The
MIND of WISDOM by Destin
Introduction
Welcome
to this special article by Destin. Taken from his
intelligence enhancing program titled: 'The Mind of
Wisdom'. Destin has been kind enough to allow us to
include this extract on DawningTruth.com.
When
you have finished reading this amazing article
please tell Destin what you thought of it by sending an email
to wisdom@dawningtruth.com.
PS:
Please remember to thank him for making this
information available to the general public.
Decisions
Wisdom
is famous for many things,…Particularly the
good judgment it gives its possessor. People of
Wisdom have accomplished amazing things using their good
judgment. They have been victorious in wars, freed millions from
oppression, acquired indescribable wealth, built great cities
and even changed the very Destiny of Mankind,… But what
is this Good Judgment that Wisdom brings and how does one obtain it
?
Hi,
my name is Destin. Today we're going explore Good judgment. We are further going to explore how a
person might develop good judgment should they wish
to do so.
In
this world there are many people who are wise, but few
who are prudent. Prudence can simply be described as
Wisdom in action, or Applied-Wisdom.
It is said that Wisdom is knowing what to do,
but Prudence is
actually doing it.
To
begin let us explore the first foundation of Prudence;
How to make a fruitful and beneficial decision. Now I
know that many of you are already skilled at making
decisions. In fact some of you might even make
decisions for a living. And in a few cases, I sure
that a few of you even make decisions that affect the
destiny of literally thousands or even millions of
people.
Now
what we are about to explore is not meant to change
the way you make decisions, but rather to offer an
alternative perspective on effective decision making.
A perspective which I hope will enable you to perhaps
explore your current decision making process and to
perhaps refine and enhance it to some degree.
If
we explore the lives of the Great we sometimes find
the most astonishing things. We find things such as
prudent person making a decision which 2000 years
later is still setting the course of history. In other
cases we find a person setting an entire nation free
from oppressive rule and in another case we find a man
becoming so wealthy that his annual personal income
was equivalent to 120 tons of Solid Gold !
Now
the question is, how do these type of people make
decisions ? What do they do that allows them to make
decisions that thousands of years later are still
producing good results ? Why do these people
become so successful, while the majority of mankind
remain average ? What is the key difference between
these people and ourselves ?
Let's
begin answering these questions by exploring the
teachings of one of these people . I
have almost no doubt that you have heard of the
person, I'm about to mention. In fact he may be the
most famous person in the history of mankind. He
founded one of the largest religions in the world. And
almost 2000 years after his arrival on this planet his
philosophies are still adhered to by at least a
billion people. Who is he ?
If
you guessed Jesus Christ. You were right. Jesus Christ
is perhaps one of the best examples of a leader this
planet has ever known. And quite possibly one of the
Greatest mentors of all time.
Now
many people have various beliefs about Jesus Christ.
And much debate is still waged about some of the
things he said, but these types of debates are outside
the scope of this present discussion.
Instead let's
for a moment consider the decision strategies, that
allowed him to become so famous, and so well known,
that allowed him to found the Christian Faith. And
that have allowed it to thrive for almost 2000 years.
Jesus
said that before a man build's a house, he must count
the cost. Otherwise he might begin construction, and halfway
find that he can't complete the building.
Let's
think about this for a moment. Imagine you
decided to build yourself a luxury home and saved up
$500 000 for this purpose,.. Now imagine that you went
and built this house, and halfway you discovered that
it was actually going to cost you a million dollars to
complete it.
How
would you feel ? I know I would feel a little foolish
and embarrassed. I'd also feel very unhappy about the
fact that now I have this unfinished house and no
money left to complete it. I don't know what would be
worse a half finished house or spending all of my
money on something that I can't use.
The
great lesson Jesus was teaching with this story was
that one must
count the cost
before one takes any action.
It is better to do nothing than to move hastily
without the key facts required to choose the right
path. The old saying, ' Look before you Leap '
expresses this point well. The logic being that
once you are in the air it's too late to think about
where you are going to land.
The
second teaching we discover in Jesus' sayings is that one must
value long-term gains over short-term gains. Jesus
emphasized this repeatedly in his stories and advice
about the meaning and true purpose of life. He
constantly spoke about how important the final outcome
of our lives and actions really are. Jesus truly was a
master of priorities and someone who demonstrated the
effectiveness of his philosophy by his own life.
Another
wise person who can teach us many important things
about prudent decisions is Solomon. By modern
standards, Solomon would probably be considered the
most successful person alive ! He earned an annual net
income equivalent to 120 tons of Gold (approximately $
1.2 Billion per year). Remember this is income
(spending money) not assets.
