In this interview Roy Posner, president of Growth Online, describes the history of Growth Online; including how it got started, what its purpose and vision is, and where it might be headed in the not too distant future. Updated September 2010.
Thanks! OK, so why did you start Growth Online? Well, let's start with a little background. For years a number of close friends of mine have been involved in a group called The Mother's Service Society (MSS), located in Pondicherry in South India. They are a progressive, new age think tank, who have taken the ideas of Sri Aurobindo, the Indian sage and visionary, and have extended them into many fields of life. For over thirty years they have been doing ground breaking work in applying Sri Aurobindo's ideas in such diverse fields as education, literature, science, business, economics, social development, and others. It is really revolutionary what they have come up; unprecedented in my opinion in the annals of world thought. I believe they are literally a hundred years ahead in their thinking. Well, back in 1975 I worked as a sales representative for one of the Society's affiliate businesses, Mere Cie imports. A year or so later I formed my own company, Kenroy, which became a distributor for the Mere Cie product line in Northern California. Needless to say I also got involved in the principles of Sri Aurobindo, and specifically to his ideas extended to the field of business, which were developed by Mother's Service Society. And so I made an initial attempt to apply these ideas at Kenroy. The overall approach at the time was called "The Consciousness Approach to Business Management." So how did the business make out? Not too well I'm afraid! To put it bluntly, we failed. We ended up making too many fundamental mistakes. Had we seriously applied the principles at our disposal, we would have not only weathered the storm, but thrived. Still, it was a great experience. We helped pioneer a number of products along the way. And I learned a lot about myself -- my strengths and weaknesses -- as well as life. Gradually I moved on and got caught up in the computer boom of the 1980s. After selling personal computers at the retail level, I founded GuruSoftware in the early 1990s. There we developed computer software applications for businesses and government, and also provided computer software training services to small and large companies in California. Since we had developed software applications, and were also conversant with Mother's Service Society's profound insights into business and life, I thought that perhaps I could develop a program for personal growth. I also conceived of a similar program for business growth; that is, to help accelerate businesses profitability and growth. Both would incorporate the profound wisdom developed by MSS, particularly the insights of the multi-dimensional spiritual genius Karmayogi, as well as his close disciple Garry Jacobs, who I had worked with at Mere Cie years earlier. So around 1995 I created an initial version of the Evolve! personal growth software, and put it out as a free download. However, at some point it became clear that Evolve! was not a rich enough program to address such a profound topic. The truth was that I needed a great understanding of the processes and principles of accomplishment and growth. Perceiving my interest in developing my understanding in these areas, several close friends at MSS invited me up to their offices in Napa, California to have discussions on the key factors that enable people to grow and evolve. Every Saturday for two or three months during the summer of 1996 we had discussions on a number of profound ideas developed by Karmayogi. Despite all I had thought I had understood before, this new knowledge came as a revelation to me. After a half dozen or so meetings, we came up with an astounding array of answers, as well as many unanswered questions, including an incomplete understanding of the fundamental process by which people progress in life. In essence, we could not agree on an underlying schema or model or first principles that could serve as the basis for a potential software program and expert system. Though we had come to understand the person and the nature of accomplishment from many perspectives, we had not yet found a unifying theory and approach. On the other hand, I personally benefited greatly from the discussions, since my associates knew a heck of a lot more that I did at the time. Perhaps the most important result was that I now understand 10 or 20 fundamental principles of life that could aid in developing a future version of Evolve!, or at least could be the basis for articles that could be developed on a personal growth web site in the future. Can you share with us any example of these principles? Yes. One core principle was "inner-outer correspondence." That is, life is not divided into an inner and outer, but there is one contiguous stream of existence. Therefore, life on the outside is a reflection of your inner condition. Then there was the phenomenon of "Life Response," which is a result of the application of the principle of Inner-Outer Correspondence. With Life Response, if you change some aspect of your being within -- such as overcoming a wanting attitude or a focusing your intention on something you want to accomplish -- then life on the outside suddenly responds in kind; e.g. with a new promotion, or money coming to you from out of nowhere, or the sudden fulfillment of your heart's desire. This subtle unfolding of good fortune obviously transcend our normal perceptions of what is possible; of how cause and effect interrelate; of the nature of space and time. As it would turn out, Life Response would become my obsession in the years to come. It culminated in my book, 'The Miraculous Phenomenon of Life Response.' which I completed at the end of 2008. It was truly a journey of a lifetime. Any other ideas that you can share with us that came out of the meetings with your friends? Yes, there were quite a few; every one profound in the