Enlighten Me Free

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Question for Johnny

Hello Johnny,
Would you mind telling us about the event you attended in Belgium in 2006? Most of us are Americans and have not been to foreign events.

What was the venue like? How many people attended? Can you describe the nationalities? In general, how would you describe peoples' reactions? I'm interested in any of your observations/experiences.

Something that is of concern is that as JZ moves into foreign countries seeking new markets to exploit (just like multinationals - the very thing Ramtha criticizes in the rockumentary "Where Angels Fear to Tread") there is a disconnect from what has gone on in Yelm. What are your thoughts on how can we reach out to foreigners so that they can make informed choices?

Many thanks

Re: Question for Johnny

I understand your concern. Give me some time to gather my memories together and I will write out a sort of report which I hope will answer you questions sufficiently. Thanks.

Re: Question for Johnny

Ok. The event took place at Houffalize in Beligum. Nice setting. Quite and excluded. About 2 hours drive from Brussels airport as far I can remember. Met a few other foreigners at the bus stop. It was going to be the first retreat for the majority of them. You had people from Ireland, UK, Spain, and Portugal. When I got to the hotel, there were folks from all over the world including France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Jamaica, and even New Zealand. There was a good buzz around the place. Hotel was very nice and they had a nice big field for outdoor disciplines.

I reckon there must have been over 200 there. The conference room was jammed packed. It got worse when the advanced students came a few days later. Everyone was excited. They started the introduction on the first day around 4 o’clock in the evening I think - give everyone time to settle in and prepare themselves for an “exciting” week ahead.

They started off the gig with some good dance tunes. The place was like a rave party. The atmosphere was getting pumped with frequency. I suppose you would get the same sort of thing at self help/moticational seminars. Nothing wrong with it. You get that before any sort of show. Get the crowd “jazzed”

I sensed that most people were curious, open minded, ready to have new experiences, and I would say a lot of peoples’ expectations where high including myself. Everyone paid handsomely for the gig, so value for money was probably on a lot of peoples’ minds.

Greg Simmons opened the event with a general introduction. I must say he looked much older up front than those photos you see online. What struck me was the fact that this guy has been in school for so long now and his knowledge is so vast, I was thinking to myself, why hasn’t he pulled the handbrake on aging process a bit using C&E, focused mind control, etc. Anyhow, he gave a story or two which I’m sure you all have heard before. You know, the one about been in Africa and switching realities to prevent having to pay a big insurance bill. I heard that on BTO already, so I was hoping for a new tale to add more credence to the teachings, but I didn’t get any.

Anyhow, after the show, some went to bed, others went straight to the bar for a glass of red wine. I couldn’t wait for an auld drink I must admit. I’m not a big wine drinker, but I wasn’t long getting into it. I learned that every since red wine was recommended by “The Teacher”, everyone was taking the stuff – not just a wee glass mind you, I mean bottles. Not everyone of course, but some hardcore students couldn’t get enough of it. 

The food was pretty good. Probably much better than you’d get in Yelm. Very healthy sort of grub. It was the same sort of buffet everyday, but the choices were good. You can’t good really wrong with hotel food I suppose.

Throughout the week we did C&E every morning around 7am, sometimes a bit later. I found the C&E tough on the lungs and my throat always felt dry and sore afterwards.

Let me side track here for a few moments.

I have begun researching into hyperventilation recently because I came close to getting asthma due to poor air quality in London city where I use to work, but because of my desire to seek an alternative solution, I quickly came across a book called “asthma-free naturally” by Irish author Patrick McKeown and I was able to prevent asthma from taking a hold on my life. Patrick McKeown suffered from chronic asthma for years and he tried everything in the alternative health sphere such as acupuncture, deep breathing, yoga, etc. None of it worked. Then one day he read an article on an Irish newspaper about the Buteyko Breathing Method. It was based on the life’s work of Russian respiratory professor Konstantin Buteyko. To put it simply and quickly, asthma sufferers’ over-breath or hyperventilate, and this leads to the continuation of the problem. Furthermore, people who start over-breathing and don’t realise it are likely to develop respiratory problems including asthma. How you ask? Hyperventilation is a bad habit which lowers carbon dioxide levels in the lungs. Yes, carbon dioxide is critical to “radiant health”. When a person hyperventilates they breathe more air than the body needs. And the greater volume of air taken in, the same volume must be taken out. This will also mean a decrease of carbon dioxide levels held in the alveoli (air sacs). Quickly, normal healthy people have about 6.5% carbon dioxide levels held in the alveoli. Asthmas sufferers have about 3.5%. If you go below 3.5%, your dead. Now, I will create a new topic on this with more information because it would be interesting to find out from students of C&E if they started to develop respiratory problems over time from using the technique. If so, this might explain why the problems started to develop.

