The First Trick

Memes

2015-01-19T16:16:00.001+01:00

So, did you catch the latest meme? The last popular thing going around your social circles spreading like wildfire across the world? Yeah you did. Because you're up to date, follow what's happening.

But the idea of memes as originated by Richard Dawkins, implied so much more than cute cats and magical proposals. The problem with the idea of memes is that it seems like an almost useless idea. '

The idea was that people transfer ideas and that these ideas can be though of as form of idea-gene for a culture. So, a meme, insted of a gene. The idea being that culture as we know it is based on a very large set of memes that interact. Like the meme of capitalism. Or the idea of communism. The idea of rock, of musicals, of hammering a nail, screwing a screw, adding numbers or even the very idea of numbers.'

The problem with "memes" is that they are so hard to define, since most everything is a meme. Any thing that you can think of, is a meme. Now, if it's a good meme, you should be able to transfer that meme to someone else. To be a good meme, it has to be contagious. Like gangnam style. More than one billion people saw that video. Now, that's a succesful meme.

Last night I got this great idea of how to optimize the workflow at work.So, I presented the idea to my boss, but he just turned it down. Now, was it a bad idea? Or was it a bad meme?Baybe the idea was great, but the meme I wrapped it into, wasn't very succesful in propagating.

So, is my idea dead? Maybe. But, even if my idea is bad, could I wrap it into a succesful meme anyway?

Sadly, I probably could. A good meme doesn't have to be a good idea. Back up 20.000 years and back then, the pressure was different and a good meme had to have some real value. Like the meme of how you best kill a large animal. That meme will help you survive.

I have no idea what the value of the "Gangnam Style"-meme is or how it progress our culture and way of light. I have no problem seeing the value of the "this is how you make fire"-meme. But the "Gangnam Style"-meme?

Anyway, I'm writing this to try to propogate another meme. But it's a sublte one.So subtle that I seem to be needing a lot of words to describe it.

There are simple memes, like the meme of "2+2=4". It's simple. And it spreads. Or the meme of "sweet is good". But there are more complex ideas. Like the idea of phenomenology. That is a more complex idea, a much more complex meme. To understand that meme, you would have to understand other memes first.

And the meme I want to share with you, is very complex. I need to explain a few concepts before I can even come close to explaining the meme I want to transfer to you.
So, I'm asking for you to indulge me. And in return, I will give you a meme.

Wanna Meme?

A rare magician

2013-10-14T10:00:00.001+02:00

Most magicians are so good that some of us sometimes wonder if magic is real. All the while fully aware that it isn't. If you put your mind to it, you can often get a rather good idea of how the magic trick was done. But for the most part we keep our brains lazy and enjoy the wonder of seeing reality broken.
Today, I will break magic, thanks to a video of a magic Norwegian on youtube. Go ahead and catch this short video or watch it below (about one and a half minute) and then come back and read how he did it. Better yet, try to figure it our for yourself and then come back here and see if we agree.

Welcome back. So, the magic is that he knocks these paper balls through the table from below. Of course that's not what happens. Why? Because that just can't be done - don't waste time speculating about him actually getting the paper balls through the table.
That leaves us with the question: How does he get the paper balls under the plates? Well, he cheats. Take a closer look at 0:47 in the video when he is laying down the first plate. We believe that he leaves a paper ball below it, but he doesn't. Look at his left hand as he removes it from the plate. You can just see something white between his fingers on the outside of his palms. Yes, that's the paper ball, no longer under the plate but between his fingers.
And when he puts down the second plate, he slips the first paper ball below it - now there are two paper balls below the second plate.
Then he takes one of the free paper balls and takes it below the table, and apparantly knocks it through the table up under the plate. But wait - there are already two balls of paper below that plate, so when we see the two paper balls under the plate, he still has a paper ball in his hand.
Before he puts the plate down, his left hand comes out from under the table, and he slips this paper ball under the plate as well. So, now we have three balls under one plate (but the casual observer believes there are only two balls under it).
He repeats the stunt, taking his left hand below the table and seemingly knocking it through the table up under the plate and shows us the three paper balls we already know are there. And then he uses his left hand again, to slip the fourth ball below the plate, all the while a person is holding down the first plate - which is merely a stunt, since he removed the ball from under that plate at the beginning.
And repeat: left hand under table - this time without any paper balls, and then the reveal: There are now four paper balls under the plate. But it's not magic, just sleight of hand. As you probably already suspected, but now you KNOW.

Oh, and by the way - the two tricks to learn if you want to do magic like this are:

the way he picks up the first paper ball, between the fingers on the outside of his palm. (0:47 to 0:48)
the way he uses his left hand to put down the plates. Remember, he has a paper ball in the left hand and he always brings the left hand up to put down the plate - thats when he slips in the paper ball. It happens at 0:48, 1:01 and at 1:13

A little practise, and your ready to do your own magic.

Media, the new Buddha-teacher

2012-06-23T09:32:00.000+02:00

Back in the days of the Buddha, enlightenment was almost impossible to attain. Today enlightenment is much easier to attain. Not because we're nobler beings, not because we've grown. But simply because we have access to a much, much larger amount of data about living. We see other peoples lives, fictional and otherwise, play out in cinemas, on tv, on facebook, in games. People are everywhere, and their lives are described in minute details in the public.