extreme. One very key topic was "The Process of Personal Growth," which is the idea that there is a fundamental process by which people accomplish, create, and grow in life. If we learn that process, follow it closely and carefully in our lives, then we quickly attract great success and achievement -- often coming in sudden bursts of positive response from life. So what is that process? The process of personal growth and accomplishment is simple actually. You have a vision of what you want to achieve, you aspire deeply for it to occur, you gain the sanction of your will and emotions to make it happen, you organize the best strategies for taking action, and then carry them out through an intense, persevering effort, applying your highest skills and best attitudes along the way. When you do that, you will achieve your goals, and then some, as life will overwhelmingly respond from all quarters. The key is that by following this process, you create the greatest result in the shortest period of time with the least effort. By following the process of growth and accomplishment, you enable the greatest efficiency in life. This is by the way the same fundamental process of creation in the universe. I.e. the process by which a universe of forms came about from a Divine source. I.e. some Creator source conceived of a universe in order to extend its own divinity into a multiplicity of forms, then organized it through supernormal means, out of which emanated a subtle, unmoving energy that when it moved became the basis of material formations, and the vital and mental existence that emerged out of that. Thus, there is a very similar dynamic in both the human process of creation and accomplishment, and the cosmic form.
That sounds more like metaphysics than principles related to life. Well at some level, they overlap, and are one and the same. That is, the deepest principles of life relate back to original ideas of a Higher Reality. These principles of how life works, unfolds are expressions of, extensions of that Higher Reality. Actually all of these principles, these "life truths," -- inner-outer correspondence, life response, the process of creation, and all -- are interrelated. One rates to another. E.g. following the process causes life to respond which is due to inner-outer correspondence; and so forth. Also they are one in that behind all life principles is an essential oneness rooted in the Divine Reality that supports them. So you see, we were already knocking on the doors of the spiritual domain, which has to be at the root of any fundamental understanding of any type of growth and development -- personal, business, or social growth and development. So for me these were stunning ideas, rooted in the deepest mysteries and secrets of life. Though I had already had been involved in spiritual life, these principles provided a new depth; enabling me to experience the spiritual realm in a new, dynamic, practical way. So how did these principle you learned relate to Growth Online? Good question. Well, shortly after these extremely stimulating get-togethers ended, I took the principles and wrote them up as articles you now see at the site. Inner-Outer Correspondence, Life Response, and the Process of Creation and Accomplishment are themes we consistently return to at Growth Online, along with many others. Also, in trying to explain these subtle principles of life, I was also trying include practical examples of their application; mainly of people's real world experiences of the ideas. At first I began to think about how my own experiences related to these principles,. And so on a daily basis I observed my actions, feelings, and attitudes, and associated them with corresponding principles at the site. E.g. if I had a positive or negative experience of my own, I related it back to an attitude that caused the response. Now not only could I explain how life response is caused by shifts in attitude, and expand the life response article, but I then wrote an article on attitudes itself. I also observed others. As a result I began to compile a number of incidents and experiences that illustrated the principles to our readers. I then also queried my friends, colleagues, even people on our mailing list, and asked them to send me their own real world experiences. A number of individuals were very cooperative; and their experiences proved to be absolutely wonderful! These proved to be the key practical examples illustrating the principles at the site. And it's been these real world illustrations that have turned out to be the great strength of the site. people could relate to the stories, and then they could more easily understand the principles behind. A number of people have commented about this practical, highly illustrative aspect of Growth Online. (pause) So the great challenges for me then was to clearly explain the concepts and principles, gather and describe real world stories that demonstrated them, and try to convince people that the miraculous results described in these experiences was credible and a fact of life. After all I was expressing ideas so extraordinary, so startling new, that I had to express them in a way that would not only be mentally interesting, but practically useful and believable. The startling stories gleaned from others, and my own startling, self-revealing experiences is what I think did the trick. Now people had a reference point, and could examine their own lies and see the same startling results. For many that is precisely what happened. Sounds very fulfilling -- for you and your readers. yes, it really was, and has been so till this very day. (pause) You can say that all of our "lab work" of experiences in the field proved our hypotheses. Then at the conclusion of these articles I invited the reader to practice them in the field, in the domains of their own lives as well. Many have had wonderful experiences. Perhaps just as important as the experiences, even an understanding of certain principles is that many people now have a very different orientation towards