 |
|
 |
|||||||||||||||||||
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
“GOOD” AGGRESSION The O.S. suited to self-mastery, unlike our first two O.S.s, requires active self-development to create “a newer way of thinking” (ANWOT). It begins years after our birth, as we attain physical and mental maturity and have acquired prerequisite language processing skills. Our opportunity to free our thinking, what has been called “becoming one’s own person,” requires prerequisite skills acquired over many years. This third self-mastery O.S. is our source of personal power to direct our life’s experience and challenge the habitual patterns established by our first two O.S.s. While our nurturers and the self of self-mastery both emphasize the use of language to process information, their means of doing so and the desired action outcomes are quite different. Whereas authority primarily guides the operating systems provided by nature and our nurturers, the self-mastery O.S. best functions through reason and the application of wisdom. By creating an O.S. of self-mastery, we are free to create new pathways to process information, choose from the alternatives, and reach different outcomes than those inherent in the native language we acquire from our nurturers. The ANWOT O.S. may redirect destructive aggression to constructive aggression. “Feeling good” and “doing good,” the constructive use of aggression, and escape from being mental slaves to our first “bosses” is most readily attained through development of this third self-mastery O.S. We retain most of the dependency words and thinking that express our nurturers’ perspectives as they were provided early in our lives. Perhaps you are among those fortunate ones whose parents and later nurturers added words and concepts most compatible with the self-mastery ANWOT O.S. If you are such an individual, you already have a good start to ANWOT. Your task will be much easier. If you have lacked role models and teachers of the ANWOT O.S., or worse, have been “programmed” to blindly obey the rules of your “teachers,” mental freedom is still quite attainable. However, it will require more rebellion, more “risk-taking” when you initially independently challenge your authorities. [Such individuals will need to strengthen the skill prerequisite to challenge authority, i.e. self-endorsement. Effective methods are provided in this Guide.] Accurate labeling of the three masters of your mind combined with an understanding of the basic O.S.s through which they each advocate their specific perspective will make clear the simple word substitutions that upgrade immature thinking to mature thinking. In doing so, you will unlock any remaining restrictions that blind you to the abundant wisdom discovered by others that are freely available to us. You will dramatically strengthen your willpower and improve your self-management skills. Creating the new O.S. of self-mastery offers more than the means to re-direct the destructive forces within us to productive use. The ANWOT O.S. is the means to our most cherished goal: personal freedom, emancipation from the control of master nature and master nurture, from instinct and habit, from fate and circumstance. Freedom to create and to choose among alternatives is more complicated than complying with automatic or habitual orders, but it is certainly more interesting. Most of us cherish freedom as our greatest achievement and will sacrifice much for it, especially to preserve freedom once it has been experienced. --------------- To illustrate the importance of wisdom, join me on a brief visit to a fantasized planet, one that has some similarities to our own. Would you imagine a planet with seven distinct continents, each containing among its creatures a family of humanoids (the H’s). On each continent, there is struggle for dominance. Through their smarts, the H’s come to dominate all others creatures. The H’s on each continent develop their own culture, customs, beliefs, and rules that actually increase their dominance. Though the cultures on each continent differ, they each live harmoniously within their confines, unaware that there are other continents with a distinct system of life and assumptive views. Each population is obedient to, even fiercely protective of, their own set of beliefs and rules. As the families on each continent grow more intelligent, they improve their means of communication and travel. They discover the world extends beyond their continent; they are no longer isolated from one another. Indeed, their growing means of travel and communication “shrinks” their world. H’s now confront other H’s who appear unfamiliar, speak a different tongue, and fail to obey the rules of their established culture. What would you predict of the confrontation of H’s of these different continents? Thus far, each family has confronted other creatures that they have dominated through superior power. It has been quite acceptable to consider all non-H’s objects suitable to service their bidding: to provide food, labor, and amusement. To make a servant and/or kill any non-H has been the law of the land. It seems quite predictable that each family of H’s would first use their intelligence as they have in the past, to grow more physical power and so dominate the “other.” Each family directs its energy and intelligence to produce greater power, viz. weapons of mass destruction. Their efforts result in great success. Each produces such destructive mega-power that it can unquestionably diminish whoever would challenge their authority. Yet there is a problem. Einstein foresaw the problem. As founding father of our new age of mega-power, he recognized that our nature and nurture destined us to use our intelligence to include destructive means along with constructive means to attain our needs and wants. Our mastery of science enables us to make such powerful destructive weapons that we no longer preserve our lives at the expense of others. Rather, we take our own lives along with that of others. Nature’s perspective, (physical) might makes right is no longer adequate; it is but partially true. Can you understand his concern? As long as H’s continue to think as they have been accustomed, it is merely a matter of time before Armageddon, mass mutual destruction! Perhaps more insightful than E=mc2, Einstein provided a solution to the danger he prophesized. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive. We are challenged to create an O.S. that will direct our intelligence to act with reason and wisdom more so than instinct and habit, an O.S. that can consistently direct our mega-powers to constructive outcomes. In our own not too distant past, every person was armed with two fists. Gradual weapons sophistication resulted in a few having guns, then many having them, and in some areas, most. Nobel’s discovery of dynamite produced bombs (and the Nobel Peace Prize!), which have become quite commonplace. The “suicide bomber” is a current “innovation.” Now the number of groups possessing multiple weapons of mass destruction is increasing, as are the individuals who could trigger them with the push of a button or simple utterance. Given our present manner of thinking, in which of these situations would you and your loved ones be most secure? Do you believe that increasing our physical power increases our security? I personally believe escalation of physical power may temporarily serve as a source of deterrence; it is not a long-term solution to preserve our well-being. Humanity has created this critical time of both danger and opportunity through rational thinking. Scientific discovery is the product of the cooperation of our collective mental energy throughout our history. If two heads can be more productive than one, imagine what is to be learned through the collected wisdom of multiple insights from each segment of humanity. Is there any culture, religious group, race, geographic region that cannot contribute some piece to the diversity of wisdom we require? What is remarkable in our lifetime is the abundant wisdom in our texts, the collection of ideas in our libraries, and the ability to share information via our growing efficiency in communication. The task ahead is to persuade each culture, religious group, race, and geographic region that virtue implores love more so than hate, peace more so than war, sharing more so than hoarding, cooperation more so than dominating, freedom more so than slavery. We make such truths apparent through the reasoned outcome of wisdom. More than tolerance for others, peace requires that we understand our need for the wisdom “others” have to contribute. We may grow the momentum for global peace by initially convincing and persuading our self of these values, by pointing an educating finger inward to strengthen our personal responsibility. Some would prefer slavery to death. Who would choose slavery over freedom? Freedom cannot persist without the companion of wisdom. Our mushrooming development of physical mega-power combined with its widening availability is changing the rules for survival. Physical might is no longer our most important source of survival. We have become, by far, the greatest threat to civilization, to our personal and global survival. Physical power is our source for both destructive and constructive aggression. The newer preferred role for destructive power is that it serves as a source of deterrence; it may provide time to develop our mental intelligence to grow our well-being through wisdom. We can all win through cooperation and love rather than by domination and hate. Wisdom directs our efforts to preserve humanity as our means to preserve ourself. Wisdom enables us to understand that we are a part of a larger system that must work cooperatively, as our liver and kidneys are required to cooperatively contribute to our whole system for our personal well-being. Revenge and domination are the preprogrammed goal of instinct and habit. Justice and virtue are the preferred outcomes of wisdom. The global conflicts we witness, past and present, are clearly fueled by instinct. Conflict escalates as our power spreads. Let this insight be the initial step to make appropriate changes in the manner we think. As I have indicated, the computer is inefficient when composing a letter using a “drawing” program; and, processing financial data is less productive using a “word program” than one designed to crunch numbers. The train works best on track rather than a roadway. Similarly, when we acquire the power of self-mastery but use the O.S.s designed and prescribed by nature and our early nurture, our thinking, no matter how powerful and innovative, is likely to be directed towards their perspectives. Nature advocates physical fight and/or flight. The prevailing perspective of our current nurturers is mental dominance, competitiveness, winning by “beating” the other, being “right,” and related inscribed goals as may be expected from the dichotomous either/or, prejudicial, prescriptive and dependent manner of thinking habitually first acquired in all native languages. The critical insight is this: We can and must develop newer wiser means of thinking in a world where multiple individuals can cause massive destructive physical aggression by pushing a button. Our mental means of processing knowledge, i.e. the operating systems we passively inherit through nature and acquire during our nurture period of development, are not well adapted to wisely manage the immense power we now create and are rapidly expanding in our maturing stage of self-mastery. The urge to dominate and compete needs to give way to cooperative, win-win, peaceful means of resolving conflict. The focus of this guide is the initiation of a teachable/learnable science of thought management, one that can wisely direct the power we are rapidly expanding through our physical sciences. It proposes a newer way of thinking operating system (ANWOT O.S.) that promotes freedom from instinct and habit, initially strengthening self-mastery of our thinking to feel good and then do good; it emphasizes wisdom as our dominant means for beneficial problem-solving. The attainment of these goals begins with the faith in our self that we can make a difference. 9. The ANWOT curriculum to strengthen and wisely direct mental freedom : Skills to feel good and do good may be identified and systematically taught in the same manner other skills are offered via printed media, schools, the Internet, and so on. I envision a newer way of thinking operating system (the ANWOT O.S.) that emphasizes the consistent processing of information to beneficial outcomes. My design of a curriculum to teach such a science of thought control consists of the five (5) component skills here identified, and elaborated elsewhere through self-teaching strens. I have thus far attempted to persuade you that our global (and therefore individual) well-being requires a substantial change in our manner of thinking. And as I have suggested and immediately hereafter explain, we now have all that we require to rapidly educate the masses. We may substantially enhance education in the preferred newer way of thinking by preparation of a curriculum that identifies its specific component skills. The mental skill-building curriculum I here describe (and provide in this Guide) is designed to emphasize the mental freedom to apply reason and foresight more so than instinct and habit, to consistently feel good and “do good,” to promote peace-of-mind and peace-for-humankind, and to wisely direct power to constructive aggression. This curriculum is the outcome of a near lifetime of contemplation about what I have learned from others. That it may be incomplete and/or fall short of accuracy is of limited consequence because, by the magic of the computer, you are both empowered and encouraged to add, delete, modify, initiate, i.e. design your own curriculum. You do so by the simple push of a few keys followed by a press of the “save” key. I hope that this curriculum is merely a steppingstone for you (and others) to add your (their) wisdom and participate in an ever-growing effective resource of the collective skills that teach individual and global well-being. There is value that every person tailors ANWOT to their own personal and unique life experience. Surely, there are those in your life whom you’d like to offer your life’s wisdom. You already have many of the skills of ANWOT proposed in this curriculum. As an advanced student you undoubtedly possess wisdom to add to what this Guide offers. Start from your present level, push the envelope and please become a contributor by sharing your own wisdom (viz. our blog) to improve the stren collection. The Practical Person’s Guide to Feeling Good and Doing Good through ANWOT is divided into five component skills; it is designed to encourage modification and addition of strens leading to a science of thought control, i.e., self-mastery. The curriculum here identified is elaborated in the “how to” self-teaching strens:
As we acquire mastery of the ANWOT curriculum and add wisdom to its expression, our perspective and experience will increasingly shift towards the ANWOT column. Try not to view this comparison as an “either … or” chart. The old remains and exerts its strength in diminishing degrees as dominance by the new grows.