Now, back to the gig.

Throughout the week we did remote view (I got 2!), sending and receiving, field work (didn’t find my card), and the neighbourhood walk. Field work was interesting. Got banged around a bit, but it didn’t bother me. It actually made me quite humble because it showed that no matter how much I talked or procrastinated back home, I couldn’t focus for sh*t, and out here in the field talk is cheap. Quite a few people got there cards, and the young children were brilliant. The appointed teachers were demonstrating their stuff too I must say. I do hold to the idea that this stuff is using something far greater than just random processes in the brain.

The neighbourhood walk was less appealing. I know the key word is “always” in that discipline, but you see the brain thinks in pictures. Now Lester Levenson had a great insight on the thinking process. Because the brain-mind thinks in pictures, it doesn’t have a picture for the word “don’t” for example. So when you say, “I don’t want this job”, the brain just fires an image of yourself and an image of the job. And we all know that that sort of attitude and thinking is not going to help you find a new one. Instead one needs to say “I want this sort of job”, and brain just creates an image of you again, but this time the image of the job sought after. This eventually creates desire, and since Will follows desire, then the actions performed by the Will should lead to a new job. By the way, Will is a very important term to understand. The Impersonal Life gives a superb and simple definition of consciousness and Will. “[Consciousness is] an impersonal state of awareness, of waiting to serve or be directed or used by some power [Will] latent in and intimately related to itself”.

The brain-mind is a visual processing bio-computer, so language not only limits its power to compute, but it can’t create images of words that don’t have a visual representation. Language is linear and slow for the brain. An image is geometric and a fast format to work with. So, does the brain have an image for the word “always”? If it doesn’t, and I’ll let you contemplation that, then the neighbourhood walk is just a branded version of the old wisdom ‘think/know what you are/want, not what you are/want, and it will be yours - eventually’.

JZ did some presentations. She was pretty good. I’ll admit I found her charismatic, funny, full of life, even though I knew nothing about her. But to be honest, I wasn’t really interested in listening to the JZ and the appointed teachers (except Miceal Lidwith – he’s an excellent speaker). I was there to here wisdom from the horse’s mouth so to speak.

We only got to see “The Teacher” for about 3 hours on the last day of the event. Near the end, I’d say everyone was getting worried that “he” might not show up. When “he” did, everyone went crazy.

I can’t actually remember what was said. I took down notes, but I don’t have them on my right now. I do recall the talk been serious enough though.

The only thing I regret during that event was the fact that I didn’t contact my girlfriend once while she was in Belgium and Switzerland travelling around. I just closed the door on her. I look back now, and I think, fu*k, anything could have happened to her, and I wouldn’t have known, and she did have a frightening experience of been followed by a stranger. I kinda felt that I was more important at that time, and that this event was my crucial step on the spiritual ladder. Afterall. JZ/R said many times not to concern yourself with family and love ones on this journey. It nearly ended our relationship. Anyhow, a fool that continues in his own folly becomes wise.

I sensed that there was a feeling of spiritual superiority in some students, and I certainly wasn’t innocent. But when you read the likes of The Impersonal Life you become humble fast, and you see what can happen to those who continue with that attitude of spiritual superiority and selfishness. Let me share with you an excerpt from the book. The quoted below is from a chapter titled “Masters”.

I will finish up here.

****************************
You, who are still holding to the idea, taught in various teachings, that I will provide a "Master" or Divine Teacher for each aspirant towards union with Me, hear My Words.

It is true I have permitted you in the past to delve into all kinds of mystical and occult books and teachings, encouraging your secret desire to acquire the powers necessary to attain this union extolled in such teachings, even to the extent of quickening in you some slight consciousness of the possession of such powers.

I have even permitted the belief that by practicing certain exercises, breathing in a certain way, and saying certain mantrams, you might attract to you a "Master" from the unseen, who would become your teacher and help you to prepare for certain initiations that would admit you into an advanced Degree, in some secret Order in the inner planes of existence, where much of My Divine Wisdom would be opened up to you.

I have not only permitted these things, but, if you can see it, it was I who led you to these books, inspired in you such desire, and caused such belief to find lodgment in your mind; -- but not for the purpose you imagine.