life. They see things in a new way, from a new inner perspective. They are looking out into the world with fresh eyes. This is very gratifying, and a fulfillment of the purpose of Growth Online. In any case, that that is how we got started! Sounds wonderful! (pause) But then how were you able to balance things between giving subtle advice, and not turning them off with overabundant claims of the miraculous, which was in fact the case? Yes, from the outset I had to grapple with that very issue. We didn't want to seem like in too obvious a way that we were offering something miraculous to our more "rational" readers; i.e. those who did not know about life response and other subtle movements of life, even though at the heart of these principles is something astounding; that defy normal views of logic, of what is possible, and space and time. We didn't want to turn off those sorts of individuals who simply wanted tips on how to live a more successful and happy life. So we danced between these two extremes at first; those seeking practical advice on success and happiness on the one side, and those seeking the deepest, spiritual-like insights, which invariably bring about "instantaneous miraculousness" when implemented. So how did you handle it? I just gave in! Though I wanted to present ideas related to accomplishment, success, and happiness in a more traditional way, I saw that it was not going to work. And it just wasn't me, in terms of what I and other now knew. Instead we took the approach that these astonishing ideas that enable life response was a fact of life. They could be explained both rationally and logically, even though they confound our normal views of what is possible. After all, over the years many of my friends, associates, and contacts and I have had such experiences, and we understood why. As we continued to explore the underlying causes of phenomena like life response, and then started accumulating this wealth of real world experiences from our associates and friends, the evidence became too compelling to avoid presenting it at the site. So such phenomena as inner-outer correspondence, life response, the process of creation, the spiritual Force, and others began to have an even greater presence at the site, and we were no longer bashful about emphasizing the miraculous results. And this even extended down into the more traditional areas of personal growth. Even within common personal growth topics, such as the importance of improving one's attitudes, or the importance of personal organization, or the importance of direction and determination to succeed in life, we constantly referred to these outcomes of sudden good fortune when individuals raised their consciousness at any of these levels. That's what the result indicated; so why not tell it like it was even in these more commonly addressed topic areas. And so now I was determined to bring this evidence to the general public, not just the spiritually aware people and corresponding sections of the site, and yet explain these subtle, yet startling results logically and rationally, building up the arguments and the life response results that followed in each one. The goal was to inspire any person who came to the site to change certain limiting aspects of their lives or learn about powerful positive movements of life, so they could attract similar astonishing-like results. So if you changed from weakness to psychological strength, you would not only make an improvement in yourself, but you would evoke sudden good fortune as a result, and eventually your could permanently transform your nature at that level. This was the approach I took for such topics as for personal organization, psychological strength, right attitudes, higher skills and knowledge, one's direction and intention, how to handle money, and on and on. We developed about two dozen core articles, with eminently practical titles that also revealed the secrets of evoking the miraculous. So now you have several dozen articles at Growth Online. But the site these days seems much more than that. How did things develop from there? Well, as we developed new articles, we had to revamp the site in terms of its organization and structure. The first thing we did was to develop a number of the topics for the personal growth section of the site. The topics on Inner-Outer Correspondence and Life Response (You Can Make Life Respond) joined essays including The Power of Attitudes, The Power of Organization, The Hidden Patterns of Life, The Great Secret: The Force and many others. More recently, we added a new one that I really like, called The Power of Living in the Depths, which explores how to move to and live our daily lives from our deeper consciousness within so that we can be more mindful and function much more effectively in our daily lives. It is in this essay, along with the one on the Force, where we are opening up the portals of the spiritual domain to our readers. (pause) However, at the beginning, when we first formed Growth Online, and perhaps even today, the topic on attitudes (The Power of Attitudes) is perhaps the central, universal, and most critical and useful one at the site, in that it is a very powerful entry way for self-discovery and self-awareness for so many. Anyone can relate to the proposition that there is a relationship between our attitudes and our ability to succeed in life. We also discovered along the way that it is also a prime method of evoking sudden good fortune. Shift your attitude out of the negative, and positive circumstances will quickly move in your direction. It was for us an extremely powerful and profound insight about life. That IS a startling insight! Yes, it is rooted in the idea that the outer world and the inner me are integrally related. In fact, they are one and the same thing. They are simply one continuous stream of existence. Therefore if I change the inner me, such as through a shift out of a negative attitude, thought, or feeling, the outer instantly responds in kind. This is the principle of "inner-outer