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Newsletter of Project Renaissance and Win Wenger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
May 2004
IN THIS ISSUE:
* Quote of the Month
*
Announcements/Organizational Notes
* Events
* FEATURE ARTICLE:
"Volunteering, Working, and Love" by Tijl Koenderink
* Comments, Feedback and
News Items
Win Wenger -
Practicing Imagery
Win Wenger - Decoding
Your Imagery
Win Wenger -
"Borrowing" Genius
Kate Jones - Foolery
and Honesty
Win Wenger - Socrates
in the Classroom
* Links - archives, back issues, homepage
* Question Quest -
Challenge #7
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"Live not as though there were a thousand years ahead of you. Fate
is at your elbow; make yourself good while life and power are still
yours."
-Marcus
Aurelius
...................................................................
ANNOUNCEMENTS / ORGANIZATIONAL NOTES
~~~
WELCOME to all new members who have joined us this month. We hope
to hear from you and to give you much food for thought. Back
issues are available upon request. Just add the month to the
subject line:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues
Or see the online archives: http://www.winwenger.com/strmlist.htm
~~~
TOPICAL INTEREST GROUPS:
Our membership is large and diverse, and many of you have expressed
an interest in communicating with other members who share your topic
of concern or research interest. If you'd like us to share your
email address with other interested members, and to supply theirs to
you, please email your name, email address and subject/topic to:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=InterestGroups
Your communications will be private. If you'd like to take a topic
public, just post your discussions on Project Renaissance's board:
http://bbs.cartserver.com/bbs/b/7733/#PostMessage
~~~
One such interest group is the
LUCID GAME GROUP ( http://lgg.youngprer.com )
They are looking for testers to explore accelerative learning
through combining PhotoReading and lucid dreaming to use dream-
activated PhotoRead material to "run a game" scripted off
printed
material you looked at suconsciously in reality. They also use
Brainwave Generator software to aid higher chances of lucidity.
If you're game for such experiments, visit their forum at
http://pub73.ezboard.com/byoungprer or contact co-director Young
at mailto:youngprer@youngprer.com .
~~~
CO-AUTHORS WANTED:
Active and/or retired professionals in psychology, economics,
history, biology, physics, sociology, chemistry, etc., to co-author
with me new kinds of introductory texts (various age levels) and
methods-of-teaching texts. These texts are too become part of an
eventual discovery curriculum. ...Win Wenger, Ph.D.
mailto:wwenger101@aol.com?subject=Texts
~~~
ADDRESS CHANGE?
If your email address changes or your email box is full or your
spam filter blocks us, we can't get The Stream to you. Please,
before that happens, make sure you notify us of any change and put
winwenger.com on your safe senders list.
Write to:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Address
~~~
SUBSCRIBER OR MEMBER?
If you currently only subscribe to The Stream, you can upgrade your
participation in Project Renaissance to full membership, free.
Membership in Project Renaissance entitles members to additional
benefits. If you're not yet a member, please register now, here:
http://www.winwenger.com/regmem.htm or from link on the homepage,
http://www.winwenger.com .
~~~
DUPLICATE MAILING?
If you received two (or more?) copies of this issue of The Stream,
please let us know by replying to:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=duplicate
~~~
HOW YOU CAN PARTICIPATE...
* You can post messages on Project Renaissance's discussion board
about any Project
Renaissance topic and join any ongoing
discussions. No log-in
required. Please visit our homepage at
http://www.winwenger.com and
click the Discussion Board link. To
post a message right now,
click here:
http://bbs.cartserver.com/bbs/b/7733/#PostMessage
* The long-established, popular Image-Streaming egroup is here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/imagestream - requires Yahoo sign-in.
* Submit articles, comments or questions for possible inclusion in
The Stream:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=TotheEditor
...................................................................
...................................................................
EVENTS
~~~
PROJECT RENAISSANCE SPRING WORKSHOP - May 15-22, 2004
At a private facility in
Training with Win Wenger and distinguished trainers.
May 15-16 Business
meetings, planning workshops
May 17-19 Advanced Trainer
training
May 20
Excursions or to be scheduled
May 21-22 Beyond-Einstein
training for beginners
* For current trainers:
The newest Project Renaissance methods, new teaching techniques,
and other organizational issues. Time has been scheduled to place
Project Renaissance techniques in perspective of other AL and CPS
movements such as NLP, Edward de Bono and Learning Strategies Corp.