---------- 10. Additional easy “What to do” early steps for immediate results: A few basic skills will redirect aggressive energy from destructive to constructive outcomes. d. Substitute “energy” for what you now label “anger.” (a.-c., see 7) Substitute the label “energy” for habitually established words, such as “anger,” “resentment,” and/or “anxiety” that trigger harmful action. The means of each manner of thinking to obtain its goals involve “aggressive” use of energy! Instinct and our prevailing nurturers emphasize a course of action that is competitive, often causing harm and one or more “losers.” Aggression need not be harmful! Aggressive energy may be redirected to “do good” more so than do harm. When we are threatened, experience a “need” such as survival, food, mating, and/or protection of our young, our body responds with automatic biologic changes. Raw energy for action is produced. The early directors of our thinking, nature and nurture, instinct and habit, are prone to favor immediate, short-term harmful action to address life’s challenges. Our early O.S.s are wired to habitually label our “emergency” state of arousal as “anger.” “Anger” is a word-switch whose most common pathway leads to a prejudicial manner of processing energy to harmful aggression. Thus “anger” becomes wired to call forth the primitive mental response pattern (MRP) I call Blaming. Blaming-out and/or Blaming-in both usually result in an emergency response to “strike out,” to engage in destructive physical and/or mental aggression. What words seemingly “pop” into your mind when a driver cuts you off, breaks in line, or you experience some other injustice? When you make a mistake? Though “standard” in primitive creatures, the pattern of need/want → arousal (frustration) → “anger” → striking-out is rarely productive in our relatively civilized society. “Anger” is commonly followed by acts that get us what we don’t want. Good aggression is the wise use of our energy for our best interests, short-term and long-term! Our arousal state is more productively identified as “energy” to accomplish life’s tasks. Words wired to habitual pathways that stimulate rational problem-solving promise more productive outcomes, behaviors better suited to create a civilized, peace-loving society. A simple word change often results in a significant change in perspective, “meaning,” interpretation, and action outcome. We can harness the energy we commonly waste on destructive and/or nonproductive aggression to attain our most desired goals. We all experience frustration so we can be assured of a continued source of energy. Here is the simple recipe to convert destructive aggression to the energy we require to feel good and do good. What to do: Substitute a “label” for your present emergency response that is less associated with harm than “anger.” “Energy” is such a word; it is more suggestive of creativity than harm. When possible, replace “anger” or “anxiety[i]” with “energy”! Changing the label we assign to our high arousal experience can make a dramatic difference in our perspective. “Anger” is commonly pre-wired to set off destructive aggression. “Energy” (unlike “anger,” “resentment,” or “anxiety”) is neutral. It conveys greater freedom of choice in directing action. It may be processed through a newer creative thinking pathway favoring a beneficial outcome. This easy “energy” substitution can then be made a signal to automatically call forth the problem-solving sentence. You will thereby shift mental processing to the operating system (O.S.) appropriate for self-mastery, resolving the issue more so than dominating and/or “beating the other.” The self-mastery O.S. favors the problem-solving MRP, i.e. mental rehearsal of alternatives to consider long-term as well as short-term outcomes ... and wisdom to challenge the impulsive blaming MRP’s. Initial attempts to break the old “anger” habit pattern will be challenging. However, after first clumsy efforts, and with repetition, the new substitution will become easier. As established habit is replaced by newer habit, this constructive aggression response will increasingly become automatic and effortless. e. Direct “energy” to the Problem-solving mental response pattern (MRP) Learn the Problem-Solving MRP (which I call “the magical sentence” because it works so well) and, when reasonable, apply it to each challenging event. Substitute it for the common Blaming-out and Blaming-in MRPs. The problem-solving MRP: “Given this situation (which indeed may be quite unfair, unpleasant), what is most likely to get what I want, for now and the future, for me and you (us and them, that may also benefit the ‘other’)?” Gain strength in applying the magical sentence and avoiding the blaming responses. Endorse yourself for your every recognition and effort. You will dramatically improve your energy management by this easy substitution for the 7 alternative choices available to you.[ii] Applying this MRP will also diminish the Blaming MRP and Avoidance MRP. f. Substitute “urgency” for “emergency.” Most earth’s creatures routinely face emergencies – survival depends on instant action. For example, the routine mere act of getting food invokes the fight or flight emergency response in both predator and the preyed upon. Physical attack and/or running are effective in preserving the life of animals and simpler forms of life; it has “worked” for our ancestors and continues to be effective where civilization is absent or limited. This is why the emergency response system is such a basic and primitive response. We are genetically pre-wired for immediate, reflex, action. Chemicals are automatically released to provide energy to act. Blood is diverted to muscles, heart, and brain, and away from the digestive and genito-urinal system. Adrenalin and sugar are released, and other physiologic changes create a “danger red” hyper-alert state. Irrespective of race, religion, gender, or color, we each inherit this gift from nature. Even though our automatic chemical “red alert” system may regularly be inappropriately triggered, unlike other creatures, we rarely encounter situations that require emergency action. Most emergency alarms people experience are false alerts! We respond to the incorrect interpretation or image we create in our personal mental reality as though it were an imminent red alert event in the actual common reality we share. We witness how instantly tempers can flare up resulting in unwise “emergency” action and “rage” with long-term harmful consequences. The automatic physical changes too often push us into irreversible harm in a short time, before we apply the more effective mental resources now expected, reason and wisdom. I have personally spoken to many individuals who are jailed for life for a murder committed during uncontrolled anger, even though their single impulsive act was totally out of context to their usual personality. Can you think of situations where you regret some impulsive response because you reacted as though it required immediate action? Emergency reactions to nonemergency situations seldom get us what we want now or later. Yet, we maintain this red alert response to real and imagined threat. In addition to the immediate actions that are prone to cause us trouble, we often sustain this high alert state, a sort of “pink alert”, which may contribute to elevated blood pressure, muscle contraction pain, impaired sleep, digestive and sexual function, and a host of other physiologic irregularities. Our body is not designed for the sustained arousal of imagined threat and worry. “Anxiety attacks” usually are the outcome of becoming “anxious about being anxious.” We tell ourselves we’re having a heart attack or some other “what if” consequence, and thereby escalate the false alert. Recognize that in our life’s experience true emergencies are rare! We are inclined, because of our impatience and distorted thinking, to inappropriately assign “emergency” to situations that we could more wisely interpret as “ordinary” relatively unimportant issues. I have heard many wise people say: “Don’t sweat the small issues … and almost all issues are small!” Most of our stresses are best resolved using mental processing, planning, knowledge, and manipulation of ideas and/or physical objects. The alerts we commonly face are better re-labeled as “urgent” and/or “important” --- and assigning “high,” “medium,” or “low” priority instead of “emergency.” This substitution will be appropriate in virtually every instance. We can cause irreparable harm in a very short time. Prevention surely beats cure! Practice prevention by telling yourself repeatedly, “Rarely are there emergencies!” until it pops up easily when your red alert button is pushed. Add, “I am wise to think about this to best decide how to handle it.” Global change: Steps a.-f. will redirect your destructive aggression to constructive ends. As you grow skill in managing your aggressive energy, you will become a missionary of constructive aggression, a soldier in the army “fighting” the pervasive destructive aggression we view daily. Progress in spreading the newer way of thinking is made one + one + one; each one, teach one. As will be explained, the time is ripe for rapid change. Here are longer-term additional practical specific steps:
11. Spreading the good news: The time is ripe. Technology permits, urgency demands, and wisdom inspires that we educate ourselves in a newer way of thinking. 40-50 years ago(!), I recall reading that two countries, the U.S. and U.S.S.R., had stockpiled sufficient hydrogen bombs to destroy life as we know it, not once, but more than 100 times over. Daily, we are made aware of the certain creation and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, some of which we have absolutely no experience because they have never been unleashed. Multiple groups of terrorists, of various persuasions, be it political, economic, religious, and/or simple mental imbalance, now exist ubiquitously; they have recently become everyone’s neighbor, you included. Clearly, their efforts and intent are to grow or obtain destructive power, including WMD. History demonstrates earth’s creatures are “fight or flight” prepared. Nature equips us to overpower obstacles to survive and/or to avoid them. To the present, humankind has habitually adhered to these means as our primary manner of acting. In this new age of mega-power, can any reasonable person doubt where we are headed unless we change our ways? The Union of Concerned Scientists, a prestigious group, knowledgeable about the state of our science, has conceived a means to warn us of impending danger. Given the growth of our destructive power, they predict our “doomsday clock” to self-destruction is tick…tick…ticking along at five minutes before midnight. We have precious little time to make meaningful intervention. Our present struggle is the clash between the combined established forces of instinct and habit, and the growing strength of reason and foresight. ANWOT directs us to act more so than react, to originate more so than to repeat established patterns. The “flight” portion of our innate disposition, our tendency to mentally “run” from wisely facing threat, is less visible than the “fight” instinct. Contemporary running usually involves head more so than feet: procrastination, denial, drugs, and the like … out of sight, out of mind. Such “psychological numbing” has limited our efforts to create and popularize ANWOT to deal with this red alert. We shut down our energy factory and impose our own failure to the degree we maintain a hopeless/helpless attitude (MRP). The same technology we create for destructive purposes is also immediately available to aggressively direct our energy to mass construction. We have the means; we now need apply our collective will! The remainder of this Guide explains why and how our collective efforts can productively change our ways to make a difference. Nature has provided us a complex brain. Our nurturers have added sophisticated symbols and language. Together they allow us to grow intelligence and emancipate our thinking from dependence on what has been and what is. Self-mastery is our opportunity for originality. We can make a difference in what is to become! Emerging from the dark ages, we now experience accomplishments and foresee vistas previously unimagined. Intelligence applied to scientific method has initiated our New Era of self-mastery. It is our source of emancipation. Within a relative instant in historic time, we have created the means to store and share ideas, past and present, to rapidly travel the globe, and beyond. Education is available on demand, within the convenience of our own homes or preferred location …to persons throughout the world …at their own convenience …at little or no expense. We create new action opportunities and grow our ability to choose among them. Mental freedom empowers us to challenge our nature and our nurturers. Global “mass-construction” is new among our choices as is “mass-destruction.” Our creative constructive energy has such force that we are speeding to realize our uppermost dreams … if we interrupt our path to global suicide. We understand why our creative energy is being directed to “muscles” of destruction. As we transfer authority into our own hands (perhaps “head” is now more accurate), we increase our opportunity to free our manner of thinking (and thereby our feelings and actions) from the historical directors of our destiny. Reason applied to knowledge informs us that our prevalent manner of thinking, inspired by “fight or flight,” the urge to dominate, to engage in win/lose competition and the like, is no longer compatible with the proliferation of mega-power. “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” is no longer the wisest measure of justice when the demise of both their community and our community is now its outcome. We must now direct our energy to “mega-wisdom” more so than mega-power. Many individuals have already made immense progress towards ANWOT. We have established significant basic knowledge. We are rapidly growing our understanding of the importance of conflict resolution, forgiveness, compassion, creating love, tolerance, cooperation, win/win “confrontation,” sharing, and directing our energy to constructive aggression. We must educate ourselves in these and related skills if we are to survive. Our task is to bring them together and make them appetizing, easily digested, and readily available to the populous. Our opportunity grows as we continue to rapidly expand our already extensive technology for mass education. Our present deficiency of will is to be cured by growing public recognition that “each one teach one” can make a difference. A relative few can influence many. By cracking the thin veneer of psychological numbing, a groundswell of creative energy can be expected to produce marvelous tools for mass construction. Individuals first discover there is a way. Architects design a structure. Thereafter teams of workers pave the path for the masses. I personally believe change is most likely from the “grass roots” up. Existing rulers/leaders are the establishment! They may be expected to pursue prevailing patterns. Having predicted that we are “minutes” from Doomsday, what “good news” have we to spread? There is wonderful news … and plenty of it! We are rapidly increasing our knowledge. We have recently created the technical means to communicate our growing wisdom on a global basis. Will you participate in making constructive aggression our favored way of conducting life’s business? Begin by recognizing that we can make a difference!
