The benefits I've gained are astounding to me. My accuracy in just 'knowing' things still surprises me. I find I am getting answers quickly. While going the course intitally I had a major life problem that I was trying to resolve. While not yet solved it is in the process of being worked out, I am on the journey to resolving this problem. 
However while I was working with the course I was frustrated that the answer/solution was not coming. I kept going with the course because I was getting answers to other questions/problems. During the course I one of my image streams told me when I would have a breakthrough with the course. Exactly on the day as noted in my image stream I had that breakthrough and it turned out to be one for my major goal.
In other ways it's even harder to describe. Instead of coming up with only one answer I notice my mind giving me muliple answers and with clarity. Strangely I've also noticed that my communication skills have improved. I find that I am better able to express myself. I am using my intuition more and finding it amusing. For example yesterday I 'knew' that I would not be driving home in my car after going to my brothers place. I wasn't worried about how to get home I also 'knew' an appointment would be cancelled and that I would get a lift home. That is exactly what happened. I went to my brothers place. They had car trouble and needed a car I loaned them mine. While I was there I got the phone call that the 11:30 appointment was cancelled and mum arrived to drop off some stuff off so I got a lift home with her. Normally so many glitches in a day would be annoying but I just found it amusing how things worked out.
When I look at my thinking before I completed the Genius Code course and now. It feels like I've removed a lot of dams between my inner mind and my conscious mind and a lot are still moving out of the way with incredible ease now. When I look where I was and how I'm thinking, What I'm writing, What I'm experiencing and What I'm learning Now.
It's more than intuition... its opens up the lodgical mind too. Compared to my past thinking style I would say I used to have tunnel vision. Which is odd because I've always been credited with being able to take on new projects and point out solutions for problem areas before the projects even started. My supervisior made it a habit to discuss changes in the department procedures with me prior to the implementation. I would go away and think about it and come back and point out the problems we may have to face and solutions to those problems. It made the implementation a lot easier.
I bought a book teaching how to use ABC lists for problems solving it is intriguing yet I haven't had the chance to use it every time I think of a problem I get multiple answers. I also developed a problem solving technique through the Genius Code haven't used that much lately either. I know can fall back on them when I have major problems. One thing I have noticed I've improved my skill in defining the problem... once you do that answers seem to come surprisingly quick. Emotions still get in the way, yet even they are sidestepped quickly.
It's hard to describe what the Genius Code does for you it's not tangible in the sense that you can hold the results of the course in your hand like a trophey. You probably don't even notice how you've changed since doing the course unless you've been recording where you are coming from and where you are heading. I know that the goal I wrote down for the Genius Code course was major and I mean major goal. To see something happening toward that goal alone is worth 5 times what I paid for the course.
If I were to give a tip on how to proceed with the course I say do the exercises. Avoid getting hung up on Win's unusual style and expressions, just do the exercises. Seriously do what is suggested on tape 4 and try the High Think Tank challenge. Direct Learning is terrific for adopting new skills and modelling someone who has the skills you wish to acquire is made childs play with the course.
Alex
Now, one item remains to be dealt with: many of you, upon reading this post, perhaps reading it too quickly or because of evaluating it with a non-liberated, mammalion-emotional circuit, have the reaction that somehow I'm just trying to cause trouble, deal a "smack-down", or maybe that I'm just ego-tripping, entertaining some despicable arrogance. That may be true, whatever the phrase "is true" means. My intention, however, is to rephrase my major question-- the lack of geniuses around because of this system, which does not, by the way, mean that Wenger's techniques and beliefs are all wrong, that their is nothing to them-- and also to show how much impulsive reaction goes on when people read or think. The whole point of Zen Buddhism, General Semantics, and Deconstruction, as I realize them, "is" to show the fallacy of those sorts of reactions in formulating a text or a belief of any sort; they act as exercises in deconditioning among other things. I believe that proper study and training in these systems, with regard to the fact that they all inherently include a meta-critical orientation recognizing the limitation of any "system" as such, and thus making them immune to the fallacy of self-chauvinism as such, results in the best sort of improvement in thought possible. It goes way beyond any one technique, because it recognizes the nature, the Beingness, of thought as it manifests and functions, something which no amount of PRing can do. One test to see if you have liberated your own thinking involves looking at that last sentence and your reactions to it: did you think-feel that I was debunking PRing as such?