Registration: $95 (includes
4 days)
* For people interested in becoming a trainer:
Receive Beyond Einstein Training (required for becoming a Project
Renaissance trainer) given by Dr. Win Wenger and by distinguished
trainers from the
the basics correctly and effectively and see how to build on them.
Openings still available to register for this special opportunity.
You will also receive a complimentary copy of 'Discovering the
Obvious', Dr. Win Wenger's latest book. Tuition, $395 (includes
both days).
Full details online until May 20. It's not too late to register
until May 20, based on availability of space. Register now:
http://www.winwenger.com/upcoming.htm#May
Questions? Contact Tijl Koenderink, Executive Director of Project
Renaissance:
mailto:tijl@dare2b.nl
~~~
FACILITATION WORKSHOP SERIES - May 28, 2004 - 8:00 a.m. to Noon
"Working Socratic Magic for Facilitators", by Win Wenger
Hosted by Mid-Atlantic Facilitation Network
( http://www.mid-atlanticfacilitators.net/index.php?Itemid=1 )
General Accounting Office, Room 2N30
$40 members and partners; $50 non-members
With modern understandings, discover why 2300 years of Socratic
Method consistently produced genius. Explore with us modern forms
of Socratics for use in meeting group, classroom, office or
boardroom. Discover hands-on, simple easy ways to give everyone in
even the largest groups the intense Socratic miracle experience
hitherto workable with only one or two at a time. Pick up special
skills which any facilitator may find remarkably essential and,
in retrospect, obvious. By the author of Discovering The Obvious,
of Beyond Teaching And Learning, and of The Einstein Factor: Win
Wenger, Ph.D. ( http://www.winwenger.com )
~~~
NATIONAL PRESS CLUB SPEAKER - June 19, 2004
Dr. James H. Austin, M.D., author of "Zen and the Brain" and
"Chase, Chance and Creativity," will speak at the National
Press
Club at 11 AM on Saturday, June 19, 2004. Attendance by invitation
only. If you'd like to attend this free event, please email us for
a copy of the official invitation, courtesy of Elliot Ryan. Elliot
has asked us to handle these for him. Email your request to:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=PressClub
~~~
Fifth International CONFERENCE ON CREATIVE THINKING
and The Edward de Bono Seminar 2004
Professor Edward de Bono, born in
Lateral Thinking. He will
be one of the keynote speakers at the
International Conference on Creative Thinking and he will conduct
the de Bono Seminar in person. Participants may choose to attend
either the Conference or the Seminar or both events.
Of course, Project Renaissance will also be present at this event.
Three trainers (Cora Robinson, Angus Donald and Tijl Koenderink)
will lecture on Project Renaissance methods, and make new
connections and expand our body of knowledge. For more information,
contact Tijl Koenderink ( mailto:tijl@dare2b.nl )
~~~
CONFERENCE ON CREATIVITY - July 15-18, 2004
Celebrating Individual Creativity: From Inspiration to Application
15th Annual International Conference on Creativity in Colleges and
Universities - on the campus of
Global assembly of those who value, teach, and practice Creativity.
The audience will comprise higher-education teachers and creativity
practitioners in both academia and enterprise. See their website
for additional information: www.northwood.edu/abd
~~~
PROJECT RENAISSANCE DOUBLE FESTIVAL - November 12-14, 2004
13th Annual Conference on Creativity and Accelerated Learning
Maryland/Washington, DC area
This year’s theme is the ‘Theory and Practice of
Education’. The
leading experts in the field of learning and education will share
their practical success stories and secrets to help you accomplish
the same in your school or classroom. The combination of a member-
ship with a support environment of ‘Progressive Educators’
makes
this THE event to attend. Mark your calendar now. More information
is on the website:
http://www.winwenger.com/upcoming.htm#df
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Feature Article:
VOLUNTEERING, WORKING AND LOVE
by Tijl Koenderink
Today I was confronted by a lovely girl who tried to sell (and
did sell) me a donation to a charity program. When I asked her why
she was doing this work, she started on the fact that she needed a
job, and that this was at least somewhat in line with her sense of
moral duty. After this she apologized for having to ask money from
the organization for doing this work.
