Learning lessons and growing through them… seems to be how life works.
But most of us don’t think of life like that, and therefore we never learn…
Even though learning may be the name of the game… really.
- In life you can make the same mistake, over and over, expecting different results.
- You can eventually learn from your mistakes, but you insist on making them a few times regardless…
- You can learn from other people’s mistakes.
When I am talking about learning the lessons life is trying to teach you, I am not saying your low IQ or lack of ability prevents you. No. I am talking about attitude. Attitude and behavior that comes from your worldview, your self-view, and the number of the DNA capacities you wield…
For you to consider doing things differently, you would need a modicum of humility.
Modicum means: a little bit.
Most people have none… Just watch a 3-year old: ‘Don’t tell me what to do! I know!‘ yells the little boy… and they freeze into that attitude.
Humility is a capacity. Without some humility there in no curiosity, there is no real learning, there is no experimentation, thought or otherwise, there is no growth.
- If you are a fatalist or determinist, if you are religious you probably have no humility.
- If you find the juice in life in being a victim: you probably don’t want humility.
Thought experiments are tools for growth, tools for evolution…
Occasionally you can do the thought experiment in an illustrated form, like a mind map, or in the case of military: on the war map. You need less intelligence to do it in an illustrated fashion, and the accuracy of the thought experiment is very much in question… You can be seduced by the physical activity of writing and drawing… feeling really smart…
Just because you saw the result of the thought experiment, you don’t have to do anything about it. What you have is choice. Changing things because of what you saw, or not, is a choice. Your action, or inaction has consequences…
Another capacity is to be able to follow the actions to their conclusion, in your head, is called The Sight, the ability to see the consequences of your actions. But like any capacity: unless you use it you lose it.
Thinking, that because you said it or saw it, you now have to do it… is denying that you have the power to say yes or no… to do or not do.
But getting out of a groove (another word for a groove is ditch!), even for a moment, takes energy and flexibility (the willingness to flip the picture in your head).
- One kind of groove I see is ‘it’s all about me’, specifically your dominant belief about yourself.Worthless, loser, stupid, not free… they are deep groves, that unless you get out of them, NOTHING WILL EVER CHANGE YOUR LIFE.It is not about getting out of the groove forever… it’s a process, that begins with getting out of the groove for a second, for a glimpse, like a fish jumping out of water… and then falling back again. But just like the fish cannot unsee what it saw in that glimpse of a moment… you can’t either… and eventually you can change direction.
- The other groove I see is somewhat the reverse of the first: ‘I should be able to just jump to it, and not waste time thinking it through’ ADD/ADHD type of groove. Very ineffective, slapdash way of living.
These grooves are equally distributed among my students. Some of them, unfortunately have both. I have the second type… quick start… no thinking.
The first type delays even the understanding of the principle, or distinction… the view is blocked by the dominant belief. You can only see the sides of the ditch…
The second type gets the distinction, but they are in a hurry.
But unless you get yourself unstuck, at least occasionally, you’ll end up where the groove takes you: not the good life.
Most of you have never done any thinking: this will be the most painful thing you’ve ever done, and you can say: ‘I need to toughen up, be able to take more pain…’ and then do it, a little at a time.
Thinking, real thinking is hard work. And this is when your IQ comes in.
We could say that one measure of the IQ is how many distinct pieces of information you can play with at one time, in your head.
For the kind of work Einstein did, he needed to be able to hold 30 pieces of information in movement… in his head.
For the kind of work I do: 14.
For the type of thought experiments you need to do so your life can move towards the good life: four pieces of information.
It takes time to build up to four pieces of information held, moved around, and seen clearly in your head… especially if you have never done it. Some professions train you for this better than others. Architects need this more than you. I was an architect for 17 years…
Some of you, depending on your occupation, depending on your environment, have been able to hold two pieces of information. One of those should be ‘there is nothing wrong here…’
The more visual your work, the more pieces you can hold in your head.
But no matter where you are, unless you increase your ability to think your way out of the groove and see where your actions might lead you, without actually having to go there physically, is going to be the key factor in two areas:
- how much difference the 67 step program can make for you. It’s all thought experiments. All the steps. If you have been nodding only… no benefits. The benefit comes from the thought experiments. They are simple ones… but they are necessary for you to grow.
- how far your life can go towards the good life.
Now, why would I suddenly talk about the good life?
Interestingly, the good life is at the same ‘place’, in the same general direction, as the evolution of the human species. The good life needs the activating the dormant intangible capacities that allow for civilization to work without suppression of its members, suppression of the bad stuff… also suppressing the good stuff.
When you don’t know better, when you are powerless, no will power, no intelligence, the only thing that can keep you in check is force. That is what civilization is: that force to check you and your evil inclinations.
We live in the age of forced suppression. No freedom, small cage, neurosis, anxiety, diminishing playground for the individual.
The direction of the ‘good life’ and activating dormant capacities is in the direction of the possible ‘Age of intelligence‘ or the ‘Age of Consciousness’.
The current humanity is not intelligent. The number of intangible capacities is 5-7 capacities a person.
The current humanity is so not intelligent, the capacities are not even able to stay on… force, suppression, and the groove has been winning every time.
My work is to find a combination of practices and to turn certain capacities on, so you start moving in the right direction.
The thought experiment I have done shows: it can be done. And that the 67-step coaching is the way to go.
Please don’t prove me wrong… lol.
