, the comedians; the list goes on but they all have their own conditions and articles of association.

Did you consider yourself an insider, an outsider, a fake? As you struggled to find a place for yourself, what things were caused in you and are any of them still live issues? The Peer Group can be seen as the dry run or the test drive of the person you have become or are becoming. It can be an awkward and clumsy place where mistakes are made as you learn to handle the raw materials of the person that you will emerge as.

There is misunderstanding regarding what works and the kind of results that can be achieved by the, as yet, unproven range of roles and fledgling identities. Think chat up lines, trying to find the right clothes for a night out; the etiquette challenges – is it ‘Mrs. R’, ‘Mrs. Robinson’ or ‘Mary’ for your friend’s mother?

This is an experimental time where discovering what works is a key feature and where the landscape is unfamiliar and potentially intimidating. It is an obstacle course and many fall by the wayside. From the obvious things like unplanned pregnancies and substance abuse issues; to the more subtle, like acquiring unhelpful character traits that can arrest a person’s development.

The way you are affected by and deal with the issues raised by adolescence and the Peer Group identity you choose to be subjected to will influence the way the rest of your life unfolds.

Perhaps for the first time you will be making choices of your own. You will be obliged to deal with the consequences of those choices whether their impact is positive or negative. The Peer Group defines what is acceptable or not, it sets the agenda that may come to occupy your time and thoughts. Each generation has its own particular ideas and challenges as it attempts to define its collective identity.

As human societies develop there is constant change and reformation. There are times when this is particularly acute and the speed of change increases; we are in such a time now. There are times when there is comparatively little change; prior to the Industrial Revolution, for example, the life of a simple agrarian worker or peasant remained unchanged for centuries.

It is possible to discuss these things almost indefinitely but what is common to all adults is that they negotiated a path through these often troubled times in their lives and came out the other side. Puberty and adolescence is a time of personal metamorphosis. We leave the relative safety of childhood to embark upon life’s journey as independent travellers. Our entire life’s experience is to do with influence; we are considering the impact that external influences at a particularly charged time have upon our lives. Outcomes are definitive, they prepare us for development, or they place us further away from the possibility of development. The Mechanics of Happiness is definitively a guide to prepare the reader for growth and development; in that context, this is a personal labyrinth that requires your understanding.

The adolescent Peer Group is the shelter from the storm. What compels people often places them into conflict with one another. Adults, usually parents, easily become antagonists. They take on the role of resistors; in all areas of life, there is resistance, at this hyper charged time the resistance seems more acute. The Peer Group becomes a place of least resistance. It satisfies certain needs, provides a sense of belonging and becomes its members’ emotional home. What happens within its domain is especially potent. You have only to look at the catalogue of ‘Coming of Age’ movies to see this; an inciting event occurs and impacts dramatically upon the lives of all concerned. Consider also that in world history, vast numbers of the combatants, soldiers and dare I say ‘cannon fodder’ involved in wars and conflicts come from this age group.

Critical within all of this is the awareness that very little of it is you. The identity you have forged has been like a magpie gathering shiny things, picking up the bits you were attracted to and trying them on for size. This may have made you a smooth social operator and given you passport in the world. In the Universe, however, in the confines of development, that identity is circumstantial and of little relevance.

Don’t be despondent, far better to be an effective social animal than the person everyone avoids if you are not going to be a hermit. See that the social identity is something that carries no great weight in real terms and exists more as a convenience, an interface with the world. The world is a place of exchange, a great trading floor where commodities are bartered for and haggled over. The identity that you form is best considered as a trading identity, the role you play in order to take part in the business of the world. Understand that the business of the world is not the business of Creation. The two exist as very separate domains, naturally, there is a border where they interact, but as you move further into the hinterland of either, the validity of its counterpart diminishes. Reading this now places you right on the border. The world is a stage, but the Universe is your home. Naturally, you need an identity to operate on that stage, but it is only partial. Like a chameleon adapts to its environment you will adapt to the world you find yourself in, but it is not you, it is a role.

Why do I say that? Well it’s important to know that development is impersonal at one level, the first level. There may be things in your identity that are no longer applicable. If you love them and cherish them, they may be hard to let go of; so try not to attach too great a significance to them or get possessive about them. If you do, it may diminish the possibility of your future growth and development.

That may sound harsh but, eyes on the prize, remember what we’re dealing with here is vitally important to you personally because it concerns the journey that you will travel to achieve happiness, fulfilment, and the sense of being reconnected to the original purpose of your life, whatever that may be.”

image: prolix6x

This is an interesting paper that covers a range of my personal passions. The bee itself, symbology, esoteric or hidden knowledge and Ancient Egyptian mythology.

On the Symbolism of the Bee in the Occult Tradition

By AB

Greetings.

To those unfamiliar with our work, it may seem curious that an occult aspirant should choose the seemingly lowly and unaspiring bee as a symbol of his chosen study. To those who have examined the aims and precepts of occultism more closely, the obvious connection is summarized well by a statement of St. John Chrysostom in his twelfth homily: “The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others.” Indeed, the bee works unceasingly for the common good of the hive, and obeys without question what sometimes appears to be an inequitable hierarchy.

So, too, does the occultist aim to serve the common good of  humanity. He does so in two ways — by first developing himself to be a  fit vessel for the spiritual forces that he makes use of in his work, and secondly, by directing those spiritual forces to aid in correcting the imbalances in the knowledge or circumstances of those that come to him for assistance. The trained occultist knows that he is not separate from others, but shares with them a community of consciousness by virtue of their shared humanity. In helping others along the path, he also advances himself. As he advances himself, so does he lift up all others that will tread the path after him. Additionally, the occult aspirant obeys a heriarchy as immutable as that of the hive. The difference with the occultist, however, is that the hierarchy he obeys are the precepts that the Higher Self has set down for him, and the laws of his own mind and of the mind side of Nature. These precepts and laws, though fixed and rigid on their own planes, appear inequitable only to those that do not know how to make use of them. The bee does not complain of the hierarchy, but sets himself to do his best within it; so, too, does the occultist.

There are additional meanings of the bee that the Mystery traditions have left us. We cannot hope to exhaust the meanings of this symbol, but we may at least make a start. Bees are often considered a symbol of the Goddess or Divine Feminine because they are ruled by queens. In particular, they are associated with the goddess Venus because part of their labor is the indirect fertilization of flowers, all of which come under the dominion of Venus. Without bees, many species of flowers would die out, and so the bee may justly be considered a handmaiden of that goddess. There is a Greek tradition, too, of the Nine Muses, the divine patronesses or music and poetry, taking on the form of bees. This comports well with the rulership of Venus over the arts.