The ultimate verification of my above text would be if someone were to reply that either A) it was off-topic, B) they thought that I was arrogant, just on the basis of this post, C) They totally ignore my big question, D) They get hung up on my suggestion that AlexK may be "LSC-in-disguise", or E)they feel that I was only attacking certain beliefs just to be contrary, the "you're just a brat" reactions of authority figures everywhere.
I would, however, encourage anyone who wants to clarify some of my terminology to go to the general semantics website at: www.general-semantics.org
To be honest, if you still are reading this post than I offer you my greatest respect, you are part of the proud minority who actually bother with things they might not understand, or with things which they "feel" to be hostile. Thank you.
As In A Moment,
Kristoff "Dr.Faustus" Olafsson
Keep up the good work Alex!
My arms have recovered from my flight back home.
quote:
However, much of what he says sounds too good to be true.
Do you think so? That post was my experience some months ago. I own the experience and you may own your opinion.
quote:
Do you consider yourself a Genius now.
The choice to see genius as something only a few people have or something that we all do when we express ourselves by our actions in our daily life is yours. I do not share a limiting view. When we join with other people to learn and grow we are expressing our true genius.
quote:
The greatest genius will never be worth much if he pretends to draw exclusively from his own resources.
Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
As long as I am permitted to offer my assistance to help people find their part and their means to achieve their true goals in life I will continue to post on the forum. No doubt others have thought that perhaps I am an LSC employee too. To that I can only reply - I wish.
Those who chat with me through MSN have noted that I do not keep to USA time. Being in Australia they have had the fortunte or misfortune of the getting my Australian slant on life.
Why do I support LSC? because they honour their money back guarantee. If you try it and it doesn't work for you send it back and get your money back or try one of their other courses. They realise that not one package or course fits all and we are not computers where data can just be entered into our brains to make us what we want to be. Their courses are about realising what we want to be in our life we already are we just haven't cleaned the mirror yet to see it in ourselves. They are about discovering that we inidividuals are valuable human beings where ever we are in our lives. To recognise our fustrations are only the perceived distance between our emotional wants and the place we want to be. There are many roads to roam and LSC is providing the variety of maps to get us there. Not everyone is going to want, like or need the LSC products but at least LSC gives people the chance to give their products an honest trial and provides personal coaching in the form of other people sharing their experiences and staff who understand the reason the course was created.
Alex
[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited April 15, 2003).]
This is a fine post. You state your position clearly and without malice. Thanks.
I choose not to quibble with the use of the word genius, although it may be an overstatement. Here is my interpretation:
Genius means using more of your potential than you might otherwise use. Nothing flowery here. No promise of grand inventions. We all have a different baseline. No program will get us all to an equal level that the general population might consider genius. However...I do believe that the program will get all of us beyond our current level of functioning. I can say that I sometimes practice the techniques spelled out in Genius Code and sometimes don't. I can, with complete sincerity, claim that I feel sharper and more intuitive when using the techniques then when I don't.
In a world of absolutes, the claim is overstated. If you're willing to accept that we all could stand to raise our level of functioning, the program provides an effective means for getting there. If I claim to be a great cook, it is based on my starting point, NOT on where some world-class chef might be. Does this mean that my ending point exceeds your starting point? Not necessarily. Regardless, if I am pleased with my progress and satisfied with my current ending point, what difference does it make? My reality is not your reality, and progress is a good thing. The product is an enabler, NOT a morphing tool.
So, it is quite possible that this product could take you beyond where you are now. Then again, it might not.
[This message has been edited by mgrego2 (edited April 15, 2003).]
"Now this is not to say that I do not exactly agree, which is not to say that I actually disagree."
-youngprer
I believe that people who spend valuable time practicing techniques aimed at unlocking Genius owe it to themselves to also work on such a foundation, as it provides the mental flexibility and the penetrating insight necessary for developing more accurate evaluations of "what is really happening". The difficulty with this path lies in the fact that no dogma, no preconceived, bottled and throttled system of metaphysics, can apply. The thinker must shed this baggage for the dead-weight it burdens him/her with. If you ask me that is the true path of knowledge, the true path of Socratic Inquisition, and the path of the Faustian Spirit as I have heavily referenced in my "name".
