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Quote:
Thank you very much for your sharing hartreefoch, very helpful to me. I guess i am just expecting too much. but I wonder what have you done during the such long 4 years of time of studying PR? and is there anything that might really move you forward to the success? the last question is, what's ur current way of PR? how effect it is? any quantative data?
Hi Tom,
Thanks for asking. I'm happy to share more. (I wish this forum had
existed when I was still learning PR. Actually, I was one of LSC's first
generation of customers, waaay back when, before the whole Internet
craze.)
Before PR, I was a very poor reader. I hated to read, not because I hated
learning, but because reading was SO slow and difficult for me. I dreaded even
opening up a book, because of all the negative, psychological resistance I
had built up against reading. But at the same time, I was naturally a
very curious person, and I knew I had to overcome my reading blockages to
achieve my goals in life. That was what attracted me to PR'ing.
Now, my expectations for PR were initially too high. Part of the blame
was the nature and wording of the advertisements for PR. I hope they've
toned those claims down by now, but at the time, the ads were making the
system sound "too good to be true." Unfortunately, that ultimately hurt
me more than helped, because I was expecting to achieve astounding reading
speeds in a matter of days. (There use to be some debate at this forum
regarding such claims, and the general justification by LSC is that they
are talking about "PHOTOREADING" speeds, not "READING" speeds. That is,
they're drawing a distinction between the rate at which the
"other-than-conscious-mind" can absorb information as opposed to the
"conscious-mind." It is a very fine detail to draw such distinction, but
that's ok ... every product needs a "gimmick" to draw attention.)
So, during the 4 years I was struggling with the method, I oscillated back
and forth between being a mediocre reader (my old habits) and a
photo-reader. I could not objectively say PR was really helping, but a
lot of the things I had learned in the class made sense, stuck with me,
and I just wanted it to work. That's why I kept re-attending the
live-classes. I felt I was missing something, and so I felt that if I
attended the classes with a different teacher, I would gain something I
had missed with the last instructor. In the end, I realized that I was my
best instructor all along, and the reason why I never really "got" PR was
because I was trying too rigidly to follow the "Photo-reading recipe"
layed out for me. The "recipe" is ok for the beginner ... but it is like
training wheels when you are learning to ride a bicycle. Once you learn
how to ride a bicycle, it's time to get rid of the training wheels! So to
make PR really work for me, I had to personalize PR, and that meant doing
some things my own way, different from the "recipe."
Perhaps the greatest two lessons I've gained from PR'ing are: 1) Your
other-than-conscious mind is involved in reading and it "speaks" to you
via intuitions, feelings, hunches ... ways which are
"other-than-conscious", and 2) Let go of perfectionist attitudes about
reading ... it's ok to get 50%-75% (or even less) of the material
"consciously" ... allow your other-than-conscious to fill in the blanks.
Usually, what you really need is only 10% of the material anyway, and the
rest is just interesting filler.
With these two attitude adjustments, reading became a joy, not a burden.
I could tear through huge volumes of material very quickly and isolate
exactly what I needed. I've had experiences that seemed almost "magical"
to me, where I was able to pinpoint exactly what I needed at the right
time, what some might describe as "synchronicitous" experiences. And such
experiences could not have happened before, because before, I would've
been too scared to open the volume in the first place. So, overall, I'm a
big fan of PR'ing, because it opened up a whole new dimension in reading.
How do I photo-read today? Very naturally. I don't even think about it
anymore. When I pick up reading material, I simply let my eyes glance
through the pages, half conscious, half not-so-conscious. I think some
call this "skittering." But to me, I've combined the "photo-vision" and
"skittering" phases into one. Personally, I don't bother with the
"relaxed vision and flipping-through-the-pages" routine. That just doesn't
work for me, but that could be just me. I simply acknowledge that my
other-than-conscious is taking in the information that it needs, even
while my conscious mind is skittering through the material. And at the
end of one pass, I allow my intuition to tell me whether or I need to go
back. Or, it may guide me to one part of the material, a part that I
need. And I may read that part very slowly, word-for-word, if necessary,
to really activate that part of the material consciously. Yes, sometimes
I feel the need to read something very, very, very slowly, but it is only
after I've gotten the big, overall picture, and have properly prepared my
mind to recognize that this is some information I really need to digest
slowly. The rest, I simply release as unimportant to me at the time.
So, that's my process today, and I do it very naturally, very smoothly.
(I read a LOT of material every day ... and I also write a lot, too.) Now,
I'm not saying it should be the way PR'ing should be done by everyone, and
perhaps it is not the way PR'ing is intended to be at all. But it is more than
sufficient for me, and it has really helped me become a better reader than
I ever thought possible.
