Interview with Richard Grant from Australia

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Members of the forum, this is my first interview and hope to do many more. In this interview, it's myself interviewing (the stoic) Richard Grant from Australia. He's the author of the soon to be available book called, 'Nothing Matters' and is in the process of writing another called, 'Give it No Thought'.

Richard was seeking out like minds and somehow landed on our doorstep and stayed as a guest in our home for 2+ months. During this time Richard and I talked quite a bit and also pushed each others buttons. 2+ months can be a very long time... Smile

Needless to say, Richard was a wonderful house guest, (for an Australian - LOL) and he's become a part of our family. He had the opportunity to purchase a mac computer and started doing videos and learning how to use the computer. Nearly 80 years of age, Richard is a dear friend and one of the very few people I've encountered in my lifetime that are actual living proof of their own, unique philosophy.

While I didn't agree with everything, much of what Richard expressed while he was here rang true... Even if I didn't admit it at the time. So without further ado, meet Richard.

Inteview with Richard Grant from Australia

If you want to keep up with this lively and interesting fella, you can see his blog here. The video is also hosted on this forum located here. Richard is a student of Walter and Lao Russell and repeatedly stated that Dr. Russell and his writings were infallable.

We hope that this will be the first of many member interviews.

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@Justin,

Very nice interview. A few comments if I may:

Nice fellow with a positively-contagious laugh! Some folks talk the talk.. and most walk something completely different from what comes out of their mouth. My feeling is this guy has completely embraced these philosophies. Most excellent.
Nearly all concepts summarized rang a chord of truth with me; although I'll readily admit that I'm not clear on all foundations.
I especially like the Empowerment through Awareness through our own, self-constructed perceptions - implications for living an enlightened life are... well, HUGE.
From inside the mind, Nothing matters; except insomuch as we assign it meaning. Again, huge utility for living a life that's conscious how the mind is responsible for perceived angst, anger, love, hate, worry, etc.
I've always felt a peaceful identification with the stoic mindset; acceptance and personal responsibility for this acceptance, is one of the most-difficult turnkeys to access.
I like your cat; arrogant and demanding as all cats should be.

Thanks for sharing; I'd like to know more on the specifics and have some questions which, I think, would most-likely be answered if I were to read the books. They're on my list.

Thanks again

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@Justin,

That actually made a lot of sense to me.

I have been living by a philosophy that states that thought is creative. All thought, good and bad, is creative and tends to become a material thing.

Richard is correct when he talks about what we do to ourselves through negative internal dialogue. We do make ourselves ill. We do age prematurely.

If we want to improve the quality of our life we must improve the quality of our thoughts.

Well done, Justin. I look forward to seeing more videos.

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@Justin,

Thank you both for your responses.

Kethil - Richard is active on this forum and I'm sure would be willing to answer questions that you may have. Leave him a visitor message if you'd like.

Rose - Thank you for the compliment. When we first had the camera rolling and sat down in front of it we both burst out in laughter and had to cut. I'm not exactly one that likes to be on camera. Smile

I do hope however to do more interviews in the very near future. They may not be able to all be video interviews but we'll get some written ones up on the forums once we've settled on a format.

Richard's philosophy also makes a lot of sense to myself as well.

We'd love for both of you to participate if you would be willing.

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@Justin,

Well, I rather felt unqualified to question or flesh-out these ideas as I hadn't read either of the books referenced. But what the heck, given the size of my reading list, it could be a while.

I've gone to your website and looked for specific aspects to reference with my questions (GiveitnoThought.com)

From "My Awakening"

Quote:

"So I applied this principal to my ailments, I had a belief that heavy lifting caused my back problems, when in actual fact it was my belief that this was so, by not giving any thought and particularly not verbalizing the thought, I no longer have a problem with my back, the same as when I stopped giving thought and verbalizing the thought that I needed glasses to read with, now at the age of eighty I no longer need glasses to read with

To understand this, my first question is basic: At the risk of oversimplification, would you say that 1) Your back never really had any quantifiable damage at all; that it was only your "attention" to it that made the pain. 2) That there was probably some physical issue, but that your conscious "preoccupation" in some way empowered the pain at all. 3) That your attention somehow increased or egagerated the pain. Or, something completely else?

Quote:

... realizing that what I was seeing was a clear reflection of my own consciousness.

