Confrontational or what? - Forum for PhotoReading, Paraliminals, Spring Forest Qigong, and your quest for improvement

I�ve had the home study course for a number of years now and have tried many times to get the system to work for me. I have an enormous belief in myself and my mental abilities but for some reason I�ve been unable to experience anything but minor successes with the system. These minor successes are limited to the dictionary game. I also believe that this system is the best substitute for traditional reading which we all know has been the same for hundreds of years. As a developer in the computer industry I�m constantly bombarded with new and better ways of doing things which I have to agree are, for the most part, better. This makes it easy for me to accept that there must be a better way to gather information from written material than we�ve been using for ages. I think you probably all agree with me so far.

Now, applying my instinctive logic to the system I�ve come up with the following conclusions.

Previewing � fine, seems like a very sensible step. Check what the book�s about, get an idea of it�s contents, it�s angle and style.
Trigger words � hmmm, OK, I accept this but as yet can�t see the point.
Summary � yes, accepted.
Purpose � definitely a good thing. I think we�ve all experienced a success in something when we really had a reason to succeed.
Relaxed state � yes, everything physical and mental is easier when the body and mind is relaxed.
PhotReading � well that�s what I bought the system for. Now, I like many others would love to be able to do just this main step and then know everything that�s in the book. Many people have said this is just not possible. My view is �anything is possible�.

Activation � as others on here have asked, �why?�. Why is activation necessary? I�ve read that it�s to bring the information into the conscious mind. I want it in the conscious mind when I need it. This step is done in a number of ways most of which involve reading the text again USING TRADITIONAL READING METHODS. This is the bit I feel is wrong. If I�m reading using the �old� style how can you say it�s coming from the subconscious or long term memory? It�s coming from the pages of the book that I�m reading.

I hope I�ve missed something because this step is a major block for me. I need to be convinced preferably in logical terms why reading using the tradition methods is still necessary.

I apologise for going on at such length but I truly believe this system works and that the problem is mine. I also think that I�m not alone after all I�ve seen many posts on here from techies like myself who want to learn things and learn them fast. Not read fast but learn fast.

As an incidental point I think maybe PhotReading should be renamed so it doesn�t have the word �read� in it. I think the name implies a different method of reading whereas I like to think of it as speed learning or high-speed information gathering.
Comments anyone?

With regards to the PR step .. you aren't reading word for word everything in a book.

you should be "super-reading" which is just looking down the center of the page and moving quickly from page to page UNTIL something catches your eye. At that point you would dip into it and read normally. You would normally feel the need to continue SR'ing until you felt drawn once again to the text.

This differs from regular reading because it's done much faster and more focused.

For example, if I reading a technical book on using perl with dbi's, I wouldn't need to know all the information in the book that deals with "how to use perl" if I already knew that. My mind knows what it knows. I could SR all that information very quickly and not feel any urge to dip into it. Lets also say that I'm familiar with database syntax and don't really need to read that, I would SR right past that. I would only dip when I reached information I didn't already know. Basically, when you dip it's because you needed that information. That's the purpose of those mind-probing questions and trigger words.

I also want to point out that even if you were to do all these stages within the complete system you are still spending FAR less time "reading" than you would if you read traditionally.

Does this make sense?

Tracey~

[This message has been edited by tracey (edited May 24, 2002).]

You want to be convinced in logical terms???

Paul Scheele says: If you do what you have always done-----you will get what you have always gotten.

Don't you think it's about time to do something different in your particular approach to PhRing? After all according to your post I�ve had the home study course for a number of years now and have tried many times to get the system to work for me.

good luck

Please read the post directly below yours.

Margaret & tracey, Have you both made the system work? All I see is bla, bla, bla,bla, and Paul says this, and Paul says that. You both act like you were daughters of Paul. I'm an accountant, and as one, I'm very skeptical. For me, life is black or white. I don�t like other colors. I won't give Pring the time of day until I see the following posting: I can pread, pring really works, I pass such and such exam using pring. I highly recommend pring to everyone.

