How To Increase Your Consciousness

(HOW TO OVERCOME YOUR WIMP)

© Copyright 1993 By Frederick Mann, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

"A conscious life is the highest value." - Jacob Needleman

We humans are free and powerful by nature. Practically all "unfreedom" and powerlessness we
suffer from, we have learned. Some of us may find the idea of being naturally free and
powerful, frightening. There may be an overpowering psychological "wimp" in our mind that
blinds us to our freedom and power. If so, the next step is to overcome that wimp.

Deep within the psyche of practically every human there resides a pernicious wimp. Your wimp
is like gravity. It is invisible. It is powerful. It pervades your life. It pulls you down. It affects
your every thought, your every action... It usurps your power.

The wimp within you makes it possible for people to manipulate you. The reason politicians,
lawyers, bureaucrats, IRS agents (tax/theft collectors), etc., get away so easily with their
fraudulent and criminal activities is that practically all their victims are afflicted with virulent
wimps that inhabit the core of their psyches. In general it is easy to dupe wimps and separate
them from their consciousness and their money.

Once you begin to understand your own personal wimp and recognize when it exerts its
influence over you, you can begin to overcome it. You do it little by little. An understanding of
the evolution of human consciousness will help you identify the nature of your personal wimp.
Consider the bicameral model of the mind - table below:

THE BICAMERAL MODEL OF THE MIND:

1. Pre- Automatic visions and voices tell you what to do.

conscious; You automatically obey the "voices of authority."
Bicameral You think and speak like a slave.
stage 1: Obedience is paramount.

Automatic feelings and thoughts tell you what to do.

2. Proto- You behave like:
conscious; (a) A true believer (sometimes a fanatic fighter for a "great cause"); or
Bicameral (b) A helpless wimp (languishing in apathy, sometimes complaining); or
stage 2: (c) A self-righteous preacher (making self "right" and others "wrong"); or
(d) A macho rebel (compulsively fighting "the system," "the IRS," "the
government").
Being "right" is paramount.
 You have largely mastered your feelings and emotions.
3. Conscious; You have the ability to critically examine every concept, every thought, every
Conscious action.
stage: You strive to increase your competence in every aspect of your life.
You carefully observe the results you produce, using that as feedback to
improve your concepts, thoughts, communications, and actions.
You live free and creatively - you are a Freeperson.
Producing results is paramount.

According to Dr. Julian Jaynes (The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the
Bicameral Mind), up to about 3,000 years ago humans were not conscious as we know
consciousness today. Their minds worked like this: Situations triggered mental voices and/or
visions that were automatically generated in the right brain, from where they were
communicated via the anterior commissure to the left brain, where the visions were "seen" and
the voices "heard." The mental voices and visions "told" people what to do. Today, some people
still manifest this form of mentation - sometimes called schizophrenia. I call this stage in the
evolution of consciousness, bicameral stage one - the pre-conscious human. In this stage
obedience is paramount.

Many people are aware of an automatic, apparently uncontrollable "stream of thoughts" going
on in their heads. Sometimes a situation will trigger an automatic thought like "she doesn't love
me," followed by automatic feelings and emotions - apparently not under control. When I watch
and listen to a TV talk show like "Good Morning America" or "Morton Downey, Jr.," it seems
to me that most of the participants, including the host and the specially invited speakers, merely
regurgitate their automatic thoughts - their emphasis being on trying to prove self "right" and
others "wrong." I call this bicameral stage two - the proto-conscious human. In this stage
being "right" is paramount.

A rapidly growing number of people have started questioning and critically examining
concepts, beliefs, and behaviors, held sacred by their elders and most of their contemporaries.
These people want to produce better results in their lives: their health, their relationships, their
careers. In any area where they think their results are below expectations they seek to improve
their knowledge, their skills, their competence. They also realize that some of their difficulties
stem from destructive thoughts and behavior patterns acquired or developed during childhood.
Their emphasis is on producing results. I call this the conscious stage.

By conscious I mean critically aware, particularly critically self-aware. The proto-conscious

person in bicameral stage two operates "on automatic" most of the time - like driving a car
without thinking, or regurgitating automatic thoughts, or reacting emotionally like a puppet, or
compulsively making self "right" and others "wrong" without critical awareness of the results
being produced.