I have attempted to persuade you that we have an urgent need to create a newer way of thinking, that we have the basics of a self-teaching curriculum, and the resources to implement a global educational program. We presently lack the cooperative will. We have not yet resolved to direct our energy to effectively face the threat. Through understanding, we may readily convert our individual and global apathy to action. Apathy results from the most devastating mental response in our repertoire, the hopeless/helpless MRP. When we interpret a threat as overwhelming and inevitable, we stop trying. We “give up.” We shut down our energy factory. Perhaps at one time there was survival value in “playing dead.” Such is clearly not the present issue. We cure apathy with the recognition that there is a way, it is available to us, and our efforts can make it work. I believe I see the way. I hope you will agree. So let’s now attend to this matter, “Yes, I can! Yes, I will!” “Yes, we can!” “Yes, we will!” 12. A blueprint to popularize “good aggression”: Let us envision a plan to reach, teach, enrich and sustain our global population with and through ANWOT. Your participation is requested to make constructive aggression our new way of conducting life’s business, first to benefit yourself, and thereafter to benefit our community. What’s next? As you’ve traveled thus far in this theory stren on ANWOT, perhaps you will continue sharing my vision of how we may orchestrate a harmonious effort for the desired change. Here are my suggestions. Familiarize yourself with the Guide’s strens. Capture the wisdom others have demonstrated to build strength. Try to put them to use. Determine what works for you. Modify them to create for yourself a curriculum that is meaningful to you in your life situation. What are the basic assumptions that guide your own life? The first appropriate goal is to establish your own skills in “feeling good.” To what extent have you become your own person and best friend? Do you have the freedom to think wisely, relatively independent of the demands of instinct and/or blind obedience to the commands of your nurturers? Confirm your own self-mastery. Assure yourself that your self is Chief Executive Officer (C.E.O.) of your own Mental Board of Directors by studying and applying the practical strens. I am confident of their potency due to the feedback I have received over the many years I have provided them to others. Hopefully you are already happy and advanced beyond the strens provided in the Guide. If so, you may best add to and/or incorporate any skills/wisdom to those here offered. My observation, unfortunately, is that the majority of our population remains overly dependent on “others” or “things” for their self-worth and well-being. Please understand that I do believe it is worthwhile to work for the approval and affection of others, to be a “have” more so than a “have not.” While these goals are desirable and add to one’s life satisfaction, it is not healthy to remain dependent on them, as so required during our first decades. As adults, we expect to take care of our own physical needs such as earning a living and feeding ourselves; indeed, we abhor having need for an “other” to continue taking care of our bowel habits. Yet, while most individuals attain physical independence, too many fail to create the means to provide for their own emotional needs, to become their own best friend and traveling companion. They go through life as “love junkies,” easily upset, angry, even destructive, when the world doesn’t do for them “what it should.” Thus, I recommend first studying and mastering the practical strens that lead to your own well-being, that you convince your self that these strens, and/or your own, work for you. Most will need to apply the ingredients of work, patience, direction as provided by these strens, and risk-taking by letting go of old patterns that only partially work (or worse, are a source of harm). The skill-building process of becoming your own person requires time, depending on your present competence, effort and stage of self-mastery. Every important skill, such as walking, talking, developing a trade or profession, or playing a musical instrument requires months, even years. By generating your own good feelings, you strengthen your ability to contribute to the larger community of which you are a part.[iv] One of the most satisfying human acts is offering love through giving and/or sharing with another. It is difficult to give when you have an empty cup. This is why the Guide first provides practical strens that address “creating love” and gifting self-worth to one’s self. Self-endorsement is a marvelous antidote for the apathy associated with the hopeless/helpless response. Self-help skills are presently among the most sought after in bookstores and libraries. Persons who are somewhat unsatisfied with their life situation, a bit depressed and/or a bit neurotic, comprise a group eager for change. Intellectuals, peaceniks, and imaginative persons who already have value for community, and a platform of sharing and caring, comprise a second equally motivated group. Radicals, fundamentalists, and ultra conservatives are the least receptive and are likely unapproachable in the initial stages of offering ANWOT. However, they may ultimately be amenable as ANWOT spreads outward from those first interested to more moderates, and then those who stand close to the “ultras.” I personally make available the resource materials which comprise the ANWOT curriculum, on a computer disk free for the asking. And this Internet site at ANWOT.org is available to anyone who would like to download any and/or all strens in the curriculum. You are free to copy, modify and/or add appropriate strens and pass on the curriculum [prior permission is required if used for a profit-making endeavor]. The short practical strens of a few pages make good bathroom and before sleep reading, review on breaks, and so on. I suggest making hard copies of a few pages at a time (portable anywhere, easy to review) and saving them in a binder after acquiring familiarity. Most persons have limited material goods, but anyone can offer their life’s wisdom. You likely have loved ones to whom you would like to give and/or leave something. Discuss ANWOT, such as specific strens, periodically at the dinner table. Such discussions can be quite productive. Maintain a computer disk of your collected life’s wisdom and bequeath it to your loved one(s). ANWOT has an infectious quality! Having entered into your life’s stage of self-mastery, you become an important force towards globalization of ANWOT. Remember the power of “each one, teach one.” Your example of well-being and enthusiasm will generate interest. Discuss ANWOT with an “other.” Learn through exchanging ideas. Offer to share the resource material and the ANWOT curriculum. Consider starting or participating in a local discussion group. This would help establish a more solid foundation and germinate additional interest. Local autonomy and leadership are important so that the basic teaching of ANWOT will assume the lingo meaningful to persons of diverse backgrounds. As in AA (Alcoholics Anonymous), individuals may find little in common in some meeting groups but usually find one or more meetings with members compatible with their own personality. We have learned from AA that one of the most significant changes occurs through 12th step work, i.e., for the person who shares their enthusiasm, experience, and knowledge to help another. Sociologists have documented that when person “a” attempts to persuade person “b” of his/her perspective, person “a” reinforces their own commitment to their views. What could be more worthy causes than personal freedom, peace-of-mind, and peace-for-humankind? Consider interesting one or more persons in a regular discussion, as one would participate in a book club. Review specific strens. Sharing personal critical learning experiences grows skill in feeling good and doing good. I personally believe such “ANWOT Stren Clubs” are key to spread constructive aggression. The resource materials needed for ANWOT are inexpensive and readily mass produced. They can be utilized in a variety of settings. Organizations, businesses, etc. have demonstrated they are more than willing to contribute resources to worthy non-profit endeavors. Individuals have multiples skills to contribute. For example, a cartoonist might apply his/her skill to concisely express basic principles of ANWOT more effectively than other media, and certainly with greater impact than my clumsy efforts. Consider the diverse talents and resources available that can lend a hand to the growth of ANWOT. Writers, storytellers, teachers, corporate workers as well as leaders, public servants, entertainers, the media, and persons in virtually all areas may contribute with great impact to those within their reach. No doubt, there are many such persons willing to offer something of what they have for community well-being. I envision an improved ANWOT curriculum being made available in other languages. Many enhancements are possible to these suggestions and those you may make. I encourage you to write your own strens and/or improve existing ones in the curriculum. A panel of “judges” could be designated to review the merit of original strens for inclusion into a basic curriculum. As an incentive to participation, a small fee could even be offered for those judged to be of sufficient merit to add to the basic strens. [I believe writing one’s own stren(s), of itself, will enrich the writer more so than any financial benefit.] The creation of a non-profit corporation and suitable Board could oversee development of ANWOT resource materials, coordination of new activities, and possibly receipt of donations. Given a budget, it is reasonable to hire experts to contribute strens in areas of special knowledge. For example, much has recently been learned about conflict resolution. I envision that courses in A newer way of thinking may become commonplace, as one may presently find educational offerings in business, computers, crafts, and dancing. Various schools, colleges, local YMCA’s, and so on, might make courses available, and/or discussion meetings as one might find in an AA support group. If the ideas here offered to expand ANWOT materialize, I believe three basic principles will be required to insure its integrity and continued success: (1) emphasize local independence, flexibility, and control rather than central authority, (2) resource materials would be available for the asking at no charge, and (3) any funds raised would be strictly as an “acceptance of offer,” unsolicited, volunteer contribution; and applied for group benefit, i.e., not for personal advantage. Many worthy programs have lost credibility because of the greed of individuals. We are merely at the beginning of establishing the scientific basis for the teaching of ANWOT. Now is the time for creative pioneers to make happen what simple reason demands if we are to insure the fulfillment of our humanity and loved ones. Creative advancements to ANWOT are to come from you and you and you. Would you imagine the possibilities of our collective efforts? -------- Recapitulation of ANWOT[1] - An understanding of the root cause of harmful aggression has immense practical significance. With his insight that led to our first weapon of mass destruction (WMD), Einstein prophesied that if we choose to preserve humanity, we must act with urgency to popularize a new manner of thinking. The Guide explains the truth of his prophecy. More important, I enthusiastically state that seven easy to learn mental changes are sufficient to create a newer way of thinking that is the basis of feeing good and “doing good.” The ANWOT mental skills transform the thinking that we have made our worst enemy into our most powerful weapon for mass construction (WMC). Practical strens are short essays that offer the skills that build our mental muscles. The self-endorsement practical strens, recommended first reading, enable us to become our own best friend and a source of strength to others. Vocabulary strens explain the seven word substitutions that alter our manner of thinking; they upgrade our native language with ANWOT appropriate for self-mastery.