The definition of the word “muse” is: To think.

Add the letter “a”, creating “amuse,” and you get the opposite:  To not think.

So what does it really mean to be “amused“?

We have amusement parks, where you can go “not think” for a day, or two, or three.  Not so bad…unless…

Unless you live in what I like to call a “Constant State of Amusement.”

We live in a world filled with deception, constantly selling lies and misdirecting us from the stuff that really matters.  And we too often buy those lies, simply because we choose to turn off our minds and let the world do our thinking for us.  

Maybe the best goal you can set for 2012 is simply to learn to think for yourself.  If you don’t, there are plenty of media and entertainment executives that will gladly do that for you.

How about you?  What do you do to participate in activities that keep you from living your life only on Facebook, in front of a television, or behind a People magazine?  Do you or your family have any systems in place that encourage engaging activities that actually promote thinking?

I’m sure you have plenty of things you’d love to do this new year.  But what would you like to do less of in 2012? Maybe “being amused” should be on that list.

Because it’s way too easy to be deceived…

What is this Christmas about for you?  If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably the kind of person that has already heard that “Jesus is the reason for the season.” Like a thousand times.  Right?  Sounds cliche…but it’s true.  But you already know that, don’t you?  The problem isn’t that you don’t already know the truth, it’s that for most of us, our actions and lives don’t match up with what we know is true.  Alas…it is EASY to be deceived.  We get mis-directed every day…especially at Christmas time.

So what’s your mission this Christmas?

Will you focus on and celebrate the truth?

Or will you buy the lies?

Chances are, your family has already developed a focus for this season.  Want to know what that focus is?  Just ask yourself these two questions…  

1. How are you spending your time?
2. How do you spending your money?

The answer to those two questions determine not only what you value, but the current mission statement for your life this Christmas season.

Don’t buy the lies. Don’t be deceived. Re-discover the truth. And once you do, allow it to challenge you to a point of discomfort.  We’re probably all a little too comfortable, no matter how things seem.

Video| Advent Conspiracy :: Enter the Story :: 2011

Christmas isn’t Christmas without getting involved in the life of someone less fortunate.  There are hundreds of ways to get involved.  Here’s one of my favorites, that has lasting impact in ways that go far beyond what we can see, smell, taste, touch, or hear:  Sponsor a child through Food for the Hungry. Click here to get involved. It’ll change a child’s life. That’s pretty awesome. But it’ll also change your’s in the process.  Funny how that works, isn’t it?

“We are never deceived; we deceive ourselves.” -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My first reaction: “Cool quote!”  Then I started to process it on a deeper level and realized that it isn’t 100% true.  

Yes, sometimes the most dangerous form of deception is the way we deceive ourselves.  But as true as that is, it certainly doesn’t mean that we are “never deceived” by anything else.

Unfortunately, we have a deceiver.  He Hates you.  He wants to steal, kill, and destroy you.  And for every single part of God’s plan for your life, he offers a counterfeit.  You’ve bought the counterfeit before.  So have I.  And so has everyone else since the beginning of time.

If we only deceived ourselves, Satan wouldn’t exist.  Eve wouldn’t have talked to a snake.  And the examples go on and on.  But every story has a villain, including yours, and “lying is his native tongue.” (John 8:44)

Satan deceived, and continued to infiltrate entire cultures through self-destructing systems, built on lies and counterfeit illusions.  And yes, after we were deceived, and now that we are deceived, we often deceive ourselves…without any help at all.

How about you?  Do you find that you often deceive yourself?  Or are you more often manipulated by someone or something around you?

In my show, I often perform an illusion where an old, antique table floats mysteriously around the stage, without anyone touching it.  It was inspired by an experience I had over 10 years ago in southeast Asia. While on a tour with another performer in Sri Lanka, we discovered a man in one of the communities we were performing in who was performing one of the same illusions we were.  He had invested the same time, resources, and months of practice we had into creating the same illusion of levitation, but with one major difference: He was actually deceiving people. There were no spirits…it was all just an illusion.

This guy had convinced hundreds of people in his country that the levitation of the table was made possible by spirits, and that the spirits were manifesting their presence by making the table move.  I learned more than one valuable lesson that day about how easily it is for our senses to be fooled, and how simply we are tricked and cleverly deceived into believing things that totally untrue.  All because we “saw something with our own eyes,” and after all, “seeing is believing.”