Yes, I have brought you through all these teachings, desires and beliefs, trying to point out to your human mind the Forces I use to bring into expression My Divine Idea.

I have portrayed these Forces as heavenly Hierarchies, and that your human intellect might the better comprehend, I pictured them as Angels or Divine Beings, Impersonal agents or executors of My Will, engaged in the process of bringing into expression My Idea that was in the beginning.
But you did not understand.

Your human intellect, enamored of the possibility of meeting and communing with one of these beings, as claimed in some of the teachings, proceeded at once to personalize Them, and began to long for Their appearance in your life, imagining that They are interested in your human affairs, and that by living in accordance with certain rules set down in certain teachings, you could propitiate Them so They would help you to gain Nirvana or Immortality.

Now I have purposely permitted you to indulge yourself with such delusions, letting you long, and pray, and strive earnestly to obey all the instructions given; even leading you on, sometimes, by giving you glimpses, in self-induced visions and dreams, of ideal beings, which I permitted you to believe were such "Masters."

I may even have caused to open in you certain faculties, which make it possible for you to sense the presence of personalities that have passed into the spirit side of life, and who have been attracted by your desires and seek to fulfill the part of Master and Guide to you.

Now the time has come for you to know that such beings are not Masters, also that Divine Beings do not call themselves Masters; that I, and I alone, your own Real Self, AM the only Master for you now, and until you are able to know Me also in your brother; --
That any being, either in human or spirit form, that presents himself to your consciousness and claims to be a Master, or who permits you to call him Master, is nothing more nor less than a personality, the same as yours, and therefore is not Divine, as your human mind understands that term, despite the many wonderful "truths" he may utter, and the "marvelous" things he may do.

Just so long as your human mind seeks or worships the idea of a Master in any other being, no matter how lofty or sacred he may seem to you, just so long will you be fed with such ideas; until, verily, I may perhaps, permit you to meet and commune with such a "Master."

If that "privilege" is vouchsafed you, it will be only in order to hasten your awakening and your consequent disillusionment, when you will learn that "Master" is indeed but a personality, even though far more advanced in awakening than you, but still a personality - and not the Divine One your innermost Soul is yearning for you to know.
****************************

Re: Question for Johnny

insightful post, Johnny. and thank you for the excerpt from Impersonal Life, it is a truth beautifully stated.

Re: Question for Johnny

You're very welcome Agape. You can read the whole book online here.

http://pure-research.net/healing/bestill/

But I recommend getting a copy. You'll find a second-hand copy no problem at abebooks.com from $2.95.

Re: Question for Johnny

"We only got to see “The Teacher” for about 3 hours on the last day of the event. Near the end, I’d say everyone was getting worried that “he” might not show up. When “he” did, everyone went crazy.
"

Just FYI...this is not uncommon, as a tactic-approach. Get the students all worked up waiting, and then they are in a frenzy when the big guy/gal shows up.

Re: Question for Johnny

then following the event, "Ramtha" called for a wine ceremony with staff only.
The dominating theme being: telling ( I could use another very here: berating,scolding,carrying on and on) a female staff person she would die by next April if she did not dress and behave more like woman, get a man to bed with her and have a child.
All but one of the staff members were drinking.
Upon arriving back at the Ranch,the staff that went came back looking like they had been through a natural disaster.
Several took the next few days off to rest.

Re: Question for Johnny

Agreed, whatcha - it is emotional manipulation intentionally orchestrated to generate a feeling of anxiety which is then followed by relief. Anyone recognize this pattern? It lays the foundation for an addictive state. Alcohol and drugs do the same thing -provide relief for a circumstance which the user cannot control. The only one who controls the appearance of Ramtha is JZ...

Re: Question for Johnny

Thanks for sharing, Johnny. Really enjoyed your insight. As you are Irish and mentioned Micael Ledwith what is your take on him? There is gossip that he was accused of sexual misconduct in Ireland. Did you ever hear anything about that or do you know of a source where the accusation can be verified or not?

Re: Question for Johnny

Whatcha,

"Just FYI...this is not uncommon, as a tactic-approach. Get the students all worked up waiting, and then they are in a frenzy when the big guy/gal shows up. "


Whacha,

This was also a technique used and perfected by Hitler. When you see the films of him speaking to those large crowds, often they were kept waiting for hours.

