Dear Members:
I remember many years back listening to a presenter who talk about his marketing experiences. He put together a tape series (you remember, tape recordings, that's right). He had 30,000 produced and sold them all. Then a staff member discovered that tape 7 was blank. OMG, what to do? Well, there didn't seem much he could do so he let it be and replaced them on request.
Of the 30,000 tape sets sold, six people noticed that tape seven was blank and requested a new tape. I have no reason to believe that his material was not good for it's time. The point is that human beings have a nature. They have a fairly predictable way of behavior in given situations. Perhaps I am not so human because I can remember getting a similar type of tape set (we are talking an embarrassing number of years ago) and listening to it until the tapes either broke or wore out. I sucked it up and sucked it up.
Let's suppose you wanted a particular tape set and you got a complimentary copy for free. How many times would you listen to it? Remember, you already have a value established in your mind... nothing. Maybe, just maybe, you would get through the first tape before putting it aside. You are a human (sorta) so don't kid yourself, this is what 99% of you would do despite your ego screaming that you are different. Indeed, there is a very good chance that you would give it away or sell it in a garage sale come spring.
Given the same hypothetical tape set, what if you found that there were only, say... 300 copies in the world and they were being sold for $3,000 a set. You just got to have one and shell out the funds. Now, how many times are you going to listen? Are you going to extract every possible drop of juice out of it? I would think so, it's certainly much more likely.
While on the topic of discounts, what ever happened to free love, an invention of my generation? We grew old and realized, if we are smarter than the average bear, that there is no such thing. All of what we consider to be love, comes at a cost. That's because we have no idea what free love really is. It's not sex, drugs and rock and roll, even though they were a hell of a lot of fun, love is what you are and that is where the confusion come in.
In this world of polarities we are prevented, by the mental jails we live in, from seeing we are that love, always there and always free (with a catch of course). So, we accept a reasonable facsimile, a version of human love. But what if your love of an another cost you everything, your very soul, (yeh, you smart one's got it, $3,000) how would you treat that other person? Cherish is a word that comes to mind.
Now, let's stretch this a little, or a lot. What if every person you met you fell in love with? Not just the beautiful sexy ones, everyone. Not even ones of the appropriate sex (because sex has very little to do with love, it's just more fun with a loved one). Could this be your everyday experience, just endlessly falling in love with everybody you meet? Could you stand it? Or, let me put it another way, how can you not stand it? How can you not want it with all your heart?
Remember Tape #7, you are no different from any other human being. The only thing in your way is.... you. The catch is this particular free love costs everything you think you are and have. Let all go and it's right there in your face. It's been there all along, but you can't see it because you think you are soooo important and sooooo special. What if you aren't though, what if there is nothing special about you because there is no you, just a series of memories, limitations and habits, all based on an illusion that you continually reinforce by various Maya/ego methods? How to do it... it's on Tape #7.
Love ya, Jed.