[Note from CAF: I first published this on the blog on December 5, 2008. Given the current conversion of the many changes upon us, I am republishing today.]

By Catherine Austin Fitts

In 1998 I was in Washington dealing with the consequences of having stood in the way of a fraudulent housing bubble: 12 pieces of litigation, an insurance company reneging on its obligations to fund my attorneys, 18 audits and investigations by numerous federal and local agencies, a smear campaign and increasingly serious physical harassment.

To fund managing this process, I was selling and auctioning my company assets and my personal assets, including home, antiques, art, furniture and personal possessions. I watched as a life time of friends and network turned on me or turned away from me.

As the pile on of attacks from all sides grew, I realized that the chances of my surviving were growing increasingly slim. Sobered by this realization, I decided I would research who had been targeted in this manner and what had happened. Who had survived and who had not? Why? What could I learn from their experience that would help me in dealing with a similar situation?

I discovered that I was in a process that could drive a person mad or into a state of anger that would cause them to become physically sick, to lose their capacity to think and operate clearly and to alienate those who wanted to or were willing to help. In short, targeted people were failing physically, mentally and socially as a result of their inability to manage their anger. Their own anger was poisoning them. Their enemies had found a way to make their target their most valuable ally by getting them to destroy themselves.

The stories of the physical disabilities that had resulted as a result of the anger and stress were particularly gruesome. Sobered, I made a commitment to not let the anger that serves as invaluable navigation tool in my life become an anger that would poison me physically or mentally.

I committed to attract a future defined by love, rather than defined by anger.

I did a very serious assessment of my situation. Could I see this litigation through in the face of the smear and harassment? Did I have the capacity to do so? I concluded that I had the physical stamina, the courage,  the intellect and the training to do so. I was prepared to liquidate all of my assets and to live modestly.

However, I did not know if I could endure the process and retain my capacity to love. I decided that my goal was to use the litigation to serve my original purpose — to emerge with real solutions for the challenges that were coming as a result of the financial coup d’etat underway — and with my personal capacity to love strengthened.

As I now watch those around me struggle with the deterioration of our economy and culture, I encourage you to consider these issues. What does it take for you to survive and thrive? How can you protect and build your energy in the face of the challenges underway and ahead? What is the purpose to which you are called? Whom do you love and serve?

If I can presume to give you advice, it would be to quote St. Paul, “let not the sun go down on your anger.”

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23 Comments

  1. Tina:

    Excellent point. In my experience, there is no such thing as too much life. That means, when the world tries to use up our love, it is time to replenish rather than go on without it.

    Catherine

  2. Catherine, that level of devastation is 100 times worse than a divorce. But the experiences are much the same. Thanks for sticking to your guns, and thanks for recovering. It was a 7 year divorce for me and a long list but not has insane as yours, but you stand as an example, and a reinforcement of that it costs to be honorable, truthful and against playing ball. I never new how low politics would go and how naive am I. But no longer. You have lightened by spirit and I am looking for
    those local opportunities where my skill set can make a difference. And keep us a float.

  3. Catherine – I’ve just recently started to read and listen to what you have to say after seeing you being interviewed on film documentary. What a great value to the world!

    Thank you for sharing “Let Not the Sun Go Down on Your Anger” – I as well got hit with anger. My anger was in reaction to litigation (seeing how the legal system really works and it can be manipulated) and a CFO that embezzled funds that destroyed my company – the anger knocked me out of enjoying life / living with love – for over a year until I realized the anger must be dropped and that there is a reason for these trials – to discover an entirely new calling and a transformation of my belief system.

    Thank you for showing us a glimpse into your past full of vibrant emotions and how you handled it.

    Also love Greene’s work as well!

    Let me know if you want to be interviewed on my radio show about Gold!
    Cheers, Maria Gudelis

  4. Catherine:
    If possible please comment more on what you point out in the first sentence, “…and local agencies”

    I have long held that there is a high level of interconnectedness between various governmental agencies which is far more likely to cripple any sort of protest than to be favorable to dissenters, and many people think only of the Federal government as the source of our problems.

