It’s Hard To Market Something Without A Hook
Something I’ve always struggled with (that I’m now thankful for) is trying to understand why I haven’t consistently “attracted” more people to the information I share. I know the information has served me in my journey but I’ve not been very good at communicating that value to others (unless it’s empowerment teachings. More on this in a bit).
When I started sharing information, beginning with my book, A Call to the Heart, it was centered on what I’ll refer to as “teachings of the direct path”, also known as self-realization.
I read A Course in Miracles. The teachings resonated. Divine inspiration flowed through me to write A Call to the Heart, where I shared how I applied the teachings to everyday scenarios as a way of knowing my wholeness.
The benefit was simply recognizing that applying these teachings meant I was relieved by a situation that my previous perception was somehow upset by.
I didn’t have a big before and after type result that I could lead with since my outer life didn’t change in any particular way.
I also didn’t start with a “major before issue” that I resolved through applying the teachings.
If anything the “issue” I started with was something the teachings resolved in the least glamorous way possible…
I desired to know my purpose and initially saw it as an outer pursuit of some sort. I really, really wanted to know what this purposeful endeavor was meant to be. That was the “major lack” I was experiencing. Anything that promised to resolve this would have been my “hook”…
Like stumbling into a community where there was a purposeful mission to help humanity. That most definitely would have been my hook had I landed in a spiritual community promising this instead of reading A Course in Miracles by myself.
Instead, I recognized my search for purpose was the lens of lack I was seeing through, where resolving this sense of lack would bring me into a deeper state of wholeness that could, then, be lived from as a purer extension of purposeful endeavor, regardless of it taking shape through a particular outer pursuit.
I’ve observed that this is NOT EXCITING for people to get behind and apply themselves to as it’s quite boring to the ego.
In other words, this DOES NOT SERVE AS AN ATTRACTIVE RALLYING POINT for people to be interested in these type of teachings and insights (which harkens back to what I shared last week regarding the teachings resonating only when the student is ready).
What I’ve come to see is that these teachings can’t truly offer a marketable “hook” if the intention is to fully apply them.
Someone is either ripe and ready for them or they’re not.
Because when you get down to it, all “hooks” are seen through when these teachings are directly applied.
With respect to self-realization, Buddha is quoted as saying “Before enlightenment; chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment; chop wood, carry water.”
When this is the “outer result” you can offer people through these teachings, it’s not very marketable, unless…
A self-realization teacher (Bentinho) comes along who attaches a “hook” to them like being a part of a “greater mission” to serve humanity and/or includes “empowerment teachings” for living an “epic life”.
To be clear, I believe in empowerment teachings but NOT when being layered on top of direct self-realization (from the standpoint of taking it all the way) as too much glamor is involved, which is an indication the self-realization teacher is either innocently distorted (and shouldn’t be guiding people through this) and/or is about to intentionally use these teachings from a place of impure intent by mixing self-realization and glamor to wreak havoc on the student’s psyche as Bentinho’s whistleblowers have revealed.
Let’s break this down further so it’s super clear.
People are most interested in (and ready for) partial self-realization as it relates to getting what they desire.
They’re interested in the aspect of self-realization that empowers them to pursue their desires and/or feel better about themself by coming to know more of their own worthiness.
This person is NOT interested in full self-realization (aka “going beyond the person”) and under normal vibrational circumstances wouldn’t bump up against a teacher focused on taking students “all the way” since the application of the teachings in this “full on approach” wouldn’t be relevant or helpful to their journey.
This is where I think Bentinho went wrong (regarding positioning what he was teaching). He made the case that self-actualization (i.e., empowerment teachings) and self-realization could be combined and ultimately lead to the same thing.
As an ultimate statement this is probably true but it’s confusing (and psychologically damaging) to a student who is only interested in or ready for partial self-realization.
Bentinho attracts students based on both teachings and, then, teaches from a spectrum of both teachings, where it was up to the student to figure out what’s most relevant to them.
This is asking a lot of students if they do not fully understand the difference between the two teachings and end up finding their way into the inner circle where his focus is to get students to apply empowerment teachings from a self-realized statein the name of manifesting the mission of “igniting global awakening”.
First, this state of being self-realized is extremely rare and requires a ton of attention, dedication and willingness from one’s own free will as opposed to being “motivated into a false readiness” by feeling inspired be apart of a super special mission of “igniting global awakening”.
In theory, applying empowerment teachings from a self-realized state is ideal. But it’s not realistic to expect people to be in this state and/or to be able to get them there by corralling them towards it in some sort of systematic manner.
Self-realization is highly individualized in both it’s application to where a particular person is in their journey and their readiness for it. To expect a group of people in his inner circle to be at the same state of readiness and to move at the same rate, in the same manner towards self-realization is extremely unlikely. Again, you can’t corral people towards it.
Instead of recognizing this unlikelihood (and extreme rarity for even one person to achieve this state of self-realization) he carries on as if it’s possible and EXPECTED of students in his inner circle to achieve and act from this state. And when they fell short (because of how rare this state of being actually is) he shows his frustration and anger.
