How To Finish A Creation?

Schatzfatz

How can you finish something? When is something finished? For example, when is a painting finished? When is a story completed, when is a blog post good enough to be published?

The problem of completion is the fractal design of nature. Every whole (the unit that contains all parts), is only part of a bigger whole. Arthur Koestler called such a unit a holon. Even if you complete one whole, the same whole seems incomplete when you contrast it to the bigger whole that it is part of. We just need to enlarge our focus big enough, and nothing will ever be complete.

Therefore, if we want to get stuff done in life, we must restrict our perspective. Otherwise we will end up in perpetual “unfinished-ness”.

So how do we know when something is complete? What is the sign of completion?

Here is a hint: Look for the purpose of the creation, its identity and its gestalt.

If a number of parts are nothing more than the sum of those parts, they cannot be considered complete.

However, if something else emerges on a higher level, then the same amount of parts are complete.

To summarize, the sign of completion is that a gestalt emerged out ot the sum of its parts.

“THE TREASURE” – Treasure Captain

Gift, Poster, Product line, Schatzfatz, Victims

The two Birds, Ratzfatz and Schatzfatz, have two different ways to find a treasure.

Ratzfatz does not think very far. Everything must be quick. Must be now. Faster. Immediate.

Schatzfatz, the owl, has a broader view. His way has more depth. He thinks long term. Everything he does has depth and meaning and is there for the long term. For months, years, decades – even centuries. And his results are surprising. With very little effort he moves mountains. His moves are fast and decisive, but you cannot hear his wings. Everything happens like a dream.


https://www.dropbox.com/s/53yhl9xf96mup28/buddha.jpg?dl=0

When I brought Stan, my friend, into the Studio we met the little pirate first. Heinzi, the little pirate, was a warrior. Small, but courageous, fierce, determined and without filter, he was always in action. He made things happen. He jumps out at you, resolves problems and makes stuck things unstuck. He hugged us forcefully.

Tess, or the piratess, as we called her, greeted us next. She wore a sexy dress and long boots. Her smile was all-engulfing, compassionate. Open, social, amicable, she was the center of beauty in the room. Natural, uninhibited, caring.

The Portrait Pirate emerged behind the canvas. He smiled at us and disappeared as quickly as he had appeared. He did not talk much, he was almost always busy creating something, painting something, emerged in making something big, something amazing. His own manner and behavior was the opposite. He was almost invisible himself, unspectacular, calm, considerate.

The door swung open. The Treasure Captught emerged, his hands open. His bold head was shiny, his beard stubbly, his eyes everywhere. The Treasure Captain hugged us both.

When we sat The Captain asked asked my friend to tell his story.

…

My friend told the story and at the end he asked: “why did x happen? Could I have avoided it?” He surely did not expect that bad an outcome.

The Treasure Captain (Schatzmeister) activated the Stone of Pandora. SWUSSHH! Within a few seconds the stone shone deep red from within. Then, in a flash, the center of the light expanded and filled the room. Then it transformed into a rainbow that stretched across the room. The colors of the rainbow increased in intensity. Finally, the rainbow popped and two figures appeared beneath it. They were the little pirate and the little patron, Ratzfatz and Schatzfatz.

After a hearty greating, I had not seen them for a few days, my friends repeated their story to them.

Ratzfatz, the little pirate, listended intently. At the end, he dropped his shoulders dropped and shook his head. He was disappointed. He looked at the litte patron, Schatzfatz. “Why did it turn out that way?” he asked.

Schatzfatz smiled. “Its not your fault”, he said to my friend. “I am sure you tried your best. Its the fault of y. You see, many years ago, they came up with the idea of x. X explained why Y. But if we overdo X, then we get Z. And this is what happened to you, my friend.”

I started to understand. Right! Because x, then z. I prepared the colors for him. He sat down in front of the easle and started to paint.

…

I also obtained a brand new portrait from the session.

Why is x so important to you? You see, what Schatzfatz taught me was extremely important. Not only do we need to do x. More importantly, we need to avoid y. What happens if you do x? Easy. You will find pleasure in x. Things make more sense. You will be released from worries. blablabla.

How to ship everything 20% faster.

Create value.

Abundance.

to go

“THE WAY OF THE PHOENIX” – The little Patron

Bad guys, Gift, Heros, Schatzfatz

Stan asked: “Why do we lack supply, even though we work so hard?”