    Do the various agencies fight like cats and dogs sometimes? Sure! Take a look at this:

    Charter schools might well be considered the only actual opposition to those large, bumbling bureaucratic behemoths in urban areas of the United States who fight amongst themselves and since most government is nearly incapable of innovation (see a CNN report aired during November, 2005 in which a Harvard educator (Jim Walsh, who omitted ‘nearly’ in the reference) suggests that government ought to listen to the opposition very carefully.) Consider the author(s) of this article to be aspiring to become another aspect of the opposition with practically no overhead and not even one iota of internal political squabbles!

    (It seems worthy to note here that the internal squabbles have even resulted in murder, but that two distinct occurrences often temporarily reduce the level of aggression within: abundance of financing (mostly public) and or the need to silence (or in some way to debilitate) the competition.)

    In the former, so much money is flowing that there seems to be no need for conflict. In the latter, opposition rings so true that the aggression is directed outward. Observers have noted similarities between this and the daily scapegoating strategies employed by these factions, while others have noticed that the same situation seemed to exist in Ancient Greece and Rome, where Neo-platonism had firmly taken hold. The adherents of that philosophy considered mercy and compassion to be defects of character, to be tolerated no longer than the time a person reached adulthood. You may immediately think that the antagonists referred to above will use every means at (or not at!) their disposal to create the appearance that we are the problem! BINGO! But remember: there must always be someone to blame in these types of societies, so when they come to blame you, be sure to be prepared!)

    Furthermore, the interconnectedness of all government agencies will be fully realized soon. Revelation 17 tells us that they will be of one mind?

    Be sure to tell the listeners that no form of government is your friend, but privatization will make it almost impossible for the uninformed to tell the difference.

    Thanks again.

    James Mansfield

    PS:

    5 very large segments of AUTOMATONS exist in this country which will make it difficult for love to prevail:
    1) government employees (state, city and federal);
    2) people related to the above;
    3) People hoping to be government employees;
    4) people who live off the government
    5) people who work for quasi-government firms (Halliburton, Con Edison, Verizon, etc)
    things can’t improve unless you decrease government (hatred/lies/beast) and increase the other side (love/truth/Jesus)
    from the bewilderness- thanks for coming!
    James Mansfield

  5. Remember that the forces of evil know no other way to live. They remain determined to destroy the human race (i.e. themselves) and they really cannot but help doing what they are doing.

    This is not new, and so far, everytime the forgiving God has shined the light, man has turned away.

    From the bewilderness–thanks for coming!
    James Mansfield

  6. GeoMark:

    Thanks. Your description of Greene’s work is dead on. I will check out Getting to Yes.

    Elizabeth:

    WOW. Thanks. 🙂

    Catherine

  7. This is a profound issue at the heart of humanity – whether to surrender to the dark forces (whatever you wish to call them in whatever form they appear) by becoming an angry person/victim, or to transcend them by choosing to think, say and act with compassion and forgiveness. It is not what happens to us that determines what kind of character we have, but how we respond, and therein is possibly the most important choice we can ever make, one that must be made over and over in large ways and small. This is not an original idea and I am fortunate that I discovered it many years ago as it has made a huge difference in my life. Catherine, you are an inspiration and a real hero. Thank you for your insights and integrity.

  8. A quick summary of all the 48 Laws of Power by Greene and Elffers (plus a review) can be found at http://www.qurve.com/reference/the-48-laws-of-power/ Some of these “laws” are based on talent and can have positive uses, such as being diplomatic, i.e., getting one’s points or ideas across without being offensive. Others are basically devious and need to be used with caution. Often we pose the question, “Does the end justify the means?” But this question usually results from a pathological error in one’s grasp of social systems. The problem is that the means that are used keep having effects after the goals are reached, perhaps long after. (E.g., what did it mean for the more distant future when Roosevelt knowingly did not warn Pearl Harbor that the Japanese attack was imminent?) On the other hand, being aware of these strategies can alert one that things may not be what they seem, or that one is in a more dangerous situation than one realizes.
    For a almost always win-win type of approach, see _Getting to Yes: How to Negotiate Without Giving In_” The ideas and skills here are useful in many different types of situations besides negotiation. Of course, carrying them out is not nearly as easy as reading them, but practice helps. The authors pay much attentention to the longer term outcomes beyond the end of the negotiation.

