PROJECT MIND
The Conscious Conquest of Man & Matter
Through Accelerated Thought
by David S. Devor (T. Kun)

Summary of CHAPTER 1:
Things Are Not What They Seem

. . . a man, in his natural state, can with great effort be conscious of one subject (himself) for two minutes or less. [page 1]

The most important deduction one can make after making this experiment in the right way is that man is not conscious of himself. The illusion of his being conscious of himself is created by memory and thought processors. [page 1]

. . . If we make the effort to tune into the moods broadcasting from the innards of those around us, we may perceive what a given person is about: that is, the approximate contents of his inner ruminations. To understand someone's personality largely means to have insight into the coloration of his inner chatter. For despite the impression we would like to make upon others, it is the mood of this inner dialogue emanating from us that identifies us to others and gives us away to our adversaries. [page 2]

At rare intervals, when conditions around us are sufficiently reassuring, we may momentarily abandon our inner reflection. For the brief moment during which we are emotionally convinced that existence is benign, we may let our inner guard down long enough to experience vibrations of peacefulness and serenity. More often, positive feedback from the environment, friendly smiles, compliments, various omens of impending good fortune, etc., are likely to amplify our inner prattling and self- congratulation to the point that it breaks through the surface as a "good mood." Regardless of how concentrated we think we are in the task at hand, it is this mood that will carry us through, for it is this substrate of self-congratulatory prattle that represents the substance of what is really going on inside us. [page 2-3]

More often still, the environment tends to send us less encouraging messages--messages that provoke unconscious, reflective reverie of a negative and self-defensive nature. A growing overlay of anxiety can bring us to interpret even neutral signals as vaguely threatening. Thus, quite unconsciously we mistake a blank look for a critical frown, someone brushing against us as intentional aggression, or overcast weather as personal affront. Whatever imbues our inner dialogue with pessimistic or injurious content may eventually agitate our unconscious enough to break through the clouds of our minds, first as mild irritation, and later as a bad or ugly mood. [page 3]

. . . Moods are occasionally interrupted by sudden noises and other shocks that jolt and awaken us momentarily from our state of reverie. Whatever it is that brings us back to the present either goes away by itself or quickly loses its startling effect. We then fall back on our confirmed psychological crutch of incessant inner talk. [page 3]

We resemble, more than we care to admit, those vagrants and derelicts--the demented and the distraught--who walk the streets and halls of institutions speaking to themselves out loud. . . . Reactions are almost always disproportionately greater than the puny stimuli which pretend to be their cause. [page 3-4]

Whether our moods are good, bad or indifferent, a durable fabric of reverie is woven by the commentary of our incessant inner chatter. . . . The elements that make up this pseudo-conscious surface or veil that separates us from direct contact with life consists of little more than wishes and fears--minor fantasies that render the hard implacable world of physical reality sufferable to our weakened psyches. [page 4]

. . . Since our psychology cannot deal with every contingency, we tend to fall prey to doubt whenever some unforeseen situation catches us without a ready-made solution. [page 4]

. . . We need to gain some contact with reality, at least long enough to take stock of ourselves and devise a strategy to escape the depleting effects of distraction. This is the shared objective of many, if not most, spiritual systems which use a whole panoply of methods to "still the mind." [page 4]

. . . Through passionate struggle and friction with reality, man's multitude of fractionate desires can be welded into one indomitable will. In the process of realizing his outer goal he can almost inadvertently realize his own inner self. [page 5]

. . . Sincerity in knowing what one wants, and why, has a great deal to do with what one is likely to find along the path of adventure. [page 5]

. . . We need experimental conditions for the promotion of the spectacularly accelerated achievement of scientific and technical breakthroughs leading to universal prosperity and well-being so that the abnormal conditions of our existence which keeps us prisoners in distraction may be transformed and our real needs--spiritual ones--revealed. [page 6]

. . . always bear in mind the question: "After all is said and done, what does life mean to me; what is its real value?" [page 6]

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