We now more about the pitfalls of being human than ever before. We know about sins we do not commit ourselves. We learn about the challenges of other people all the time. And the brain dissects all that data and it compares them to you and your life.

And you only need to do one thing to make all that knowledge help you on the way to enlightenment. You just need to be aware of what is going on in your mind.

Today most people experience enlightenment in some form or other. Extreme sports is the pursuit of that golden moment of enlightenment where the acts you do makes you forget yourself and enjoy the pure joy and fright of the moment. That is enlightenment. That is freedom.

Bored people experience enlightenment when they find that special moment where somehow it all makes sense. Busy people feel enlightenment when suddenly there's no more to do on the todo-list.

Buddha didn't have all that data, but he sat him self by the road and watched life roll by, he saw people passing by, and he gathered data about life. Day after day. Until suddenly his brain reached the tipping point and enlightenment was unavoidable.

Today, Buddha, would sit still in front of the tv for a month, and he would be enlightened. He would play games for weeks, driving himself to exhaustion, and he would reach enlightenment. Or he would dive into the worldly pleasures until they were no longer pleasures and he would become enlightened.

Today, Buddha is you. Just watch, be aware and let life go on, and you will get there. Enlightenment is for everyone.

Buddha was right, but now he's wrong.

2012-06-23T08:43:00.002+02:00

The middle way that the Buddha found is no longer applicable. Not really. His insight is no less stunning today than it was way back then, but all of those Buddhis practices are relics from a different age.

You don't have to live in seclusion to find enlightenment. You don't have to say no to the world to let go of the world. You don't have to live healthy to find the way. In fact, all you have to do to find the way, is to wake up.

And for most of us, the awakening is not sudden. Enlightenment doesn't hit you like a brick wall and changes everything. For most of us it takes years to wake fully from that worldly dream we call reality. And still, we are more awake today than we were yesterday, and we will be more awake and aware tomorrow than we are today.

And setbacks are ok. It's quite ok to relax if you've worked to hard. It's ok to step back to humanity and enjoy the comforts of good company, Jack Daniels, Viagra, cigarettes or Joints, or what ever kind of stimulant you prefer. You can dive into a hedonistic lifestyle for a while, just to ease the pressure.

AND IT WILL NOT STOP YOUR ENLIGHTENMENT.

As soon as you've taken that first step, there is nothing to stop you from being more aware. Nothing will stop you from waking up. As soon as that first step is taken, enlightenment is coming to you. All the wordly pleasures that you might take refuge in as reality is being taken apart, will serve as pitstops. You can stay there for some time, but sooner or later, you will, by your self, want to move on.

So don't worry about you faults. Don't worry about your addictions. Don't fight them. Notice them. Notice how you enjoy it and why you enjoy it. You don't have to fight it or even do anything about it. Actually, fighting it, is the worst thing you can do. AA is not a cure for alcoholism, it's just a sustained fight against the acts of alcoholism. No wonder AA-people still call them selves alcoholics: The fight against it, maintains the AA inside.

Now, just to be quite clear: You can lose your way. You can become such an addict that you will always fight enlightenment. You can become consumed in the fight for the next fix. But still, notice it. Don't fight it. Just notice what you do, why you do it and how you like doing it.

Just take a few minutes right now. Look out. This is the world. Forget the pressure of work or the IRS. Forget about your lover, your child, your family. For just a second, just be you. If you find yourself thinking about things, just acknowledge the thought, and then try to let it go.

What you will see is a world that just is. The people over there? They have no intentions, they have no hidden agendas. They just ARE. As are you. There is just existence. THere's just this moment. And in that moment the world may exist, but all the mental projections of hope, love, hate, fear, joy, sadness are gone. They do not exist until you let them exist. There is no hate in the world. There is no sadness in the world. There is no Joy, no fear, no hope, pain.. there is only the physical world around you. All else is you. Forget about you, and it will be like letting go of a 100 pound backpack. It will set you free.

Just for a moment.

And next year, that momemt will be twice as long. And the year after, you might be able to remove yourself from the equation at will. And if you get that far, enlightenment is just around the corner.

Forget about the Buddha. Forget about scripture. Forget about gurus or holy men. Only remember that all you see in the world is created by you, and just start to be aware.

Go get it Tiger, enlightenment is so cool !!!

Meditation doesn't have to be 'spiritual'

2012-06-22T18:28:00.000+02:00

Although meditation is very often, if not always, associated with some spiritual practice, it doesn't have to be. There are very good rational reasons to meditate, and don't worry; you don't have to visualize Lotus-gardens or Buddhas to get the benefits.

Meditation is just one thing: being aware of what's going on inside of you. Most of the time most people look out upon the world and most of the time most people think about all the stuff out there. Meditation is to be aware of what is going on in your mind.

You can meditate anywhere and anytime. You don't have to sit down, you don't have to be isolated, you don't have to be calm.

In short: Forget all the stuff you've heard about meditation. You only have to do one thing to get started: Notice your self.

Now, some people do this without even thinking about it. It's just a way of life. I do it all the time. I notice as much as I can.

But why should you even bother? Because it pays. You will learn things faster. You will be calmer, most of the time. And when you lose your calm, you will regain it faster. As you start meditation, you will gain more and more control over your life. When something happens, you'll be better at handling it. When everything goes wrong, you'll find a way out faster.

