Sermon Problems - Ask, Seek, Knock?

Some people make even make a problem out of the Sermon on the Mount.

It's just too easy: 

• Ask and it is given,
• Seek and you will find,
• Knock and the door is opened.

But they say - "But there are so many things to ask for - what if I ask the wrong thing?" 

And others say - "And I could be looking forever if I don't know what to look for..."

Not to mention those who say - "But life is a hallway full of doors - which one should I knock on?"

Really?

So the simple resolution is this: Ask for what question to ask. Keep your eyes open for clues which tell you what you should be seeking for. 

In short, the next door you knock on, look the person who opens it right in the eye, and ask them, "Is there a better door I should be knocking on?"

You'll find the only bad question is the one you don't ask, there's no harm in looking, and you'd be amazed what you you'll find when you open any door at random. 

When you trust yourself, every move is the right one.

It takes practice, this self-trust and self-faith stuff.

So start today. 

You're life is only getting shorter, as they say.

All Roads Lead Out

This used to be "all roads lead to Rome" - when they did all the road building.

But since they've left this up to the rest of us, things have seemed to go all over the place.

The research I've been completing recently simply point out that there's another destination that your path and my path and everyone's path seem to follow.

You see, this universe is rigged.

And people can say what they want to about "why they're here" or their raison' de'tre (or something like that). Because while we aren't necessarily here for the same reason, we are all going to accomplish the same thing, eventually.

That one goal is phrased remarkably with all the various wordings our languages are capable of.

Each single goal is, not remarkably, phrased individually and distinctly.

But they all wind up the same place.

You are going to have to word this for yourself, however. Just because that is the way we've set it up.

Here's the input for this logic today (caution - lots of sales pages ahead):

T. Harv Eker, in all his push to get people making money with his millionaire mind intensives, is actually helping people onto their own spiritual path. (Same goes for Bob Proctor.)

Jose Silva, and his children, are pushing a modern Western style of meditation to help people get their foot up.

Burt Goldman, with his "Quantum Jumping" and "American Monk" lessons, is stating the same thing.

Of course, that brings up Levenson-style releasing, whether it's Stephen Seretan or Larry Crane.

There's the great people over at the Shift Network. These guys simply are a forum for all the great courses and seminars about alternative views on health, the environment, and many personal development arenas.

The author of "Hero of a Thousand Faces", Joseph Campbell, found out that all myths and stories tell the same one - of people overcoming challenges and adversity in order to bring back a boon to humanity.

Joe Vitale is working down this line. Holding seminars like he did for the "Zero Limits" material on Ho'oponopono healing from Hawaiian Dr. Hew Len.

Of course, you can go back to simple self help authors as I have in my "Go Thunk Yourself" series - like Earl Nightingale ("Strangest Secret"), Dorothea Brande ("Wake Up and Live!"), Napoleon Hill ("Think and Grow Rich"), and on and on.

But you can also trace back the outrageous successes of any individual on this planet (as Hill did nearly a century ago) and find they all have pieces of the same puzzle. The more they succeeded, the more pieces they put together.

I say to you today, that any path you are on will get you there. And while no two people agree on where they are heading, it is really (all semantics aside) the same "place."

Now I know you can do it by watching videos of your own selection, or even watching TV - if you are working to find the various meanings to the seemingly random shows you are being presented with.

And to those who worry about people "not making it" - let me say this: they will eventually. We all will.

Because we're in this together. Yes, if you've been following this right along, it's because "There are no limits." We are all connected.

Entertainment, which is on the surface the one common reason we all have in being here on this planet and in this universe, will eventually lead us to personal peace beyond understanding, personal freedom way beyond anything any government could affect.

This is written to let you know you're doing just fine and are going to make it.

Myself, I'm taking up cartooning (although I'm finding it's taking a great deal of gear-shifting to turn this boat around), but I'll also be keeping my hand in on this and other blogs to let you know what I find as I do.

Because its entertaining - or at least I try to make it that way.

So whether it's Missouri Grass Fed Beef, Honest Internet Marketing, Best Self Help Books, Becoming an Online Millionaire, or simply Flyover Zone Cartoons - it's all the same. And different.

I hope your life is as interesting. If not - go and help someone open-handedly. Keep that up and you'll make it. Let the value you give exceed the value you recieve - and you'll be on a route which will eventually take you into heights of personal bliss you wouldn't bet were there.