Unfortunately, the authority-figures, the "little Fathers", which most of our country elects as representative, not only into political offices but throughout our social situation, show little interest in such knowledge, preferring instead to launch moral-crusades, "faith-based" education and to generally retain their position as the sheperds that lead and fleece the sheep; they too live as sheep to impulses and emotion-reaction which, in a sense, herd and fleece them.
So, you can retain whatever beliefs you have about "genius", you can also retain any beliefs you have, but until you have questioned everything about yourself, down to a new foundation, one which, I hope, resembles and reflects a many-valued semantic orientation, containing the inherent understanding that all things sayable "are really just maps of 'what is really going on'", among other things, you cannot really experience Freedom. Wow, I must have mastered the LONG SENTENCE in one of my philosophy classes...
I'll end this lengthy addenda by saying, as usual, that much of my inspiration derives from certain 'philosophical' and 'spiritual' roots including: Zen Buddhism, Deconstruction, General Semantics, Martin Heiddeger, Nietzsche, J.W. Goethe, William Blake, and Taoism. I strongly encourage the study of all of those people/'systems' if you feel inspired or just plain interested by anything I've said. This does not mean that you must abandon the techniques of LSC, nor that I necessarily discredit such techniques, I want it to mean that a broader, deconstructed and liberated basis, provides the best soil from which the flower of Genius can bloom. Furthermore, in studying those systems, one often doesn't understand as quickly as one would hope, but stick with it, try to internalize it, meditate and reflect over it, dream about it, write about it, I promise great reward. Perhaps this world we live in will grow more sane, and suffering can be abolished, the goal, remember, of Buddhism.
Don't take my word for it, See for yourself
Kristoff Lundholm Olafsson
[This message has been edited by Kristoff Olafsson (edited April 16, 2003).]
Too bad it is probably completely dead.
I found Kristoff's and mgrego2's statements to be particularly pertinent.
I believe the term "Genius" is thrown around too loosely and wildly. If Genius is to be found as easily as suggested, then the term Genius becomes ubiquitous and consequentially meaningless.
Kristoff, do you think that being aware of mental processes necessarily transcends them? That is, if I am aware of the reactions of my mind, and I include them self-referentially in conversation, does that mean anything whatsoever?
I may be aware of thoughts and feelings and yet this awareness may bring to bear no real effect upon them.
I suppose what I am saying is that being self-referential is not the same as being self-controlled.
Regarding another issue, I do see the value, however, in expanding upon binary thinking by trying to linguistically work your way around that trap. Both/and and at the same time neither/nor is always a fascinating place.
[This message has been edited by babayada (edited July 04, 2003).]
Let me start by saying that I have not purchased many of the products on this site. I purchased the photoreading book, but suspect that similar to many 'get smart' books it is better to use one of the guided programs.
Thus far, I have my doubts about the efficacy of 'photoreading' as I understand it or more specifically what I 'wish' it were.
The jury is still out on it and I will probably invest in the course because the potential benefits outweigh the cost of the program. If there were a 1.2.3. way to develop 'spontaneous activation(SA)' then the course would be a no-brainer to invest time effort and energy in. I would like to see some valid research to determine the rate at which (SA) occurs. Hell, I'd participate in a study.
I've looked at some of the memory optimizer descriptions and they are quick to bring out the fact that its main principal are different than 'association and pegging'. If the MO course is more effective than the MegaMemory style 'associations and pegging' then it would be highly impressive.
I've got perfect material to 'try' it out on. I'm doing an esperanto and GRE course using MegaMem techniques and SuperMemo. I'll give it a shot and give a very fair and honest report on the methodology.
To join the broader discussion, Genius is not a zero sum game. Everyone on the planet could be a genius. If they came up with a pill that raised your IQ, creativety, memory and tacit knowledge a thousand fold, we would all be geniuses. Some of us would still be smarter than others, but we would all exceed our current 'threshold' of mental ability defining genius.
That is one of the tough parts, defining genius. Some may define a long-term welfare person as a genius because they have found a way to 'beat the system' and avoid working. Your first instinct might be to say well no they are making a moral decision to take advantage of a flawed artificial system in order to avoid work. However, we wouldn't be as quick to deny the term 'genius' to someone who does essentially the same thing by investing money in the market or a business to avoid work. The only real differences are the approach and how the time 'not working' is spent.
