Rising Above the Son of Man: It’s Complicated Because We Need A New Paradigm

Ah, let me take a deep breath. I had no intention of writing any more articles about my ex Mark Manson. Then again, when God speaks to me, I listen. So here goes with another open letter to Mark Manson.

Let me preface this article by saying that my first Love in this lifetime was not a man. My first love was Literature, a love I pursued all the way through college before the “left brain” world co-opted me to law school.

When I was in college, because my family was not well off, I got a job waiting tables to make more money. I remember the restaurant clients asking me what I was majoring in at Stanford University.

“Modern Thought and Literature!” I replied. It was my passion. I loved it.

They would scrunch up their faces with judgment and concern. “How on earth are you going to make a living or get a job majoring in literature?” They saw it as frivolous, a waste.

Never mind that it took me to Harvard Law School, where I was an editor of the Harvard Law Review and graduated near the top of my class.

It turned out that studying literature was far more valuable than that. What I learned from studying literature now informs every aspect of my healing method, Holistic Belief Reprogramming. The whole world we see is metaphor. And those of us who know how to read the literary symbolism of everyday life, can become empowered to heal the whole planet.

Now let’s begin our open letter to my ex Mark Manson.

Dear Mark,

I asked Facebook to stop showing me your articles from MarkManson.net quite a while ago. Underneath my scorn was a deeper feeling of sadness, a longing for the Mark Manson I knew seven years ago. His writing was not formulaic and predictable. Back then, he was not writing for “popularity.” He was writing for expression. It was raw and real. I miss that Mark Manson.

Anyway, I digress. As you may know, in June of this year, my cat Harvey (one of my two cats that you met seven years ago in San Francisco, Mark) was stricken by tragedy. He suffered a dreaded saddle thrombus, which in veterinary medicine is considered a certain death sentence. This was followed by severe congestive heart failure. The veterinarians thought I was “crazy” to treat him. They pushed hospice, euthanasia, and grief counseling on me.

Well, those veterinarians don’t know me very well. I don’t give up easily on the ones I love. And I sure as hell was not going to kill my cat with “death penalty” chemicals. Harvey the Cat’s heart needed healing, and their answer was to stop his heart entirely?

Fuck that shit. I committed to getting Harvey the Cat healed.

Throughout the healing of Harvey the Cat, I have been following hints and Guidance from the Universe about what to tap next. I have at this point more than four terabytes of tapping videos, almost none of which has been released publicly. As I tapped thousands of issues that arose, following my Guidance, the “impossible” began to happen.

The night of the saddle thrombus, Harvey the Cat had been suddenly paralyzed from the waist down with a blood clot. Seeing his panic on the floor of the vet’s office, desperately trying to pull himself forward with his front legs, is one of the most horrific images I have ever seen.

Hearing the vet say “We don’t recommend treating this condition,” was even worse.

As you can imagine, Mark Manson, I was bawling with grief.

(Flashback to my childhood: Although I was away at college at the time, I knew from what my family reported that my childhood cat had been stricken by the same saddle thrombus. Poor beloved Sammy, the best cat ever. My dearest childhood friend. And she was dead in less than 24 hours.)

So it’s been quite amazing to watch over the last six months how magical Holistic Belief Reprogramming really is. With my tried-and-true emergency protocol, I had Harvey’s left leg working again within two or three hours of the original incident. His right leg came back within two to three days.

That turned out to be only the beginning. After two hospitalizations, Harvey was down from his original weight of 11 pounds to a mere 7 pounds. He had been overdosed on Lasix in the hospital, every organ in his body had been affected, and nobody (except me) thought he had any chance of returning to health.

Yet Holistic Belief Reprogramming saw us through every step of the way … I would receive Guidance from the Universe about what to tap next, I would tap it, and Harvey the Cat would take another step forward.

A thousand baby steps add up to quantum leaps. Isn’t that what you teach, Mark Manson?

This is Harvey the Cat as of Christmas week.

This is what is possible when we learn healing skills and refuse to give up on each other.

Because my healing method has saved both of my cats from certain death sentences … as well as many, many other miracles … needless to say, I trust my Guidance completely, even when things feel overwhelming and I am not seeing any way out of a tough situation.

Guidance About 666 and the Son of Man

So back to you, Mark Manson. Yesterday I received a bunch of Guidance about the number 666. (Tapping the meanings of various numbers that showed up repetitively has been an integral part of Harvey’s healing.)

I received my first ever confirmed booking on Airbnb, and the payout amount for four nights in February is $2666. Harvey the Cat had his lowest respiratory rate since I started counting it nearly six months ago: 16.666666 to infinity. Harvey was drinking 6 ounces of water each day, all week (down from 10.5 ounces a couple weeks ago, so another step forward).