And that's the underlying secret technique which starts it all off. Regardless of the path you choose for yourself and how you describe where your heading, even if you haven't put it into words.

So it looks like you've just hit a home run and are rounding third, heading for home.

The crowds are cheering, your team-mates are waiting. It all just depends on how fast you want to run to get there...

PS. And, as I cover in "Freedom Is" - you may find out there never was anywhere to go to begin with --

Hate; anxiety; addiction - how emotions run our lives.

(photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pagedooley/)

I've been working on a book about how to stop telemarketers' internet scams and ran across both ends of the emotional spectrum, which gives us pause to study what we do every day.

At one end was the Cialdini 6 (or 7) emotional triggers we all have to some degree and that telemarketers (and most all salespeople) use to a greater or lesser degree to get us to buy.

At the other end is the work we can get into in "exacting Justice" or "getting even." Of course, both sets of emotions are present in a scam. (Plus the plain old-fashioned greed of the Internet scammers.)

I know this last one well - as I was born a Scorpio and you either run hot or cold, depending on how you've re-trained yourself - or not. Scorpio's can be the most dedicated staff you have once you gain their loyalty - but the term "hell hath no fury" aptly describes their darker side.

And so I was a bit surprised when my intuition told me to pursue a refund after I found I had been suckered into an Internet scam. But testing it, that inner voice still said to "go for it". So I went about turning my research tools loose in this area - but still standing back to watch what I was doing.

A short side bar: the scammers I'm dealing with take advantage of people who are the early boomers, in their 40's to 60's and don't know a great deal about the Internet. These scammers sell them an overpriced training package which may teach them quite a bit about setting up an Internet site, but it won't make their money back. The scammers' Achilles' heel is that they don't really apply what they teach. And so are easily blindsided by people who can link them to a scam by regular old search engine optimization. (So people who learn to look someone up on the Internet will find their scams right off.) See, they get their leads from people clicking on some freebie gimmick - and then telemarket those leads into sales. Scammers don't actively cultivate their own niche of Internet training, or whatever they think they are supposed to be looking like they're doing. To them, the Internet is one big scam - with millions of suckers born every minute.

Now, what we are talking about today is how emotions run our lives. And how this is actually a form of addiction (or at least the metaphor fits.)

I'm straining a bit here to find where I've covered this before. I've earlier said that addiction was a matter of choices. And also that a person could reprogram him self by choosing the interests which surrounds him - in marketing terms: their niche. And there's an older post which covers exactly how we are re-programming ourselves constantly - the trick is to take this off automatic.

But there's no reason to go into how to do that here, just pick up a copy of Nightingale's Strangest Secret and follow his 30-day program, if you're needing structure about how to do it - or get my "Go Thunk Yourself S'More" (or it's blog) and follow those instructions.

The main point here is that whatever we do, we need to be studying our own actions as well as the emotional motivations we use, and also our emotional responses. Both of these terms, "emotional" and "actions" are entirely self-caused - if even by neglect.

And when we take responsibility for these actions and emotions - and start planning our works and then working those plans toward our own innate purpose - then life becomes extremely livable and even joyous. But more than likely, we reach some inimitable and indomitable internal peace with ourselves - something Nightingale describes as a "calm, cheerful expectancy" about life and living. I believe some might refer to this as "Zen."

- - - -

What to do about those scammers? Well, I'm not purposed to be some sort of activist, so I'll finish up the book and its marketing, get my refund, and move onto a number of projects which cry out for my attention. Is there a need to get that scene sorted out? Sure - there has to be some discipline in life for all the guys who "cheat" the rules which the rest of us live by. Mostly because if we don't put some restraint on them, they'll wind up in a very sorry and expensive state which the rest of us will physically and morally pay for. (Both prison and state-financed health-care are both extremely expensive with little or no return to the taxpayers who foot the bill. Plus we tend to feel bad about the people in those conditions.)

- - - -

What do you think?

Have you got some addictive emotional situations of your own? Comment or contact me.

How to "sell" self-help books to people who don't want them.

(photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinkmoose/)

"Selling" self-help seems impossible when people don't want it.

But that's the secret itself...

I've been working around this area for years. The people who are already interested in self-improvement books aren't really the ones you have to worry about. And trying to get their attention is very difficult, because there is so much competition in that field.

