Recognize mental energy as a separate form of energy, just as mental strength is a separate form of strength. The energy resides in evoking courage and creativity. This is a real magic act, perhaps the fundamental act of magic.

Creativity is essential to understanding, and courage is essential for creativity. Neither courage nor creativity is well understood, and neither is encouraged beyond a trivial level. As a result, few of us know or have been exposed to much of either.

This ignorance of knowing how to deal with uncertainty is a major cause of our stasis, intolerance, and fragility. Seen from another point of view, our meager skills in being creative or courageous contribute to our anxiety, frustration, lassitude, distress, and poor health. This may seem like an exaggeration, but I don’t think so.

• Uncertainty, Honesty, and Courage• Crisis Equals Opportunity• Magical Thinking• There is Wisdom Somewhere• The Illusion of Singularity• Courage is Not Foolishness

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”— Alvin Toffler

* What learning is, and schools are.

* What’s personally meaningful, socially useful, and institutionally enforced.

* Today's priorities are creativity, communication, and insight.

* Are kids less courageous than before?

* How does one learn to be creative?

The old public school model is a zombie. It's dangerous and should be dismantled. We don't need to know what comes next, just make room for it!

Everything we manifest, both as individuals and in relationships, has its origins in our subconscious.

Dreams are an opportunity to understand yourself, if you take them seriously.

Hypnosis is a mind-body technique; a way to amplify of our control of ourselves. This ability is both a risk and an asset. It’s something we all have to a more or less degree.

Two things remind me hypnosis is more of a skill than a state: a client and an article. Like many of my clients, this client is analytical and I’d like them to be less. The article is called Developing Deep Trance in Therapeutic Hypnosis…

The Operating Manual ties together awareness of your neurology, your body, and your cognitive self-awareness. For most of us the neurology is obscure, the body is removed, and the mind is layered in habits and learned behaviors. But there is a synergy in these; they enlarge together, and greater awareness in one fosters greater awareness in the others.

The hypnotic induction “Changing” illustrates how perception grows from imagination. Perception creates moods, moods create emotions, and emotions create personality. It illustrates topics discussed in the book, but even without reading the book, if you deeply relax, you will be affected.

My interview with Thomas Ahn, CEO of Mad Venture, where we discuss the approach he takes to investing in positive, world-changing businesses and the psychology of challenge and resilience.

Here is an outline of Chapter 2: Needing, from Operating Manual for Enlightenment, Recreating States of Mind:

The Family System; Childhood; Recollection; The Social Self; Growing Up

The Scheme of Things; Recollecting; Reconstructing; Recreating

Here is an outline of Chapter 1–Introduction, Operating Manual for Enlightenment, Recreating States of Mind. Support the book by sponsoring it at Kickstarter.

How The Book Is Organized

The Operating Manual is organized along the lines of what we see, feel, think, and experience. By enhancing these separate abilities, we can better understand what holds them together.

Consciousness

Greater understanding comes from reconsidering something you already know. I aim to change your awareness by having you focus on it. By asking you to reconsider similar ideas from increasingly wider points of view. This is how we learn anything.

Ego

Ego is the container of your opinions. The publicist who represents you, and a rough outline of who you can become. It’s your house, car, job, family, and social identity. It is a book of memories and ideas. But there is more to the book of who you are than is presented by ego’s outline. The ego is an invitation. You can try starting over, but it’s easier if you fill it in.

Alters and Alternates

Alternate aspects of you personality have their own memories, emotions, and presentations. They are remnants of your childhood and attitudes you picked up from situations.

Accept these as having played a useful role, and develop a sense of yourself that includes these aspects of you. You can’t change your minds unless you speak with them. Self-awareness is an awareness of all your parts.

Addressing Personality

This is the last week of the Kickstarter campaign. Support Operating Manual for Enlightenment on Kickstarter. Purchase the special edition in digital, audio, or hardcopy.