“Your treasure is where you heart is.” – Treasure Patron Paul Coelho.

Heinzi, the little pirate, was in an upbeat mood. “We need to get at the heart of this mystery”, he said, balancing the bottle in front of him. The bottle was open, the paper was lying on his knees. There was only one question written on the note. “Why do we lack supply, even though we work so hard?”.

Tess, the Piratess, sat next to the little pirate, her legs crossed. She had her paper and pen ready, eager to create the next treasure. A brand new Trove was sitting in the corner, empty, as if waiting to be filled up.

When I arrived with my friend at the Loft the Treasure Captain greeted us with open arms. „So wonderful to see you both!“, he said. „We will create a wonderful treasure together. Are you ready to meet our new portrait pirate?” he asked.

We looked over to the canvas and a new face smiled at us. “Nice to meet you”, he said, shyly folding his hands in front of his slim body.

“He is an amazing talent”, the Portrait patron said, shaking his large head, his beard flying left to right and right to left, as if he could not believe his own words. “I am so glad to have him with us. You will love his drawings, it is serene.”

This attracted Tess who jumped up, walked across the room and looked over the sholder of the new portrait pirate. “Oh wow”, she exclaimed. “Its absolutely stunning. So much beauty on such a little paper!”

Want to meet your inner guides again?“ he asked, turning to my friend.
My friend nodded and said: „I can’t wait to see the miracle again. I kept wondering to myself if I had only dreamed them up or if it was actually true.“
I could only agree. I still remembered the first time I met the inner Guides standing in front of me and I recalled the odd feeling, as if I was in some kind of David Copperfield show, with the Captain playing his tricks on us. But I had spoken to my guides long enough and I had felt their presence with my own eyes and hands and I no longer doubted them.
In the middle of the room there was an object covered by a thick cloth. The Captain took the cloth off and the Stone of Pandora appeared underneath. He was dark red and glowed, not unlike a fire in the night, except there was no smoke. The Captain (Schatzmeister) kneeled down, rested both hands on the object and activated the Stone of Pandora. SWUSSHH! Within a few seconds the stone put the room into a deep red light. Then, in a flash, the center of the light expanded and filled the room. Then it transformed into a rainbow that stretched across the room. The colors of the rainbow increased in intensity. Finally, the rainbow popped and two figures appeared beneath it. They were the little pirate and the little patron, Ratzfatz and Schatzfatz.
They had a big grin across their faces. „Hey, glad to be back with you!“ Ratzfatz said and Schatzfatz started to hug each one of us: me, my friend and the Captain.
Ratzfatz revealed a pen and paper. „I am ready to create a new treasure map“ he said.

ERROR
„We don’t have much time“, the Captain pressed. He turned to my friend. „Why don’t you start and explain your problem to us?“
„Sure“, my friend said. Suddenly he looked tormented. „It all started about one year ago when I set up this website and began selling pirated standards on the internet.“
„Why did you do it?“ The Captain interrupted.
„It was totally by accident, actually. I never planned to sell standards, but one day I got my hands on a catalogue of thousands of standards from a variety of standardization organizations. I was not sure what to do with them and considered publishing them for free. But at that time I was involved in all sorts of troubles and I was short a lot of money. So I thought, what if I was able to to pay off my debts with the money I could make from selling the stolen standards? That thought got me hooked.“
„How did you do it?“
Again, it was more like a happy incident – or should I say unhappy incident, looking at it from todays perspective?“ He paused. „Anyway, I happened to spend my nights programming and one of the applications I was involved with were self hosted Webstores. My friends told me I would never be able to to it, so I wanted to prove them wrong. One and one came together and voila, a few months later I had figured it all out, all by myself and with the help of some guys in the programming forums, lots of coffee and many cigarettes and short nights. My store went online.“ He sighted and bit his lips.
I noticed how nervous he was. „How did you feel?“ i asked.

