Episode 129

Awakening Practices from PRACTICAL WORK ON SELF, "Thinking by Form", Part One

In this episode, THE THREE-HEADED MAN discusses a psychological exercise focused on intentional illiteracy and the concept of thinking by form.

They explore how to bypass the mind’s automatic decoding of language, which typically categorizes information based on habitual associations and emotional identification. By viewing written words or objects as mere physical forms rather than carriers of pre-assigned meaning, the practitioners aim to avoid the involuntary impressions that usually dominate their mental apparatus. The dialogue uses examples like the word "Kleenex" or unfamiliar foreign language characters to illustrate how people often mistake labels for the complex reality behind them.

Ultimately, the goal of this practice is to uncouple the self from programmed responses to perceive the world with freshness and impartiality.

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The Three-Headed Man
Talking To Ourselves For Over 25 Years

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About your host

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Fred M Schill

I like to do. I like to make things. And, I like telling stories. I tell stories to myself and to others.

First, a short biography, which is, of course, is a story. I was born in Cleveland, played sports, and attended university. Later, after a few years in the radio business, I returned to university to study education and literature.

With a teaching certificate in my file folder, I began working in high schools, first as a strike-breaking scab substitute teacher in Cleveland's far suburbs, and then in Chicago, mostly in private high schools.

Cleveland and Chicago. My two main towns, and I escaped them both. Presently, I live in a tiny, isolated, mountain village in Spain. I am reluctant to write the name of the town because I don't like tourists. When the tourists arrive, they look at me as if I am an animal in a zoo.