You’ll have to check out our show to get the full story, as well as experience the illusion live, but for now, enjoy this clip of what was for me, a very unique presentation of my floating table illusion.  I’ve never had anyone respond quite like this before, but it’s these kind of unexpected moments with audience volunteers that continue to make my job so much fun. Enjoy…

The film Inception? Incredible. Loved it! One of the best movies I’ve ever seen, and one of my favorites of all time. BUT…

What if I told you that “inception” actually happens? To you? Every. Single. Day.  

It’s every where you look, and a steady stream of ideas are being planted in your brain daily. The dangerous part?  You don’t realize it, because you take these ideas in subconsciously.  And when you act on those ideas, you don’t really take the time to stop and think, “Hmmm…I bet I did that because I heard that ad on the radio, or saw that commercial on TV.”

Here’s an obvious example.  There are plenty more where this came from, and they aren’t anywhere near as noticeable…

[Note: Facebook Note readers click here to watch the video. Facebook does not embed videos when automatically importing these posts from my blog.]

Laugh if you want. You may think I’m crazy, but that’s exactly what makes it so easy for you to be cleverly tricked and deceived.  If you let your guard down, it makes planting ideas in your brain that much easier.

And you thought “Inception” was just a fun movie?

Harry Houdini, one of the world’s most famous magicians and escape artists was certainly an expert in the art of deception.  This expertise gave him very valuable perspective, including the following words:  

“What the eye sees, the ear hears, the mind believes.”
-Harry Houdini

I wish it weren’t true, but unfortunately, Houdini was spot on.

Back in 2001, I was part of a tour in Southeast Asia. In Sri Lanka, an illusion was featured in the show where a table levitated. Turns out, the people there had seen that “trick” performed before, just down the street.  But not by a magician or illusionist, but by a Buddhist Extremist “Spiritual Leader.”  He made the exact same looking table levitate, using the exact same method and months of practice we did as “magicians.”  Only he claimed the table was able to levitate because of “spirits manifesting their presence.”

He was lying.

And the people in Sri Lanka believed him.

Why?

They saw it with their own eyes.  They heard about it with their own ears.  They couldn’t explain it.  Therefore, it must be real…RIGHT?

Unfortunately, it’s easy to be deceived. What you see and hear and feel is not always real.  Your senses get tricked, and end up telling your mind what do believe.  If we began to understand this principle, oh the truth we could discover, and more importantly, live out.

If only Houdini had been wrong…

Question: What kind of decisions have you made, just because you saw something, or heard something, and therefore just assumed it to be real or true?

]]> http://www.harrisiii.com/deception/if-only-houdini-had-been-wrong/feed/ 2 http://www.harrisiii.com/deception/the-detox-hoax-why-detoxes-are-deceiving-and-why-theyre-dangerous-for-your-health/ http://www.harrisiii.com/deception/the-detox-hoax-why-detoxes-are-deceiving-and-why-theyre-dangerous-for-your-health/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:07:40 +0000 Harris III http://www.harrisiii.com/?p=1506 Welcome to my first ever guest post on my blog. My wife, Kate, has been cranking out some pretty incredible blog posts lately over at her blog.  We talk regularly about what what kind of posts we’re working on, and the other day, we were both expressing frustration over how deceived people have become regarding detoxes. I mentioned I was working on a post about it, and she responded, “me too!”

I figured she’d offer the best perspective than I would, so I let her run with it.  And it just so happens that I happen to run a blog about deception, and I’ve probably said “It’s easy to be deceived,” at least 10,000 times in the past 10-15 years.  To date, it’s been my life’s message.  So enjoy this guest post, written by her, conveniently located here.  Here’s Kate…  

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It’s one of the biggest buzzwords of the last 18 months: Detox.

Thousands of programs and regiments that are designed to “rid your body of toxins”.  And you know what?  It’s one of the biggest hoaxes that has hit the public since the Atkins Diet craze. But, as my husband often says, “It’s easy to be deceived.”

The word detox, according to Webster’s Dictionary, means the following:

“To undergo treatment to rid the body of poisonous substances, especially alcohol and drugs”.

