A baby boomer growing up in the 1960s, author Denis Letendre lived life to the fullest, truly embodying the slogan of the times: "Sex, drugs, and rock and roll." For five years after graduating from high school, Letendre experimented with drugs, alcohol, and sex. In The Power of Freedom, he explores those experiences and the lessons learned in the context of energy, power, and freedom. Through this five-year social experiment, Letendre discovered an enormous source of energy and realized a way to institute great change in the United States. The Power of Freedom examines the following topics in detail: � Logical and illogical behavior � Reality and self-created alternate realities � Change from within � Freedom � The source and effects of the energy � Historical changes � An alternate future with solutions for the human condition The Power of Freedom communicates how both today's world and the future are faced with unprecedented challenges. It shows how change from within and the rejection of harmful behaviors will have a lasting and positive effect.

Auszug. � Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

The Power of Freedom

By Denis Letendre

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright � 2010 Denis Letendre
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-7658-0

PREFACE.............................................................viiINTRODUCTION........................................................ixChapter 1 The Five-Year Experiment.................................1Chapter 2 Exploring the Illogical..................................10Chapter 3 So What's Logical?.......................................26Chapter 4 Illusions of the Mind....................................31Chapter 5 Change from Within.......................................48Chapter 6 The Meaning of Freedom...................................61Chapter 7 Show Me the Power!.......................................65Chapter 8 History and Change.......................................77Chapter 9 A New Perspective........................................90Chapter 10 Entering a New Age of Enlightenment.....................96

Chapter One

The Five-Year Experiment

To document the series of events that led to my interpretation of freedom, I need to share with you a significant time in my life. Let's go back forty years to when I was seventeen and preparing for graduation. During high school, I was extremely straight. I was into bodybuilding and wrestling and didn't take drugs or drink alcohol. I had no intention of going to college, because I felt that no career was worth my full investment. My one burning desire was freedom—the freedom to express myself. I was attracted to the rebellious attitude of the Beatles' look and music. While every generation rebels to some degree, my interest in the Beatles was more of a fashion statement than a rebellion. My parents strongly disapproved and made my life miserable.

The Experiment Begins

Graduation time was exciting, because my goal was to get out of school. After graduation came party time and my introduction to alcohol. Drinking was an experiment. I discovered that alcohol made me feel good, but it also made me feel sick. In either case, it was fun. I worked for my dad and had other jobs as well. I was responsible at work but enjoyed partying afterward. I was trying to develop my self-image by imitating the looks and actions of cool people like the Beatles.

It is amazing how alcohol mixed with my attitude to change my self-image and personality. Having fun and feeling good was the background to my belief that my actions and lifestyle represented who I was. I was already fabricating an illusion of myself, and I was buying into it 100 percent. I was making myself into something I was not and believing it. It is amazing how humans can rationalize their behavior because of feelings.

I do not want to portray some kind of "right or wrong" or "good or evil" scenario, but I had certainly discovered an example of an activity that affects the thinking mind. Alcohol loosens inhibitions. Under the influence of alcohol, the human mind is less aware of the natural tension between opposing forces like yin and yang. That lessening tension is the direct result of the mind not thinking. When we don't think, we base decisions on emotions.

The cycle repeated itself every time I tried to relieve the tension through alcohol. Relieving the tension was fun! Feeling good was an easier way to live than thinking logically, but I was deceiving myself. I was trying to make myself into the person I pictured in my mind, and drinking alcohol helped to create that new me. Of course, I had no idea that I was beginning the process of altering my perception of reality.

I viewed alcohol as a drug with a certain effect, and I looked for other drugs that might have a different effect, such as marijuana. Within three months of graduating from high school, I had my first experiences with marijuana and LSD, along with the resulting emotional highs and lows. It was fun! Relationships with females were purely for fun, pleasure, and sex. It was easy when using drugs or alcohol. I could manipulate my feelings to whatever seemed cool.

Emotional Decisions Equal Emotional Results

This lifestyle lasted about five years. I tried different combinations of drugs and alcohol. Using these substances changed my perception of reality. For example, when I used the mind-altering drug LSD and got high during a church service, religion seemed absurd. It didn't make sense.

The whole hippie thing basically turned all accepted social morals upside down. Even while I was in the middle of this hippie culture, I was still observing what was happening all around me, though my perspective was tainted. I was immersed in having a good time, using whatever substance would enhance my lifestyle, but at the same time, I was studying the behavior of all kinds of people around me who were also using drugs. A female walking around half naked and high seemed a little odd, but I wasn't about to complain; I was part of the situation.

I thought a new culture was developing out of the new drugs and the feelings about the Vietnam War. Accepted norms of moral and social order were breaking down. I loved it! It seemed like something to believe in. At the same time, I wondered about the long-term effects on America and other free societies. Replacing a lot of traditions and socially accepted behavior with the liberty of free choice should justify itself and lead society to a better place, I reasoned.

People who didn't embrace this new freedom were classified as being "straight." Such people didn't question anything; for the most part, they pursued careers and goals in traditional ways. In one sense, this created two classes of people: the freedom seekers, who ignored all restrictions, and the straight people who held tightly to conservative social norms. Though totally immersed in the freedom lifestyle, I could still see that both opinions had merit.

I was never so detached from reality that I didn't understand the need for money to finance this newly found free lifestyle. So naturally, I worked steadily for the most money I could make. Alcohol and drugs weren't cheap! But I was cool! I prided myself that I could hide from anyone what was really going on inside me. I could work and do sports; I could meet girls and straight people, and they wouldn't know about my other lifestyle. I was playing a game.

It is difficult to be objective with this type of attitude. Make no mistake about it: I was truly buying into my newly found lifestyle; more importantly, I was totally convinced that I was turning into the real me. I was doing my thing, which was who I was. No human could have convinced me otherwise!

Accepting any and all lifestyles was part of this new freedom generation. However the cards fell—if someone got addicted or changed sexual preference, for example—that was all cool. From this perspective, marriage was unnecessary. Who cared if two people wanted to live together? With free-spirited thinking running on its own gas, there is no end to the imaginative alternative lifestyles that can come into existence. At the time, I thought, So what? Whatever makes people happy! Even the great United States Constitution states that people have the freedom to pursue happiness.

Naturally, the differing interpretations of freedom by free-spirited people and straights led to major misunderstandings. So there I was, in the seventies, heading toward the foreseeable future, the twenty-first century. I was constantly working on myself, trying to find the coolest combination or single substance to truly be the real me. It...

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