So, how do you do it? Simple. Just notice what happened. What did you think? What did you do? What happened? Every time you notice yourself you store data about your self. And when your brain has enough data, it will tell you something you never noticed about your self. Oh, the reason people get pissed off at me is that I actually sound pretty arrogant sometimes. Oh, the reason he pisses me off, isn't that he's just annoying, but that he's existence reminds me how fragile I am sometimes.

And every insight, banal and simple as it may seem, will slowly transform your life and you'll suddenly find yourself master of your own mind. What that means is that you'll be able to optimize YOU in any situation. Nervous when talking to people? Start meditating and sooner or later you'll be able to NOT be nervous.

And again, it's soooo easy: Just notice your self. Make your mind linger, just for at second, and reflect on what just happened. When you get more used to meditating, you'll be able to reflect on things as they are happening.

Trust me, it's worth it.

The things we aren't but think we are

2012-06-03T13:03:00.003+02:00

What are you really? It seems to me finding out what you really are, is the hardest thing in life. It's difficult to figure out, and it's often very hard to face the illusions we have created through a lifetime.

You are not an illusion. You really are in this world, you really exist. But what are you?

I cut off your arm, and you're still you, right? You get older, but you are still you, right? Sure, the person you were a year ago, did not contain all the stuff that you contain now. You have new memories, maybe you've changed your attitude somewhat, you may know more things and more people. But I bet you still think you are the same person.

Most of us think like that. This is our life, and the experiences we've had through life is something we've experience.

A few years back I realized that the only thing that is really me, is the thing in me that doesn't change. I can not be the person who like sports, cause a few years ago I didn't like sports. So, the I in me, must be the one who can change my attitude. I am not my attitude, I am the one who experiences my attitudes, even when they change.

I'm not the lover, the fighter, the sleeper, the thinker, the debater, the writer... I'm none of those things. I am the person who can be all those things. Like I am a person with an arm, I am a person who writes.

It's so obvious really. We even say it, but we rarely get it.

And we don't even have to get all spiritual about it. I don't know if we have souls. I don't know if we are spiritual beings. And I don't care.

What I do care about is finding ways to empower my self. And when I feel that I am something, I do not empower myself: I limit myself. Saying you are one thing, stops you from being something else. That is a limitation.

And the way out? Stop defining yourself. You can be good, you can be mean. You are not good. Neither are you mean. You are something that can be both. At different times, you have been both. You might even have been both good and mean at the same time.

Stop confusing what you can do, with what you are. Stop thinking in specifics about yourself. It limits you, and oh, by the way, it sets the world ablaze with conflict and war.

You are. And so, you can be a lot of things. But none of those things are you. They are only things that you can be. Even movie stars are not really moviestars. They are something else, that has the capacity to do what they do. Al Pacino is not the actor Al Pacino. Justin Bieber is not the singer Justin Bieber. They are, they exist, but they aren't anything. They are not even their names.

They are. Period.

The power of 'so'

2012-06-03T12:35:00.001+02:00

There is one word that is so powerful that it can change your world. That word is 'so'. The reason that it's so powerful is that it frees your mind and soul from things that are messing with your mind.

Someone just said something hurtful to you? Best response is "so?". Cause what does it really matter what others say about you? The only place this matters is in your mind. And you have the power to release yourself from that burden. Just say "so?"

Its either all Magical or not all

2012-02-05T03:29:00.001+01:00

What would you choose: knowing how magic works and not being able to use it? Or not knowing but being able to know it?

living outside the mind

2010-11-16T23:00:00.000+01:00

Odds are you're like most other westerner: you live by the mind, you experience life through your mind and if your mind is not in it, it doesn't exist.
But what would life seem like, if you didn't evaluate everything with your mind? Is it even possible?

Yes it is. You can experience life directly without any evaluation or judgement. The surprising thing is actually that you find it hard. We are flesh and biology before we are mind. But by now, in this time and age, we're all, everyone of os, minds. We don't experience our bodies, we don't really live our feelings. Instead we are navigating meme-structures that we've been maintaining since the first trick hit us the first time.

But, you are NOT your mind. You are either the entirety of your being, or nothing at all.

Have you thought about it? Really thought about it? If you really have thought about it, then your missing the point, because thinking about a life without thinking, is really not a possibility. Either you try to let go of the mind and experience. Or you hold on to you mind and devaluate any experience you have.

There is no inbetween. Get it?

If you THINK about life, your result will be more thoughts. And those thoughts will never be true. They are like shadows that seem real, until you reallyfocus and realise that they are like the clothes of the emperor: They are not really there.

And likewise with your thoughts. They are but shadows of reality, and if we believe the shadows, we will never see the reality behind them.

Obvious, isn't it ;) ?

How the first trick is messing with you

2010-08-22T22:20:00.001+02:00

The first trick is not that mysterious. It's not even magical. It's something that happens to you everyday. Are you immune to it or are you just another loyal slave not really knowing why you do the stuff you do?

Find out in our riddle test. If you can't solve it, you've been had by the first trick. And chances are you're being had 20 times a day every day. Can you live with that?

If you can, don't take our test, but just leave this blog and go about the business that you think is your business (but really its someone else's business and you don't really realize it).