Re: Question for Johnny

To EyesWideOpen,

I like Micael. I think he's doing some good work. I've always enjoy his presentations and interviews. I don't know much about him, and I'm not going to make any judgements here. However, what you heard is true to the extent that there were allegations made with regard to sexual abuse. I don't really want to get into it to be honest. You can read an Irish news report below about the event and make up your own mind. You might find more info on the Irish google search engine google.ie

Be aware though that Irish media can be unfair and ruthless sometimes, and they love hyping stories. I never take Big Media too seriously - that goes without saying.

I don't think we'll ever know the whole story and therefore we ought to be careful about spreading rumours. Keep to facts as we see them, otherwise we're just as bad as RSE leaders and staff telling half-truths.


News report: http://www.rte.ie/news/2002/0531/maynooth.html

What do you think of the Irish man? Can anyone here share some of their observations over the years?

Re: Question for Johnny

I really enjoyed and benefitted greatly from Miceal's talks. My impression of him is that he is a kind and wise human being. I also think he is able to tolerate a lot of the BS thrown his way because of his patience, compassion, and emotional maturity.

Things are never black and white, but this has been my experience regarding Miceal.

Re: Question for Johnny

An EMF topic.. Michel Leadwith Mar 4, 07

Link..

http://pub43.bravenet.com/forum/3633497066/show/609430

Re: Question for Johnny

Thanks Dave. I didn't see that post.

I noticed Christel mentioned Karriem Ali. Has anyone got personal observations on this guy?

Re: Question for Johnny

Karriem was a student long ago in the school, and he "quit" for a number of years to return later on. In late 2005 or very early 2006, he was named as one of the new teachers. This was when "replacements" were needed, because it was around the time frame or Audrey and Joe being dismissed.

I personally always liked him and thought he was a nice person. Unfortunately, imo, he's misled.

Re: Question for Johnny

Hi Johnny,
Thanks for the Irish newsclipping along with the disclaimer. Appreciate your effort.

How about another once around with my original question? I'm wondering how to reach potential RSE recruits overseas. If you don't mind sharing, how did you learn about RSE? How did you find this website?

Do you have any thoughts on how to reach foreigners?

Many thanks and Erin go bragh...

Re: Question for Johnny

Last year Greg Simmons told the beginner's group Ramtha would no longer be discussing 'end times,' since he had already spoken of it. Now the 'new' thing is 'end times' again. If 'end times' is so near, why the Sportilla location of RSE in Europe? Won't it be flooded?
Whew. I agree, it's a very welcome idea to communicate with the European RSE students and do a bit of comparison.

Re: Question for Johnny

yes you see too close endtimes smaler the income of jz because everybody invests in the own survival.too far off endtimes relaxes her crowd too much.so she is in big trouble there.here some timlines i presived:99 we r in aquarius[a old ramster explained me newby "that means we made it"]cosmic allinement:dont tell anyone but go to your shelters and if you dont have one go at least on high ground[i dident have the finances to hear this live but the allinment was supposed to initiate earthquakes,tidalwaves, storms of 2000miles winds [yes 2000 not 200]and vulcanic activities.than there was the aftermat of 9/11 were everybody bought ductape and airfilter.all the hobbycarpenter had income building boxes filled with fiberglas to filter the air to escape the boubonic plage and antrax.all students had to prepare for lockdown which got lifted for the primery followup[you were suposed to not let a person who came from a journey get near you] than there was the atomic war in the near east.oh i forgot the comming of the13. planet in between somewere. so whats new how are the endtimes nowadays?

Re: Question for Johnny

Hey EyesWideOpen,

Reaching potential RSE students overseas might be challenging. I found RSE while surfing around the web. I suppose being a bit of a spiritual kind of lad, I was bound to bump into it eventually.

I just did a Google on Ramtha, and the FACTnet.org message board was in the 3rd page at the bottom. Kleiners Korner shows up in the 10th page. Masters Connection on the 11th. And finally, EnightenMeFree is on the 14th page. Ramtha is mentioned is some form or another on every page, and the school is even paying for sponsored links, which means it's always in your face.

The only way this site is going to climp the google ranking ladder for free is having a sh*t load of content. Google's algorithms now look for meaning in content, so, even though links are king, content is the queen.

I found this site by doing a google video on Ramtha. I was just checking to see if anything was around. The results included L.A.R.S.E. in the list. I was reluctant to watch the L.A.R.S.E. videos, because my mind was nervous. Remember, the mind hates having to redraw an nice cosy model of the world - look at all the effort gone into making it in the first. But, I said, "Johnny, if you don't watch this, your a chicken. Nothing has ever stopped you from checking out a different point of view before, so why are you sort of scared of watching this?" You see what happens? As you all know very well, it's not easy letting go. I'm relatively new to the teachings. But, I can't imagine what some of you are going through.