correspondence" that enables this phenomenon of "life response," that is, sudden good fortune ,to occur. (pause) So these and other subtle perception of life begins to move us out of the normal domain of inquiry to the edge of the magical and mystical. Actually, it brought us to universal truths about life, not normally perceived by humanity, yet are as much fact as the five fingers on my hand. It sounds like you were getting to something very interesting for your readers. Yes, I think that what made our sight unique was the fact that we not only uncovered the fundamentals of personal growth -- such as the power of intention, the need for higher attitudes, the need for psychological strength, the power of organization, the utility of personal values, and so forth -- but we had begun to uncover the hidden patterns of life, such as the life response phenomenon, including its cause, inner-outer correspondence. In fact, we saw that when anyone took to any of these practical, key factors for accomplishment, one evoked a sudden powerful positive response in the process. In fact, we were able to document dozens of examples where people exercised one of these practical methods, evoking sudden instances of luck from out of nowhere. So now we had linked the two words; the practical and the subtle and cosmic! (pause) Naturally this line of inquiry opened up greater questions and vistas about life, such as why and how this universe came to be; what role and purpose do we serve in creation, what is our ultimate potential and possibility, and on and on. Beyond that we also were compelled to explore the deepest metaphysical issues, such as how to the universe emerge from a divine source, what is the nature of spirit and how do we come in contact with it, and many others apparent elliptical topics. Fortunately, these were issues that we had been studying for over twenty five years through our association with the teachings of the seer and sage Sri Aurobindo and his partner, known as the Mother. As a result of this combination of practical methods of accomplishment; insights into the subtle laws of life; and answers to the great metaphysical questions, I felt that we could now present a new world view that the Internet community was ready for. It was the right time to act, to put up the site; and put it all on the line; from the practical to the mysteries of life response and other subtle principles of life to the metaphysical and spiritual. Uncovering and propagating this knowledge must have also had some effect on you personally, did it not? Yes, of course. After all one of the key focuses of my life is to grow as a person, so that I can become happier and more successful and more connected to the deepest aspect of life, to the spirit, the Divine. As I put together these ideas on the web, I reflected on the occurrences and circumstances in my own life as they reflected these principles and ideas. As I collected stories from others over time, demonstrating and supporting the concepts, they became clearer and clearer to me. As we say at the sight, they have moved from a mental conception of an idea to a lived life perception, and even to a fully absorbed sensation in the very fibred of our being of that particular idea. As a result, now I recognize these phenomena much more often when they occur. Something in me recognizes it instantly. Therefore, I constantly perceive my weaknesses, my limitations; which means I am more conscious of of what is wanting inside, which makes it that much easier to change. I am also much more conscious of the relationship between my inner self and the world outside me. That is what is occurring beyond myself is a reflection of my inner self. Both positively and negatively. I see more clearly this vital connection. It is actually enjoyable and very absorbing to see this relationship; to see this inner-outer correspondence constantly taking shape! And each time I shift more to the positive within, life responds accordingly with sudden good fortune. As a result, little miracles are constantly taking place, which energizes one to no end. It is also happening for each of us if we only take the time and make the effort to perceive it. It is a Wonder of life. (pause) The one central question for me is how much am I really dedicated to attracting these results. Am I really making the daily effort to be evoke such good fortune from within. Which in turn begs the question of whether I am really sincere about raising my consciousness; serious about wanting to grow an devolve as a person. After all, one can learn the secrets of life that bring about infinitely greater happiness, success, accomplishment, and fulfillment; and yet it is up to us to sincerely apply it, making it an integral part of one's daily life. I appreciate your sharing this with us. It is quite moving. (pause) So what else can you add about Growth Online's history? [ep] Well, first of all we expanded on the scope of what growth and development could be for Growth Online. We went from personal growth and development to business growth and development, and then to social growth and development. Mira International, a management consulting firm in in Napa, California has done remarkable work in the area of business growth and development. They have taken the deep insights developed at Mother's Service Society and have incorporated them into their work for their clients. Out of that work has come a number of books from Mira, including The Vital Difference and The Vital Corporation: How American Businesses Big and Small Double Profits in Two Years or Less. I believe Mira has discovered the root causes of business growth and profitability, and has revealed the key triggers of corporate success. Specifically, they have revealed in these books what a business is fundamentally made up of; what is the real "soul" of the business; and how one can use this soul power, which is the company's vision of that which it want to become and the business values it subscribes to, to enable it to rocket to the top of its field. As you