SLIPPERY SLOPE
My friend said: „On the one hand I was very proud, because I had solved all the complex technical problems in a very short period of time. But on the other hand I was very nervous about the reactions. Of course I knew that I had done something illegal. And that somebody from the official world would eventually notice it and try to shut it down. It was a possibility, of course. But I told myself that my shop was too small for the copyright people.“ He grinned nervously. „That was how wrong I was.“
„Why?“
„Because I got my first cease-and desist letter in the first week.“
„Did you tell your wife?“
„Oh no, absolutely not. She would not have agreed. „She is very honest, you see.“ He stopped and stared into space. „I guess that was my second error. Having lied to her.“
„Why did you stick with it?“ the captain asked.
„I though I would only test it out for a week and then shut it down.“
„But you did not?“
„No“
„Why did you not?“
„Because sales came in, believe it or not.“ He shrugged. „I don’t really know where the pirates came from, but word travels fast on the internet.“
„And you got hooked on it, right?“ Ratzfatz asked, probing.
My friend opened his hands wide, as if he was excusing himself. „I must admit, I got addicted when I saw my sales number. It was not much, but compared to nothing… it was like Christmas. Every week I had a few sales. It was so easy. It looked so simple. Once I realized that my little intellectual programming challenge had brought actual money into my pocket, I started to ask myself, how far I could push the limits. Could I sell more? Could I risk more?“
„And your friends?“ I asked.
„They told me how cool I was.“

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Der kleine Pirat sagt: Wenn wir so weitermachen, haben wir diesen Nachteil und jenen Nachteil, aber kaum einen Vorteil. Wir müssen eine 10x Verbesserung erreichen, nicht dasselbe immer weitermachen, das kann nicht gut gehen.
Nur was?
Der Pirat schweigt. Mir fällt nichts ein, sagt er. Ich habe alles probiert was ich kann. Sogar der Papagei sagt mal zur Abwechslung nichts.
Da erinnet sich Schtzfatz (der kleine Pirat) an den Schatz Helfer Steve, der ihm von a, b, und c erzählt hat. Er hat den xyz, den Schatzkapitän, gemalt und oben drüber den Slogan geschrieben: „blablabla DO xxx“.
Ich brauche eure Hilfe, sagt Schatzfatz an den inneren Piraten gewandt. Ich will das anwenden. Seidt Treasure Patrons!
Er wartet. Schliesslich sagt der innere Pirat: ich hätte da eine Idee. Wenn wir das tun müssen, dann solltest du jetzt xyz machen.
Grossartige idee, sagt Schatzfatz. Er tut a, b, c. Es funktioniert bestens.
Danke Patron, sagt Schatzfatz.

Der Papgeien Tribe folgt den inneren Piraten. Sie glauben a, b, c. Das Resultat ist y und z. Sie vermeiden ab. Die inneren Piraten werden verehrt.

Ganz anders im Treasure Tribe. Dir Anhänger verehren die inner Patrons. Sie denken langfristig, vermeiden unnötige Risiken, unterstützen und pflanzen Seeds.
Sie verehren die inner patrons und entwickeln die Akademie und Karten und Hilfsmittel, die frei verfügbar sind.

Das Transformeter zeigt den inneren Piraten, dass sie sich verändern können, dass sie sich transformieren können, egal wie schlimme Piraten sie bisher waren.
Und es misst ihr Level.
Du bist Level 1.
Das ist nicht gut genug, sagt der kleine Pirat.
Der innere Pirat strengt sich an. Dann strahlt er plötzlich. Der kleine Pirat sieht einen Patron vor sich. Er ist bereit!
Leg los, sagt er.

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Der Portrait Pirat sagt: omg, mal die Angela. Sie ist die perfekte Piratin. Sie dominiert, bestimmt, kontrolliert alle. Zucker!

Halt den Mund, sagt der kleine Pirat zu ihm. Ich will nicht derselbe Idiot sein. Ich möchte Schätze teilen.

Daraufhin verwandelt sich der innere Pirat. Er wird ruhiger, mutiger, mächtiger. Er ist jetzt ein Patron. Der innere Patron sagt: sie lügt, betrügt, veruntreut, verleumdet. Sie ist eine Schande für die Welt.

The Self Pirate….
The Self Patron…

Der Papagei sagt: yeah, mal sie wie sie wirklich ist, mächtig, blutig, verlogen!
Der SelbstPatron sagt: Zeig das Leiden der Opfer und besinne dich ihrer.

Der kleine Pirat hält inne. Schatzfatz nimmt das Papier und malt die Opfer. Die Schwarze Kohle verwischt, Schraffur, Hintergrund. Die Kreide bröselt nach unten, wirft Schatten.

Er malt die Soul Patrons mit ins Bild hinein. Sie halten ihre schützenden Hände über die Opfer.
Schatzfatz schreibt die Anzahl der Opfer auf. X in 10 Jahren.
Er zündet eine Kerze an.
Der innere Patron ist verbunden mit der Seele der Welt.

