Forums IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ PhotoReading, Memory Optimizer apparent contradiction

Hi,

I'm a little confused. I've become use to the idea through photo-reading that the mind is absorbs and stores virtually everything we see, though it may not be consciously available. Hence, the beauty of photoreading is simply to prime the mind with the images of the text, allowing the other-than-conscious to process it as needed, bringing it up to conscious level during activation.

However, the basic thesis of Vera's philosophy in the memory optimizer is that the mind will NOT remember anything unless it was "properly" constructed in the first place. In fact, she suggests both in the tapes and the workbook that repeating the course is vital, that we should listen to it over and over again to really "get" it, the reason being that the mind is NOT able to construct everything on the first pass.

So, I sense a totally different pardigm here. On the one hand, we have the photoreading idea that we should trust our other-than-conscious, not worry about perfection, trusting our inner selves to give us the important aspects of the text as we need them. On the other hand, it seems like Vera's method requires puposeful, focused, intense concentration to properly construct memories, otherwise, we don't have them at all.

So, am I missing something? I was getting use to a natural "flow" state, trusting that whatever went into my senses was being registered. Now, I'm being told that unless I construct everything properly in my mind, it won't do me any good.

Please clarify. Thanks.

David

I'm in no position to speak on this, since I haven't even completed the course. But why let that stop me?...

She does make the points you mentioned and that seems like a contradiction. However, I also got the impression that point of the ABC lists was to begin to develop new associations to information that has lain dormant. As this matrix of connections grow, new pathways are created that give access to more information. If we take her highway metaphor, wouldn't more highways lead to a potentially exponential increase in connections as more and more "bare" ground is covered?

So, as we PR, we add information. As we activate, we begin to add threads and auxilary threads. This should give us more access to the PR'd info? As we build those pathways, we also create connections to information that was already there and we begin to get value out of the PR'd material?

Sorry if this makes no sense, just trying to talk it out. However, what still doesn't seem to fit for me is Paul's contention that PR'd material is processed and tracks are laid down in the brain. Does this mean that the tracks are put down but they aren't yet connected to anything? Activation makes those connections? If that's the case, how can the inner mind find and intuit the useful info?

Again, I apologize if this is just pointless rambling. I'm hoping that talking it out will help make sense of it.

Hi hartreefoch,

Like mgrego2, I haven't finished the course yet either, but here's my $.02 worth. It does sound like a contradiction and can be confusing and after thinking about it for a few moments this is what I came up with.

In the PRing step, the information is placed into your inner mind (your conscious mind doesn't have direct access to the information located in this area). New neurological pathways are laid down (and old pathways are revitalized or reinforced) simply as a result of exposure to the information even though you are not consciously aware of it.

Now, there are many different ways of gaining conscious awareness of the information that is located in your inner mind. That is what the activation step in PRing is all about. Your inner mind can also voluntarily hand over some information that you were consciously unaware of and need at any particular moment. This is called spontaneous activation.

I'm sure that you probably already know this given your confusion. Please forgive me if I sound condescending, I don't mean to be. I am used to explaining complex things to people who have no background knowledge and it's carrying over here. Besides I want to be as clear as I possibly can.

The "11 mile net" analogy as explained by Vera, applies to the information that is available to you in your conscious mind, NOT your INNER MIND (cpas are for emphasis only and not meant to be taken as yelling ). When you PR and activate a book, you build new threads and reinforce old ones leading to more available knowledge and a bigger more easily accessable memory net in your conscious mind.

What Vera says is true. Unless you properly store the information that you want to remember, you will have a tough time locating that info if you ever do. Let's try this. Think of a large public or university library where there is no organized system for storing or locating the books in that library. One day you walk in and want to check out the PRing book that Paul wrote. How in the world are you going to find it when you don't know where to look and can't be directed to the right location? If you look from shelf to shelf you might eventually find it, but it will probably take a long time.

Memory works in a similar fashion. You have to make sure to file or store the information correctly in order to find that information again in the future. You may be confusing the information in your inner mind with the information available to your conscious mind.

