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The Derogation of Human Rights: Reasons, Purposes and Limits

He Zhipeng*

Summary of contents: Constitutionally, human rights are not inborn by nature; it

is also not a benefaction conferred by any government; it is a compromised result
from the entire resources of the society and demands of peoples. Therefore, under the
circumstance of insufficient resources in the society, the level of protection on human
rights will reduce. This is the fundamental reason for derogating human rights. In the
contemporary society, a country shall assume the obligation of maintaining the
benefits of its peoples, the government shall undertake the protection of human rights
as its responsibility, therefore even in the case of derogating human rights, one would
still require to set protecting human rights in a long term and wide scope as its final
purpose, and not just for the purpose of conveniences in governing. In order to
achieve the purpose of derogating human rights for the sake of human rights
protection, one should abide some principles that consist of realistic contents and
procedures. The International Covenant on Civil and Political rights as well as other
global and regional covenants had provided some criterions on this.

To acknowledge and protect human rights are the main themes of our current
world. No country or government in this contemporary world would consider human
rights as a bad term, an awful concept or an unpopular glossary. However, the issue
is, what rights should one protects and how should these rights be protected.
Internationally and locally, these questions have been thrashed with examinations of
theories and testing of practices. One could proclaim in a non-exaggerating way that,
there lies doubts in almost every single tie and every facet of details that touches on
human rights protection. Among them, derogation of human rights in states of
emergency is one of them.1

In the concept of local legal constitution and local politics, the state of emergency
is an extraordinary incident incurred by a social commune (mainly in countries which
governments do not touch on inheritance) with a overall unchanged qualification;
various problems happen under such circumstance would all be out of the boundary of
normal expectation of legal orders, and therefore one needs to exercise powers that
are out of constitutional power operation in its operational system and protecting
system of rights, such exercises would require a set of special legal system that
Jurist, Associate Professor of Law Faculty, Jilin University.
From the angle of international laws in human rights, particularly in probing the system for limiting human rights
through the angle of The International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, I think a consensus has been
accorded internationally. In which we can say that the works done by Fred·Novak in his The Annotation to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Chinese version translated by Bi Xiaoqing and Sun Shiyan,
by Life·Reading·New Knowledge Sanlian Book Shop, 2003 edition) could represent the overall research standard
in this aspect. Probing on system at respective level could only be taken steps further when the new system

exceeds the normal governing disciplines. Under a stable social system, human
rights protection is a must in the legal constitution; however, in the case of a non-
stable social system, how to protect the citizens’ rights would be a comparatively
difficult issue. Its difficulties lie in how to draw a line between the extraordinary
manipulation of government powers and the legal rights possess by the citizens. This
dissertation intends to analyze the reasons for derogation of human rights in the state
of emergency through the angle of philosophy of laws, and shall base on such
foundation to summarize briefly the purposes and limits of the derogation of limiting
human rights in the state of emergency.

I. Why could human rights be derogated in the state of emergency?

To discuss about why human rights could be derogated in the state of emergency
would concern the essence and natural attribution of human rights, or the ontological
issue of human rights. Regarding this issue, the traditional theory in natural human
rights would have difficulty in providing a satisfactory answer. For a long time the
western tradition make peoples prone in believing that every body possesses rights
since he/she was born, and such rights could neither be deprived nor transferred.
They would either adopt some natural condition – the reasoning thoughts of social
consensus to explain that man has already possessed freedoms when they enter the
state of a country; or they would prove that human rights start directly from the angle
of man’s dignity. However, these theories could not allow satisfactory answers in
why government could derogate certain rights in the state of emergency, -- have
peoples lowered their dignities during such circumstance? Or, could the rights that
peoples brought in from the natural state be lowered? Some oriental opinions deem
that contradicting these thoughts could explain the problem neither. Such view thinks
that the governing class confers human rights. Just like the riches hand out food from
their warehouse to the poor, it is a kind of handout from upper to lower level. Such
theory could not explain why derogation of human rights could only be exercised in
the state of emergency, and it is not that human rights aren’t basically protected.
My understanding on human rights is similar to the understanding of trade
dealing in economics study. Economic study considers demand and supply of any
dealing a kind of consensus. I think, human rights is essentially a type of consensus,
it is a consensus between the ability of supplying social resources and peoples’
demand in the society, and government or the sovereignty of the country is only just
the moderator of social resources to arrange the movements of these resources, and it
does not mean that these powers and benefits are concealed in their pocket or their
assets. In this sense, it is neither a pure instinct in demanding a better life (or
becoming dignify), nor a unilateral “endowment” generated from the sovereignty.2
The negative proof on the theory of social consensus would even favor us in the better
understanding of the character of a country and the character of the sovereignty. A
country is a type of comparatively higher form, albeit not the only form, of resources
consolidation; the duty of a government is to organize and lead its citizens in search of
Regarding a full elaboration on characters of human rights, please refer to my doctorate dissertation, Research of
Fundamental Theory on Internationalization of Human Rights, Jilin University, 2004.

benefits. During such process, the government would possibly generate dissimilation
due to conveniences and turn in to an instant-benefits bloc that is not willing to
release the interests that it supposed to mediate with, this is what we mean by lease
sourcing behavior. Essentially speaking, any contemporary government should seek
interests and rights for its peoples, any behavior that contradicts this should be wrong.
We can understand the reason in derogating human rights in the state of
emergency in this sense: under the situation of abnormal legal orders, the overall
capability in social supply would be tensed up, resources are reducing, therefore
overall level of human rights protection would be reduced. Hence, it is necessary to
widely authorize the government to constraint and limit the legal rights of the citizens.
If such powers were not entrusted to the government, and no relevant constraint and
derogation were exercised, then crisis could not be addressed and normal orders could
not be resumed, and the safety of lives and assets of the majority of peoples could not
be ensured. It was exactly due to this reason that saw the 21 st General Assembly of
the United Nations held on 16 February 1966 passed the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (No. 2200A[XXI] Resolution) to provide detail provisions
for civil and political rights, and they are aimed to protect such rights and
fundamental freedoms enjoyed by each individual citizen. At the same time, the
covenant imposes restrictions on enjoyment of certain rights. The covenant allows
States parties of the covenant to restrict enjoyment of certain rights in the state of
emergency that would threaten the survival of the country, upon formal announcement
of the crisis. Apart from this, Articles 4 and 5 of The International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Article 2 article of Convention Against
Article 13, 14, 15 and 37 of Convention on the Rights of the Child are also
concerning the issue of derogation of rights.

II. The Ultimate Purpose of Derogating Human Rights

However, the purpose of derogating human rights is still for the sake of protecting
human rights – from a wider vision and longer period of coverage to protect human
rights in a certain regions, and not in the contrary. In social life, that sort of
derogation of rights for the sake of maintaining autocratic governing or providing
conveniences to the ruler would violate the fundamental purpose of derogating
system. This is because that the bottom line of governing powers are to respect and
protect human rights, and commencing from this point, various government measures
should not discretionally infringe the fundamental human rights. Even during the
extreme period, derogating human rights should be done with constraints and not
discretion. Speaking from the purpose of UN’s covenant on human rights, the
ultimate purpose of the provisions for derogation is not for restricting human rights,
but just to allow States parties of the covenant to reduce and waive their obligations
when executing the human rights covenant under the legal and constraining
conditions, while at the same time protects human rights under a largest possible
scope; such allowances are to cater for the States parties of the covenant when dealing

