A Note from the Author on The CNKD Way

The CNKD Way has been my bridge across fear.

When I sat down to write you this CNKD Way note, what hit me with force was something my partner, Nkosi, said to me at least a decade ago as I battled imposter syndrome while relaunching a venture:

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”

It was the “Litany Against Fear” of the Bene Gesserit (also known as "The Sisterhood") from Frank Herbert’s iconic science fiction novel and subsequent series, Dune.

According to Dune's "Terminology of the Imperium," Bene Gesserit is "the ancient school of mental and physical training established primarily for female students after the Butlerian Jihad destroyed the so-called 'thinking machines' and robots."

At the time, not being into sci-fi, I was clueless about the literary context and did not make the connection between Bene Gesserit and Mount Holyoke College, my alma mater (the first of the Seven Sisters, the trailblazing female equivalent to the formerly all-male Ivy League). Now, that link as well as that between our Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Herbert's "thinking machines and robots" are glaring.

For a decade, the Litany itself is what stayed with me. Aggravatingly, so did questions like: How do we face our fear? How does it pass over us and through us?

I needed concrete answers, clear steps, a fail-proof mechanism for facing down and triumphing over fear. And in the intervening years, I found them. . .on The CNKD Way: the Way of Courage, Necessity, Knowledge and Discernment traversed by countless great figures from the dawn of time, and still open to you and me now. On this Way, we too can individually and collectively find our greatness. We can fulfill our goals for ourselves, our communities and society, unthwarted by fear.

Online and on stages worldwide, I share stories from people around the globe as well as my own experience on the Way, to help you and yours live better and do more of what you truly desire.

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About The CNKD Way

Live better and do more of what you desire
with Courage, Necessity, Knowledge and Discernment.
Pronounced “synced” as in “synchronized”.

This CNKD Way note was written by this barefaced human.👇
Any photographs included were taken by the same human, unedited/unfiltered, unless otherwise stated. (Because nature needs no filter, which is the point.)