Well, ha ha ... you probably had to photo-read all of the above to get
through it all ... but I hope there was something helpful to you in it
all. Perhaps the most helpful suggestion being just to relax with the
whole process, enjoy it, take what you find most helpful at the time, and
allow yourself to personalize and integrate the whole system to suit you.
You've already taken the first step of DESIRING to be a better reader, and
in time, you will be. It is only natural. It cannot NOT happen. In some
sense, learning to read well is a journey, not a destination, and we are
always improving throughout our lives. Let us know how it goes, and I'd
be happy to answer any other questions you may have (but I'll leave the
tough ones for Alex 
Best,
HF
PS - Reading really is just like any other skill ... the more you do it,
the better you become at doing it. One benefit of PR'ing is that it helps to motivate you
to WANT to do it, and this in itself is perhaps more important than any claims
for reading speed, etc.
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hi hartreefoch,
i am really glad to see your full experience, very interesting. however, i am not sure about your "hartree style reading" how effective it is? is it as fast as photoreading overall?? what would be the average words per minute?
and by the way, one more thing that I found might be probem, is that when I photoread , i use the X focus, but whenever i turn a page, my x focus is "lost", it will become hard focus, then i have to X focus again, could that be a problem for my photoreading??
THANKS!
TOM
Last edited by TomTOM; 11/18/06 07:35 AM.
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Hi Tom, Losing your photofocus is definitely one of the reasons why you haven't been succesful in your PhotoReading sessions. I think it's useful to practice the diversion of your eyes a couple of times. I know it's hard in the beginning, I had trouble with it myself. I would flip a couple of pages and my eyes were back to the normal, hard focussed state. The main thing is not to be hard on yourself, just allow it to happen and try again, until you can photoread an entire book without losing the diversion of your eyes. It's important to be in a relaxed state when you PhotoRead, so pushing yourself into it and getting frustrated won't be of any help. As a matter of fact, getting frustrated isn't good for anything (but I won't go into that diversion right now  ). PhotoReading should be a FUN experience for you, not drudgery. Paul emphasises this a lot in his book, and he does that for a purpose. When you are not enjoying something you're reading, you won't remember it. You've probably had many occurrences of those situations, just like me. The trick is to have fun with the PhotoReading process, to "play with it" as Paul states in the book. A playful attitude vs an expectant attitude will make the difference. Make sure PhotoReading becomes a pleasure in your life, not a drudgery. Greetings, Tom.
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Quote:
hi hartreefoch,
i am really glad to see your full experience, very interesting. however, i am not sure about your "hartree style reading" how effective it is? is it as fast as photoreading overall?? what would be the average words per minute?
and by the way, one more thing that I found might be probem, is that when I photoread , i use the X focus, but whenever i turn a page, my x focus is "lost", it will become hard focus, then i have to X focus again, could that be a problem for my photoreading??
THANKS!
TOM
Hi TomTOM,
I agree with TomV that photoreading is all about having FUN in reading.
It's about breaking down resistances people have built up against reading,
and getting them to play with words.
Where I would respectfully disagree with TomV is that I believe you do NOT
have to do certain things certain ways to achieve success in reading or
PR'ing. I have to be careful in saying such things here, because I have
learned in the past that some people tend to emphasize a certain
"doctrine" about things, and those who would try to do something
differently are sometimes chastised as "outcasts." But I think that's
part of human nature. All I can say is what I found to work for me, and
if that helps you, I'm happy.
So, that having been said, the whole "relaxed vision" thing just doesn't
do anything for me. In fact, for a long time, it was a HUGE distraction,
which was keeping me from growing. On a mechanical level, I have no
problem maintaining the "photo-vision", as I had naturally developed that
ability ever since I was very young. (It was always fun for me to see the
"third finger" floating between the two index fingers!) So, I can do the
photo-vision part of the process very easily and naturally, but to me,
this is not the heart of PR'ing at all. Indeed, in the live-classes,
several students could not maintain the photo-vision, and the teachers
always told them not to worry about it ... just look at the page without
consciously trying to read anything on it ... that is good enough.
The exercise of "photo-vision" is just a game to help yourself not use
your conscious mind to try to read the words on the page. If you are able
to do that without the relaxed vision, then you are getting the same
benefit. Don't get hung up on the mechanics. If the photo-vision helps
you, use it. If it doesn't, skip it. As you flip through the pages, just
keep affirming to yourself that you are getting the information you need,
and leave it at that. The more you do it, the more natural it will seem,
and the easier the process will become.
