Friday, October 24, 2008

Self as Metaprogrammer by Chris Arkenberg

Self as Metaprogrammer by Chris Arkenberg from Maybe Quarterly Magazine
Excerpts:

Metaprogramming - becoming the mind you want to be

Most of us will live our lives without much consideration of these ideas,
content to exist as semi-automatons, acting & reacting based on genetics and
imprints and the accumulated experiences of our lives without ever
questioning these habitual responses to our world. In spite of the brain's
ongoing updates, the perceptions and beliefs of most people will change
little after about 30 years of age, barring some sudden traumatic or visionary
experience which disrupts their ingrained view of things enough to allow the
brain to rewire a new way of seeing the world. Yet the hardware of the brain
and the software of the mind is open source. We can each become mind
programmers - metaprogrammers - actively rewiring our beliefs and
associations towards whatever goal we may have. This is no new revelation
and there are many techniques, both modern and archaic, for breaking the
mold of belief and mapping novel associations in the brain.

Ritual

The networks of the brain are not designed to change at the slightest whim
or passing fancy. Nor are the constructs of the psyche. Sudden, radical
confrontation can inspire change, as in our phoenix analogy, but so can
persistent repetition, like learning to play the piano. We acquire this skill
through diligent practice, over and over, slowly rewiring our brain to adapt
to the task and integrate the art. Much of eastern mysticism proceeds by this
path, like a river slowly wearing down the hardened stone until it is soft and
polished. Magickal ritual may employ radical initiations, but for most it is a
daily practice that gradually reprograms the practitioner to be more in line
with the metaphysics of the path. Anything done regularly and consistently
will forge grooves in the brain.

Read it all!

8 comments:

ian said...

Check it out, scientific "evidence" of gene programming as well

Dedroidify said...

Interesting, we can not only change our learning, our conditioning and our imprints, but our genetics as well. I guess that is what "DNA activation" or a Kundalini rising is all about?

Why did you put evidence between quotes?

ian said...

Nothing in the article lead me to believe that this was anything other than a basic study that brought to light some unexpected data. It suggests an avenue of future study, not any kind of conclusive evidence.

So "evidence" rather than just evidence. Just my way of joining in with the whole no BS thing you've got going on here. I didn't want to imply more than I saw. =)

By the way, thanks for the mention on StumbleUpon.

Dedroidify said...

Oh I see, thanks for clearing up :)

Indeed, I was fascinated by it though. And cool to join in on the BS thing, though you did use the word "believe" in the latest comment! ;p haha I jest.

What mention was that?

Sorry for all the questions heh ;p

Peace Ian

ian said...

No worries, there's very little that I take personally. And yeah, the article is really interesting. Makes me think of stories I heard when I was a kid of people being able to change their hair and eye color simply by wanting it to change badly enough.

As for the BS, well, I believe that I can believe whatever I want to believe, and that I can believe something completely different at exactly the same time as well. =)

Anyway, I noticed that my site comes up on StumbleUpon as recommended by someone named droidydoo, which I had thought was you, based on something I'd seen on your site earlier. Course, if I'm wrong, my apologies. =)

Link is here

Peace.

Dedroidify said...

Hey Ian,

Oh right I remember. Yes that's my stumbleupon page - I use it as a kind of link archive, as I fudged the post labeling there early ;p it's linked in the sidebar here too.

It's an excellent article indeed, came across it at just the right time personally.

Interesting take on BS :) That's basically the same as I see it, just different semantics. I separate the words belief and thought as I try to detach emotionality from thought (which is impossible to do totally, haha). Same diff! Will do a post about it too in the near future, and perhaps include different ways of explaining it. Your comment is extremely helpful for that so thanks very much! I'm still looking for more optimal ways to bring this across.

Peace

ian said...

Ha, I knew I'd seen that linked on here somewhere. Well, I say thanks for the mention because I'm planning on blogifying (wordpress, most likely) my site to make it easier to update. My lack of posts has just been pitiful, but hopefully I can get some good stuff going soon. I also have a research link site, which you can check out here if you'd like.

Good look on working out all differences between thoughts, emotions, beliefs, etc. I look forward to reading the post. There's a kind of similar conversation over at The Baptist's Head, in regards to the different mental facilities and how they relate to different dream states, which might be of some help.

Anyway, it's been fun. I'm getting out of work now and heading home, so I probably won't be back on the internets until Monday.

Peace (out),
Ian

Dedroidify said...

Thanks for the kudos and link, will dig in!

Peace out