* * *
POCKET BOOKS, a Simon & Schuster division of
GULF & WESTERN CORPORATION
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
Copyright © 1960 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Published by arrangement with Prentice-Hall, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632
ISBN: 0-671-80628-9
First Pocket Books printing May, 1969
33rd printing
Trademarks registered in the United States and other countries.
Printed in the U.S.A.
POCKET BOOKS, a Simon & Schuster division of
GULF & WESTERN CORPORATION
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020
Copyright © 1960 by Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Published by arrangement with Prentice-Hall, Inc.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce
this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Prentice-Hall, Inc.,
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632
ISBN: 0-671-80628-9
First Pocket Books printing May, 1969
33rd printing
Trademarks registered in the United States and other countries.
Printed in the U.S.A.
* * *
PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
Your Key to a Better Life
* * *
When you set out to do creative work—whether in the
field of selling, managing a business, writing a sonnet, improving
human relations, or whatever, you begin with a
goal in mind, an end to be achieved, a "target" answer,
which, although perhaps somewhat vague, will be "recog26
PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
nized" when achieved. If you really mean business, have
an intense desire, and begin to think intensely about all
angles of the problem—your creative mechanism goes to
work—and the "scanner" we spoke of earlier begins to
scan back through stored information, or "grope" its way
to an answer. It selects an idea here, a fact there, a series
of former experiences, and relates them—or "ties them together"
into a meaningful whole which will "fill out" the
incompleted portion of your situation, complete your
equation, or "solve" your problem. When this solution is
served up to your consciousness—often at an unguarded
moment when you are thinking of something else—or perhaps
even as a dream while your consciousness is asleep
—something "clicks" and you at once "recognize" this as
the answer you have been searching for.
In this process, does your creative mechanism also have
access to stored information in a universal mind?
field of selling, managing a business, writing a sonnet, improving
human relations, or whatever, you begin with a
goal in mind, an end to be achieved, a "target" answer,
which, although perhaps somewhat vague, will be "recog26
PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
nized" when achieved. If you really mean business, have
an intense desire, and begin to think intensely about all
angles of the problem—your creative mechanism goes to
work—and the "scanner" we spoke of earlier begins to
scan back through stored information, or "grope" its way
to an answer. It selects an idea here, a fact there, a series
of former experiences, and relates them—or "ties them together"
into a meaningful whole which will "fill out" the
incompleted portion of your situation, complete your
equation, or "solve" your problem. When this solution is
served up to your consciousness—often at an unguarded
moment when you are thinking of something else—or perhaps
even as a dream while your consciousness is asleep
—something "clicks" and you at once "recognize" this as
the answer you have been searching for.
In this process, does your creative mechanism also have
access to stored information in a universal mind?
Numerous
experiences of creative workers would seem to indicate
that it does. How else, for example, explain the experience
of Louis Agassiz, told by his wife:
"He had been striving to decipher the somewhat obscure
impression of a fossil fish on the stone slab in which it was
preserved. Weary and perplexed, he put his work aside at
last and tried to dismiss it from his mind. Shortly after, he
waked one night persuaded that while asleep he had seen
his fish with all the missing features perfectly restored.
"He went early to the Jardin des Plantes, thinking that
on looking anew at the impression he would see something
to put him on the track of his vision. In vain—the blurred
record was as blank as ever. The next night he saw the
fish again, but when he waked it disappeared from his
memory as before. Hoping the same experience might be
repeated, on the third night he placed a pencil and paper
beside his bed before going to sleep.
"Towards morning the fish reappeared in his dream,
confusedly at first, but at last with such distinctness that
he no longer had any doubt as to its zoological characters.
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 27
Still half dreaming, in perfect darkness, he traced these
characters on the sheet of paper at the bedside.
"In the morning he was surprised to see in his nocturnal
sketch features which he thought it impossible the fossil
itself would reveal. He hastened to the Jardin des Plantes
and, with his drawing as a guide, succeeded in chiseling
away the surface of the stone under which portions of the
fish proved to be hidden. When wholly exposed, the fossil
corresponded with his dream and his drawing, and he succeeded
in classifying it with ease."
experiences of creative workers would seem to indicate
that it does. How else, for example, explain the experience
of Louis Agassiz, told by his wife:
"He had been striving to decipher the somewhat obscure
impression of a fossil fish on the stone slab in which it was
preserved. Weary and perplexed, he put his work aside at
last and tried to dismiss it from his mind. Shortly after, he
waked one night persuaded that while asleep he had seen
his fish with all the missing features perfectly restored.