with its extraordinary occasion in order to resume democratic and legal orders, and
thereon benefits the protection of human rights.3
As what we have discussed earlier, human rights is a type of integration or
balance between social resources and demands of peoples, therefore, in certain
circumstances, some rights could be restricted, deprived or overpowered; however,
provided that they are of legal and proper reasons, and the types of rights to be
derogated should be classified. According to the covenant of human rights, the civil
rights that could be restricted and derogated by the government in the state of
emergency are: personal freedom, migrating freedom, speech freedom, socializing
freedom, rights in participating public affairs; foreigner could be expelled; certain
penalty judgment could be alternated; private life, family, accommodation and
communication could be restricted, etc. While stipulating certain rights should not be
derogated, The European Convention on Human Rights also stipulated that, some
other rights and freedom could be properly overpowered under certain circumstances.
Such “other rights” include: 1. Rights on abiding restriction or limits; 2. Rights could
be derogated during war or in the state of public emergency that threatens the survival
of a race, and such derogation of rights would only possess legality when
requirements are strictly met in the state of emergency. For the former type of
restriction on rights, one could see that the restriction is based on principles. For
example, Article 17 of the Covenant, one could not pursue the rights in the Covenant
to breach rights that are exercise or enjoy by the others. The latter type of restriction
of rights could be deemed as the restrictions that based on policy. For example, the
theory of laws of European Council allows relevant countries the procurement of
certain range of considerations when deciding the degree of emergency. 4
Government is a body set up for the interests and freedoms of the civilians,
therefore any governmental behaviors should all follow this goal, and it is not to
cultivate internally a bunch of instant-benefits receivers and it should not pursue
interests for such minority who should otherwise serve the public. Therefore, any
behavior on derogating human rights should focus on the protection of human rights,
and not just for the sake of conveniences in management. For example, terrorism
issue is one of the main reasons that cause some countries to call for emergency. Due
to the complexity, seriousness in its danger and the particularity in combating counter-
terrorism, many countries have adopted extraordinary instrument. For example, in
order to monitor terrorism activities, collection of information and proofs of the
terrorism criminals, methods like electronic dictator, undercover searches, relaxing
conditions for arrestment of suspects, mails block, auditing bank account, etc. have
been widely adopted. Some even hinge on emergencies caused by serious terrorism
crimes to derogate civilian rights in a large extent. Such measures could possibly
infringe the fundamental human rights like civilian privacy rights, freedom in
Chen Zexian, Huang Fang: Punishments of Terrorism Crimes and Protection of Human Rights In Accordance to
Xia Yong: The Fundamental Issue of Philosophy of Rights, Research on Laws, 3rd issue, 2004. For details, please
refer to Michael O'Boyle, “Analysis of the Case-Law under Different Articles of the Convention- The Margin of
Appreciation and Derogation under Article 15: Ritual Incantation or Principle?”，Human Rights Law
Journal，19：1(1998); J.H.H. Weiler, “The Jurisprudence of Human Rights in The European Union: Integration
and Disintegration, Values and Processes”, NYU School of Law, Jean Monnet Paper, 96-02.

communicating, non-infringement of accommodation, personal freedom, etc. In such
situation, one should be extremely careful about the issue of human rights protection
in the measures of fighting against terrorism crimes, and shall constrain special
measures for counter-terrorism within a rational and legal scope. Of course, what
worth paying attention to should be the counter-terrorism actions taken up by
international body; as measures that cross the territory of a country would normally be
adopted, and hence this would lead us into entering into the boundary of international
relationship. In the scope of international relationship and international politics, the
enforcement of restricting local laws would be weakening and international
regulations would be relatively in shortage when comparisons are made. This is the
reason why some academics expressed doubts on Iraq war. Under such circumstance,
it would be a good thing to set up international governing laws, but now we can see
that such process would definitely be time consuming and slow progressing. This
would require the relevant countries to restrict their own behaviors in accordance to
the general principles of the procedural rules of international laws, human laws and
humanitarian laws, in order to fully ensure that counter-terrorism is for the fake of
human rights protection, and not just for the interests of some large corporations. It
was exactly due to the existence of such situation that UN’s documents mentioned
that: “Stresses the importance of avoiding the erosion of human rights by derogation,
and underlines the necessity of strict observance of the agreed conditions and
procedures for derogation under article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, bearing in mind the need for States parties to provide the fullest
possible information during states of emergency so that the justification for the
appropriateness of measures taken in those circumstances can be assessed.” 5

III. The Limits in Derogating Human Rights

As discussed, the fundamental issue of derogating human rights lies on finding a

consensus among the realistic supply ability of a country, the international obligation
of human rights protection and governmental duties, one should not have too high
expectations from the country and to exhaust the non-sustainable social resources on
protecting human rights; and should also not over conservative about governmental
interests (the power holders are prone in reducing civilians’ interests in order to
increase their own discretions) and let the minority instant-interests bloc manipulates
and devours the social resources. In order to look for such consensus, the crucial
issue in actual practices is to ensure a moderation of derogation to be taken into the
measures. Regarding moderation, one should consider a series of actual indicators
during practices.
a) Actual requirements
About derogating human rights under what situation or to derogate until what
extent, there are already some existing principles or we can summarize some of them.
1. To adopt derogating measures, one should satisfy pre-conditions like: (1)
The UN’s 83rd Plenary Meeting and Resolution Adopted by the General Assembly (A/RES/54/157, December 17,

The incidents happen is threatening the survival of a country; (2) The emergency is of
temporary nature and it shall not be some kind of “a curfew” or “an extraordinary
state” that would last for couple of years or even several decades. 6
2. During the adoption process of derogating measures, one should
conform with the following principles: (1) Conformity principles, ie. the States parties
should adopt the derogating measures (degree, time) in accordance to the needs of
crisis during the state of emergency, and should not go exceeding the actual situation;
otherwise it would bring too much restrictions and pressures to the civilians. (2) Non-
discriminating principles, ie. the derogating measures adopted by the States parties
should not include any discrimination on race, color of skin, sex, language, religion or
social origin.7 (3) Consistency principle, ie. the States parties shall adopt measures
that are not contradicting to the obligation based on international law that they are
undertaking.8 Article 4 of the UN’s Covenant of Civil and Political Rights stipulated
that: In time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the
may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant to
measures are not inconsistent with their other obligations under international law and
religion or social origin.
3. During the process of derogating rights, the fundamental rights of
civilians should still be under protection. Article 4.2 of The International Covenant
of Civil and Political Rights has also stipulated principles for non-derogable rights.
The provisions stipulated, concurrently with the derogating rights, seven non-
derogable rights for countries even if they are in the state of emergency when survival
is being threatened. Such rights include: (1) Every human being has the inherent
right to life (Article 6). No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life, even it is in the
state of emergency. Any death sentence made during this sate shall strictly be carried
out in accordance to procedures. Anyone sentenced to death shall have the right to
seek pardon or commutation of the sentence. Sentence of death shall not be imposed
out on pregnant women. (2) Torture is not allowed (Article 7). In the state of
emergency, no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading
consent to medical or scientific experimentation. (3) The freedom of exempt from
slavery and force-labor (Article 8). In the state of emergency, no one shall be held in
either slavery or servitude. However, in the state of emergency, the government could
forcibly compel its civilians in providing services and laborious works. (4) No one
shall be imprisoned merely on the ground of inability to fulfill a contractual obligation
Please refer to General Comment No. 29: States of Emergency (article 4) : 31/08/2001,
CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.11); Yang Yuguan: Human Rights Law, Chinese People’s Public Security University Press,
2003 edition, p 124.
Yang Yuguan: Human Rights Law, Chinese People’s Public Security University Press, 2003 edition, p 125.
Please refer to Liang Shuying: About the Derogation Provisions in The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, quoted from The Research on Issues Regarding the Approval and Implementation of The
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, edited by Chen Guangzhong, China Legal Publishing House,
2002 edition, p 80-82.

(Article 11). This means that no one shall be kept in prison just on the reason of
unable to repay debts. (5) No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again for an
with the law and penal procedure of each country (Article 14). (6) Everyone shall
have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law (Article 16). An
individual citizen’s dignity shall not be degraded in the state of emergency. (7)
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion (Article
18). Rights as a person, thought, conscience and freedom of religion are all inherent
rights, they will not obstruct the execution of administration powers in the state of
emergency. The government also should not interfere the inherent dignity and belief
of a person.

These non-derogable provisions could be understood as the main contents of

fundamental international human rights, they reflect contents in three aspects: (1)
Rights to personal life and the survival rights to the collective group; (2) Fundamental
right to recognition everywhere as a person, right of freedom as an individual body;
(3) Right in equality. The protection on these fundamental rights have already
exceeded race, historical culture, economy, social system and territory and becoming
a common international obligation, no country shall claim that all human rights issues
are internal affairs. The derogating principles has stipulated clear restrictions on
derogating rights for the States parties, derogating measures should not aim at the
non-derogable rights, to protect human rights in the state of emergency is an
inseparable and important part of international protection of human rights. In 1950,
The European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms has also
made similar stipulation.
In July 2001, The Human Rights Committee has pointed out in Article 29 of The
General Comment on Article 4 of The International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, that in order to ensure the observance of the non-discriminating
obligation, habitual obligation and other international humanitarian obligation, and
many other rights should also be protected in the state of emergency, including:
prohibition of hijacking hostage; prohibition of forcing peoples to leave their
homeland; rights of the minority race; all detainees shall have the rights to be treated
as persons; the basic factors of having rights in fair judgment, for example drivels of
innocent, particularly under the circumstance where death penalty is applicable; rights
of personal freedom should not be deprived of. Although these rights have not been
clearly listed in the abovementioned Covenant as non-derogable rights, they have
been deemed as non-derogable rights concealed in the provisions of the international
b) The Requirement of Procedures
No matter how critical the situation is, to exercise administrative power in the
state of emergency would require the basic restrictions of procedures. The regulation
would restrict governmental power, which is the root of protection on civil rights.
Such restriction and derogation should be clearly specified through jurisdiction. The

