How to Get Better

Investigating the 10,000 hour rule, I found some push-back to it.  After reading it all over, I decided that the rule means practice, practice, practice and can be constructively augmented by some advice from other sources.

The unspoken, yet intuitively obvious idea of good quality practice is at the root of the 10,000 hour rule.  It seems that in the 10,000 hours there will be enough "good" practice to make the desired progress.   So it stands to reason if you get a concentrated amount of good quality practice, you can shorten the cycle of becoming expert.

Increasing the entirety of the mental content of practice  creates quality.  We have six centers of influence in our active life: intellectual, emotional, moving, social, sexual, and instinctive.  As we practice to acquire a skill all of these will come into play at some point and the more deeply each is involved the more expert one will become.  This requires understanding that more than rote practice of the skill being acquired is necessary.

This from Tim Ferriss (one can use an internet search to find him):

1. Create a feedback loop
2. Deliberate practice
Mistake? Learn from it and then--
Redo it properly
3. Become a teacher
(Average retention rates of the Learning Pyramid:
PASSIVE: Lecture-5%, Reading 10%, Audio-visual 20%, Demonstration 30%,
PARTICIPATORY: Group discussion 50%, Practice 75%, Teaching others 90%.)

"If you can't explain it to a six year old you don't understand it yourself."

A Discussion of Life

Life is ubiquitous and defies understanding.

 The dictionary defines it as, "An organismic state, characterized by capacity for metabolism, reaction to stimuli, and reproduction."  Furthermore, it defines organismic as "characteristics of an individual constituted to carry on the activities of life by means of parts or organs more or less separate in function but mutually dependent, a living being."

It ranges in size from mycoplasma genitalium, which is thought to be the smallest known organism capable of independent growth and reproduction, to the honey fungus, measured to cover an area of 3.7 square miles and somewhere between 2,000 and 9,000 years old.  Included within this range are all the living organisms that populate the Earth.

That defines it, gives it a range of size, and indicates just how big and varied it is.  Included between the smallest and largest are all the manifestations of life that exist.  We cannot be completely sure that we have discovered, named, and classified all of them but unless and until smaller and larger examples are discovered, these define the range of size and content of living organisms.

How life started on Earth is not known.  There are theories but there is still no definite answer to this question.

Do the physical manifestations of life exist elsewhere?  There are no definite answers to that question either.

We see above the characteristics of it but what is it?

The word spiritual is introduced.  If anything is not physical, and it exists, then it is spiritual.  These two realms are not mutually exclusive.

One could say that life is the physical manifestation of a spiritual realm, which uses it to advance towards an aim.  Could it be that since life continues to evolve, the influence of the spiritual realm is still being felt?  I submit the answer is yes.

Evolution is taking place, and will continue to do so, as long as life forms procreate by the union of two compatible existing representatives of that form.  A sobering thought is that a representative of a species is always one generation away from extinction.

One can look back on the evolutionary trail and see that evolution takes place.  Why it has occurred the way it has is not so easy to deduce.

Evolution takes place as a result of incremental choices made at the instant of procreation.  It is easy to say that evolution is the result of "natural selection" and it is just as easy to say that these choices are influenced by the above mentioned spiritual realm.  Neither statement can be verified.

The argument for natural selection is historically strong but the argument that the spiritual realm has an influence on it can also be made, albeit not scientifically.  The argument for natural selection is just as specious when you get right down to it.

It could be that life arrived here as microbes on a meteor and, guided by that mysterious spiritual realm, has continued to live for four billion or so years; to multiply to become species that exist today.  But why?  That is the moot point.

Life seems to be the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding inevitable death.  There also seems to be the function of reversing entropy, i.e., bringing order to chaotic situations.

There are physical laws that have been described by humans, verified, and used to enhance the living experience.  There are more to be discovered and those that have been are always precariously in danger of being disproved but we do what we can with what we have.

This isn't to say that other forms of life don't know about these laws, they are governed by them as are humans.  We have no way of knowing if, or how much, other species understand.

Only humans seem to have developed the technique of passing along their thoughts in a way that other humans, completely foreign to the originator, can understand.  Some meanings, such as those expressed by pre-Colombian Americans, are lost due to discontinuity of language and culture.

We read and see the works of the ancient philosophers, mathematicians, poets, playwrights, and artists and even with no genetic relationship to them we can understand and enjoy what they did.  And on the basis of those who have gone before, we extend our knowledge to the outer limit of what is possible and then beyond even that.