I fully disagreed with her and of course told her so.
It was the same discussion I held recently with my Karate teacher.
People sometimes call him money-hungry because he chooses to charge
50 dollars for a day seminar, rather than to give it away for
practically nothing. I agree with his reasoning that he has a
service, based on 30 years of training and experience, and expects
to be paid for this knowledge. It is nothing more than a fair trade.
Yet people who obtain their money in that non-profit volunteer
setting think such a for-profit fee is inappropriate.
What is it in mankind that thinks it is improper for a manager to
receive 200k for raising the institution's income from 2 million to
20 million, but who think it appropriate to receive 40k a year for
their own job, where they do nothing half the time?
I believe that when you enter into an agreement, whether it is on
a volunteer basis or for hard cash, you should define the terms you
want to work for and what you intend to return for that. Both
parties take a moment to consider whether what they receive has an
equal or better value than what they give away, and then decide
whether to cooperate or not.
That which is being given and received can be any form of value,
ranging from American dollars to an expansion of your personal
network; it can be a feeling that you want to leave the world a
better place for your children, or it can be love.
As long as both parties see the value of what they receive, and
have a form of integrity in fair trade, the agreement will last.
If not, the agreement is bound to collapse. If, for instance, one's
value of money depreciates, then all agreements based on money
need to be re-inspected, since the value on one of the two sides
of the original agreement has changed. If suddenly I don’t care
about money anymore, I won’t feel compelled to give 40 hours a
week to receive it.
These factors need to be kept in mind in any problem-solving and
conflict-resolution scenario. A process of healthy introspection
helps becoming clear in your own mind about what you want.
However much some people may disagree with, and become agitated
by, the following statement, I feel a personal or even a romantic
relationship to be a similar case of trading. While I don’t
advocate
paper-and-pencil registration of the ‘goods’ received and
given, I
do advise anybody to examine whether the relationship is based on
a fair agreement. If one party gives a lot of love, attention and
time, while the other party only receives, sooner or later there
will be a crash in the relationship, since where the deal is very
favorable to one party, to the other party there are easily better
options found.
Sometimes very interesting agreements form, where love is exchanged
for money (not only in prostitution but also in marriage), attention
for appearance, intellect for sex, obedience for self-esteem. It is,
in my eyes, very important for both parties to know what they give,
and what they receive, if they want to make a relationship last.
Where love makes blind and thus goes a long way, it does have limits
beyond which it can’t be stretched.
True happiness and bliss are found when you are able to look at your
relationship as from a bird's eye view and you notice that love is
returned with love, attention is returned by attention, intelligence
is returned by intelligence, and, lastly, that the principles that
guide these exchanges are understood.
- Tijl Koenderink ( mailto:tijl@dare2b.nl )
----------------------------------
To send feedback privately to the author, email Tijl Koenderink at
mailto:tijl@dare2b.nl?subject=Trade
To send your comments about this article to The Stream, write to:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Trade
To post your feedback or promote a discussion of this topic:
http://bbs.cartserver.com/bbs/b/7733/#PostMessage
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COMMENTS, FEEDBACK, and NEWS ITEMS
~~~
PRACTICING IMAGERY - Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com )
Imagery - sensory mental imagery - is an especially sensitive route
to contacting and involving the better part of your intelligence:
* 2% of your brain associates in words and word-concepts.
* 80% of your brain associates in sensory mental images.
* Most of your intelligence, your understanding, your creativity
and inspiration, derive
from or through the part of your brain
which associates sensory
mental images.
* Measurements show most of your brain operating ten thousand to
ten million times faster
than you can speak.
This greater part of your brain is trying to show you the best
answer even while you are barely beginning to become conscious
that there is a question.
Much "louder" and more strongly focused, the "left word
box" tends
to ignore softer promptings from one's greater mind and brain,
including imagery, and to try to do everything on its own. Its
expectations of what the answer "ought to be" can override,
edit
and change "the message." For accuracy, practice the
following
with your imagery – ( http://www.winwenger.com/imstream.htm ):
1) Practice objectively and freely reporting in detail.