General Comment No. 29: States of Emergency (article 4) : 31/08/2001, CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.11, para. 5.

international human rights covenant has made the regulation, and all countries
(including countries that have been approved and countries that have not been
approved by the Covenant, as there should be no “country being excluded by the
laws” existing in this contemporary society) should consider them during the state of
emergency. The requirements of such procedures include:
If the States parties of the human rights covenant should delay in using
derogation rights, then the Secretary-General of the United Nations should inform the
other States parties of the present Covenant regarding the various derogated
provisions, the reasons for implementing the derogation and the date for ending such
The governing body involves shall officially announce the state of emergency. 10
Without any announcement and abridgment of legal rights of civilians in actual fact
means terrorism governing, a country governed by law has to enter the state of
emergency through normal procedure.
Apart from drawing the bottom line, the protection of civil rights under the state
of emergency shall also clearly state the necessary methods and means of the relief
when civil rights are infringed during such emergency state; the procedures could
only be simplified. Regarding compensations by the government or the others, one
should consider reducing the responsibility of the government and the others under
such special occasion.
In 2003, China has encountered the SARS crisis. During this process, Chinese
government has gradually learned the addressing method under such state of
emergency; some academics have also brought up suggestions from the angle of
human rights protection. For example, Professor Du Gangjian deems that, provisions
on crisis addressing should state clearly the relationship between the crisis addressing
measures and human rights protection. The adoption of crisis addressing measures
should not discretionally infringe the fundamental human rights. The addressing of
SARS crisis shows that crisis addressing provision needs to pay attention to the
following issues: (1) To identify and to decide the announcement of the state of crisis
and to adopt the limitation of rights and scope for the main form of the measures for
the crisis. Adopt the necessary emergency measures; but non-regulated and
necessary actions should be avoided. From China’s point of view, The Emergency
Bylaw for Break Out of Public Hygiene Incident has made clear regulations on
measures to be adopted, powers to be executed by the government and relevant
department in the state of post-crisis-break out. (2) The standard and scope to be
addressed need to be clearly identified, this is to prevent inadequate adoption of crisis
measures and the scope for addressing being discretionally expanded. (3) The legal
responsibility of any illegal behavior should be clearly identified. Under the situation
of no legal responsibility, governmental department and staff could easily exceed their
authority, and incident of discretionally infringing the fundamental rights of civilians
could easily happen. Clearly identify the legal responsibility would favor various
levels of governmental staff to install consciousness on obligation, thus preventing the
occurrence of civilians’ fundamental rights on freedom being infringed. (4) To clearly

General Comment No. 05: Derogation of rights (Art. 4) : 31/07/81.

identify the means of administrative relief and jurisprudence relief for the victims.
Jurisprudence relief shall always be the necessary and important part in every legal
department. Laws without regulation on relief shall be a set of uncompleted laws.
Victims that have been inappropriately or illegally treated during the state of
emergency should be provided with clear means of administrative and jurisprudence
relief. Infringement on civil rights caused by illegal behaviors should be rectified and
relieved through administrative and jurisprudence measures.11

How to adopt decisive measures and to address them properly while at the same
time respecting and protecting human rights in the largest extent during the
maintenance of the normal social working orders and living order are issues we
should seriously ponder on. Although the state of emergency is an internal issue of a
country in most occasion, but under the background of globalize human rights, human
rights issue is a global issue. There are global standards for regulations on human
rights, there are globalize mechanisms for the monitoring of human rights, therefore
even in the state of emergency, a country should fully consider the obligation
pursuance to the international covenant that it undertakes. Observing such obligation
pursuance to international covenant will not only just set up a good international
image or receive excellent comments from international society, but more importantly
it is one of the important symbols for the government to show to its peoples that it is a
creditable and trustable government. Therefore, when addressing the issue of human
rights during the state of emergency, one should not persist on one’s way and consider
them as internal affairs and thinks that outsiders have no rights to interfere.

Du Gangjian: The Protection of Human Rights in the State of Crisis Addressing, Law Journal, 15 May 2003.


A guitar's frets, fretboard, tuners, headstock, and truss rod, all attached to a long wooden extension, collectively constitute its neck. The wood used to make the fretboard usually differs from the wood in the rest of the neck. The bending stress on the neck is considerable, particularly when heavier gauge strings are used (see Tuning), and the ability of the neck to resist bending (see Truss rod) is important to the guitar's ability to hold a constant pitch during tuning or when strings are fretted. The rigidity of the neck with respect to the body of the guitar is one determinant of a good instrument versus a poor-quality one.
As already stated, the perfect-fifths (P5) interval is the most harmonious, after the unison and octave intervals. An explanation of human perception of harmony relates the mechanics of a vibrating string to the musical acoustics of sound waves using the harmonic analysis of Fourier series. When a string is struck with a finger or pick (plectrum), it vibrates according to its harmonic series. When an open-note C-string is struck, its harmonic series begins with the terms (C,C,G,C,E,G,B♭,C). The root note is associated with a sequence of intervals, beginning with the unison interval (C,C), the octave interval (C,C), the perfect fifth (C,G), the perfect fourth (G,C), and the major third (C,E). In particular, this sequence of intervals contains the thirds of the C-major chord {(C,E),(E,G)}.[4]
Our intermediate and advanced guitar lessons are tailored to build on the skills that students have developed through their previous beginner lessons and programs. These programs pair private guitar lessons with full-band group rehearsals and live performances, allowing student guitarists to showcase their skills by playing advanced songs from famous musicians. Our world-class guitar instructors and teaching system are proven to help students play and perform at a higher level.

You need to place one finger on whatever fret you want to bar and hold it there over all of the strings on that fret. The rest of your fingers will act as the next finger down the line (second finger barring, so third finger will be your main finger, and so on). You can also buy a capo, so that you don't have to deal with the pain of the guitar's strings going against your fingers. The capo bars the frets for you. This also works with a ukulele.
There are three main types of modern acoustic guitar: the classical guitar (nylon-string guitar), the steel-string acoustic guitar, and the archtop guitar, which is sometimes called a "jazz guitar". The tone of an acoustic guitar is produced by the strings' vibration, amplified by the hollow body of the guitar, which acts as a resonating chamber. The classical guitar is often played as a solo instrument using a comprehensive finger-picking technique where each string is plucked individually by the player's fingers, as opposed to being strummed. The term "finger-picking" can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues, bluegrass, and country guitar playing in the United States. The acoustic bass guitar is a low-pitched instrument that is one octave below a regular guitar.
If you know how to play an E major chord, then you know how to play an A minor chord—just move the chord whole shape over a string. Make sure your first finger is curled, so the open first string rings clearly. Avoid playing the open sixth string when strumming the A minor chord. There are situations when it makes sense to reverse your second and third fingers when playing the A minor chord.

In music, a guitar chord is a set of notes played on a guitar. A chord's notes are often played simultaneously, but they can be played sequentially in an arpeggio. The implementation of guitar chords depends on the guitar tuning. Most guitars used in popular music have six strings with the "standard" tuning of the Spanish classical-guitar, namely E-A-D-G-B-E' (from the lowest pitched string to the highest); in standard tuning, the intervals present among adjacent strings are perfect fourths except for the major third (G,B). Standard tuning requires four chord-shapes for the major triads.

After you’re feeling more comfortable with the transitions, plug in this progression to your Uberchord. You should find that it’s much easier to play along with the progressions. Even with chords you aren’t yet comfortable with. The key to playing cleanly and precisely is training yourself to pay attention to the movement of your fingers. You’ll find that this heightened awareness translates into every new chord you learn.
On almost all modern electric guitars, the bridge has saddles that are adjustable for each string so that intonation stays correct up and down the neck. If the open string is in tune, but sharp or flat when frets are pressed, the bridge saddle position can be adjusted with a screwdriver or hex key to remedy the problem. In general, flat notes are corrected by moving the saddle forward and sharp notes by moving it backwards. On an instrument correctly adjusted for intonation, the actual length of each string from the nut to the bridge saddle is slightly, but measurably longer than the scale length of the instrument. This additional length is called compensation, which flattens all notes a bit to compensate for the sharping of all fretted notes caused by stretching the string during fretting.
With the C major chord, put that shape on the guitar for thirty seconds, take it off, shake it out, and repeat the process a few times. As you’re making the shape, remember to come right behind the frets on the tips of your fingers. When you’re starting out, you may have to place each finger down one at a time, but that’s natural. You’ll get better with time and eventually be able to go right to the chord.