"He went early to the Jardin des Plantes, thinking that
on looking anew at the impression he would see something
to put him on the track of his vision. In vain—the blurred
record was as blank as ever. The next night he saw the
fish again, but when he waked it disappeared from his
memory as before. Hoping the same experience might be
repeated, on the third night he placed a pencil and paper
beside his bed before going to sleep.
"Towards morning the fish reappeared in his dream,
confusedly at first, but at last with such distinctness that
he no longer had any doubt as to its zoological characters.
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 27
Still half dreaming, in perfect darkness, he traced these
characters on the sheet of paper at the bedside.
"In the morning he was surprised to see in his nocturnal
sketch features which he thought it impossible the fossil
itself would reveal. He hastened to the Jardin des Plantes
and, with his drawing as a guide, succeeded in chiseling
away the surface of the stone under which portions of the
fish proved to be hidden. When wholly exposed, the fossil
corresponded with his dream and his drawing, and he succeeded
in classifying it with ease."
PRACTICE EXERCISE NO. 1
Get a New Mental Picture of Yourself
The unhappy, failure-type personality cannot develop a
new self-image by pure will power, or by arbitrarily deciding
to. There must be some grounds, some justification,
some reason for deciding that the old picture of self is in
error, and that a new picture is appropriate.
You cannot
merely imagine a new self-image; unless you feel that it is
based upon truth.
merely imagine a new self-image; unless you feel that it is
based upon truth.
Experience has shown that when a person
does change his self-image, he has the feeling that for
one reason or another, he "sees," or realizes the truth
about himself.
does change his self-image, he has the feeling that for
one reason or another, he "sees," or realizes the truth
about himself.
The truth in this chapter can set you free of an old inadequate
self-image, if you read it often, think intently \
about the implications, and "hammer home" its truths to
yourself.
Science has now confirmed what philosophers, mystics,
and other intuitive people have long declared: every
human being has been literally "engineered for success" by
his Creator.
Every human being has access to a power
greater than himself.
greater than himself.
This means "YOU."
As Emerson has said, "There are no great and no
small."
28 PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS
If you were engineered for success and happiness, then
the old picture of yourself as unworthy of happiness, of a
person who was "meant" to fail, must be in error.
Read this chapter through at least three times per week
for the first 21 days.
Study it and digest it Look for examples
in your experiences, and the experiences of your
friends, which illustrate the creative mechanism in action.
in your experiences, and the experiences of your
friends, which illustrate the creative mechanism in action.
Memorize the following basic principles by which your
success mechanism operates.
You do not need to be an
electronic engineer, or a physicist, to operate your own
servo-mechanism, any more than you have to be able to
engineer an automobile in order to drive one, or become
an electrical engineer in order to turn on the light in your
room.
electronic engineer, or a physicist, to operate your own
servo-mechanism, any more than you have to be able to
engineer an automobile in order to drive one, or become
an electrical engineer in order to turn on the light in your
room.
You do need to be familiar with the following,
however, because having memorized them, they will throw
"new light" on what is to follow:
however, because having memorized them, they will throw
"new light" on what is to follow:
1. Your built-in success mechanism must have a goal or
"target."
This goal, or target, must be conceived of as
"already in existence—now" either in actual or potential
form. It operates by either (1) steering you to a
goal already in existence or by (2) "discovering" something
already in existence.
"already in existence—now" either in actual or potential
form. It operates by either (1) steering you to a
goal already in existence or by (2) "discovering" something
already in existence.
2. The automatic mechanism is teleological, that is, operates,
or must be oriented to "end results," goals. Do
not be discouraged because the "means whereby" may
not be apparent. It is the function of the automatic
mechanism to supply the "means whereby" when you
supply the goal. Think in terms of the end result, and
the means whereby will often take care of themselves.
3. Do not be afraid of making mistakes, or of temporary
failures. All servo-mechanisms achieve a goal by negative
feedback, or by going forward, making mistakes,
and immediately correcting course.
4. Skill learning of any kind is accomplished by trial and
error, mentally correcting aim after an error, until a
"successful" motion, movement or performance has
been achieved.
After that, further learning, and con-'
tinued success, is accomplished by forgetting the past
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 29
'errors, and remembering the successful response, so
that it can be "imitated."...
tinued success, is accomplished by forgetting the past
DISCOVERING YOUR SUCCESS MECHANISM 29
'errors, and remembering the successful response, so
that it can be "imitated."...
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