[2] They are the basis for personal responsibility and creative problem-solving. These ANWOT strens free our will from the constraints innate to our native language to become our own person. I attribute the Guide’s collection of wisdom and value strens to the insights of others who have shown us “what works.” We are required to add them to self-mastery if we choose to constructively manage our newly expanded self-mastery. The mental response control panel (MRCP) strens explains the eight choices available to us to manage our thinking and emphasizes the two that are consistently helpful. For those wanting to understand why ANWOT works, the theory strens will upgrade you from mechanic to engineer. The advent and spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) have thrust us into a New Era, during our very lifetime. Humankind has attained a level of mental freedom from the dictates of our genes and our nurturers that set us apart from all other creatures. WMD are not nature’s creation; they exemplify humankind’s growing ability to create symbols and mentally transform them into energy, what we call “will” power. By our manner of thinking, we initiate physical action into the world we commonly share that is original to what nature has provided. We increasingly are emancipating ourselves from the instinctual programming of our genes and the dependency manner of thinking wired by our nurturers through repetition and role modeling into every native language. Our freed will joins nature and our nurturers as directors of our individual and global destiny. Self-mastery has enabled us to alter our world. It is our opportunity to assume control of our life’s experience, to modify fate and circumstance for good and/or ill. Nature’s latest addition to our sophisticated seven part human brain, our cortex (especially its frontal lobes), enables us to engage in a special manner of reflective-thinking. Beyond consciousness, we are conscious of our consciousness; we think about our thinking. We mentally solve problems by creating imagined alternatives. We may choose from them and generate sufficient will power to alter the paths of action demanded by instinct and habit, by what nature and our nurturers have programmed us to be. We are becoming the real live computer of our science fiction stories that is skillfully programming our own will to act on our own initiation. We may choose to accept or override the perspective and paths of action laid out by our prior programmers. For this reason, I call this newest brain our “freedom organ.” As our kidneys and liver perform specialized tasks, so our language equipped cortical brain provides us sufficient will power to alter the innate action assigned us and every other earth creature. Our cortical brain is the residence of our mental self. It provides us reflective-thinking and our unique identity. It enables us to join fate and circumstance as a voting member of the Board of Directors that determine our life’s destiny. Nature has given us its newest most advanced brain. Our nurturers have equipped nature’s gift with language, with nonphysical symbols, concepts, and ideas that are laden with mental energy. The ability of the cortex to manipulate its symbols is the source of our personal will power. Language has brought us to our present state of science, to our growing capacity to store and rapidly spread information, and to grow unprecedented physical might. Humankind’s “becoming” adds our new power of “human selection” to what Darwin has labeled “natural selection.” Nature and nurture’s partnership have gifted us the will power to challenge the teachings of our own parents and ancestors. One might say “we have been kicked out of the nest.” We have reached sufficient maturity that we must now fly on our own power. We may do so once we recognize we have the most powerful “wings” of any earth creature. Our capacity to think, to think about our thinking, and to strengthen our will power are our resources to “fly” where we choose. The expectation of automatic nourishment, care, and direction we have experienced through years of immaturity is now an invalid assumption. Persistence in our established prevalent manner of thinking will incur disappointment or worse, animosity. The raw power of a freed will to originate, choose, and initiate may be directed for both our betterment and our detriment, for constructive and/or destructive outcomes. It is only natural that our first efforts of exercising and developing our will would be to grow physical might. Nature’s development of the nervous system and primitive brain was to more effectively express its own perspective(s). Physical might understandably precedes mental wisdom; wise direction is now the task of self-mastery. Nature emphasizes learning through trial-and-error, the wisdom of past experience. Nurture emphasizes learning through repetition (habit) and role-modeling (imitation), adding the wisdom of the present to the trial-and-error learning of prior experience. Self-mastery introduces the ability of a freed will to engage in cognitive rehearsal, what has been called no-trial learning. We anticipate future consequences and experience them in our mind prior to initiating physical action. We create mental alternatives and choose among them. We achieve constructive outcomes when we choose wisely. Self-mastery offers the promise of emphasizing prevention more so than cure! When we introduce WMD, the prospect of cure becomes problematic, very problematic! Do you understand why we are wise to emphasize prevention? Absent the wise exercise of will power, action continues to serve the perspective of nature and our nurturers. Nature’s bent favors survival using physical might to satisfy our needs, the use of teeth, muscles, and weapons that physically injure. Our nurturers favor survival of the fittest using mental symbolic might to satisfy our (often unrealistic) wants. Symbolic might is commonly expressed through political, economic, religious, and related means. The mental manipulation of nonphysical concepts and ideas we call “thinking” is our resource to create weapons of mass construction (WMC) and/or WMD. Nature and our prevalent nurturers have and continue to favor use of both constructive and destructive aggression. We ourselves are now the greatest threat to our well-being, personally and globally. Can you appreciate the need and urgency to update our thinking to modernity, to emphasize newer problem-solving pathways that exclusively direct aggressive energy to WMC? Our newest weapons are so powerful as to negate the effectiveness of “cure” through the trial-and-error method? Our task is to prevent devastation of a magnitude we have never experienced. Nature’s way has been to have us first experience a problem and thereafter teach the lesson on how to solve it. We must do better. We recognize that prejudice, hatred, resentment, war, depression, suicide, and greed are primarily the outcome of the manner we think, the wiring nature and our nurturers provide us to process information. Let us understand that love, tolerance, friendship, cooperation, happiness, enthusiasm, altruism, and peace are also the outcome of the manner we think. While thinking is our greatest asset, untamed, it is also our greatest source of harm. To symbolize our precarious New Era, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a coalition of our most respected and informed scholars, have created a doomsday clock to convey our state of danger. Since February, 2002, it had remained at 7 minutes to midnight. Undoubtedly, due to the state of the world conflict, terrorism, and unprecedented proliferation of nuclear, biologic, and chemical weapons, on January 17, 2007, the hands were moved to 5 minutes to midnight. I am optimistic that the very same technology that produces our WMD can be harnessed to update our thinking. We are capable of transforming our mind into a weapon for mass construction surpassing our wildest imagination. We have already created the means to share knowledge, to educate our masses rapidly with little or no cost, when and where it is most effective. The simple skills that lead to mature wiser thinking can readily be included in our formal educational systems, evening courses, self-help groups, T.V. programs, cartoons, the Internet and other mass media in the same manner we abundantly make skill-building programs of all sorts available to our masses. Innumerable advocates for peace-of-mind, peace-in-the-world standby, ready to serve. We only need to motivate our collective will. Each one teach one is the simple means to generate an atomic explosion of feeling good and doing good. How about it? As my personal contribution, I pledge that, to the extent I am able to exert my influence, this Guide and any modifications that others may contribute to improve its message will be available via the Internet, computer disk, or other media at no profit to myself and/or others who may participate in making it easily available. DISCUSSION: Our president has recently declared we are at war. This is as expected. War is a repetitive pattern throughout history and widespread in our present. “Survival of the fittest” by destructive aggression has been characteristic of our nature and nurture. It is our destiny. Due to our mastery of the physical sciences and explosive growth of our powers for destruction aggression, we have, in our lifetime, entered this New Era of dramatic change! We may now predict “destruction of the fittest.” Reflect for a moment on what our observations foretell of our growing powers for physical destruction. How safe do you feel now in your neighborhood? What if every neighbor had a loaded gun? a bomb? or in the near future, the means of mass destruction? Would you be reassured if you were certain that the number of reasonable peace-loving neighbors far exceeded the rare individual who is somewhat mentally unstable, perhaps paranoid? … and/or that only a tiny minority of your neighbors held the belief that they personally would be rewarded in a hereafter by making themselves martyrs for some fundamental belief they hold? As the world shrinks, who are our new neighbors? Considering the direction of our past and our present, what predictions would you make of our future? Along with our new powers of mass destruction, we also have the opportunity to change our destiny. We may capably develop an adequate mental science, i.e. a newer way of thinking operating system (ANWOT O.S.), to wisely direct our new physical might to beneficial outcomes. Can you imagine an O.S. designed to emphasize attaining goals through cooperation and work for mutual benefit? that favors our collected wisdom more so than instinct and habit? that considers long-term equally with short-term consequences? that adds “no-trial” learning, (i.e. mental rehearsal) to automatic and habitual reaction and/or trial-and-error learning? that emphasizes foresight more so than hindsight to the application of our mental “trigger power”? that can be readily taught and learned applying the same discipline and means that we acquire our “native” O.S.? That is the purpose of the Guide. Would you be willing to invest something of your self if you could make a difference, perhaps change the direction of aggression from destructive to constructive expression? Consider the dramatic changes we have created through knowledge in a short span of time. Modern technology clearly enables us to peacefully satisfy nature’s requirement that we fulfill the life cycle – we can produce sufficient food, and we have developed skill to keep our young healthy so they may reach their reproductive age. For millenniums, most of humankind’s (homo sapiens) existence, we, with other creatures, have relied on nature’s gifts. We have traveled by foot or ass and protected ourselves using arms, teeth, and primitive weapons. Our intelligence has enabled us to use these “means of operation” cleverer than other species. Within mere generations we have devised newer mechanical means to travel, viz. the auto, train, airplane, and now spaceships to take us where we want to go. With ease, we select from both our natural means, viz. walking, and/or our newer means to serve our interests. We effectively recognize the advantages and limitations of each. Like the pluses and minuses inherent in each of our mechanical means of travel, our various mental paths that get us where we want to go, i.e. our mental operating systems (O.S.s), also have their pluses and minuses. Now we must create a similar wisdom to choose among the mental means of operation that determine the expression of our aggressive energy. With wondrous effectiveness, nature’s O.S. regulates our organs and biologic needs. It does so automatically, with little effort, and demands little of our conscious energy. Our nurturers create new mental paths that expand our conscious awareness and capacity to think, that enrich our personal identity. This acquired O.S. is also traveled relatively effortlessly, through the momentum of habit more so than instinct. Our nurturers sustain and educate us throughout a prolonged dependency, when we are incapable of sustaining life or “making” a living. The habit patterns they provide (especially words and concepts that trigger a specific response), like the instinctual patterns of nature, are an invaluable resource we continue to use throughout our lifetime. Nature and nurture’s marriage has given birth to our most treasured gift, our opportunity for freedom, the godlike power to influence our own destiny. We call this mental capacity for abstract reflective thinking, “self-mastery.” Self-mastery is our great source of power, “will” power. We now reflect on the very programs of nature and nurture, accept some, modify some, create newer ones, and choose among them. Our power is “a gift we could not refuse;” it is thrust upon us without choice! Evolution has selected us, in our time, to push us out of the nest, to grow independent of the control of instinct and habit. Self-mastery empowers us to attain a quality of life, fulfilling wants and desires far beyond merely meeting our basic needs … IF we knowledgeably express our freedom. Power is inherent in freedom; wisdom is not! Power incurs danger as well as opportunity. The constructive direction of power requires wisdom. While we attain the freedom of self-mastery without choice, the degree we acquire wisdom to beneficially direct our recent explosive creation of physical power is our choice. Through physical science, we have already devised the mechanical means to replace our arms and teeth to express our survival needs. We have done so using the mental operating systems of nature and nurture that were designed for fighting or avoiding, competing, dominating, winning, and as previously described. These O.S.s are incapable of providing the wisdom required to constructively use the power we create as we master physical science. We have developed our physical sciences to provide power; now we must develop our mental science to add wisdom to the expression of power. The task is quite “do-able.” Developing a science of mental management requires distinguishing the O.S.s of our three master programmers from one another, their characteristic “means of travel,” their pluses and minuses, and advantages and disadvantages of each, and wisely choosing from them. We now need to put our heads together to work to complete the task. We don’t require all the heads; we do require quite a few! History and observation suggest