See previous parts for important information.
Observation To Know
Observation is an often missed means of alternative knowing. We almost alway look, but we not so often observe. We may see that something is or is happening. At the same time we may not observe that something is happening.
A good example of is Doyle Burnson.
He is a legend in the poker world. If he sits at your table, be polite and excuse yourself. You are not that good.
What most people do not know is that poker is not luck. There maybe some luck involved, like in farming. But that is not the real issue for a master player. It is observation to know.
In an interview Mr. Burnson was asked what was his secret. He said in effect that he did not play the cards in his hand. He claimed that he could leave his cards face down on the table and never look at them and still win. [That is maybe not one hand, but if there were several hands played he would ultimately win.] Nobody is that lucky. It is not luck.
He went on to explain that he observed the other players. If someone has a bad hand, he acts subtly different than if he has a good hand. The gamblers call this the tell. There are a thousand ways that this can happen. Mr. Burnson will only rarely miss a tell; he has seen them all. He does not just look at who he is playing against. He observes the fine points. He observes to know.
A man came into my office for pastoral counseling saying his wife had left him. He wanted help in getting her back. I asked why she had left. His eyes looked to my left. It was a very fast movement like a flash. He said he did not know.
I imagine that most would have been looking at their parishioner and not have observed that eye movement. They would be looking, maybe even noticed that, but not observing.
The question now is you have observed something, but what does it mean? When you see things and start asking what that means, you are beginning to observe. You are opening a door to alternative knowing.
That eye movement as explained in Neuro Linguistic Programing is a sign of auditory construct. It is an involuntary response to what is going on. He is constructing something. If his eye had darted to my right, it would have meant that he was remembering. [That is not 100%, but it is an observation that needs clarification.] I immediately began to suspect that he might be making up what he was saying.
I had by observation come to know that I should pursue that answer further. The standard follow up question is, “Did she tell you why she was leaving?” Again his involuntary eye movement was to my left. He is not involved in remembering or did not want to remember. And he is making something up.
I had two tells toward the same conclusion. If it was some ultimately innocuous marital spat, he would have told me and not had to make something up. I knew that this was not good. I was observing and thereby coming to know.
I observed. Thereby I knew. And it was confirmed later.
This is not as complicated as going and studying something like neuro linguistic programing. You note something, and you ask what does that mean. You are moving into an observation where you may know.
This brings us into the area of hunches. Everything that you have seen in your life is in your mind. You may not consciously know that you know, but you know all that is involved in your memory. And you can draw upon it as needed.
I once studied a thing called photo reading. Without detail, there is one aspect of this that shows the amazing ability of the subconscious mind to provide you with knowing that you are not consciously aware of. You might think of it as meeting prep.
So, you have a meeting coming up
that you must attend to discuss something and material concerning what you are supposed intelligently talk about is in a book or a bunch of written material. You do not have time to read through all that material what do you do. [I am not giving details here.]
There are certain ways of scanning the material. You just spend a second or two on each page and move on to the next page. You may do this several different ways. Now you are not in the classic sense reading the material. You are not trying to put things into your conscious mind. You are for lack of better terms, photographing the page, and you mind just files them somewhere.
Basically, you have just looked at the pages. But they go into your subconscious where it is sorted out. An amazing thing happens; you can do this even by going through the book from the back to the front. You egoic conscious mind is tell you that you are wasting your time.
But when you get into the meeting, and the subject is discussed, you blend right in. You can intelligently join in the conversation. You find that you are knowing things that you did not know that you knew.
It is not like a photographic memory; you can not see a photo of each page of the material. However, the content of the material is there when you need it. It is in your mental hard drive.
Well, believe it or not, this is how hunches work. Everything that you have seen in you experiences is in your mind, and you can draw upon it.
This is what happens with someone like the poker master who observes and knows. He has these hunches that you are bluffing. He has seen it so many times before. He may not have thought about it and analysed it consciously and be able to write it down. But the subconscious has sorted it out. When you do whatever the tell is for you, the master has a hunch that you are bluffing. It is not 100%, but it is usually right. He knows alternatively.
You meet somebody and you start getting what they used to call bad vibs. That is not 100%, but it the result of sorted out observations. You have seen it all before. Your subconscious is making that available when it is needed. Listen to what you subconscious has observed.
Remember the man who came for counseling after his wife left him. You may not have studied Neuro Linguistic Programing eye movement. But you as you moved through life have seen this before. So you for some unknown to your conscious mind mind reason get a hunch that he is making things up, lying. You have a hunch. You know by observation.
One of our problems is that we tend to second guess our hunches. Then we dismiss them. Many problem have come from not listening to your subconscious observation analysis.
While you may not instantly act on a hunch, you are well to be forewarned by them. [Example, the sheriff was asked why he shoot the man. He said, “I had a hunch that he was going to rob the bank.”] But to be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Listen to your subconsciously analyzed past and present observation. It may not be 100%, but you like the master poker player have the odds in your favor.
