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Lesson 14 Exercises for the Intellectual Center

For the intellectual center we will proceed directly to the practices:

Exercise Series 10: Motor Part of the Intellectual Center A) Put an object in front of you and carefully observe all its details, trying to remember it perfectly. Now close your eyes and recall the image as faithfully as possible. Next, open your eyes and compare the image you remembered with the actual perception of the object before you. Correct any mistakes, close your eyes and again try to remember the object exactly. Notice whether the image is sharp and bright, and whether it remains steady or appears and disappears. Finally, note whether you always see the correct image or whether other images appear instead of the proposed image. Repeat this exercise several times and take notes on any defects in how you form the image. If you do not see any visual images, remember this is due to a lack of experience and practice. In extreme cases, a traumatic event may block all images. Such “image blindness” may be corrected by sustained practice of this exercise. If you remember your dreams, you will no doubt recall the visual images that appear in them, and therefore you are actually in a condition to begin to work more with images. We emphasize again that you correct defects through repeated practice. Mastering this exercise is especially important to overcome the internal sensation of a “lack of connection with the world” that often accompanies a lack of visual images. B) Place two objects in front of you and work with them as you did in the previous exercise. When you see them as images, “erase” one and leave only the second one in your imagination. Next, reverse this and erase only the first one; then erase both images and briefly remain with an “empty mind.” Next, imagine both objects again and introduce variations. Take notes on what happens.

Exercise Series 11: Emotional Part of the Intellectual Center We are now going to test your interest or “intellectual adhesion.” Some people find great difficulty becoming interested in intellectual themes at all, whereas other cannot “unstick” from them, and finally, some people are “obsessed” with certain themes. A) For this exercise, take a book and read silently, trying to understand as much as you can. Next, keep reading, but without grasping the meaning of the words at all, as though you were simply running your eyes over the lines. Repeat this with the help of another participant who periodically claps his hands. At the first clap, connect with and understand the meaning of what you are reading; at the next clap disconnect from the meaning, and so on. Repeat this and take notes. B) Now, do the following exercise of “intellectual contradiction.” Have two people sit on either side of you with books on completely different subjects. Have them read out loud to you simultaneously from each side. Try to understand the book you are least interested in, and disconnect from the most interesting one. Then, reverse and connect with the most interesting one, disconnecting from the one of least interest. Repeat this. A third person can also clap now and then to indicate when to switch attention from one book to the other. Repeat this several times and take notes. C) Proceed as in Exercise B with two people reading to you at the same time. But this time try to understand both texts simultaneously. After a period of simultaneous reading, repeat everything you remember from both texts. Notice that your attention tends to direct itself mechanically to the text you are most interested in. Practice until you achieve some degree of simultaneous attention to both books, or at least a certain alternation of attention that will later permit you to reconstruct both texts without one predominating over the other. Repeat this several times and take notes.

Exercise Series 12: Intellectual Part of the Intellectual Center Now we will begin to work with the part of the intellectual center in charge of intellectual abstractions and logical mechanisms. The best way to do this is to try to solve apparently insoluble problems or paradoxes. This allows one to observe the order and judgment in one’s reasoning. A) Consider this classic paradox: “An arrow is shot into the air. At a given instant, either the moving arrow is where it is, or it is where it is not. The latter is impossible; therefore the arrow is where it is. Therefore, the arrow does not move.” Each person should comment aloud to all the other participants their reasoning on this point. Do not worry too much about the solution; rather, focus on the order and precision of judgment and reasoning. Take notes. B) Consider this paradox of modern logic. On one side of a card a statement says, “The statement on the other side of this card is true.” On the other side of the card it says, “The statement on the other side of this card is false.” Consider the following questions and answer them. Can both statements be true? Can both statements be false? Is one false and the other true? Is the whole paradox false? Is the whole paradox true? Again, the solution is not important, but each person should speak out loud about this. Observe the order and precision of everyone’s reasoning and judgment. Take notes. IMPORTANT: In this lesson there are three Exercise Series. It is most important to perfect your system of images, so if you encountered any difficulties working with images, make a real effort to overcome them by repeating the exercises in Exercise Series 10.