Session 14 October 2017

fabric said:
One thing I didn't like about the site was the trial levels. I was able to do a few rounds of one, but then it started asking me to sign up for a monthly fee, and on top of that wait a minute between each and every round. The fee wasn't much ($2.99/month) but I wanted to be able to use it a little more so I could decide if it was worth it. So that was a little disappointing.
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This doesn't happen for me, but I've seen it on somebody else's computer. After you mentioned it, I tried to figure out why that is. I can't be 100% sure, but it seems cookies are the culprit. Once I enabled them, I got that message and waiting time after a few rounds, and when I deleted the cookies, I could play again without restrictions. So it seems that disabling cookies allows you to play on and on.

I have them disabled by default and played for hours before I even found out that other people get these pop-ups. (Though I also have dozens of browser plugins and many non-default browser settings, so I can't guarantee this is all there is to it.)


And I agree, Dual N-Back is the coolest one. Each level adds a whole new dimension. I've managed to complete level 3 a few times without mistakes, but in level 4 I get completely lost after a few moves. Gonna have to try level 3 for much longer, as I still find it pretty difficult.

At any rate, it's a pretty convenient way to train your brain, and everyone will probably find at least one of these exercises useful.
 
PERLOU said:
(...)
Samenow "Inside the Criminal Mind": this book is not translated into French either ...
I'm finishing "All Story is Story of a Thought" by Robin Georges Collingwood
Then I will attack "The new Leviathan or man, society, civilization and Barbary" by the same author, these are the only two books translated into French ...
If the French team could orient me to find readings similar to the books recommended by Laura, I will be delighted ... A big thank you in advance.
Thank you also for all your comments which I am greedy and do not miss to read them every day.
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Salut PERLOU, there's a french' article calling "La philosophie de l’histoire de R.G. Collingwood : les contes de fées"
right here: https://www.cairn.info/revue-archives-de-philosophie-2006-3-page-475.htm
 
Merci ZAK pour le lien, j'y vais de ce pas...

Thank you ZAK for the link, I'm going for it ...
 
I found something, maybe it can helps to another forum members which can't read a book ,,The Idea of History'' but is write in Spanish. I hope i can post it, i start to feel very dizzy :/ Short report in case is soemone have problem to understand the idea of the history, because me while reading book i had difficults to understand some things.. http://www.inif.ucr.ac.cr/recursos/docs/Revista%20de%20Filosof%C3%ADa%20UCR/Vol.%20IV/No.%2014/De%20Mayer.%20Rosita%20-%20La%20Filosofia%20de%20la%20Historia%20de%20R.G.%20Collingwood.pdf

Greetings
 
fabric said:
Also, there's great little write-up about DNB with studies, tips and anecdotal reports from people that have used it can be found here: http://www.gwern.net/DNB-FAQ
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Oh, that's interesting...

"With programmers, it’s especially hard. Productivity depends on being able to juggle a lot of little details in short term memory all at once. Any kind of interruption can cause these details to come crashing down. When you resume work, you can’t remember any of the details (like local variable names you were using, or where you were up to in implementing that search algorithm) and you have to keep looking these things up, which slows you down a lot until you get back up to speed."
–Joel Spolsky
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As a programmer, I've thought about this a lot, mostly because I'm infamous for grunting, snarling, or sighing when I'm working on something intensely and someone interrupts because they need something.

I've tried to convince myself that it's no different than if someone was writing a SOTT article or a book with lots of details. I mean, it all requires keeping lots of details in your "buffer", right?

Well, yes, but maybe in a different way?

It just occurred to me that if I'm thinking about political or historical things, for example, I use mental imagery to help me remember. Hillary gave somebody a sack of money back in August. That's hard to forget, because that foul woman generates all sorts of creative imagery. Julius Maximus Octavius was king of the Hooverians in 300BC. Right, J-MO was king of the vacuum cleaners. Check!