The critically conscious are conscious of their consciousness. They critically monitor what they
think, say, and do in order to produce the results they want. They develop the thinking skill of
self-observation.
Many people are in transition from bicameral stage 2 to the conscious stage. Some are still in
transition from bicameral stage 1 to bicameral stage 2. Some show signs of all three stages.

Where does your wimp fit into all this? If you believe in total obedience to something outside
yourself (an external "authority"), your wimp may have total control over your life. If you're a
bicameral stage two proto-conscious human, your wimp will probably make you a true believer,
a somewhat helpless apathetic, or a compulsive rebel. These three types compare to three of the
life-orientations identified by Dr. Eric Byrne in Transactional Analysis: "I'm not OK - you're
OK" (true believer); "I'm not OK - you're not OK" (helpless apathetic); and "I'm OK - you're
not OK" (compulsive rebel). As you evolve into the conscious stage you move towards "I'm OK
- you're OK."

The way you recognize your wimp is to identify any area of your life where the results you
produce don't meet your expectations. If you are inclined to lose your cool in certain situations,
or in the presence of certain kinds of people, you have another pointer to your wimp. If you
consistently blame things or people outside yourself for your lack of success or your lot in life,
you have another indication that your wimp is at work. If you're involved in any activity where
it is claimed that "X is the only truth, philosophy, politics, etc.," your wimp is of the true
believer kind. Similarly, your wimp may be the helpless apathetic or compulsive rebel type. If
there are things you want to do but somehow you don't think you can do them, or you just never
get around to doing them, that is another pointer to your wimp. If you're stuck in some
destructive habit - you want to drop it but don't seem able to - that is your wimp at work. If you
often get victimized - for example, provoke violence or coercion against yourself - that is a
definite wimp pointer.

If you believe you can't escape the clutches of the Internal Revenue Stealers (IRS), then your
wimp has you - there are probably at least ten million people in the USA who are largely free
from IRS taxes and the government. You can join them whenever you want to.

The steps for overcoming your wimp:

1. Recognize that there is a wimp within you.

2. Identify the areas in your life where the wimp seems to get the upper hand - areas where
your results are below expectation.

3. Ask, "What knowledge, skills, or methods (competence) do I need to improve in that

area?"

4. Replace the incompetence with competence. For many this is a life-long process. We
simply stick to it year after year.

5. Read and apply Mind Traps: Change Your Mind Change Your Life by Tom Rusk. Rusk
identifies self-doubt as the root of all evil:
 "The effects of self-doubt go far deeper than an inability to accept one's talents and
attributes. Self-doubt is a mental abscess which can penetrate to the very essence of
your being. Like a slow-growing but highly adaptable fungus, self-doubt is a creeping
rot which eats away at your sense of worth. It can be so insidious you may be unaware
of its damaging effect on your life. And self-doubt is extremely durable; it is resistant to
all but the most sophisticated and determined efforts at eradicating it.

Introduced by painful experiences in childhood, self-doubt weaves itself into the fabric
of your identity. There, disguised as the truth, utilizing the self-defeating attitudes (Mind
Traps) it generates, self-doubt asserts its poisonous influence over every aspect of life,
from work to relationships. Self-doubts and Mind Traps are hardy enough to withstand
overwhelming conflicting evidence. They are even resistant to good common sense - no
matter how much some people may love and respect you, you may still doubt yourself.
And you may find yourself sabotaging your own welfare."

6. Read and apply Learned Optimism by Martin E.P. Seligman. The wimp is a pessimist.
Optimism is a methodology or technology that can be learned. Doing so will eventually
defeat the wimp.

7. Consider again the central theme of this report:

"To feel that we are worthwhile individuals, to know that we exist, we have to
express our power - feel that we are in control. This imperative to express our
power and experience control is central to human behavior. Every human does
something to express his or her power in the world. This power can be expressed
creatively or destructively.