How about the case that the welfare person has used the system to stay home and all they do is work on philosophy and math, they become extremely knowledgable but they never come up with any really orignal. Is this genius? Is it closer?
How about this case: The welfare person, uses their time to study science and genetics, then bam they figure out a way to just turn cancer off. Now are they a genius? More importantly does their going on welfare show an 'early' piece of genius?
Do we define genius by the means or the end? Is it something in between or is it hopelessly subjective?
The smartest guy in my high school (not just high grades), named Floyd, was a phenom in math, science, language etc. In my non professional opinion, I'm willing to bet Floyd was a 160-170 IQ range. He was reading, understanding and relating to Kant, Hiedegger and Ponte when we were in 7th and 8th Grade. Was/Is Floyd a genius? There is no doubt in my mind that he was/is. However,(you probably saw this coming), the last time I saw Floyd (about 5 years ago at the age of 26-27)he was bagging groceries at small local supermarket and had been doing so since he got kicked out of the local state university (where he was double majoring in Math and Chemical Engineering). He got kicked out because he would start these huge arguments in class and would start screaming at the professors.
I've always known I was a 'smart' person. I also knew from the time that I met Floyd that I was nowhere near being one of the smartest 'kinds' of people. I knew that there were people whos own mental abilities towered over mine. This realization was quite a relief for me. It was like finding my place in life by finding out where I wasn't. I wasn't pond scum and I wasn't troposhperic.
However, since my encounter with Floyd,I have always been fascinated by the concept of intelligence. I've always wondered what the difference between what Floyd had and what he didn't have.
Whenever, I think of Floyd when I see the part in Beautiful Mind when Dr. Nash is telling his hallucinations that "You're not real.", and the hallucinated 'G-Man' tells asks him "Is this what you've become, some useless Ghoul? The local Madman?"
Floyd is the 'Useless Ghoul' now. I still call him every year or so, he usually is cordial initially eventually slips into a hyper-intellectual rant about some obscure aspect of philosophy or mathematics or Popular music even. I truly feel for Floyd. I have joked with one of my brightest friends about the CIA initiating a "Geek Reclimation" program; where the CIA picks up types like Floyd and locks them in a basement at Langley and have them processing intelligence resources.
So the question remains, What is Genius? If this Genius Code program, helps us to access the quality that Floyd lacks then it addresses one side of the Genius equation but how about the other side. The pure mental ability side, understanding complex books (i.e. Process and Reality, Whitehead), understanding complex mathematics, physics and chemistry, remembering enough significant details to deal with big problems etc.
A true 'genius' program would have to deal at least with both sides of this issue. And as evidenced by Floyd they are not perfectly correlated items.
My own issues revolve around a few critical points. 'Stick to it', I've started more projects than most people even think about. My problem is that I'm a quitter. When things get to complicated and I feel like I could fail at it. I tend to back out of it and move on to something else that interest me rather than face failure.
This has gotten better over time. I have 'gone back' and completed many of my task: Half-read books, dropped college course, completing military schools etc.
I've done my current job longer than anything I've done before. I'm probably one of the best (top 100/20000) people in the field. I don't know why I've stuck with this so long...probably because it is commission based technical work and the pay system is almost a pure meritocracy.
But unfortunately, I feel like I have 'cheated' myself. My friend John gets on me all the time. He says, "You like doing your lock work because it is easy and profitable for you, plus it's unique; but you should be a doctor or a scientist of some kind. Of course you are one of the best at what you do...you should be doing something else."
So in a way I draw an analogy between myself and Floyd. What is it that John Nash, Watson and Crick or other nobel prize winners have that I don't?
I would feel a bit more confident about saying "This program is good or this methodogy is working for me." if I was some nobel physicist (which as you can see I generally consider the pinnacle of human development but for you it may be a pulitzer or some other grandiose recognition). But in actuality I'm just a Technician class. My angle has always been leadership. Not because I read the Prince and got some rank in the military. It's because I have a deep rooted desire to understand things and make them better (myself included).
To summarize, Genius is not a zero sum game, it is not limited by some certain Percentile definition. If more people got smarter...more people would be geni.