Some people apparently use sounds more, or whatever, but I'm visual. The point is, in those cases, I'm using more of my brain at once, so maybe it's therefore easier to remember things.

But with code, there is no reference point. There is no imagery to help. It's all completely abstract, because aside from a user interface, there is no structure to visualize except for the interaction of countless functions and variables - which are just characters on a screen that magically do stuff. And things like variable scope add another level of even more abstraction.

Eventually, you start to "see" entire functions in your head, and you know what each line does without looking back it. Sure, it's visual, but it's also kind of inefficient because it's mostly simple memorization without any "help" from other parts of the brain.

That means staring at even old code for hours, coming back the next day, staring some more, and repeating that process until short-term memory construction of the whole shebang slowly moves into longer-term memory. THEN you can fix something, or change something, or whatever. With only short-term memory, you're kind of in trouble.

That's also why coder types don't want to stop at the end of the day: because if you stop, it all falls apart, and you have to get back up to speed the next day. So, we carry on until we hit some point where we can say, "Okay, that's done. Tomorrow, I'll work on BLAH." That's a buffer of new data.

Of course, there is a patch for this issue: When interrupted, type a giant comment in the code that is basically a dump of everything going on in your head before you stop. But even that has its limits.

There is also an interesting catch: Sometimes, it's good to stop and lose your buffer, because then you go off and do something else. While you do that Something Else, you are background processing your current coding problem. When you return to the puter, you sit down and start filling your buffer again, and in doing so you go, "AHA! Didn't see that before. Now I know what to do!"

But I've also found that this technique requires the "write it all down before you get up" trick, and then also thinking about what the current problem is... Then get up and go do whatever. Otherwise, no background-processing occurs.

Well, that's sort of off-topic, but it's always interesting to understand how one's brain is working in order to hopefully make it work better.
:whistle:
 
Oh, and the second quote on that page is also interesting - the part about cubicles.

Everyone likes a view when they're working, right? Well, yeah, because it gives your poor brain something to look at and "relax", even if you never stop thinking about your work.

So putting workers in bland cubicles is about the worse possible thing you could do to stimulate performance and motivate people.
 
Renaissance said:
I've noticed that behind the pull of dissociation is often a type of isolation combined with wanting to deny some aspect of reality through controlling tendencies. Such tendencies seem to give rise to all sorts of negative emotions that can often be drivers of negative dissociation as well. I think accepting and acknowledging reality as it is goes a long way in allowing yourself to process it and not carry around conflicts like a festering wound. The desire to control life as you would have it seems to act as a significant blockage that turns energy inward. You end up getting stuck in a bubble and a hostile internal environment that is pretty toxic. It seems a person can only stand being in such a space for so long before they seek a release or an escape through dissociation (living in dreams seems to apply here). Such an escape can only temporary because the underlying cause hasn't been dealt with and you just return to the same state possibly worse off than before.

The unfortunate thing is when you live life this, the conflict and denial just pile up and you go round and round in a denial-conflict-dissociation negative feedback loop. I found that a step in getting out of this loop is recognizing the tension involved with the subconscious tendency to control others and situations. Once you see and feel that specific type of struggle you can better see it for what it is as well as the filter you have put on whatever issue. Releasing that control seems to open some doors in seeing the situation in different ways. I don't think this means you'll instantly be objective and fully understand the situation, but the point is that you're stepping out of a self-oriented perspective that at least puts you on a different path toward learning and living. And in turn, you break the pull of the dissociative cycles. At least that's been my experience. Learning to be open with others about your struggles (without the drama or self pity) seems to be a major aid in this process as well.
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Thank you for this from me as well, you’ve described the process very well. I see this as something I have been doing lately which has caused depression and this morning I’ve begun to see my errors in thinking. It began with reading the Paul thread and the idea of being grateful for what I have started the ball rolling. Beneath the surface of the conflict, is a subconscious need to have controlled events in my life better so I would have been in a better situation now financially. I’ve been regretting all kinds of decisions I’ve made over the years which results in devaluing my life, quite toxic. I tell myself, i should have followed “the program” better then I’d be better off. Actually, l did follow “the program” for many years and got dumped by it like so many others. Well, I could have made better decisions, l say :lol:.