Duis laoreet malesuada ipsum. Maecenas sed tincidunt dui. Ut congue enim eget lectus viverra, tincidunt dignissim eros malesuada. Duis eu eleifend mauris? Fusce venenatis, lectus ut bibendum suscipit, dolor purus mattis enim, feugiat pellentesque sem nibh ac lorem. Maecenas consequat diam at mollis laoreet. Curabitur eget ante nec neque blandit luctus sit amet eget quam. Fusce vel augue eu diam tincidunt posuere et vel odio. Etiam nibh nibh, semper nec leo non, rutrum dignissim odio. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Curabitur dignissim, diam et dignissim maximus, dui sem semper dui, sit amet faucibus velit ipsum quis mi. Vivamus at tellus nibh. Etiam a dictum nibh, vel vulputate justo.

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Wir müssen das x Resultat erreichen… sonst l&l, sagt der kleine Pirat. Ich möchte meine Freundin aber nicht verlieren.
Damals ist er dem Papagei gefolgt… das war das resultat… Mir müssen es 10x besser machen.

Das Opfer hat auf die Prinzipien hingewiesen… wurde verhindert vom Papgeien-Tribe.
Das war nicht in ordnung, sagt der kleine Pirat. Das war nicht fair von euch.
Ist uns doch egal, halts maul, sagen sie.

Der Mentor sagt, du hast die Wahl, du kannst das jetzt akzeptieren… dann endest du wie sie.
Oder du kannst den Weg des Patrons gehen. Und einen besseren Weg gehen. Du musst aber einen Preis dafür zahlen.

Der kleine Pirat sagt: was sollen wir tun? Der innere Pirat sagt: klar, nimm den gestohlenen Standard! Perfekt!
Aber der kleine Pirat hält inne…
Wenn ich das tue, dann treibe ich auch meine Freunde ins verderben.
Wenn wir uns ändern, kann ich meinen Freunden zurückgewinnen! Wir müssen es tun!

Der innere Pirat hat sich verändert. Er lächelt.
Was geht in ihm vor? Fragt sich der kleine Pirat.
Der Transformeter schlägt aus. Zum ersten mal ist er im grünen Bereich.
OMG … was passiert jetzt? Fragt der kleine Pirat, zitternd.

Er innere Pirat nimmt seine Augenklappe ab. Er nimmt seine Kleider ab. Er setzt sich gemütlich hin. Ich habe Zeit, sagt er. Ich bin jetzt der Patron. Ich bin bereit. Lass es uns gemeinsam angehen.

…

Der kleine Freund ist bockig. Er lässt seinem Selbstpirat freien Lauf. Der ist negativ, änglich, defensiv.

Der kleine Freund schreit den kleinen Piraten an: “Niemals werde ich das akzeptieren!”

Die kleine Freundin blickt zurück. Sie sagt zum kleinen Piraten: komm, nimm das!”

Der kleine Pirat nimmt den tip entgegen. Er wendet sich an den inneren Patron. Wie sollen wir das anwenden?

Der innere Patron lächelt. Locker, sagt er. Das ist einfach. Vertrau mir. Du machst jetzt das … er flüstert… und das…

Der kleine Pirat lächelt jetzt auch. Er weiss genau, was er zu tun hat. Danke sagt er und rennt voraus…

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Oscar Wilde

THE TREASURE MAP BLUEPRINT – Tess and the Treasure Tribe

Gift, Schatzfatz

The success story of Ing. P. will show you the effectiveness of the treasure principles. This expert asked us how to triple satisfaction with standardization work without working more. I recommended three treasure principles. Free motivational poster inside!

Donec et malesuada nisl. Nam fermentum sollicitudin nisl eu fermentum. Ut bibendum sodales quam ac porttitor. Praesent suscipit sit amet justo ut viverra. Donec efficitur tortor id bibendum ultricies. Ut mi nisi, pharetra vitae interdum ut, sollicitudin vel quam. Vestibulum hendrerit libero quis orci eleifend dignissim. Nunc sapien ligula, eleifend nec arcu cursus, pulvinar lacinia tortor. Maecenas ut interdum nisl. Nullam feugiat odio vel tortor rhoncus, id lacinia eros mattis.

