A Primer on The Sapientific Method

ACQUIRING A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE Ф Much of the detailed explanations for this work have already been expressed in the prior three volumes of The Equilibrium Texts. In order to keep this volume tailored down to a workable level for a broader set of readers, a glossary and two appendices have been added at the end of the book. These additions should be addressed in no way less than the principal contents to follow. Minimally, the three e-books should be acquired as a sound reference basis. Ф It is the intention of this work to cause all of you that study it, to come away with an entirely different understanding regarding your self and the society that strives to contain and indenture you. Societies, as they evolve, become either a blessing or a bane to those fortunate enough, or unfortunate enough, to reside within their boundaries. The objective, of course, is to find – or develop – a society that’s willing to achieve balance and equilibrium between its self and the selves that comprise its constituents. You could say that it is like walking a tightrope, and for that you need balance and equilibrium. Most, if not all modern societies, knowingly or not, have reduced individual selves to empty vessels of confused automatons that are filled with mostly those things that enhance and benefit society itself. This situation causes each individual self to acquire an alter-ego which essentially is a form of schizophrenia. One self wears a mask, or multiple masks, that are acceptable to the surreal outer world. And the other self – the real self – wears no mask when alone in his or her real inner world. The outer world, when amongst others, is where the mask of compliance is worn. Conscience – where the self’s actions and thoughts are measured against the values established by society – is developed within each self through educational conditioning, starting with parents and so on all the way through adulthood. Compliance is where compromise and giving up on one’s own standards and ideals – should one have any – is offered up as sacrifice to fend off retribution. Those having no such personal bench marks as ideals and standards or points of reference, usually fit well in society and feel as if ♪“They’ve got the world on a string, sitting on a rainbow, got the string around their finger, what a world, what a life, they’re in love”♫. Some others spend time trying to develop worldly thoughts and ideas of their own. These poor souls feel empty when alone because nothing of and for their selves has been collected and retained inside – only the thoughts and ideas meaningful to others (society) reside there. Thoughts coming from others are like an insidious viral contagion within that serves to sabotage through subterfuge every effort the self attempts to make in its own behalf. The Sapientific Method is designed to enable an individual, so deprived, to begin and rebuild the self from within. But first, materials have to be acquired with which to build a new self and the contents of the first three volumes of The Equilibrium Texts are intended to do just that through the development and use of your own personal journal. This fourth volume, on The Sapientific Method, is the instruction manual that assists your pulling the journal material together so as to be able to see the world through different eyes and establish a different context. Ф DISCLAIMER: Within the contents of this work, the general tenor is one that appears to be critical of, and down on, society – that is not my intention. Society has established numerous-wonderful merits of its own, many are well deserved, but that does not relieve it of responsibility for the abuse and neglect that it has also imposed upon individual selves under its guidance and care. Many things perpetrated upon the self have been done without the self being fully aware of the extent of the abuse. That awareness has been deadened by the mental conditioning imposed upon the self, from the moment of its birth on into the present, when no actual standard of reference was available to the inquiring mind. Therefore, little mention will be made hereafter regarding society’s laudatory and positive assets and stated intentions. Just let them be assumed and duly noted. Ф I’ve worked on the concepts found in these Equilibrium Texts for over one-half century. No, that’s not quite right! I’ve worked on them all my life; even when I didn’t know that I was doing just that. In other words, I was dismantling and dissecting my very own life bit-by-bit, thought-by-thought and experience-by-experience, somewhat like developing a customized-self imposed Rorschach test. Therefore, The Equilibrium Texts – based upon my journals – is my metaphysical existence documented and explained in such a way that is many times more complex than need be (keeping in mind that metaphysical, in this context, simply means one’s senses and the inner reactions or responses that derive there from). Each subsequent volume became less complex than the former. Now I seem to be able to explain it in just a few words but, I fear, others still require the full array of being bombarded with words, words and more words until a glimmer of knowing becomes evident; or not. So, I asked myself, “Why do they have need of that?” The answer, I’m afraid, is far too simple. People just don’t want to alter their lives based upon a simple observation and a logical-commonsense conclusion. After all, they think of themselves as being much more complex and sophisticated than having their lives summed up in a few straight forward phrases. And that, my friends, is the crux of the whole sad tale of human kind. They just think they’re way too big for their britches. As of late, I’ve come to the conclusion that a modified shock treatment is in order to get people’s attention and it requires a technique based upon a simple southern-rural anecdote: “In order to get a mule’s attention, you’ve got to hit it upside the head twice with a two-by-four; the first time is to get its attention, and the second time is to keep it there.”