Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer Is Photoreading a religion?

From what I hear it's almost as if you pray to your brain.

I read the Photoreading book by Paul Scheele, and have a few questions.

When in the blip page phase, am I supposed to stare directly at the center of the two pages (the blip)? Or am I supposed to stare at each page individually for a second or two each?

This is all fuzzy to me--this whole concept is, and I'm just looking for some tips, suggestions, and help on anything.

When the books says look for trigger words while previewing to get an idea of the structure of the story--what on earth does that mean? How can you get an idea of a story's structure by simply seeing trigger words?

What is mentally stating our purposes? I don't understand this concept.

After the photoreading process is complete we're supposed to take a break (minimum of 20 min.), and then the answers to my questions just come me? That brings up another question. How am I supposed to ask specific questions when I have no conscious recollection of what happened in the story?

And also, I know the book addressed this, but how do I know that my zen peace state is actually working? I'm not consciously thinking this while I'm photoreading, I'm questioning this before and after the deed is done.

If I should be so lucky to get some answers or responses I thank you in advance.

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by Trover (edited January 23, 2003).]

[This message has been edited by Trover (edited January 23, 2003).]

One of the communication styles used in teaching PhotoReading is to act as if the inner mind is a seperate entity from the conscious mind. It could be considered prayer, but we do not deify the other-than-conscious mind (in general).

One less learned say that connection body with mind is religion. You have ways to go. Seek and you shall recieve.

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Originally posted by Trover:
From what I hear it's almost as if you pray to your brain.

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Your interpretation I guess.

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I read the Photoreading book by Paul Scheele, and have a few questions.

When in the blip page phase, am I supposed to stare directly at the center of the two pages (the blip)? Or am I supposed to stare at each page individually for a second or two each?

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Gaze, avoid staring, that is more likely to cause eyestrain. Your focus should be in the center spine and your vision should be aware of the entire 2 pages in one go. It's a different type of focus so the words are likely to appear blurred. You are expanding your peripheral vison when you photoread.

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This is all fuzzy to me--this whole concept is, and I'm just looking for some tips, suggestions, and help on anything.

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Follow the advise in the book and NOPS. Page 119 how can I quickly learn photoreading.

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When the books says look for trigger words while previewing to get an idea of the structure of the story--what on earth does that mean? How can you get an idea of a story's structure by simply seeing trigger words?

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When you pick up a book you have some sort of idea of what it is going to be about. The information from the title and back cover provide that general information. When you look for trigger words you'll find most will come from chapter heading and subheading. Generally these will give you an idea of the stucture of a book. The content page will also clue you to structure.

In searching for trigger words in a novel you will notice repeated words; names and props that give you clues as to what the story is about. Words like gun, clue, murder, scene; will clue you that its is probably mystery book. Other words like nebula, starship etc mean its probably a sci-fi novel. Picking out these words help you to look for the connecting meanings to the story. In the preview stage they only give you mind ideas of where the story can possibly head.

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What is mentally stating our purposes? I don't understand this concept.

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It's simply telling yourself 'why' you are about to read a particular book. What you expect to gain from it, be it enjoyment or learning something new or just getting to know what the author thinks on this particular topic of interest. Without telling yourself why you are going to read a particular book, you won't know when you're finished; if you've learnt anything new. In a sense, without a purpose it doesn't really matter if you read a book or not.

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After the photoreading process is complete we're supposed to take a break (minimum of 20 min.), and then the answers to my questions just come me? That brings up another question. How am I supposed to ask specific questions when I have no conscious recollection of what happened in the story?

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That is the purpose of the trigger words. To raise your curiosity and form questions. So that when you Superread and Dip you quickly find answers. You may not have answers coming to you however you are likely to have a good idea where to find the answers.

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And also, I know the book addressed this, but how do I know that my zen peace state is actually working? I'm not consciously thinking this while I'm photoreading, I'm questioning this before and after the deed is done.

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You follow the steps into the Acclerative Learning state, state the affirmations, purpose, intent, say the chant while photreading. The way you know you are in the right state is that you trust it, allow yourself to simply accept that you are in the right state and your mind will follow through.

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If I should be so lucky to get some answers or responses I thank you in advance.

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Welcomed; that's what the forum is for.

Alex

Rather than answering a yes/no question, let me give my criteria for religions and philosophies.

Philosophies contain

• Epistomology
  
• Ontology
  
• Aesthetics
  
• Ethics
  
• Politics
  

Religions contain the above, plus add

• Cosmogony
  
• Divinity
  
• Soteriology
  
• Thanatology
  

PhotoReading deals very much with Epistomology - how we know what we know. The accepted rules of the Epistomological system of PhotoReading are a preconscious, an other-than-conscious, and a conscious. The preconscious percieves, and chooses what to show the conscious mind and what not to. The other-than-conscious mind stores information, presents options, and takes care of automatic activities. The conscious mind acts on options, makes deciscions about information, etc. Other accepted rules of PhotoReading are the theories of multiple types of intellegence, and the idea that breath is a link between the conscious and other-than-conscious mind. (E.g., you can control your breath by thinking about it, or you can choose not to think about it and let it happen automatically). Although not directly dealt with in PhotoReading, one of the Epistomological stances of NLP is that we follow our "maps," rather than raw perception. We act on reality based on what we believe to be true.