If you are at all interested in being in control of your life, take our test.

Here it is, the solution

2010-08-22T21:59:00.002+02:00

SPOILER ALERT:

Take a look at the riddle before you read about the solution. Trust me, you'll appreciate the effort.

Don't look unless you've tried to solve the riddle.

Did you?

Really?

I will show you the solution and then I'll describe how I messed with you mind and made sure you couldn't solve it thanks to the first trick.

The solution:

When you look at it, doesn't it strike you as EASY? I mean, all you had to do was to get outside the boundaries of the imaginary square. There is no square and the most likely reason you didn't solve it, was that my First Trick caught you. Most people when they see the nine dots arranged in a neat little square, will never think outside the box. They can use hours trying to do the same thing again and again, even though they KNOW that there is no solution within the square.

But that's the first trick for you. When I told you the riddle I made sure that you were focused on the square. And if I succed in that, you will never find the solution.

You've been had. Don't you think that this trick is used elsewhere, by someone else and that, somehow, you're missing out on the big picture, just because you're trapped in the first trick?

Get out of it, train you self to not take things for granted. Train you self to be critical of your self. Cause left to it self, your mind WILL accept anything. You need to add a healthy dose of self-observing criticism.

The solution

2010-08-22T21:53:00.004+02:00

You gave up on the riddle? Couldn't solve it? I will show you the solution. But only if you really want to know the solution. Only if you really give up.

Do you? Give up? Really?

Come on: Try again.

Ok then, if you really tried, the solution and the reason you couldn't solve it is here.

The first trick, an example

2010-08-22T21:50:00.001+02:00

To show you what the first trick is, I will share a riddle with you. If you've seen it before, just try to remember why you couldn't solve it the first time you tried. If you did solve it the first time you saw it, your my hero and you should be able to use that same immunity to the first trick in the riddle to the rest of your life.

Here goes.

It's a simple task. Use 4 straight lines, one after the other, to connect these nine dots


connect the nine dots using four straight		lines

Let me be precise: What you need to do is to put the pencil to the paper once, and then drag four straight lines and connect to all the dots.

Now, let me show you and example of a failed solution, just to make sure that you get the rules.

In the following picture you see four straight lines, one after the other. It connects 8 dots, but fails to connect to the last dot in the middle of the left side. These four lines probably started at the top left corner, went right to the right upper corner, then down to the lower right corner, then left to the lower left corner, and then diagonal to the upper right corner. But it misses the dot on the middle on the right.

And, again, to make sure you know the rules, another picture. This picture shows an illegal solution. The four lines HAVE to connect to each other and you have to draw them one after the other. Basically you need to put the pen down, and not lift it until you have drawn four straight lines.

In this picture all dots are connected, but the lines aren't. So, once again:

Your job, should you choose to take it, is to put the pencil down, draw four straight lines one after the other, and connect ALL the nine dots.

Go to work now, see if you can solve it.

and when you give up, take a look at the solution.

The first trick revisited

2010-08-22T21:37:00.000+02:00

I find the idea of "the first trick" beautiful and easy to comprehend. But I also find it to be an extremely difficult thing to explain.

The first trick is simple: It's the first frame that someone or something erects in your mind. It's the first 10 pages of a book, the first 10 minutes of a movie, the first minute of a conversation.

Ideally the first trick is not really a trick. It's an open negotiation. We agree on a topic or maybe just we just agree on the boundaries of our social interaction. The first trick is a bit more sinister, cause the first trick is what someone really savvy uses to manipulate you without you ever knowing about it.

Here's how it works. Lets say I want to rule the world. First thing I do is to make a newspaper or a tv-station that brings news. The big secret is: there are almost never any news. There are things happening, and while they are interesting, they are most often not relevant to your life. At all !
So, as soon as I get you to accept the lie that news are relevant to your life, I own you. Now I can find the craziest most scary stories from all over the world, and having good journalists working for me, they will write about the news and MAKE them relevant to you. For example: There's a bomb that went off in a totally different part of the world. Someone will hint that it's the goddamn terrorist. And another source will volunteer to say that terrorists are coming to your hometown soon. and he will do so, because that will guarantee funding for the think-tank he's working for.
But in reality, terrorists are just a few idiots with little or no organization blowing things up once in a while.

Let me tell you: Terrorists don't scare me. Then can't even manage to kill more than a few thousand people every 5 years. That's just no contest to the hundred of thousands dying from our western bullets. And the beauty of it all is that I can make you believe that it's fair for me, as your leader, to send hundred of thousands of men to the other side of the world and kill all those mf's who wont do as I say.

That's the first trick: making you believe something and as soon as you do. I OWN U !

Where to go when you wonder about the world

2010-08-22T20:27:00.000+02:00

Do you ever feel that nagging feeling that someone outhere, somewhere, might have the whole picture? That some scientist, some philosopher or some lonely weirdo might have put it all togehter?

I do, often. To be honest, I've thought I put the whole thing together a few times, only to realize a few months later that I didn't anyway.

I go to wikipedia when I wonder about anything. The great thing about Wikipedia is that you can find a lot of text about most issues in the world, even the smallest. The bad thing is that it's really hard to gauge if what you read is what most educated people believe, or if it's just some very narrow weird idea by someone who for some reason had an impact somewhere.