Nulla aliquam leo in metus venenatis, vitae lobortis ligula pulvinar. Ut urna nibh, imperdiet eu erat vel, rutrum mollis velit. Aenean at venenatis mauris, a commodo velit. Duis quam neque, ultricies suscipit rutrum ac, tempor eget turpis. Praesent tempus, massa vel porttitor rutrum; ex massa elementum magna, a volutpat nulla risus eu nunc? Proin aliquet fringilla lorem at tincidunt. Phasellus fringilla felis purus, eu dignissim nibh ultricies in. Nulla nec erat vitae magna pretium dapibus id sed eros. Praesent dignissim orci nunc. Sed ut finibus ligula.

Aliquam vitae finibus urna. Nullam euismod quam id velit scelerisque, vel ornare ante fermentum. Integer vestibulum enim dolor; ac finibus ante cursus id. Nullam accumsan id lorem eu interdum. Proin urna ex, mollis et tristique vel, euismod aliquet lorem. Morbi ut nisl ac nisl ultricies tincidunt at nec enim? Proin ullamcorper sem arcu, tristique pretium diam euismod in. Nunc sit amet tortor maximus, ornare diam id, tincidunt nisi. Nullam feugiat ultrices dui ut dapibus. Vestibulum vulputate tortor hendrerit ornare eleifend. Phasellus purus enim, condimentum vitae nunc pharetra, malesuada accumsan nisl. Phasellus fermentum orci eu faucibus dapibus. Donec molestie mollis tellus, sit amet condimentum mi imperdiet nec.

Duis laoreet malesuada ipsum. Maecenas sed tincidunt dui. Ut congue enim eget lectus viverra, tincidunt dignissim eros malesuada. Duis eu eleifend mauris? Fusce venenatis, lectus ut bibendum suscipit, dolor purus mattis enim, feugiat pellentesque sem nibh ac lorem. Maecenas consequat diam at mollis laoreet. Curabitur eget ante nec neque blandit luctus sit amet eget quam. Fusce vel augue eu diam tincidunt posuere et vel odio. Etiam nibh nibh, semper nec leo non, rutrum dignissim odio. Interdum et malesuada fames ac ante ipsum primis in faucibus. Curabitur dignissim, diam et dignissim maximus, dui sem semper dui, sit amet faucibus velit ipsum quis mi. Vivamus at tellus nibh. Etiam a dictum nibh, vel vulputate justo.

Maecenas tincidunt nibh tortor, ac elementum odio sagittis sit amet. Suspendisse potenti. Ut faucibus ex vehicula molestie lacinia. Etiam at feugiat velit, non lobortis massa? Maecenas sit amet ullamcorper nisl! Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Quisque id pharetra eros; nec facilisis magna. Suspendisse leo mi, pulvinar eget bibendum non, rutrum id leo. Praesent varius enim non arcu commodo aliquam!

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How To Discuss Like a Pirate – and Win Every Time Without Being Truthful!

Here is what not to do:

1. Skip the root cause
2. Focus only on the symptom.
3. When challenged by a truth-seeker, revert cause and effect. Position yourself (or those that you support) as the victim. Blame the truth seeker as aggressor. Blame the victim as aggressor.
4. Use strawman fallacy against the truth-seeker to build a case that you can only win. Repeat the case over and over. Conclude that you are right and the aggressor is wrong.
5. Attack the truth-seeker ad hominem.
6. Use the false picture you painted of the truth-seeker, victims and yourself as reason why you must distance yourself from the truth-seeker and victims in future. Double down on your original position.

Patron-Tips:

Avoid discussions with pirates who are stuck in a vicious circle of self-confirmation. They are not interested to learn anything from you. When they claim to be open to discussions they only want to suck your time and energy. When they pretend to be interested in your position, they only want to hear it so they can misrepresent it and then use their own misrepresentation als false justification to double down on their own false conclusions and bad behavior.

Seek out patrons who are genuinely interested in your position and represent it accuraely. You will notice a different pattern of behavior. Even if they disagree with you, they will not attack you personally, but offer better solutions, insights or aspects. They will warn you of consequences, inform you about misunderstandings and ask lots of challenging questions that may be very uncomfortable, because the truth is often uncomfortable. Stay open and learn from each other.