I've been reading postings for almost 9 months now. I've read postings of very intelligent individuals. Individuals that had e-mail addresses from top universities like Georgia Tech, MIT, Yale,Smith college, Princeton, Berkelly. If they got accepted into those universities, they most be as bright as they come. I never seen a post like the one just mentioned. Neither from them ,nor from anybody else.My logical way of thinking says Pring might work, but I�ve not read any convincing stories as of yet. I mean really convincing. Not senteces like I think, I almost got it, I might get it.I�m into something here.
The stories from the marketing advertisement don�t count, because I�ve never read postings from those people in their process of learning the system.

I'm too busy studying for my GMat , and reviewing the only part I did not pass on my CPA exam. By the way, I didn't use pring to pass the 2 or 3 parts that I think I pass on my CPA exam. I know better specially when I saw a posting by SDstudent, which was a guy who relied on pring to pass his Mcats exam. The poor guy use pring on both instances. I wonder if he eventually pass on his second tried.

I hope someone can prove me wrong some day, but I think pring doesn�t work.

Gino,
I learned PhRing when i was almost 50

But you posted this:

quote:
I won't give Pring the time of day until I see the following posting: I can pread, pring really works, I pass such and such exam using pring. I highly recommend pring to everyone.

I have been successfully PhRing for 6 years now. I had 0 (read that ZIP) knowledge of IT. I used PhRing and MMing & passed the MCP certification the first time.

BUT, perhaps more significantly, i have taught PhRing to a couple students. One guy is now in his 3rd year of residency. He loves me to death b/c of PhRing. The other guy received an award in h.s. as the most improved student in his class. He said it was thanks to me teaching him MMing.

But here are your areas of challenge & i'm quoting from your post: For me, life is black or white. I don�t like other colors. ---- I�ve not read any convincing stories as of yet. I mean really convincing. ---- I know better specially when I saw a posting by SDstudent, which was a guy who relied on pring to pass his Mcats exam. The poor guy use pring on both instances. ----- and now for your amazing clinker of a thought I hope someone can prove me wrong some day, but I think pring doesn�t work.

It's Fri. night, i'm almost done & i only answered you b/c i'm a first class jerk

Why do you CHOOSE to believe some guy who is doing LOUSY w/ PhRing and not others who are doing great?

Did it ever occur to you that SDstudent is doing it incorrectly? Did it ever occur to you that you are unconsciously choosing to read only failure stuff b/c all you want to see is that?

Did it ever, even faintly, occur to you that maybe, just maybe, you could set your course in life w/o needing and relying on the opinion of others? Huh?

I bought it. I followed the steps. It worked. For heavens sake, does it have to be more complicated than that?

Nope! You and all the people like you have other problems that need addressing first. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make'em drink.

The most curious thing about this post and others before is that people panic about taking exams. They realize they've got a ton of work to do and they look for a quick-fix, they want the Cliff's notes for their life.

PhotoReading shows up and they buy it and hope it's the panacea they've been looking for. PhotoReading works. It's people who often do not work. One of the things you'll see repeated over and over is "PLAY WITH IT". Now, correct me if I'm wrong but studying for critical exams like MCATs and the like is NOT FUN. It's hard work, it's memorization, and overall stressful.

Why do people persist in blaming the product when the product can do nothing on it's own? It is the person who makes something work for them. It's synergy. PR'ing is not for everyone.

To my point about using PR'ing to study for exams, yes, it can work and it can help but unless you spend the TIME it takes to layer all the information in, you won't have as good of results as you expect from this "miracle" program. Then who do you blame? It's typically not yourself that you blame, because "I did it right", it must be the programs fault, it must be a gimmick. Am I right?

Nowhere will you see anyone say they learned and mastered the steps of PR'ing overnight. It's just not possible. There is a reason it is suggested that you read up to 10 books a week using the PR'ing method.

PR'ing in and of itself is a PR'ing session on it's on. Clarifying that, learning to PR is a process, a LAYERING process. Just like you need to layer new knowledge using the PR techniques, you must layer the steps of PR'ing.