In major-thirds (M3) tuning, the chromatic scale is arranged on three consecutive strings in four consecutive frets.[83][84] This four-fret arrangement facilitates the left-hand technique for classical (Spanish) guitar:[84] For each hand position of four frets, the hand is stationary and the fingers move, each finger being responsible for exactly one fret.[85] Consequently, three hand-positions (covering frets 1–4, 5–8, and 9–12) partition the fingerboard of classical guitar,[86] which has exactly 12 frets.[note 1]


Suicide inhibition

For prevention of suicide, see suicide prevention.

In biochemistry, suicide inhibition, also known as suicide inactivation or mechanism-based inhibition, is an irreversible form of enzyme inhibition that occurs when an enzyme binds a substrate analogue and forms an irreversible complex with it through a covalent bond during the "normal" catalysis reaction. The inhibitor binds to the active site where it is modified by the enzyme to produce a reactive group that reacts irreversibly to form a stable inhibitor-enzyme complex. This usually uses a prosthetic group or a coenzyme, forming electrophilic alpha and beta unsaturated carbonyl compounds and imines.

Some clinical examples of suicide inhibitors include:

Rational drug design

Suicide inhibitors are used in what is called "rational drug design" where the aim is to create a novel substrate, based on already known mechanisms and substrates. The main goal of this approach is to create substrates that are unreactive until within that enzyme's active site and at the same time being highly specific. Drugs based on this approach have the advantage of very few resulting side effects.

See also

  1. Fowler, Joanna S. (1977). "2-Methyl-3-butyn-2-ol as an acetylene precursor in the Mannich reaction. A new synthesis of suicide inactivators of monoamine oxidase". The Journal of Organic Chemistry. 42 (15): 2637–7. doi:10.1021/jo00435a026. PMID 874623.


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Respond and attend to guest repair requests. Communicate with guests/customers to resolve maintenance issues with little to no supervision. Perform preventive maintenance on tools and equipment, including cleaning and lubrication. Visually inspect tools, equipment, or machines. Carry equipment (e.g., tools, radio). Identify, locate, and operate all shut-off valves for equipment. Maintain maintenance inventory and requisition parts and supplies as needed. Assure each day's activities and problems that occur are communicated to the other shifts using approved communication programs and standards. Display advanced ability to read standard blue prints and electrical schematics concerning plumbing and HVAC. Display above average engineering operations skills and strong general mechanical ability. Display proficiency in at least three of the following categories, above average skills in three more of the following categories and basic skills in the remaining categories: air conditioning and refrigeration, electrical, mechanical, plumbing, pneumatic/electronic systems and controls, carpentry and finish skills, kitchen equipment, vehicles, energy conservation, and/or general building management. Display solid knowledge and skill in the safe use of hand and power tools and other materials required to perform repair and maintenance tasks. Safely perform highly complex repairs of the physical property, electrical, plumbing and mechanical equipment, air conditioners, refrigeration and pool heaters - ensuring all methods, materials and practices meet company standards and Local and National codes - with little or no supervision. Troubleshoot and perform repairs on all types of equipment (e.g., pump and motor replacement), plumbing (e.g., plunge toilets and unclog drains), electrical equipment including lamps, air conditioners, HVAC equipment, cosmetic items, extension cords, vacuum cleaners, internet devices, replace electrical switches and outlets, and program TV's. Use the Lockout/Tagout system before performing any maintenance work. Display advanced knowledge of all engineering computer programs related to preventative maintenance, energy management, and other systems, including devices that interact with such programs. Perform advanced troubleshooting of hotel Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing (MEP) systems. Display the ability to train and mentor other engineers as necessary. Display ability to perform Engineer on Duty responsibilities, including readings and rounds.
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17. Everything in its Right Place

“The seeker is he who is in search of himself. Give up all questions except one: ‘Who am I?’ After all, the only fact that you are sure of is that you are. The ‘I am’ is certain. The ‘I am this’ is not.”

-       I Am That, by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

As I flew high above the vast empty wastelands of northern Mexico’s deserts, there was nothing I could do but surrender and trust. For someone who has a secret desire to control things, I seem to have an unhealthy way of throwing myself headlong into the unknown.

I was closing the door on an eight-month chunk of hard-expat living and learning in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; hard living not in the typical pickled-expat way that eventually leads to cirrhosis of the liver, but in a way that deeply entwines winter’s long nights and stark beauty. It is, after all, the dormant, internal functions of winter that enable spring to unfold verdant discoveries in blossoms and blooms.

High above the Earth, who I was as a man in my 40s felt no different from anyone I had been since I was 17. In my mind, I was a kid on a flight, in transition from one thing to the next, hoping the gamble would work out, and turning to the written page to navigate my way—all the while documenting the journey of my physical existence notebook after notebook. Despite the deeply-grooved tracks and well-worn neural pathways that wanted me to remain in the adolescent hopelessness of my past, or the fear and anxiety of an uncertain future, like all of my life’s greatest journeys, I sensed I was on the precipice of great adventure.

It was in this manner I was on my way to Seattle. From there, ten days later I had a one-way ticket to New York, and from there I was headed out to parts unknown. I was betting on an opportunity falling into place that would bring me to Europe, but if that didn’t work out, I was a man without a plan, especially since my apartments in Mexico and Seattle would soon be occupied. I had other possibilities, but at the time they only existed as unmanifested potentials.

From where I was sitting that afternoon in seat 21F, my perspective afforded me the awareness that everything I had just experienced for the last eight months—the zeniths of joy and the nadirs of despair—were just external reflections of what needed to shatter within me in order to become more awakened. And by awakened, I don’t mean in the Buddha way or the millennial woke way.

I simply mean I was more free from my past.

This new found freedom was the result of sitting long enough in the fire of one of my life’s more uncomfortable incubation periods. We all pass through these anxious seasons where we find ourselves thinking, Is this it? Is this all there is? But by sitting in the fire, and consequently burning down old parts of the self that no longer served me, I was now free to step into the next evolution of my soul’s incarnate journey.

At least in the present moment, age, experience, and the passage of time demonstrated to me how each time life breaks our hearts, it’s just a reminder to take off another layer of armor, to love bigger, and to be more courageous in our vulnerability and open-heartedness. Like a hurricane wiping out a coastline, when your heart gets crushed—in whatever inevitable form that might take—eventually you have to rebuild. If you’ve gained wisdom from the storm, when it comes time to rebuild, you fortify your structure; not in a walled-off way, but in a way that provides a stronger foundation to better weather life’s next storm. It’s for this reason vulnerability and open-heartedness are critical in this moment of human evolution—because vulnerability and open-heartedness don’t build walls, they remove them.

I had a situation recently where how I was operating in the world was called into question, and this caused me to momentarily shrink in the face of my vulnerability. The passive assault on my character was at first startling and rattling, followed by aggravating and infuriating, followed by observing and pondering. In this story arch, I was strong-armed into paying closer attention to my life’s script, juxtaposing the story I had written many years ago on the cusp of being a young man versus who I had become as a man. It was in the third part of the equation—the pause (which creates the space to observe and ponder)—that I found gratitude towards this person for forcing me to look more deeply within, for it was in the mirror of their unconscious affront that I was forced to take an internal inventory. In doing so, the evidence I found in my external world only propelled me to stand more steadfast in my worth and the vision I held for my life’s journey.

What was called into question by this person—whom by the way I love, admire, and respect—was the idea of hard work, because what this person’s idea of hard work looked like was very different than mine. I eventually realized it was because my way of being in the world fell outside of her construct. Simply put, my work as an artist and a writer looked very different than how she had been spending 10-14 hours a day for the previous three months.

I could have taken offense to this lack of understanding, after all—it’s lack of understanding that’s at the root of all wars, both within and without—but instead I took it as an opportunity to get more clear on how I intend to write the next chapters of my life.

Part of the story I have been writing for most of my life, and the one I will continue to write, is that I don’t have to play by society’s rules. Why? Because I say so. But more aptly said—because I am answering to the unknown path of the calling. Critical to setting out on a path less traveled is the surrendering to, and trusting in, something greater that is guiding me, protecting me, and calling me forward. If you’re on this same path, you know it’s not an easy one.

This begs the question, what is it to trust? To me, it is to venture upon a path you cannot see, to a destination you do not know, on a journey in which you can’t rely on others to light the way. Instead, you must be your own guide by generating the light from within. To successfully tread upon this path is to trust there will be terra firma beneath every step, even when you can’t see the next one in front of you.

