by Frederick Mann and Mark Lindsay, 7/16/99
"The superior man is distressed by his want of ability." -- Confucious
"I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by a conscious endeavor." -- Henry David Thoreau
I (Frederick Mann) have just upgraded from Eudora (an email program) 3.0 to 4.1 http://www.eudora.com/ The latest version provides significant improvements over the former. It automatically handles multiple e-mail addresses. One click retrieves e-mail for all of my addresses. While mail is being downloaded I can continue reading, writing, and sending messages. Downloading and filtering is considerably faster. Eudora 4.1 also includes other improvements.
There's no limit to the improvements that can be made through upgrading computer hardware and software.
"All human beings, all persons who reach adulthood in the world today are programmed biocomputers. None of us can escape our own nature as programmable entities. Literally, each of us may be our programs, nothing more, nothing less." -- John C. Lilly
In similar ways to Eudora, we can upgrade our personal lives. To some extent we can upgrade our personal hardware through better diet, supplements, and exercise. We can remove old software (unlearning) and replace it with new, better software. We can add new software where there was nothing before. There's no limit to the extent to which we can upgrade our personal software.
"In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true is true or becomes true, within certain limits to be found experientially and experimentally. These limits are further beliefs to be transcended. In the mind, there are no limits." -- John C. Lilly, Programming and Metaprogramming in the Human Biocomputer.
Most people suffer extensive downgrading during compulsory "education." As a result of reading Robert Kiyosaki's If You Want to be Rich and Happy, Don't Go to School?, I recently discovered that this downgrading is in many cases much more severe than I had previously realized. Reading Kiyosaki can result in recovery from the damage done during compulsory "schooling," resulting in a major personal software upgrade.
Another book that may help some of us recover from compulsory "education" is Dumbing Us Down by John Taylor Gatto. (Kiyosaki's book is more powerful than Gatto's. Kiyosaki identifies crucial "dumbing-down factors" missed by Gatto.) Reading Gatto's book inspired me (Mark Lindsay) to identify and fix any downgrading I've incurred as a result of compulsory "education." (However, Gatto's book doesn't really provide anything in the way of an upgrade, with the exception of helping to identify what needs to be fixed or upgraded.)
So far my upgrade quest in this area has consisted of self-observation and keeping my "information radar" attuned to any information that will help in this respect. (For example, I just purchased the Kiyosaki book recommended above.)
I've come across an additional "dumbing-down factor" while reading some of Joel Spring's A Primer of Libertartian Education. Spring mentions Ivan Illich's observation (in the book Deschooling Society) that in compulsory schooling, children are taught to rely on the judgment of experts and to distrust their own judgment. In The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power, Joel Kramer and Diana Alstad identify self-mistrust as a major human problem. They state: "Once self-trust is lost, looking to an external authority is inevitable."
One of the things we're hoping to achieve is to discover additional "dumbing-down factors" and ways to repair any damage resulting from them.
Despite having graduated from high school (or maybe because of it!) some people are largely "innumerate" or "arithmetically challenged." For example, they may have little ability to use numbers to assess relative probabilities and risks. A good book for upgrading personal software in this respect is Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences by John Allen Paulos.
The single most powerful book I (Frederick Mann) know of for upgrading your life is The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Fritz with the basic theme that you can become the predominant creative force in your life and organize your life and affairs so that the path of least resistance automatically leads to the accomplishment of your goals. Fritz essentially provides a wide-ranging metaprogram for upgrading your life in general.
Another exceptionally powerful book, containing several vital metaprograms for upgrading your personal software, is Dr. Michael Hewitt-Gleeson's Software for the Brain. One of Hewitt-Gleeson's software formulas is "CVS to BVS" -- for every Current View of the Situation there's always a Better View of the Situation that enables you to deal with it more effectively and efficiently. Hewitt-Gleeson's other metaprograms are even more powerful.
Much of our lives revolve around money. Most of us learned very little from our parents and teachers about basic money skills. As a result many of us have problems with money. About 90% of new businesses fail within a year. Of those that survive the first year, about 90% fail during the following four years. The main reason for these problems and failures is that most people lack certain basic money skills; they're more or less financially illiterate. The best book I know of for upgrading your life in this respect is Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
In the past, I've made some very expensive mistakes because I lacked certain basic money skills.
One of Kiyosaki's basic money skills is realizing the difference between an asset and a liability. In "standard" accounting, if you buy a house, you consider it an asset. However, from a cash-flow perspective, if you have to make mortgage and property tax payments, while the house produces no income (i.e., it causes a negative cash flow), the house is a liability. Anything that produces income is an asset; anything that incurs expenses is a liability. Kiyosaki provides a number of basic money skills most of us can learn to dramatically upgrade our financial lives, as explained in Basic Money Skills.
Another book that had a profound influence on my life -- a series of major reprogramming upgrades over the years -- is Harry Browne's How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.
One way to look at freedom is that it represents the range of desirable options you have available to you. If you can do the things you like and enjoy -- the things that make you happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise -- and nobody interferes with your enjoyment of your life, then you're pretty free! One of the purposes of upgrading your life is to enjoy more freedom -- however you may care to define it.
Probably the single most important upgrade I made was in the area of health. (Though it was improved thinking skills that enabled me to process the information that enabled me to make the upgrade.) For my story, click here. See also: Health Freedom & Life Extention.
Here are some additional resources for upgrading your life:
(See also: Upgrade Your Life.)
I (Frederick Mann) have just started learning and applying the "Sedona Method," a generic technique for releasing limitations and negative thoughts, feelings, and emotions. So far it seems that this is a phenomenally powerful and effective method for upgrading your life in general.
We're very interested in what others have done to upgrade their lives. Which books have resulted in significant upgrades? Can you recommend any websites with information or procedures that can be applied to bring about major personal life upgrades?
We've created the Upgrade Your Life Discussion List for everyone interested in upgrading their lives and cooperating with others involved in this quest.
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