Mind At Large and the reducing valve

[Stupree]

Mind At Large and the reducing valve

Interesting Vmax. Also worth doing a little reading on Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his work on 'Flow State' as this can offer some understanding of why we may lose focus.

[Terry Davidson]

from the Collins English Dictionary

perceive vb

1. to become aware of (something) through the senses; recognise or observe

2. (tr.; may take a clause as object) to come to comprehend, grasp

more than one meaning for the word Terry, then not entirely unexpected that you wouldn't know that or even bother to look it up in an effort to understand.

And no one's mentioned playing under the influence of mind expanding drugs either; the experiment in question puts a question mark in my mind over whether one can improve one's concentration or whether it naturally differs for the individual and cannot be changed.

So what did you mean then (or what did the author mean, or what do you think the author meant, or what do you PERCEIVE the author meant)?

1. Aware of everything that is happening in the UNIVERSE; or,
2. Comprehend or grasp everything that is happening in the universe.

Gee, yet another dig at my supposed lack of comprehension and without a happy face too.

The Oxford dictionary defines it thus:

1. Apprehend, esp. through the sight, observe.
2. Usually followed by 'that' (which is your case), apprehend with the mind, understand.
3. Regard mentally in a specific manner.

So the statement could more accurately read 'understanding everything that is happening everywhere in the universe'. That is a statement I just cannot agree with. I understand perfectly but I'm not certain you really do - (see I at least conform to your rules and put a happy face up. It appears you don't even have the grace to do that when you post your digs at me).

This is the end of my part in this discussion since you slighting my intelligence is really in poor taste since you don't really know how intelligent (or not) I am. I'll just take my cue and balls and go home, maybe complete my Doctorate degree or something in my spare time.

Terry

[Inoffthered]

There are many on this forum who suffer from this malaise, I am one of them. No matter how hard I try, I cannot through force of will focus on that object ball at all times. Maybe it's a natural thing and there's nothing I can do about it, and let's be honest here, no amount of coaching about technique can make up for this deficit in ones mental make up.

I suffer from the same lack of focus. Just d/l from Amazon to my Kindle. Thank you for this thread Vmax. Thought provoking stuff!

[Inoffthered]

Ghost Busters

Aye lol

[vmax4steve]

2. Comprehend or grasp everything that is happening in the universe.

Yeah that's it Terry, but not everything that is acually going on at all times, but an understanding of how the universe works from the planetary to the quantum.

Gee, yet another dig at my supposed lack of comprehension and without a happy face

Terry

I post a smiley when I'm joking and only when I'm joking.

What is the nature of intelligence ? why are some able to comprehend (perceive) things while others are not ? This book seeks to answer those questions, hence the title The Doors Of Perception.

Maybe you should do what inoffthered has done and actually read the book in question before jumping in to the argument armed only with ignorance and therefore bias.

[Terry Davidson]

vmax:

'Ignorance is bliss', not bias.

I have to comment when I see incomplete understanding of something posted here. There are ways of improving concentration, try google as there might be something there that will help you to improve yours, instead of deciding we all have natural limits and cannot change them. I believe we can and there's plenty of proof around about people overcoming their limitations.

Reading and agreeing with something produced by the rambling thoughts of someone taking mind-altering drugs and then posting that as if it were valid is what I object to. There are many theories out there on the mind and a lot of them are produced without the help of chemicals which I thing would make them more valid than the idea you posted.

Why would I want to waste my time reading something like that? As I said, 'ignorance is bliss' and in this matter I'm quite happy to remain ignorant and just because I disagree with you does not make me biased, but then again anyone who does disagree with you is obviously biased since you are always correct on everything you think and write about.

Terry

[GeordieDS]

Drugs don't help concentration they have the exact opposite effect, I always remember when someone was telling me they had taken Mescaline but couldn't go to the toilet because there was mountain bikes piled up to the ceiling in front of the door

[thunder66]

This reminds me of something funny and sad about my game, besides snooker another hobby of mine is texas holdem, and once I read a holdem book which teaches to explore the fringe area of one's field of view, that is to open and fully extend your arms to both sides, and while looking straight ahead, start to move your hands forward, until you can start to "see" your hands. You'd be surprised by how wide your FOV really is. And on the poker table, one can use this wide FOV to observe each player on the table.
So after I practised to use this, I'm starting to have some advantage on the poker table, but sadly disadvantage on the snooker table (well yeah, both tables are green), since every time I'm concentrating on the object ball, I'd be also seeing everything else around me and outside the table, and easily be distracted by any movement in the FOV... ig:

wish I could have a funnel for my vision... by the way, one guy at my club wears a hat playing all the time, I wonder if he does this for the same reason, too bad you can't do that in tournaments

[Byrom]

Hello is this the OVER THINKING IT thread?