It works. There are a lot of posts that exist on this board that state that.

PR'ing is like accounting. You have your checks and balances. ALL things must be in place in order for you to succeed (or balance the books, in this case).

When you skip steps, you get errors. When you don't follow through completely you get errors. When you rush, you get errors. It doesn't get more black and white than this.

If people were to spend as much time learning the PROCESS of PR'ing as they did complainging about it, they'd have nothing to complain about.

The bottom line is this, if you are so set against this not working. It will never work for you. You have made up your mind to disallow it from working.

Tracey~

Margaret,,

If it had worked for you, you are the 03% of this forum that have made it. I haven't learned the program yet. I just don't have the time to spend on a program that by its percentage of success does not sound too promising. I wanted to learn it over the summer, but I get discourage by so low success rate. Lets be realistic here. If you count all the success stories on this forum and divide them by the cumulative total, you'll see that you are among the lucky 02% that have made it. I will try to learn this program, but not right now. If the success rate was a little higher, I might have given it the benefit of doubt. On the other hand, If what you are saying is true, then pring must work. For example, Even if 01% of a certain population is capable of telekinesis, I will have to assume that telekinesis exist.

Tracey,,
I was not judging the system based on SDstudent's outcome. I'm judging the system based on 97% of unsuccessful learners. the ones that are here,and the ones that left. I'm not going to criticize a learning program based on only one individual's results. Dstudent could be dumb as a rock for all I know.

Gino,

If the program doesn't work for you, and you don't have the time for it it, then drop it and stop trying to convince yourself and others that it doesn't work.

If it didn't work, I wouldn't be here. I can assume the other regular posters wouldn't be here either.

As for those who've left here, the internet is a transient place. People move on. Some people choose to stay and help, but others get caught up in their lives and don't get much from this forum because they are beyond it. When I first purchased the course I came here many times a day to read the posts and then I stopped. I'd read a few posts every few months but then move on.

Have I been a success at PR'ing? Yes, I have. Do I regularly do PR'ing? No, I don't. I'm impatient with it, but I know the steps and when I actively sit down and follow through I achieve great results. I enjoy reading and I enjoy sitting down and reading books word for word. I'm also lazy, and it's more work initially to PR than to regular read as I read very very rapidly naturally.

When I need a higher retention, I will PR things. Plain and simple.

Tracey

Gino, you can't figure out the success rate based on postings on this forum as many people come here to post because they are just beginning to learn the PRWMS or because they are encountering problems and need help with them. Many probably leave as soon as they can get going with it, as they probably wanted to learn to PR with some purpose in mind, and when they get it to work, they get on with their lives with this new skill at their disposal.

If you want to look up success stories, search for youngprer, Mastermind, CommonSense, razordu32, Alexk, .........Margaret and Tracey already told you theirs, quite unequivocally.

Going to go for an MBA? What's the piracetam doing?

[This message has been edited by Hel (edited May 25, 2002).]

OK folks, I wanted to promote a discussion on certain aspects of the system but we don�t need to get personal.

Let me reiterate, I believe the system works it�s just that I have to question the need for certain stages. I have had one inexplicable success with the PR stage itself. I borrowed a biography about a British actor and just did the PR step. After this I was moved to ask the owner of the book if this actor was gay. I never had any knowledge he was but I just felt after the PR stage that he was. The answer was yes, he is gay and that fact is somewhere towards the end of the book. Now I don�t know how I knew this, it MUST have been because I PhotRead the book so I believe it works. Now to repeat my point about activation, if I can pick up things like that through the PR step alone why do we need to activate, which in my mind is a collective term for the different ways of reading �traditionally�.

Now some would say this is �spontaneous activation� � a term I�ve never understood. I think this �instant knowing� is why most people buy the system. If this works for one bit of information why can�t it work for everything in the book. Paul Scheele and his team talk about the limitation we all impose on ourselves and the fact we have to break-through our self-constructed barriers so before anybody tells me I�m expecting too much just ask yourself if that�s another barrier your erecting for me.