As I mentioned in my previous message/post, this is a clear indication he’s not balanced in love and wisdom as a teacher who is balanced would never exert their own personal desire through an expectation of others (a truly balanced teacher is no longer operating from personal desire and, thus, has no expectation of others…this is what allows them to operate from an actual state of infinite patience, which he does not embody).
Even though this combo approach of the teachings greatly differed from the understanding I gained about self-realization through my time with A Course in Miracles and Waris (a truly balanced teacher in love and wisdom), I was initially attracted to Bentinho’s idea that both teachings could be combined.
What I can see is it spoke to the glamor I was still attracted to (i.e., the very thing that would need to be seen through to self-realize). At the time, it checked the box of me still focusing on self-realization while also pursuing personal desires.
It was positioned as an exciting concept by making his approach “new and modern” as the only teacher to do this. This also seems to be something “gurus” do to appeal to modern world.
They discount “the old ways” (because they’re boring to everyone’s ego who is not ready for the teachings of the direct path) by saying “we’re at a time in humanity when we’re ready for a new approach” (which appeals to people’s egos who are still attracted to glamor).
It’s my belief this combination is also what attracts students to his teachings who aren’t naturally ready for true self-realization, but inadvertently think they are because he’s positioned it in a way that’s still appealing to our ego’s appetite for glamor.
With his teachings the glamor comes in two parts: a personal pursuit of living an “epic life” and/or “joining an epic mission to help humanity”.
The “pursuit of an epic life” is completely fine BUT it should be kept to empowerment teachings that only involve partial self-realization (because people in this pursuit are NOT looking for full self-realization).
“Joining an epic mission to help humanity” is more unassuming in its appeal for glamor because it looks selfless.
What’s not seen or understood is it’s appealing to the glamor of doing something “special, important and purposeful”, which is what becomes the point of leverage when he EXPECTS people to be committed to full self-realization to complete this mission.
As with any public figure, there’s also a glamor around being associated with him.
All of these factors are stroking an aspect of our egos and are contributing factors to drawing people to be near him/his teachings.
This is natural and fine, until we end up in something we’re not ready for…like the receiving end of him applying a mixture of these teachings to suit the moment without understanding what’s going on.
In one moment, he’s able to pump people up by the idea of living an “epic life” or “doing this super special thing for humanity” and, in another moment, people are torn down by the most severe application of self-realization teachings (pointing out every motive of ego…including the very things that drew people to him/his teachings!).
Talk about a major whiplash, all without understanding what the heck just happened!
Glamor is an ego motivation. If you’re a self-realization teacher focused on taking students “all the way” you can’t use glamor to attract students to you. It’s confusing. And it attracts students who aren’t ready for it but are signing up for it under a false pretense of readiness (i.e., they’re being motivated to be a part of “super special mission” that happens to require full self-realization).
He’s stroking the ego’s desire to be a part of something special while simultaneously saying every aspect of ego must be seen through. That’s a recipe for confusion and it’s traumatizing to one’s psyche since they have no idea what’s going on or that they’ve signed up for it.
It’s also him calling in people who are NOT READY for want he actually wants.
He’s using “the hook” of wanting to be a part of something special and meaningful to call people into a scenario where self-realization teachings are going to be applied such that the very “hook” (and any other “hooks”) that brought someone into his inner circle are going to be obliterated.
That’s just not fair or respectful of where someone is in their path, which is another indication of him not being balanced in love and wisdom.
It’s my opinion that self-realization teachings (when the intention is to FULLY APPLY THEM) can’t use “hooks” to draw people in.
This also means your marketing game is dead…and it should be to truly line up with the students who are ripe and ready for the teachings.
When it comes to applying self-realization teachings at this level, the student is either ripe and ready for them or they aren’t.
And if they’re ripe and ready, they’ll naturally find their way to the teachings/right teacher.
Buddha’s quote about chopping wood and carrying water either resonates or it doesn’t. (BTW, I’ve heard Bentinho discount this quote saying it’s no longer applicable to where we are).
Of the thousands of people who are following Bentinho’s teachings, I imagine the percentage of people who are ready for this level of self-realization is minuscule.
If this is the true intent of his teachings, I say stop using glamor to call people into your community.
{I covered his use of a shame cycle in a previous post/blog, which is obviously something else that stands out an indication he’s not only NOT applying the direct teachings in a pure way but he himself is not balanced in love and wisdom.}
Again, I have no problem if glamor is driving you to pursue certain things. My advice is to stick to empowerment teachings that utilize partial self-realization and to stay away from anything that advocates full self-realization as it’s only going to cause you trouble.
If you’ve been caught in the idea that self-realization is the only thing that truly matters (i.e., you’ve been motivated to be about it versus being naturally drawn to it), take some time to sit with yourself and deeply ask: “What do I truly desire?”.
As Amanda Frances says, “Tell yourself the truth about what you desire”.
If it’s something that involves glamor, be okay with the pursuit of it. It’s way better than repressing it by trying to be about something that doesn’t actually speak to you.
And if you’re looking for a great empowerment teacher, she’s one of the best, in my opinion.
With her, glamor is front and center so there’s no playing (hidden) games with it. And she uses partial self-realization to help you work through stuff in a real way. In her world, you are human and so is she so you’re not going to get caught in a psychology or teaching that assumes otherwise.
I hope this helps you navigate your path.
Sincerely,
Shanna
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