2) Practice speed in reporting detail - so rapidly there isn't time
to stop and think
what you ought to be saying at some points.
3) Practice suddenness, catching by surprise (and being caught by
surprise by) your
first impression before your editor has time
to change what your
greater mind is telling you.
4) Practice High Thinktank ( http://www.winwenger.com/htt.htm ), so
your
"editor's" expectations don't have much chance to interfere
with your subtler
processes' answer.
5) Practice ways to calibrate and validate your most important
answers.
6) Practice.
Answers - good answers - can be gotten at by hundreds of different
methods. A CPS method or system is successful mainly to the extent
that it gets us past what we think we know about the problem, into
the fresh perceptions we need wherein to find answers.
Generally, moving from "knowledge" and opinion to our own
first-
hand perceptions in this rich a universe gives us virtual infinity.
Receptive visual thinking is one of the most sensitive tools we
have, and definitely one of the most accurate, for reaching the
best we are and the best we have.
- Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com )
~~~
DECODING YOUR IMAGERY - Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com )
Nowadays we find it easiest to decipher our imagery into word
concepts by getting three separate sets of imagery intended to be
the same answer to the same question, but shown in very different
ways. We then look for what's the same when everything else is
different, and that usually makes the meaning stand out for us head
and shoulders above other possible interpretations.
Dreams are another way your sensory-image-associating majority of
your brain and mind have been trying to get important information
to your more narrowly focused conscious mind. To get at the meaning
of your dream, drop that book on interpreting dream-symbols, and
instead:
(A) first record all details of that dream. Then,
(B) ask your greater mind to give you a completely different set
of images but
somehow bearing the same message for you as that
dream. Express
and record a lot of detail from that, and then
(C) from another, different set of images, completely different from
either the
earlier set or the dream except (your intent) that it
somehow
carries the same message and meaning for you.
You need a lot of (sensory) detail so you can spot where these
otherwise differing sets of images overlap. What's the same when
everything else is different tells you what all that was about, the
meaning standing out for you above other possible interpretations.
Note: some of the best presently known methods for bringing your
beyond-conscious wealth of reflexive sensory-image association into
focus of your conscious perceptions and thinking, you will find free
online at http://www.winwenger.com/ebooks/bright.htm .
- Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com )
~~~
"BORROWING GENIUS" - Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com )
Someone was asking questions recently about "Borrowed
Genius," a
procedure given in the "Teaching and Learning Techniques"
section
of the Project Renaissance website. Please see:
( http://www.winwenger.com/borrow1.htm ).
The following may clarify further how that procedure commonly works
to help one to develop years of proficiency in some subject or
skill, and to do so within only a day or so.
.......................
The purpose of looking around the same garden but through and with
the eyes of your genius, once you've "put on his or her
head," is
to strengthen your contact with the senses of the genius. If you
relate strongly enough to the senses, the intellectual part will
take care of itself.
Rooting around in the memories of the genius goes more directly to
Both the insights and understandings the genius has in the subject
and to the attitudes (body attitudes and feelings) of the genius,
which work through the limbic brain.
Paying special attention to and copying the patterns of body
attitudes and feelings of the genius, by aligning your own limbic
brain, enables you to function much more closely to the level of
genius in your own actions - especially if you can carry that
feeling with you into the activity.
Rapid, brief [5 to 10 minutes at a time] alternation between
"being" the genius and puttering in the activity in real
time,
back and forth until they become one ongoing experience, is yet
another way to bring the genius's abilities online as your own.
- Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com )
~~~
FOOLERY AND HONESTY - Kate Jones ( mailto:kate@gamepuzzles.com )
In the April 2004 issue of this newsletter, we quoted a Chinese
proverb, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on
me."
More than a nod to April Fools Day, this quip bespeaks a deeper
wisdom. The first part reflects the general benevolence and trust
which humans living in civilized societies depend on for their
daily interactions. Thus, being fooled the first time reveals the
dishonorable intentions of the fooler. Being fooled a second time
shows one's own foolishness for not having learned from the first
instance, and for not learning caution toward a known scoundrel.