Genius is at least two sided. What Floyd had (and at that level)which is easier to measure progress on (see post Ultra High Ceiling IQ Test) and what Floyd did not have which seems impossible to measure potential for because it is defined as produced results. EQ? Common Sense? Restraint? Mental Stability? Very hard to say what this second aspect is but most of you reading this will know what aspect I'm talking about.
Anything that contributes 'significantly' to either of these two aspects is worth wrestling with.
I appreciate your attention to this and if you enjoy similar 'streams' let me know and I would love to correspond with similar 'searchers'.
Rob Reynolds
Drinkblot@yahoo.com
In short, one must look at success holistically and develop many of the abilities that school nerds have tended to avoid. To borrow a concept from nonlinear dynamical systems theory, you have to change your attractor fields to attract to yourself what you want in life. This is where you start using more of your brain and delve into nonlinear modes of information processing and Hegelian dialectics. The whole brain is not dedicated to logical, rational, linear, technical processing. Most people may use less than 10% of their brain but when they start using more of it, they find themselves going beyond the traditional logical, rationalist, positivist, materialist thinking into realms beyond. Real geniuses like Einstein and Tesla applied a more integrative mental processing approach as a matter of course.
People are where they are in life because they do not take action to get out of the rut they are in. In a feedback control system, you have to raise the setpoint provided by the negative feedback loop if you want to change the results. You change your mind and you can change your life.
One of the reasons we do not use more of our brain is because our brains are intensive consumers of the body's energy and oxygen and the body would have to work harder to support it. So the evolutionary efficient approach was to localize brain usage to a minimum area for efficiency's sake. If you want to use more of it, then first increase your efficient management of greater amounts of energy and oxygen. Pretty soon you'll be turning to yoga, meditation, and qigong but that's the kind of stuff that's normally avoided and outright rejected by most.
[This message has been edited by shr33m (edited July 05, 2003).]
As I was reading your post I really started to feel for you and your experiences. I have had similar ones ... though I don't consider myself in the top 100 of anything.
My intuition tells me that your experience of genius may lie outside of figuring things out. Rather, it probably lies in pioneering and creativity. You seem to be very adapt at figuring, of accumulating knowledge and learning to navigate with expertise within existing patterns.
What might be very exciting and rewarding for you is to take the body of knowledge you have in your current field of endeavor and excellence and mapping that space. Now take your finger and put it on a spot outside of that shape.
There's your area of experiementation, creativity, and pioneering, if you will.
I think Shr33m is really on to something, and I agree with what he (?) says.
I've enjoyed reading both your posts. You have good things to say.
As Drinkblot has experienced, possibly the most intelligent person I've ever met was a guy with whom I attended elementary and jr. high school. The guy was brilliant. He was a whiz at calculus and chemistry. He could write well. He socialized well. In fact, he was probably more well rounded than a lot of folks that are considered geniuses. (Was Einstein a genius or a savant?) Last I heard (12 years ago), he had dropped out of college and was working as a handyman. It seems almost a crime for the world to lose the benefit of that intellect.
But, and this points to something else in Drinkblot's post, it may well be that he is enjoying what he does and feeling fulfilled. Who is to say that this means he is wasting his life? If Drinkblot is challenging himself, enjoying his work, and getting paid at a level that he deems adequate, who is to say that this is a waste? This probably puts him way beyond a large percentage of the population who are just earning a paycheck. Maybe there is genius at work there...What if Drinkblot drops his profession and studies medicine for a significant portion of his life, and then decides he absolutely hates it? What happens to that ability that once seemed so effortless? What happens to the contentment that once existed? Even if he sailed through the program with excellent grades, what value is there if he hates his life? (At this point, I'm seriously hoping Drinkblot is a "he." If not, you are feeling VERY sleepy. Whenever you look at this paragraph, your mind automatically converts any he to she. Of course, as Hofstadter pointed out, the result would be that you eventually get only ssssssssssssssssssssssssssshe... and completely lose track of the thread).
Perhaps there is a more appropriate word than genius. What about that person who has learned to be effective on many levels and who applies those abilities to better the lives of those around them? If it doesn't usher us into a new age, does that make it any less valuable? I haven't clearly determined from the new posters what their definition of genius is. The most appropriate definition in Webster for genius is "a person endowed with transcendent mental superiority; especially: a person with a very high intelligence quotient
"
This suggests, as Shr33m has mentioned, a person who may or may not have other qualities that qualify them as "successful." Based upon Webster's definition of genius, the only difference between a savant and an idiot savant is an IQ score. So what?