what we may expect in the transition period from prolonged dependence on nature and nurture to self-mastery. The Jews, once freed from their enslavement, were quite rebellious and “wandered” 40 years before reaching the Promised Land. Likewise, most groups, when first released from an oppressive dictatorial government, exhibit chaos and greed scarcely better, perhaps worse, than their prior regimented life. Most slaves were initially worse off when their muscles were emancipated but their minds were provided limited opportunity for development. College youth, attaining their first taste of freedom from the constraints of living with parents, commonly are wild and wide of the mark before they attain responsible maturity. Even in our most sophisticated established “democratic” countries, corruption is yet common, although perhaps expressed in a more “civilized” manner. Rather than being disheartened and numbed by the chaos and destructive expression of our new unrestrained powers, we can envision the opportunity to create a Utopian society. We can collectively work to wisely harness the power of self-mastery for our benefit. Shall we welcome or disdain emancipation? Who shall we make our leader … nature, nurture, or self-mastery? … some combination of the three? We are the first creatures to have a choice! Reason clarifies which of our choices is wise. In this rapidly emerging new era of personal power, the directive force of instinct and habit (nature and nurture) is strong; our power for wise self-management is weak. While each type of “family” (white/black/red/yellow, religious, geographic, and others) preach and make rules against destructive aggression, and agree there is a better way, we have yet to develop and teach a mental science of thinking to consistently act according to our principles. Strens are the skills we acquire to strengthen our ability to think wisely and aggressively express constructive action. All that we need to wisely express our growing power of human selection is readily available, should we decide to provide the will. Biologists, scientists who study living creatures, have devised a very fancy term to describe development – “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” In plain language, this simply means complex creatures begin as simpler forms of life and pass through earlier patterns as they attain their most complex form. Through our individual physical conception and growth, we retrace in miniature the evolution of life. Most earth creatures operate, from their life’s start, according to the preprogrammed instinctual patterns characteristic of their nature; they are “brainless.” More complex creatures are “sentient” … they are conscious of the sensations they experience. Such creatures usually have brains of varying sizes and experience a period of dependence and nurturance, the length of which corresponds to their brain size and complexity. Habit is added to their instinctual means of operation as they acquire new patterns from outside sources after birth. Many such creatures have conscious awareness, think, and are creative; yet, their mental skills primarily remain bound to serve the instinct and habit patterns of operation programmed by nature and their nurture. We are the first and only earth creature able to challenge the inherited and habitual programs provided by nature and our nurturers. By adding language to our mental O.S., we empower self-mastery with unprecedented freedom. We make a difference! We not only influence our own destiny, we have recently jumped to a new plateau of power. We are dramatically modifying our universe. We created scientific method within a mere several hundred years. As the number of scientists and scientific discoveries grow, we are awed by both the rapidity of change and the steady acceleration of change. I have indicated the brevity in the moment in our history that we have expanded our means of travel from foot and ass to our rapid mechanical means. Compare the few generations to create our means for mass destruction with the period of time aggression has been limited to fists and weapons that kill one or a few at a time! The gene pool that nature provides us has been refined, in evolutionary time, over several billion years. Our forbearers required about 50,000 years to bring our sophisticated use of symbols and the mental processing of data to our contemporary state of self-mastery. On an individual personal basis, we acquire our genetic inheritance in about 9 months. We commonly take a leisurely 15-30 years to attain our individual physical and mental maturity. How long will it take to create an ANWOT O.S. suited to wisely express the power of self-mastery, to direct our personal destiny, to effectively challenge the ways of nature and nurture, change our world, and perhaps even the universe? How long shall we take to develop the O.S. that is appropriate for our new godlike powers? That is readily teachable, learnable and “spreadable”? That adds the wisdom to consistently direct power to constructive outcomes? That more sharply perceives nonphysical goods and values … feeling good and doing good, love, and the joys of cooperation, sharing, and giving? Do we have an unlimited time to create this new manner of thinking? How can we proceed? We pride ourselves in mastering physical reality while we permit the mental virtual reality that is our means of control to run amuck! We invest in physical science while we virtually ignore the science of thinking. We rely on primitive obsolete methods to manage aggression. Our times demand that we teach ourselves to act with wisdom, and not react from instinct and/or habit. A friend pointed out to me that we would best see ourselves not as “beings” but as “becomings.” We grow out of our past, acquire the power of knowledge, and now the changes we make in our present significantly determines our future. Applying the “Ontogeny” principal of physical development to our behavioral development provides insight into our future. Our core operating system is programmed for fight or flight, immediate gratification. Initially we focus only on ourself. “Get what we need, survive.” Fight or run. Satisfy our “here and now.” Everything “not me” is for my benefit. Later, we devise more communal ways to preserve ourself. We recognize “us” has more survival value against one “other” and maybe a group of “others.” No longer is “I and it” our sole focus; we add “us and them.” We add a veneer of civilization as we make rules to survive using symbolic mental control of behavior more so than physical control of behavior. Allegiance to the rules of “us” is attained through symbolic threat of mental and/or social punishment, physical harm only if symbolic threat is inadequate. Conformity to group rules is reinforced by consequences. As our recent science of travel and communication “shrinks” our world into an interrelated global economy, the “us” also grows bigger. “Me” is increasingly becoming a part of a larger “us.” As the “us” grows larger in size, the number of “us’s” diminishes; the trend is towards a divided world where there is only one “us” and one or a few of “them.” Each is intent on domination, and forcing the “other” to accept their political and/or religious assumptions. Given our historical and present perspective favoring destructive aggression, and the explosive growth of our power to “make a difference,” it is clear we are headed for holocaust of unimaginable proportion … unless we provide new direction! The physical power of self-mastery if directed by the mental O.S. of nature and/or nurture results in a mismatch! Consider the destructive consequences of our self’s new powers expressed through the “survival of the fittest” O.S. of instinct and/or the mental “blaming” posture commonly acquired during the immature period of our nurturance. Soon after World War II, each major “side” has created sufficient nuclear bombs to destroy all of humanity multiple times over.[v] Now, each side focuses their resources to add newer destructive means that could achieve a similar outcome. The enormity of the power attained through physical science predisposes us to self-destruction. Power without wise direction is a liability and an asset. It is our nature to engage in destructive aggression. Habit has thus far resisted making way for wisdom. Indeed, the countries that have amassed the greatest knowledge have also created the most global means for destructive aggression. In our country we have multiple well known academies that teach warfare (viz. Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force) and consume huge resources while we have but one scarcely funded, “shunned,” virtually anonymous Peace Academy. The predictable harm our current path will create for “us” and “them” is compelling reason to energetically work towards wise direction of our mental power. We also observe an interesting phenomenon, the growing fear of an alien “other,” that may help modify our worldview into a unified cooperative “us.” “They,” the “others,” are more commonly portrayed in our fictional media and entertainment as “aliens,” creatures from outer space, even beyond our “own” universe. “They” are usually assigned villain roles, intent on causing chaos to earth people. This is clearly a projection of our own destructive nature, for we have no valid reason to presume “aliens” are ill intentioned. Nevertheless, dealing with pollution, arming ourselves to “fight” viral and bacterial infections, cancer, prolonging our healthy life span, the threat of natural calamity such as a meteor in our path, weather extremes such as “global warming,” and radioactivity in our galaxy are motives for all humanity to become allied to beneficially focus our energy on establishing ANWOT. In spite of the dramatic recent leapfrog improvements in the comforts and quantity of our lives, of having the means “to live better,” attributable to our physical sciences, it appears that most individuals have not significantly increased their peace-of-mind, peace-for-humankind, management of stress, capacity for loving, happiness, and overall quality of life. As one author put it, “We’re doing better but feeling worse.” Would you agree that our science for mental well-being has not kept pace with our mastery of the physical sciences? I view the urgency for the development of ANWOT more than an opportunity; it is a requirement for our survival. Though we grow in sophistication, our core remains dedicated to “fight or flight.” And our middle “nurtured” layer has devised a mental O.S. that converts physical attack to symbolic means of control; when agreements, treaties, and the symbols of negative consequences fail, we regularly fall back to physical means of domination, including war. As we attempt to create the means of function that supports globalization and communal well-being, we best not forget that we have not shed our more primitive behaviors. They are prominently exhibited in our history and our present, and we can expect they will be ever with us. Our personal task is to educate our “outer” mental layer of self-mastery to provide wise direction to the physical powers we have inherited and now dramatically expand. We have advanced physical science and mastered immense power due to our labeling and classification of the electrical, chemical, biologic, and mechanical means of operation we universally share, i.e. the more visible physical “signals” for action. For example, scientific method has empowered us with the means to create effective physical interventions in medicine and surgery. We may readily understand the gap between our physical and mental science. The former has commonly shared fixed properties. By programming symbols with “meaning” to create virtual reality, we have added a new personal “second signal system” which is private and deviant of the rules universally applied to physical phenomena. Our brain is endowed with “pre-wired” sophisticated senses that distinguish the data of our physical reality to our conscious awareness. We lack equivalent “senses” that identify our mental O.S.s, one from another, and which pathway a thought is to be processed. However, this task is as attainable as it is urgent. To direct our mental function as we do re our physical function, we must devise a more practical scientific labeling system. The labeling system here provided recognizes key word-switches as members of one of three families. This minimal classification is the prerequisite to develop a science of thought management as we have developed our physical sciences. Humankind has attained its degree of self-mastery by teaching our most recent-to-evolve mental capacity (1) to process information (think) using symbols to create a private personal virtual reality, (2) to reflect on our thoughts and thinking independent of input from our genes and nurturers, (3) to convert data into energy-laden words and concepts, and (4) to use “willpower,” i.e. the trigger power of symbols, to direct energy to an outcome of its (our self’s) own design. Our self “speaks” through its mental second signaling system. It excels using mental concepts, logic, assumptions, and beliefs to influence action. Our self’s rational problem-solving skills may direct thinking that is otherwise primarily responsive to fate and circumstance. We may view ourself as a sort of biologic computer, unique in that we (our reflective-thinking mental self) can develop the mental capacity to modify thoughts and/or initiate our own original programs! We have the ability to create a newer way of thinking, a science of thought control. A common theme in popular science fiction proposes that computers will become so “smart” that they will program themselves, act independently, and seek to rule the world. Do you see that we are that computer? Initially controlled by “others” software, we are now programming ourselves to become our own person! We