It’s origin is 1972. Most people who detox are people in rehab (we’ve all seen Intervention) who are coming down off years of abuse of drugs and alcohol.  They are ridding their body of a literal “poison”.  But somewhere along the way, someone realized that the word “detox”  could be used for an entirely different purpose: marketing.

If you were to get on Google (or Bing or Yahoo or whatever engine you use), and type in the word “detox”, you would find over 12.5 million pages of cleanses, diets, plans, blogs, and other various opinions on the subject. You would find things like the Acai Cleanse, the Master Cleanse (or lemon cleanse), Evercleanse, the Cabbage Soup Diet, the ColoThin, and Colonics.  Each one claims to detoxify your body in the most effective, and fast, way.
I’m pretty sure that even though you may not have participated in one of these programs, you know someone who has, or you’ve heard of them.  But the thing that so many people have failed to realize is that they are just a fad.  Go ahead and hate me for saying it, but they are no better or different then weight loss programs like the Atkins diet, the South Beach diet, or my personal favorite, the What Would Jesus Eat? Diet.

We have bought into the fad hook, line, and sinker all over again.  Especially us women.  We want to be thin…and would do just about anything to get to that point quickly.  Everything except give up our Starbucks Frappuccinos with extra whip and the Wendy’s at 11pm.  We want a quick-fix to our poor eating habits and have believed that the only way to a healthy life is through not eating for 10 days and drinking a concoction of maple syrup, cayenne pepper, and lemon juice.

When I searched for a scientific perspective on these cleanses, I consulted a doctor, Wikipedia, and WebMD among others.  The opinion was repeated across the board:

“…Symptoms may improve with a detox diet, but there is no evidence that this [detox diets/cleanses] is due to clearing toxins from the body…As it turns out, a balanced, proper diet is more helpful than a detox diet.” WebMD also stated that, “Perhaps one of the biggest dangers of detox diets is the fear they instill in the public…The good news is that your body has its own natural detoxifying process that works quite well.  The liver and kidneys do a good job of processing chemicals and eliminating them…”  WebMD goes on to make the statement that, “fasting can be addictive because it causes a kind of ‘high’.”

(I am putting this statement in there based on the fact that the Master Cleanse is one of the most popular cleanses out there, and it requires a 10-day fast.)  There was also a statement in Self magazine that said that women who don’t eat (fast) during a cleanse or diet are, on average, 8 pounds heavier than women who just ate right and exercised!  Is anybody getting this?

ARE WE OUT OF OUR MINDS??

In all honesty, I am just wondering when we stopped paying attention.  We believe just about anything, more specifically when it comes to shedding those pounds and that other buzzword: wellness.  If we really look deeper into it, we aren’t really interested in a lifestyle change, or being healthy for that matter.  Instead, we want to do what we want, when we want, but don’t want the consequences that come along with it.

I have read status update after status update on Facebook and Twitter from friends of mine that have decided to “get clean” by choosing one of these diets.  The irony, however, is that when all is said and done, they “celebrate” their success and their new-found energy by hitting up their favorite drink at Starbucks and noshing on a cupcake or ice cream.  And even more commonly, they just go back to their old food and drink routine, thinking about the next time that they’ll “clean out”.  I’m not kidding!  Just think about how ridiculous that is!  You’ve “rid” the toxins from your body only to put them right back in. the dangers of detox diets and cleanses is right in front of our faces, yet we remain blind.  Especially us as women.  There’s a lie that’s easy to miss, but it’s there nevertheless.  It’s that nasty lie that tells us over and over that we aren’t good enough, and God and his design are not enough. We take products like these because we find ourselves 25 pounds overweight, lazy, and sometimes even subconsciously blame God for making us with a faulty system. No…we are faulty because we live in a broken world. We don’t want to work hard, eat right, or exercise.  We find ourselves caught up in fad diets and quick-fixes because we need to experience that we are enough.  We want to feel like we are doing something…anything. But we are left unhappy and empty, cheeseburger still in hand.

DO NOT BUY THE LIE.  It’s that simple.  (For real…it really is).  Understand that we all are left with a choice to be healthy or just pretend to be healthy.  I would challenge any person, fad-cleanser or non-fad-cleanser, to make a lifestyle change for the better.  Just eat healthy. And then, go get some excercise…

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Be sure to check out Kate’s blog, I AM KATE. You’ll love reading her thoughts!