Within the spiritual and creative class (a term coined by the American economist and social scientist, Richard Florida), how I live my life is in some regards quite conventional: I am dedicated to pursuing an internal vision that I imagine to be the greatest expression of myself. Outside of these class structures, however, in life’s more prescriptive avenues, I am an anomaly. There’s a part of me that longs for that perceived stability and security found in routine and building the vaulted walls of 401(k)athedrals, but like anyone else who is living by an internal compass, I have no choice but to obey this more vociferous, more dominant aspect of the self that answers not to a boss, but to the calling.

Personally speaking, the purpose of this more dominant aspect of my self is to lead me into the caverns and underworlds of my life, to move through its uncomfortable layers, and into the places and spaces where very little light enters. Ultimately, this leads to the inner-most labyrinth of the self. Perhaps as my life progresses and I move further into this labyrinth, I will find there is no self. As a friend suggested, perhaps I am only an aspect of consciousness observing consciousness itself,

If I can bring light to those dark places, and if I can navigate my way out of the labyrinth, then I will have completed what Joseph Campbell called “The Hero’s Journey.” The purpose of this quest is to bring back meaningful knowledge, information, and wisdom acquired on the journey so that the greater good may benefit.

As a writer, this is the fulfillment of my life’s work and mission. First, my work is to overcome the fear of diving into my life’s muck and mire in search of pearls of wisdom. If I can apply this wisdom to myself, then I can share it with others. Second, my mission is to translate light, frequency, and energy into story so as to lead others to their truth. Just as each has their own path upon which to walk, this is the path of my soul’s journey into the heart of my own human healing.

The gamble I am betting the farm on is that if I can prove as a living example that the revisitation of the dreams and intentions of the internal world (i.e., directed consciousness) manifest in the outer world, then I can teach the lessons of the journey through story. The most important aspect of this story is not about the destination, as Dr. Joe Dispenza says, but about who you become in the process. If I am going to write about these truths, I need to live them.

As I said in my book, A Curious Year in the Great Vivarium Experiment, “The world changes through two things—story and consciousness.” I know from experience there is a certain strata of people who on a daily basis are undertaking this same journey of healing and soul work. They are the tides who are raising the buoys of human consciousness, first by bringing healing to themselves, then to their families, then to their work, followed by their communities. The journey into healing our unmet needs and unconscious wounds of childhood, as well as the perceived wounds inflicted upon us by others, is the most important journey (and the hardest work) any of us will ever undertake, for this is how we change the world. We don’t change the world by conquering men and women, squashing rivals and competitors, or stealing resources from far off lands. No, if we acted in more noble, more selfless ways we would find there’s plenty to go around.

We change the world by conquering the enemy within.

The way I see it is you can look at your life in one of two ways. The first is as a series of lessons where you are the hero of a great journey, and the second is as a series of mistakes and arbitrary happenstances where you are the victim. (This has taken me a long time to learn.) Both stories are born out of the perspective and narrative we chose to weave around our life’s happenings and events. It’s from these happenings and events we build the stories of our lives, and it’s our stories that define us, for better or worse.

Personally, I think the journey of life is just a series of events and interactions designed by a higher, more knowing aspect of ourselves. The purpose of this journey is to create intersections of ideas and collisions of people who force us out of our comfort zones. It’s in the exploration of those outer, less known aspects of our being where we find the space to grow, evolve, and step into expanded versions of ourselves, that is—should we accept the challenge—rather than remain in the safe cocoon of the past and predictable known.

To accept the challenge is to step into the unknown, whether that’s moving to a different country, switching to a different career, or journeying into the very heart of love itself. No matter what facet of your existence you apply this litmus test, to not accept that challenge is to remain on a linear, predictable path—void of soul growth, expansion, love, and the greater self that calls the limited self to emergence. This is the journey of transformation, and to transform is to move or change from one state of being, form, or awareness to another. Therefore, acceptance of the challenge is to allow disorder and chaos into our life so that it may transform into grace and good fortune—all in the name of our individual and collective evolution.

As I step into a new adventure and close the door on eight months in Mexico, my time there was filled with as much joy, expansion, and grace as it was with uncertainty, frustration, and disorder. But I wrapped myself in the chrysalis and sat in the fire, and although you can’t witness it in my external presence, in my internal world, once again the phoenix has taken on a new form, a new being, and a new awareness.

Beyond forging a deeper trust with this internal guidance system and stepping further into the unknown, I am also stepping further into the idea of I AM. It’s my postulation that if you declare “I AM” within the alignment of your words, actions, and thoughts—or mind, body, and spirit—the universe will conform to the declaration of your courage. At least this is what I am attempting to prove to myself, and thus share with others. This is what the journey of the calling is all about, which is also at the heart of what my third book is about. When you accept the calling, you have no other choice but to follow the unknown path upon which your soul leads you.

Of course at the human level, you always have a choice. We call this free will, but if you recognize and accept that the human experience is about the evolution of the soul—that greater aspect of our self that is only limited by language—then you have to trust the personalized inner-guidance system that most often only speaks in whispers, signs, serendipities, and synchronicities. This is the path of the peaceful warrior, and the path of the greatest expression of our human selves.

Speaking of expression, perhaps the current epidemic of modernity is that the majority don’t feel free or safe to fully express themselves, whether that’s at work or in a relationship, in their religion or sexuality, in their despair or joy, or in their victories and defeats. The tragedy in this repression is that at the most elemental root of human expression is the need for connection—the need to be in communion with someone, to be understood and recognized, and to receive the validation that we are not the only one who is experiencing the inner turmoil, tumult, and confusion that arises through the human experience.

That shared internal journey of consciousness is what unites us, creates compassion—and when the physical journey ends—returns us back to unmanifested potential, the source from which all things arise. If we were all engaged in this idea, that we were all one and part of the same source energy, it’s my belief we could finally bring peace and prosperity to the entirety of this planet.

This is my declaration of I AM.

Feel free to comment below about, declare your I AM, share if you feel so inspired, or simply say hi. Also, I just began a newsletter I will send about once a month. If you’d like to receive it, please sign up at my website.

Finally, the opening quote to this essay opens the first of three parts (Spirit, Body, Mind) of my book. To learn more about my book or watch the book trailer, please visit: https://www.acuriousyear.com/.

16. On Surrender, Resilience, and Self-Love

-       Antoine de Saint-Exupery, The Little Prince

From a distance, the desert is uniform and monotonous. Up close, however, it’s hearty, resilient, and complex. What first made me fall in love with it was that much like life, the more you pay attention to it, the more it unfolds.

Whether it was fate, destiny, serendipity, or the product of my own creation, after one of my life’s more uncomfortable seasons, I found myself living at the edge of El Charco del Ingenio, San Miguel de Allende’s high-desert botanical garden. At 65 hectares (160 acres) and an altitude of 1900 meters (6,200 feet), it’s home to more than 100 butterfly species, 156 bird species, and 550 plant species.

How I found myself living there was that shortly after New Year’s Day, my former landlady decided to reclaim the spacious, modern loft she was renting me. With the snow birds from the north flocking in droves to central Mexico’s most artsy town, finding a comfortable place to live, without the added high-season inflation tax, was proving to be all the more challenging. Seeing as my last few months of 2018 were full of turmoil, unrest, and uncertainty, like a beaten-down pugilist, I lacked the fight to go on. When you have no more fight left in you, you have one of two choices; surrender or die. Due to my commitment to self-preservation both as a human and an organism, the latter was not an option.

Down but not out, through grace and good fortune my friend and guardian angel of San Miguel de Allende, Linda Hampton, offered me stay in the casita on her property. While it was a bit outside of town, it wasn’t exactly uncomfortable. I had my own spacious casita, access to her kitchen in a home adorned with art, three dogs to love me unconditionally, and a pool by which to lounge…What I could not have known in my moment of surrender was that my time at Casa del Linda would serve as a safe place to rehabilitate, and that the unexpected gift of the desert would be a propellant for healing and awakening.

Originating from the northeast corridor of the United States and having spent the previous 18 years in the Pacific Northwest, I had never experienced the terrain, climate, or energy of a high desert. The desert is a place of extremes where the temperature can swing from -1°C (30°F) before sunrise to 49°C (120°F) in the late afternoon. During the course of a day, as the sun arches from the eastern to western horizon and the corresponding light saunters across the stark, arid landscape, the desert becomes a character in a novel who evolves in unpredictable ways. To add to its mystique, when the summer rains ascend, the desert transforms from an Ansel Adams photograph into a Monet painting. It took me almost no time to realize that the energy the desert provided was an endless fountain of healing and inspiration, and that the more I visited it, the more its elegant, cooperative beauty would unfold before me.