are increasingly empowering ourselves to not only master our own fate but to alter the fate of our world. Most creatures follow a predictable pattern programmed by nature. Once we have developed sufficient maturity we are capable of distinguishing the rules of nature, the rules of our nurturers, and those that we, our self, create. Knowledge provides predictability by self-selection of those words expected to favor the preferred outcomes. Each family of words has its own pathway by which they are processed, similar perspectives, interpretations, meanings, assumptions, and therefore similar desired outcomes. As we advance our capacity to think autonomously, we may use abstract reason relatively free of instinct and/or habit. Rational thinking provides the distinct advantage of originating and creating newer interpretations and/or words with newly preferred processing pathways and outcomes. Our self can create and use words to do our bidding in the similar manner we create and use machines to do our bidding. Our self’s skill in originality, intension, and will co-exists with the “instinct” and “habit” rules-of-operation programmed by our nature and nurture. We answer to “the committee” consisting of master nature, master nurture, and our self. Because our native language is inscribed into our thinking by “other” programmers during our prolonged stage of dependency, its O.S.s favor “either/or” dichotomous thinking. The ANWOT “both … and” O.S. enables us to more accurately recognize that our marching orders are the outcome of a partnership between instinct, habit, and will, between nature, our nurturers, and self-mastery. It enables us to recognize the on-going “physical” and political competition for leadership. We merely need to focus, step-by-step, on the skills capable management. With the growth of self-mastery, we need to acquire, stren-by-stren, the skills that make us a wise strong leader. Self-mastery operates through “will” power. Building the mental will power to serve self-mastery may be likened to providing arms and building muscles to increase physical strength. Symbols (words, ideas, meaning) are the muscles, “nerves” and “hormones” of the mind; they may be programmed to provide specific action. Words are “wired” within a mental O.S. as a switch is wired within a physical O.S. As we increase sensitivity to our own word messengers (our “arms”) and distinguish them from their competitors, we more effectively direct our mental function. By accurately recognizing the specific word-switches that direct thoughts and thinking to the self-mastery action pathways, we empower our self to make a difference. We may enhance the “will” power of self-mastery by recognizing the special collection of symbols that provide mental muscle to our self. Each of our three master’s intentions are mentally processed to action through their own family of symbols or “language.” Nature’s way (instinct), nurture’s way (habit), and the self’s way (will, reason) means that each process information along distinct pathways programmed to faithfully follow their creator’s perspectives. Through the wise selection and/or creation of words, we gain direct access to the O.S. of our choice. Knowing which “word-switch” to substitute for the habitual “switch” alters the pathway and outcome. The process of substitution and/or the creation of specific preferred “word-switches,” once identified, is easily taught and readily learned. Will building, like muscle building, is not difficult if simple procedures are applied. Understanding the ANWOT O.S. enables the constructive expression of aggression; it also provides the basis to initiate a science of “thought control,” i.e. effective self-management of our mental activity. The will power of self-mastery is our greatest source of danger if directed by the perspective of our genes and prevalent nurturers. It alone is incomplete! Until we add wisdom to will power, we can be certain that in this New Era of mega-power, WMD will be among our preferred “toys.” To modify the whims of fate and circumstance to our advantage, we need arm self-mastery with wisdom. Self-mastery exercised with wisdom permanently rewards constructive aggression, short-term and long-term. The O.S. of nature and our prevalent “establishment” commonly reward destructive aggression short-term and sometimes long-term, but it is usually precariously accompanied by escalation of destructive aggression to others and one’s self. In our contemporary world, the collision of knowledge and power is inevitable when wise direction is lacking. We benefit from the easily collected bits-and-pieces of wisdom demonstrated to be effective by those who have walked before us. This Guide’s sampling of such strens, and those now available and yet to come from the efforts of our knowledgeable contemporaries, offers a growing force to enhance ANWOT. Let’s promote cooperation more so than competition, love and forgiveness more so than hate and resentment, constructive direction of energy more so than destructive anger and aggression, and personal responsibility for feeling good and doing good. ANWOT is our opportunity to update the more automatic means of function that were not designed to protect and provide for us in the rapidly changing, stressful times that currently challenge us. To what degree have you freed your self from dependency on instinct and habit as the primary masters of your life’s experience? ANWOT provides us a science to fortify our will power; it also enhances our “no-trial” learning ability to foresee the consequences of our actions, and to act on the wisdom we acquire with a force exceeding that of instinct and habit. It is our most promising means to constructively use our new powers, individually and collectively. While we own a dictionary of words, there are a finite number of word-switches, trigger words that stimulate action. Each may be classified as a descendent of one of three “programmers,” and thereby as belonging to one of three “families.” Each family operates within its designated physical and/or mental pathway. Nature creates our earliest “pathway,” followed in the course of our development by our nurturer’s O.S. Much later, as we attain maturity, we may design, through quite simple modification of our native language, the (ANWOT O.S.) pathways most suited for our self to be effective. Herein is the power of labeling. By classifying “triggers of action” into the family of their origin, we may knowledgably distinguish the orders of master nature from those of master nurture and those self initiated. Since each trigger word advocates their programmer’s perspective and intended outcome within one of three O.S.s, classification provides a scientific basis to wisely choose from our thoughts and add newer alternatives for effective thinking. Recall the example previously provided: automobiles, trucks, and buses are of the “family” of motor vehicles that travel on roads; airplanes fly their destination. Within each “family” there are many variations. Hormones trigger action through different routes than nerves or enzymes. Similarly, though words have great variety, they “travel” within specific designated pathways. They each remain loyal to their programmer and advocate action characteristic of their “family” values. The meaning programmed into symbols (words) influences the means they are processed. We may modify the meaning of words that serve our first masters and/or program new word-meanings that are loyal to the perspective of self-mastery. The power of classification and programming new word meanings is our means to override the directions of instinct and habit. Self-mastery requires “thought control.” The self attains will power by its selection of words belonging to its own family of origin, words programmed to favor the self’s interests, more so than the manner of thinking (O.S.) favored by instinct and habit! Do you see that self-mastery grows through continuously “updating” our manner of thinking? The design of our ANWOT O.S. to serve our self is an ongoing process. Is data to be processed dominated by the O.S. of instinct, habit, or will? In joining the Board of Directors, perhaps becoming its C.E.O., are we to direct our power wisely? These are the basic issues. There is sufficient knowledge presently available to create an ANWOT science of thought management curriculum. This Guide offers a basic study program. I prefer the Internet and computer disk format rather than a book so that each component is readily subject to modification and further development. This format provides great flexibility for interested persons to contribute. The newer way of thinking (ANWOT) operating system (O.S.) may be self-taught to constructively manage our power of self-mastery. It is designed to enable us to wisely direct our thinking to benefit our feelings and actions. How long will it take to develop practical skills in the application of ANWOT? The basic information needed to initiate ANWOT into a life-long process can be taught in the time equivalent to one three-credit college course! In a 10 session discussion group! And/or laced into existing common educational and/or support groups such as AA. The powerful effects of ANWOT will begin immediately upon substituting the newer vocabulary for those prevalent in our early “native” language (see 7 and 10 for specific “what to do” word-switches). However, skill development in the wisdom and values that bring the most benefit from ANWOT is comparable to the development of most new skills, such as learning to play a musical instrument. A year or two of study can yield quite satisfactory results. Of course, there is great variability depending on the amount of investment in study, practice, and application. Like the musician, perfection is never reached – one may strive to improve and acquire more skill throughout one’s lifetime. The process of developing the science of thought control, like the development of our physical sciences, is also never ending. However, what is now “at hand” is already a marvelous effective resource. The Guide provides the practical means to teach ANWOT. By employing those word-meanings that are suited to the ANWOT O.S., we grow will power essential for self-mastery and we free our self to create new perspectives, establish new pathways, and attain new goals that are compatible with our contemporary challenges. Additional skills of the ANWOT curriculum include teaching our self to be our own best friend, recognizing and wisely selecting from the eight mental response choices available to us, acquiring basic bit-and-pieces of wisdom, and defining and taking responsibility for our own value system. Desired outcomes require a consideration of values. Unlike most self-help manuals, this Guide addresses values. My basic values include, among others, the Golden Rule, peace-of-mind, and peace-in-the-world, valuing our self so that we may value others, and creating the rights for others that we would claim for ourselves. I also emphasize through this Guide the importance of identifying and confirming “who” and “what” we value and stand for as an individual. The strens here provided, available elsewhere, and that we our self [you, your self] may create, are exercises to add strength and wisdom to our [your] mental muscle power. To the degree we fail to teach ourselves to process information independent of the meanings pre-programmed by our genes and programmed by our nurturers, both our muscle and our thinking remain servants of those powerful masters. Our life’s experience, for good or ill, will follow a path created by “others,” by fate and circumstance. Our growing powers require wise management skills that are beyond the scope of the O.S.s we commonly share with other earth beings. I believe that if we are to sustain well-being, individually and communally, we must develop an O.S. compatible with our power to direct both ourselves and the recent scientific knowledge that empowers us to alter the common world we share. The O.S.s we acquire from nature and our nurturers deals with data through habit and trial-and-error learning. The forte of the ANWOT O.S., which emphasizes abstract rational thinking, is its capacity to manipulate symbols to process information and foresee outcomes before acting. A single error with WMD may bankrupt our ability to thrive, perhaps even to survive. I hope I have been able to convey that the degree that we “feel good” and “do good” as well as the degree we “feel bad” and “act bad” is more determined by the meanings we assign to information and knowledge than the information itself. We substitute symbols for the physical information of the common world we share, manipulate the symbols to assign private meaning, and act on which of our three operating systems dominates the processing of information. ANWOT is required to direct destructive to constructive aggression, competition to cooperation, “win-lose” to “win-win,” and self-centered materialism to global pursuit of happiness, long-lasting mental joy more so than the immediate pleasure of physical gratification, and action for long-term as well as short-term interests. Wisdom does not oppose passion and/or “habit;” its mission is more to direct their power to short and long-term beneficial expression. ANWOT emphasizes “both … and” when possible; our first manner of “either … or” thinking often misleads. While acquiring ANWOT is straightforward and simple, aggressively letting go of the obsolete habit patterns within the established O.S.s of nature and nurture is a Herculean risk-taking task. It requires selectively ignoring the demands of the means of function that have been with us and nourished us through our lifetime. Such abandonment may understandably be perceived as “murder.” We watch as we starve our “old friends.” We need overcome our grief and “loss” even though we recognize much of their work is no longer beneficial and