So you have to work on niches, not shot-gun it. I've been selling by author recently, and that seems to work pretty well, once you've figured out which authors are actually selling - or what specific books are selling. Of course, this limits you to mostly public-domain books and anything you can work them into, like audio books or courses.

Again, though, there are only about 9 authors who still sell regularly - and of those, none have incredible demand.

But since I've been studying marketing, I may have made a breakthrough in this area.

You don't "sell" anything. You offer solutions to stress.

When you target the stress in peoples' lives, you can open up the entire world to awakening.

Because just about everything out there is self improvement, if you really look at it. Learning how to garden better is self-improvement, isn't it? Finding what the best car on the market is a form of self improvement, isn't it?

The people you want to convert to self-improvement aren't those who are actually looking for it, they are those who are looking for solutions to some sort of stress in their lives. That's the keyword - stress.

All stress is covered in any decent book on self-improvement. Sure, they may settle on meditation as an answer, or diet, or health, or financial worries - but they are all dealing with stress.

Stress is actually and only either not knowing what your purpose is and/or not following it. Just trying to "get by" or "make a living" is inherently filled with stress. Because anything that makes you feel bad is off your purpose-line in some way. And tells you that you should be changing something.

But the avenue to reach these people is through whatever stress subject they are fixated on. If they want to lose weight (because they are eating too much because of their purpose-related stress), then you talk about diets - but also then bring in the mental/spiritual reasons they are having weight problems. Same for health. Same for finances. Same for work problems.

All of these have the same set of solutions (although they have to be tailor-made for that individual).

So this then gives a route where we can tell anyone about how to get on the self-improvement bandwagon - simply start solving the problem most real to that person at it's root.

And that way, we start reaching the whole planet...

Neat, huh?

Quickly reprogramming your life - the Internet way

And if you reprogram your mind, via the Internet,

do you lose it down a rabbit hole?

Nah - it's not that easy. There's lots of failsafes along the way - plus, there's an automatic route back.

OK, why I'm bringing this up: in my marketing research, I've discovered 1) that the world is nichefying at an incredible rate because of the Internet - which is a good thing, and 2) there are now technical ways to do this which allow you to concentrate and narrow your focus - which will then ultimately reprogram your mind into something quite different than what you currently think is "normal".

First the failsafes: Common sense keeps you from doing things that would be self-destructive. Well, most of the time. These can be over-ridden, but usually one keeps from personal destruction. If you're hell-bent on doing it, anything is possible. But for the vast majority, there are certain patterns you've held onto which keep you safe in most circumstances.

The road back is because you never really forget old patterns. And usually you can readopt these easily - it just takes a little less effort than changing an old habit into a new one. Slipping back into old ways (like an addiction) is easier than coming off that addiction. Mental bread crumbs and all that.

Now, what are these ways to reprogram yourself via the Internet? Well, the social media we have also has developed aggregators which can be programmed to simply and only give you the data you really want. Like Yahoo Pipes and FriendFeed. You can take all sorts of data which has RSS feeds and get these filtered into only the data you want - and then pipe these into a feed reader so you only get the data which interests you and you think is valuable.

When I went down this line with marketing, I soon saw that by putting these blinders on, you would simply and quickly become an expert on that niche subject and would be putting yourself into conversation with other people who have similar interests to yours - your clients and associates. And that is the way to really make it in any niche - surround yourself with key data that has to do with just that niche, and then blog/write/podcast/video about it all the time. People who are collecting that type of data will then seek you out.

It's actually a natural function. That's how you pick your friends and how they pick you.

And it's how you are constantly reprogramming your mind.

Only now, the Internet also allows you to do this much quicker - and influence a helluva lot more similarly-interested people than ever before.

The worry was the rabbit-hole concept from Alice in Wonderland (as made famous by The Matrix movie). People have described going down into rabbit-holes of interesting data-leads, only to emerge hours later with nothing to show for all their fascinating Internet surfing. (Probably a smile on their face, but maybe not.)

By creating aggregators to find you data and filters which then clean and purify this data into only things you are interested in, you can then build your own blinders so that you are only getting that data which makes you happy. And so, you become a walking expert in a particular niche - and in search engine marketing, this is how you can then grab top spots so that people can find your products.

Essentially, you reprogram yourself into success.