As a writer, the greatest tool I have in my toolbox is the power of observation. Observation is not only what colors a story—it’s not only what reveals the wounds, motivations, or psychology behind a person or character’s actions—it also marks the passage of time. How? Time is the passage of weather, seasons, people, lovers, blossoms and blooms, and the emergence (and thus hibernation) of insects, amphibians, and mammals. It is further marked by the birth of children, the death of loved ones, the upheavals of political events, the revolutions that inspired them, and the social movements that push society forward. To live at the edge of a high desert botanical garden, and to be able to visit it at a whim, gave me the luxury to observe my external life and the passage of time eternal, while juxtaposing it with my internal life, and the passage of time ephemeral.

One day while traversing upon a path, I observed crickets mating, which I found to be steely, focused, and meditative, while on another day I observed butterflies mating, which I viewed as poetic, ecstatic, and majestic. Other days I observed vermillion flycatchers, curved-bill thrashers, and monarch butterflies cutting through the air in sharp angles and dramatic movements, all dancing in the embodied expression of the same energy that created me.

Over the course of three weeks, I watched a steady procession of leafcutter ants (which, in addition to being the largest and most complex animal society on Earth beyond humans, is also the only species beyond humans able to make its own food) go about their business in service of the queen. Like a well-organized army, they were ranked from the grunts, who marched in a line, sometimes carrying things 20 times their weight, to scouts who patrolled the perimeters, to the larger ants who defended their nest from foreign invaders. Observing the tiny creatures, I thought about how all of us are in service to someone or something, and how just as I am a greater intelligence marveling at the simplicity and complexity of this lower life form, so too is there probably a greater intelligence observing humans and thinking the same.

Equally as curious were the survival mechanisms cactuses had adopted to evolve over countless millennia—how many have learned to grow their roots in nutrient-lacking soil and how some, such as the garambullo, the prickly pear, or the barrel cactus, learned to grow from the cracked walls of canyons. Others, like the nopal—a staple of Mexican cuisine and whose varieties are as vast as the North America apple—have grown massive spikes due to their edible (and thus vulnerable) interior. And still others, much like some people, invite you in with their beauty, yet get too close and you receive a prickly, thorny rebuke.

The paradox of the desert is that it is at once harsh, arid, and sunbaked, while at the same time quiet, peaceful, and giving. In its understated, and perhaps under-appreciated way, it is abundant with life. If one were to look upon the desert from high above, you would see one living, breathing organism, and yet if you drilled down from the level of its flora, fauna, and aviary species—all the way down to the level of lichens, bacteria, fungus, and the corpuscle—you’d find hidden treasures and symbiotic relationships as vast as the stars. As an example, when the Spanish conquistadors appeared on the continent in the 16th century, the color red—a symbol of wealth, power, and status—was everywhere. What they soon learned from the Aztecs was the dye that created the color came from a tiny white insect called the cochineal. The cochineal lives on the pads of the prickly pear cactus, and without a trained eye, it would look like nothing more than a white blemish. When dried and crushed, the minuscule, nondescript creature produces a rich, red dye. Behind silver and gold, this dye became the area’s third largest export. By the 16th and 17th century, the result was that the cochineal launched Spain on a path towards becoming a global economic superpower, created a red craze throughout Europe, and went on to revolutionize art history.

From competition to cooperation, in the mirror of the desert I could see the entire spectrum of humanity. Simply by observing the desert, I was learning about my life, and as I did so, in the mirror of nature’s intricate beauty, the learnings of my own journey were being magnified.

When you close your eyes and connect into the energy of a place or space, it whispers to you. As the desert is a place full of history, lore, and the transitions of people, plants, and ideas, it has many things to share, but you must become still to hear it.

On my first day in the garden, I sat beneath the shelter of a mesquite tree and did just that—I closed my eyes, let go of all thoughts, and focused on the tingling sensation within and all around me. That sensation is the commingling of the outer and the inner—the energy that inhabits us and the field of energy in which we inhabit. This ubiquitous energy is always present and available to us; most of us just haven’t been trained to put our attention on it. As I sat there beneath that tree, the stillness enveloping me, I heard the desert whisper: How fitting it is that life has delivered you to the edge of the high desert, after all, what speaks more to resilience than that which grows in the desert?

As I continued to focus in on, and connect to, the energy around me, I expanded my own field of energy into the space around my body. In doing so, my focus was no longer on my body, but on the field of energy around it. This is, after all, the energy that holds the universe together, so logic has it that it must possess a greater degree of knowledge, information, and intelligence then I can access on my own.

As I did so, the thought entered my mind, I wire my brain for the mystical. It was peculiar because I did not think this thought, rather, it downloaded to me. Not one to doubt the information, I placed my attention within my head, purposely feeling the unification of both hemispheres of my brain fire and wire in the name of the mystical.

Curious by the information I received, I decided to play with this energy by furthering my inquiry. As I cleared all thought and moved into trance, I asked the question: What energy do I need to tune into? Whether voiced by the desert or my own subconscious, as if an echo bouncing off canyon walls only to return to its source, the answer came back to—self-love.

Dumbstruck by the reply, as soon as the thought entered my consciousness, it multiplied with the rapidity of an algal bloom. Self-love is a subject I have been pondering, working on, asking to know more intimately, and desiring to awaken to. To truly love one’s self is to accept the limitations and shortcomings of our humanity (which in certain areas of my life, I’ve been challenged to come to terms with), while stepping into and embracing the limitlessness of our divinity (which, the acceptance of this responsibility, can also be challenging by its daunting nature).

In that moment, it became my personal understanding that this is what it means to awaken to the I AM—the universal key that unlocks all doors of creation. I AM is the power of the Word merged with the power of Directed Consciousness. It is the unification and alignment of the mind, body, and spirit within the declaration of self. Stated more simply, we become the totality of what we say, think, act, and feel.

No matter your belief, we can all agree upon the limitations of language when it comes to energy and the greater mystery of the universe. As someone whose personal mission statement it is to translate light, frequency, and energy into story so as to lead others to their truth, at least in this moment of my life, my job was simply to walk around the desert, observe the mystery, let it consume me, and articulate it as best I can.

And so it was I came to a deeper understanding that to awaken to the I AM is to know that all possibilities exist as energetic potentials in an immaterial field of information called the quantum field. In the first law of thermodynamics, the total amount of energy in a closed system (in this case, let’s call this closed system the totality of all that is, both visible and invisible, material and immaterial) cannot be created nor destroyed, but it can change from one form to another. To take this one step further, in physics, through the observer effect, simply by observing something we alter it. So the I AM is the ability to alter matter/reality through consciousness simply by observing something into being. Allow me for a moment to boil this down.

If you were to remove all the elements of this complex bouillabaisse, leaving only its liquid broth, the reduction you’d be left with is the creative process. The first step of the creative process is to dream. The second step is to fill in that dream as if it were an image in a coloring book. The third step is to keep revisiting that dream, each time filling in this image more and more until, metaphorically speaking, it transforms from a 2-dimensional idea on a piece of paper into a 3-dimensional hologram. To make the leap from the coloring book to quantum physics, that hologram is the pattern of the dream that already exists (beyond the speed of light and beyond the visible light spectrum) as light and information the field. The more you revisit or observe that dream, or the pattern of the dream, the more you slow it down. As the pattern of light and information slows down below the speed of light, division and polarity occurs, which is where the dream begins to take form as matter, experiences, events, serendipities, or synchronicities. Let’s look at this another way, but before we do, it’s important to remember what Einstein said: “The field is the sole governing agency of the particle.”

No matter how novel your flash of brilliance might be, when you come up with an idea, you are connecting with the energy of something that already exists in the field. The more you connect to this idea, as you observe it, circumvent it, and move through it—as you connect with the feelings of what the fruition of this idea might feel like—you begin filling in a mental image of something that already exists as a potential. The more you focus on this potential, the more you bring form to it—and the more you bring form to it, the closer it comes into existence. As an example, imagine looking up into the infinite lattice of the night sky. Then imagine that every star is an atom of potential. The more you focus in on a specific portion of the sky, as you apply your imagination and attention, you begin to cluster the atoms until all the sudden a form appears and you see Orion, Cassiopeia, Leo, Cancer, Taurus, Ursa Major and Minor, and so on and so on.