It has not been lost on me, for a long time, the connection between my ex’s name, Mark Manson, and Biblical accounts of the Anti-Christ. Based on how my ex Mark Manson has treated me over the last seven years (if only you could see all his private messages to me, a very different person than his public presentation) … I have often asked myself if Mark Manson is the Devil Incarnate.

When I look up California Street from my apartment in San Francisco, I can see Mark (Top of the Mark) on the left side of the street and Mason on the right hand side. It’s not quite Mark Manson, but it’s very close to Mark Manson. And Grace Cathedral sits just beyond, a little ways more up the hill.

Yet it was only recently that I started connecting all the dots about the meaning of the name Mark Manson. (If you’ve ever studied literature, you know that the symbolism in protagonist names is very important in great novels.) I must admit that my knowledge of the Bible is not as deep as it should be, because Biblical archetypes are very important patterns that run in the unconscious mind that need to be healed.

As a child, I remember being fascinated by the chapter in the Bible called Revelations. It stood apart for me from the rest of the Bible. And now I learn a new meaning about my ex, Mark Manson. Of course, I knew about 666 and the Son of Man (Manson). In A Course in Miracles, it is prophesied that the Son of Man (Manson) shall return to his true Identity as the Son of God.

I was not aware of, or did not remember, the whole bit about the MARK of the Beast. MARK Manson. Interestingly, the mark of the beast is to be on the “right hand.” Those who refuse to take the mark of the beast, like me, follow the laws of God instead. While most take the mark of the beast and follow “this world’s” laws. (Harvey the Cat would not have recovered, under this world’s laws.)

Anyway, some years ago, I received a strange marking to my LEFT hand. The left hand is associated with the RIGHT brain, which is our connection to the Divine and the Laws of God. Whereas the right hand is associated with the LEFT brain (logic, worldly thinking, etc.).

Oh I could write on and on about the unbelievably uncanny symbolism of all this.

Anyway Mark … I was tapping 666, the Son of Man, and the Mark of the Beast (Mark Manson), yesterday … and suddenly … even though I told Facebook long ago that I never, ever want to see articles from you … Not one but TWO of your articles showed up in the feed anyway.

UGH, are you fucking kidding me – will I never escape this man, Mark Manson?

One of the two articles was It’s Complicated.

At first I had my usual knee jerk, eye rolling reaction … judging you, noticing how formulaic the articles are, remembering with nostalgia how much I enjoyed the life that was in your articles years ago …

Then I caught myself, realized that judging you really isn’t helping anyone, and said to myself, “You know, Erika, Mark Manson is doing the best he can just like you are …”

You like great books, right, Mark Manson?

Did you ever read Thomas S. Kuhn, the Structure of Scientific Revolutions? It’s on my shelf still, one of many books I read in college as a Modern Thought and Literature major, that were very eye opening for me.

I thought of that book when I saw your article It’s Complicated.

You know, Mark, everyone is trying to “figure it out” within the old paradigm. Old, tired, wearying debates about monogamy vs. polyamory, what skills would “improve” relationships, blah blah blah …

What I believe is that these contradictions and dilemmas will not get resolved without a leap to a new paradigm.

The other day, I felt really excited that this guy was reaching out to me on Facebook because at first it seemed he might actually be interested in me. Not “me” the photos or the image, but ME the purpose I am living for healing the planet. The real me.

And then at the very end, he had to slip in some comment about kissing me.

I felt utter disgust. I felt so unseen, unheard, totally objectified. I noticed that I also felt too exhausted to have the conversation, yet again, that I don’t date men who don’t learn about and share my purpose.

My solution to “it’s complicated” has been to withdraw from the world entirely.

We need a new paradigm, Mark. A revolution. All the old models will have to go, all the old questions only spin in endless loops. People consider it “success” if they get married and have children, but an astute observer of the long-term trajectory of such relationships – being honest – could not call any of it “success.”

We need a new paradigm. The whole current premise of relationships, creating a little “private corner” of “happiness” and “connection” – is flawed. It works against the principle of Oneness. Even those couples who seem to be “in service” to the planet are still in the old paradigm.

We need a revolution.

People are so frustrated, living their lives of quiet despair. Posting their Facebook statuses, trying to align the reality of “what is” with the false ideals of what they think their life should look life. And it’s making people miserable – because like air-brushed, photo-shopped models in magazines, it’s an ideal that can never be achieved.

Because the “ideal” is wrong.

Well I don’t even know if you’ll get this message. I hope you do. I hope you can see that I’m just like you, doing the best I can in a very flawed system. I saw a blog the other day by a woman who not long ago appeared to have all that worldly “success.” It has all ended in tragedy, and she recently let a surgeon cut off her entire breast in the name of “healing.”

I feel deep, deep sadness knowing this breast amputation was not necessary, that there is another way. I just don’t know how to reach them.

You would know how to reach them, Mark Manson.

Happy holidays, Mark Manson.

Love,