The Treatment of Phimotic Mindedness A collection of exercises which promote creative thinking/feeling Continued from Diary of an Initiation. It often takes a long time for anyone and everyone to discover things, and this happens often with lots of people in lots of different walks of life, even when there is adequate available information. I myself felt amazed that I hadn`t discovered my curious condition earlier - I felt like a joke figure. I was frequently asked: "Why did it take you so long to discover?" I was stumped, it was so obvious to me, yet so hard to explain in words : now I can explain it : the subconscious impression of pain before puberty, the conscious but repressed experience at puberty, confirmed by every experience in adolescent and adult life ... people avoid pain ... people develop habits. If I may digress - It wasn`t long after making my discovery that I was re-confronted with the rather larger human problem of closed mindedness .... the mind runs in habits like rabbit runs ..... phimotic mindedness - What could we have discovered if we`d have been looking in the right places? Ok we`ve understood basic psychology and now we`ve got computers, I mean I dont want to appear cynical, but who knows what history will write? .... What leads to peace of mind? - I wish the modern world had tried to answer this question. At an early age I discovered the enjoyment, peace and fulfillment of simply doing nothing except being aware of my breathing and body. I often wonder if this might have been stimulated by the prenatal classes which my mother attended. She learnt her breathing and relaxation exercises while I was in her womb. I dont mind if you dont understand what I write here, but I dont want to sound arrogant - its a habit, I believe a lucky habit, which I learnt quite young. Essentially I enjoy "this" pulsating warm energy bundle. The basis is simply being aware of the breathing and body and this can lead off in various ways. On breathing: ("some breath hot while others breathe cold" Tao-te-ching) sense the cooler in-breath, the warmer out-breath. Try flaring the nostrils on the in-breath. It opens the cheeks, your eyes, your senses, stimulates happiness (honest, try it). Consider how modern man has lost the feeling for flaring the nostrils, it really is an all cure, even helps prevent the common cold. Listening into the distance is another very relaxing experience. Do it in quiet surroundings, e.g. at night, listen to cars passing into the distance. ... I suppose its like a stretching exercise for the ears. Its not all so deep and mystical, its just something I feel I do naturally, once the TVs off ... and I`m sitting round just before getting bored ... :-) I recently discovered the chi-gong exercise of looking over the left shoulder, through the corner of the left eye, (then repeating this to the right). To look as far and focussed as possible, one must open the corner of the eye - this in turn opens the temples and in turn stimulates open-mindedness ... (gently turn the head naturally while doing the exercise). Use your common sense as with all experiments. Connected with this, and I believe excellent for tired computer eyes: Focus on a point, but then, be conscious of what you see with your peripheral vision. - It must all be connected with the so called "fixed staring" in Zen - on the bus its easy and natural to do, just fix somewhere upfront (on the roof so nothing blocks your view,) and then just be aware of the things passing by the windows on both sides and stimulate your peripheral vision. Ask "Who breathes?" or "Who hears ?" or "What is this?" as a better way of phrasing the linguistic conundrum "Why am I?" And, not to forget, ... to break taboos, (and quite generally with problems which appear unsoluble) - try thinking of questions which seem illogical, irrational or apparently impossible.