Humans first attempt to express their power creatively. If such attempts fail
repeatedly, they experience themselves as powerless. They may feel helpless and
hopeless, and become depressed. What they experience is that they cannot make a
positive difference in their own lives or in the world. A cognitive breakdown occurs
between their actions and the results they produce. Mentally and intellectually they
cease to understand the connections between their behavior and the consequences
of their behavior. Then they express their power destructively.

This phenomenon is at the root of practically all individual and societal problems.

Understanding this phenomenon and its implications leads to the solution of

practically all individual and societal problems."

Your wimp can be described as that part of you that expresses power destructively - those parts
of your personality where the cognitive connections between actions and consequences have
broken down.

An important distinction here: We think, we "emote," and we act. Of the three the easiest to
change - in some cases - is action.
The wimp is afraid. It is a coward. Unfounded fear is a breakdown of the cognitive connection
between action and consequence. We fear taking a certain action because we have a weird idea
(cognitive connection) of what the consequences might be. The ultimate way to beat the
wimp is to do the things we are most afraid of - those things where the fear is unfounded -
like public speaking, door-to-door selling, asking a stranger for directions, etc.

Observe the consequences of these actions and formulate new cognitive connections. Discover
your freedom and power.

MORE ON CONSCIOUSNESS
You may think that when people walk around with open eyes, they're conscious. You may think
in terms of two states: sleep and consciousness. You may think that when you walk around with
your eyes open, or watch TV, you're conscious. It's very easy for us to deceive ourselves! Most
people are pretty unconscious during their supposedly "awake" hours.

Observing bicameral or unconscious behavior in others may assist you in recognizing and
overcoming it in yourself. For some more examples, read the articles: Dumb Obstinacy, and
The Blind Men and the Elephant (which also demonstrates the subjective nature of "truth").
Report #11: How to Increase Your Intelligence also contains important additional information
on this subject.

I see consciousness as a continuum, rather than as a "black/white something" that is either

completely absent or completely present. I say there are many degrees of consciousness. I also
regard "continuum thinking" as a thinking skill.

You could regard the extent of your consciousness as the number of things which you are
conscious of; for example, suppose you identify one hundred things about yourself and your
environment - at any particular time you may only be conscious of two to five of these things.
Breathing is an example of something which your body usually does unconsciously or
automatically - until you deliberately control your lungs, such as by taking several deep breaths,
do you become conscious of your breathing; though the process reverts to an unconscious state
shortly thereafterwards, replaced by whatever else you later began thinking about, or focused
your attention on. Therefore, in order to increase your consciousness in this respect, you need to
increase the number of things which you can simultaneously maintain consciousness of.

A key realization is that consciousness is intentional. It's not something that just happens or
something we have automatically. For there to be consciousness, we have to direct our
consciousness. We have to will consciousness. Consciousness is active.

In his book On Disobedience and Other Essays, psychologist Erich Fromm indicates why
disobedience is the first step toward developing real consciousness. When you obey others,
you're like a puppet sleepwalker on a string. By thinking for yourself and making your own
decisions you develop consciousness.
Another important way to develop consciousness is to question everything. Don't take
anything for granted. Whatever you accept blindly from others, tends to make you a stimulus-
response robot. Particularly question all your past knowledge.

When we are conscious, we are reflectively conscious on a continual basis. "Reflective" is the
key word - it implies observing how you think and act - awareness of your consciousness, if
you like. Some additional aspects of consciousness include your perception of the process
whereby you trigger your emotions; an awareness of your habits as habits; and the ability to
distinguish between (a) reality, (b) your perception of reality, and (c) your reaction/response to
your perception of reality.

In addition to perception there are four important words:

"Apperception" is the perception of what goes on in your mind, observing your own thoughts
(introspection).

"Proprioception" is the perception of what goes on in your body, observing your feelings,
sensations, and emotions.

"Subception" is a term used by Michael Polany to describe the perception at the level of what
he calls "tacit knowledge." Much of the knowledge we apply to ride a bicycle is tacit or
unexpressed. We find it difficult to articulate this knowledge. Subception is perception at this
level.