Now, regarding your questions about my reading speed, it depends on the
context. For example, I can pick up a decently sized novel and get the
essence of it 30 minutes or less, whereas before, it would've taken me a
month to go through it, if I bothered to open it up at all! And every
day, I scour through dozens of technical and popular articles and forum
postings very rapidly, always getting the essence of what I need. Now,
there are times I will find something very, very interesting, and I will
go back and read that article or section very, very slowly to get all of
it in its full flavor. For very technical material, I do the same thing.
A lot of my reading involves very sophisticated reasoning and mathematics,
but I use the same procedure: get the overall idea, then go back and
carefully study it. So, fast = overall picture, slow = detailed analysis.
This is the other lesson of PR'ing: "Layer" your reading with several
passes, where each subsequent layer becomes finer and finer. Allow your
intuition to tell you how much detail you need on each pass.
Remember, too, that I'm coming from a standpoint of having been
photo-reading for over a decade, so I'm describing things which are very
natural to me, like riding a bike or swimming. Once you master the skill,
you don't think about the mechanics anymore. I understand that you're
just starting, and you may feel very clumsy and impatient to improve your
reading ability. I encourage you to take it a day at a time. Don't force
it. Sometimes, the harder you try, the worse the results. Just relax
into the whole process, allow your mind to become comfortable with the new
paradigm of reading, and "play" with reading, just as a child would play
with a toy. You will find that certain things will work for you, but
other things will not, even if it violates the official "doctrine" of
PR'ing. Fabulous ... stick to those things which work for you, and don't
worry about those which don't. Treat the instructions as merely
guidelines to help you begin your own jouney into reading. Trust that you
are your best teacher.
Best to you, and keep us apprised of your progress!
HF
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Well I was just pointing out that being frustrated while reading certainly doesn't help your comprehension. And being relaxed does help process information better. A brain in Alpha frequency or lower learns more quickly and efficiently than in Beta. Don't fall into the trap of checking if you really are in Alpha or whatever; just do the count-down exercise that Paul provides in the book. It's good enough to relax. You will know when you are relaxed, because you will FEEL that way. So yes, relaxation is an important part of learning in general. A calm mind = a calm body = a calm soul, which means you absorb information more quickly and effortlessly. You are more focused and alert when in a relaxed state. I even do my work better that way.
But of course, the most important thing is this: do what feels best for you, as long as you are having fun with the process and don't stress anything. Then the results start coming in. People tend to over-analyze the steps and get upset and frustrated when it doesn't go right the very first time. Relax, you are shifting your reading paradigm. That doesn't happen overnight, you know. Allow yourself to enjoy the process. Everyone makes mistakes, just don't beat yourself up for it.
Greetings,
Tom.
P.S.
"Whether you think you can, or you can't, either way you are right" - Henry Ford.
Last edited by TomV; 11/18/06 08:06 PM.
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Yes, TomV - thanks for your helpful clarifications. Best, HF
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This stuff works, Ill give you an example of my latest photo read
I photoread a book called "Mankind in amnesia" by Immanuel Velikovsky.
My purpose was to "Discover the specific purpose the author is trying get across in this book and learn more about myself"
So i photoread, waited 45 mins and came back. Probed for answers and voilah i rapid read for 2 pages, nothing interesting popped up, Then this came up
"As a psychoanalyst i returned many times to the problem of awakening the human conscious mind to the forgotten heritage of the ages. The traumatic experiences that humans keep buried in oblivion posess enormous power over the destiny of nations. If the human race is not made able to face its past, The traumatic experience that caused cultural amnesia will demand repetiion- and since the atomica age began, humans have lived under the sword of damocles."
And it pointed directly to my answer!
Last edited by NickAus; 11/19/06 11:27 PM.
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Hey NickAus, Thanks for sharing!
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I recommend that people practice to photoread for like 4-5 hours with just the manual and some books and dont photo read just run through the process so u remember the entire process.
Thjis helped me massively and i have spent atleast 3 times re-reading the entire manual, sometimes we miss out things on the first,second, time and it comes to us the third time.
youve probly taken these steps but i know that in the past i have been lazy when learning new things and re-reading can sometimes fix the problem, just ignore me if you have done that.
Last edited by NickAus; 11/20/06 03:50 AM.
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Hartree, excellent posts! Fantastic! You show your ability to tell things clearly and precisely in these posts.
Nick, the text you cited is very interesting. I have been thinking very much the same way lately (I mean the writer of the book). How come you decide to choose this text as an example?
[He].2s2.2p4
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