Is personal genius a better term? If someone can exceed the perceived limitations of his/herself and of others around them, can they qualify as achieving personal genius? If they can extend their capabilities in a variety of disciplines, doesn't that qualify them? If by extending their capabilities on several fronts, they can improve their situation and, by extension, the situation of those closely related to them, can they qualify?
With apologies to Michael Gelb, there is probably not a product out there that can make me a DaVinci. However, if there are techniques out there that can get me closer, isn't there value to that? Maybe our own "elitist" view of what genius should be holds us back.
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The second interesting fact is that, concurrent with the global rise in psychic abilities, IQ is also increasing worldwide. The evidence of this rise has been collected by James Flynn of the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand.This rise has been called the Flynn Effect. and it has intelligence experts perplexed, because the increas in IQ is coming primarily from an increase in only one area - pattern recognition. In areas like maths or arithmetic there is not much of a gain at all. When you understand the link between patterns and metaphysical ability, the reason for increasing IQ scores in this area is obvious. The human race is becoming more psychic.
Manual for the Mind 5 Keys to Psychic Ability by Catherine Wilkins ISBN 0 9578583 4 5 p 10-11
Alex
[This message has been edited by AlexK (edited July 07, 2003).]
Some people do their greatest work outside of their regular jobs. When Einstein published the paper that won him the Nobel Prize in Physics, he was employed in the Patent Office.
When you look at the large unused brain capacity, you have to wonder if humans had fully used it at one time having abilities like clairvoyance, telepathy, telekinesis, healing, etc. These skills must have been useful in meeting the large energy and oxygen requirements a fully utilized brain needs. And why did it fall into disuse? Was there an energy/oxygen famine? Or did Force begin to replace Power as the dominant paradigm?
It's only in the last decade or so that the collective human race raised its LoC level from 190 to 207 (thanks to a few individuals who saw fit to use more of their brains). Maybe we are coming full circle again as the post from Alex indicates.
(Note: The terms LoC, power, and force are used in the context of "Power vs. Force" by David Hawkins, MD, PhD)
If one slowly reflects on the above, and in the spirit of experimentation enters into their own experience of thinking, it will bring about the beginnings of a reordering of linguigrammaticosemantic- there's a word for you-- awareness which can lead to the beginnings of freedom and liberation in thought and experience. I firmly believe, as a matter of my own experience, that the riddles of that elusive nature which we deem "genius" begin to manifest from that freedom. The creative potential liberates itself from unconscious conditioning.
For a better world,
Kristoff Olafsson
All these arts of divination, like numerology, vedic astrology, runes, i-ching, etc., when done correctly and interpreted correctly have validity. That they have validity is due to the notion that free will does not exist.
The characters that make up a name, the position of the planets, do not in themselves, cause events to happen. There are no coincidences and these seemingly unrelated events are associated together, not through causality, but synchronicity.
We only have the illusion of free will. Or if we really do have free will, it's actually quite irrelevant.
In all the dimensions that make up the physical, astral, and causal planes, (all of this constitutes Maya or the Matrix) we think we are responsible for our actions. ("You've already made the choice, you only need to understand why you made the choice." - but is that really choice???)
The illuison of free will is what drives karma which in turn drives Maya. At the highest level (Pure Consciousness) from which energy emanates as Maya, there is no free will. Everything has been predetermined and we're all acting out scripts on the universal stage. Maya is a dream (or computer simulation) of Brahman, the One who created all this.
The whole rationale for karma is to provide lessons for learning experiences. The true self, or Atman, is here to experience the many variations of karmic game-playing in order to learn. These roles that we assume in each lifetime tend to be scripted affairs. Randomness just would not do since it is a waste of time to re-experience a karmic lesson that's already been learned.
The key to becoming liberated from karma is to realize the futility of free will. There is no do-er. For example, you can't hate someone because of what they did to you. They were just trying to learn the lesson or set themselves up for a future one. The Atman is just tagging along for the ride as an objective observer. You become liberated from Maya (and the samsara of endless rebirths) when you realize there is nothing more for you to learn. But then that's all been predetermined anyway.