can see there is a nice parallel between the business and the individual. We began to see a parallel between the growth processes and ultimate possibilities for the business and that of the individual. Which is what? Which is, the deeper one goes, or the closer one gets to the source of being, the more power the individual or company has; which releases a stupendous energy to create and accomplish and be joyful in the world. For an individual its a connection to one's higher consciousness that is reflected as accomplishment, success, and delight of being. For a business it is the connection to its deepest purpose and highest values that energizes it, which expresses as vastly accelerated levels of growth, profitability, market share, social admiration, and so forth. So we decided to incorporate a number of the business growth insights described in Mira's books in the business growth part of the Growth Online site. Topics such as the power of business organization, the power of business values, the importance of customer satisfaction and delight, and of being in tune with developments in society, were all developed and put up at the site. (pause) One topic that was particularly interesting to me is the one where we suggest that if the company wants to really succeed, then the owners themselves need to grow and evolve as individuals. There have been so many instances where my colleagues have gone into a company only to find out that the problems were not due to lack of organization, or limiting products, or their non-responsiveness to the marketplace, or lack of capital; but due to the limitations of the leaders of the company, who needed to overcome their limiting perspectives, judgments, attitudes, and opinions. Once they made an effort to change themselves, everything would start moving in the right direction for the company. So with this insight we see how business growth ties into personal growth of the individual. Then there is Growth Online's social growth and development area. If you go to the Mother's Service Society site, you will see that they have been doing truly pioneering work in the area of social development. Once again utilizing Sri Aurobindo's insights into the nature of development, of the processes that enable social entities and society to grow and thrive, they have been able to look afresh at the fields of economic and social development, and come up with profoundly new and creative insights into why societies progress and develop. Like their insights into personal and business growth, their insight into social progress is truly revolutionary. This is perhaps their greatest achievement. So it was only natural to incorporate these fundamental ideas about social development into our site. Based on MSS's many papers and presentations to important world bodies around the world, we have developed some interesting articles on the history of humanity and human development. There we discuss how society has come to be what it is today, and where it is headed in the future. For example, in one of the articles we describe the various stages of human development down through history -- including a physical stage of survival, a vital age of expansive interaction and world travel, and the currently emerging mental age of man, marked by freedom, democracy, and individual self-fulfillment. We even point to a future spiritual age, which I believe is what will begin to emerge in the 21st century, once the mental stage has more fully developed. Again we utilize Sri Aurobindo's profound insights into human evolution, as well as his insights into social development as a reflection of a spiritual evolution of society. We also utilize his insights into the processes of development, to uncover the secrets to the processes by which society evolves to higher and higher states of consciousness over time. Members of MSS, through their affiliated organization, The International Center for Peace and Development (ICPD), have presented a number of these ideas and principles on economic and social growth and development to important gatherings and forums around the world. Their work has been sponsored by everyone from the United Nations to the highest government officials in India, Mexico, and elsewhere. I believe their breakthrough work and practical insights are worthy of a Nobel prize. But why would your viewers be interested in this type of information? A very good question! I think that most educated people are interested in fresh new insights into where the world is headed, where society is heading. I think they are intrigued by commentaries on such topics as what is the purpose of the Internet in social evolution; or what is the real meaning of money in the world; or what are the current conflicts indicative of in human evolution, and what are the possibilities for solution based on the processes and events that are unfolding in the world. MSS and ICPD have given us a wonderful understanding of how undercurrents of social forces and powers, that we are mostly unaware of, have created the present conditions and situations in the world. They have revealed the hidden processes that are at work, and have illuminated for us the keys that can enable us to accelerate social development in the future; so the scourges of poverty, disease, and war disappear; so all parts of society can prosper greatly; so families can be happy; so life is a wonderful, joyous experience; so people continually reach their full potential. So we've incorporated a number of these insights as well. So our interest has been to bring to the public the deepest insights of personal, business, and social growth and development. To see the processes at work; to see the hidden currents, forces, and powers at work; to learn how to utilize these aspects in our lives to release the infinite potential of life that is there just below the surface of things; just beyond our normal perceptions and levels of awareness in life. You've got lots of ideas at the site, but is there something a little more emotionally stimulating to