I'd agree that we interpret all we perceive; and in so doing, put a "twist" or otherwise assign some meaning or significance. But in this quote, I get the impression that either 1) Nothing else but my reflection is truly there -or- 2) Although there is really something there, it is my reflection only that gives it any meaning. Could you clarify?

Quote:

Knowing that every thing that is, is of every thing that is... where everything starts with self, and finishes with ones own self. there being no two things in the universe.

This feels cryptic, but I want to understand it. Is this along the same lines as the "all I see is my reflection therefore nothing else..."-concept or something completely different? The last phrase, "... there being no two things in the universe", also has me thrown. I'm trying to fit it into the context of the adjacent messages and somehow it's not working for me. Are we talking, "All I see is Me therefore?"

I've always believed there are untapped potentials in the mind; doors just ready to be opened. And in many of what you've said I get the sense this might be one of them; a personal, real empowerment past the silliness of mysticism and religion that one can really grab onto without compromising oneself. But in order to turn that subtle, hard-to-describe doorknob, I have to understand just "what it is".

Thanks very much in advance. We appreciate your sharing.

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@Khethil,

Thanks for letting me see your chat with each other ,i very much enjoyed watching your obvious joy in each others company..you made my day...

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@xris,

Outstanding. It's a pleasure to see someone who is so obviously at peace with everything. I wish there was a way I could download this file to play on my iPod. Thanks for sharing it here.

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@TickTockMan,

You are taking your metaphysics into too much detail and speculation. Yeah I know... I can't do much to counter the 'experience' you have had. But seriously, let God find you and just live your life instead of reading Russel and trying to see the transcendent.

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@socrato,

I find now that as I give no thought to person,place or thing, allows God to control my life, and it is amazing the results. Because thoughts are mind (Richards mind) in motion, this creates separation,

I use my thoughts to manifest the material world, what is being reflected back to me is my thoughts in motion. As I give no thought to what I see out there, it ceases to have motion, if it has no motion I will not notice it.

By giving thought to any thing is to create a problem that was not there previously, so I stop the thought which stops the motion. Richard

socrato wrote:

You are taking your metaphysics into too much detail and speculation. Yeah I know... I can't do much to counter the 'experience' you have had. But seriously, let God find you and just live your life instead of reading Russel and trying to see the transcendent.

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@Richardgrant,

I hope you don't take this badly Richard but i see a good singer not the song.I could be wrong, your song is not very clear to me but your person is a shining example.

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@xris,

xris, I have never experienced love, but as I awaken to Who I Am, doors are opening rapidly. As I stop seeing the differences out there in the material world, and realize I am seeing a clear reflection of my own self. My true beingness, shining through, perfect in every way.

If you can see where I am at you are also, this to me is One being recognizing another being as the One. If I see any differences I know it's my senses telling me that I am off course, so I give no thought to what they see, this brings me back into the Oneness, which is divine Love.

As I practice this philosophy by walking my talk, the results are amazing, my health, energy, relationships all flow with a vibrancy. When I give thought to my beliefs I set them in motion which led me on a path of self destruction, so have no thoughts, for they create resistance. Richard

xris wrote:

I hope you don't take this badly Richard but i see a good singer not the song.I could be wrong, your song is not very clear to me but your person is a shining example.

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@Richardgrant,

Richardgrant wrote:

so have no thoughts, for they create resistance.

Richard, what does this mean? Are you saying all thoughts are belief oriented? And how is it possible to have no thoughts. I am trying to think of other ways to interpret this, but I can't.

And what do you mean God controls your life? Humility is disturbing without self-focus too. There requires a balance in these two 'virtues'. I simply hope that we can be beyond control and conformity from the light of Russel.

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@Holiday20310401,

Holiday20310401 wrote:

Richard, what does this mean? Are you saying all thoughts are belief oriented? And how is it possible to have no thoughts. I am trying to think of other ways to interpret this, but I can't.

And what do you mean God controls your life? Humility is disturbing without self-focus too. There requires a balance in these two 'virtues'. I simply hope that we can be beyond control and conformity from the light of Russel.

Holiday, What I am awakening to is that I live in two worlds simultaneously, the unseen world of cause, and seen world of effect the material world. To know which world I am in is very important, for one is a reflection of the other. I live in a thought wave mirror imaged universe of apparent time and motion.

As I create at the inner level of cause with my imagination, I then express these images onto the screen of the material world of effect, to do this I give thought to those creations, which gives them motion to form matter.