QUESTION: What do you think? Have you done a detox, and what was your experience? Is Kate crazy, or have a lot of people been cleverly tricked and deceived?

But…

But, the world has a tendency to reprogram our minds, and make women think you have to look a certain way to feel beautiful. The pictures are everywhere, and so many of them are fake. So next time you see a photo on a billboard, or on a magazine cover while waiting in line at the grocery store, remind yourself that even the most beautiful women in the world still just aren’t beautiful enough.

If this photo of Faith Hill wasn’t good enough for the Redbook Magazine cover, and… if the images you see every day impact you on a deeper level than you probably realize… well, you can begin to imagine why my wife doesn’t always feel pretty. (And why you a lot of times don’t feel pretty either.)

Before:

Faith Hill Unedited Redbook Cover Photo

After:

Faith Hill Edited Redbook Cover Photo

Or, in case you couldn’t see just how dramatic the changes actually are, check it out this way:

As if Faith’s arm was just WAY too fat. Ugh.

Remember, you are beautiful, and you are enough, just as you are. Don’t let Photoshop and it’s shallow users tell you otherwise. Do not be deceived.

You could read more of this issue of Redbook Magazine and learn everything from make up tricks to “how to show your sexy side.” But if you can’t even trust the cover, why even open it’s pages??  Look at the photos, then read the headlines printed on the cover. Am I the only one that finds the advertised articles utterly ridiculous, considering the irony of the over-editted photo??

QUESTION: Am I the only one who thinks this is ridiculously sad, and incredibly unhealthy for our culture?  As a girl, does it impact your ability to feel beautiful?

I know.  Stupid.  Really, really stupid.  And I have plenty of friends that know my story, most of whom have said the same encouraging words, “Well, be thankful you figured that out at age 25 instead of 50, like so many others.”  Yeah, yeah. I mean, thanks, I appreciate it, but it was still really stupid. All I have to show for all the money I wasted is debt. Turns out, Dave Ramsey isn’t the moron a lot of others claim he is.

What’s ironic about this story is that I was seemingly successful, in the process of being a failure. But it was really just the illusion of success.

I’ve learned a lot in the past few years.  My wife and I have down-sized twice, decreased our living expenses by thousands of dollars a month, live incredibly simple lifestyles, and in the past 3 years, have paid off almost $150,000 in debt.  Because of our intensity, we’d be debt free by now, but we’ve hit a few uncontrollable road blocks along the way.  Freedom is close. We can taste it!

For the record, all of this really comes down to one simple truth: I was created to worship my creator, and somewhere along the way, regardless of my intentions or how I was raised, I got tricked and deceived into worshiping myself.  And that my friends, will leave your soul feeling even more empty than your bank account.

And let’s face it…the big fancy house we built, (which I sold 4 years ago), wasn’t even about the house.  The expensive SUV’s I drove, weren’t even about the SUV’s. The big screen TV’s had nothing to do with my desire for big TV’s.  I rarely watched them.  Instead, it was about doing everything in my power to control the perceptions of other people, so they could see me, the way I wanted them to see me.  My house was nothing but a monument to my existence.  The only thing I was really successful at, was creating the illusion of success.  The sad part?  A lot of others believed it.  But then again, creating illusions is something I excel at, and that isn’t always a good thing.

So what about today? Well, I take a very small salary.  The honest truth is, though it’s not what most others perceive, we barely make it by each month.  And that’s mainly due to the size of the dreams we chase.  The way I see it, if it isn’t God-sized, it isn’t worth chasing.  But from the moment I discovered the reality that I was being stupid with my time, money, and talents, and changed the way we do things, I’ve still continued to fail over and over again.  It’s now just a different kind of failure, and I no longer have the illusion of success.

To understand what I’m talking about, you really have to have an understanding of our model, and my vision for what I’m pursuing…

I’ve learned in the last 2 years that free shows in church buildings attract a lot of “christians.”  I’ve also learned that doing a quality show in a cool theatre, and charging people a few bucks to see the show, attracts a lot of people who are searching for meaning, purpose, and truth.  It’s actually somewhat fascinating to me, but really seems like common sense if you think about it.  And if my vision is to share truth with people in a world filled with deception, well, it makes a lot of sense to go to those people, in the places they’re already being entertained.  (A lot more sense than waving around a flag or poster begging them to come see me in a place they already don’t want to come to, and care much about something they got for free.)