But that is really what all these books and tapes and videos on self improvement are all telling you, isn't it? They are trying to get you to quit listening to the herd mentality and start listening to yourself. And when you do, you become concentrated on the one thing which will give you everything you want in life.

That "one thing" is different for every single person alive on this planet.

It's just the way things are. And why the way things are - if you wanted to look.

So, worry not - it's all cool. Just be yourself and listen to those things you feel you should - that make you feel good all the time. And as you improve your filters and aggregators, you'll be easily replacing your old datums and mental habits with new ones.

Cheers - and Good Hunting!

How to survive life itself - and succeed into enormous wealth meanwhile...

(photocredit: FabFinance.com)

You can actually survive life and get incredibly wealthy at the same time.

(Recession-- what recession? We don't need no stinkin' recession...)

Of course, you won't figure this out by watching the news or attending any number of schools.

Because these are designed to serve the majority. They are designed to foster tabloid fascination ("news") and lockstep conformity ("schools"). Their end result is a populace which tends to follow the same trends and not really question anything they are told, but just react appropriately.

Your own purpose for being here runs counter to those two groups.

Because you and your purpose are unique, individual.

And what you are doing here is special - you are here not just to "make a living" or "support a family" or "live to reach retirement".

Practically, you are here to save this universe. Really. Because every single person here is depended on by the Universe to provide diversity and independence of thought. And the universe would quickly just run down and quit if it weren't for your particular input.

It's called the law of entropy. And it's just Nature's way of taking out the trash and then picking it up from the sidewalk. All the way things are done.

But growing things, building things, making stuff bigger, better, more exciting - that's what you are here for and what you are supposed to be doing.

You weren't created, weren't born, weren't infused with Life - just so you could sit in front of the TV with you chosen partner and then just "watch."

Whatever you're here for, only you really know. No one else can tell you what you're here for - they can only tell you about ways they've used to find their own. And these ways may or may not work for you.

But the trick is that you have to try.

A few hints here:

1. Try to constantly build the attitude of calm, cheerful expectancy. This will bring you more good things into your life - almost more than you can imagine.
   
2. Give open-handedly and don't expect anything in return. This will help all these good things coming to you surprise you even more. Especially works for charities.
3. Worried about your job? Don't be. Work positively on how you can give the most to your company and improve its ability to expand in its current economic climate. Work for expansion of others. Don't have a job? Find a company you can help - do the research to get a plan for their expansion, then offer that plan to them along with your services. (See the chapter on this in "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill. He wrote it for people coming out of the Depression - it works!

Good Hunting!

5 Keys to Success In Anything You Really Want

Here's 5 Success Keys to Getting Anything You Really Want

1. Seek the Silence daily.
2. Find your vision.
3. Plan your work.
4. Work your plan.
5. Build your support group.

I've studied thousands of self help books, recordings, lectures, transcripts, articles, blog posts, you name it - over the half century I've been on this planet. And they really only boil down to five key points anyone can use to improve their lives. Use these and you'll be able to achieve or acquire or accomplish anything. Anything.

These are nothing new. And you've heard them all before in one manner or another.

But this time: Write them down and put them on the wall in front of you - or on your computer monitor on a tabbie - or the ceiling above your bed (if that's where you do your best thinking). Memorize these and tell several people about them. Blog about them, Twitter them, Do a podcast or a video or stumble them. But get this word out.

Because they work. They always have, they always will. And if you want a better life, if you want someone around you to have a better existence or solve some problem, write out these five keys for them and tell them just what I told you.

I didn't invent these. They are as old as the hills - or older. But we can use them right now, today. And that's the point of writing this now.

1. Seek the Silence daily.

Some call it prayer, others meditation, others yet - just a quiet time, like a long walk in the woods or sitting in a favorite chair looking out on a scenic view. The point is to find a few points daily where you can sit in a quiet space, relax, and let your thoughts simply go. Get some peace.

As you get more peace into your life, you'll be able to work easier and more efficiently. You'll lead a calm, comfortable life. And good things will happen to you all the time.

Plus, the calm, the peace expands around you. You'll be helping people quit worrying and enjoy their lives more - all because you enjoy yours.

2. Find your vision.

Now, find out what you really like to do, what you really want to get into your life, what you would rather be doing if you didn't have to do anything else for a living. What you want to wear, how you want to look, how you want to feel.

Haanel, Wattles, Bristol, Peale, Shakespeare, Plato - the list is long. They all said this. Jesus and other religious phil0sophers, prophets, and sages all covered this.

