What are these bits of advice one finds on every page of Mind Magic?

Enroute to answering that question, let’s detour through the work of someone else, Justin Bariso, who intelligently writes a course in Emotional Intelligence, a term coined by my friend and former Neuro partner Daniel Goleman. In this sample of his courseware in Inc. magazine, he advises asking yourself to think about a specific decision facing you in terms of how, if you say yes, or no, you will feel about that decision in a day, week, month, year, and in five years. He then explains his strategy therein is to get you back in your frontal lobes and out of your amygdala. Shop talk for getting you out of your fear, fight-flight-freeze reaction, and into your formal operational planning systems thinking. This is a bit of metacognition that Justin has discovered/invented for sure, and it’s heartening to see other people doing similar kinds of work as myself.

So, what are all these bits of advice which folks like Justin and I suggest that everyone use? I just referred to them as “bits of metacognition” but let’s peel the onion a bit. Yes, these are very compact little bits – I’ve always called them trigger phrases – which when remembered, somehow empower a person to be more effective in the situation confronted. And they fall into the general category of metacognition, because they involve thinking about one’s own thoughts and feelings, hunches and perceptions, memories and dreams.

John Lilly called them metaprograms in his 1968 book on metaprogramming and the name stuck. His idea was that one can metaprogram oneself. This could then yield true free will and control to the individual over the electrochemical reaction chains which would otherwise drive robotical behavior – sensed internally as a chattering and virtually useless mind. John had been recently studying with Oscar Ichazo, whom some psychologists have not treated with due respect. Being around Oscar, it is easy to have streams of ideas. Richard Bandler (NeuroLinguistic Programming – NLP) succeeded in carrying on Oscar’s work when the early cancel culture inventors made Oscar an early victim.

Why not call them metaprograms, then? These compact bits of advice – as compact as the famous sutras or aphorisms of the philosophies of India which are themselves very powerful metaprograms. The sutras generally help focus the mind in the direction of getting it to rest in the one’s higher Self – what I called the Observer state when I first experienced it, years before I came across the sutras and all of the other great advice coming out of ancient sages worldwide. By resting in the Self, the mind is no longer prancing about but simply observing itself and everything else. As you’ve read here before, it’s pretty clear to me by now that the Observer state is a higher state of consciousness – in the sense of more effective. And, it is the path to even higher states, such as Flow state, in which the person is one with the universe in performing perfect action. Higher levels include ecstasy and inspiration and other levels in the spiritual realm.

So, we’ve agreed, I hope, to call these advice-bits metaprograms, and their function is to put you in control of the processes of your brain and body in any situation, so you give your best performance. Your metaprogram “entrains” the train of pointillistic events amongst your neurons to re-line-up themselves according to your instructions.

That’s how metaprogramming works. I’m not the only source. You should try out all the sources you can find, and then invent your own metaprograms daily. Make sure to share the good advice droplets especially with your loved ones.

What would help all of us, if you decide to use these new skills in being a peacemaker, is then by all means, bring people together cooperatively and with kind spirit. It’s the number one red light flashing on the board, as we all know.

Best to all,