make us pay a visit? You bet! We've really tried to make the site more diverse; where you can interact with the site in different ways; some ways more educational and intellectual, some ways more stimulating and fun. I remember taking a walk with a friend of mine who is a principal at Mira International, who suggested that if we were ever to develop a personal growth program or site, we should make it stimulating and entertaining; even humorous and funny! people want to be entertained when they learn. So we've taken that approach at some parts of the site. The best example of this is the online adventure called Evolution 2000: The Journey of Life. Using a little bit of very simple Flash animation and interactivity technology, we guide the user on a journey around the world, on a kind of spiritual mystery tour. Although, on the one hand, the purpose of the adventure is to make people aware of some of the unique concepts of the site, such as the Life Response phenomenon, we also created it purely as a vehicle for an entertainment adventure. I think the story is fun, playful, mysterious, and dramatic. It's kind of a science fiction story that along the way confronts the mysteries of life. You travel around the world trying to fathom one or two great mysteries that you are presented with, and then you are subtly pointed to the fact that a fuller understanding of these mysteries can be found at Growth Online. That was the point of the adventure; to create real characters and mysterious situations that bring out one or two of our key principles, that the user would discover, and then, if he wished, he could learn about the concept in greater depth. For instance the phenomenon of instant "Life Response" was clearly one we had in mind from the start. Also, we've made the story international, incorporating characters from different cultures. It's important that the site appeal to people of different backgrounds and perspectives. After all we say that Growth Online is a service to the world community. By the way, if you don't want to go through the whole story in Flash format on-line, you can simply download a 20-page storyline in Microsoft Word format. II think people will really enjoy reading it. We've had a real nice response form our readers. Any new features you've added to the site lately? Yes, very many. Perhaps too many! Could you describe a few? Well, first we added a search engine so you can find information at the site. There is so much at Growth Online, it could literally take months, if not years to study everything there! One friend of mine described the site as "an entire universe"! So the search engine narrows the topics down to what the user is interested in. It's a very handy tool to find what you want across hundreds if not thousands of pages of content. Speaking of which. In terms of content we have recently added a number of very important new features, including the Interviews Series, the A New Way of Living Series, and the Growth Online Knowledge Base Well the Interview Series you already know about, because this interview is one in a series of interviews on what we hope are topics that are fascinating to the readers. A few of the interviews are very long, such as the recent interviews I did called Who Am I?, and another called The Future Evolutionary Individual and Collective Life on Earth. But it's in these discussions that we really let it out in terms of the intellectual underpinning of the site; of what we really want to ultimately communicate at the site at the site; particularity as it relates to how we can grow and evolve as individuals to a higher status of consciousness and awareness in life. I would invite readers, who have a little patience and intellectual curiosity to go through a few of the interviews they might find interesting. For example, in the Who Am I? interview we explore, from a number of interesting perspectives, just who we really are as human beings. It was an exhausting but challenging and rewarding endeavor to bring this information to our readers, but I think it was well worth the effort. It really touches close to the fundamental insights and spiritual 'first principles' that are at the root of Growth Online. Then there's the article on the future evolutionary individual and society, which does the same, and more so. Actually in developing this interview we really wondered if people were ready for this, because the information revealed there takes us into a totally new perspective of life, with insights into a potential future existence for the individual and life on earth. Some might even call this 'futuristic spirituality.' I believe it's a vision of the future evolutionary possibility and potential for the human race based on the vision of the Indian seer and sage Sri Aurobindo. I invite those individuals who are interested in the distant future of humanity, and in particular of a spiritualized humanity, to take the time and read the interview. The second area we have developed -- one that I am perhaps most proud of and involved in (circa 2007) is the A New Way of Living series. Here I have developed ~125 short essays on personal, spiritual, business, and society's growth and evolution. Again, influenced by the Indian sage and seer Sri Aurobindo, I have attempted to present some startlingly fresh, new insights into the human condition, and the future evolution of life on earth. Whereas the Interviews series are spontaneous expression of thought on issues -- particular of spiritual evolution -- A New Way of Living addresses the day to day methods of personal growth, evolution and transformation for the individual and society. Finally, the most recent approach to content that we are offering at Growth Online is the Online Knowledge Base. Behind this ever expanding knowledge base is a big database of information which includes hundreds of mini-statements that we are continually writing down about all aspects of life, plus references and links to all of our articles, inspirations, and interviews. This enables the user to find highly