Wow, how many people do you know who
earn that kind of money ? Oh and I assumed a Gold
price of $ 300 per ounce, which probably understates
his true income quite considerably considering that
Gold was far more precious during his time than it is
today.
But
get this, he also built a temple worth over $500
Billion. So that means he built a temple worth
approximately 5 times Bill Gates net financial worth.
Wow! That is just incredible!
It is said that when the
queen of Sheba saw his palace and all that he had
build, she was so amazed that she had no more breath
in her. And
remember at that time she was queen of one of the
greatest kingdoms on Earth. Imagine someone like a US
president having their breath taken away by your home.
Also
remember that not only was Solomon perhaps the richest
man of all time, but he also was also considered to be
the wisest man of his day. It is said that people
traveled from all parts of the world (The travel would
have taken months and even years in some cases) just
to hear him speak. Obviously the man had something
very profound to say.
Now
that we have established his credentials, let's
explore what Solomon had to say, about how to go about
making decisions. It is said that Solomon was perhaps
the wisest person of all time and that his wisdom will
never again be equaled. In his book titled, 'Proverbs'
he says the following:
There
is a way that seems right to a man,
but the end of it
leads to Death
Solomon
What
he was trying to get at with this saying was that we
need to realize that it doesn't mean that because a
course of action seems appropriate that it is. In
this particular case he was referring to the merits of
choosing the path of good over the path of ill-gotten
gain. He was saying that though the path of ill-gotten
gain may appear right, it ultimately leads to the
Death of those pursuing it.
The
key lesson we can learn from this phrase is that one
must consider the end result of one's actions. We
can learn that before we do things we need to ask
questions like, what will be the consequences of doing
this ? What will the knock-on effects of this action
be ? We need to consider where an action will take us
before we carry it out.
This
point can be further explored when we consider our
options before we make a decision. The general rule of
choosing options is to
choose alternatives
which are fruitful. Normally when we make
decisions we explore our alternatives and choose ones
that seem right for the current situation. We don't
always remember to consider where those options will
take us in the long-term. We also don't always
remember to ask ourselves what the consequences of
choosing those options will be.
Fortunately
a very wise person by the name of Dr Norman Coulter
has provided us with a very effective way of making
good decisions. It goes like this:
C
- Consider
E
- Evaluate
D
- Decide
A
- Act
Or
CEDA for short.
The
basic rule of using CEDA is that for every decision
you make, You first consider what your options are.
You then evaluate each option to understand what its
strengths and weaknesses are. Next you choose the
option that that is the most beneficial and finally
you act on your chosen option.
Let's
say you have to decide whether or not to go on
vacation this year, then you will first of all imagine your
various alternatives, so you could stay at home,
convert your vacation time to extra cash, visit the folks, or
go on a nice luxury vacation to the South of France..
You
would then evaluate each of these alternatives. So if
you went to the South of France, the strengths are
that it will relax you because you need a vacation,
your family will love you for taking them on vacation
and you will be able to have a some fun for a change.
The
opportunities are that you will be able to explore
Europe and make some new business contacts, the
weaknesses are that it will cost you $20 000 including
accommodation and you really don't have the cash right
now. This will mean that you will have to go into debt to
finance the vacation. Which we all know is usually a
bad idea.
Now
the
threats are that if you go into debt and something
unforeseen happens then you might not be able to repay
the debt.
The
vacation will meet your values, by allowing you to have
some fun and excitement for a change and it will meet your objectives by providing a much needed
break.
Next
you would begin to use your imagination to make sense
of the whole situation. The imagination is a very
powerful thinking tool and can be used to enable us to
use our minds more effectively. If we imagine that we
have say a computer screen in front of us. We can
maybe see the screen and its on and off button as
well.
On
the screen we can maybe see a computer window which is
similar to the normal windows we are used to seeing on
our PC's. We could also imagine using our imaginary
mouse to make this window bigger or smaller like we do
on our PC. We could maybe also move the window around
the screen.
Now
let's call this window option 1. We could perhaps open
windows for other options as well. If you don't like
the name option 1, you could call the window say,
Vacation in France. Similarly you could rename all of
the other options. Remember this is your mind and it
will operate the way you want it to. Your mind is
infinitely more flexible than any computer.
Next
let's look inside your option 1 or Vacation in France
window. Maybe you could divide this window down the
middle into two sections . The left section could be
called strengths and the right weaknesses. You could
then put little pictures or even words which describe
each strength and weakness, in the appropriate section.
So
on the left you could have nice vacation & family
will love it. On the right you could put expensive
& debt. Take a moment to add a few more strengths
and weaknesses for yourself.
