Xamuel.com

There are two types of knowing: emotional knowledge and intellectual knowledge. The two can overlap, but the overlap is surprisingly small. We know something intellectually when we’ve read it or heard it or been taught it from a reputable source. Knowing something intellectually, you can answer questions about it on a [...]

A Buddhist Koan is a short tale used to nudge people closer toward Zen enlightenment. Since I really appreciate and love these witty little verses, I decided I’d share some of my favorites here. At first, I thought I’d garnish them with some detailed commentary and analysis. Then I realized, the verses [...]

What happens when an unstoppable force hits an immovable object? The answer is, it depends whether you’re an orthodox objectolic or a born-again forcestant. Belief is the most powerful agent in the natural universe. It can out-move the unstoppable force and dislodge the immovable object. This is because of [...]

When you look at the glass and say it’s half full, that’s an example of an Abundance Mentality. This is in contrast with the opposite, the Scarcity Mentality, through which lens one would call the glass half-empty. Optimism and pessimism. I was a pessimist for most of my childhood, and it did [...]

When people ask me, “What math should I study so I can (fill in the blank)”, the answer I give them isn’t quite what they expect. The best answer to this question is: whichever mathematics you think is the most fun and interesting. This answer doesn’t depend at all on what (blank) [...]

Ever since I was young, I’ve been interested in the subconscious mind. In junior high, I did a lot of experimentation with hypnosis. This gave me an understanding of the power of autosuggestion from an early age. Later, I dabbled for a while in neurolinguistic programming, which even further sharpened my love for those mysterious [...]

The Reticular Activation System (RAS) is a concept introduced in Tony Robbins’ “Awaken the Giant Within”. It’s not to be confused with the “Reticular Activating System”, the part of the brain involved in arousal and motivation in mammals– though the two are certainly related to each other. The RAS introduced by Robbins is part of [...]

Now that I’ve switched to the Satellite Method of Spaced Repetition (explained in detail in my article, Using Multiple SRS Decks), I’ve finally broken a long kanji drought and have started learning new kanji (Chinese characters) again. In order to learn the Chinese characters most effectively, I’ve learned how imaginative memory works. And now that [...]

So you wanna upgrade the old noggin, increase your thought power, turbo charge your CPU? Then go out and do things. Do things you’ve never done before. Do things you’ve never even imagined. Stuff that will shock and amaze your friends because it’s so novel and unexpected from you. This, my friend, is how you [...]

The number one murderer of truth is ideology. Ideology: we expect it in politics and religion, government and propaganda. We do not expect ideology in mathematics. Mathematics is supposed to be the one last refuge for absolute truth in a world battered by storms of confusion and uncertainty, right? At least that’s the standard soundbite. [...]