Get a quiet time and figure out what it is you really want. Hill and Nightingale say to write this down on two little cards. Write it like it's already done - not, "I want a ....", but "I have a ...." One card goes on your nightstand by the bed. The other goes with you to work. Review this three times a day, preferably at the same time. Get the feeling of this being already there - how great, how satisfied, how grateful you feel for this showing up, being brought to you.

Thats' your next step. Take your time and work it out. You probably already have an idea. Go for it.

Then review it at least three times a day and every chance you get in between. The more you chew over your vision in your mind, the more details start to appear - and the more real it becomes. You'll get inspiration and intuitive insight on how to make it happen faster as you do.

2. Plan your work.

The trick in this is to plan out what you have to do in logical sequence - what has to happen first before something else can. Just lay out your ToDo list all in sequence. Simple steps - but only those things that you can do. And only write down the really vital things. It's not a grocery list or a wish list. It's a sequential series of steps you need to do to get the next part of your vision to actually occur around you.

You know what these steps are. Just write them down so you can work on them and get them done.

Nothing gets done in this universe without some sort of action taking place. Dreams remain just daydreams until you act on them.

So write them down so you can.

3. Work your plan.

Now, how you get these done is important.

You get them done one at a time. Period. Work on one thing and get it done. Then the next. And then the next after that and so on.

All multi-tasking is over-hyped. Computers only "multi-task" by working on one thing at a time for a short period of time each, and in rotation - and they slow down and crash when asked to work on too many things at once.

Sure, if you're waiting on something to finish, you can do something to fill in - but drop that and get back to finish what you started originally as soon as you can. Once that's done, then finish the next thing you started. Concentrate on getting what you started done - in the order you started it. And preferably, you can organize your life so that you don't have to start more than one thing at a time.

Yes, there is true multi-tasking. Put one computer doing one thing and another computer doing the second thing. In business, this is called hiring more people. Two people can do two things at once - one works on one thing, the other works on the other thing.

Just the way this universe is laid out. Penalties for routinely trying to "multi-task?" Nervous breakdowns - a "crash". Computers are modeled after human thought, after all. They can only "think" as good as we can. Take the hint. Work your own list from the top down. Only.

If you don't get it all done that day? Put it in your pocket and bring it back to work the next day. When you do get it all done, lay out the next steps you need to do. And then work this list from the top down. Keep the same list and check it off. Don't re-write it every day. Just do it, complete it. There's always more paper ready when you start your next list.

Another point - how do you go at this? Calmly, cheerfully, and expectantly. Like everything you want is going to show up shortly - you are just "clearing the decks" so that it has a place to set when it does. Remember the first step - get your own peace happening daily. And let the world revolve around you for a change.

4. Build your support group.

Surround yourself with people, books, recordings, articles, blogs, etc. that share your vision or some part of it.

These are mentors, mastermind group, accountability partners - they go by many names. The point is that you have some point, great or small, of your vision in common. And that's the point that you cover with them. Because you are helping them to achieve their own vision - their own purpose.

Move the rest off somewhere or let them drift away. You only want to concentrate on these few which you can directly help and they can help you. Seems harsh, but it doesn't have to be. Factually, you'll find that as you concentrate on your purpose, your vision, the people you need will start showing up in your life and all the distractions will start dropping away.

Your job is to simply concentrate on your vision and get their advice and support for that part of your vision they can contribute to. Don't bother them with the whole rest of it - keep that to yourself and someone who has that in common with you. No two people are exactly the same, even twins. No two people will have the exact same set of mastermind partners. But people can mesh and coincide at certain points. That's what you share with them - and help them with their similar point.

Remember the old adage - "You can't get without giving." Some say to give first in order to get what it is you want. And there is the best type of giving - open-handed with no expectation of a return. If you want success in your life, look around you and find someone you can help be more successful. For free. Sure you have your business - but every time you do something for someone else, give them a little more than they expected, like Wattles suggested a century ago, and as the Good Book said a few thousand years ago. Give in abundance and abundance will return to you.

It's just the way this universe is set up. (And why criminals and critical people live such awful lives. ) And why smiles are contagious.

- - - -

So there you have it. Write these down and memorize them. Get it so you can count these off on one hand (or your toes, if that's the way you count). Just five points. Reword them anyway you need to so they are easy for you to remember.