relevant content based on a search that is done. It's a little bit like Hermann Hesse's Magister Ludi (The Glass Bead Game) where the character is trying to gather all the knowledge of the world into one place. The Online Knowledge Base is all of the knowledge of Growth Online in one place. It enables the viewer to type in a keyword from among hundreds we have indexed, and find directly related information on that keyword throughout the site. So you can type in the word World Unity and find dozens of mini-statements on the topic, as well references and links to articles or portions of articles, inspirations, and interviews on World Unity that we have developed at Growth Online. This is a very exciting undertaking for us. It is also very very ambitious! It is probably the "frontier" of the site; where we are aspiring to provide the knowledge of life to be accessed as easily as withdrawing money from an ATM! We hope this knowledge is worth more than gold! That is ambitious! I hasten to ask; anything else? Aside from the content of the site, we have started a number of other initiatives. First of all we now call our site Growth Online: Answers to the Major Questions of Life. That's a pretty ambitious statement, so we have to back it up! In that light we have created a special page where the key questions of life are asked, and then are answered through links to related pages where the answers essentially reside. Also, we have developed a Personal Assessment and Business Assessment area, where the viewer can assess themselves or their businesses via a built in Microsoft Excel component. Once they get a tally of their scores, they see where they are doing poorly, where they need to improve themselves or their businesses, after which they can go to specific corresponding pages which tells them how to improve themselves in that area. It's a wonderful part of the site. I invite anyone to take the little assessment of themselves or their business and see very quickly what part of their lives or their businesses can be improved. Then, right there, get the custom information you need to improve yourself in that wanting area. What could be simpler? So you can see we are going down many different paths and trying out many different approaches. We will see which ones are the best; which ones people respond to. That's the real litmus test for us; our reader's response. It sounds very ambitious! Yes, it is. Maybe we're in it over our heads! I don't know! I really do feel that everything that has emerged has been part of an organic process; an unfolding that seemed to take a natural course, based on something a reader suggested, or an event in the life of Growth Online, or some sudden inspiration, or simply as result of our aspiration to get the profound information at the site in the hands of the reader in the best possible way. Since we have yet to find the best single way, we have tried a number of different approaches! I must say that for me personally results are the real litmus test of our success. Results in the form of more and more people coming to the site; results as people really learning from the site and seriously using it in their daily lives; and results when our viewers become more successful, more energized, more joyful, more conscious as a result of implementing the ideas in their lives. In the end our service is to provide the insights that lead to the higher consciousness of our viewers. But how will Growth Online itself benefit? How we ourselves at Growth Online will benefit is hard to say; other than having the satisfaction of the joy of having others benefit from this knowledge. If more and more people come and benefit, that will give us ever-increasing pleasure. We're hoping at some point that something breaks out in some way; that moves Growth Online to a whole new level of success; to a whole new level of visible results. At that point we will be truly practicing what we preach; "walking the talk" as they say. So is there something ultimately that you want to tell the audience about your intentions for Growth Online? Yes, it is this: Why spend a lifetime going through the labyrinth of life, with all of its difficulties, wrong turns, confusion, conflicts, only to end up but a little bit ahead of where you are now -- if you are lucky! Why not learn and understand the processes by which we grow and evolve now. Doing so will make you much more conscious of what you are and who you are. That gives you a great starting point for the rest of your journey in life. Then with this roadmap of life in your hands, you can easily take your life to any level of accomplishment, success, or joy that you wish to, because you have come to understand the forces and methods that release the infinite, where there was only a finite before. Instead of spending a life wandering through a desert of ignorance, or unconsciously meandering, haphazard through life's labyrinth of ups and downs, and the extremes of pleasures and pains, one can have access to a roadmap of truth and knowledge that gives you the direct path to accelerated achievement and success, deep inner peace and spiritual connection, and rapturous joy and delight of being. What would otherwise take a lifetime to attain, can be found very quickly by following this roadmap of knowledge and wisdom. Finally, I believe that the greatest benefit of Growth Online is that we offer those who seek it a roadmap of the inner life. This is the path that leads to the greatest accomplishment, the greatest joy and delight; the thing that gives the deepest purpose and meaning to one's existence on earth. It is on this path, of the inner life and spirit, that we come face to face with the infinite possibilities of life. Thank you, Roy. Thank you! I hope this helps our readers understand why we started Growth Online. We hope these practical and sometimes startling ideas will lead to the deepest fulfillment, success, and joy for our visitors!
Related Articles: -A brief biography of Roy Posner
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