Is there a gospel of reality outthere? I don't think so. In science the closest I've seen was the book Road to Reality by the brilliant Roger Penrose. But in this book there's absolutely no ideas about being human, about existence. It's all about the cold and cool mathematical theories of physics.

On Wired I find extremely interesting articles about everything from tech to modern geek-culture (and lets face it: Todays geek culture is tomorrows popculture. Geeks OWNS!!!). But I don't find existential blogs or articles about existence and the very personal experience of living in this world.

To find those kind of informed opinions is, in fact, extremely hard. It's like there's this huge subject is just ignored. Well, except for crackpot new-age people who all think they've seen the light and know all.

I once tried writing a book that, very not humbly, would tell it all. I wanted to start with everyday experience, describe science, navigate existenialism and finally divide reality into neat pieces that fit together and gave a complete map of what we know, what we guess and what we don't know about reality.
Needless to say the book was never finished. When I was about to write the final chapter, i found my self disagreeing with what I've written in the last 400 pages. Now that's a hard sell if there ever was one. And I couldn't even sell the idea to my self.

But the question remains: Why is there no map of reality anywhere? Why isn't there some rational gospel of all that we know, all that we guess is true and all the stuff that we don't know anything about?

Where do you go for comfort when you wonder about life, the universe and everything? And if you don't ever wonder about those things; what the heck are you doing here ;) ?

How culture is destroying archetypes

2010-08-12T21:17:00.000+02:00

In The Matrix platos old thought experiment the Cave is visualized with beautiul stunts, CGI and an entertaining plot. It transforms the stuffy and old thought experiment to an easy understandable movie. It makes a filosophical point available to everyone.

Now Inception is doing the same thing. It takes us into a world where you can kill and where you can loose your love, and still it doesn't change anything. It shows us how the subconscious could work and it makes perfect good entertainment.

In the Sixth sense, the afterlife is turned up side down and we experience how it could be to be on the other side. The same goes for the perfect movie with Nicole Kidman The Others.

In comics they take the metaverse to a whole new level. The metaverse is the scientific idea that everytime you take a choice, the universe splits into two universes, one for each of your choices. Marvel takes this as litteral an automatically teaches readers about what the metaverse would mean, even if it uses superheroes to do it.

In computer games there are several god-games where the player is god for an entire little world.

Culture is exploring the deepest existential problems, the highest philosofical questions and the most important scientific discoveries. And they're are not only available from universities or dusty old books or on the internet; they are available in popular culture that billions of people watch, play and read.

We're at the point Nietzsche foresaw. The point where everyone will realize that the concept of God is dead in the human mind. Where millions and millions of people will realize that even the deepest thinkers has nothing more to offer than cheap thrills and fancy gadgets.

We are at the point where the comman man will realize that compared to the personal existential issues, science and philosophy is nothing more than an emperor without clothes.

The archetypes, no matter what kind of archetypes you subscribe to, are the big bad ideas that scare us. Look at greek mythology and there's a plethora of forbidden behaviour all anchored to different archetypes.

Now the archetypes are loosing their power. Pop-culture is driving us all to that point where the only way forward is to deal with existence for real. Thank god we're entertained all the way.

Who is studying humans who cant be fooled?

2010-08-12T20:39:00.000+02:00

Scientists exploring the mind and how it works or trying to work out how language is processed and how language can be used to influence others and one self, even NLP practioners are all working with the same stuff that buddhists are working with.

They are working in the same field: The field of the human mind, what it is and how it works.

But there's a few very notable differences.

Scientists is always looking for a model of how the mind works and how it interrelates with language. Buddhists are always looking for a way out of the mind and the language it interrelates with.

It's a crucial difference, but it is NOT a difference of subject. It's a difference of goal and a difference of method.

Could we merge these two? They are already merging. Zen koan's is much like scientific research into logic. Paradoxes are studied by logicians who wants to find a system that will explain paradoxes. Buddhist studies paradoxes to realize that what ever they think, it will contain a paradox.

Buddhist's are looking for a way out. Scientists are looking for a way to stay in the bubble.

What no one apparantly is researching is what it's like to be in there, in the mind. There a many, many statements about this, but they are all lacking. Stream-of-consciousness is an often used term. But it only means that we all experience consciousness as a flow of experiences.

But, the big question is not how it works, but what you can do about it. Can you change your perception of what it is to be you? Yes you can. But nowhere can you find a description of how this is done, except what others can do to change your perception.

Hidden camera's television is oten extremely funny, but what we don't see are the many participants who weren't fooled and who didn't make an ass of them self.

Psychologists search for the faults in man, they explore the misfits, the psychotic and the strangeness or even normality.

Why isn't anyone studying these unique individuals who can't be fooled and who don't react to psychological experiments.

What is it with these people? No one seems to be interested.

How come?

Rise of the global Subconsciousnes

2010-08-01T09:16:00.000+02:00

It's debatable if we even have subconsciousness, at least in the way that Freud thought about it. But, on a global level we can actually talk about both consciousness and the subconscious.

The media and history is all about the conscious world. They tell the stores that all of us know about. About the BP oil-disaster, about global summits, sporting events, natural disasters, hunger, war and all those other things that all of us know about.

Your private history and the history of your family is subconscious to the world. You know about it, your family knows about it. But the WORLD doesn't know.
For most of us own unique insights probably doesn't register on a global level. We live, think, love and die with out the world really noticing.

