Opposite Thinking
A Continuous Practice of Inversion
I want you to consider a practice. A practice that can be done at any time and at any place, a practice that can actually be made so automatic that it is done subconsciously at the speed of thought itself.
It is the practice of Opposite Thinking. It will open new dimensions in your mind, it will literally make you feel godly amongst mortal humans, who go around forward thinking only. For if you think yourself a normal human, opposite thinking can make you a god and vice versa.
What is Opposite Thinking?
To start it is better to ask the opposite, namely what is straight thinking? And that’s one method of employing opposite thinking.
Straight thinking, or just thinking, is every thought that comes to your head. Sometimes thoughts are deliberate, sometimes they just flow, at other times they are almost fleeting, like within a daydream. We have thousands of thoughts day in and day out, and they appear somewhere we call the field of consciousness. You are conscious of what you see, feel and think. Thoughts usually occur as words, but they can appear visually or audibly (such as songs) or emotionally.
It is what is often called the “Stream of Consciousness”. I like to think of thoughts as what the mind does. It’s a sort of mental process that allows us to model the world.
Now what opposite thinking tries to do, is to invert the main thrust of the stream. To invert the mental model and there really is no one way to do it. Inversions can be multidimensional and that’s where the magic and the fun is.
Consider a visual inversion. This, below, is a picture of yours truly. A Super Hero with the power to reveal The Truth.
And this is the Visual Inversion.
It takes a little practice, but you can actually invert everything in your visual field. Right within the resources of your own mind. While you are walking around, during your normal day. If it is bright outside and the sun is shining. Invert it to night, with the gentle glow of the moon in place.
Another Inversion you could make, is to consider everything I say is a Lie. I claim to be a purveyor of Truth, so invert my every sentence. Perhaps all I do is lie. Change me from Male to Female, from man to vegetable. Invert continuously.
Now the practice of Thinking Oppositely is to do this continuously with everything that appears to you as thought in your consciousness. You may feel that this is effortful, but in reality, it is not. You can run parallel thoughts effortlessly when you start getting the knack of it.
Perhaps you think of yourself as a good person. Then invert your mind and consider yourself as bad. Perhaps you have low confidence, then invert it to a person of high confidence. Challenge each thought. If something feels real, imagine it a dream. And if it is a dreamy thought, make it real.
Challenge every belief, are you reading an article right now, or perhaps you are not reading at all, perhaps you are actually sitting in a park looking at a bird. Try it, trust me it is possible.
Make it real and let the simulation run parallel to what is actually going on.
Perhaps you don’t like mathematics? Well Invert it, get deep into math and enjoy it.
Perhaps you think that Conservatives are confused, that Trump is a demon. Well think oppositely, watch his rallies, make friends with Trump supporters, invite them home and wear MAGA hat.
If you think the opposite, go to your local socialist meeting and read a Chomsky book.
Think Opposite continuously. Do it parallely.
The Benefits Of Opposite Thinking
The main benefits of Opposite Thinking is the flexibility that it gives you mentally. You start to realize that your thoughts are just patterns. Patterns that you have gotten habituated to. That depression is a pattern, your political views are a pattern, you business sense is a pattern. And multiple patterns can be found in any stream of thought. It is you who finds the patterns, the patterns are as real as a dream and you can dream anything your heart desires.
Don’t think you got what it takes, think oppositely, you have exactly what it takes.
Don’t think you are enlightened. Flip the script. You are enlightened.
Think that you are confused. Invert, you have no confusion at all. What would you choose if your were not confused?
Think you need TV to relax in the evenings, flip it and read a book, go for a run or go out and party.
In the beginning you can do this in thought alone, however as you get the hang of it, start acting oppositely too.
Reality is in many ways what you make it. Once you get a hang of Opposite Thinking it is a small step to multidirectional, multidimensional thinking. For each thought doesn’t just have an opposite but a full multidimensional and directional aspect to it.