There is a more subtle meaning to this cautionary tale. It is also
said that you cannot cheat an honest man. Being trustingly fooled
and being cheated are not the same thing. To be cheated, some
expectation of unearned gain has to be present. Con men (the
"con"
stands for "confidence") capitalize on wishful thinking and
self-
delusion to do their fooling with the tacit complicity of their
victim. Shame on both.
- Kate Jones ( mailto:kate@gamepuzzles.com )
~~~
SOCRATES IN THE CLASSROOM
The simple provisions of "Dynamic Format" (please see:
http://www.winwenger.com/dynform.htm ), can be used to perk up an
ongoing class even in mid-lecture, without any change to the
operational or philosophic underpinnings of that class. Even one
provision that lets you get your students discussing in buzzgroups,
while staying on the target you set them, is a welcome change of
pace from lecture, drill, quizzes and busywork without your having
to give these up until you want to.
That same benign, non-threatening, easy and simple "Dynamic
Format"
can also be part of something much more powerful....
"Dynamic Format" can be made the core of a comprehensive
system of
Socratic Method. Throughout history, Socratic Method's use has been
associated with the development of high genius. One reason schools
abandoned Socratic Method, when they went over into the Prussian
system, was the issue of mass production: with the old version of
Socratic Method, you couldn't be Socratic with more than two or
three students at a time without the other forty-five becoming
restless. With our modern understandings, however, "Dynamic
Format"
affords a way for one teacher to comfortably provide intensive
Socratic experience and "air time" to a hundred or more
students at
a time.
Train the students to be Socratic to one another, and EVERY student
will be drawn out, in depth, in detail, at length, on meaningful
issue after issue after issue. Every student will develop his or
her genius and become, in the most meaningful sense, truly
educated.
The ideal mix is something like this:
* One part didactic,
setting ground rules, context, and key
information;
* Two to three parts
Socratic, with every student being drawn out
on the main
understandings of the lesson through their own first-
hand perceptions and
awareness, to and by a meaningful audience,
in length, in depth.
Key lesson-point after key lesson-point, EVERY student becomes
thoughtful, perceptive, articulate, involved, and even begins to
manifest a bit of wisdom. One part didactic, two to three parts
Socratic, lesson after lesson. As to what you want reinforced in
your students, see "Ask Better Questions for More Than Just Better
Answers" (Winsights, No. 63 - http://www.winwenger.com/part63.htm
)
on types of question to ask.
- Win Wenger ( mailto:wwenger101@aol.com )
------------------------------------------------------------------
To send your comments to The Stream for possible publication here,
write to:
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Comments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
LINKS
* Back issues of THE STREAM
by email upon request from
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=BackIssues
* Index of feature articles
in The Stream archives:
http://www.winwenger.com/strmlist.htm
* Archived copies of
Capital Ideasmiths are here:
http://www.winwenger.com/Capitalidea/capidea1.htm
* Project Renaissance
homepage:
http://www.winwenger.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UNSUBSCRIBE: If you do not
wish to continue receiving this
newsletter from Project Renaissance, please send an email to
mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=TheStream-unsubscribe
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QUESTION QUEST - Real-world solutions to real-world problems
You may use any means for deriving either questions or answers —
any of the creative problem-solving techniques described in the
Project Renaissance website, or other techniques you may know, or
even consulting experts in relevant fields.
Question Quest is being coordinated by Project Renaissance as a
public service and as an exploration into practical applications
of creativity. See http://www.winwenger.com/question.htm for a full
list of questions now open to work on. This month's selected
question goes to the heart of all our lives and strivings:
.........................................................
Question No. 7:
As a college student, I face the daunting task of discovering my place
in the world; yet rather than simply ending up somewhere, I want to
determine where I will go.
However, because all I have ever known in
my life is school, I have no idea where my true passions lie. So my
question is, as a young man soon to enter the working world, how can I
discover what I really want to do with my life?
- Jonathan M. Horn [ mailto:jmoneey84@hotmail.com )
..........................................................
Email your questions and recommended solutions to: Question Quest
( mailto:thestream@winwenger.com?subject=Quest ).
Please include a note as to what problem-solving methods, if any,
you used in arriving at your answers. Prizes will be awarded for
the successful solutions upon implementation. Let's make a real
difference in the world. New questions will be posted here and on
the website as they are selected.
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