may even be harmful. Their destructive means are appropriately put to death and ceremoniously buried. Please be certain that the “murder” I recommend is directed to the harmful mental processing we engage in, NOT to persons. Healthy rebellion is necessary if we choose to free our self from archaic dictatorial rules. Eradicating destructive thinking like eradicating disease thrusts us to a better longer life. As death makes way for new vitality, so we may appreciate and welcome the opportunity for progress. Self-understanding is the most promising preferred method to grow our incentive to wisely apply the new energy resources knowledge provides us. Let us recognize “why” we have been stuck in destructive aggression and “how” we can re-direct destructive to constructive “aggression”. As you now recognize, this Guide is my attempt to collect those strens that empower us to create desired outcomes and make wise choices among alternatives. Will we (you included) develop the appropriate new way of thinking to wisely service our “master” self? We may allow our mental self to remain an embryo. We may grow our self to wisely express “constructive aggression” and/or effectively express “destructive aggression.” We may invest our energy to acquire ownership of our thinking. Get the message? Our fate and the fate of the community of which we are a part, its degree of wise or stupid management, are within our “choosing.” No action means inaction and the automatic persistence of old patterns. Apathy is said to be the most harmful “action.” As we progressively teach ourselves to aggressively direct our energy to constructive outcomes (such as cooperation, shared satisfaction, and love) we serve our self and become a role model to spread true wealth. Managing aggression requires persuading and convincing “those others” to accept ANWOT. However, We are the “other!” Yes, be surprised but believe it! The “other” includes the destructive physical and mental aggression inherent within our genes and nurturance. The “bad” we now perceive to be in “our enemy” is equally inherent within our natural and acquired disposition. Our genes perspective is survive and dominate, “fight or flight.” The prejudicial thinking we abhor in others is equally present in our own “native” language, only disguised in symbolic expression. Blaming and prejudicial thinking are characteristic of immature thinking. Most persons continue to allow their native language and first manner of processing information, i.e. the early O.S.s, to guide their thinking and thereby their actions. Most persons profess superiority of their beliefs and symbols. Most are prone to label and blame dissenters. Our more “civilized” mental O.S.s demand social domination so that I/we win, control, own, and/or exploit. “Me” and “us” must survive at the expense of the “it” and “them.” Though we seek to control by symbols, we are ever ready to enforce our threats of punishment with actual physical punishment. We have yet to practice what our formal religious beliefs claim we detest. We still rely on our physical muscles, fists, war, and killing more so than our head so that we may obtain peace. What we must recognize is that the destructive aggression we oppose is universal; it is within as it is without. The escalation of conflict to war, common in our history and present, will continue until we first turn our pointing finger to ourselves and attain our own inner peace of mind, become our own best friend, and teach our self to “feel good” and “do good.” Before we can expect to persuade and convince the “other” out there, our self needs to persuade, convince, and direct the “other” within, i.e. the inherited and acquired “automatic” patterns that would “otherwise” be disposed to destructive aggression. This is why I recommend the strens on self-endorsement, love, and becoming your own best friend as preliminary to the study of those strens dealing with the “mental control panel,” and the collection of “wisdom” and “values” strens. What are our choices? The easiest choice is to passively follow the perspective prescribed by our nature and nurture, instinct and habit. They require the least expenditure of energy. Given the destructive powers we now create through physical science, destructive expression of aggression is precarious. The likely outcome of “all losers and no winners” is unprecedented. We have sufficient wisdom to recognize that persuasion and convincing, compromise, sharing, cooperation, communication through friendship, expression of love, and creating win-win situations offer the most beneficial outcomes. While we could certainly use additional wisdom, our knowledge is for naught if we lack “will.” Wisdom recognizes that strengthening the will power of self-mastery is a critical resource if we are to “make a difference.” To will power, we need add a new way of thinking (ANWOT) that emphasizes abstract reason more so than instinct and habit, that provides wise leadership, and that is capable of “no-trial” learning, i.e., working out the alternative consequences to specific action in our thinking before committing acts that are irreversible. While the doomsday clock is ticking close to midnight, there are compelling reasons to believe prevention is quite attainable. Our newer means of communication via computer and the Net can bring new information virtually everywhere almost instantly. Our common interests, virtually ubiquitous and ripe for harvest, are our most important motivation for change. Who is against “feeling good” and “doing good,” peace- of-mind, peace-for-humankind? Who prefers destructive aggression to beneficial application of our aggressive energy? What force will those in the minority who advocate war have if the majority of “peaceniks” mobilize? I suspect “warniks,” who are themselves likely so because they are driven by their inherent instinctual and acquired blaming disposition, are quite subject to appropriate persuasion and convincing through ANWOT. In addition to reason, the fear of imminent holocaust is itself a great motivating force for change as the casualties of current combat grow in intensity. It is helpful to apply the “both … and” thinking of ANWOT, that we act on some combination of influence from instinct, habit, and will. The choice is not either instinct, or habit, or will. Rather, what degree will each have an influence? We have a great deal at stake to motivate ourselves to strengthen our will and exercise the wisest leadership within the capability of self-mastery. To the degree that we stay stuck in the early, often conflicted manners of thinking provided by nature and nurture, our life will be dominated by some combination of self-centeredness, blaming and aggression, leading to resentment if directed to others and/or leading to guilt and depression if directed to our self, procrastination, food and/or chemical abuse, apathy and/or worry, and sometimes physical attack. We will be prone to develop the variety of physical illnesses and mental problems associated with the inadequate management of the usual stresses of adult living. I recognize that there are many positive teachings and experiences owed to nature and nurture, especially if our parents, teachers, and community were themselves wise in their ways. I here emphasize the negative to arouse your attention to the fruits of life that most have yet to attain and the thorns that threaten to hurt. What next? You have seen the individual “film clips.” Now let us bring them together to create a feature motion picture of our development. The magnificent plot of nature and nurture has brought the audience to the edge of suspense. You are the director! What next? The plot thus far: In the beginning, there was nature. Following its own rules, nature created life. In human time, life’s development has ever so slowly, virtually imperceptibly, progressed from simplicity to the wondrous complex creatures we see about us. Nature introduced mental life, intelligence, and the ability of creatures to know and learn, to engage in thought and to apply reason. At first, nature directed consciousness and served as its “teacher.” Then students created increasingly complex symbols to represent and manipulate the common physical world we all share, and the students became teachers. The plot becomes more interesting as some families acquire the ability to not only experience a private mental life but also develop the power to convert nonphysical thinking and concepts into physical energy. By creating names for things, our teachers provide a personal identity. Our family, humankind (H), makes a gigantic leap. The combined creativity of nature and nurture enables us to store information, to program our own meanings into symbols, to reflect on our own thinking, and to create new pathways for action; they add a third master, self, to take responsibility for our development. Nature and nurture have determined that its newest child, H, shall have self-mastery! Through the development of intelligence and the cooperative efforts of our teachers, H is becoming independent of the rules of our parents. Our means of emancipation is liberal education. Liberal derives from the word “liberate,” to attain freedom, the opportunity to express individuality, creativity, initiative, and power through our own will. Applying the “trigger-power” of symbols, H is acquiring the freedom of self-management along with immense power to “make a difference.” By focusing our attention on the commonly shared physical phenomena of the world, H has created a science of the rules governing their application. Skill in applying these rules to direct its power has grown “explosively.” Thus far, H has understandably invested most of its energy in rapidly expanding power, producing and improving both our productive and destructive means of aggression. This is because through our evolutionary past, nature and nurture’s means of function (their O.S.s), which have been programmed for “survival of the fittest,” domination, blaming, winning, and the like, have been the dominant directors of its creatures. We see that these predetermined scripts for living are no longer adequate. More recent, H has begun to invest limited resources in the science of peaceful conflict resolution. The lead actor has acquired the magic-like power to change him/her self; AND now, as H’s power for self-mastery matures, H dares to take on the tasks of managing its very own parents, nature and nurture. Here is the drama. The time to reverse the expression of our current and expanding means for mass misery is rapidly ticking to zero. We now face the critical task of harnessing destructive aggression and skillfully expressing its awesome energy to constructive ends. The drama is cresting. What is the perspective of the director? Given the powers of our physical science and the freedom to direct its outcome, will the director of this motion picture apply H’s self-mastery constructively or destructively? Does H allow its power to be controlled by the “fight/flight” and habit patterns of nature and nurture? Shall we continue to emphasize the “trial-and-error” and “role-modeling” methods of learning that have brought us to the present? Does our new scientific knowledge to manipulate physical power require a “no trial” mental method of learning that permits us to act with wisdom based on reason, imagination, and fantasy before committing action which is irreversible? We see that nature and nurture’s gifts of intelligence, power, freedom, and self-mastery entrust (and suddenly thrust) the choice to the protagonist, H. The sights, sounds, and smells of destructive intention and the multiple “emergency alert” alarms are ubiquitous. However, reason, the source of the protagonist’s motivation to take appropriate action, is numbed by the instinct and habit that has, thus far, sustained us through our dependence (historically and individually) on “others.” The protagonist appears to be passively waiting for salvation to come from some outside edict or intervention. H appears stuck in the older O.S.s of nature and nurture. Self-destruction appears to be H’s predictable future! Is H’s fate hopeless? The plot is increasingly unpleasant. I am so agitated, a thought pops into my mind, “Remove myself from the theater. I don’t like the plot, and I don’t want to see the ending. I can probably find a soothing T.V. program or other interesting entertainment.” Whoops! The movie stops. This is as far as our motion picture goes. I’m not disappointed because I was just about to leave anyway. Wait! I realize I have a healthy imagination, and through it, I can become this movie’s director and producer! In my fantasy, I can direct the protagonists and continue the script any way I choose. I’ll do it my way. You also can be director and producer! I hope you’ll do it your way so we can compare. I proceed by considering how H may get out of this mess. Wise direction requires a newer way of thinking. The means are quite attainable. H now has the creative capacity to replace trial-and-error learning with no-trial learning. It will not be accomplished passively. It is apparent that if H is to survive, H must acquire a mental science that liberates its thinking, one that allows thinking to function with wisdom as well as strength, a mental science that is equivalent to the physical sciences that have enabled H to freely wield immense physical power. The initial task is to overcome apathy. We know hopelessness is the most devastating response to challenge, for it shuts down the energy factory and places us totally at the whims of fate and circumstance. William James, described as our country’s father of philosophy and psychology, concluded “the most important discovery is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of Mind.” Through ANWOT, we can wisely direct the drama to a happy outcome. We have the power and the freedom to create ANWOT. Our choice