I have had some amazing experiences in things unrelated to PhotoReading that I can�t explain at all so I know that the absolute limits of human abilities have not yet been reached, only the limitation we�ve put in place for ourselves.

I don�t believe Paul Scheele is satisfied with what he�s achieved so far with PhotReading, I�d be surprised if he wasn�t currently working on ways to improve the technique and push the boundaries of what he can convince us is possible.

Gareth,
I hope the following explains the reason for "regular reading."

The instant knowing you described is great but we forget that most of what we read, we read because we want to demonstrate our comprehension of the topic e.g. work related skills,respect of our peers and passing test etc.

The activation stage is training out mind to answer our questions for us. If we had a photographic memory of what we had read (ie we could mentally read the page with our inner vision) we'd be slowing ourselves to the general reading speed. What we don't realise is we are actually asking our mind to sort the information into "usable" information. That is calculate, reason, compare, summarise, seperate and identify usful information about what we have read... in a word comprehend or "make it make sense", that is what it means to Photoread. A photographic memory image of the page is utterly useless as the information on the page has to be processed and a photograph does not do that, a thinking mind does. That is what we use the activation stage for. Our inner mind has read the book and when we 'activate' using superread, dip scanning, skittering we are allowing our inner mind to tell us straight forwardly what it is that we want to know by pointing it out in the text.

Under normal circumstances out inner mind talks to our conscious mind in metaphors, images and abstract words and frankly 50% of the time our conscious mind doesn't seem to understand. The inner mind knows this is not the fastest way for our conscious mind to receive information from it so that our conscious mind can articulate the information and make use of it to suit our purpose e.g answer test questions. So the supperreading and dipping part of activation is our conscious mind saying to our inner mind ... point it out so I can see it clearly.

Activation is not necessary if you don't need to know the text consciously not care if you comprehend it. Actually the PhotoReading stage is fantastic for eliminating reading material that you will not consciously enjoy.

For example I have photoread a book and my inner mind just told me it is useless garbage and contradictory. Well I wanted to challenge this as the topic of the book was quite enticing. I activated it by asking questions about the topic (using the trigger words) and gad it is useless and contradictory. Moreover I know I've 'read' the whole book. After photoreading it I had a message from within me what was wrong to me about the book but couldn't 'say it clearly'. That's why I deliberately activated it. Now I can explain.

The problem is this aspect of photoreading is difficult to explain because it is an experiential thing. If I were to try to explain it in one sentence I would say...

The reason we work on deliberate activation is because the communication between the inner mind and our conscious mind is underdeveloped in 99% of the population and we often cannot grasp consciously what the inner message is.

Basicly we haven't learnt to trust our inner mind enough. Our conscious mind demands that it gets the information in a manner that it understands... i.e words spoken to us in the exact format that we need them. Our inner mind tends to give us the information in abstact form and the conscious mind needs to learn that language. So intially we find ourselves "regular reading" parts in order to clarify that communication.

As for whether photoreading works...

A lot of people believe that they can't do maths either... which is fortunate for accountants who probably represent the 03% of the population who had the belief that sums work and took the time to learn it.

Really your belief is the factor in determining whether you can or cannot do something.

Alex

"If this had a higher success rate"

UGH! The seminar is 98%, and the learning course is 94%-96%. What more do you want? This guy has really ticked me off.

PhotoReading works. With enough practice, you'll be able to do the bulk of activation through spontaneous activation.

Having an attitude like yours is not going to get you anywhere. You cannot expect to get anywhere saying to yourself, "No, I can't do this. This doesn't work. This is impossible. No one can do this. ONly a small portion of the people I've seen have been successful with this." And ETC!

Alright, now normally, I wouldn't post because I should be resting, but you forced me to post.