Get these going in your life and you really can't be anything but an outrageous success from here on out. Sure, I could write (and have written) books about this area - and so many, many people have throughout history.

The point is that these five points are all you need - and you can work out the rest, or whatever additional advice will come to you as you need it.

So:

1. Seek the Silence daily.
2. Find your vision.
3. Plan your work.
4. Work your plan.
5. Build your support group.

Or - Prayer--Goal--Plan--Work--Group

You see how it goes? Have fun with this!

Get a clue - there's a whole system out there running your (and everone else's) universe...

Of all these self help books, all those self improvement tapes, all the religious dogmas, every ideologue, there is a single underlying system which explains how everything works and fits together.

Woooof. That's one heady statement to make.

But I've been working this over for over 8 years now as a steady research and collecting notes the earlier 40-some - on just about everything that crossed my path. So when I say that I've been able to boil down the universe into a single system, it just might be plausible.

The basic is back on the farm. Did you know that Nature runs the same, no matter what you believe, or practice, or what party you belong to? True. Plant a seed anywhere on this planet and as long as it has enough sunlight, enough nutrients, and is warm enough to do it's job - you'll have a sprouted plant. Keep these conditions long enough and that plant will make seeds so you can make more plants.

Heated greenhouses in Antarctica prove it.

So how do all these religions say they are the only way out and that all others are (whatever)? They are simply running marketing silos, trying to build a monopoly of belief and so finance their buildings and what-not.

That's a bit cruel, and perhaps steps on everyone's toes at once. But if you analyze organized religions against marketing data, that's what falls out.

Back up a bit.

All - and I mean all - religions and phil0sophies contain certain common points. One of these is the "Golden Rule". Every single historical belief-system we have on this planet has recognized that there is a definite reciprocity on this mud-ball we live on. What ever you do has consequences - and these all come back to haunt or elevate you. Your choice - treat people like manure and you'll get manure dumped on you. Treat people with respect and you'll get respect. Be charitable, get charity. Help others, get helped.

On and on and on.

Most nations have outlawed capital punishment - who wants to cast that first stone?

I think that if you looked hard enough, you'd also find some recognition of the Law of Attraction in all these - but it's a different search. I know it's been written about in both the New and Old Testaments. And Huna mentions it - which is the oldest-known philosophic system still practiced on this planet.

Of course, this above would then be a complete study all on its own. And I'll leave that to theologists to study up as part of the postgraduate studies. I'll keep to the broad strokes.

Let's just go with this idea that, like Nature, we are all living on this planet under the same rules. We all have bodies which are different hues and shades, but all function the same. There are only so many blood types, and they can all be fixed with varying degrees of success when they get broken.

It is just logical that all these religions, cults, and belief-systems (extremist, moderate, conservative) work because of that underlying common system, not in spite of it.

How would I go about explaining it?

1. Take Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" as the base, and back up to Huna's 7 principles to explain how this works. 
2. Expand to his Law of Success, and widen the scope to include Haanel's Master Key System, as well as Mental Chemistry. 
3. Compare with Science of Getting Rich. 
4. Examine the phenomenon of "The Secret", which is pushing the Law of Attraction. 
5. Review Atkinson's works along this line, as well as Earl Prevette. 
6. Back this up through Genevieve Behrend to Thomas Troward. 
7. Which then brings us right back to Huna as an overall and underlying base for all modern self help. 
8. Then come forward through current religions to show their similarities and posit the point that all religions (and all belief-systems/world-views) depend on a common system of philosophy in order to work at all. 
9. Now, the base foundation for a common system could be laid, taking just the key points held in common by all above authors and Huna. 

 And this is just the beginning. Once you lay out the basic principles, personal techniques could be approached, so that anyone could improve just about anything in their lives (thought being the first point of creation, any system of thought would then enable anything to be created/achieved/acquired).

As well, an approach to world peace is possible. If all war is either economic or ideological in origin, it would be possible to show that everyone would be richer if you allowed free commerce, as well as other human freedoms.

This underlying system does exist. Interestingly, it isn't a question of proving it, but disproving it... Because it runs on faith for fuel. Faith is based on knowledge and understanding. Those that doubt only limit themselves. The best gains to be had are by thoroughly immersing oneself in the subject. You can't try out a pair of boots to see if they fit and wear well unless you put them on, first.