The Memory Optimizer course gives us a system for correctly storing the information that we wish to have future access to, kind of like a "Dewey Decimal System" for the brain.

Does that clear things up a bit or are you now more confused than ever?

Gregory

David,
I think mgrego2 gave a great answer. I'm only on the 2nd tape but, hey, why not give it a try. We'll be making connections & our memories will be enhanced.

I know PhRing works,as promoted, for me, so that's not even in question. The trick is to connect the PhRing format w/ Vera's. I feel the same as mgrego2. When we begin to activate PhR material, i think the RESULTS of practicing the ABC list will produce more results, or, more connections. I think it will speed up activation results.

I have 16 volumes of Jung. I have read them all; i have even taken hundreds of pages of notes. But, i am SO lost. I started w/ tracing Jung's inner development of archetypes. This info is scattered throughout many thousands of pages. I now intend to practice Vera's ABC list for a month or so & then PhR all of those volumes again and MM, say, archetypes. I am so hoping that by practicing the ABC lists, i will make all kinds of connections & somehow make sense of all that i know. It's like a bunch of little islands of knowledge. I need connections.

Anyway, just from a basic understanding of how everything works in life, stuff is effortless & yet practice techniques are a must. Example: I was almost a scratch golfer. People always stopped whatever they were doing to watch me swing. My swing was graceful and effortless---yet, i practiced hrs. and hrs. day after day. So, in a most mundane sense they both seem to just go together for me in my life.

What do you think?

Gregory,

I agree with a lot of what you say, but I definitely have a different idea on the 11 miles. I thought I remembered Vera saying on tape (and I found it on page 13 of the manual), that the 11 miles is nonconscious memory. The 15 inch flashlight beam is your conscious awareness. To me, this would imply that the PR'd stuff goes into the 11 miles of nonconscious memory. That's why I suggested that the connections/tracks that are made in PRing are made in relation to other information within that 11 miles. That's why activation can be difficult. We may have made connections on a non-conscious level, but we've made few if any links that the conscious mind can grab onto. Activation creates those threads that makes paths to the information.

Perhaps we ultimately agree on this. I'm looking forward to further discussions on these topics. It's a nice break from all the name calling and sexual harassment on the PR side, sigh...

mgrego2:
Oh, yes, i am so relieved to have a private DF. It is such a relief to me.

Yes, that was my understanding of the 11 miles. Enjoyed your second post. It really helps to read another's understanding of what Vera is saying.

The apparent contradiction may be very well attributed to a missing piece. I should first say that mgrego2 did a great job of explaining important components of both the Memory Optimizer and the PhotoReading course.

The idea that we can PhotoRead and then draw the full text into conscious recall by some mystical magical technique of activation has long kept people spell bound. That myth is neither what we teach nor advocate.

Let me clarify.

PhotoReading exposes the text to your neural circuitry at rates that exceed the conscious mind's abilities to think. The human eye and brain can process 10,000,000 bits of information per second, yet the conscious mind only receives 40 bits/sec. We are using the brain's ability to acquire information nonconsciously and process it for our conscious use. The goal is to process all of it quickly, then consciously take what we need for our reading purposes.

After PhotoReading you are, in essence, asking the mind, "Okay, where should I go to accomplish my purpose?" At that point you don't sit there and think up the book, you OPEN THE BOOK and receive the guidance from you inner mind to quickly locate and bring the information into conscious awareness.

That effect of the brain sending your conscious mind to the right place is persistent. As far as we can tell, for any given book you PhotoRead, it does not fade. But more importantly, the 4-11% of the text you activate consciously will be connected to the other 89-96% of the text you PhotoRead but don't activate.

The metaphor is actually consistent with the Birkenbihl approach. She says that of the 11 miles of nonconscious neural netting, only 15 inches is available to consciousness. The only way to make it conscious is to construct neural pathways to it. The building of auxiliary threads to tie new information into the existing knowledge web is not unlike the activation procedures to bring important information into conscious use.

Thanks for the correction and clarification. I listened to that part of the course a few days ago and I guess I didn't construct a strong enough thread for that particular analogy. I should remember it now though .

Gregory