Chris Parker [Parker - Influence

influence

CHRIS PARKER

http://urbanepublications.com

First published in Great Britain in 2014
by Urbane Publications Ltd
20 St Nicholas Gardens, Rochester
Kent ME2 3NT

Copyright Chris Parker, 2014

The moral right of Chris Parker to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

All characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library.

Paperback ISBN 978-1-909273-06-1
Mobi ISBN 978-1-909273-07-8
epub ISBN 978-1-909273-08-5

Typeset at Chandler Book Design, Kings Lynn, Norfolk

http://urbanepublications.com

For M.

Acknowledgements

Marcus Kline, the worlds greatest communication guru, owes his existence to four people: Mairi, Alan, Matthew and IbA.

Mairi helped bring him to life during two fabulous weeks in France.

Alan provided great knowledge about campaigning communications and was instrumental in the selection of Marcuss hair styling.

Matthew ensured that this, the first part of Marcuss story, is now in your hands.

IbA started it all for me over thirty five years ago, when he first sparked my desire to learn how to read the lines on peoples faces.

Also DCI Peter Jones, the great detective and
Marcus Klines best friend, and I, are forever indebted to PJ for so many vital insights shared through so many wonderful evenings.

And, finally, I would not have known how to get inside peoples heads without the medical expertise of Dr Ian Campbell. Whilst I am extremely grateful to Ian for his time and support, I am certain there are characters in the book that are not.

Influence

by

Chris Parker

The worst pain isnt physical.

Influence

A power affecting a person, thing, or course of events.

To flow into; to produce an effect by imperceptible or intangible means.

PART ONE

Different Worlds

It starts before it starts

Let me tell you the most important thing now, before everything else, before you start thinking too much.

The most important thing is this:

Influence is the ultimate resource.

You were born with nothing. Knowing nothing. And from the moment you took your first breath the influence began.

We create our power through our ability to influence.

We create the power to understand, the power to change.

We create our world and rule our planet not because we are the strongest animal, or the fastest or the most durable. No. We dominate because we are the most influential.

And our influence is contagious.

It is contagious because influence surrounds us whether we realise it or not. It enters through our eyes and ears, whether we mean it to or not. It seeps in through the very pores of our skin.

It is contagious because our nature makes it so, because all human beings have an instinctive ability and desire to create associations and meanings.

In simple terms we see a facial expression, we hear a tone of voice, we witness behaviours and we interpret them almost immediately so fast that we dont even recognise the process. We create the power we need to navigate life successfully through our ability and our need to create meaning.

That means we are all open to influence.

Which is why the most powerful people are those who have created meanings that most of us meanings that you buy into. Meanings about right or wrong. Meanings about how society is supposed to work. About how we are should relate to other humans. And how they should relate to us. Meanings about how we should look and what we should wear. Meanings about life and success and failure.

You know these things. You have your own set of meanings. You believe you created them yourself.

You are wrong. Pathetically, hopelessly wrong!

You didnt create the meanings that you spray out into the world in the same arrogant way that a cat pisses in every corner of its territory. You didnt create them they were installed in you by others.

By the powerful people.

People like me.

They were planted in your subconscious.

Left to grow.

Think of the most powerful antenna in the world, one that never stops receiving signals. Now think if you can of something infinitely more receptive. Infinitely more switched on.

That is your subconscious mind!

Always open to influence.

The hidden star inside the human brain.

It runs the show your show without you even realising it. Forging your attitudes. Shaping your perceptions. Sparking your responses.

Even when you fall in love, it is your brain with the subconscious pulling strings from the shadows that directs the process.

You dont fall in love with all of your heart.

The human heart doesnt have the capacity for such a complex creation as love. No, it is the brain, especially parts of the so-called reptilian brain, the primal part of your neural circuitry, which quite literally sprays out feelings of reward and need and desire when you tell yourself that you have found your perfect mate.

Love is all in your head. Just like every other emotion.

If that hurts just think about this: your subconscious mind is at the very heart of your relationships with everyone and everything around you. It is even at the heart of your relationship with yourself.

Only of course you cant think about it. Not really. You believe you can. You might even feel that you are. Only thats the left hemisphere of your brain talking. And thats the side that does the obvious talking. It is responsible for words and logic, for naming things. It is the side that the neuroscientists call the Dominant Hemisphere.

The arrogant bastard!

Asked to name itself, the left hemisphere comes up with something that a dictator would be proud of. What makes me laugh is that the scientists havent even realised that the left hemisphere asked the question in the first place. And then it provided an answer designed to show its control over everything. And the scientists bought into it. They didnt even realise they were being played. They didnt consider the possibility that the left hemisphere was wrong. Or that it was lying. But how could they? There is no way the left hemisphere is going to ask those sort of questions about itself.

All I ask for now is that you use your puny, self-serving conscious mind to focus on this one vital truth: the subconscious is the supreme, silent power source.

The subconscious stores every influence that has ever found its way inside you. And then it, in turn, influences you in more ways than you can ever imagine. It influences you twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. It influences every minute, every second, of your life.

I have seen life begin and I have seen life end.

I have ended lives.

So many different lives. I have watched the black cloud release itself. I have quite literally seen death.

Now I have to kill again. And differently. After all, what is a researcher supposed to do? How else can I further my knowledge? How else can I develop my expertise?