"Projectoception" is a term I invented to describe the "perception" of what's really not there.
Consider the so-called "crab nebula." From a certain vantage point, a "group of stars" seem to
have the shape of a crab. So we collectively call them "the crab." Some of these stars are much
closer to earth than others. If we were looking at these stars from a very different place in the
universe, we wouldn't see them as being "grouped together." The supposed "perception" of "the
crab" really constitutes the addition or projection of something to the information actually being
received. A great leap in intelligence occurs when we develop the ability to recognize our own
projectoception. Much of human stupidity is due to the unrecognized and unwarranted addition
or projection of "collectivities" and ascribing magical powers to these "collectivties." An
example of such a "collectivity" is "government."

A simpler example of such addition or projection occurs in the case of a "policeman." An

ordinary man, when clothed in a "uniform," is projected as having "special qualities."
Something added to the perception changes "ordinary man" into "policeman."

Addition or projection is also involved when the noises and scribbles of coercive political
agents are regarded as "the law" (so-called). Projectoception occurs when you perceive more
than there really is to be perceived. (Much of culture consists of agreed upon projectoception.
Optimum survival often requires that we pretend to share the common projectoceptions of our
fellows.)

When we are in control, as opposed to being stimulus-response machines, we use our cognitive
intermediary ability to be in control. In a stimulus-response orientation people react to input
from the environment automatically and produce output without the use of their cognitive
systems (consciousness). An example of this is Ted. When Ted's girlfriend told him she didn't
want to go out, he automatically (unconsciously) got upset because he thought she was mad at
him. Ted never bothered to use his cognitive ability (consciousness) to either realize that there
are legitimate reasons why she does not want to go, or to control his own emotional reaction.

Another example is Thom. When Thom's girlfriend tells him she does not want to go out he
uses his cognitive ability (consciousness) to consider alternative possibilities as to why she does
not what to go out, such as the fact that she had a long day and is tired. He then controls his
emotions and consciously creates an appropriate response, rather than an automatic unconscious
emotional reaction.

In his superb book The Philosophy of As If, Hans Vaihinger explained the principle of the
preponderance of means over ends. It seems to be a human tendency to forget the end and to get
lost in the means. The means tend to become more important than the end. So people can
devote much of their lives (even sacrifice their lives) to futile means with little or no prospect of
achieving any worthwhile end. To escape this trap - the tendency towards unconsciousness? -
you need to constantly focus on producing the (end) results you desire, whilst keeping whatever
you need to do to achieve those results (the means) as a subordinate function.

SELF-OBSERVATION
The famous mystic Gurdjieff claimed that what we generally regard as the awake state is in fact
a kind of "sleepwalking." I call this bicameral stage two, in which people operate "on
automatic" without really observing themselves. Gurdjieff and his disciple Ouspensky were
well known as teachers of self-observation. Self-observation is a thinking skill that enables you
to become critically aware of what you think, say, and do - and the consequences you create.

Many people most of the time are not critically aware of their thoughts, communications, and
actions. For many, critical self-observation is a difficult skill to learn. Many use reason to
rationalize their actions after the fact - to make themselves "right." Gurdjieff, Ouspensky, and
their followers have written several books on the lifetime work of becoming critically self-
aware.

HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS IS IN ITS INFANCY

Philosopher and psychologist Nietzsche indicated that human consciousness is in its infancy.
Suppose the universe is four billion years old, humans have existed for about 200,000 to
300,000 years, and have been conscious for maybe 3,000 to 5,000 years. In evolutionary terms,
our consciousness is in its infancy. We are at the level of a baby just beginning to learn to crawl.

Consider that all the problems in the world - unhappiness, crime, drug abuse, suicide, rape,
terrorism, coercive government, war, pollution, poverty, famine, child abuse, depression,
unemployment, inflation, homelessness, unhealth, etc. - are a consequence of the fact that
human thinking skills are still at a very primitive infancy level.

What if we are like primitive, backward, barbaric infants who are yet to learn to crawl - but we
deceive ourselves into believing that we are the finest olympic athletes?
Let us learn to crawl, walk, run, and jump!

