Mind test
So you want to delve into nonlinear systems? Understand what is actually going on in the world?
Here is a test to prepare the mind for such a challenge. Whoever passes through without any qualms has a good chance of not being distraught by life's complexity.
Test number 1
Stand in front of a solid wall. Now try to go through it. If you don't succeed, repeat words like, "I am going through" (perhaps repeat several times), employ whatever comes to your mind (imposing gestures, an authoritative voice, reading from a very highly regarded book of spells). The longer you attempt to use some prescribed means before you give up, the worse your marks.
Test number 2
Put ten one dollar coins (or any equivalent) into your pocket. Take out five of them. Does it work? Good. Now put them back again and try taking out twelve. Can you do it? Try this: you really really want those twelve dollars, see if it works now. Less marks the more time you spend doing this.
Test number 3
Take a bar of soap, place it under the tap and allow a small stream of water to hit its surface. Observe the hollow that is being created by the water dissolving the soap. Pretend you hate such hollows. Has the water become less effective? Scream at the water (how evil it is, and such) and again observe the dissolving effect - has it become less? Or more so?? Try to imbue a warm inner glow upon that hollow - does it appear faster, is it deeper? Lesson learnt...
Test number 4
Perhaps the hardest. Hit your finger with a hammer, just enough to cause some pain. Now write a few short sentences about that event, mentioning the hammer and the pain. Afterwards read through the text with all the emotional attachment you can muster (after all, it had been your finger), and compare the experience with the real thing. Lesson learnt...
Test number 5
Place a bucket of water under the tap and begin filling it, but not too quickly - the idea being to close the tap before the bucket runs over. Then stand in front of a mirror and attempt to part your hair in a perfectly straight line. Keep doing it because there are always one or two hairs still out of place. In the meantime the bucket of water is filling up and it's high time the tap is turned off but instead, keep being obsessed with your hair (because it is so important) and focus on it more and more. The more you become obsessed the less likely the water will be turned off in time; or is it the other way around? Lesson learnt:...
Test number 6
Take some object, identify its features, then give it a name. Now change the name to something entirely negative - has the object changed? Try again with something positive, then something entirely disgusting, or truly awe-inspiring... and so on. Has the object changed, do you think it has?
Test number 7
This time two persons are required. Take something you definitely know, for example a big tree on a certain spot. Now have that other person tell you (preferably with an earnest and straight face) that there is no tree. Let that person repeat the denial many times and observe yourself - are you simply annoyed, or getting hot under the collar, or flying into a rage? Perhaps you start questioning whether there really is a tree?
End of tests. Should you have made it without any problems, good! But know that the majority of people on the planet would have failed. If this weren't so, there would be no poverty, no war, and no religion.
© Martin Wurzinger - see Terms of Use