For the last 2 days I’ve been overeating, stuffing myself when not even hungry which isn’t a usual way of disassociating for me. I daydream about winning the lottery which is enjoyable for about 4 minutes, so not much satisfaction there. I’m wondering what kind of buffers I’ve created around this, l’m unsure what that means. I’ve been caught in the US societal program of making and having money!!! What a trap!

Anyway, i’m changing my thinking on the whole affair now thankfully, and I think I’ve done fairly well with what I had to work with. Thanks to all here.
 
Scottie said:
Oh, and the second quote on that page is also interesting - the part about cubicles.

Everyone likes a view when they're working, right? Well, yeah, because it gives your poor brain something to look at and "relax", even if you never stop thinking about your work.

So putting workers in bland cubicles is about the worse possible thing you could do to stimulate performance and motivate people.
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I find your thoughts on the aspect of memory and programming interesting since that was a big part of my work just before retirement. And this whole brain tools idea is useful I think. In the past I had read a book on memory and one story of a Greek lyric poet Simonides that kind of impressed me.

SIMONIDES OF CEOS
There is a story that Simonides was dining at the house of a wealthy nobleman named Scopas at Crannon in Thessaly, and chanted a lyric poem which he had composed in honor of his host, in which he followed the custom of the poets by including for decorative purposes a long passage referring to Castor and Pollux; whereupon Scopas with excessive meanness told him he would pay him half the fee agreed on for the poem, and if he liked he might apply for the balance to his sons of Tyndaraus, as they had gone halves in the panegyric.

The story runs that a little later a message was brought to Simonides to go outside, as two young men were standing at the door who earnestly requested him to come out; so he rose from his seat and went out, and could not see anybody; but in the interval of his absence the roof of the hall where Scopas was giving the banquet fell in, crushing Scopas himself and his relations underneath the ruins and killing them; and when their friends wanted to bury them but were altogether unable to know them apart as they had been completely crushed, the story goes that Simonides was enabled by his recollection of the place in which each of them had been reclining at table to identify them for separate interment; and that this circumstance suggested to him the discovery of the truth that the best aid to clearness of memory consists in orderly arrangement.

He inferred that persons desiring to train this faculty must select localities and form mental images of the facts they wish to remember and store those images in the localities, with the result that the arrangement of the localities will preserve the order of the facts, and the images of the facts will designate the facts themselves, and we shall employ the localities and images respectively as a wax writing tablet and the letters written on it.
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The cubicle effect is worth considering too I think.
 
Laura said:
Indeed, correcting thinking errors is one of the biggest challenges that people face because it is very hard work and no amount of meditation will do that.

Thinking errors are discussed at some length in The Wave, but we've learned a lot more since I wrote about them there; such books as "The Myth of Sanity" and "Strangers to Ourselves" and "Thinking Fast and Slow" come immediately to mind.

One of the main tools utilized for correcting thinking errors is what we call "The Mirror." I recently read Samenow's "Inside the Criminal Mind" and discovered that he and his mentor, Yochelson, also used a very similar process to help criminals learn a different way of being and thinking. It's another "must read", I think. And that's not because I am suggesting that anyone has a "criminal mind", but you will discover that a lot of ordinary thinking errors are very similar to those of criminals only the criminals take them to extremes. The truth seems to be that with sufficient knowledge and understanding, the ability to put yourself in another's shoes, having an accurate reading of reality, leads to a completely different life free of anger and hurt and feeling victimized.

