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Introducingtheburningpoint
- 1. Introducing
The Burning Point
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 2. For those
who legitimately question
whether the world really needs
another self-help book,
this introduction
aims to provide the answer.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 3. Introducing The Burning Point
Are you still….
Dragging and driving yourself through life - to achieve some
material/physical ideal (wealth, status, attractiveness), or some
moral/spiritual ideal, which you expect will provide the fulfillment that
you seek?
Directly opposing your present circumstances - be it with
visualisations, affirmations, intentions or positive thinking?
Distracting yourself from your present circumstances - be it with
sport, entertainment, sex, shopping, gambling?
Dulling your present circumstances - be it with prescribed
medications, alcohol or drugs?
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 4. Introducing The Burning Point
You are? And, how’s that working out for you?
Are you:
Deeply alive?
Truly enjoying this life?
Expressing yourself creatively?
Generating abundance by doing what you love?
Living in natural health?
And, engaging in mutually nurturing, loving relationships?
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 5. Introducing The Burning Point
Not.
Would you like to know why not?
Well guess what….it is precisely your dragging, disciplining, directly
opposing, distracting and dulling which is preventing you from living the
life that you really want to live.
Whilst they offer distraction, temporary satisfaction, and cosmetic relief, at
a deeper level, they are actually responsible for keeping you in a condition
of perpetual emptiness.
Allow me to explain.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 6. Introducing The Burning Point
Drawing from the modern sciences, religion, as well as ancient mythology,
this book will reveal that the ultimate aim of living is to create
ourselves. That is to say, to unfold in accord with Life and bring to
fulfillment that which makes us distinctly human and uniquely ourselves.
Simply put, when we do this, we flourish, and when we fail to do so, we
suffer.
Now, the natural response to our suffering, is to seek to address it by
turning to the popular remedies available to us.
But most of these are not helping us very much.
How do I know this? Well, just look around, how many people are
energetic, vital, really enjoying life, creative, abundant, healthy and loving?
Not too many. So, the evidence of the limitations of our popular responses
is visible all around us.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 7. Introducing The Burning Point
The trouble with our popular remedies is that too many of them are
founded upon the underlying premise that we are somehow ‘broken’ or
‘at-fault’, and that we need to ‘fix’ or ‘correct’ ourselves. And hence, they
tend to be overflowing with prescriptions for something or other that we
should be doing:
We must let go of this;
We must focus on that;
We must practice this;
We must be patient with that;
We must express gratitude for this;
We must learn that;
We must persevere with this;
We must control that;
We must sacrifice ourselves for this;
We must forgive that.
Their overarching assumption, is that if we would only use our conscious
will to drag, intend, pull or wish ourselves to some externally-imposed
ideal state, we will solve whatever needs to be solved.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 8. Introducing The Burning Point
And so, they advise that we:
Drag and drive ourselves to some imagined material or spiritual ideal,
with the expectation that upon attainment everything will magically
fall into place and our lives will be blissfully happy;
Directly oppose our present condition with positive thinking,
intentions, or affirmations – in the hope that we can consciously will
our present condition away;
Distract ourselves from our present condition, be it with
entertainment, shopping, sport, or a worthy cause;
Or, dull the experience of our present condition, with various
medications (prescribed or illicit).
As well-intentioned as these popular remedies may be, they merely offer
diversions from, resistances to, and compensations for, our present
condition. They do not address the underlying condition responsible – our
failure to create ourselves - and hence simply cannot resolve our lack of
energy, vitality, creativity, abundance, health and loving relationships.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 9. Introducing The Burning Point
I picture using our popular remedies as driving through Life with one foot
on the accelerator and the other firmly on the brake. With them we go
nowhere slowly, do not enjoy the ride very much and damage ourselves
severely along the way.
It is precisely our use of them which obstructs our self-creation and brings
about our lack of energy, vitality, creativity, abundance, health and loving
relationships. And then, in that condition, we dedicate ourselves to apply
them even harder to fix the very condition that they bring about. This
locks us into a vicious cycle of consciously cursing consequences, whilst
unconsciously cultivating causes.