Enough said, If you all endorsing pring this way, I guess pring deserves consideration. Either that or you all work for LS. Let me be open-minded here. I will give pring a shot. I don�t think it�ll take me more than a weekend to learn the steps, but I�m sure it�ll take me a lot longer to master it. I�ll be the judge of that. I hope you all can help if I get stuck.

Hel, I�ve been taking 6400mg of Piracetam for the passed 4 days. Any improvements have certainly been subtle. The funny thing is that when I take piracetam for a couple of days, and then I stop for a day. That day is when I start feeling my mind real clear, and short-term memory increases dramatically. Is like upgrading you computer from a Pentium I to a Pentium III. I will have to keep experimenting to determine why this happens.

Oooh! Me working for LSC? YEAH, SURE.

So what are you saying, that this is a scam?

no, I didn't wrote that. I said that I'm going to be open minded and give pring a try. I would have think that this was a scam, I would have not even bother writing anything on this forum. I guess you can not read between the lines. Don't worry, you will develop this when you get older.

Read the symbol that's in between the lines right here:

ii|ii
[This message has been edited by youngprer (edited May 25, 2002).]

[This message has been edited by youngprer (edited May 25, 2002).]

quote:
Originally posted by Gino:
no, I didn't wrote that. I said that I'm going to be open minded and give pring a try.

"No, you didn't write* that."

I guess you can not read between the lines. Don't worry, you will develop this when you get older.

Hey, at least I can spell and do grammar when I'm young. See in between the lines? I'd bet dollars that I think three times as deep as you do.

I've figured out things no other kids would dream of figuring out, so don't you dare say that I can't read in between the lines.

quote:
Originally posted by Gino:
Enough said, If you all endorsing pring this way, I guess pring deserves consideration. Either that or you all work for LS. Let me be open-minded here. I will give pring a shot. I don�t think it�ll take me more than a weekend to learn the steps, but I�m sure it�ll take me a lot longer to master it. I�ll be the judge of that. I hope you all can help if I get stuck.
Hel, I�ve been taking 6400mg of Piracetam for the passed 4 days. Any improvements have certainly been subtle. The funny thing is that when I take piracetam for a couple of days, and then I stop for a day. That day is when I start feeling my mind real clear, and short-term memory increases dramatically. Is like upgrading you computer from a Pentium I to a Pentium III. I will have to keep experimenting to determine why this happens.

You are an accountant right. Here's the math. All supplements, drugs, chemicals have half-lives. Find out what the half-life for Piracetam is (ie-how long after you take it does it stay in your system). Calculate what amount of Piracetam is still in your system the day that you stop taking it. The amount that you determine is still in your system is the amount you should regularly take because that is the amount which you get the best results with.

Try overdosing on using the Photoreading System. Then back off on the tools you use that get you the results that you are after. Then only use those daily to get the results you want.

Hey, you aren't interested in taking personal shots - I know that. You just get ****ed off when marketing doesn't meet reality. Me too - I'm a lawyer for God sakes. I say - Prove it to me.

So, I figured out how all the evidence related to me. I don't use all the steps all the time. I use other parts at other times. The System just taught me a better way of learning information consciously. Now, as to the alleged unconscious input - photofocus - it's only 20% of the entire system. I figured if I surprise myself 20% of the time - that's all that was quantifiably promised. The interesting thing is - it started at 20% but now occurs more than that. Took me a little bit to get the pay-off, but I figured I had my whole life to play around with the system. Especially since 80% of the system improved my conscious reading skills.

Take it for what it's worth. Oh, BTW, any success story I post is entirely voluntarily. I don't push crap that doesn't work - you know what I mean.

Be good!

Good luck, and...
CommonSense
aka - Gene Bryson

Alex
Thanks for that explanation, I�m sure it�ll help with my acceptance of the need to activate. I�m still convinced though that the PhotoReading step is by far and a way the most important and that activation helps but shouldn�t be heavily relied on. So I plan to PR about 10,000 pages a day for the next week and see if my attempts at practice exams improves. This should show me if activation really is necessary and then I can try some activation as well to see if things improve any more.