While PhotoReading doesn't go very much into ethics, one of the stated opinions of all the Paraliminal tapes is that human beings are always doing the best they can given their current awareness. If a human being has a distorted map, (e.g. "all dogs are evil and want to kill me"), they'll act in ways that are dysfunctional (e.g. shooting the seeing-eye dogs of blind people).

As far as Aesthetics are concerned, the most that can be said is "reading is fun."

PhotoReading doesn't go into politics or ontology, as far as I have seen. In "Natural Brilliance," Paul Scheele does go into some of his own politics. For example, he mentions leading a meditation/visualization for world-peace. This is a political statement about his beliefs on peace, agreements are never explicitly asked for.

There is no Ontological statement in PhotoReading, although in "Natural Brilliance" the nature of time is discussed.

As far as the religious aspects, I have never heard any discussions on the nature of God in any LSC products, so that rules out theology. Also, the creation/emination/birth of the universe is never discussed, so that leaves out cosmogony. I have never heard anything for or against the idea of life after death on any of the tapes I've listened so, so that leaves out thanatology.

Since you mention the idea of "praying" to your brain, that does raise the idea that the brain is God. Now, pray can have two (intransitive) meanings. The first is to simply make a humble request. For example, "I pray you won't be offended, but I ran over your wife." In this sense, any request made to the inner mind ought to be a prayer. Making an arogant demand on the inner mind raises the same sort of hackles as someone making a demand of your conscious mind. The second definition of "pray" is to make a request of God. Some people may believe that God resides within the inner mind. However, the residence, and even the existance, of any sort of supreme organizing intellegence is never explained in PhotoReading. However, one implication of the act of PhotoReading is that the inner mind (or anything that may reside within it) is not omniscent. If it were, then the act of reading would be redundant. We would simply pray for the information and experience an epiphany, as we already know everything on an other-than-conscious level. While this may be true, it is not assumed in the process of PhotoReading.

Soteriology is a tough one to touch, due to the rather broad definitions one could give it. Because Soteriology is the study of damnation and salvation, one has to define those terms. If a mountain of unread books is damnation, then PhotoReading offers salvation. However, if a mountain of unreadbooks is simply an annoyance, or indeed an opportunity, then PhotoReading is a tool. It all comes down to terms, and how the individual percieves their situation.

I hope this has answered your question, or at least confused you to the point of highly desiring to PhotoRead if only to understand what I'm talking about.

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Originally posted by Kaiden:
I hope this has answered your question, or at least confused you to the point of highly desiring to PhotoRead if only to understand what I'm talking about.

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Well, Kaiden, I consider myself a PhotoReader, and I PhotoRead that post. Perhaps you recall from your exalted studies that activation is seriously slowed down in the case of obscure text and vocabulary.

May I ask (because I am a PhotoReader) exactly what the point of that post was?

KWLee

[This message has been edited by KWLee (edited January 24, 2003).]

KWLee - you seem to have understood my intent! I was doing writing-practice. I've got the headers and first one and a half paragraphs done on my chapter on Ethics. I've also got a stack of 12 books (which will turn into at least 14 once "Death of Satan" and "Beyond Freedom and Dignity" arive at the library) for Syntopic Reading on the subject.

I was outlining my criteria for what constitues a codified religion, and comparing that against PhotoReading, in order to answer the question "Is Photoreading a Religion," while clarifying my own thoughts on the definition of just what makes a system of thoughts and behaviors a religion and not a "philosophy," "method," or in the case of PhotoReading a "system."

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Originally posted by Kaiden:
KWLee - you seem to have understood my intent! I was doing writing-practice. I've got the headers and first one and a half paragraphs done on my chapter on Ethics.

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Pardon me if I sound a little slow, Kaiden - I'm not sure I got this right. Did I just understand you to say that you used a question on a public PhotoReading forum to tangent off into your writing practice?

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Originally posted by Kaiden:
I was outlining my criteria for what constitues a codified religion, and comparing that against PhotoReading, in order to answer the question "Is Photoreading a Religion," while clarifying my own thoughts on the definition of just what makes a system of thoughts and behaviors a religion and not a "philosophy," "method," or in the case of PhotoReading a "system."

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I wish you all the best with your book. I hope you've clarified your thoughts on the matter. However, I also note that your response did not answer the question.

KWLee

[This message has been edited by KWLee (edited January 24, 2003).]

Heh, I understood you Kaiden.

So after photoreading the text and waiting the told 20+ minutes I'm supposed to start asking questions about some of the trigger words to initiate the activation, correct?

Once I ask these questions, am I simply supposed to get a revelation from my sub-conscious to my conscious about the location of the answer/s to my question? And then I'm to super read the text? I'm sorry, but could someone explain super reading and dipping for me?

It seems to me that photoreading is not ideal for pleasure reading, but for researching/studying a given topic or topics. When pleasure reading I like to assimilate every fact and then knit it into the storyline. Vocalization reading--or speed reading, just seems to be the exemplar paradigm of leisure reading.

Once again, thanks.

[This message has been edited by Trover (edited January 24, 2003).]

Superreading and dipping is explained in the chapter on activation.

Alex