Another occult tradition states that the mysterious figure Melchizedek, who is mentioned in the Bible in connection with giving communion to the patriarch Abraham, is an entity that brought three gifts to earth from the planet Venus: the bee, wheat, and the mineral asbestos. The tradition is an allegorical one. The meaning of the three gifts may be partially understood as symbolizing three grades of initiation. In the first grade, one serves (bee). In the second grade, the initiate focuses on understanding and practicing the development of the many out of the one (wheat). In the third grade, the initiate becomes a channel of the Divine Fire; he burns, but is not consumed (asbestos).

In the sacred tradition known as the Qabalah, the planet and goddess Venus are associated with the Sephirah Netzach. This Sephirah is also called “Saykel Nesether”, or the “Occult Intelligence.” Two of the potencies of human consciousness that have their root in Venus or Netzach are creative imagination and desire. These are two sine qua non of occult development. Without knowledge of the right use of creative imagination and desire, the aspirant makes little progress.

The bee is also a symbol for wisdom, for it collects pollen from many flowers and turns it into the nourishing honey, which is the gold of bees. Just so, the occult aspirant collects experience from the varying circumstances of his life and from it extracts spiritual gold. As the spiritual alchemists imply, the life of the occult aspirant is his laboratory, and his consciousness and his body the subjects of his spiritual experiments.

Yet there is even more meaning for those occultists who study the Egyptian tradition — a tradition from which we, ourselves, draw inspiration. A well known cosmological myth from the ancient Egyptian city of Heliopolis — Greek for City of the Sun, but known as Annu or Iunu in Egyptian, and which is now located in a suburb of modern Cairo — is that the sun-god Re was self-generated, having spontaneously arisen from the primordial Waters of the Nun (Footnote 1). After his self-generation, Re began to generate other gods. Another story provides additional dimension to our subject. A lesser known tradition, and one that the priests of Heliopolis themselves are said to have taught as part of their allegorical mysteries, states that the goddess Neith was the first deity that emerged from the Waters of the Nun, making her the foremost of the Egyptian Gods. Having arisen from the Nun, she rested upon a primeval mound that had formed in the midst of the Waters. Raising her voice, she uttered the first sounds or words of power — “hekau” in Egyptian — and then created Light (Footnote 2). Next, she became Virgin Mother of the Sun by giving birth to Re, who appeared as a child on the horizon (Footnote 3). She granted the power of disseminating Light to Re through the vehicle of the Sun, then in the form of a bee flew off to the place where the city Sais — called “Sau” in Egyptian, and which was situated in the middle of the Nile delta — was to be in order to establish her cult and temple there. The Temple of Neith in Sau is traditionally known as the House of the Bee — or “Hoot-Bit” in Egyptian.

There are a couple of other myths that support this version of the Heliopolitan cosmology. First, there is a story from the corpus of myths surrounding the battles of Horus and Set. The Council of Gods convened to decide who should rule Egypt after the death of the god Osiris. Set had murdered Osiris and usurped the throne, but Horus was the rightful heir, though his youth and inexperience were considered unfavorable factors in the minds of some gods. After much discussion, the gods could come to no resolution, so they suggested that Thoth, the scribe of the Gods, write a letter to Neith, whom they considered the wisest of the Gods. Thoth willingly agreed, and began his letter: “To Neith, the Eldest One, the Mother of the Gods, who shone in the primeval time.” Another myth that may indicate Re’s birth from Neith is the story of Isis and Re. Isis, desiring to become as powerful as Re, decided to trick him into revealing his magic name to her. Knowledge of that name would give Isis great power. She fashioned a serpent out of the spittle of Re that she had found amongst some cedars. She set the serpent along the path where she knew Re was accustomed to walk. Re was bitten, and the poison coursed through his body, causing agonizing pain. Re screamed and cried in rage, and the tears that flowed from his eyes turned into bees. Perhaps a cry for help to his mother? The text does not say.  However, since Re has been effectually immobilized, is in pain greater than he can bear, and does not know how to make it cease, it is not unreasonable to assume that he might be calling on the Eldest, the Mother of the Gods, to come to his aid. Thirdly, the Egyptians sometimes gave Neith the title “Opener of the Ways” because it was she that was the first conscious entity to begin the process of manifestation (Footnote 4).

It is said that the statue of Neith in the House of the Bee was veiled, and that inscribed at its base were the words, “I am all that has been, that is, or shall ever be; no mortal man hath ever me unveiled.”   Another phrase associated with Neith is “The fruit which I have brought forth is the Sun.” Now these phrases are interesting because the first implies a temporal and substantive omnipresence of Neith, which comports well with an entity that was the first to emerge from the Nun. Moreover, the first phrase is almost exactly the esoteric meaning of the Qabalistic God-Name YHVH, or Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. This Qabalistic name is derived from the Hebrew verb “to be.” Just so, the name Neith is derived from a similarly extended Egyptian verb “to be” (Footnote 5). The second phrase implies that she is the mother of the Sun. We may reasonably take this as further confirmation that Neith is, at least by some accounts, the mother of the sun-god Re (Footnote 6).

The symbol of the Veil is an important one throughout the Mysteries, whether they be Christian, Greek, Egyptian, Qabalistic, Rosicrucian, etc. and meditation on the Veil will fruitfully repay the occult student. In one sense, the veil of Neith shrouds what occultists term the “mind side of Nature.” The initiate in the House of the Bee was told by the goddess, “Come look beneath my veil.” It is both an invitation, and a dare. When the veil is lifted to one by the grace of the goddess, the initiate perceives the inner workings and patterns of Nature, and so perceiving, thereafter learns to consciously participate in them, such that he becomes a human administrator of the will of the Gods (Footnote 7). In fact, the initiate at this point fully recognizes his own inner divinity and the responsibilities that such recognition brings.  He has become something more than human. And though he still be man, he has not violated Neith’s statement “no mortal man hath ever me unveiled.” One must take Nature as his Master before one can take Her as his Mistress. This every ancient Egyptian initiate knew. We modern occultists also pay great heed to this principle.

Neith was primarily a goddess of wisdom, but also of weaving; it is said that her gift to the newly-deceased were the cloth wrappings in which they were buried (Footnote 8). Some of her oldest and most primitive symbols were hunting equipment — crossed arrows or spears and two bows. Because of these associations, and her associations with childbirth, the Greeks identified Neith with both Athena (the goddess of wisdom, weaving, and skill in battle), and Artemis (goddess of the hunt, the moon, and childbirth). In particular, she was associated with Artemis Dictynna, an aspect of Artemis as patroness of fisherman, particularly in Crete. Additionally, the symbolism of the net is not too dissimilar from that of the veil (Footnote 9).

