Ask the Author: James R. Carey
Answered Questions (6)
James R. Carey
I deal with writer’s block by following what I refer to as the Mary McCartney Method. When he was young, Paul’s mother, Mary, told him, “When you find yourself in times of trouble, let it be. There will be an answer.”
James R. Carey
I’ll start with the hardest thing about being a writer, which is the necessary suffering that results when I’m unable to translate the wordless language of thought into the written words that express those thoughts in ways that others are readily able to interpret accurately. The best thing about being a writer is when I overcome that challenge.
The hardest thing about being a writer is not the worst thing about being a writer because when I fail, my ignorance is revealed, in which case I am always disappointed, but not for long because I also know that "revealing one's ignorance" and "expanding one's knowledge" are different words expressing the same meaning.
The worst thing about being a writer is the unnecessary suffering that result from being too afraid to reveal one’s ignorance. The cause of unnecessary suffering is the avoidance of necessary suffering.
The hardest thing about being a writer is not the worst thing about being a writer because when I fail, my ignorance is revealed, in which case I am always disappointed, but not for long because I also know that "revealing one's ignorance" and "expanding one's knowledge" are different words expressing the same meaning.
The worst thing about being a writer is the unnecessary suffering that result from being too afraid to reveal one’s ignorance. The cause of unnecessary suffering is the avoidance of necessary suffering.
James R. Carey
The premise of my advice is that listening to your “heart” is listening to your intuition, aka your gut, aka your unconscious mind, and listening to your “mind” is listening to your conscious mind, which involves the dedication of time, energy, and attention toward distinguishing between what is and what is not logical.
I have the same advice for aspiring writers as for anyone wanting advice. First, listen to your heart and your mind, but do not follow one or the other when they conflict and instead follow the wisdom that emerges when the conflict is resolved. Second, listen to your own wisdom and the wisdom of others, but do not follow one or the other when they conflict and instead resolve the conflict.
I have the same advice for aspiring writers as for anyone wanting advice. First, listen to your heart and your mind, but do not follow one or the other when they conflict and instead follow the wisdom that emerges when the conflict is resolved. Second, listen to your own wisdom and the wisdom of others, but do not follow one or the other when they conflict and instead resolve the conflict.
James R. Carey
My available time is dedicated to sharing the wisdom theory with the world by promoting my book and my www.wisdomtheo.com website.
James R. Carey
One evening, I took out a pencil, an eraser, and a few sheets of paper, then I started sketching out a process. My intent was to explain to myself a phenomenon revealed by an experiment I’d learned about at a webinar earlier that day. It took many failed attempts over a period somewhere between two days and two weeks, but I did accomplish my intent. That effort’s result was the first version of what is now documented in The Wisdom Theory on pages 35 and 37.
In that moment, I had not only explained the experiment to myself, I had also explained the phenomenon we refer to as consciousness.
It is almost certain that an intuitive explanation of consciousness will be easily refuted by a scientifically valid and sufficiently detailed description of the phenomenon. The idea that, if there is a verifiable explanation of the phenomenon, then it needs to be widely shared because it can be used to make the world a much better place in a short amount of time—along with the idea that wisdom theory explains consciousness—inspires me to write.
In that moment, I had not only explained the experiment to myself, I had also explained the phenomenon we refer to as consciousness.
It is almost certain that an intuitive explanation of consciousness will be easily refuted by a scientifically valid and sufficiently detailed description of the phenomenon. The idea that, if there is a verifiable explanation of the phenomenon, then it needs to be widely shared because it can be used to make the world a much better place in a short amount of time—along with the idea that wisdom theory explains consciousness—inspires me to write.
James R. Carey
I got the idea for my book after attending a 2015 webinar. The presenter was Mark Jaben, and the subject was a book he was then writing and later published as Free the Brain: Overcome the Struggle People and Organizations Face with Change (2019). Jaben’s presentation included a description of an experiment first conducted at UCSF in the 1980s by neuroscientist and researcher Benjamin Libet (1916-2007). Libet’s experiment made him and his experiment famous by revealing an apparently unexplainable phenomenon.
An input stimulus is delivered to the brain. Roughly 500 milliseconds later, the brain triggers and informs a behavioral response. In an initial 300-millisecond phase, there is no increase in neuronal activity in the conscious mind. Instead, the increase is in the unconscious mind as it forms unconscious intent. The second and final 200-millisecond phase begins when unconscious intent is delivered to—causing neuronal activity to increase in—the conscious mind. As each half-second-long stimulus-response cycle ends, unconscious intent is informing and triggering a behavioral response.
A batter has roughly 400 milliseconds to respond to a major league fastball. The conscious mind has roughly 200 milliseconds to influence unconscious intent. If the conscious mind must influence unconscious intent, then it needs more time in lieu of half the time that a batter has when facing a major league fastball. And that is why, during the half-second-long stimulus-response cycle, the conscious mind is a passive observer, and any alternative explanation is manifestly irrational.
So, if the conscious mind is a passive observer while unconscious intent is forming, and if unconscious intent is the brain’s response to an input stimulus, when is the conscious mind an active participant? That is the apparently unexplainable phenomenon, except that the appearance is an illusion, and the wisdom theory explains the underlying reality.
An input stimulus is delivered to the brain. Roughly 500 milliseconds later, the brain triggers and informs a behavioral response. In an initial 300-millisecond phase, there is no increase in neuronal activity in the conscious mind. Instead, the increase is in the unconscious mind as it forms unconscious intent. The second and final 200-millisecond phase begins when unconscious intent is delivered to—causing neuronal activity to increase in—the conscious mind. As each half-second-long stimulus-response cycle ends, unconscious intent is informing and triggering a behavioral response.
A batter has roughly 400 milliseconds to respond to a major league fastball. The conscious mind has roughly 200 milliseconds to influence unconscious intent. If the conscious mind must influence unconscious intent, then it needs more time in lieu of half the time that a batter has when facing a major league fastball. And that is why, during the half-second-long stimulus-response cycle, the conscious mind is a passive observer, and any alternative explanation is manifestly irrational.
So, if the conscious mind is a passive observer while unconscious intent is forming, and if unconscious intent is the brain’s response to an input stimulus, when is the conscious mind an active participant? That is the apparently unexplainable phenomenon, except that the appearance is an illusion, and the wisdom theory explains the underlying reality.
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