Admittedly though, most people enjoy playing the Maya game and don't want to leave it just yet. So you see, spiritual growth is just the accumulation of game points. The name of the game is to become liberated and become a siddha like - Super Sayan or Neo!!!
Do we gamers like it when we see the words:
GAME OVER
or do we play more rounds like the addicts that we are.
shr33m
I take it upon myself to say that free will does exist, it can exist. Most people do not possess it however- it is a matter of experience. It can be cultivated, and the only sort of free will worth consideration- not the metaphysically based, transcendent "soul" type of free agency-- follows upon an examination and an entering into, and a subsequent development of the nature of thinking. Using mindfulness and attention to our unconscious we can become aware of the psychic forces impelling us into our patterns of consciousness. And by bringing them into consciousness we can work upon them and shape them, and their consequent actions, on the basis of our Ideals- if I may so speak. Slowly, but surely, our consciousness and actions will change as a result, in the full light of consciousness and reason. You can either experience this or ignore it, even ignore the possibility of it. But for those who do experience this, it results in the sort of freedom I'm talking about. In fact, 'free will' MEANS NOTHING apart from experience. Getting trapped in metaphysical logics surrounding 'free will' is what has hampered its development in most people. In truth, their is no way to argue against this-- either you experience it or you don't; that is the whole of which one can argue about. No amount of discursive rambling, nor the manipulations of logicians can deny the barest facts of experience. This is the ground from which all thinking must proceed if it is to lay claim to any sort of knowledge-of-phenomena.
Now, as an example of 'free will' at work: why did I write this? I wrote this primarily as an example of the sort of path which relates to my above commentary on approachin genius. My own "progress" on this path is still only the beginning- but also, the end-in-itself as long as we're thinking purposively and categorically- and developing my thoughts thorugh writing, in response to the wide panorama of divergent views, helps to bind together my thinking as a greater and greater referent of my experience, and my experience-of-thinking. Psychologically, I would presume that it also satifies a desire for expression- and my choosing of this form for that, in full consciousness, is entirely appropriate. Finally, I think that it benefits everyone to read words which point them towards an experience of themselves. I feel that this discursive method, while inadequate and easily deceptive, is the only medium which can adequately speak to a secular, 'Western' audience. If we were in a Zen Monastery I would not feel this need at all. If I were speaking to poets I'd speak in poetry. To engineers, I might even draw them a diagram...but the medium 'is not' the experience. Remember this and be well,
KO
quote:
Originally posted by Kristoff Olafsson:
I take it upon myself to say that free will does exist, it can exist. Most people do not possess it however- it is a matter of experience. It can be cultivated, and the only sort of free will worth consideration- not the metaphysically based, transcendent "soul" type of free agency-- follows upon an examination and an entering into, and a subsequent development of the nature of thinking. Using mindfulness and attention to our unconscious we can become aware of the psychic forces impelling us into our patterns of consciousness. And by bringing them into consciousness we can work upon them and shape them, and their consequent actions, on the basis of our Ideals- if I may so speak. Slowly, but surely, our consciousness and actions will change as a result, in the full light of consciousness and reason. You can either experience this or ignore it, even ignore the possibility of it. But for those who do experience this, it results in the sort of freedom I'm talking about. In fact, 'free will' MEANS NOTHING apart from experience. Getting trapped in metaphysical logics surrounding 'free will' is what has hampered its development in most people. In truth, their is no way to argue against this-- either you experience it or you don't; that is the whole of which one can argue about. No amount of discursive rambling, nor the manipulations of logicians can deny the barest facts of experience. This is the ground from which all thinking must proceed if it is to lay claim to any sort of knowledge-of-phenomena.Now, as an example of 'free will' at work: why did I write this? I wrote this primarily as an example of the sort of path which relates to my above commentary on approachin genius. My own "progress" on this path is still only the beginning- but also, the end-in-itself as long as we're thinking purposively and categorically- and developing my thoughts thorugh writing, in response to the wide panorama of divergent views, helps to bind together my thinking as a greater and greater referent of my experience, and my experience-of-thinking. Psychologically, I would presume that it also satifies a desire for expression- and my choosing of this form for that, in full consciousness, is entirely appropriate. Finally, I think that it benefits everyone to read words which point them towards an experience of themselves. I feel that this discursive method, while inadequate and easily deceptive, is the only medium which can adequately speak to a secular, 'Western' audience. If we were in a Zen Monastery I would not feel this need at all. If I were speaking to poets I'd speak in poetry. To engineers, I might even draw them a diagram...but the medium 'is not' the experience. Remember this and be well,
KO
Hmmmm.... I would describe this as "linguistic complexity masquerading as intellectual insight."