In time, though still in the predynastic period in Egyptian history, the figure of the bee became a symbol of royalty in Egypt (Footnote 10). One of the titles of Pharoah in his office as King of Lower Egypt and wearer of the Red Crown was “Ny-Bit” — “he who belongs to the Bee” (Footnotes 12 and 13). It is very likely that this title was derived from the association of the Bee with the Mother of the Gods, Neith. After all, Pharoah was seen as a descendant of the Gods, if not a god incarnate himself. But this is not all. The Red Crown of Egypt is called “deshret”, but in some Pyramid texts, it is termed “net” — a word etymologically very similar to the Egyptian word for Neith. Indeed, Neith is often depicted in temple drawings wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.

It is also of interest that the root word for bee in Egyptian was also used to describe persons of fine character or good quality. Those that are familiar with the curricula of the modern schools of initiation will know that the development of fine character and good qualities is one of the primary aims of the beginning student’s work in the Lesser Mysteries.

To summarize, we have associated the bee with service, diligence, the right use of creative imagination and desire, and the collection of wisdom from the experiences of life. From the association with the Egyptian goddess Neith, we have linked the bee to the discernment, and consequent use and administration, of the veiled laws and patterns of Nature, as well as the process of coming to know our own inner divinity as a spiritual fact. Finally, we have seen the bee as a symbol of spiritual royalty and the development of fine character.

Do not these things, my friends, describe what you aspire to in your work? What is in your heart?

_____________________________________

Footnote 1: The Egyptian Nun (pron. “noon”) is a concept not unlike the Greek Chaos.

Footnote 2: Sound preceding the creation of Light is found in several cosmologies, including those of Qabalah and Hinduism.

Footnote 3: Being the first goddess to give birth — indeed, credited with inventing birth — Neith became a patroness of women in childbirth.

Footnote 4: The term “Upuat” meaning “Opener of the Ways” is also used as an appellation for the god Anubis, though there is also a separate god named Upuat who was the helmsman in Re’s Boat of Millions of Years, in which he daily traversed the skies as the Sun. See the additional article on the Opener of the Ways on this web site.

Footnote 5: The skeleton of the verb, which was not commonly used, is “nt” or “ntt”. In rare forms, it is drawn with the hieroglyph of a four-petalled flower, which we have commented would symbolically come under the dominion of Venus. Interestingly, Neith is sometimes given the title “God one,” just as the Jews proclaimed Yahweh (YHVH) to be One (see, Deut. 6:4). The first phrase that we have mentioned was preserved by Plutarch in his essay on Isis and Osiris. The second phrase is recorded by Proclus.

Footnote 6: Some have termed Neith of Sau the “Saitic Isis”, and consider that the Sun referred to is Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, who also has solar connotations. However, it is beyond cavil in the mythology of Heliopolis that Isis and Neith are separate figures for the purposes of the myths. For instance, when the Council of Gods write to Neith for advice in the drama of Set and Horus, they are doing so primarily at the suit of Isis, who is pressing for her son Horus to be named the ruler of Egypt. Matters are confounded by the fact that Sau was also called “Aset-Net” — the “seat of Neith” or the “throne of Neith.” The confusion stems from the fact that the word “Aset” means both “Isis” and “throne”. In any event, there was undoubtedly some fusion of the two goddesses over the course of Egyptian history.

Footnote 7: In Tarot symbology, Neith may be considered the World Dancer in Trump XXI. The figure in that card bears a veil. The card is also attributed to the letter Tau, with which Qabalistic texts associate the central point of creation.

Footnote 8: “Netet” is a related verb, meaning “to knit, to weave.”

Footnote 9: Another common spelling of Neith is “Net.” And though the word net as a tool for fishing is spelled the same way, there is no connection in Egyptian between the words net (“abtit”) and “Net” as referring to Neith. This has caused some confusion amongst occultists studying the Egyptian tradition, particularly because another name for the House of the Bee — “Hoot-Bit” — was “Hoot-Net” — the “House of Net” or “House of Neith.” Egyptian temples were called Houses because they operated something like divine residences; the spiritual essence of the god or goddess of a temple was believed to be in the deity’s statue, which was housed in the Temple and which was washed in the morning, presented with breakfast in the form of offerings, etc., etc. Unfortunately, “House of Net” is easily confused with the “House of THE Net”, which was another Egyptian temple, but in the city of Hermopolis — Khemenu or “Eight-Towns” — further down the Nile. The House of the Net — “Hoot-Abtit” — was essentially a college of priest-magicians appended to the Temple of Thoth (“Per Djhuti”; the Egyptian Hermes, hence the Greek name of the city).

This Hoot-Abtit in Khemenu is also important to our tradition, is subtly connected with the goddess Neith and the House of the Bee, and is worthy of treatment in a separate account, but it is highlighted here only so that there will be no confusion between the House of the Bee and the House of the Net via the alternate spelling and symbolism of Neith.

Footnote 10: As it did, too, in France at the time of Charlemagne. The fleur-de-lis of France is supposed by some to be not a flower, but a stylized bee developed from earlier times.

Footnote 11: Lower Egypt is actually northern Egypt, and Upper Egypt is southern Egypt. The perspective of the Egyptians was the flowing of the Nile, the source and upper parts of which are more southerly in Africa, and the delta and lower parts of which are in northern Egypt, along the Mediterranean Sea. Pharoah’s title as ruler of Upper Egypt was “ny-soot” — “he of the reed”; that designation also has special significance.

Footnote 12: The same word for bee — “bit” — was also used as the Egyptian word for honey, although the latter word was pronounced slightly differently in Egyptian. Honey was something of a rarity to the common folk of Egypt (fruit juices, like date, were more common sweeteners), but was used in many medicinal preparations. Thus, Pharoah, as he of the bee, was considered the “healer of his people.”

© Copyright AB

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I wrote a Preface for a new book, I thought I would share it, feedback always appreciated:

Dedication 

I dedicate this work to my teachers whose anonymity I respect but without whose guidance I would still be lost, confused and sleeping soundly.

 I offer this work to all those who seek understanding of their own situation and are looking for clues to unravel the great mystery that envelops us all.

Peter J Levine  

MA, BA Hons, Dip LC, FRM

England, 2010
Preface

“Happiness is the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

Aristotle

” If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.”

Isaac Newton

Before we start, two things need addressing. The first being, what is The Mechanics of Happiness? The second: who is Peter Levine, and why should I pay attention to what he has to say? I will deal with them both now.

Certain questions go with the territory of being human. They are perennials, hardy and recurrent. They underpin our existence and are always there, either up front or in the background. Being human presents us with a set of conditions that define the character of what it means to be that most remarkable of things, a sentient, conscious being with aspirations, hopes, fears and concerns.

We have choice. The ability to select, like watching a parade progressing before us and voting for our favourite float or band or costume. We also have a fixed amount of time. We don’t know what that amount is, there’s an element of mystery to it, but we know that we have now. In our now, we may effect change; stand up, sit down, go over there, stay here. We have agency in our own affairs.