Let�s face it the recommendation is to play with the system to see what works for each individual so hopefully this will work for me. Maybe I should say that I believe this WILL work for me.

I�d be interested to hear if anyone who�s successful with the system just chanced upon a method that works for them or whether they decided what would work and just made it do so. Margaret, Tracey, anyone?

CommonSense, You make sense. Thanks for the advise about piracetam.

youngprer, So I made a mistake for writing too fast. Big deal! I think in numbers anyway. JEEJEJE!

Gareth, answering questions in a practice exam IS activation. In fact, when we PR lots, just about anything that happens is/could be activation of something we have PR'ed.

I once reported on PRing the French/English dictionary, text book, grammar everyday for, I am not sure any more, a couple weeks. I didn't do 'deliberate' activation; French class itself was the activation.

CommonSense, I ordered the Rapid Reading book you recommended and it arrived a week ago. Looks promising, haven't had time to work with it yet. *sigh* When I have a book I want to read, then I tend to get greedy and want to get every word of it, including the 80% that contains only 20% of the useful info. So I do end up wanting to rapid read. Trouble is, I am a slow rapid reader, due to subvocalization. I really look forward to getting that under control. Thanks for the tip.

[This message has been edited by Hel (edited May 25, 2002).]

quote:
Originally posted by Gino:
youngprer, So I made a mistake for writing too fast. Big deal! I think in numbers anyway. JEEJEJE!

Well hey! Thanks. JEEJEJE!

The system is not hard to learn. In fact, nearly nothing is hard to learn. You just need to have a method that works for you. Activation is anything but traditional.

In the activation steps, the information is fueled, and guided by the PhotoReading step, which accelerates the entire process. After only 30-45 minutes, you should be able to start answering some questions about the book using the activation techniques.

I've also heard that Direct Learning is really amazing to go along with activation and will really prove that the PhotoReading step is indeed essential!

Doing some research, I found out that in Natural Brilliance, the personal learning course/book you can get information on Direct Learning, and that Natural Brilliace itself was originally going to be:

PhotoReading II.

*Gasp.* Yeah. Awesome, I know.

youngprer, you never cease to amaze me with your depth of understanding. I am glad you seem to have calmed down. Rest well.

quote:
Originally posted by Hel:
youngprer, you never cease to amaze me with your depth of understanding. I am glad you seem to have calmed down. Rest well.

Well thanks. I've been sick all day. . .had to stay home from school yesterday. Too bad I don't have money for the QiGong course, eh?

For the heck of it, I ordered the free QiGong and PR tapes. They're kewl! Paul's voice sounds different than I would expect. Experienced PhotoReaders, and practitioners of QiGong will get a real kick out of watching those videos. Hehehehe.

One disappointment though. I was hoping whenever Paul popped up on the screen I'd get to see some blazing speeds.

How old is that stuff? Looks like it's somethin' like from 92-95?

[This message has been edited by youngprer (edited May 25, 2002).]

I ordered the free PR video twice.The first time when I ordered the PRPLC. It arrived with the course all right, but it was broken so I couldn't view it. The second time I ordered it with the NB course, and whoever packed the order didn't put it in. So I still haven't seen it yet.

I would like to learn SFQ too. What impression did you get from the video? Does it look like it's something you would like to learn/practise?

quote:
Originally posted by Hel:

I would like to learn SFQ too. What impression did you get from the video? Does it look like it's something you would like to learn/practise?

Oh yeah. Looks like something that can definitely be predicted and mastered. When I was a little kid, I was able to do all sorts of weird things. Search for the topic that happened earlier in the year on telekenisis, and how many talk about there being some way to use Qi for that purpose.

I believe, however, that some of the reasons, how's, and why's need to be discovered. The mystery behind QiGong and even PhotoReading is very interesting.

Appearantly on the free SFQ vid, there's THOUSANDS of QiGong techniques, and some of which are extremely complicated and even kept SECRET.

That is indeed fascinating. Perhaps this is The Force of the real world? The concept of a universal energy that flows through everything is exactly what Qi is.