When we are driven by a need to be right, conflict arises. Listen to this TEDx talk by Jim Ferrell.

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Have a look at the famous ‘Dove Evolution’ viral video showing the making of a billboard ad.

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Have you ever taken a test, or assessment to discover who you are, what job best suits you, or which relationships fit you best? Do you know your “type”?

Thinking Styles.

Too many modern assessments and models put people in boxes: you’re an A-type, where you hang in the 4 quadrants, models of personality etc… As much as it is useful to discover certain character traits, those tend to limit us rather than assist us to expand our perception of who we are and how we are “supposed” to behave, because they tend to function deductively (from outside to inside) rather than inductively (from inside to outside).

Another less obvious, but probably more accurate and constructive approach is to focus not on WHAT people think or believe or their personality type, but HOW they think about them, looking at the lenses they use to understand their world: their work, their relationships, themselves in relation to the environment. It’s an inductive model of understanding (i.e. the opposite of limiting), because it reflects the increasing level of complexity that a mind has to develop in order to fit in a given external environment.

The question we ask is: are the mind capacities of a person suited to their life conditions? When we achieve congruency between the 2, we are in balance. Balance is the ultimate purpose, because when you reach a state of perfect equilibrium… you function perfectly in your world, and… what else do you need?

When life conditions change, we often need to develop new ways to cope with a changed reality, which means essentially, new mind capacities, and new ways to think about our world.

Want to know more? Click here.

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Alfred Korzybski in “Science and Sanity” (1933) reflects on the verb “to be” and the process of identification. He used to train people to avoid saying “I am”, asking them “Is this all you think you are?”.

Have you noticed when we are asked “who are you”, often, we say our name, and maybe mention our occupation/job title? Is this all we are? The verb TO BE can be limiting and reflects our beliefs about ourselves.

His work was based on the view that human beings are limited in their knowledge by the structure of their perceptions and their language. Unable to experience the world directly, they resort to “abstractions” (non-verbal perceived impressions and verbal indicators expressed through language). The structure of our perceptions and our language (which determine our understanding) sometimes misleads us as to what is going on, what we must deal with. We create an abstraction and this is the reality we deal with. He called for an increased awareness in each of us of that process of abstraction.

Interestingly enough, some 800 years before Korzybski, in India, Shankaracharya, the creator of the philosophy of non-duality Advaita Vedanta, mentioned the human process of “Adhyasa”, superimposition of meaning onto the unchanging reality through our senses, and its remedy, “Apavada” deconstruction of the operation of the senses.

Expanding the structure of our language and our perceptions, we can truly achieve mind-bloggling results!

Mind-Changing Courses.
Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.

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Watch this 2 minutes video of an interview with Quantum Physicist David Bohm (listen well, the sound track is not perfect!)

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Have you seen it?

THE video!

You mean, you did not see it? Or did you?

Susan Boyle’s performance at Britains Got Talent of course!

If you have not, click here to the Youtube video.

A VERY interesting phenomenon.
And an absolutely BEAUTIFUL example of Perception is Projection
(refer to video #3 of the Mini Tutorial
for those of you who followed the course)
i.e. we totally create INSIDE what we see in the outside world.

OK, so here it goes.

She appears on stage dressed like an old crow,
there is nothing attractive about her,
she has a strange accent,
it looks like she “styled her hair with a fire-cracker“
(French expression! But I think you see what I mean…).

What good could come out of such a contestant?

EVERYONE (the jury, the public, the Youtube viewers),
has a smile on their face…
The nasty type,
the smile you put on when you say to yourself
“She’s a goner!“
And then get ready to watch the killing.
(Ah! Don’t lie! You didn’t think she had a chance!
I didn’t…)

Then, the music starts,
she opens her mouth and starts singing.
And your jaws drop,
you stop breathing,
and tears come into your eyes…

Frankly, I did not think her voice was the most beautiful I ever heard,
BUT
It is the SHOCK effect!

The difference between
WHAT YOU EXPECT
and
WHAT YOU GET.

For me, it was a wake up call,
An absolute perfect example of the perception & thought processes
that, in my own mind, had made a laughing stock of this woman.

If only for that,
Thank you Susan!

***************************

Feel free to post your comments there
if you want to broadcast your views.

Cheers!
Helene

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Alfred Korzybski in “Science and Sanity” (1933) reflects on the verb “to be” and the process of identification. He used to train people to avoid saying “I am”, asking them “Is this all you think you are?”.

Have you noticed when we are asked “who are you”, often, we say our name, and maybe mention our occupation/job title? Is this all we are? The verb TO BE can be limiting and reflects our beliefs about ourselves.

His work was based on the view that human beings are limited in their knowledge by the structure of their perceptions and their language. Unable to experience the world directly, they resort to “abstractions” (non-verbal perceived impressions and verbal indicators expressed through language). The structure of our perceptions and our language (which determine our understanding) sometimes misleads us as to what is going on, what we must deal with. We create an abstraction and this is the reality we deal with. He called for an increased awareness in each of us of that process of abstraction.

Interestingly enough, some 800 years before Korzybski, in India, Shankaracharya, the creator of the philosophy of non-duality Advaita Vedanta, mentioned the human process of “Adhyasa”, superimposition of meaning onto the unchanging reality through our senses, and its remedy, “Apavada” deconstruction of the operation of the senses.

So how to expand the structure of our language and our perceptions? Mind changing courses.

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