Now
the next step will allow you to move a little further
than what your normal PC can do. What you will imagine
doing is actually being able to touch the screen and
pick up each of the strengths and weaknesses. Imagine
how would that strength feel. Is it rough or smooth,
How does it look if you turn it around. Does it make
any sounds. Is it a movie or is it a still photograph.
Take a moment to explore each one of your strengths
and weaknesses...
By
now you will probably feel that you have a much better
understanding of the problem. Now what you do is to
give the strengths a rating out of 10. This rating
should be based on how beneficial having these strengths
would be. If they are very beneficial then
give them a 9. If they are not that beneficial, then
give them a 3. Do the same for the weakness rating
them in terms of how costly they are. Very costly
equals a 9, and not so costly equals a 3.
Good.
You are almost there. Remember like any new skill,
this takes a little practice. At first you feel a
little uncomfortable and even a little confused as to
what to do. But in time the method becomes easier and
you find yourself using it without even realizing it.
 The
next step is quite fun. Imagine an old fashioned scale
in your window. One of those old
counterbalance scales (Picture Left), where you put weights on the
one side to determine the weight of whatever is on the
other side.
On the left you put in all of your strengths. And on the right you put in all of your
weaknesses. Obviously the side which is the heaviest
will tip lower than the side which is the lightest. So
if the strengths are 7 and the weaknesses are 3 then
the scale will tip left by 4 (i.e. 7-3 = 4). In a
similar way you can calculate the values of your other
options.
When
you have done this, all you do is to picture all of
the scales on the screen in front of you. You choose
the alternative that tips the most in a positive
direction. You could even have the scale that tips the
most ring a bell or flash etc... Use your imagination,
you mind has an unlimited capacity for originality.
Obviously
if there is no clear winner then your options are
pretty much equal. In that situation, any alternative
will be ok. If all the options tip towards the
weaknesses, then you need to either find some new
options or choose the least negative option. Another
trick which is used by Richard Branson is to Minimize the downside. Explore the weaknesses and figure out
how to change or remove them.
Then
Act on your decision. A decision without action is
like a car without fuel, it goes nowhere.
In
summary the basic method for making a beneficial and
fruitful decision is:
Consider
-
Ask yourself what options you have available to you
Evaluate
-
Picture each option in its own window and weigh up the
strengths and
weaknesses on your imaginary scale
-
See which option tips the most towards the strengths.
This will be the
best alternative.
Decide
-
Choose the best alternative
Act
-
Put the best alternative into action
It
might be worth a mention to always check your
intuition or gut feel before you make your final
choice. Your gut feel is often linked to your
unconscious mind, which usually has access to much
more information than you conscious mind. The simple
way you can do this is to look at all of your options
in front of you and to simply ask yourself:
Which
option do I feel most comfortable with ?
Nine
times out of ten that will probably be the best course
of action to take.
Now
if you think about all of the things that you have
read in this article and if you begin for just a
moment to imagine how you are going to use this
information. Maybe you have an important decision to
make. What are your options ? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each option ? Which option tips most
towards the strengths ? Which option do you feel most comfortable
with pursuing ?
And
as you think about these things and maybe even another
decision and what the answers to these questions would
be for that decision. And maybe even a third decision
for just a moment before you think about your future
and how you could use this new found knowledge to
enhance and improve your life. How your life could be
just a little better and how your dreams can come just
a little closer.
Sooner
or later you might even find yourself looking back on
your past, maybe from a point say 5 years from today.
Perhaps you might be looking back and noticing how you
used the wisdom you learnt back then and how
wonderfully your life changed. Maybe you can even feel
the feeling of delight in yourself over your progress
and maybe you even tell yourself that it was worth the
time and the energy to master because the reward was
so great as you see what you are seeing, hear what you
are hearing and feel the wonderful feeling that your
achievements give you.
And
as you for just a moment find yourself in this moment
in time. Find yourself here today, looking into your
future and realizing the wonderful things ahead of you
as you apply the wisdom that you have acquired today.
Perhaps even thinking a few thoughts about the benefits
that this type of wisdom brought people such
as Jesus Christ and Solomon. People such as Richard
Branson and Ghandi. Then you will realize that you can
feel very exited about the future ahead, because it is
an amazing future filled with your Greatness. The
greatness of the Great decisions you are about to
make.
In
Everything Truth, Faith & Love
Destin
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Would
you like to know more ?
If
you are curious about enhancing your intellect and
dramatically increasing your wisdom. Or if you would
like to know more about the principles contained in
'The Mind of Wisdom'. Then please send an email to wisdom@dawningtruth.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The pictures
used on the page where obtained from the following
sources:
Microsoft
Word 2000 Clipart
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back
to Articles
|