To reach the internationals, I can only suggest right now to keep spreading the word and continue to write out your thoughts and experiences here. Remember, google's spiders will be around from time to time tracking the amount of content here and this will slowly increase your position.

By the way ex, RSE wouldn't be the only culprit stirring up fear about potential global disasters. It's an old mind control technique to put people in a box. Governments and global think tanks use it to shape public opinion all the time and keep them on the edge. However, the Earth is in mess, and mainly due to pollution, not changes in weather. We can adapt to weather in no time at all. Drinking water for example, poisoned with mercury, cadmium, prescription drugs etc, is a whole different story.

Re: Question for Johnny

yes the planet is in trouble.and it is wise to make some preparations for desasters.most people died after katrina when they couldent find food and water.since ramtha is american he gives not much on enviromental things.in the last years rse made some ajustment.the cuting edge attitude of rse is on enviromental isues yesterdays news if you come from europe.[i dont know how it is nowadays but iwas shoked at my time]what i wonderd was how people take the next and the next lie without asking hey wat happen to that why is the new version the right one.yes the argument that the fundamentel teachings never changed is right but all the other ,eternal,advices are in constant change mainly to suit jzs income.

Re: Question for Johnny

Johnny, you said:

"However, the Earth is in mess, and mainly due to pollution, not changes in weather. We can adapt to weather in no time at all."

Do you really believe those incredible statements?

First off, do you think there is no connection between pollution and weather? Just Google "pollution and weather"--I did, and there were 17 MILLION results. Here is an excerpt from just one article, published this week in the Los Angeles Times:

"Asia's growing air pollution — billowing plumes of soot, smog and wood smoke — is making the Pacific region cloudier and stormier, disrupting winter weather patterns along the West Coast and into the Arctic, researchers reported Monday.

Carried on prevailing winds, the industrial outpouring of dust, sulfur, carbon grit and trace metals from booming Asian economies is having an intercontinental cloud-seeding effect, the researchers reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The study is the first large-scale analysis to draw a link between Asian air pollution and the changing Pacific weather patterns.

"The pollution transported from Asia makes storms stronger and deeper and more energetic," said lead author Renyi Zhang at Texas A&M University. "It is a direct link from large-scale storm systems to [human-produced] pollution."

Satellite measurements reveal that high-altitude storm clouds over the northern Pacific have increased up to 50% over the last 20 years as new factories, vehicles and power plants in China and India spew growing amounts of microscopic pollutant particles into the air.

The resulting changes have altered how rain droplets form and helped foster the creation of imposing formations over the northern Pacific known as deep convective clouds.

The clouds create powerful updrafts that spawn fiercer thunderstorms and more intense rainfall, particularly during the winter, the researchers said.

Only a decade ago did scientists in the University of California's Pacific Rim Aerosol Network help discover that the pollution crossing the Pacific from Asia was worse than suspected, with millions of tons of previously undetected contaminants carried on the wind.

In fact, on any spring or summer day, almost a third of the air high over Los Angeles, San Francisco and other California cities can be traced directly to Asia, researchers said."

Second, Johnny, you said, "We can adapt to weather in no time at all." Unless you have gotten past the need to eat to stay alive, where you do think food comes from? Do you know anything at all about how farming is affected by weather? If drought, unseasonable freezes, hailstorms, etc. kill the crops that people eat and there is no grain to feed livestock, do you think that farmers can adapt "in no time at all"? Then why are people and livestock starving this very minute in places affected by drought? Just Google "drought and starvation."

Johnny, can you back up your statements with solid facts that thousands of scientists the world over would agree with? If so, maybe I will learn something.

Re: Question for Johnny

Onehandontheelephant,

Would you be willing to consider simply asking Johnny what he meant by his statement, "We can adapt to weather in no time at all."

He may mean something entirely different from the way you have apparently interpreted it.

Re: Question for Johnny

Hi Johnny,
Thanks for sharing your experience on finding EMF. Really appreciate it. Gives us some idea of a direction to move in.

Would you say more on your comment, "We can adapt to the weather?"

Re: Question for Johnny

You're very welcome EyesWideOpen.

I will reply. It's just that I'm very busy with
work right now and I don't have spare time at home
due to other issues I have to deal with.