To fundamentally transform our lives, we are called to shift our attention
and focus from dragging, driving, directly opposing, distracting and
dulling, to creating ourselves.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 10. Introducing The Burning Point
And so, the answer to the question…
“Do We Really Need Another Self-Help Book”
Is an emphatic NO!
What we need instead, is a book which does not compensate for the effects
of failing to create ourselves, but actually provokes and encourages us to
create ourselves.
Which is precisely what The Burning Point is!
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 11. Introducing The Burning Point
Drawing from the modern sciences, religion, as well as ancient mythology,
it reveals a single path known to mankind for millennia, to lead us back to
ourselves, to create ourselves in accord with Life itself, and therewith
author our richest, fullest, best lives.
A path which:
Does not involve consciously pushing or willing ourselves to some
imagined ideal.
Does not involve 'correcting' or 'fixing' ourselves.
Does not require that we reject this Life and all of the wonderful
experiences which it has to offer.
But, instead encourages us to develop our sensitivity to ourselves, so
that we may create ourselves by locating and living from our Burning
Point.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 12. Introducing The Burning Point
In closing, allow me to summarise the essence of The Burning Point as
succinctly as possible:
We are immersed in, and expressions of, a grand creative process, and
our function is to unfold in accord with Life that which makes us
distinctly human and uniquely ourselves.
When we are diverted from creating ourselves we suffer.
Our popular remedies do not help because they participate in diverting
us from creating ourselves, provide compensations for not creating
ourselves, or dull the symptoms of not creating ourselves – everything
other than encourage that we create ourselves.
The Burning Point recognises that our richest, fullest, best lives
require us to create ourselves.
And, provides a path known to mankind for millennia for how we may
do so.
A path which is not led by our conscious intellect, but by locating and
living from the push out of our very own lives, our Burning Point.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 13. Introducing The Burning Point
We do not need to correct ourselves
We do not need to improve ourselves
We do not need to fix ourselves
We do not need quick-fix motivation
What we need is to create ourselves.
And so there you have it, The Burning Point is unapologetically, not a
self-help, self-improvement, self-correction, or quick-fix motivational book,
but rather a self-creation book. One which I believe is deeply needed in
our modern world.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 14. In closing
So, my dear readers, if you are sick and tired of the popular responses
which promote dragging, driving, imitating, improving, indulging,
intending, persevering, pulling, pushing, resigning, sacrificing, striving,
willing and wishing yourself through Life.
If you would prefer to locate the very push out of Life itself, your Burning
Point, and ride it to your richest, fullest, best life, then I invite you to book
a workshop with me, or buy the book.
If you are not quite ready to join me however, I caution you not to delay too
much. Remember, this once-off creative adventure which we refer to as
Life, is terminal, and none of us get out of it alive.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 15. Biography
Michael Cerfontyne started his professional career in
finance, as a Chartered Accountant, and subsequently
traversed a broad cross-section of disciplines, from
production, to logistics and sales, to advertising, to corporate
brand marketing, to strategy, to scenario planning, to custom
publishing, to international consulting, to business school lecturing, to leadership
development, and eventually to writing and speaking.
Notwithstanding the abundant challenges, excitement and rewards (financial and
social) provided by them, he was never quite free of the constant, deep, nagging,
underlying sense that something vital was missing in his life. Eventually unable to
procrastinate any longer, he went in search of that something elusive.
His explorations took him all the way from the cutting-edge modern sciences to
religion and ancient mythology, and revealed their underlying consensus on what is
called for in order to live our richest, fullest, best lives.
For the last 5 years, he has invested all of his time and energy in clothing and
communicating the timeless wisdom revealed through his explorations in this work.
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com
- 16. Contact details
Michael Cerfontyne
mobile: 082 775 6348
email: michael@theburningpoint.com
©Michael Cerfontyne 2012 www.theburningpoint.com