You really shed no light whatsoever on the question of free will. So you are saying that there are people who don't have any free will whatsoever, whose actions are completely deterministic? Show me these people! Right now!!
And the process you describe for cultivating free will, is just a prescription for "mindfulness" which has been re-hashed in thousands of different forms, by lots of different people, including on this website. There's nothing new or insightful there.
I like how you say "I presume it satisfies a desire for expression..."
You sound kind of out of touch with yourself...
A better philosophical point to think about: who is it, exactly, that has free will anyway? That's the crux of it. How are you defining this "I". You presume an "I" in relation to "thought", and never bother to define what that is or what you are talking about. What are you talking about?
Just trying to help you become a genius,
Garic
Advice:
Fake it until you make it. Naaa doesn't sound right.
A long journey that starts with small steps and eventually brings you to yourself. Naaaa, not really advice. That sounds more like insight.
When you still yourself you will hear the answer. Nope that's still insight.
Believe in yourself, and get out of your way. Yeah, now that's my advice.
Iam2 
quote:
Originally posted by Iam2:
Believe in yourself, and get out of your way. Yeah, now that's my advice.Iam2
Dude, no, that's like...Paul's advice. Remember? Like...all that stuff in say...NATURAL BRILLIANCE that he talks about...?
OOOOPs. I did, I did say "my advice".
Or maybe I should say Whoa me and Paul think the same way.
Or maybe I just exhibited my own psychic ability to tap into the universal (or just Paul's) wisdom.
Keep knowing, growing and going.
Iam2
I want to buy the genius code, but I not shure yet
To tell you the truth it would make me more angry to waste my time and commit myself to the course than acctually pay for it. Hate puttin trust and time in something to have it not reek any benefits.
The problem with the material LSC has to offer is that the effectivity is very subjective and difficult to measure, which at the pices charged for some people presents a problem.
any more reviews??
Why does LSC not offer the deluxe version of the course that other web pages offer?
I know this is a cliche, but you will get out of the Genius Code what you put into it.
You can certainly reap benefits from reading the Einstein Factor and doing the exercises in there.
Essentially, what you are doing is free-associating and describing aloud your internal experience. This activity, I think, strengthens interconnectivity between the normal, cognitive linguistic self and the sort of free-wheeling, visual, dream-self. You will develop skills, certainly, from practicing this. How you use it and how creative you can be with it is up to you.
I have not continued using it, but that is just me. I think that many people can find it very, very useful and rewarding. I don't think it'll be a waste of your time. If anything, it's a very interesting course.
Stephen
Next month we will introduce the Genius Code Accelerator.
If you've purchased the Genius Code from us and if we have permission to send email to you, then you will receive information on the Accelerator in mid-October.
I've just listened to two of the eight CDs, and if you like the Genius Code, you'll love the Accelerator.
More then...
Thanks for your post. Thanks for questioning.
I recommend taking the Avatar 9-day Course if someone wants to rediscover free will and experience the creator (you) behind all your creations (mental, physical, life circumstances, etc.).
You also get a few simple tools to discover the transparent beliefs that are creating aspects of your life and creating your current definition of self, and tools that allow you to insert and delete beliefs at will. You are not asked to subscribe to or reject a belief system or truth-teaching you already have in order to use the tools.
The course is faster than digesting all the teachings and books mentioned in the post and it will ensure that what is learned is experiential. Web site is avatarepc.com. Download the book Living Deliberately for free.
Note: The use of the word "enlightenment" on the avatar website is unnecessary, hypish, and misleading in my opinion, but I think it is a great course and completely priceless. I wish everyone knew what the course allows you to experience and know. Check it out if you wish.
You might also want to have a broader context:
http://www.scientology-kills.org/Avatar/pg_1/pg_1.htm