H+ (Plus) a New Religion Read online

  You should keep a specific H+ diary and list your daily achievements.

  Through the Internet you can connect up with a ‘boasting buddy’ and exchange details of your achievements.

  With or without the Internet you can join up with a group of others. You might meet occasionally, in real life or on the Internet, to exchange and compare your achievements.

  If this boasting comes to provide a motivation for your behaviour, there is nothing wrong with that at all. If the ultimate behaviour is helpful and contributing, the initial motivation is unimportant. In the end, all help is motivated by personal reasons.

  The important thing about pons and agendas is to show yourself that you are capable of the discipline of H+, capable of finding pons and capable of achievement.

  There is nothing better for self-esteem than achievement.

  Pons provide a daily source of small achievements. That benefits you directly.

  At the same time, each pon benefits others directly or indirectly.

  FAILURE, FINES AND ACHIEVEMENT

  YOU SET YOUR own agenda or ‘pontoon’. If you find that you cannot cope with a larger number of pons on your agenda, you can reduce the number to just two. That is a matter for your confidence in yourself.

  What happens if you fail to carry out the pons on your agenda? Does that matter?

  It does matter. It matters so much that your failure must somehow be turned also into an achievement.

  If you fail to carry out your self-assigned pons, there is a penalty. The penalty is a fine.

  Just as you choose the number of pons on your agenda, you also choose the fine for each unfulfilled pon.

  You could set a fine of 1p for each unfulfilled pon. If you have an agenda of four pons a day and never carried out any of them, that would cost you £14.60 over a year.

  In this way assessing and paying the fine also becomes a form of achievement.

  You choose the fine. If you are more confident, you could set a pound for each unfulfilled pon, or even £10. That is entirely up to you.

  You may wish to accumulate the fines before sending them. The fines should be sent to H+ central headquarters (see here for address).

  The intention is that the fines will be used to finance the organisation of H+ and for educational purposes. This is not, however, a guarantee. The fines may be used for purely frivolous or personal purposes. This is important, because if you felt that paying the fine was simply contributing to a worthy cause, then the fine means very little.

  There has to be some disappointment and pain in paying the fine.

  Paying the fine is the ultimate opportunity for achievement and discipline. If you have not been able to carry out your self-directed pons, how do you get a sense of achievement? You get this sense of achievement by formally paying your fine. If the fines were only to go to charitable purposes, then the motivation to carry out the pons would be much weakened in favour of making a charitable donation (which is very much easier). The fine is much more powerful if you resent paying it because there is no guarantee that it will be used only for charitable purposes. This aspect is a key part of the value of the fine.

  Ideally, you should never have to pay any fine. You set your own agenda or pontoon and then carry out the pons. That is your sense of achievement. That is the basis of your belief in yourself as having the discipline to do what you want to do. At any time that you feel the H+ framework and discipline are not providing you with something useful, you can simply drop out.

  PROJECTS

  THE INDIVIDUAL ACTS of help and kindness called pons are central to H+. You are what you are because of the way you act. Being saint-like and selfish or detached is not what H+ is about.

  Projects are not central to H+ but are entirely optional. Through local contacts, or through the Internet, you might set up a project team. You decide on a task and then use your thinking to plan how to carry out that task. In general, tasks should be helpful to others and contribute to the world around you.

  One possible framework for such tasks is the ‘YEAH team’. This is a project framework that was set up for young people:

  Young

  Energy

  Action

  Help

  A booklet available from the Edward de Bono Foundation in Dublin (see here) lays out the steps and the framework.

  Any other framework would do as well.

  Pons are lonely acts, and there are times when people want to bond and to work with others. Projects are a way of doing this.

  Projects, actions and successes can be written up on the Internet and so shared with others.

  Projects provide an opportunity for thinking, planning, motivation, action, social interaction – and a sense of achievement.

  To repeat: projects are not essential to H+ in the way that pons are essential. Projects are never a substitute for individual pons. A project, no matter how worthwhile or involving, never removes the need for daily pons.

  RITUALS

  MANY RELIGIONS ARE festooned with rituals. At first sight these seem silly and superfluous. Taken each on its own, rituals may seem pointless.

  Yet rituals seem to be very important. Some of the older religions have strong rituals that may contribute to their strength.

  The value of a ritual is that it involves self-discipline and belonging. The ritual is pointless in itself so the doing of it is purely a matter of discipline and the willingness to do it. It is an active affirmation of your belonging. The ritual is a visible signal to yourself and to others that you belong, in some way, to a group. Each time you carry out the ritual you are saying to yourself, ‘I belong’.

  A ritual is a mechanical way of affirming that you belong. Even if your spirit is not inspired or even enthusiastic, the ritual carries you along. Furthermore, ignoring or rejecting a ritual is a definite act of defiance that most people are not prepared to make.

  There is another value to rituals. This is the discipline of carrying them out even when you do not want to and even when you think they are pointless.

  It is for these reasons that H+ has one ritual.

  In the morning, before doing anything else, you take a sheet of paper. On this sheet you draw 100 circles. These circles may be of any size or regularity. They may be the same or different in size. The circles may be arranged in neat rows or scattered randomly. That is your choice. You may vary your arrangement from day to day. Put a date on the sheet.

  This is a boring, pointless ritual. That is exactly the value of the ritual. The discipline of doing it when you see no point in doing it gives it its value. That is the same value that translates into carrying out pons.

