on the street and not individuals with some sort of focused brain damage. In the
experiment, a researcher approached individuals at a bus stop and asked questions about the times and route for the bus that stopped there. While the
person was giving the researcher the information, two other researchers walked between them carrying a large piece of drywall. As they passed between the
researcher asking for the information and the person giving it, the researcher switched positions with one of the people carrying the piece of drywall
between them. The person now getting the information was a totally different individual than the one the bystander had been giving it to a moment before."
"The switch was made in the span of about two seconds. A surprising fifty percent of normal, non-brain damaged individuals did not notice that it was a
different person they were talking to."
"I don't know exactly what the results of our three examples mean in terms of barriers to reality. It does seem obvious that seemingly simple processes
like noticing something are not straight forward at all. There is more involved than a direct transfer of all information available to our memory or
consciousness. A reasonable question would seem to be, “What sorts of flaws, omissions or distortions are involved in this process that we are not aware
of?"
"It should now be obvious that much of what we observe, and think, is not a simple process. The incoming information is not unaltered and pure. Our
resulting conclusions, beliefs and world views are therefore, not true and accurate in all ways."
“I would like you to remember this. I will keep returning to the idea of existing mental constructs altering reality throughout today’s seminar. As I
mentioned earlier, through the day, I will be showing examples from history and your own experiences, of some of the effects of these and other barriers."
"I will be using the examples to perform the same function for thought, that turning the photo of a person upside down, does to improve drawing accuracy. I
will be trying to force you to look at things in a different way than your pre-existing constructs to gain a more accurate understanding of reality.
Turning the photo gives a noticeable improvement, but it does not turn everyone into a Michelangelo or Rembrandt. The examples will not totally transform
your way of thinking, but they will help."
"Okay everyone, good work. Let's take a short fifteen-minute break. I promise when we return I will relate some of what we learned to some historical
examples to keep Professor Wales happy and content."
Chapter 8
THE BLEEDING STOPPED. NOT GRADUALLY, it just stopped. He looked confusedly at the wound and while greatly relieved, he did not understand how or why it had
done that. He wasn't dead as far as he knew. He lay there thinking about it for a moment. He had just thought about the bleeding stopping, and it had.
He looked at the spear wound in his belly and thought "Heal." Again, he had a vague impression that his mind reached out and touched ... something. He was
amazed and frightened to see the wound fill in and close. His skin grew across the wound and sealed it. The pain from the spear wound was also gone, and he
noticed that the pain in his head had vanished as well.
He got up and felt his stomach. There was no sign of a wound other than the clotting blood on his skin. He was confused and did not understand what had
happened or why. He looked around, and concern about it was driven out by the sight of the dead bodies of his entire tribe around him. He wandered around,
dazed by the death of the people he knew. He saw his father's body with a number of wounds. He ran over to him and thought "Heal." Nothing seemed to
happen. He tried thinking it and even yelling the command but there was no change in his father's body.
Rising to his feet, he began to check the camp further. He found his mother's body and that of Sinjee. Sinjee's
experiment, a researcher approached individuals at a bus stop and asked questions about the times and route for the bus that stopped there. While the
person was giving the researcher the information, two other researchers walked between them carrying a large piece of drywall. As they passed between the
researcher asking for the information and the person giving it, the researcher switched positions with one of the people carrying the piece of drywall
between them. The person now getting the information was a totally different individual than the one the bystander had been giving it to a moment before."
"The switch was made in the span of about two seconds. A surprising fifty percent of normal, non-brain damaged individuals did not notice that it was a
different person they were talking to."
"I don't know exactly what the results of our three examples mean in terms of barriers to reality. It does seem obvious that seemingly simple processes
like noticing something are not straight forward at all. There is more involved than a direct transfer of all information available to our memory or
consciousness. A reasonable question would seem to be, “What sorts of flaws, omissions or distortions are involved in this process that we are not aware
of?"
"It should now be obvious that much of what we observe, and think, is not a simple process. The incoming information is not unaltered and pure. Our
resulting conclusions, beliefs and world views are therefore, not true and accurate in all ways."
“I would like you to remember this. I will keep returning to the idea of existing mental constructs altering reality throughout today’s seminar. As I
mentioned earlier, through the day, I will be showing examples from history and your own experiences, of some of the effects of these and other barriers."
"I will be using the examples to perform the same function for thought, that turning the photo of a person upside down, does to improve drawing accuracy. I
will be trying to force you to look at things in a different way than your pre-existing constructs to gain a more accurate understanding of reality.
Turning the photo gives a noticeable improvement, but it does not turn everyone into a Michelangelo or Rembrandt. The examples will not totally transform
your way of thinking, but they will help."
"Okay everyone, good work. Let's take a short fifteen-minute break. I promise when we return I will relate some of what we learned to some historical
examples to keep Professor Wales happy and content."
Chapter 8
THE BLEEDING STOPPED. NOT GRADUALLY, it just stopped. He looked confusedly at the wound and while greatly relieved, he did not understand how or why it had
done that. He wasn't dead as far as he knew. He lay there thinking about it for a moment. He had just thought about the bleeding stopping, and it had.
He looked at the spear wound in his belly and thought "Heal." Again, he had a vague impression that his mind reached out and touched ... something. He was
amazed and frightened to see the wound fill in and close. His skin grew across the wound and sealed it. The pain from the spear wound was also gone, and he
noticed that the pain in his head had vanished as well.
He got up and felt his stomach. There was no sign of a wound other than the clotting blood on his skin. He was confused and did not understand what had
happened or why. He looked around, and concern about it was driven out by the sight of the dead bodies of his entire tribe around him. He wandered around,
dazed by the death of the people he knew. He saw his father's body with a number of wounds. He ran over to him and thought "Heal." Nothing seemed to
happen. He tried thinking it and even yelling the command but there was no change in his father's body.
Rising to his feet, he began to check the camp further. He found his mother's body and that of Sinjee. Sinjee's
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