How to deal with a pirate-partner? This is the most challenging situation: Your loved one discusses like a pirate. He or she does not hear you, does not want to hear you. It hurts. It threatens your relationship. Avoiding them is not possible. Leaving may cause an avalanche of bad consequences. Having a truthful discussion is not possible either. So what can you do? The rick is to understand that your fear is most likely worse than the actual threat. Yes, your partner may be wrong and yes, not being able to discuss certain matters causes a lack of intimacy, a lack of trust and will eventually be a threat for your relationship. But your own fear of loss, your enxiety about losing truth and losing control and losing your partner is likely a bigger problem than the broken communication that triggers it. You must treat the trigger (the broken communication) and the effect (your fear) as two separate events. The real problem may well be your own fear, not the trigger (the broken communication). Especially when you do not notice your fear it will multiply in your unconscious mind, in your heart and soul. It is very common for human beings to project their own fear onto others. To find justifications for their own fear and to treat the later justification as previous cause of the fear. But you must understand that you are not dependent on the trigger and that you can deal with the fear yourself, even without your partner. Know that there are methods do deal with your own fear. Once you notice your fear you have made the huge step towards the solution. One you are aware of your fear, you can transform your fear into courage, care and passion. Once you reach this stage, you my treat the broken communicatin pattern in new, creative ways. For example with humour. You may may be able to communicate your fears and desires, rather than being defensive and attacking your partner. This is the kind of medecine that is able to break up pirate patterns of denial. Go for it!

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How Pirates communicate and how to detect their denial:

The Little Seeker started up his pandometer and his inner Guide, Schatzfatz, appeared.”I need your help, Schatzfatz”, the little Seeker said.

“Sure, what is it?” Schatzfatz said.

“I have had so many fruitless discussions about Religion, The Financial Crisis and about Truth recently – and I am utterly frustrated. I sense that there is a pattern that governs all failed discussions. On an abstract levels, those discussions are all very similar. But I cannot pinpoint them clearly enough.”

“Oh yes, I know what you mean.” Schatzfatz said.

“Sometimes it feels like a broken record. I feel exhausted, desillusioned, disappointed. I just dont want to lose all this energy in unproductive discussions any more. I have decided that I need your help. Can you explain to me what is going on?”

“Absolutely”, Schatzfatz said. “But first you must understand the biggest misconceptions about discussions. There is a false perception about the Truth. There is a difference how pirates and patrons use discussions. Pirates do not discuss to learn the truth, but to receive confirmation for their beliefs.”

“I see”, the little seeker said. “Why is this important to know?”

“Because when the truth opposes a strong belief one of them has to die. But because seekers identify strongly with the truth and pirates identify strongly with their beliefs, one of them feels they have to die. Hence, arguments escalate easily.”

“I see.” the little seeker said and thought for a while.

“Even though pirates do not care about the truth, they always pretend to be truthful, because it does not look good to admit otherwise.” Schatzfatz said and grinned. “So they have developed their own, and very effective, method to discuss with seekers you. They know how to twist every argument in a way that, no matter what you say and no matter if you are right or wrong, in the end the pirates will have convinced themselves that they are right and you have lost the discussion.”

“Indeed!” the little Seeker said. “This is exactly how it feels”. He stood up and walked nervously up and down. “But how does it work? How do they do it?” He walked over to the board, removed the cap from the pen and started scribbling. “I am going to make notes while you explain this secret communication trick of theirs, ok?”

“All right”, Schatzfatz said. He opened his arms, took a deep breath and said: “There are 6 steps. I call them the staircase of denial. The 6 steps to hell are this:

1. Pirates skip the root cause
2. They Focus on the symptom.
3. They Revert cause and effect.
4. They use the strawman fallacy to build a case that only they can win.
5. They attack opponents ad hominem.
6. They double down on their original position.

The little Seeker drew the six steps carefully onto the canvas. “I think I understand some of the points, but I am not sure. Could you explain further, what this means?” The seeker asked.

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    • Pirates skip the root cause of a problem. They never talk about the root cause, they evade any questions about the root cause.

Treasure Tip: A high-level solution to any problem must include consciousness of the big picture. It includes root cause and second order effects. Avoiding the root cause and second order effects means to block any meaningful solution.