Although invisible to others, for months my internal world felt like dice in a Yahtzee tumbler. The challenge was not necessarily due to a broken heart or that the vulnerabilities I shared might have been exploited. That was simply a catalyst to confront the well-rooted legacy stories of my life.

For months, perhaps a year, a new self had been calling out to me, and yet I—the free-willed human being—resisted it. Resistance, whether found in an engine or the heart, is eventually going to wear down the machinery that evokes the function. If this resistance is found in the heart, the result is likely going to be lot of unnecessary pain. That pain is the result of friction caused by fear—and that brand of fear is the manifestation of our resistance to the soul’s expansion into the new, unformed edges of our being. To push outward into the unknown and often uncomfortable dimensions of the self is what it means to be initiated, and if we are paying attention, every initiation we pass awakens us to I AM.

And so in carefully observing all that the desert was reflecting back to me, I was forced to make a decision; surrender my legacy stories or remain living within the limitations of their confines and contours.

With the fervor and unconscious desperation that the cactus clings to the canyon wall, so too have I clung to my life’s legacy stories. Now it’s important to note here, dear reader, that these stories are not necessarily based in reality. Life is a series of concurrent events. Some are joyful and some are painful, thus we attach to them a corresponding emotion—and emotions carry meaning. The more we revisit these events, the more they become etched in our memories, and the more they become etched in our memories, the greater the stories we attach to them.

When we gain some distance and emotional freedom from the inciting or source incident of our pain, perspective allows us to see its service as one of life’s most important tools for awakening. Through this mirror, I realized my pain was, and has always been, the crack in which the light enters. On one hand, the awakening that commanded my attention was the fact that I was not my stories. On the other hand, the awakening that was calling me from my past to my future was that resilience is having the strength to keep going when you can’t see the road ahead. It also means having the courage to keep pushing up against those stories until—like when we confront the demons of our imagination by looking them square in the eye—the fictitious nature of that which once haunted us is revealed, thus igniting an energetic process of reverse osmosis. In the absence of the void these stories once filled, I was awakening to the I AM.

While sitting beneath that mystical mesquite tree, I felt a deeper trust than I had in a long time. In recognition of the calm within—the result of grace and the pendulum swinging from internal turmoil to a cathedral of peace—I breathed more deeply into the moment. As I released myself further into its gentle embrace, it dawned on me that peace is the alignment of our physicality with our higher-self (or soul) within the paradigm (or physical dimension) of time and space. The deeper I moved into this epiphany, the more it peeled back like the layers of a fresh artichoke waiting to be lathered in liquid butter. Similar to what I expressed in my book, once again—without doing anything but simply living, being, and showing up—an old form that no longer served me was effortlessly molting.

In the absence of that which no longer served me was my naked, liberated soul, eager to undertake the next expansive chapter of my journey, a journey whose design would take me closer to that which I desire to know greater—the source of the mystery—myself. After all, the source energy of the mystery is experiencing itself through my corporeal existence.

It is not only the desire, but the intrinsic nature of the soul to experience growth and expansion. These two aspects of life occur via our senses, those visceral portals through which we learn what it means to be human. In this context, life then is not only an awakening, but a remembering of who and what we are—the truth being that we are souls (or consciousness) embodied in a physical vessel, the purpose of which is to poke about the physical world classifying, dissecting, learning, and looking for clues that help us remember the singularity from which we were engendered.

As a form of energy, the power of the soul—which is the individual aspect of the universal consciousness—is that it is has been granted the autonomy to direct its energy. The byproduct of this autonomy is free will, which means that from within the physical form we have the freedom to direct this energy however we choose. The discoveries we make, as a result of the choices we take, can form the path back to eternal, divine love—the highest of all frequencies. Love heals, love forgives, love unites, and love creates oneness and wholeness.

When we are in a state of wholeness, everything we need is already within us. As we awaken to this truth, when we as a collective realize we already have at our fingertips all we need to serve, expand, and uplift the collective—when greed and the stockpiling of resources is eliminated, when we realize we all came from the same source energy—we will finally know peace on Earth. In achieving this degree of peace, the human species will evolve into something greater, and it will move into an an entirely new evolutionary period, the likes of which will seem like the science-fiction of yesteryears. In this new reality, what today might be categorized as a miracle may simply be something we take for granted as the pointed focus of the individual mind in the service of the universal conscious—or said another way—in service of our fellow men, woman, and children of Mother Earth.

In this historical evolutionary moment of becoming, like the pylon and the pier, you are being called to surrender that which no longer serves you so as to awaken to your greatest potential. This means having the courage to share the gifts with which you’ve been bestowed, and that means standing in the expression of your own truth, not in opposition—which is the device of many religions and politics—but in an addition to the whole. This will require you to be responsible for your own healing, which requires you to move beyond survival into creation.

As more and more people become responsible for their own healing, because consciousness is a wave, at some point we will reach critical mass, and the change we desire will come with increased frequency.

Then, much like the tillandsia, an airplant I observed that grows on the underside of some trees found in El Charco del Ingenio, perhaps human beings as a collective can evolve from the parasitic mindset that has grasped our species for many millennia, to an epiphytic mindset, after all—the epiphyte does not take from its host, but rather it lives in harmony with, and contributes to, the whole of its ecosystem.

Do you need help editing/writing your book? Or do you simply need a writing coach/accountability partner? And of course I’d be remiss by saying if you like the ideas in this piece, then you will like the ideas in my book. Check out the book trailer now.


 How to Supercharge Your National Digital Transformation

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How to Supercharge Your National Digital Transformation

Related Expertise:Digital Transformation, Technology & Digital, Agency Transformation

How to Supercharge Your National Digital Transformation

July 25, 2018 By Rami Mourtada , Stephanie Habib , Frank Felden , Alexander Türpitz , and Miguel Carrasco

Digitization at the national level is a high-stakes endeavor that countries cannot afford to get wrong. BCG estimates that e-government programs have the potential to deliver efficiency benefits of up to $50 billion a year globally by 2020, but 70% to 80% of public-sector digital transformations either fail outright or achieve disappointingly limited success. (See “How Governments Can Get Technology Transformations Right,” BCG article, June 2016.)

Though large-scale digital transformations at the national level have many moving parts—and rely on different approaches—they tend to falter in predictable ways. To accelerate national digital transformations, government leaders must avoid the missteps that have hampered past efforts.

Five Ways Digital Transformations Fall Short

Though many things can derail national digital transformations, five serious problems are both common and avoidable.

Too Much or Too Little Centralization of Power. Governments vary widely in their approach to digital transformations. Some take a command-and-control approach, in which power and funding flow through a single entity. Others take a decentralized approach, delegating decisions and digital capabilities to the local government or to individual public entities. Too much centralization can result in unduly rigid implementation, while full decentralization can lead to inconsistent standards, lack of coordination, and unpredictable outcomes.

In successful digital transformations, government leaders adopt a nimble approach, inspiring from the top, governing through the center, and engaging on the ground. Leaders begin by defining a unified vision for the transformation and establishing a set of broad goals and specific outcomes to drive continuous alignment with broader national priorities. Then they engage with digital stakeholders in the public and private sectors to detail the steps involved in executing the transformation on the ground, and they explore and test innovative concepts with topic and industry experts. At a minimum, a government needs to select a centralized unit to coordinate its transformation efforts. In some countries, such as Sweden, a single entity within the government leads the transformation. Other countries go a step further, setting up a standalone organization with a mandate to coordinate, enable, and partially execute the transformation; Denmark’s Agency for Digitization and the UK’s Government Digital Service are examples of standalone organizations responsible for driving digital transformation.

Disruption of Everything at Once. When designing a digital transformation, leaders may be tempted to overhaul all economic sectors at once, but trying to do too much at the outset can undermine the process. A winning strategy will focus on sectors that have the greatest potential to unlock value. The appropriate first step is to identify no-regret digital enablers—such as core digital infrastructure, cybersecurity, digital identity, and payments—that can scale up across multiple sectors. The next step is to identify and select a small number of industries that will deliver the greatest economic and societal benefits from digitization. To identify the most promising industries, leaders should ask several questions: Is the industry integral to national strategic priorities and objectives? To what extent can digitization of the industry unlock social and economic productivity for maximum impact? Will digitization address urgent gaps? Is there potential for a multiplier effect in other industries? One method of organizing these questions and answers involves adopting a decision tree approach. (See Exhibit 1.)