All of which sets a scene. We find ourselves in a landscape of choices and options and we each want to do what is best for our own lives. An inner compulsion demands that we explore that landscape and create our own place within it. A place in which we may flourish as individuals, flourish as a community and derive satisfaction, fulfilment, nourishment at all levels and a sense of deep and abiding well being; something that could be loosely described as happiness.

We arrive in this place without a guidebook. There is no definitive set of navigation aids to help steer us through the various challenges we will encounter. Ensuring we reach our final destination in a sound and flourishing condition is not a foregone conclusion. Experience tells us many of our choices will actually make our passage more challenging. We find ourselves in situations and circumstances asking the question “How did I get here?” Somewhere along the line, we strayed just a little from the path, stumbled and fell, became disorientated and found ourselves in a place we did not want to be.

It is easy to miss the obvious. To become distracted and drawn into the vortex of unforeseen events that seem to be swirling around us, waiting to entice us and demand our time and resources. When we are distracted, it is easy to forget those core questions that underpin our existence. We become anaesthetised; we fall asleep and enter what could be described as a dreamlike state. Like a ship that has slipped its moorings, we discover we have drifted into the open sea and are subject to its currents and eddies. 

No matter how far we drift. No matter how long we sleep, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in; those core questions remain unchanged. Who am I? Where am I? What am I doing? How do I proceed? Why are things as they are? These, along with their brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins, travel with us wherever we go. There is no surgeon anywhere who can remove them or make them go away. Whether we acknowledge them or not is of no consequence. That they are always with us, is.

The scene, then, is set. As The Bard himself said,  

“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”

The roles we play can be those of chance or they can be those you choose because that is what you wanted.

The conditions of our existence are not arbitrary. Certain laws govern our lives. Not those upheld by the judiciary; but the laws of Nature. We have permission to do what we choose within the territory prescribed by those laws. They are the conditions that define our reality. We may call them by names such as Gravity, Newtonian Mechanics, Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity, growth and decline, expansion and contraction… or any number of other named observations, that they exist is a given.

To understand and abide by those laws is the foundation of a life well lived. To live such a life is to create a fabric into which finer qualities are woven. As with any cohesive system – for that is what the Natural Laws are – one who understands them is a mechanic or a technician. The person who understands and can orchestrate them in a way that transcends simply being aware is an engineer. That explains the title of this series of seven books.  

Happiness is not a prescriptive formula. It is an umbrella term that provides a location for a state of being. That state of being is what emanates from someone who is settled, resolved and contented with their life, whatever its conditions. That inner contentment derives from a sense of harmony; a resonance between the individual, the components of their life and the theatre that interplay creates. It is unique to each individual, although certain factors are consistent to us all.

For one person, satisfaction may come from seeing their children flourish. For another it may come from creating a piece of art; a poem, painting, sculpture, or piece of music for example. For another person it may be in watching the sunset, the moon rise and the stars appear on the canvas of the night sky. The list is as varied as the characters of different people. We extract nourishment from moments such as these. The objective is to engineer a situation where these moments become part of a continuum, rather than isolated pockets of inspiration.

You do not ‘do’ happiness. Rather you become and embody the thing that fills you with satisfaction, fulfilment and passion. This leads to the feeling of being connected to something greater, not isolated but a nerve ending in the feeling life of the Universe. This is a matter of fine-tuning, of connecting the person to that which inspires and moves them.

We’re walking a territory here. Exploring the lay of the land a little, taking an overview. It is the birthright of each person to seek exposure to the finest possible influences, in order that they may rise to and fulfil the proposition of their life. For each of us it’s a different proposition. We all have different sized spades, different capacities and different inclinations. The Mechanics of Happiness is offered to the reader so they may extract whatever gems they can from its rich seam. My intention is to cascade you with perceptions, cognizance and knowledge from every conceivable angle in order to facilitate your growth and progression. My loyalty is to the nascent genius that abides within you. Expect me to use whatever strategies I have at my disposal to encourage its growth.

This is not about self help and it’s not about academia. It is about being; about nurturing a sense of genuineness that enables you to flourish on your chosen path. It is about opening you to those factors that create a situation whereby happiness is the inevitable result.

Why happiness? We live in an age of assumed sophistication. The cult of Celebrity demands, and gets the devotion of the masses. Meaningless trinkets have become obsessions and people aspire to an unachievable fantasy lifestyle. The symptoms of this age are unprecedented levels of stress and depression. This in turn gives rise to psychiatric medication dependency and substance abuse. The simple pleasure of a virtuous life being its own reward is an alien concept, sneered at cynically. This is not the whole picture; but it is a significant snapshot.

There is a happiness deficit, an undeniable deficit. People turn to solutions that provide temporary respite from the gnawing reality they often report feeling overwhelmed by. It seems reasonable to conclude that the future prognosis is not a happy one. Change, genuine and lasting change can only come about when there is a true desire to implement it. The only change that counts for the moment is the change you are able to bring about in your own life. Often change is about small shifts in perception. It’s a word that chills the blood of the hardiest soul, but change does not have to be cataclysmic and it is one of the most powerful influences in our lives whether we acknowledge it or not.

Happiness in its simplest form – always the best – is the optimum condition for human life. Understanding the conditions that facilitate happiness enables you to engineer a purposeful life. One that functions in a fulfilling, satisfying and rewarding way. These are not unreasonable expectations to have. View these volumes as the toolkit that enables you assemble that structure and enjoy its rewards.

Going into an unfamiliar place is something that requires a guide. Wherever it might be, a mountain range, deep in an uncharted wilderness, the most essential piece of kit is the native guide. One who knows the territory; the lay of the land, the pitfalls and hazards as well as the short cuts and secret passes.

I will be your narrator. We will proceed together as companions and I will address you directly in a conversational style. I will try my level best to be thorough, informative and to give practical advice where possible. It will become clear to you that this is more than a set of handy tips. You will treat the information however you choose; for some of you this will be a life changing event.

What qualifies me to write about happiness? Why should you take notice of what I have to say? Something so fundamental to our lives demands an explanation on the part of one who professes insight or special knowledge. The route I have taken has not been an easy one. Paradoxically it has developed in me an abiding sense of value for those simple truths that manifest as ripe fruits on the Tree of Life.

I was born into a setting that ticked all the wrong boxes, or at least a high percentage of them. My father was a violent career criminal who spent almost all my early life in maximum security prisons. My mother was a refugee who fled an orphanage and had me at seventeen. She raised my sister and me as a single parent. She also suffered from clinical depression; something I didn’t understand as a child. I grew up in an impoverished, violent inner city neighbourhood, which again satisfied all the usual ‘no hope’ criteria. I experienced the full range of abuses; something that I struggled to make sense of for a good while.