DUMB OBSTINACY

[The following article by Steve Wilson appeared in The Arizona Republic of March 13, 1996:]

Taking obstinacy to new levels in finding a car at airport

How's this for dumb:

I flew into Sky Harbor Airport on Sunday and walked to the Terminal 4 parking garage to get
my car. I knew exactly where it was parked -- Level 5, Space 247. Unlike those scatterbrained
types who need to write down their location when they leave their cars at the airport, my
superior memory makes this task unnecessary.

When I reached Space 247, I found a different car parked in my space.

This was not possible.

I retraced my path. I had entered the west side of the garage on Friday and spiraled up the ramp.
A sign at the first exit, Level 4, said there was no room and to continue to the next level.

I complied and pulled into Space 247.

Someone stole my car, I imagined. What else could explain this Jeep in my parking space?

Before reporting it stolen, I thought I ought to look around. There's an infinitesimal chance --
roughly the same as Bob Dole being elected president this year -- that I had parked in a
different space. The next half hour was spent checking out all 779 spaces on Level 5.

No car.

Even though I was positive I hadn't entered Level 4, I went down and checked Space 247 on
that floor. No car.

Then I walked up to Level 6, even though I was certain I hadn't been up that high.

There, in Space 247, sat my car.

My mistake, I learned later, was in presuming that I had entered on Level 5. The way the garage
is set up, the west side ramp feeds cars into Levels 4 or 6 only. On the east side, cars enter on
Levels 5 or 7 only.
Not knowing where I had parked was bad enough, but what really struck me as I drove home
was how unwilling I'd been to admit to myself that I'd made a mistake.

Marilyn vos Savant wouldn't be surprised.

She's the woman listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the world's highest IQ,
which is 228.

She knows how reluctant people are to admit they're wrong or change their minds once a
decision has been made.

In a just-published book, The Power of Logical Thinking, she writes about our irrational
stubbornness in connection with a famous brainteaser, the "Monte Hall Dilemma." The name is
taken from Hall's long-running TV program, Let's Make a Deal.

The problem goes like this:

Suppose you're on a game show, and you're given the choice of three doors. Behind one door is
a car, behind the others, goats. You pick a door, say No. 1, and the host, who knows what's
behind the doors, opens another door, say No. 3, which has a goat. He asks, "Do you want to
pick door Number 2?" Is it to your advantage to switch your choice of doors?

The answer seems simple and obvious to most people. They see no advantage to switching and
stick with door No. 1.

The correct answer, however, is to switch. This contradicts most people's intuition that the odds
on each of the two unopened doors must be one-half. They aren't.

When you chose Door No. 1, the odds of getting the car were one-third. You had a one-third
chance of being right to begin with, and you still do. Since the odds on Door No. 1 remain at
one-third, and opening door No. 3 leaves only one other door where the car could be, the odds
on door No. 2 must now be two-thirds.

Computer trials confirm that switching doors leads to winning the car 66.7 percent of the time.

Most people get it wrong for two reasons:

First, they miscalculate the probabilities of sticking and switching. That's nothing to feel
inferior about. After this problem appeared in her Parade magazine column in 1990, vos Savant
received nearly 10,000 critical letters, including hundreds from people with Ph.Ds.

But even if the true probability of winning by sticking were .50, as most people presume, there's
still no rational basis to prefer standing pat. So why don't more people switch?

Vos Savant sees psychological mechanisms such as belief perseverance and cognitive
dissonance coming into play.
Both make it hard for us to change a belief, or in this case, a choice, after it's been expressed.
Once we make a decision, it gets tied up with ego and we can become irrationally committed to
it. We anticipate feeling worse if we switch and lose than if we stick and lose.

Our brains are wired in such a way that encourages us to stay with our choices, no matter how
poorly informed or insignificant they are. We'd rather feel right than reconsider.

Even when the odds are that the car is parked behind a different door.

Or on another floor.

The Blind Men and the Elephant

A Hindu Fable, by John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887)

It was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approached the Elephant,

And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
"God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"

The Second, feeling of the tusk,

Cried, "Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me 'tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"

The Third approached the animal,

And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
" 'Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said: "E'en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

So oft in theologic wars

The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an Elephant
Not one of them has seen!