From: Yak Wax (yakwax@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Feb 12 1998 - 13:22:41 MST
David Musick wrote:
[…]
> I think the most important area of focus when improving my senses was
> learning to pay conscious attention to so much information. And one
big
> key to doing that was learning to be interested in vast amounts of
> information which doesn't really matter. Most sensory information
didn't
> really matter to me, so I ignored it, but when I determined to pay
attention
> to as much as I could, my sensory world really started opening up,
and
> ordinary things became fascinating delights. I eventually learned
to see
> and appreciate so much beauty in my world that I simply overlooked
before
> because I didn't think it mattered. Now there's so much vivid
detail in
> everything, even the most common-place things seem interesting.
I agree. My greatest advantage is my ability to deal with complexity.
I just let all the information flow in and then decide whether it’s
useful or not. My senses have always been more heightened than the
average person has, and so it was the logical step to use this ability
in the same way you describe. I think the major difference in the way
that I process information is that it “flows” in, I don’t have to pick
it out.
> As I focused on my senses, my intellect gradually gained new thinking
> styles that were more related to interpreting and analyzing the
sensory
> world. My thinking became much more dynamic, detailed and powerful
(it
> also became more multi-tasking, switching among several lines of
thinking,
> rather than focusing on one until it was done).
I think I can safely say my style of thinking is very different
without anyone disputing that claim. I also started to find much more
detail in the world. It’s as simple as “reading between the lines”
there’s so much to be found when you open your mind. This doesn’t
mean I’ll accept any idea that comes along, but it does mean I’ll
consider them. And although many list members complain about having
their time wasted by pointless information, for me the rational
criticism of such information has become an instant reaction and does
not consume much time.
> It's been very rewarding for me to see the vast improvement I've
> experienced in my senses over the past few years; rewarding because
now
> things look, sound, feel, taste and smell so fascinating and
beautiful, and
> rewarding because I was able to pursue my goal of modifying myself in
> that way and succeed.
It’s a great feeling. For me the greatest achievement has been the
shear speed increase. For instance, while programming I can solve
problems faster than I can type them – which can become very
frustrating. The information flow out of my mind is much faster than
I can explain it by talking or writing. And the amount of
multitasking I can achieve at any one time means I now work in a
decidedly non-linear fashion.
> As my senses became very good, I realized that I could probably
improve
> my thinking even more by learning to pay more attention to cognitive
> information. This has proved to be more difficult and elusive than
paying
> attention to sensory information, but I persist in working on it,
and I am
> making some improvements.
I can currently – visualise and control the flow of information in my
mind, control the creation of motivational/emotional links, and what I
can only describe as “feel” ideas forming. The weirdest experiences
I’ve had are having emotional reactions to *very* traumatic situations
which, when I “paid attention” to them, I found I could control just
as easily as any limb on my body. This isn’t ‘suppressing’ emotion,
but understanding the route cause and controlling it. As I said
before, finding these causes can take along time. And as I briefly
mentioned, changing emotional/motivational constructs can be
dangerous. I experience a brief period of intense negativity, which
can only be described as – the scenes in “Millennium” where you see
flashing of images of what the killer is planning for his victim.
Walking down the road and seeing grotesque portraits of passers-by
isn’t the greatest feeling in the world (although at the time it did
have a certain appeal.)
> I have come to believe that attention is a big key to improving
oneself. It's
> basically a way of getting feedback, and without feedback, directed
change
> approaches impossibility.
Exactly.
> I think it would be useful for list members to discuss the effective
ways
> they have discovered for improving various aspects of themselves.
I actually have a “method” for the cognitive changes, which involves
searching your mind for different constructs, assessing them, and
changing them. Changing them is the part I can’t describe – I’ve
become so use to altering my mind state that I can’t describe the way
I actually do it.
Lately I haven’t been so active in these changes, but I’m now
considering using some more aggressive techniques to invoke further
change.
BTW, if you’re wondering what I changed when altering the
emotional/motivational part of my mind. I tried to switch most of
them off, unfortunately we seem to keep the more negative ones deeper
set in our minds (perhaps due to suppression) and that is what I think
caused the problems (either that or I’m a psychopath at heart.) The
reason I wanted them ‘switched off’ was because you get a greater
speed advantage when the safety’s off!
--Wax
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