That heady cocktail inspired me to look for authentic meaning. It did not seem reasonable to me at the time that my experiences so far amounted to the totality of what life was about. This is not a complaint, or an appeal for sympathy; it’s just the way it was. I loved my childhood, it was uplifting and inspiring and I engaged in the simple joys those halcyon days are. However, that was despite rather than because of the environment, I found myself in.

I set off on a quest to find answers to life’s big questions. What I had received thus far were very low grade answers of convenience. I travelled the world in search of masters, teachers and the illumined. Those who could provide insight, guidance and clues to a greater understanding of what it means to be human. My quest became an odyssey.

Over a period of some thirty years, my desire to understand flowered into a genuine love of wisdom and its application. As well as graduating from the School of Hard Knocks, I gathered esoteric, hidden and secret knowledge in addition to Master’s degrees in Philosophy and History.

I spent many years unconditionally pursuing my quest. Cloistered in secret gatherings and developing an understanding of the questions that had punctuated my formative years. Always practicing and refining; progressing arts, skills and ways and means. I was a dedicated and established member of esoteric fraternities, the custodians of hidden arts, technologies and knowledge. Within their chambers, I found the sanctuary I craved and the learning I desired.

I enjoyed privileged access to individuals and secret societies that do not court publicity. I absorbed whatever information, learning and wisdom I could and resolved to become the living embodiment of that process. Over a period of decades, I benefitted from an education that was as unique as it was profound. The enigma and the mystery transformed into a practical and implementable system. A system that heralded far more profound and significant matters than I had ever dreamed of.

Gradually the pieces of the puzzle began to fit. The whole began to fall into place. The chaotic gathering of half baked ideas and random notions began to take on clear definition.  A cohesive understanding of the human situation, the human deal and the proposition of human life began to crystallize. I experienced the metamorphosis from an eager and hungry neophyte to accomplished master.

As is the way of things, I worked and continue to work with students of my own in a variety of settings. These have numbered in the thousands over the years. Given the esoteric tradition I followed in the footsteps of, that work has been discrete. Simultaneously I taught in a classical setting at various colleges and universities.

I was inclined towards entrepreneurial enterprises. As a child, I used to work in the street markets picking up casual labour. My first business was manufacturing and selling a simple wooden toy called a Jacob’s Ladder. I employed a friend and we assembled them from small blocks of wood and ribbons. The toy gives the illusion of an endless cascade. We sold them on street corners on market days, fly pitching.

This street education prepared me well for my travelling days. I developed the skills of a pitcher, a pavement artist and an itinerant labourer. I was never out of work and found myself in some unusual situations in some exceptional locations. I became aware that my life had become the thing I had always dreamed it would be; a series of remarkable adventures. Blessings and good fortune have rained upon me. Something that continues to this day.

As time passed, I worked with many people as teacher, employee and employer. The most rewarding work I have ever done is that of counsellor and guide. Working closely with people. I have counselled the desperate, the grieving, the hopeful and the hopeless. All of which can be summed up as locating the spark within the individual and providing opportunity for it to flare, to burn brightly. I have worked with the most severely abused and misused children. Adults devastated by senile dementia. People whose lives have been derailed by disease and disability as well as the brightest and best of talented young people. All of this has informed my appreciation of whom and what we are, and what we may become.

Always driven on by the burning desire to understand the human condition and the precise nature of what the terms of engagement were here; everything else was secondary to the satiation of that desire. I was once asked by a very learned and wise man; “What do you want?” I replied, “I want to know what my place is in the Universe. Where I fit in and what my destiny is.”

Now, decades later, that has become my credo, it always was. The dust has settled on the havoc of my early life and allowed me to pick my way through the debris. Situations over which I had no control are resolved. Vendettas and curses set aside. Anger, venom and bile replaced with understanding and embalmed with perception.

I could not begin to describe the quickenings, breakthroughs, states, transformations and ascendance others have experienced when working with me. It would be a breach of confidence and contrary to the spirit of discretion that governs such things.

My own family have flourished and prospered in their chosen fields; I observe their progress and development with a sense of indulgent pride. One as a highly accomplished scholar and teacher, the other as a skilled engineer. The road we travel along makes us the individuals that we are. We are, at one level, the product of the amalgam of all our experiences.

We triumph over adversity, overcome impossible odds and flourish despite the hand we are dealt. True emancipation is the fruit of a vine whose tendrils seek to establish themselves in all the areas that our lives touch and are touched by. Perception is a gift, understanding a blessing. We move forward, onwards and upwards. We grow stronger and more dynamic as we evolve into our tomorrows.

The further we travel the more we realize that impossible is not a criteria. The Universe in its magnificence is benign and generous; it provides all we need. Our task is simply to assemble it in a cohesive and meaningful way. To piece together the elements and make a pattern that represents something great.

We stand in a field whose harvest is rich and bountiful. We are nourished by all we do. Development is a matter of fine tuning, small shifts in perception. I will say it repeatedly because it is the case. There is no great leap of faith demanded by Creation. Only that you try, remain flexible and adapt what you know to what you discover. Apply what you discover here to what you do and do what you need to in order to extract the gems, the vitamins and the very essence of being from the life that you lead.

image: yuri

“Student! Your life is your own. You have only yourself to thank for what you are, have been and will be. Take your present into your own hand. Consciously shape out of it your future. Direct your forces along lines of study and endeavour that have the strongest attraction for you. Such attraction is the indication of need. It is the hand pointing out your Life-purpose. What your heart desires earnestly and clamours for incessantly is attracted to you out of the invisible supply, i.e., the means, the environments, the right sort of persons, books and thought-forces are drawn to you and then you are expected to work out your desire. This is in perfect accord with the great Law of Attraction. Some call it God: since it answers all sincere prayers. Prayer, remember, is the sincere desire of the heart. I take it that you hunger for Truth and Spiritual Growth—else you and I would not be here. The instructions given you hereunder are meant to give you a strong body and a strong will. They will also tend to your Soul-Unfoldment. Talk not of them. Keep your mouth closed. Be serious, earnest and thoughtful. Then work at them confidently and with perseverance. Do not be daunted by apparent failures. Failure is the stepping-stone to Success. He fails who gives up a thing in final despair. Go on, I say. You will improve from the very first day, and in a short time you will be another man. All the leaders of humanity, past or present, have studied and investigated with tireless zeal along the special lines and, in Spiritual culture, you must do the same. But you must have health, a strong will and a steady brain, and I will enable you to have these positively. Keep these instructions strictly privately. Master them by constant meditation upon same.”

Setting aside the purely physical assessment of human life it is apparent that there is an unprecedented appearance of that enigmatic property that has been called by various names from spirit to essence to life force. For some reason there are literally billions of humans here energized by the same desires to grow and expand.   