That's about to change.

And the internet is to blame. Internet technology has made it possible for still more people to communicate everything to everyone. Not that everyone is listening, like we do in cases of global disasters. But there is someone outthere, with almost the same outlook on life as you. And you might connect. And when you connect, you make it easier for people who live, think and love in similar ways to find you. And connect. And make it easer for other people who live, think and love in similar ways to find you. And connect.

The internet is many thing, but in my mind it's first and foremost an amplifier. The voices of people like you and me rarely made it into the history books in the past. But now, thanks to the internet and it's seemingly endless memory, our voices will live forever, maybe as data-junk or in vast research databases about our times.

The stories of ordinary people are now being preserved. Your pet-projects will be read and stored by robots from big corporations like google. And although your data will be deleted from a lot of places, every year makes it more likely that your pages, your words and your take on reality will survive as data into the far future.

We are the subconscious of earth. And someone is finally paying attention.

When you're the obstacle

2010-07-25T00:24:00.001+02:00

It happens all the time: A new psychological study tells us that people can me manipulated by the strangest things. The last such study I read about found that a picture of a library on the wall made people speak softer, that people behave more competitively when they see a sharp leather briefcase and that they keep their desk tidier when there's a scent cleaning agent in the air. Read about the study on Time magazine.

There's one major problems with all these studies: They're missing the point. Or rather, they are missing at least one crucial point.

How come some people do NOT react on these manipulative hidden clues? Shouldn't that be the real point? It's very, very easy to manipulate people. But how come some of us don't bite? What is it that make some people able to NOT fall for these things?

I may fall for a lot of these hidden clues, but I know for a fact that there are plenty of clues that other people react to that I don't react to. So what gives? Am I just wired differently? Or am I thinking in a way that stops me from changing my behaviour, just because of a sharp leather suitcase?

And I'll bet that there are people out there that don't react to clues that I fall for. So, shouldn't someone somewhere try to find out if there's a common MO that will make us more immune to manipulation?

That would be something, wouldn't it? A way to immunize you and me from manipulation, a way that will make us more independent.

Why is no one looking at the other aspect of manipulation, deception and illusions? Where are the studies that help us withstand more.

Anyone?

Told you - there is a thing that's bigger the intellect

2010-07-16T18:16:00.001+02:00

Take a look at this Ted Talk by Jill Bolte Taylor:

Lets hope we never get what we want.

2010-07-15T12:32:00.003+02:00

So, you've read the latest scandal about... well, where should we start. How about the angry ramblings of Mel Gibson? What about Robbie William and his ramblings, scandals and other weird stuff? Roman Polanski. Phil Spector. Tom Cruise. Just to mention a few. Why do so many stars succumb to drug-abuse? Or crazy behavior?

The answer is easy: When you have everything, nothing will be worth much. And if you can't handle that freedom, you will do anything to make something worthwhile. You will try your very best to reinstate value into the things that used to be valuable to you. You will hold on tighter to anything that will give you just a gist of the glorious past. Why? Because we don't know any better. We can only do the things we already know how to do, unless we change our entire being. And not many people have the courage to experiment with what the consider their core values. Even though most people realize that values are relative.

They actually see it in their lives as the pleasures of youth turns into silly pleasures. But if they can't find any other pleasure to fill their days with, they will turn to former pleasures and exagerate them. They will do more drugs, they will do more extreme things until one of two things happens. They either realize that they've lost their way in life, since pleasure seems absent. Or they will destroy them selves chasing higher extremes. And it happens all the time.

It's hard not to get what you think you deserve. But it's even harder getting everything you ever wanted. Because you will find yourself in a spot where you either realize that you never really wanted what you thought you wanted, and that basically all you work in getting it, was futile; or you will find that everything you hold dear in life is just as superficial as anything else.

And if they can not find a way to put value into their lives, they will turn to belief. They will become AA's, Scientologists, Kabbala believes, born again christians. Not that this will really give you anything but a way to pass time. Not because you feel it's worth it, but because you realigned you reality into a fight to belief. It's like pissing you pants to keep warm. You can keep pissing until your final day, and you will feel warm, simply because you BELIEVE and therefore have to struggle to maintain that belief. And beliefs last longer than any worldly good. But a belief is still an attachment that only works because you no longer know the object your strive towards - that's the genius of religion: They will never tell you that you found god or the higher meaning; they will only ever say that you can be better than you are. And so you find yourself on a path that never ends, because you basically just adapts to a belief-system that you will never get. Isn't that great: Finally a pasttime that will last a life time.

Unless, of course, you stop and think: What is true for me? But that would mean taking responsibility for your life. Religion is to put that responsibility on others and delude yourself to believe that someone else is closer to god, nirvana or Thetans (scientology).

You will always wind up with yourself and not one thing in the whole world will ever distract you enough from that place where we all have to go: To the mirror where we will finally realize what and who we are. And at that point, you'll probably be so attached to the way everyone else wants you to be, that it will be very, very hard to NOT be that person.

It must be the most awful thing that could ever happen to anyone: Getting exactly what you want. I know it was the hardest thing that ever happened to me, because I knew, without a doubt, that all the values i had was false. And I didn't even have half of what Gibson, Williams, Spector, Polanski or all the others have.

