TED Community » Richard Knight

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Learning about our consciousness, compassion for others and improving the planet by raising our awareness or our own abilities and powers.

An idea worth spreading

The Avatar tools - this is a set of exercises that help anyone get in touch with their own consciousness and take back control of their lives. It is about becoming aware of our own indoctrinations - whether self-imposed or adopted. It is about getting really honest with who we are and what we do to others. These are very simple but powerful tools that allow us to expose our mental blueprints to ourselves - so that we can find out what beliefs we are running our lives with. What we take as fact and what we feel we can change. When we discover just how much of our lives run on beliefs that we did not consciously adopt we start to see that we can change and we do not need others to change for that to happen. The exercises are worth looking into.

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  A comment on Conversation: If you could make a wish on behalf of The City 2.0, what would it be?

  Dec 7 2011: We need a wikipedia of City 2.0 ideas - ideas from around the world that others can tap into and share their experiences. This is where tried and tested ideas can be shared with others and where improvements can be contributed. Unlike a blog which seems to attract negative comments - the wiki idea would have page supporters which would ensure that the content is relevant and without agenda or promotions. Each idea would need a full description of features and benefits, a how to section and a contact for further details. I see it almost as a franchise section that does not include a license fee. One idea I have heard about is turning the roof tops of city buildings into gardens - not new - but there must be a lot of experience about what works and what does not. There is little to be gained from commercialising this idea - far more from sharing it - but how do you go about it and what is involved. Or the city bike system - already taking over in Paris and London - this needs to be shared in other cities too. What are the issues and how is this best done?
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  A comment on Conversation: What can be done to get the most out of one's schooling? What would you change about your education experience?

  Sep 5 2011: Ok I am a bit concerned about causing students to give up on their main subject of study to the detriment of their intentions.
  
  What is your intention in pursuing study?
  
  Be very clear about this. Also be very clear about your path to employment afterwards - if the profession you are entering requires good grades and are uninterested in your varied interests then get back to the study program - and decide that that is what you need and want to study. I know that in the UK there are many students entering into degree courses who are going to emerge after three years with a good degree and still not find work. As you enter your studies I think it would be wise to start thinking about what you are going to do when you emerge. Go visit the kind of place you think will be your workplace and ensure that you like what you see. Test your chances of getting into that job. Find out how many other people are applying for that job. Find out what the winning candidate had that the others did not. Do not wait for them to come and find you - they might - but it is unlikely. If you need to be employed you need to find out what will make you employable.
  
  Also job titles are not reliable - you may be given a great title - but find out what your duties are going to be - find out if what you are learning (and probably enjoying doing) is what you will actually be doing when you get a job. If it is not, then it may be that after you have been working for a while you will get the job you actually want - again find out what proportion of the people ever get to the job you are studying to achieve.
  
  In my profession - architecture - we were taught to be architects - designers of great and wonderful buildings. Few of us ended up ever deigning what we had a chance to design at university - the discrepancy can be shocking when you only get to project manage or design window joints. Fine if you are happy - not so fine if your heart is still in designing great buildings. Time to get real!
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  A comment on Conversation: What can be done to get the most out of one's schooling? What would you change about your education experience?

  Sep 5 2011: Hi Colleen.
  
  Further to this is seems that knowing creates the end of the road.
  
  Not knowing what to do blocks the road.
  
  I was feeling very blocked the other day and took the dogs for a walk through the woods. I could not see out the woods as there were so many trees and yet I travelled through the woods without (obviously) hitting any one of them.
  
  It occurred to me that there were thousands of trees in front of me and I did not walk into them. I wondered how many problems or "I don't, knows" I had in my life and realised that there could at very worst be only a few dozen - or if I got really down - maybe 100? And yet despite this I was walking headfirst into every one of them. It was time to start side stepping at least some of them and as I started doing this I saw that the problem - from another angle or looking back at it - was not that big of an issue.
  
  The time had come to start sidestepping more problems. I do not mean avoid them - just stop walking into them. My headache has subsided a lot since this realisation!
  
  A while later I walked up another woodland trail. It started to rain quite heavily and I soon met a trickle of water running down the path towards me and was delighted that I was witnessing a stream as it started to flow again. I walked on again and found that the stream ran out - I had gone past it's source. A couple of steps further and I found the leading edge of another stream flowing down to join the one I had just passed. It occurred to me that rivers and streams do not start from the source and flow to the sea. They start in many places and join each other to form the larger rivers. The same is true of learning. Your knowledge is starting in many places and flowing together to create a body of knowledge. Sometimes you can predict where it will all come together and re-inforce the flow - at other times you just have to let it flow.
  
  I must head out to the woods again it teaches me a lot!
  
  So Claire - I think attitude is a key element
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  A comment on Conversation: What can be done to get the most out of one's schooling? What would you change about your education experience?

  Sep 3 2011: HI Claire
  
  I was attempting to advise a young person about to start a university degree course just two days ago. I failed to come up with a simple piece of advice. Your question here and the advice given below has prompted me to look again.
  
  When I "know" I have stopped looking. When I recognise that I do not know the adventure starts again.
  
  My University tuition insisted that I acquire a number of "knowns". I would have been better nurturing and cherishing the ability to recognise that I did not know and willingly going out to explore these areas of life.
  
  If I am learning for or to please or to impress anyone other than myself I may as well stop.
  
  I think that if you learn in order to get a piece of paper you have missed the point. Learn because there is so much to find out about and explore - take the duration of your course to study all that you can - it is a unique period of life.