Each of us has the ability to reconnect a part of the assembly of our fellows. It may be in a look, a word, a conversation or it may be in a more protracted engagement. We hold moments in trust for one another and none of us know exactly what another holds for us. We are multiple by design and social by inclination. We work best as parts of a whole; none of us is designed to be singular in our expression though our individual uniqueness is not in any way disputed.   

How does this feature in your pursuit of those things that may assist you in your journey? Seek out those of kind, those who are like you and those who have articulated similar desires to improve themselves and their situation. These individuals are your companions along the way and will become mutuality.  The value of friendship here is inestimable; those who can provide reflection and counterbalance are both an invaluable resource and bringers of ease.   

Try, if you can, to develop a group of people whose counsel you trust and whose guidance is faithful and reliable. This is done by being that yourself. Be a good friend to others; help where you can and where it may be necessary but avoid the temptation to interfere in the affairs of others. Their integrity is priceless and no less important to them than yours is to you. We are socially inclined because it is impossible to live and develop alone.   

Romantic notions of solitary wandering hermits or masters spending their time in contemplation hidden in caves are archetypes from an age that has passed. When the muse compelled them and Aristotle or Plato were teaching, the population of the world was less than that of our larger cities today.   

Their environment was completely different, what they saw, observed and noted was unlike the things that press in upon us in this time. Just as we do today, they gathered together in the sure knowledge that co-operation is the way forward. The development of small settlements that became city states was the herald of an ecology that nurtured human growth. It was in these settings that our social character began to emerge.

Those places that withdrew from the interface and exchange with others soon withered and lost any prominence that they might have earned. You are no different, you are like a city, a nation by yourself and it is prudent to form alliances, pacts and networks with others. See how the great cities and nations of the world have been those whose borders were open to trade and cultural exchange; adopt the same policy in your dealings with others. Give the benefit of the doubt and be generous towards others, remember that you frame your own life by those things that you sanction. If you would have such things then you must first give them away.   

Do not worry about unfair exchange; you will extract what you need to move on from whatever situation you find yourself in. Uphold the best in all people, become a safe haven for them and allow them to express themselves freely in your presence. Do not judge others, they are engaged in their own journey and you are no more than a witness to that.   

Set and maintain high standards for yourself and others will register this from you and deal with you accordingly. Keep a light burning for the best in all living things and you will be the catalyst for change in them, you will cause things to quicken in them that you may never know of. In just the same way that people have caused things in you that you have not told them.   

I recall a person whom I sat opposite on a train many years ago and the look that passed between us. We never spoke and at the time it did not matter, an exchange of frequencies occurred and we both acknowledged it.  We both shared a moment and a knowing that human life was indeed a noble and majestic thing captured and held within a physical form. In that moment I realized that I was not alone, you must appreciate this fact too, and all are either brother or sister in a bewildering range of possible outcomes. You are seeing them fleetingly in a moment in the progression of their lives; their concerns for their lives mirror your own.   

Have compassion and empathy and treat others always as you would have them treat you. Why do these things become clichés, these folk wisdoms passed down along the ages? It is simple; it is because they are true. If something rings throughout the ages as a recurrent and constant theme, you do well to understand it and extract the kernel of wisdom that it most assuredly formed around.   

image: Ritvara

A time will come when this is no longer the case. That can only be brought about when a genuine desire to make it happen exists. Remember the twin giants of self-help and academia and their mutual dislike of one another?

There is no way that we can move forward when we see our brightest and best locked in conflict with one another, pulling in different directions. Factor time into the mix and the certain knowledge that we are not on an infinite schedule and it becomes apparent that we are stuck. Condemned to play out the petty dramas of rivalry, the pursuit of personal glory and distraction by our world’s holy trio of sex, power and money.

The most dramatic transitions occur almost unnoticed. Only when they have passed does their significance becomes apparent. The impact of shifts in attitude are subtle and often imperceptible from outside. Consider Jesus, the figurehead of the world’s largest religion. Contemporary accounts tell us he barely raised an eyebrow among his peers. The Romans who were the local administrators at the time considered him as little more than a tribal rabble rouser. However, as we know, a few simple ideas passed around Galilee and Judea transformed world history and affected billions of lives.

When enough people are weary of the stuck situation of the human race then doors to change will open. The situation that means conflict over trivial matters that could be resolved reasonably through mutual endeavour and co-operation escalates into crisis. This gathers momentum and hijacks resources that could be more usefully applied elsewhere and subsequently defines the character of history. Change will not require celebrity endorsements, it will not require advertising hoardings; it will be understood intuitively by those who care enough to see that what is currently laid before them is insufficient to break the mould. Of course the problem with increased perception is that you can only come from where you are so the beginning looks familiar. That’s an obstacle to overcome and is usually the point that things never get beyond. Remember that.

This is not an age of messiahs and saviours; we are in the age of personal responsibility. You are your own saviour, your own messiah; or at least the technology is all there, it’s all in place and awaits that spark of activation. They have been here already and laid the foundations for us, you did not think that we would have to start from scratch did you?

The ‘How?’ begins with that most challenging thing called the leap of faith; you have to believe that personal development, fulfilment and happiness are possible. If you believe it is possible then it is no longer a leap of faith, rather it becomes an acceptance of the inevitable. That is the pin that you need to pull out of the grenade in order to set off the explosion within your own latent potential. No hard sell, no promises made that can only result in disappointment and no impossibly harsh criteria to meet. Believe it is possible and you have initiated the spark for change in your life.

To me the criteria that govern life are simple and yet this world makes the most peculiar demands of us in return for its very meagre offerings. I cannot help but conclude this age we find ourselves in and the true nature of life are estranged from one another.

Have you ever watched the world in action? The frantic rushing from place to place, state to state and the continual pursuit of adrenalin hits? Have you ever observed who the winners in this game are?

In England last week a man was released from prison, put there for assaulting his own daughter, “He killed a man he didn’t know, seriously wounded a woman and a police officer, and assaulted a little girl. But well-wishers wanted to grant him the sentimentalising gestures normally reserved for the victims of crime and accidents.” (The Independent) An individual convicted of domestic violence, assaulting his partners, children and no doubt, though not convicted, many others who have crossed his path; he worked as a nightclub bouncer and was addicted to steroids.