  9. I still wish you could work in Obama’s cabinet. Maybe I am naive, but I believe Obama is a good soul and he could use the influence of someone like you.

  10. Catherine… when I listen to you speak in public forums, YouTube at the Barter Conference, C2Cam, etc… the substance of your decision to handle the adversity and trials of your experience in the way you articulated above is, literally, tangible. That is incredibly powerful.

    Of all the folks out there who are speaking with truth and clarity about what is going on, NO ONE has the power and authority of hopefulness that you engender in your discussion of current events, and the solutions you are trying to put out there to regular folks in “Anytown, Planet Earth”.

    You are, my dear woman, literally an Angel. Inspired, courageous, unshrinking, and extraordinarily non-judgmental, even when speaking of the wrong doing of others.

    Your take on things literally pushes people from fear to fact, and then towards local actionable solutions.

    These 2 questions you propose: “What is the purpose to which you are called? Whom do you love and serve?”

    …they are the golden questions that speak right to the heart of our current global circumstance.

    Do we serve self centered fear… the seed of doubt and disaster… the offspring of a perception of a “universe that is eternally half empty”, and the raw material of “centralized fear based control mechanisms”.

    Or do we serve the Love Centered Self, that dormant antidote for all the empty consumption, neurosis and manufactured desire of the modern age. That thread that connects all of us together, and always has?

    As of late, when I describe your work to others, and your focus on building out solutions and systems at the local level, all it takes is for me to mention, and then define… The Popsicle Index. All the lights come on for folks.

    I confess, I have been very afraid of the coming changes in our economic weather forecast.

    I listened to one of your interviews, and realized I just needed to make the move to Lawrence Kansas, where there is already a powerful local organic farming infrastructure, very well developed community mentality, and a very vocal local citizenry.

    I’ve been talking about moving there for years… and every time I’m there I’m rejuvenated… and yet I just couldn’t make the move.

    I’m planning my move now, and I’m going to get busy, getting the solution of loving decentralized local economic systems out there to as many folks as possible.

    A disaster in our current economic system, may be the neccesary event to move us towards healing our country, culture, cities and neighborhoods, in hopeful life affirming ways.

    I don’t like change, unless it’s change I thought about myself. I see this as an exciting opportunity for our collective futures, provided we have courage, loving kindness, and firm resolve, even in the face of the darkness of ignorance.

    Please keep up your brilliant and inspiring work Catherine, and let me know what I can do to help.

  11. Is the title “Let Not the Sun Go Down on Your Anger” a bible verse or something? I seem to have heard it before.

    Thanks so much Catherine for sharing your advice and experience. Believe me I cannot fathom what you went through. You are a hero of mine for what you did and continue to do.

  12. Amen,you said it well. I feel your pain. I too have been under siege for some time, take solace in the words of one who has walked that walk “Blessed are those that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom heaven (peace of mind).

  13. Catherine,

    I am so happy that you were able to pull through and now be here to share with us. Anger is an interesting emotion, but it also an energy. I have worked with anger many ways, including prayer and therapy.

    A few months ago I reached a point where nothing I did touched what I was experiencing in terms of anger and other emotions. I remembered the heart rhythm meditation (something which many people of many religions are using to get back in touch with their hearts) and I started that night to do it regularly. I am getting better. I was headed for a crash, because caring for my mother is something that is so difficult and I get really angry sometimes.

    Anyway, what I have been doing recently when the “anger” comes up is to breath in through the nose reaching deep through my heart and solar plexus and then gently exhale through mouth like water pouring down deep into my heart and solar plexus. I remember that this anger is not my mother’s fault, that at the bottom of this anger is sadness usually and at the bottom of this sadness is energy that can also be felt as love. The strong my heart gets the easier it is for me to handle the anger emotion without exploding or “imploding” and stuffing it.

