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The following first appeared in the private email list IVy-subscribers,
which is available to all those who subscribe to the
printed magazine, International Viewpoints.
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Ah, the smell of new-mown alfalfa
11 Dec 1998
 by Phil Spickler

In a brief moment between the deliriums, I was carefully shearing the
words "Merry Christmas" into the beautiful coats of my black and white
guard  sheep, when the one that speaks perfect English and is also a
fully-trained   Class VIII auditor and has done the Grade Chart through OT
7 said to me, in its American-accented English (and I quote), "I say, old
chap, you slipped up a bit in your dissertation on acknowledgment in your
last posting to the   amazing and highly selective IVy-list.  Please
correct ASAP."

Well, folks, since my life depends on these guard sheep, I generally do
whatever is asked of me, so here goes.  The bottom of all bottom lines
concerning acknowledgment is, contrary to some popular beliefs, that in
order to qualify as a real honest-to-goodness acknowledgment, it must
indicate as such to that which receives it.  Why is this so?  Because of
the connection between acknowledgment and the Axiom concerning perfect
duplication and as-is-ness.  As you will recall, when a perfect duplicate
of anything is made, using   its own energy, in its original time and
space, etc., etc., vanishment occurs.   The whole purpose of acknowledgment
is to ensure that whoever or whatever is being acknowledged really does
feel duplicated; when that occurs, the mass of the communication can as-is
(at least to a large degree), and the originator will have no further
attention on the subject being communicated.  Now it's not that you have to
be able to create a *perfect* duplicate of the   communication in your
acknowledgment, but the closer you can come, the better;   and if your
attempt at acknowledgment doesn't make the recipient feel duplicated, it
just isn't working as an acknowledgment, no matter how YOU feel about it.
You just have to be willing to duplicate, whatever that may take -- and no,
it's not always easy!

So once and for all, the acknowledgment MUST indicate to the pc, the
person, the dog, your wife, your hidden influences, the person in the moon,
that which you call yourself -- yes, it must indicate, and it must bring in
good indicators, and it's your responsibility as the originator of the
acknowledgment to make sure that all that happens.  And when it does, you
will have created the condition called "acknowledgment."  'Nuff said.


If there are any further questions about this, please direct them to
Algernon, who is my chief sheep and has directed me to make this
communication.   Best wishes, and merry almost-Christmas,

Love,
Phil