is what we will! Our science of physical phenomenon has enabled us to direct the power of matter. Similarly, the science of mental phenomena is our means to direct the power of thinking. Yes, we can understand why creating a science of the rules by which the mind operates is to come after the simpler task. Thinking is private and individual, and therefore the rules of nonphysical mental phenomena are more difficult to study. As director and producer, I have the protagonist focus his/her energy on recognizing the rules that govern mental triggerpower. When we label the rules of thinking through which nature, nurture, and our self operate, we establish a science of mental management, ANWOT, far more likely to attain an outcome we desire than one we don’t want. The process of change begins with one or a few individuals – you, and you, and you. We have seen how the combination of “each one teach one” and our recent means of mass communication can have a dramatic effect. Our larger system can be influenced when sufficient individuals learn to process knowledge and direct our energy to constructive aggression, cooperation, love, sharing, belonging, harmony, and related newer survival skills. The rewards for your participation are feeling good and doing good. What outcome would you predict if H continues the old manner of thinking? The very first step begins with a simple Little Engine That Could act of faith, “Yes, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.” This initial spark of belief in our self that we can make a difference, along with work, patience, direction, and some risk-taking, are required to develop ANWOT; these ingredients are all readily available to us. These five ingredients comprise the first (1) of five component skills in educating our self in the new manner of thinking. The other components are described: (2) the ANWOT vocabulary of self-mastery, (3) the collection of strens or “strengths” of wisdom provided through the insight of those who have preceded us and those of our contemporaries, (4) the mental response control panel describing our eight mental choices for dealing with issues, and (5) a value system that moves us to constructive aggression. These five component skills are also attainable through many easily found resources. Will you join in the path and help forge the new way? ------ Aggression leading to destructive acts is among our most unresolved critical issues. Peace-of-mind and peace-in-the-world are of immediate and global concern. Our personal and global well-being, perhaps our very survival, demands that we teach ourselves to transform destructive aggression into constructive energy. Mere attention and interpretation of the red alert warning signals may stimulate appropriate action. H’s new power to manipulate our physical reality exceeds the operating systems that instinct and habit have designed for our forward direction. Their means (O.S.s) to insure survival commonly directs energy to competitive aggression, domination of the weak by the strong, and destructive action. These methods are no longer sufficient to preserve our safe passage. The prescriptive and dichotomous thinking we acquire in our first stages of development keeps us stuck in dealing with current stress issues. We use obsolete pre-programmed problem-solving patterns that result in grave outcomes. Along with their growing inability to protect us from our accelerating science of destructive power, the meanings and means by which instinct and habit process data powerfully constrain our freedom to originate and introduce effective self-management. As “the establishment,” they have specifically designed their O.S.’s to sustain their own perspective, to resist new direction. As we become civilized mental creatures, we seek wants in addition to our needs. Common wants are freedom, peace-of-mind, and peace among humankind. We want to feel good and do good! These wants are attainable through the constructive management of our aggressive energy. In the process of attaining physical and mental maturity, we acquire the opportunity for self-mastery. Will power is the direction of wordpower to alter the course of instinct and habit. Wisdom, added to will power promotes a beneficial outcome to the actor’s action. ANWOT is a method to shift the means information is processed to favor rational problem-solving more so than the favored automatic patterns of instinct and habit. Just as “resentment” (re + sentiment), literally the re-experience of an emotion, has come to be processed in our thinking to express negative emotion, so “anger” and “aggression” have become so programmed by instinct and habit. We may redirect harmful aggression by renaming our aroused “anger” state as “energy” and adding the problem-solving “magical” sentence: “What is most likely to get me what I want, short term and long term, for me and you (us and them)?” This facilitates altering the established program by which anger is processed. By educating our self in related practical “what to do” skills, we add the “bits and pieces” of strength and wisdom to redirect our energy to “constructive” aggressive action. Examples may be found in the self-endorsement strens such as Self-endorsement and Emotional self-endorsement; vocabulary strens such as Seven simple steps to ANWOT, [The] Vocabulary of self-mastery, and Either…or, Both…and; the mental response strens such as The Mental Response Control Panel; the wisdom strens such as Life’s wisdom and Ten worthwhile addictions; and the values issue identified throughout the Guide. Hopefully you will improve and add to these strens. I believe we will only control the inflationary cost of destructive aggression through an understanding of its source -- remaining stuck in the physical “fight” O.S. of nature and the “prescriptive” O.S. of nurture that disposes to punish. At issue is “what we ‘want’ to do,” “what we ‘should’ do,” and “what we are ‘wise’ to do.” Virtue is among our choices. Virtue is freely “choosing to do what is wise” out of will, when emotion and habit urge otherwise. We are the growing tip of evolution. This “tip” brings us to a new era of emancipation from absolute dominance by nature and nurture. We are human becomings who aspire to attain godlike status. We have attained the power to direct rapid change including mass self-destruction. With liberation we are challenged to protect ourselves from our self, sustain our life cycle, wisely direct our new powers, and prosper from personal mental freedom. Our years of reliance on genetic controllers and dependency on our nurturers dispose us to continue to expect that some automatic or almighty force will take care of our future. Freud concluded that our inherited destructive forces were too powerful to be controlled by reason; he was an acknowledged pessimist. I am an optimist. The wise application of our intelligence and new technology, with the added incentive from the immediate threat of annihilation, persuades me that wisdom can direct habit. This theory of aggression assumes that whatever that primal force that created us, “that then which is greater than any other (Saint Anselm),” that many call “God,” that others call “nature,” its message is becoming increasingly apparent: We have been given the gift of freedom to choose our own destiny. We have “eaten the apple.” We have knowledge, power, and now the task of wise management that goes with it. Our history documents that thus far we have applied our awesome power of freedom to create ultimate destructive weapons not present in nature. Our most influential ideologies, our governments, religions, “the establishment,” still promulgate (as we individuals also remain stuck), by deed if not by creed, the “either … or” confrontational thinking of our early O.S.s! “We are ‘good’ and ‘right’; to ‘win’ we must get rid of the ‘other’”; “Our way or no way!” “We are angels fallen out of grace. We have fallen collectively and must be redeemed individually.” “No! No! No!” say others. “We have fallen individually and must be redeemed collectively.” The ANWOT O.S. encourages “both … and” thinking. ANWOT clarifies the value of constructive aggression that leads to both personal and global “salvation.” Its processing of information favors rational problem-solving, wisdom, “no-trial” learning and cooperation. The most creative people are also often those most dependent on instinct and habit as they devise new means to express destructive energy. They brilliantly, but blindly, serve the perspectives programmed into each of us by our early masters. Becoming one’s own person does not of itself promote constructive aggression. The newer manner of thinking proposed in this Guide fosters an independent freely thinking mind, the power of self-initiation, originality, and, most important, the acquisition of wisdom! We now need to act with urgency. We need to muster whatever wisdom is within our resources to channel our awesome creative powers into a consistently constructive manner of thinking. In a sense, we must “publish or perish.” We have the resources; wisdom urges that we create the “will.” The collection of strens (bits and pieces of strength and wisdom) represents my efforts to develop a scientific means to teach wise thinking, one that promotes our self-mastery and freedom to create well-being and constructive resolution of conflict. I hope it serves as a stepping stone for other designers and architects. Conclusion:You will “feel good” and “do good” by aggressively developing ANWOT! Click here to continue reading. ---------------------- [i] The stren Our Two Worlds considers the two distinct realities we must manage during our lifetime. [ii] Even though the perspectives of nature and our nurturer’s O.S. are so often opposite, we are wise to recognize that it is nature that has given us our complex brain to develop our language O.S.. In this sense, nature and nurture are the “father and mother” of our opportunity for self-mastery. B develops from A; C develops from B. Nature → Nurture → Self-mastery [iii] Distinct areas of our brain include the cerebellum, thalamus, pineal body, pituitary, pons, medulla, and cerebral cortex, which includes the frontal lobes. Examination of the brains of animals, primitive man and our present brain indicates the cortex is most rapidly expanding in size relative to other organs. [iv] Nature has gifted us its most advanced brain. Our nurturers have provided us complex language. These resources enable us to engage in reflective objective thinking and originality. Our recent technology, especially mass communication, enables us to collect and use the vast wisdom of our ancestors and the growing body of wisdom of our contemporaries. Once we realize we are so equipped, the remaining issue is the application of will. [v] I have indicated that creatures with a greater range of behaviors also have larger, more complex brains. In addition to the primitive brain found in simpler creatures, one or more additional layers are observed corresponding to the increasing complexity of the organism. Each new addition, or “newer brain,” adds special capabilities not found in simpler creatures. Our human brain is the most elaborate and, depending on one’s classification, is said to contain as many as 5 or 7 distinct “brains,” each with specialized functions. We can speculate that the lower or more primitive brain is the source of our instinctual or preprogrammed behavior (nature), that other parts of our brain are the source of the habitual patterns and native language we acquire from our nurturers, and that the last to develop portion of our brain is the home of “self-mastery,” our source of reflective abstract thinking that can challenge instinct and habit, initiate new patterns of action, and freely choose among them. Such theory is interesting but unnecessary to develop a science of thought control. My hunch is that the practical development of an ANWOT O.S. compatible with self-mastery, and the wisdom to beneficially direct the power of self-mastery is not the outcome of a specific “brain” but the integration of some combination of components of several anatomical areas. This is an example where we best think in terms of “both this and that” instead of “this or that.” [vi] Continuous (analog) words, viz. “both this and that,” the “pluses and minuses” of each choice, more accurately convey reality than dichotomous (digital) thinking. It is helpful to me to think of a digital and analog clock. The hands in the digital clock jump from one number to the next; they are either 1 or 2 or 3 and so on. The analog clock hands move continuously around. They may be in between the numbers and thereby convey a more accurate representation. [vii] If we mentally strip away the urge to strike out and sustain this alerting response with “what if’s,” the arousal of energy experience is more likely to be labeled “anxiety” instead of “anger.” “What if” thinking is a major source of incapacitating phobias and anxiety attacks. [viii] The eights choices available to you are described in the stren, Your Mental Response Control Panel.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Home | Table of Contents | Self-endorsement | Self Mastery | Wisdom | Theory | Glossary | About the Author | Contact Us | Blog ©Copyright 2007. A Newer Way of Thinking |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Intelligence: Our complex brain and its use of symbols to think make us unique among earth’s creatures. We are increasingly creating the knowledge to free our self from old ways. We are recognizing that skills in problem-solving, conflict resolution, creating love, cooperation, sharing, win-win competition, and “good aggression” can be substituted for war, terrorism, win/lose, lose/lose competition, physical and/or social domination, prejudice, and our innate tendency for destructive aggression. We have the basics for a “good aggression” teaching curriculum.