One has to ask, are scientific and artistic discoveries the result of the intervention of the spiritual realm?  We seem to be made aware of what is needed to go the next step at precisely the time that it is necessary.

At critical junctures in history, great evils have been successfully dealt a death blow by greater good.  World War II is one example of great evil being overcome by greater good.  Are these the result of intervention by the spiritual realm?

The purveyors of organized religion would argue that it is always "divine" intervention.  Unfortunately they don't have the answer.  They are more like cheerleaders at a game, who don't know the why of what is happening on the field.  Their purpose is to keep the crowd involved while the players on the field, guided by a coaching staff, play the game.

Are we tending toward the achievement of an overall objective of a spiritual realm?  The anwer to the question is, wait and see.

We are where we are because we have been devloping towards this situation for as long as we have existed, the aforementioned four billion years.  We are where we are not by accidental discoveries or choices but for another deeper reason.  We are guided to what is necessary to know, each playing his or her own part in the development of the knowledge necessary to know, each playing his or her own part in the development of what is necessary to achieve whatever goal is "in mind."  We are the servants of the spiritaul realm that guides us.

My thoughts: I think that I, the temporal person, am the servant of a spiritual being who is on the path to become part of the intelligence that is in a spiritual realm.   I refer to that being as Master and he/she/it had a beginning, however long ago; the intelligence in the spiritual realm, with which he strives to be merged, is eternal.  And is life, which I submit is evidence of this intelligence, arrived on this planet in any manner, likewise eternal?  I think, yes.  And at the same time, there is no way of knowing for sure.

Yes, this temporal body will die but Master will inhabit another and continue his development until a merger with that spiritual realm is achieved.  In this way the quest for the whatever is continued.

Into the Wilderness 2018

Here is an idea that I'm pursuing; for the period of Lent, go into the wilderness and experience something different.  Moses did it and came out to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt, Jesus did it and came out to lead a new religion, Muhammad did it with the same result.  Thoreau did it for a year in a cabin at Walden Pond.

There must be something about isolating oneself for a period of time that brings about a significant change.  My idea is to get as close to isolation as possible; in other words to eliminate external influences on my thinking.

I am not interested in leading an exodus or founding a religion,  I am, however, interested in what might occur during a prolonged period of unstructured thinking as free of external influences as possible.

There would have to be some rules followed:

1. Socialization only in the response mode; i.e. initiating no contact but responding directly to contact when it's made.  This would also preclude prolonging the contact beyond that for which it was initiated.
2. No electronics, including radio, television, and phonograph.
3. Telephone only to answer it and Email checked once per day with both telephone and Email usage according to Rule 1.
4. Reading nothing.
5. Writing thoughts and impressions, as much and as often as desired.
6. No change indicated for eating habits.
7. Going out only to get groceries, necessities, or to exercise and adhering to Rule 1 when out.
8. Physical exercise and artistic practice, such as singing or reciting, would be allowed to any extent, even going to the fitness center and golf courses; remembering Rule 1 when there.

Sorting out and purging belongings, such as books and files, tools and materials, clothes and accouterments, would be allowed in order to be aware of what one has and perhaps getting rid of that which is no longer of use.

Construction, repair, and maintenance of whatever would be allowed; always in accordance with Rule 1.

This would not be quite the same as being isolated as were the principals mentioned above but it would bring about an introspection that may not otherwise be possible.

This would be a real challenge.  Doing without electronics would especially be difficult; the second most difficult would be obeying Rule 1.

Later:  This intrigues me to the extent that I may even do it.  I have a journal to capture the daily thoughts and progression of this experiment; it is about 200 pages so it should be sufficient.  If not, I have several more in reserve.

The difficulty will be in filling the time with some sort of productive activity.  Now that the play rehearsals are finished and the lines are in mind only needing daily refreshment, that there's snow on the ground and we are sort of holed up, that my wife is not communicating--too tired, and that I'm eschewing the TV and radio as a prelude to this experiment, I can see that filling the time is going to be a challenge.

According to my rules, above, anything that is not electronic or social is fine.  So, I can cook, bake, go out for necessities, exercise, shoot pool, play golf, or walk.  I can clean, fix, construct, purge, sort, and donate to my heart's content.  I can think, and write to get thoughts on paper, but I realize that the important thoughts, the life changing thoughts, will be with me, written or not.

Later still, I'm doing it!