[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.”

23 Comments

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

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