  You can carry out this ritual every day. To make it more difficult, you are only required to do it for four days a week. You now have to choose when you do it and to remember when you have done it.

  This ritual is specifically designed to be pointless, but disciplined.

  SIGNALS

  THERE MAY BE times when you want to signal to someone else that you follow the H+ concept.

  You may want to identify other people like you in order to exchange experiences or simply to talk to someone with whom you have something in common.

  There is a discreet hand signal which could be helpful.

  With your right index finger you touch the right side of your nose. If the other person responds by doing the same, then you take the same right index finger and touch the outer corner of your right eye.

  If you are on the receiving end and you see someone touching the side of his or her nose, you need to check whether this is intentional or just chance. So you touch the side of your nose as well. Then, after a pause, you touch the outer corner of your right eye. If the other person follows, there is a good chance he or she knows about H+.

  You may choose to use such signals as you wish or not at all.

  ORGANISATION

  Energisers

  ENERGISERS ARE INDIVIDUALS who put energy into the H+ framework and who provide care a
nd organisation for those who use the framework. Anyone can choose to be an energiser.

  An energiser recruits people to take up H+. An energiser, if he or she wishes, sets up a team of H+ users. The energiser acts as a communication source.

  Because H+ can be added to any existing religious acceptance, people already involved in different religions can add H+ to their activities and become active H+ energisers in addition to whatever else they are doing. H+ provides a framework for behaviour that is positive and contributing. This should have a value in many areas.

  The energiser collects the fines of the people in his or her team. Sixty per cent of the fine is retained by the energiser and 40 per cent is sent to central headquarters (see here).

  An energiser may set up sub-energisers to amplify his or her efforts. In such cases the energiser allocates part of the energiser’s share of the fine to such sub-energisers as he or she wishes.

  The energiser can organise meetings or groups or projects but is not permitted to add anything to the basic H+ message without specific permission from headquarters.

  Fines

  If a low fine is being paid it makes sense to allow this to accumulate into a larger sum. Fines are paid either to central headquarters or to the local energiser who has recruited you. No one is obliged to deal with the local energiser unless he or she wants to. If the local energiser has recruited you, it makes sense to work through him or her. There is, however, no ‘area franchise’. Different energisers may be working in the same area.

  Where an energiser passes on the allocated part of the fine to headquarters, the name of the person paying that fine must be given – not just a sum of money.

  COMMUNICATION

  THIS WILL BE mainly, but not exclusively, via the Internet:

  www.edwdebono.com

  In addition, there may, from time to time, be mail or other means of communication.

  Although the Internet is frequently mentioned in this book, it is by no means necessary. You can operate within the H+ framework and make no use of the Internet at all. You may have no knowledge of the Internet or no ability to use it, but you can still make full use of the H+ system. You may obtain information directly from the net or through your local energiser, if you have one.

  REGISTRATION

  EVERY MEMBER OF H+ should be registered centrally unless there are particular reasons for not wishing to be registered (see opposite for contact address).

  In time, members of H+ may be invited to join special circles or groups depending on their energy, effectiveness and interests. Such circles will be announced from time to time.

  HEADQUARTERS

  THERE ARE TWO headquarters:

  Central headquarters

  This is the heart of the H+ framework. Policy, procedures and changes all come from central headquarters. All fines are paid to central headquarters, either directly or through the local energiser.

  Dr Edward de Bono

  P.O. Box 5075

  London

  W1A 0WW

  United Kingdom

  Operational headquarters

  This is the ‘management’ of the H+ system. This headquarters deals with administrative matters, enquiries, organisational details and so on.

  From time to time operational headquarters may pass matters on to central headquarters, but enquiries should first be sent to operational headquarters via the Internet: www.edwdebono.com

  or the address shown here.

  Information, books and products can all be obtained from operational headquarters.

  It should be understood that, depending on the volume of mail and enquiries, it may not be possible to respond to all communications in a direct way.

  SUMMARY

  H+ STANDS FOR:

  Human+

  Happiness+

  Humour+

  Help+

  Hope+

  Health+

  This book – or framer – sets out the basic principles of the H+ religion (way of life). You may follow the system rigorously, partly, sporadically or weakly. The decisions are left to you at all points.

  The elements of H+ are fully compatible with any belief system, religion or social structure.

  The emphasis is on the positive rather than the negative.

  The emphasis is on action and contribution rather than personal purification.

  The emphasis is on small constructive and contributing actions rather than other forms of worship.

  The emphasis is on building self-esteem through repeated achievement. The achievements are small but the cumulative effect can be large.

  The emphasis is on helping others in order to help oneself.

  At all times the emphasis is on the ‘plus’ or positive side of humanity. Goodness is not just the absence of badness but an active contribution.

  H+ requires no more from you than a belief in the potential of yourself and the potential of your fellow human beings. This is a belief that you can contribute to the world around you in the way you act. The framework of H+ sets out a way in which you can get a sense of achievement through positive action. This is the basis for self-esteem.

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

  Version 1.0

  Epub ISBN 9781407030067

  www.randomhouse.co.uk

  5 7 9 10 8 6

  Copyright © 2006 Edward de Bono

  Edward de Bono has asserted his moral right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2006 by Vermilion,

  an imprint of Ebury Publishing

  Random House UK Limited

  Random House

  20 Vauxhall Bridge Road

  London SW1V 2SA

  A CIP catalogue record is available for this book from the British Library.

  ISBN 9780091910471

 

 

  Edward De Bono, H+ (Plus) a New Religion

 

 

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