Once they have materialized I let them go, to do this I give them no more thought, this allows what has been created to go back to the Oneness from whence they came. This to me is the re giving to what has been given to me from within, so that I have more to give.

I use my senses to act as gyroscopes to tell me when I have separated from the Oneness, so that I may stay on target, as soon as I notice person, place or thing, I know I have drifted back into duality, so I give no thought to what I have noticed, this allows life to flow freely

Holiday, there are many ways to saying the same thing, for the awakening most come from within. Richard

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@Justin,

Justin;28159 wrote:

... and repeatedly stated that Dr. Russell and his writings were infallable.

...and with such 'fundamentalist' words loses much scientific and philosophical credibility, as far as I am concerned.
That is 'religion', not science or philosophy.

And from his words;
I'm hearing a lot of 'self' aggrandizment and ego/vanity being spouted by our 'hero'. Same old stuff...
("Ain't I cool! I'm just so (fill in the blank; 'enlightened', 'special', 'saved', 'advanced', 'right'...)! You should 'do' and/or 'be' such-and-such to be more like me.")
Sounds like 'neophyte neurosis' to me...

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@Richardgrant,

I'd asked for some clarification from desire to understand here; but after getting no reply, perhaps another approach is in order.

Richardgrant wrote:

I find now that as I give no thought to person,place or thing, allows God to control my life...

...I use my thoughts to manifest the material world, what is being reflected back to me is my thoughts in motion. As I give no thought to what I see out there...

...By giving thought to any thing is to create a problem that was not there previously, so I stop the thought which stops the motion. Richard

But we should give thought to persons, places and things; they're a part of the physical community in which we relate, live, love and learn.
Except in the rarest of cases, what is reflected back at you contains *more* than just your own "thoughts in motion"
But to give thought to what it outside your own mind does not necessarily "create a problem" - were it so, your problems would be made worse by relegating your concept of reality to the mind only

While I'd agree that what we end up assimilating from the world around us bears the imprint of our own attributes, this strikes me as overwhelmingly narcissistic. It seems to betray (or otherwise de-emphasize) the existence of others; of a world and reality outside our own minds. Again, I concur with the notion that everything we perceive is inextricably altered by our minds and the filters in place. This isn't in dispute

I think there is an iteration of this philosophy that goes too far in terms of self-absorption and glorification that we, too, run the risk of falling into the pool for love of our own reflection. Yes, our minds live in a place distinctly separate from "objective reality". But I'd think this should be done to assist in tempering the mind's perceptions - not drowning it.

Thanks

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@Khethil,

well i believe that believing in way out things can bring way out results ..... but not necessarily through a direct one to one relationship between the way the belief is expressed and the results obtained. eg. i can well believe that Richard Grant's beliefs have changed his life remarkably and i am grateful he shares them with us.

But richard does seem to imply some very extreme consequences that for me go too far. Such as saying that people dont die of thirst but the fear of dieing of thirst. This implies that we have no body (except as seperate thought constructs) and therefore death is due more to a lack of mental confidence than to outside physical effects beyond any possible mind control (other than those that physically provide or conserve water).

Now i can believe that the universe by extraordinary means can indeed provide water to those with great need (and possibly great awareness). The need or request then reaches out and calls for it, so to speak. But in the end, by whatever means ..... we need the water!

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@Justin,

IMO, without the thinking and analyzing, we have stagnation.

A pool of water that has no motion becomes a stagnant swamp. Motion is necessary in everything to grow and evolve. Nothing would reproduce without motion and likewise thought would not evolve.

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@Pathfinder,

Thoughts create apparent time and motion where there is no motion, what I am seeing out there in the material world is a clear expression of my imagination, it has reality.

Any attention I give to that apparent motion separates me from the creator within this is the primary sin. This body is not who I AM, the I AM is never created, only the idea is created. While ever I think this world has any reality I will denied any truth of who I AM.

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@Richardgrant,

so do you consider yourself the result of someone Else's thoughts becoming motion?

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@Pathfinder,

Pathfinder;83493 wrote:

so do you consider yourself the result of someone Else's thoughts becoming motion?

Definitely not this body I call Richard is not real it is only an idea of the soul of Richard, to be used as an expression of the creator within. Nobody will ever understand the material world of effect, but a normal person can come to understand the cause of creation.

Walter Russell explains in detail how we create the material world of effect,
I have studied this philosophy now for 14 years with wonderful results and applied this to my every day living, and all I can it works. Richard

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Interview with Richard Grant from Australia

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