I am become Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds.

(or, at least, Alex P. Keaton)

I heard from Tony Robbins personal assistant: Tony loves the gun, even though he couldn’t use the helmet: apparently, Tony’s head is larger than the motorcycle helmet’s outside diameter. And he’s not using the silver firefighter’s close approach jacket, either. To my mind, this represents a sad failure of Tony’s to unleash his Personal Power, but I’d be happy to coach him through it for the right price.

Tony’s going to use the Ultimate Water Gun to super-charge a Super Soaker on his tour through Australia and Singapore.

Meanwhile, I’ve been continuing through the 12-CD Personal Power II series. On Disc 2, Tony reveals the Ultimate Goal of All Human Behavior: to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Which, of course, is hardly a revolutionary concept: this is well-traveled territory for the Greeks, and even our most used latin phrase (from Cicero, De Finibus Bonorem est Malorum):

‘Neque porro quisquam est qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit…’ [emphasis mine]

‘There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain, but only in service of a greater pleasure…’

Anyhow, it may be a cliche, but it’s a cliche that’s universally applicable, and Tony’s applying it to combat PROCRASTINATION: THE SILENT KILLER. I’m a world-class procrastinator (viz. this site), so I’m still nodding in the choir, and doing the homework assignments: “Write down something you’ve been putting off, the pain that you’ve been avoiding by putting it off, and the pleasure you’ve gained in avoiding it. Now reverse that: write down all the pain you’re suffering as a result of putting it off, and all the great things that’ll happen if you just take care of it, already!”

No argument there.

On the negative side, Tony tends to use the word “technology” to apply to practices designed to form good habits, which sets off my bullshit detector: The Church of Scientology likes to use the word “technology” to apply to their copyrighted religious teachings, and there’s no end of near-cult for-profit groups that like to package and sell feel-gooditude. Which, of course, isn’t new; philosophy-for-hire has been around since long before the Stoa of Athens.

Still, the worst that can happen at this point is that I turn into some kind of ninteen-eighties briefcase-carrying, suspender-wearing type A personality!