I will clarify my statements and clear the air so to speak very soon.

Thanks

Re: Question for Johnny

Onehandontheelephant,

Lets revisit my statement once more:

"However, the Earth is in mess, and mainly due to pollution, not changes in weather. We can adapt to weather in no time at all."

My first point was that the Earth is in a mess. No arguments there.
Second point: mainly due to POLLUTION. No arguments there again.

Now, my third point was probably misleading and I apologies for not putting it in the right context. Yes pollution has a certain amount of influence on WEATHER CONDITIONS, however, WEATHER CYCLES [which is what I really meant] are "based on the likely pattern of atmospheric-tidal movements, winds and wind changes plus high and low pressure zones based on correlations of past, and future lunar orbits and phases".

"The Moon has about one sixth of the Earth’s gravitational force. From only a couple of hundred thousand miles away, changes in the Moon's orbital patterns are going to have major effects on Earth. Simply stated, changes in the Moon’s movement changes our weather."

The Sun also plays a huge role in weather cycles. We don’t have much control over great natural cycles, but we can learn to understand them.

“The Bureau of Meteorology of Australia has recently turned its attention to Aboriginal weather forecasting methods, watching crows and lizards for storms approaching and the green wattle for bushfire control. (see article in Time Magazine, May 26, 2003) The aboriginal methods were known to be lunar-based, referring to heavier storms at times of particular sea-tides. Anyone who lives there might observe that the lunchtime highest tides that correlate with the months' biggest storms in Darwin only happen at peaks of the Moon's Apsidal Cycle. The Aborigines utilised knowledge of the Moon's role in weather that is also still present in neighbouring SE Asia, Melanesia, PNG and Asia Minor. It is there for anyone to rediscover.”
Source: predictweather.com

Finally, my last controversial point “We can adapt to weather in no time at all” was probably irresponsible. I never meant it to be taken literally. We Irish sometimes make things look rosier than they ought to be. We probably got that way when times were very tough in the old days and our sanity was kept steadfast through humour. Long journey’s for example where always made out to be “a walk down the road”.

Re: Question for Johnny

Professor Scott Armstrong is at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Kesten Green is with the Business and Economic Forecasting Unit at Monash University. They're experts in forecasting techniques. (Many people are unaware that forecasting is a subject with many academic experts and a body of research going back to the 1930s. The website forecastingprinciples.com attracts more than 200,000 visitors a year.) Their paper is Global Warming: Forecasts by Scientists Versus Scientific Forecasts. It was written for the 27th Annual International Symposium on Forecasting.

Armstrong and Green looked at the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Working Group 1 report from earlier this year. This is the major source for the orthodoxy.

They focused on chapter eight, which sets out the methodology used for the forecasts in the report. They found that the panel, despite its immense assembly of scientific talent, appeared to have no idea of how to make a reliable forecast. Although the chapter has 788 references, none relates to forecasting methodology.

Armstrong and Green rated the methodology used by the panel against 89 principles of good forecasting derived from years of research. They found that the panel report breached 72 of those principles. They concluded that the forecasts the weather was likely to change in many negative ways were worthless.

What are some of the main principles of forecasting? One involves the notion, so popular among orthodoxy advocates, of consensus. While consensus might say something about testable scientific theories, it says nothing about forecasts.

Armstrong and Green say: "Agreement among experts is weakly related to accuracy. This is especially true when the experts communicate with one another and when they work together to solve problems, as is the case with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change process."

Another principle involves uncertainty and complexity. The more of each you have, the less sure you should be of your forecasts. Climate forecasts involve so many factors and so much uncertainty that Armstrong and Green believe they're useless.

Many people believe these complex forecasts can be trusted because computer models are used. But so much uncertainty and subjectivity is involved in the input that Armstrong and Green say the use of these computer models is just a modern version of an old practice: the use of mathematics to make personal opinions sound more impressive. (Robert Malthus's predictions on population increase and food decline, very influential in the 19th century, were presented with a lot of mathematics. They were wrong.)

Armstrong and Green note: "To our knowledge, there is no empirical evidence to suggest that presenting opinions in mathematical terms rather than in words will contribute to forecast accuracy."

Armstrong has just offered Al Gore a $US20,000 ($23,000) bet that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change temperature forecasts are wrong.

Their paper can be read here: http://www.forecastingprinciples.com/Public_Policy/WarmAudit31.pdf

Re: Question for Johnny

Thank you Johnny for your insights.

Re: Question for Johnny

You're very welcome Tree