“Roid rage is a term given to people who act in very aggressive or hostile manner after taking large doses, usually on a regular basis, of anabolic steroids, sometimes nicknamed as roids. In recent times, several prominent murders and brutal attacks have been linked to roid rage, which might suggest a person is less responsible for committing a crime. This is not always an adequate defence given that people who take anabolic steroids tend to do so willingly.”(wiseGEEK.com)

The man became the focus of just about all the media attention in the UK and then graduates into a Robin Hood-esque folk hero for a section of the population who believe that he showed the police he wasn’t to be ‘messed with’ and showed his former girlfriend he wasn’t to be ‘messed with’ by shooting her and murdering her boyfriend. Like other flawed characters he progressed to taking his own life only after disrupting and destroying the lives of others. He became the subject of conversation and speculation and his rambling rhetorical letters are still being examined carefully for clues to his motives. I cannot help but wonder if the works of some great teacher were engaged with so thoroughly by an entire population what the result might be; workers in their break discussing just what Plato or Einstein or some other visionary were driving at.

There was nothing virtuous or worthwhile about this character, he strove for nothing admirable and sought only to prosecute is own selfish ends which were viewed through a drug addled sense of increasing paranoia. And this is the game I am intrigued by; because wanton violence, destruction, hatred and venomous bile is an attention grabber while anything that seeks to propagate ascendance within human nature, anything that seeks to refine is ignored, diminished and dismissed. In the game, where fame, celebrity and recognition have become a holy trinity, did he hit the jackpot?

The rule of law is subjugated by anarchy and violence; terrorists and assassins morph comfortably into party officials and activists. Reason, truth and justice become collateral damage to fear, vanity and self indulgence. I don’t expect answers but simply make these observations and wonder what kind of future we all face if the human race follows its current path. Small wonder that our young people grow up confused and bewildered.

Fundamentally all great teachers, the wise and the illumined have spread a similar message. Historically the human race has chosen to ignore this except when it feels cornered, threatened or exposed. As the influential French philosopher August Comte explained, “In the modern world, thanks to the discoveries of science, it would no longer be possible for anyone intelligent or robust to believe in God. Faith would henceforth be limited to the uneducated, the fanatical, women, children and those in the final months of incurable diseases.”

I love science, I love the emancipations its discoveries have brought but I also find myself continually perplexed by this dysfunctional family I am part of. A family whose educated elite propagate such views as belief in an intelligent motivating influence in the Universe as the domain of “the uneducated, the fanatical, women, children and those in the final months of incurable diseases.” Increasingly eccentric behaviour leaves me wondering about the architects of ‘The Game’; indeed John Nash who was such a pivotal driving influence on modern Western thinking was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic. His theories informed much of the intellectual landscape of the world we currently find ourselves part of, yet their point of origin is fatally flawed.

Perhaps we will wake up. Perhaps we are already instrumental in our own demise. I view episodes such as this and am left discomfited. The apparent mass psychosis that blinds people to the obvious – that they are not the centre of the Universe and all that happens in life is not personal to them – seems to have sunk its talons into the windpipe of mass sensibility causing the fresh air of reason to hiss out like a ruptured life vest. Without the buoyancy of that life vest we will surely drown in an ocean of self inflicted wounds.

image: mingthein

As an author, I receive extraordinary correspondence from people that is rewarding and profoundly humbling. Here is an example, I have removed some of the personal details, and I know of few more worthwhile or virtuous pursuits than sharing the produce of one’s endeavours with others; perhaps the most noble art is that of enhancing another’s life by one’s own actions, thoughts or deeds. If this should prove not to be so then, c’est la vie, I shall die a contented fool, happy in my ignorance…

“Let me share some of my thoughts with you……take them for what they are worth.

I so agree with “sending signals out to the Universe for your hopes and dreams hoping that “something” might pick up on them and respond!! Very good point, as I will explain later.

You Create Your Own Reality

Page 79….What they do have is a belief system. Don’t misunderstand, all people have a belief system, it is impossible to live on this planet, reach adulthood and not have a belief system, it’s actually part of the deal here for us humans, we have to subscribe to something.

What you believe is one of the most galvanizing aspects of your entire existence, the very minutiae of what makes you who you are. Here is something startling; does it matter if it is true? Not a jot.

should be in bold print……

Page 80…
Love the sentence “we’re going to take a trip on a magic carpet”…invites the reader to not feel this is a subject that is too heavy to read.

Page 87 and 88
Keep relating stories – like the fisherman visiting their usual fishing rounds and the positive frequency they created by becoming the fish. These paragraphs create a “picture” in your mind that stays longer with the reader and gives greater understanding to the concept.

I particularly enjoy the phrases you attribute to so many famous visionaries
i.e. Einstein’s thought “Knowledge is limited —Imagination encircles the world”

Page 85
Imagine things and they will become energized, here’s a caution-……..
“Imagine positive things, you can probably work out why, but focus upon things which are affirmative, uplifting and beneficial.

Good emphasis on being careful what you wish for, because believe it or not YOU WILL CREATE IT, maybe not pain and death but who knows?

Page 90
This is sheer poetry
“A human being is potentially a sacred dance made real and a graphic demonstration of the leading edge of where the Universe is, yet we are deprived of the full range of responses by a poor apprenticeship in the human arts”

Page91
Think about this carefully because it says that whatever you can conceive of can be tuned into and it will manifest in your life. It has been said that for a wise person to think is to create it.

Page 92
This should be in bold print
“what’s being said here is very significant. The mechanics of happiness is no less that the mechanics of the Universe.”

Page 93
Great line
“So you can see that what you know is time restricted, it has a sell by date or a use by date and if you fill your life with this stuff then it follows that you have anchored yourself to something that is limited, temporary and has no greater potential than that.”

Page 94

Paragraph “Its’ not a dialogue with spoken words, remember that the Universe doesn’t speak English, it recognizes frequency in exactly the same way that if you were in a busy market square in a country where no-one spoke English and you heard an English speaking voice you would tune into the source of where it came from and there would be instant recognition.
………. Very clear thought.

I especially relate to next paragraph..
This is true irrespective of the level of refinement or quality of the signal, like goes to like and this is why certain types of people find one another in the most unlikely of situations and also why you always get what you are looking for

This is very profound to me (as mentioned above I would explain)

You have no idea how long I have been looking for answers to the questions you explain in your book The Mechanics of Happiness. Don’t know about you Peter but there is a desert out here of people that choose to ask questions about life and why, where, etc.
I have been seeking for many years people interested in discussing such things and “Whammo”, you appeared at that dining room table.
What are the odds, you from the UK and I from the western suburbs of Chicago would meet? I truly believe, [in one sense], “I CREATED YOU”. I guess I was doing my part along with the Universe.

The very most precious thing we have in life is “TIME” how we spend it should be as much a joy as humanly possible.

Granted your book [deals with some extraordinary concepts] and brings a whole new perspective to the life we are all leading and you have addressed it brilliantly

I hope I haven’t overstepped myself in all of the above comments.
But being allowed to have an on going conversation with the author is truly a delight.

I will continue on in the book, I have always been a non fiction reader (with a few exceptions) and this book is most intriguing. I am also reading a book on “birth order” which is interesting but no comparison to the massive subject you have taken on.