God luck, and I hope you will lead a curious life where you are in charge, not just a pleasant one where you outsource your life to someone or something else.

Letting go

2010-07-15T09:18:00.001+02:00

It's so very hard for most of us to let go of anything. We like our cars, we like our appliances, our game consoles, our computers, our biceps, triceps and our abs and we love the people who love us or makes us feel good. It's very hard to let go of the things we love.

We even love our enemies, we love to hate the things we hate, we love our life crisis, our problems, our deadlines and most people love their jobs, even when they hate to do the work. It's just as hard to let go of the things that we hate.

We cling to all the things that makes our human existence human. The work and the toil and the feeling of being a difference for someone somewhere at any time.

But what if all this clinging to stuff is holding us back? What if our idea of being human is less than it could be, just because we cling to things?

Usually we're held back by the things we cling to. They fill every waking hour of our lives and we have gotten used to living a todo-list-life. Even our holidays are packed with todo's and agendas. It's so very hard to just stop doing anything and just being in the moment and enjoying it. It seems like none of really think we deserve to be free and happy, unless we put in the work to earn it. And when we finally get to be free and happy, we choose to put our freedom into a well organized schedule.

Some years ago I got the job I always wanted. That happened more than once, actually. My pay was enourmous, but so was the hours and the workload. And suddenly I realized that all the extra money just meant that I lived way more expensive than I used to. When I realized that the job that I wanted, wasn't really something I wanted to do, I quit and my pay was reduced to the bare minimum. And i found myself with enormous amounts of time on my hand. The first months I enjoyed it immensely. I read all the books that I hadn't had time to read before. I even spent an entire month seeing every episode of every season of tv-shows like Dr. House, Angel, Boston Legal and every movie I missed the last 10 years. And then I ran out of anything to do.

My todolist was empty. And I felt like crap. I mean, having lived a life where I defined by self and my worth in terms of accomplished deadlines and todo's, there suddenlys wasn't anything in my life worthwhile. And at first it made me feel like crap.

And then I realized: I was held prisoner by ideas and values that weren't even mine. I couldn't let go of the things that I had clung to so hard. And it pissed me off. Being able to do what I want, when I wanted to and go where I wanted when I wanted, should be a blessing, but it felt like a curse.

I've let go of almost every need. I still need to eat, drink and sleep. But the only reason I need a job is to get paid, so that I can pay rent and buy food. But everything else is now "nice to have" and not "need to have". And I don't have very many things.

And now, I am always doing something that I love, just because I love it. I wake up in the morning and write a post like this, or I wake up and just sit in the morning sun feeling its warmth, or I wake up and do something completely unexpected. Suddenly there's almost no agenda to my life and every days is more exciting because of it.

It's freedom baby, and its hard to get by unless you let go. And let's face it, most people loooove the prison they created for them selves. I know I did. And there's probably still a lot of chains that hold me prisoner, but there are a lot less chains than before. And I'm getting really close to being entirely without chains.
So, because you probably love your prison, I will not even contemplate telling you to get out or let go. Besides, you probably don't have the balls to take what comes with freedom. You see, when you're free there's no one to tell you what to do, and that makes you totally responsible for everything that you do.

So do you? Have the balls to live free?

Wordly enlightenment

2010-07-14T14:12:00.001+02:00

Enlightenment is a difficult word, since it has so many different meanings. For some "enlightenment" is about a period of history, for others it's about spirituality.

I don't believe that we can actually say anything meaningful about spiritual enlightenment. But we can speak of a worldly enlightenment. Worldly enlightenment is about being aware of everything that happens in your mind and with your emotions.

Here's an example. You're driving to work, and when you arrive you realize that you can't remember anything from your drive. You know that you drove to work, but can't remember a single thing since you got into you car. When you arrive you 'wake up' and realize that you have been doing something without even being aware of it. That's enlightenment.

When you drove you weren't really aware. Your mind didn't really need the sense of YOU to drive to work, and since you had nothing to think about, your 'you' dissappeared. So, in some sense, you were taken over by processes in your mind and you lost your self to those processes.

The same happens when you get very excited. For instance, angry people are no longer aware of their anger. They ARE the anger and the anger is controlling them. They loose them selves to feelings.

At other times we even think we are aware when we really aren't aware. When you read a book or when you spend hours thinking about some issue, you forget yourself and you're not really present. You mind has gone to another place, and you forgot where you were.

So, being enlightened in the worldly sense is to be aware of all the things that you do, think and feel, while you do, think and feel them.

But, how aware or enlightened can we get? Is there an upper limit? The answer is yes, at least when it comes to worldly enlightenment. That limit is when you realize that the idea of who and what you are is a mental construct. That you actually create yourself in every moment. When you get to that kind of enlightenment, you're done, and you will have to work real hard to become unenlightened again.

Before that upper-limit the benefits are huge. You will be able to register a lot more of reality in any given moment. You will realize what this particular moment can lead to, and you'll be able to 'spin' every moment towards what ever you want. It's a huge, huge difference. It's like being the best you can be, all the time, and not just in a few glorious moments in life.

Oh, one more thing: spiritual enlightenment is the only way to continue past the upper limits of worldly enlightenment. I will get back to spiritual enlightenment in a later post.