    I am also working with using this “anger” energy as I try to transform it to do constructive things and not dump it on my mother.

    I imagine there is a lot of “anger” right now in our country with all that is happening. This is a very good message for you to share at this time.

    Thank you
    Yvonne

  14. Catherine, a brilliant assessment with complex awareness and depth. God Bless you, Joanna

  16. In your earlier account you mentioned harassment by electronic means. This immediately places most of us in the kook category. Unfortunately what you allege is true. I had the grace to view materials from Bob Beck when he made duplicate copies to protect himself after developing parts of the mind control technology used on Catharine. Some of those can be seen at elfis.net For those blissfully unaware of this level of corruption, it does not matter. The best defense is a still mind. If you are a Christian that helps, but others can find safety as well by developing a still mind. It is the best defense, which is why Catharine should be applauded for learning not to be angry. I suspect given her talents, this was the most difficult challenge she faced in her long ordeal. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and rulers of wickedness in high places, and I ain’t talkin bout no devil.

  18. From the Laws of Power (By Robert Greene $15.00. 452 pp. paper. ISBN 0140280197. Penguin Books)

    Law 32 — Play to People’s Fantasies
    The truth is often avoided because it is ugly and unpleasant. Life is so harsh and distressing that people who can manufacture romance or conjure up fantasy are like oases in the desert:  Everyone flocks to them. There is great power in tapping into the fantasies of the masses. Never appeal to truth and reality unless you are prepared for the anger that comes from disenchantment.

    Law 39 — Stir up Waters to Catch Fish
    Anger and emotion are strategically counter-productive.  You must always stay calm and objective.  But if you can make your enemies angry while staying calm yourself, you gain a decided advantage.  Put your enemies off balance: Find the chink in their vanity through which you can rattle them and you hold the strings.

  19. Catherine, this is an extraordinary message – from the very fabric of your experiences and piercing trials…we thank you…This message provides us with a practical reason and application for the present and coming times of greater chaos, when we are to BE, each of us, through our thoughts, intentions and action, the “Love that underlies the happenings of the times.” So often we are given platitudes, told what to do. But it is not often that we are given the practical ways of doing those things. You offer this…we are grateful. Risa & Esoteric group

  20. Anger is definitely poison. I’ve been an outsider looking in at life since my earliest memories. My angered interpretation of what I’ve experienced, observed of others, and anger with my own failures to find a sane way to live, has cost my health and relationships a lot. I tend to reflect on the harm people cause eachother and myself, as misguided. That people are each at various stages on their journeys of development. This makes it easier to accept and forgive. Lately I haven’t known what to think or feel though. I recently abandoned several of my notions of what is true since in my opion we tend to seek out truths that will satisfy us. I don’t know where it will leave me.

    I’ve been struggling to become financially independant since long before this latest crisis. So I can’t relate to the choices and losses others are making and suffering. I have never had the house or the car or the good job. I’m not worried about becoming poor because I am poor and have lived poor all my life. I’ve always saved as able and spent very little except for a few months when I was figuring out the emptiness of materialism through my first job and experiences with money. I’m concerned with the very real possibility of homelessness (in a cold country with a mind that shuts down when poorly nourished due to stress), the health of loved ones failing due to stress (or more honestly, people I’m dependent on), having poor health and only access to doctors that are terribly incompetent and if/when we’ll find ourselves in forced labour camps or being killed off in some way. Most people seem content to maintain a trance-like state right until the end, so that puts a further alienating spin on the whole thing. Or not content but fearful of embarassment, a lack of confidence in their abilities to adapt and so on, such that they avoid the conversations, readings, and careful thinking they need to start doing.

    I’m glad you’ve found a perspective that works for you.

  23. According to Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, anger is an expected stage of the grief process (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%BCbler-Ross_model). As such it is useful and evolutionary – something to move through and grow beyond, rather than to become mired in. Allowing myself to languish in anger and resentment would be like taking poison and expecting the other person to die. Instead, I choose Life, and growth, and movement.

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