Hey everyone Daniel here from Next Level life and welcome to our 5th and final part of our
summary of Robert Greene's book mastery.
If you happened to miss part 4 I'll leave a link to it as well as a link to the rest
of the series in the description below or you can click on the card in the upper right
hand corner of the video.
Today we're going to be exploring the three stages of the mind that every Master goes
through in their life.
We're going to be exploring what each of the stages gives us as well as why they're all
necessary.
Let's get started.
If we think back to our childhood and not just the memories from our childhood but actually
how our childhood felt we quickly realize how differently we experienced the world back
then.
Our minds were completely open.
Things that we now take for granted, even things as simple as the night sky or our reflection
in a mirror, caused us to wonder.
We were filled with questions about the world around us.
Colors seem more vibrant and alive and we had a powerful desire to turn everything around
us into a game.
To play with the circumstances of our world.
These are qualities of the original mind, one of the three stages of the mind on the
path to mastery.
The original mind looked at the world more directly as opposed to through words or ideas
that we received.
It was very flexible and receptive to new information.
So it was a very intense experience, but in a good way.
That childlike wonder and engagement is absolutely necessary for coming up with great new inventions
or ideas that will move the world forward.
Of course as children we lack the knowledge, experience and discipline to take that childlike
creativity and turn it into something that will make a difference in the world.
However as the years passed the intensity we once felt diminished.
We came to see the world through words and opinions as well as our prior experiences
that we then had.
Ego started to set in and we became a little bit defensive about the world we now took
for granted and may have even become upset if our beliefs were challenged.
In essence we became more rigid and inflexible at least in comparison to how we were as children.
These are qualities of the conventional mind and under the pressure of having to make a
living we force our minds into Tighter and Tighter grooves, and close ourselves off to
more unconventional ways of thinking and other possibilities.
Through our experiences we've learned what to do and say and how to get by.
So the thought process is if we're already making it why change?
This only serves to imprison Us in the conventional mind.
Ironically we now have exactly what we needed to achieve Mastery as a child but we lost
that childlike creativity and wonder that was also essential to Our Success.
In order to achieve Mastery both minds are needed.
Masters are simply those who find a way to blend the two.
Those who find a way to have the knowledge, experience and discipline of an adult but
the spirit and creativity of a child.
And that blend gives us access to the Third stage of the Mind known as the dimensional
mind.
The dimensional mind isn't limited by its own experiences or habits because it's always
looking at the world with that childlike Wonder and asking questions that most people would
pass over.
Where the conventional mind is passive, consuming information and regurgitating it in familiar
forms the dimensional mind is active.
It transforms everything that it receives into something new and original.
Basically creating instead of consuming.
Of course at this point you guys are probably thinking "well hey that's great Daniel but
I'm already trapped in the conventional mind so how in the heck do I free myself and transition
over to the dimensional mind?"
I'm so very glad you asked because the way I see it there are three steps: first you
need to choose the correct creative task.
Second you need to have actually productive creative strategies and third is where you
actually get the creative breakthrough.
Choosing the correct creative task is of course important because despite what most people
think creativity is not something that's merely intellectual.
Most people think that creativity is just a particular way of thinking.
That's not exactly true.
creativity is something that involves your entire self - your emotions, your levels of
energy, your character, and your intellect.
So to make a discovery or to fashion a work of art that's actually meaningful, it will
inevitably require a lot of time and effort.
And if you haven't chosen the correct creative task that you will be fully engaged with,
no matter how brilliant of a mind you have, you won't have the patience and faith to go
through all the setbacks and failures that you'll need to go through in order to succeed.
So just like your life's task your creative task must connect to something deep within
you because you're emotional commitment to what you're doing will be translated into
your work.
If you approach your work with a half heart it's going to show in lackluster results.
Just like if you're doing something primarily for the money it will translate into something
that lacks a certain Soul or heart.
And even if you don't notice this others will.
But if you're excited and maybe even a little obsessed, it will also show in your work.
It will feel authentic.
A couple other things to keep in mind when choosing your creative task is that the task
must be realistic.
In other words you actually have to have the Knowledge and Skills to pull it off.
And you're probably going to have to let go of your need for comfort and security because
creative Endeavors are by their very nature uncertain.
Even once you know your task you're still not going to be exactly sure where your efforts
are going to lead.
Think of yourself as an explorer.
You can't find anything new if you're not willing to leave the shore in the first place.
Having creative strategies are important because the mind is a muscle.
And one that naturally tightens up over time unless it's consciously worked on.
Why?
Because we naturally prefer to have the same ways of thinking because they provide us with
sense of consistency.
People like patterns.
And second whenever we work hard on a problem our minds naturally narrow their focus because
of the strain and effort involved.
This means that the further we progress on our creative task the fewer alternative possibilities
we tend to consider.
I've noticed this happens to me a lot when I'm writing.
I'll start off with a sort of explosion of ideas and I'll be making all these different
neat associations but as I go forward it's almost like I get tunnel vision and I can
only see a couple of possibilities at most.
Eventually all come to a point where I just can't go any further because I'm no longer
satisfied with what I've got but I can't figure out a way to fix it.
I've run out of possibilities.
It happened to me once recently with a book I was writing where I just couldn't figure
out how to get the main character to work in the story.
Despite all the neat ideas I had for the world and even the supporting characters the main
character just didn't seem to fit.
He didn't feel as alive as the rest of the world.
Now of course like most writers I'm sure, I tried to force them in there, I tried to
make it work.
But I couldn't I was blocked and it was frustrating but I knew it had a purpose.
I know that many of the Masters throughout history have gone through a similar process.
They get to a point where the tension in the mind is built up so much, like mine was at
that point, that they just can't take it anymore they let go for a moment.
For some it's as simple as stopping work and going to sleep for the night, or just taking
a break, or temporarily working on something else.
It's different depending on who you're talking about but they all have a moment where they
release the tension.
And interestingly what almost always happens in those moments is that the perfect solution
for their problem comes to them without even trying.
I'm sure we've all had that moment at some point in our lives where we've just come to
a sudden realization about a problem that we've been having, even though we weren't
actually trying to solve the problem at the time.
It just came to us and it was perfect.
That's because just below the surface of consciousness the ideas and associations that we've built
up after working on whatever project we're working on continue to Bubble.
And without that feeling of tension the brain can at least momentarily return to that initial
feeling of openness which has now been greatly enhanced by all of our hard work.
In essence we have just awoken the dimensional mind.
It seems the key is to be aware of this process and to encourage yourself to go as far as
you possibly can with your doubts, your reworkings, and your strained efforts knowing that the
frustration that you're feeling and the creative blocks that you're experiencing all have a
purpose.
So that’ll do it for part 5 and for this summary as a whole.
And if you happen to be interested in checking out the book for yourself you can always find
it at your local library I'm sure, or you can follow the link that I'll leave in the
description below because there is a lot of good information in this book that I just
I couldn't get to in this summary I mean I did it in 5 Parts because of how much good
information there was and I still couldn't get to it all.
So I do recommend that you check the book out for yourself however you end up getting
your hands on it.
But with that being said, If you learned something from this video and liked what you saw be
sure to subscribe and hit the bell next to my name so that you will be notified of all
future updates on this channel.
I will be doing more book Summaries in the future.
But until then everyone, thanks for watching and have a great day!