But this process requires close and careful attention to DETAILS of reality exactly as the Cs suggested here:

Life is religion. Life experiences reflect how one interacts with God. Those who are asleep are those of little faith in terms of their interaction with the creation. Some people think that the world exists for them to overcome or ignore or shut out. For those individuals, the worlds will cease. They will become exactly what they give to life. They will become merely a dream in the "past". People who pay strict attention to objective reality right and left, become the reality of the "Future".
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This is part of networking and the Cs have said in numerous places that repeatedly examining and discussing thoughts and feelings and events is a big part of this. They also suggested that meditation is a means for soothing the distress that might possibly arise from this very process.

So, don't get the idea that meditation - a deliberate calming down - can in any way take the place of the ruthless and relentless facing of reality. They are two sides of the same coin.
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Here's a quote from the March 7, 2009 session

Q: (L) So what's this Sri Sri guy into? (Craig) He's [teaching "Art of Living" breathing/meditation]. Is this a worthwhile program for the benefit of mankind?

A: In certain respects, yes. But it is lacking balance.

Q: (Craig) Which area does balance need to be improved?

A: Remember that nearly the entire world was against the war over sixty years ago and it came nonetheless. Meditation to calm the mind and commune with higher realms will do nothing to balance this realm.

Q: (L) Clearly from my experience, meditation to master yourself and your reactions is a very beneficial thing.

A: Yes. But then what does one do with that mastery?

Q: (Craig) It serves to help people who don't know how to control their mind or their emotions.

A: Yes. And teach them when where and how to use those emotions for change. Overcoming emotions so that one is not affected by what is out there and inside is little more than becoming an automaton.

Q: (Craig) Can these breathing techniques help - Sudarshan Kriya?

A: Absolutely!!!!!!!

Q: (Craig) Is it one of the best tools we can use to revive people's humanity?

A: Yes. But don't forget the balance. Facing reality and mastering the self alternating with meditation for recovery.
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Thank you for the session and all of the posts.

With all of the books to read and constantly feeling time pressures, I signed up for a speed reading course and am finding it challenging and helpful. _https://www.7speedreading.com/. It has gotten good reviews. It also comes with a free speed reading software, spreeder. I feel like the tortoise, slowing making progress and really feel it challenging my brain. Also checked out the brainscale link and think it will be a very good compliment. I have a lot of frontal cortex deficits and can feel my brain working and building new pathways with the speed reading.
 
biala84 said:
I found something, maybe it can helps to another forum members which can't read a book ,,The Idea of History'' but is write in Spanish. I hope i can post it, i start to feel very dizzy :/ Short report in case is soemone have problem to understand the idea of the history, because me while reading book i had difficults to understand some things.. http://www.inif.ucr.ac.cr/recursos/docs/Revista%20de%20Filosof%C3%ADa%20UCR/Vol.%20IV/No.%2014/De%20Mayer.%20Rosita%20-%20La%20Filosofia%20de%20la%20Historia%20de%20R.G.%20Collingwood.pdf

Greetings
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Thank you.

I have been reading this book with a dictionary spanish-english at hand. I will continue reading in English but when I stop at something difficult I will consult in Spanish

;D
 
You are welcome :) i have difficults still so for a moment i quit with idea history and i'm reading polish book which my friend Michał post it on fb i will give U link, it's write in polish, but i think it will clear my mind more and then i can come back to idea of the history :) Have a nice day everyone B-)

https://stopsyjonizmowi.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/kontrowersja-syjonu-douglas-reed.pdf
 
Thank you very much for this session.
The whole point about Gurdjieff is fascinating. But yeah, we should not forget that he did a great job even if it was not completely accurate and even if it was not for altruist reasons. Our reality is a difficult one and we can get easily lost once we think we're alone....
 
This video surfaced on an Enneagram forum some time ago.

It is apparently Russ Hudson in his youth - one of the big names in current Enneagram circles, talking about his abduction experiences.

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_adWzIGc_4w
 
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