In 2016, when Germany launched its 2025 Digital Strategy, the nation’s leaders focused on building a world-class infrastructure as a core national enabler. They provided a gigabit fiber network, supported by strong data security and smart networking, and they made manufacturing the priority sector for modernization. To support innovation and use of its high-performance digital infrastructure, the strategy also called for the government to help startups and small and medium-size enterprises to participate in Industry 4.0 initiatives by providing support in key areas, such as hiring digital talent, obtaining financing, and navigating taxes. By building a robust digital infrastructure and removing obstacles to innovation, the government has enabled entrepreneurs to maximize the possibilities of the digital economy. Today, more than 200 digital applications and test beds in manufacturing are live, according to Germany’s Industry 4.0 platform. Germany is also the first country to have published a standard architecture for Industry 4.0, providing businesses with a uniform framework and supporting the interoperability of applications.

Excessive Caution in Pursuing Digital-First Initiatives. Citizens go online—and stay there—only if they can manage all of their transactions from beginning to end, without printing out documents or visiting a service center, and if they see a concrete benefit or incentive for doing so. In prioritizing digital-first initiatives, governments should target nondigital services that are most expensive for the government to provide but also are in highest demand from citizens.

According to BCG’s Digital Government Services Survey, the three most widely used digital services across 21 governments are real-time transportation information, tax returns, and job searches. (See “Digital Government Services by the Numbers,” BCG article, April 2017.) To create a seamless experience for users, agencies should overhaul the digital journey of high-priority services from end to end and should strive to eliminate all mandatory paper forms, phone calls, and nondigital interactions. Once the online process has become foolproof and user-friendly, governments should offer citizens tangible incentives to use it. These may be both positive (tax breaks and rewards for using digital services) and negative (higher prices or longer processing times for nondigital services), leading to the ultimate goal of phasing out nondigital services altogether.

As part of an aggressive push toward a cashless economy, the government in India has demonetized high-value currency notes and has used a combination of discounts, free add-on services, and tax breaks to incentivize digital payments for government services. For example, citizens receive a 10% discount and free accident insurance when they purchase railway tickets online. In one year, the Reserve Bank of India says, the government increased digital payments by 33% in volume and by 59% in value.

Failure to Keep Pace in Fostering a Digital Culture. In an era in which consumers expect to make purchases, transfer money, or schedule a doctor’s appointment with a single click, the bar for digital transactions is very high. Digital natives—young people who grew up with digital everywhere—expect government services to be seamless, intuitive, always available, and optimized for mobile. To meet these expectations, government agencies are creating new smart channels and services to communicate directly with digital natives. For example, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) developed a 24/7 intelligent virtual assistant called “Alex” to answer general questions about taxes. Alex understands conversational English and continues to improve with every interaction, reducing the high volume of call center inquiries and enabling consumers to serve themselves. In the first 18 months after its release, Alex engaged in 2 million conversations and had a first-contact resolution rate of 81%. The ATO has begun to use Alex in other government agencies as well, making it easier for citizens to resolve issues on the spot.

To understand digital natives’ expectations and to deliver high-quality digital experiences, governments need to take a different approach to hiring than they did in the past: they must actively recruit and develop digital talent. This means up-skilling existing staff and building an organizational culture that attracts innovative and entrepreneurial thinkers. Governments should also assess the digital readiness of the overall population and use targeted programs to improve the nation’s digital savvy across the board.

Fixation on a Master Plan. It is common in developing large-scale projects to construct a multiyear master plan, punctuated with hard deadlines. However, leaders should avoid making these plans too rigid, detailed, and precise with regard to formulating specific solutions. Technology and users’ needs are changing fast. Digital initiatives must be nimble, flexible, and quick to pivot if the strategy fails to deliver real-world impact. A digital transformation should aim to achieve sustainable results by following the LEAD approach. (See Exhibit 2.) This approach consists of four steps:

  • Lay the foundation by building a strong digital infrastructure and identifying initiatives that will deliver quick wins.
  • Execute with agility by launching high-priority pilots and iterating rapidly.
  • Accelerate adoption by giving users incentives to go online and stay online.
  • Digitally excel by optimizing end-to-end services and involving the public sector where appropriate.

Three Key Foundational Elements for Avoiding Pitfalls

Digital transformations require new ways of working, not just new digital solutions. To sustain the transformation, governments must shape a more innovative, entrepreneurial culture—and this requires establishing a solid foundation in three areas.

Run the transformation like a business. A digital transformation is not just a matter of putting forms online or launching new apps. It also entails addressing unmet needs in the marketplace and pursuing business opportunities to fill those needs. To better understand citizens’ wants and needs, more and more governments are appointing or hiring a chief customer officer (CCO) to analyze how businesses and citizens interact with the government, to seek innovative ways to radically improve citizens’ digital experience, and to ensure transparency and consistency in broad government initiatives. In the US, five federal agencies—the Bureau of the Census, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Export-Import Bank, Federal Student Aid, and the General Services Administration—have already appointed CCOs. Many other US agencies are looking to follow suit.

In addition to bringing in a CCO, governments can respond to disruptive opportunities by partnering with the private sector, particularly in areas where the government’s internal capabilities or know-how are lacking or where partnerships can support rapid economic development. Public-private partnerships enable governments to access world-class resources so they can scale up initiatives quickly. These partnerships can be tricky to navigate, so governments must proactively identify obstacles that discourage companies in the private sector from partnering, such as intellectual property rights and market openness, and must devise innovative, win-win solutions. Governments should especially seek out partnerships with small and medium-size enterprises—a growth engine for most economies. (See “South Korea Leverages Its Private Sector to Develop Seoul as a Digital City for Citizens.”)

As part of its Seoul Digital 2020 initiative, the South Korean government invested in Smart City technologies and launched Internet of Things (IoT) test beds. The initiative started in 2015 in Bukchon village, a popular destination that attracts more than a million visitors yearly. These visitors create major inconveniences related to littering, parking, and noise pollution that local residents have to deal with. The government invited 30 startups and global companies to pilot IoT initiatives to address these local problems, offering the companies the infrastructure, administrative, and financial support needed to address residents’ needs.

Adopting a public-private partnership (PPP) model, Seoul provided the core infrastructure, including free Wi-Fi, sensors, closed-circuit TV, and application programming interfaces. Using this infrastructure, the private sector developed and commercialized services; and the government decided, on the basis of residents’ feedback, which services to continue and which to discontinue.

The PPP led to a 64% increase in IoT companies in South Korea between 2015 and 2016, a 43% reduction in waste collection costs in Bukchon, and the creation of 17 smart services in 100 areas.

Don’t just ask for funding—raise it. Instead of requesting additional budget allocations to fund the digital transformation, governments should think creatively about how to self-fund the journey, from their current operating budget or from cost savings that result from digitization. In some cases, governments may be able to use dedicated innovation funds, but only to support highly creative or experimental concepts that would otherwise go unfunded—and they should award these competitively to teams that propose high-quality concepts that align closely with strategic objectives.

In 2014, Denmark created Innovation Fund Denmark (IFD) to invest in new initiatives that have the potential to generate growth and employment in Denmark. This competitive fund focuses on highly strategic, innovative, and early-stage projects. Although IFD does not require that funded projects give it a stake in the project or that they repay the funding it provides, IFD follows the project closely from start to finish to ensure that it is creating knowledge, growth, or employment to benefit Denmark and Danish society. If a project fails to fulfill these objectives, IFD ceases to support it. In 2018, IFD will invest approximately €190 million in promising projects.

Position a digital unit at the center. A centralized unit dedicated exclusively to the national digital transformation can play a critical role in setting a clear digital agenda, filling skill and resource gaps over the short term, and ensuring that fundamental enablers are in place to make the transformation happen. This unit should have the freedom and autonomy to work independently and make decisions unhindered by lengthy and complex government processes. It can drive critical areas of the transformation, such as incubating new digital opportunities, developing policies to accelerate digitization, removing obstacles to swift progress, and guiding adoption of emerging technologies. The unit can also pursue digital white spaces—untapped opportunities, such as the gig economy, that don’t fall into the domain of any government entity. And the centralized unit can experiment with partnership models to outsource short-term needs, such as system design, architecture, and implementation, while simultaneously ramping up internal capabilities in core areas, such as portfolio management and customer journey development. Initially, the unit should have a broad mandate, but the mandate should scale back as the digital ecosystem matures and becomes more self-sufficient.

In today’s digital society, governments cannot afford to drag their heels when pursuing a national digital transformation. A digitally savvy government simultaneously improves citizen’s lives and fuels economic growth. This calls for investing in initiatives that have a multiplier effect across industries and maintaining a flexible, forward-thinking approach to digitization. The digital landscape is constantly changing—and while digital leaders continue to innovate, digital laggards fall farther behind. Governments must act quickly to stay ahead of the curve.

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How to Supercharge Your National Digital Transformation