Mind vs. Soul

We are about to go from theory to application so it´s time for a review of concepts alluded to which will be foundations for the ideas developed in the

• The personality you form as a child has a large and inescapable effect on your adult personality and ways of thinking. Children are not little adults who need only to fill their blank-slate minds with information. Instead, a child´s mind is constantly reordering and remaking itself (so much so that we can´t remember much from early childhood). In addition to any kind of physical needs and stimulating environment children need to feel loved in order to learn and grow, and they learn best from people they sincerely admire and love.
  
  
• Skills we consider intellectual (language, making comparisons, performing complex activities with tools) grow out of skills we consider physical (sensation, control of movement, instinctual awareness of movement and space). The sacrifice of "the body" (awareness of our physical state and immediate environment) for "the mind" (awareness of everything else) is a common experience in our modern life, but one that leads to stress and mental inefficiencies.
  
  
• Children (—and adults insomuch as they can preserve it—have a strong, inborn desire to learn and understand on their own terms. Education should work with this tendency rather than against it. General, rather than specific learning should be the focus for children. General intelligence and understanding will serve you well in any profession or challenge.
  
  
• Moving from the classroom to the economy, similar arguments could be made. The average person has a strong, inborn desire to work, be productive, and manage their own affairs. Cognitive science does not lend support to the view that there is an elite group genetically predisposed to deserving wealth and power. Certain types of mental retardation are the result of two parents genes (the physical traits they pass on to their children) interacting badly, however genes themselves cannot be complicated enough to determine the long-term formation of the brain.
  
  
• Another thing to be suspicious of is the idea of genius. Many skills we might consider signs of genius, such as solving difficult problems in calculus or logic, memorizing long lists or winning games of chess, were relatively easy to duplicate in computers, but simple creative behavior (such as drawing a childish picture, or the vast treasure chest of knowledge known as common sense is nearly impossible to explain theoretically let alone recreate artificially. The mental tools to do what any "great" person has done should be present in the average person by the time they have finished puberty. Why then is genius considered rare? Here are three reasons we´d like to suggest:

• The term genius is usually applied only to academically-sponsorable accomplishments such as in the arts or sciences. Using creativity to live life to the fullest and help others to do so is not encouraged in the same ways and would not usually be considered "genius".
  
• More important than learning any specific skills is learning better ways to learn and organize what you learn to meet highly personal goals. While this cannot well be taught
  
• it can certainly be encouraged or discouraged by parents and important people in the life of a child (and on into adulthood). It is this reinforcement (financial validation by society and the support of family and friends) which probably more than anything determines how much of their mental potential someone will reach.

• What idea from this site would we most like to stay with you? That your mind and personality are precious things, and that you yourself are a wonder.