P.S. Page 95, explanation of the word University, great.”

image: Yves

As time passes it becomes more pressingly real to me that I have things that are not mine. Not mine in the sense that they need to be passed on, forwarded to their rightful owners. In this I am mindful of the fact that we can never truly own anything. We are, at best, custodians, temporary guardians of something. So when I use the phrase ‘rightful owners’ I am referring to the human race at large and as a continuum and not an individual or individuals.

Recently the most significant Anglo Saxon treasure find of our time, hidden for more than a thousand years, was discovered in what was the ancient English kingdom of Mercia. How does a vast hoard of gold, silver and precious stones disappear without trace only to be stumbled upon some fifteen or so centuries later? The treasures of human development are no different. Exquisite pieces that have been hidden for centuries by well meaning guardians are being stumbled upon and exposed to partial light.

Partial in the sense that not all is seen, not all is understood and so the result is a degenerated benefit, half glimpses of half truths caked in mud and in need of a clean.

People dedicate their lives to different things. Some pursue money, others power, some pursue fame, others status and these are all valid excursions in their own right. Others pursue meaning, understanding and enlightenment. The very treasures of our existence await rediscovery by new generations and the knack is to be able to communicate with them.

Which brings me to Chicago, Illinois; a town where they love pizza, and where each restaurant has its own take on pizza, its own interpretation of that simple crust with a cheese and tomato topping. This is Gino’s East, just off Michigan Avenue and a revelation is about to occur to me. This is nothing to do with the suety, spongy base and the topping like a thick soup but everything to do with the patrons of the restaurant, who they are and what they represent.

The most important thing of all is to have something communicable, something that can be passed on. Otherwise it sits in splendid isolation like some priceless jewel in a case protected by an elaborate system of alarms and security. In order to communicate there has to be a common language, a lingua franca, a medium through which there can be an exchange.

I sit in Gino’s East, my lunch companion is on a business call and I look around. One of the distinguishing features of this restaurant is that it allows patrons to graffiti inside. There is layer upon layer of scrawled messages and I look at what’s there. The first thing is that they all say “I’m here – notice me”

They express love such as “Ben & Claire” or “Larry l’s Christina 4 life”

They refer to hometowns such as NJ, NY, Minnesota, “from Toronto”

They express strange symbols that I can’t represent here but drew in my notebook, a hybrid mix of semi Chinese hieroglyphs, pseudo Masonic symbols, eyes and a Superman badge.

They reference ideologies in symbol form, a Star of David, hammer and sickle, peace, hearts and a stylized flower and peace symbol combined.

There are sporting allegiances, “Go Reds”, “Packers”

There is the will to power, “X, Y or Z Rules” etc.

There are lots of dates

This gives me a clear portrait of

a) what they want to say
b) what they are compelled towards
c) what they use as a common framework of expression

any culture is understood through the trace that it leaves. A scout tracks their quarry through the spoor or footprint that it leaves. So with a culture it leaves a mark which says “we went this way”.

In understanding any given culture we assess its literature, its art, its technology and its social template. Here we have the mark that its young make. This is what they aspire to, this is what fills their hopes and dreams. They want acknowledgement, recognition. They want to love and be loved, they have a grasp on nascent ideologies such as ‘peace’ or ‘happiness’ but they are, as yet, unformed concepts that they have glimpsed in the mists of their evolving cognizance.

This is how to understand them – read their literature, read their ideas, they are telling anyone who will listen what motivates them and that is the key to understanding them: listen to them. This can be extended at another time but for now it is a step along the way.

The Mechanics of Happiness

Hi Peter,

I have opted to read the book from beginning to end, not picking out individual books.

I am blown away at your brilliance and insight; it truly is a read that makes you feel as though you are having an enlightening conversation with the author.

It’s all so logical…and touches on what I have felt to be true for a very long time

Each line offers a gem of understanding.

I have no clue how long it took you to write this book but it is truly remarkable, I am savoring each page, because it speaks to so many, many questions I have had my whole life.

And I seem to be finding answers, how wonderful is that? What a fortunate day that was to meet you.  Or was the Universe recognizing my quest? The Law of Attraction?

Life – as we all know- has many obligations, I am not spending as much time with the book as I would like but each time I pick it up it is a true joy.  It almost feels like I am sneaking a piece of chocolate!

Thank you again,

Rosalie

Rosalie Dombrowski

The reader’s learning process begins with the title of the book The Mechanics of Happiness. As the title indicates, happiness is not something unreachable and undreamed of rather it is a system which requires knowledge to operate it. Thus, the reader gets the message from the very beginning that this book holds the keys to different doors…

The Mechanics of Happiness is one of those rare books that unfold according to the reader’s level of consciousness… Therefore, one could read this book over and over again to pursue their self-development and reflect on how one might put the methods described into practice.

The subject matter of the book – which is the basics of the philosophy of life – has been carefully chosen. These highly sophisticated topics are brought alive by Peter J Levine’s exquisite use of language and examples so well crafted that some otherwise complicated issues are presented in a way that is very easy to comprehend.

Thanks to his friendly and sincere tone, together with the examples he gives from his own life experience, the absent-presence of the writer throughout the book is felt strongly, which makes the reader think that they are not alone, the guide is always with them.

Thanks Peter for this great work.

Gülnur Güven

Inspiring, powerfully uplifting and thought provoking.

The author manages to convey the profound mysteries of life in

a  unique yet simple and down to earth manner with brilliant use

of analogy and practical applications.

I felt I was having an intimate conversation with the author whilst

still being aware of a constant, interwoven, earnest message

for all of humankind. The book inspires hope and I would urge everyone to read it

and “wake up”.
Catherine Permain. RCN

“The Mechanics of Happiness has been a true inspiration to me.

It touched me at a very deep level. You have managed to give us life’s worldly wisdoms in a truly uplifting way. This is a very rare quality.

You have given us a lifetime of experience in your own unique way.

I feel that you know you have a very special message to get out.

I am thrilled that you have managed to achieve this. You have a fine and sensitive understanding of the world we live in, the universe and its mysteries.

I will keep this book close to me always and when my world is dark and dreary I will read a chapter to uplift me into this new dimension where I strive to be.”

Elizabeth Vinton

Oh Peter!

Rather than being “mechanical’, The Mechanics of Happiness is uplifting and Vibrant, Alive with opportunities for awakening!  I saw my inner-child twirling in joy.  It called for me to pick it up last night, and it was such an easy and interesting read, I zipped right through.  For the novice to these concepts, the book is written simply, easy to digest.  And, for those who’ve been traveling the path for many years, this book is full of well woven reminders.  Your blending of stories into the weave is masterful!  You’ve created an outstanding resource, and I am proud and honored to continue to share it with others.

Allie Kent

image: Swamibu