Hint: The pirate himself could be the root cause of the problem. A true solution would expose him and force him to change.
If he is not the root cause himself, he may protect the root for ovious or less obvious reasons. An obvious reason would be personal gain. He may gain personal security from the root. If security for him has higher priority than truth, he will not care how evil the originator of the root cause may be and he will do everything to idealize the root cause. Another reason would be dependency of the root. He may be employed by the root. There are also deep seated unconscious psychological reasons why a pirate could support the root. He may have sacrificed his own feelings and identity already in early childhood in order to comply with a violating root. He may have built up a false identity over the years, causing him to identify and glorify the originator of the problem in order to be momentarily safe from possible attacks. Think Stockholm Syndrom.

  • Pirates focus only on the symptom. This way they can modify the nature of the problem to their favour. They divert the discussion from the real problem to a less important problem. They reframe the symptom as “the essential problem” or most urgent or most important or “the only problem that counts”. This way they can control and win the discussion.

Treasure Tip:  What is good for one part, is often bad for the whole. By dumbing down a problem from a whole to one particular part, the quality and nature of the problem changes.

Hints: For example, the quality of one family member is different from the quality of the family. Likewise, the nature of one part of a car, for example the steering wheel, is different from the essence of the car as a whole. Pirates dumb down problems to one particular aspect which favours them. A pirate can be right about a part, but wrong about the whole. Take, for example, the human body. Is sport good for you? Absolutely. Should you do more sport? Most likely yes. Is sport good for your heart? Yes. So from a cellular level perspective it is true that you should do more sport. But what if you also knew that you had 39 degrees fever and broken bones from an accident and lay in a hospital bed? Would it be more appropriate for you NOT do to sport right now, considering the bigger picture? Absolutely. But by avoiding the bigger picture a pirate can control and win a discussion about a symptom, claiming to be right and truthful – and yet be evil and wrong, because the whole system is more relevant than one part in isolation.

  • When a Truth seeker appears and points out the larger picture of the problem (root cause and second order effects), pirates attack him viciously.
    Strategy 1: When the Truth Seeker considers the root cause, pirates demand more consideration for the symptom, otherwise they blame the Truth Seeker as being aggressive, unbalanced or hateful (“hate-speech”).
    Strategy 2: When the Truth Seeker demands empathy for the victims, Pirates demand more empathy for themselves, otherwise they blame him for being aggressive, unbalanced or hateful.

Treasure Tip: Pirates love to play the victim. They are quick to demand consideration, empathy and tolerance for themselves and for the root. However, they show little consideration, empathy or tolerance for the real victim and Truth Seeker. Always ask: “Who is the real victim?” and “How is your relationship to the victim?” This will quickly identify a Pirate.

  • Pirates attack the Truth Seeker ad hominem. This way they divert attention away from the real problem and their own implication into the problem. Pirates love to focus on the personality of the Truth Seeker, because it gives them a superior position. They use labels like conspiracy theorist to devalue the Truth Seeker and his questions. When this insult makes the Truth Seeker angry, they swith cause and effect. They frame the Truth Seekers Anger as cause of the problem and proof of his personal deficiency, rather than the result of the Pirates manipulation.

Treasure Tip: When you find yourself attacked ad hominem, dont waste your energy defending yourself. Dont explain yourself. Dont become defensive. Most of all, do not try to convince the pirate, because a pirate is not seeking understanding. A pirate does not seek the truth. A pirate does not aim to learn from you. His only motive is dominance and personal gain. When non-pirates are present, aim your discussion with the pirate to enlighten them, not the pirate. Often it is best to walk away from a fruitless discussion.

  • Pirates create a case against the Truth Seeker, using the strawman fallacy. They repeat it over and over. They can only win such a case.

Treasure Tip: When you find yourself straw-manned, understand that the pirate has no interest in learning or understanding anything from you. His sole purpose is to ignore you, your arguments and your desires. Stop trying to convince the pirate immediately. Dont refute his arguments. Maybe you can use humor. Maybe you can walk away peacefully. Understand that Straw-manning has nothing to do with you, the pirate only seeks to satisfy his own denial.

  • Pirates conclude that they have always been right and the truth seeker or the victim is the aggressor.  Therefore, for their own protection, they must block out the Truth Seeker. And they must double down on their original Position.

Treasure Tip: When you talk for hours and come to a conclusion that satisfies both you and the pirate, just to discover the next day that the Pirate starts all over again, like a broken record, then the pirate may be trapped in an endless loop of denial. Instead of taking about what is true or right, explain the dangerous consequence of his action and the choices he has should he want to behave differently. If this does not change the broken record, save yourself the energy and move on.