For now, just think about it: Can you be better than you are right now? If you don't think so, you're probably already enlightened or, more likely, in denial about your faults.

And here's a warning: Going for enlightement means that you will face every flaw, every fault and every mistake you ever made. But, in the end, there will be no flaws, faults or mistakes left. You will be in the moment, making informed decisions and you will know where that decision will lead.

It's simply a great way to live.
react to reactions in other people, that you weren't able

Level one in 4 steps

2010-07-13T11:36:00.001+02:00

This post is about meditation and is about the first 4 of 12 steps towards enlightenment (whether worldly or spiritual). The first post is here.

Do you have control of your body? No, I'm not talking about moving your arms or legs, I'm talking about the inner body: the pulse, perspiration and not-moving your arms or legs.

Before we go into each step, let's have a look at what this level is about. It's about making the body stay as still as possible. Do it for a few minutes just to ground your self in everyday life and inoculate yourself from stress and panic. Do it for longer periods of time to get a more permanent calmness in your entire being.

Basically this level will make you experiment with the body by making you breathe differently. For me, there are three ways to breathe when I meditate.

-fast and rythmic, sometimes even forceful breaths. This will make your pulse rise, it may even make you perspire and it's a forceful way to make you body do what you want.
Slow and calm. Just breathe in slowly, and breathe out slowly. Don't worry about the rhythm, just let your breaths come naturally, but make sure that you complete every breath (all the way in, all the way out, all the way in, all the way out)
Almost sleeplike breathing. This comes naturally when you fall asleep or if you go into deep meditation. However, its hard to come by this type of breath by will alone, because you need to slow you entire bodily system down. If you can't go in to this form of breathing at the beginning, don't worry - it will probably come by it self at some point, or you can return later after you've worked on different steps and try again - it will get easier, as you improve you meditation skills.

If you have some kind of focus, it will make it a lot easier. A good place to focus is on the tip of your nose. Notice how it gets cooler when you breathe in, and warmer when you breathe out? Good, keep noticing it and keep your focus, while you maintain your current breathing pattern.

If you're new to meditation, you might get impatient, because what you're doing seems like a waste of time. After all, you probably measure meaningfulness in ways of producing stuff or ideas, doing stuff, having obligations, stressing out over deadlines and all things that we value in life.

Meditation IS different. And it might take some time for you to realize the benefits. So, here are few ways to make it a bit easier:

When ever you're bored, commuting or something else: Just take a few minutes and breathe easy. I mean, why not - its not like your doing anything else?
Before any physical exercise breathe forcefully and deeply for 1-2 minutes. This should improve your performance. This is especially noticeable when swimming or snorkeling.
Before a meeting that makes you uncomfortable or gives you an adrenalin rush, go somewhere private, even the restroom or just close the door to your office if you have one, and breathe easy and calmly for 3-5 minutes (if you're already stressed, you probably will have to use some will power).

This works because it takes away the biological control of your existence. You're actually starting to break the bond between emotions and bodily reactions. It will make it easier for you to perform just as you want to perform, and it will make it easier to remain calm and undisturbed, even when that thing that wasn't supposed to happen, happens anyway.

12 steps to freedom

2010-07-13T11:15:00.001+02:00

Freedom is to know what is going on within ourselves, so that we know why we do stuff. But freedom is a hard thing to do, and maybe that's why a lot of people use the word 'enlightenment' instead. But they are the same thing. Freedom is enlightenment. Enlightenment is freedom.

There are exceedingly many ways towards enlightenment. However, there are basic stuff that we all need to let go of. This 12-step guide is based in part on anapanasatti meditation, but almost entirely without any reference to spirituality.

The 12 steps consists of 3 levels with 4 steps in each. First level is about the getting your body to stay silent for longer periods of time.

Second level is about your emotional life and release yourself from the control that emotions have over your experience of life and the way you live it.

Third level is about the mind, and is the most subtle of them all. Can you make your mind stay silent?

How long will it take?
There's just no way of telling. You will know when you arrive at enlightenment, but until then, you'll probably realize quite often, that you need to go back to an earlier level or step.

For instance, even though you have complete bodily silence the experiences on level 2 (emotions) will probably cause your body to react. That is perfect, because any disturbance of your bodily silence is an indicator that tells you, that you've found some friction in your emotional life.

You can go through all 12 steps in one meditation, but it will probably not get you to enlightenment. That's ok though - just remember that you must practice every step until you're master it. And if you think that you master it already, do the step anyway, even for a short while, just to make sure.

How to meditate?
Basically, meditation is all about listening to what goes on inside of you. If you're a skeptical person who don't believe in spirituality, don't worry - this will not make you into a born again happy hippie. But it will bring you a much better balance in life, and just like you can become healthy and bodily balanced through training and eating right, meditation will bring your mind to stable ground and make it easy to keep it there; even when everyone else is panicking or stressing out.

A lot of guides about meditation recommends that you spend 20-30 minutes a day, every day on meditation. The truth is, you don't have to. They also recommend that you find a quiet spot and maybe play some 'spiritual' music. If that is good for you, go right ahead. But you probably don't need to.

Here's the only thing that you have to do, when meditating: You be quiet and pay attention to what's going on inside you. If you don't know how to do this, read this link (coming soon).

So, lets get started already. Here is a link to the first level.