Without going into a long, drawn out and detailed explanation of business, economics, and marketing, let me simply say this: For that model to work, I have to find a way to promote and spread the word about our shows to people who have never heard of me.  Musicians have Radio. Comedians have Comedy Central, XM, and iTunes. Illusionists? Well, we can do TV, but you can imagine how difficult that is.  And even Criss Angel has his own TV show, while his Vegas show is failing miserably.  It’s hard.  Really, really hard!

But, what if there were people who already had the resources, relationships, talents, and influence to partner with me in successfully pulling off these types of events? Turns out, there are plenty of them.  But there’s a really big catch: They don’t want to partner with us.

“Promoters,” (as they’re commonly called in my circles), usually spend their time and resources on acts that draw crowds. (Usually because big crowds equal profit.)  Those promoters base their crowd size expectations on how many albums a band has sold in their area, if they have a hit song on the local radio station, etc. Obviously, those are two things I have neither of. But what’s ironic about this is that these same promoters are saying, “There’s a ton of concerts and music tours out there right now. I’m looking for something different.”  So, we offer it. We offer them something unique, creative, and different.  And we offer it along with a handful of examples of a few promoters who have given us a shot, and had huge successes with sold-out shows.  But when it comes down to it, we’re told over and over again, “Ummm…we aren’t interested in taking the risk in bringing in something that doesn’t have a track record. I mean, it looks cool, and it’s really creative, and I bet the show is awesome, but it’s just not something we’re willing to try.”

I’m thankful for the few leaders and promoters who have been willing to think outside the box, try something different, and partner with us.  We just don’t have enough of them yet for this thing to be truly successful.  I don’t take those few for granted in any way, and thank God for them daily.

Earlier this week, I had a meeting with the team of guys who handle all of my booking.  I just finished writing an incredible, brand-new show, and released it as our new fall tour for 2010, and I will transparently admit that it’s been the same story.  In our meeting, they let me know that the response they’re getting is the usual, “Looks cool, but we aren’t willing to take the risk.”  (Except of course from the people who booked us last year and had 100% sold-out shows.  They’re more than excited to have us back!)

When we bring our show to a community, people do show up.  They do stand up and clap at the end.  They do take the time to say hi in the lobby afterwards and express their appreciation.  They do send me emails and letters, sharing their stories of how their lives were touched or challenged by the content shared through our art.  And yes, one by one, we are finding people who are willing to put their visions before their fear, and come alongside us as we journey towards something new.  And one by one, those people are winning big, especially for the kingdom, in the perspective of eternity.

If you have a desire to host us, just get in touch.  Don’t worry about money.  I’ll carry the risk with you.  I’ve seen God honor the vision. Join us, and try something different.  It’s not fun to publicly confess this stuff, in a place where your peers can easily access it, but I’m proud of the vision we’re chasing, the changes we’re making, the way we’re pushing ourselves to be creative and different, and I share it all in hopes that a few more, one by one, will jump on board and partner with us.

I may still be failing, but I only phrase it that way because my dreams haven’t yet been realized!  There are definitely no longer illusions of success in my life.  I have my eyes focused on a different prize, and I’ve got a strong feeling that as long as I dream big, some failure will always be in my future.

First of all, I have admit that I haven’t studied this passage of scripture in it’s original text, nor have I read any commentary on it.  This is very surface level thinking.

Second, I must confess that part of my thoughts regarding this could be that I’m annoyed by all of the misconceptions surrounding the “devil,” and how it is that he supposedly operates in the world.  But I’ll save that for another post.  Instead, let me simply ask: What if Satan operates this way? If it’s a great way to gain influence, which also happens to be Satan’s ultimate goal, why not use the same strategy, and “be all things to all men”?

As you look around the world, you see different cultures with different issues.  People often wonder why some countries have a high amount of “supernatural activity,” while others simply struggle with poverty, while others seem to have an absence of all spirituality and just seem filled with pride.

I wonder if Satan plays into the supernatural superstitions of some cultures, while playing to the pride of others.  It seems to me, it’d be pretty successful.  Or maybe it already is.  Hmmm….

It’s a simple thought, yet I’m not sure we view it this way very often.  Just thinking out loud…what do you think?