[DandyA]

Don't agree with the statement 'everything and everywhere in the universe' but perhaps that's a side effect of taking mescalin or other supposed 'mind expanding drugs' which would be illegal in snooker anyway. Giving credence to mental ponderings of a person high on mescalin might be counter-productive and the beams may well cross with explosive effect.

Concentration is the tool that's required to narrow the focus of the mind. Very simple.

Terry

as a matter of interest (to me anyway) what is the WPBSA's drug testing policy? we all know they've got one but I can't find any mention of it on their website and neither can Google ...

it must be written down somewhere because it's important - heaven forbid Steve Davis or Stephen Hendry were stripped of all their titles because their "B" samples were re-analysed using modern technology and they were found to be doping - hopefully, that only happens in road cycling

[DandyA]

Hello is this the OVER THINKING IT thread?

no I don't think so, I think vmax has raised a good point which is worthy of discussion although it may be the OVER ANALYSING thread ... I believe there are 3 parts to a good shot - a decent cue action, working out what you want to do whilst standing up and then once your down on the shot, solely concentrating on that shot ...

this third part is I think vmax's "reducing valve" ... it is clearly counter productive to worry about things like "what happens if I miss" or "this is a really hard shot" - 100% focus and commitment is the best way albeit very difficult in many circumstances ...

if reading Aldous Huxley helps vmax or other players then that's fine - but for sure 100% focus on the shot is good and worth discussing

[DandyA]

vmax:

'Ignorance is bliss', not bias.

I have to comment when I see incomplete understanding of something posted here. There are ways of improving concentration, try google as there might be something there that will help you to improve yours, instead of deciding we all have natural limits and cannot change them. I believe we can and there's plenty of proof around about people overcoming their limitations.

Reading and agreeing with something produced by the rambling thoughts of someone taking mind-altering drugs and then posting that as if it were valid is what I object to. There are many theories out there on the mind and a lot of them are produced without the help of chemicals which I thing would make them more valid than the idea you posted.

Why would I want to waste my time reading something like that? As I said, 'ignorance is bliss' and in this matter I'm quite happy to remain ignorant and just because I disagree with you does not make me biased, but then again anyone who does disagree with you is obviously biased since you are always correct on everything you think and write about.

Terry

I understand your sentiment Terry and agree with you ... but just as dogs bark and ducks quack, vmax will always have a personal pop at anyone who disagrees with him so there are only two options - get used to it or ignore him ...

[Terry Davidson]

I understand your sentiment Terry and agree with you ... but just as dogs bark and ducks quack, vmax will always have a personal pop at anyone who disagrees with him so there are only two options - get used to it or ignore him ...

I think ignoring his digs is the way to go

Terry

[golferson123]

For a long time man has yearned to unlock the true potential of the human mind its a commen belief that so much is untapped, but there is the rub, if you do reach this wonderful state why would you want to play snooker?

[vmax4steve]

This is the end of my part in this discussion since you slighting my intelligence is really in poor taste since you don't really know how intelligent (or not) I am. I'll just take my cue and balls and go home, maybe complete my Doctorate degree or something in my spare time.

Terry

I think ignoring his digs is the way to go

Terry

Or you could simply take no further part in the discussion like you said, you obviously have little comprehension of the subject matter and failed to understand my OP completely, which was about theorising on why some can focus when others can't. The fact that Huxley and others have this thought that the Mind At Large is controlled by the reducing valve of the brain and nervous system, and that it came to him during a psychedelic drug experiment is by the by.

For you to question Huxley's intellect just because he took psychedelic drugs is frankly laughable.

The ramblings of a drug addled mind, from 1958, prophetic, insightful and perceptive.

then again you could spend some time teaching this bloke how to point his nose down the line of aim, might need to offer him a heroic dose of magic mushrooms though.