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  The Iceberg Principle:

An iceberg is only twenty percent above water and the underwater part is invisible to the casual observer.    When you find that a so-called public servant (someone in a position of power and/or authority)  has been taping the public treasury, running scams, playing dirty tricks or pulling off other shenanigans,  you can bet that what you find out about is only a small fraction of what he's been doing.   

To see this principle in an action context, readers are directed to the page titled:  Sex, Sin, and Saint Anti-sexual  Augustine.^°   

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Kaizen  --  How to Eat an Elephant

All actions in physical space happen in time and in a sequential fashion.   Everything is a process.***   By becoming aware of how this sequential process works, you can consciously and intentionally align your personal behavior with the way the physical universe functions to improve your life.   This is what Kaizen is all about.

Kaizen is a continuing series of small, positive changes made with the intention of improving the quality, joy, and comfort in any area of one’s life.   Kaizen is a series of small steps; as distinct from constant change and as distinct from innovation, which is making a large, major change in the shortest possible time.   

***   Even when things appear to happen instantly, it's still a sequential process.   Some events occur so fast,  that 
without technical aids such as high speed cameras,  we 
cannot perceive the progression as it occurs.   We see 
only the results.

We've  been programmed to believe the change comes in big and major pieces.  This is called "Innovation."   The only problem with innovation is that it's too big to cope with,  it  usually doesn't work,  and it's scary as hell.    Kaizen offers a way around this and several other problems.

The human psyche is designed to resist change.   Most of us like routine; we like the normal, the dependable, that which is in harmony with us.   So when facing major changes we baulk, we resist, and all to often, simply refuse to change.   The result of refusing to adjust or or adapt to the new context is often uncomfortable, painful, and could even produce disaster.   Kaizen offers a way around this problem, too.   

Fear of failure is still another major factor in our inability to make major changes.   In many social traditions, particularly, the Christian tradition there is a strong psychological link between being wrong and being punished.  Failure is associated with pain.   The way around this is again found in the Kaizen approach.   Make steps so small that success is relatively easy.   

Instead of major changes, use the mountain-climbers motto:   "Take one step at a time."   Or answer the ancient Sufi masters question:  "How do you eat an elephant?"   We don’t actually eat elephants, but symbolically speaking the answer is “One bite at a time.”   Some additional examples:   

   In whatever goals you're striving to reach, think in terms that you're familiar and comfortable with.    Now stretch one small step beyond what is easy for you to do.    Avoid a big jump.   Just take a small step.   Tomorrow, perhaps you'll  be ready for two steps.

   You probably won't be able to lose thirty pounds, but you could lose one or two pounds.   Then after that, you could probably lose another pound or two.   

   You could postpone the next cigarette or the next drink or the second helping of food for ten minutes.   And after ten minutes, you might consider postponing them another  five minutes.    Later, you could begin by postponing them for fifteen minutes, and so on.   

   Think of a small way you could improve the efficiency of your work or your tasks at home.   

   You'll probably resist cleaning your whole house, but  you could easily clean one shelf in the pantry.   Then later, or  tomorrow or the day after, you might tackle a second shelf.  

   How could you be just a bit nicer to your family, friends, co-workers, and the people you encounter in the grocery market or a restaurant? 

   And the words you just read. . .   They were typed one letter at a time.

It’s much easier, psychologically, emotionally and physically, to make a series of a thousand small steps than it is to make one huge jump.   The  N.V.P. Team  utilizes this one-bite-at-a-time approach to re-creating our lives.   

Recommended reading no this topic:    
One Small Step Can Change Your Life:  The Kaizen Way  
    A book by Robert Maurer,  Workman Publishing, New York.

Recommended additional reading:    
What is a Context?°   
     Describes what a context is, why they are important, 
     and how to intentionally create a context that can change your life.

Creating Community° 
    How to  Use the Concept Called Tithing 
    to Enhance Your Own Life and Your Children's Lives.

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Perspective -  Point of View

Every person on the planet views human life for his/ her own, unique perspective.    For example,  the colonial patriots, whom Americans now call our "Founding Fathers,"  were called traitors in Britain during the American revolutionary war.   And today, a person who, in America,  is called a  "terrorists,"  is thought of as a "freedom fighter"  in Iran.

Ethnocentrism:   
We are each born into a culturally conditioned belief system or ready made values which we tend to adopt and unquestioningly accept.  This human behavior pattern,  known as ethnocentrism,  results in humanity holding a plethora of conflicting and often mutually exclusive values.  Some of these values must, therefore, be based upon personal prejudices and illusions rather than on truths and understandings. 

Modus Operandi:

Most of us function primarily  in one of two modes.   We may, at times, shift to the opposite pole, but for the most part, we either work together in unity and harmony or against each other in duality and conflict.    

Duality and Conflict:  In the duality mode, it's us against them.   Football is a good example of this.  It's primarily about fighting, pushing, shoving, knocking the other side down, claiming territory, and scoring points.   If an opponent is injured, that's good, because then he's out of the game, and this increases the other side's chance of winning.  It's a zero sum game.   In order for one side to win, the other side must lose.   

Unity and Harmony:  In the unity mode it's us with them.   An orchestra is a good example of this.   Everyone is working in complete harmony toward a common goal.   It's about cooperation, harmony, synchronized rhythm, and mutual support.   Everybody adds to the product produced.   The higher and stronger the quality of our input, the grander the overall result.   The product is beautiful music, a blessing for all to hear.   The same product can be given to ten people or ten million, and it is not diminished in the slightest by sharing.  It's an infinity sum game.  The more you share the bigger the product.   Everybody wins.

Your Job:  Obviously, if you choose to accept the N.V.P. Team's  invitation, we ask you to play in the unity mode where everybody wins.   That's not to discount yourself.   You're still number one.   The secret is that everybody else is also a number one.   (And how many number one's are there?   As many as work together in harmony toward the common goal.)   

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An Orchestra Analogy?   Imagine for a moment sitting in the audience listening to an Earthly physical orchestra, or better yet, imagine yourself as part of the orchestra.  While the music fills your being, notice that everyone in that orchestra is an equally important part of the experience.   Everybody has the same goal.   Everybody is both giving and receiving in every moment.   Everybody in in harmony with everyone else's part of the music.   Everyone there is there because they chose to be there.

Absent is the sense of damaging a fellow players instrument, or knocking him or her down, or stealing his/her wallet, or breaking something simply to break it.   There's no corner cutting, no cheating, no making one's part bigger or someone else's part smaller.   The only competition is to play one's instrument better than was done in yesterday performance.   

The first step in shifting into the world of unity and harmony mode, is to understand that:

Life is not what the public has  
been led to believe it is by those who claim to know!° 

The Reasonables Awareness Project  

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