1.
In order to learn to speak English like native speakers I must learn to think in English before. The technique for that is very simple. When I'm walking in the street I should begin to think in English without translating my thoughts in Russian. How can I achieve that? Well, I must start with a simple sentence like that: "I want to think in English". Then, if nothing comes to my mind, I must repeat the sentence. I must repeat the sentence while some other sentence will come to my mind. It may be something like that: "I want to think in English but how can I do it? I know some words and I can connect the words to each other. What words do I know..?
2.
Every day I can begin with the sentence: I want to think in English. I have to imagine a way of the thinking process in which I could go in different possible directions for some minutes. Every good step that I will make will be noted as a new level in the game. For example, the first point is: I want to think in English. The second may be: everything, what I need for thinking, is time. How much time can I spend for this kind of thinking per day? It's a good question. If I want to get a good result it must be one or two hours at least. How can i organize it? How much time do I spend for the internet every day? If I could use half of this time for thinking, I would get enough.
3.
I want to think in English. Where would I come today? Where would I come in a month? In a year? If I think every day trying to write down the process of thinking and focusing on some issue within a month, I will be able to figure out what thinking in English is like. If I concentrate on the issue during a year, I will be able to use English in the process of thinking without efforts. What prospects does it offer? I will be able to listen to everything that I can find on the internet in English. It is the same with reading. Also I will be able to write. It gives me an opportunity to communicate with everyone I want. I can master thinking everywhere. Every free five minutes I can get to it.
4.
I want to think in English. How to start doing it today? Maybe it is time for changing the first sentence. What if I begin with "I should"? The sentence "I should think in English" is stronger than "I want". If I use strong words for organizing the process of thinking, my wish to work with the issue will become stronger too. Applying certain words is the key to personal growth. If I work with weak words, my wish doesn't have the power, but if I begin using powerful words, everything changes. What kind of powerful words I know? How about boldness? Recently I've learned the word by reading about Elon Musk's new company. It seems he is trying to invent a wizard hat for the brain.
5.
I should think in English. Ok, it's the second step on the way which I began some days ago. I mean, it's a new point in my mind that will bring thoughts round . Hey, thoughts! Come in! Don't be afraid! I'm not going to hit you. We'll have a great time. Ohh, it's so stupid. I put myself in hard circumstances writing "should". This fucking "should" kills my wish to write. One fucking silly "should", instead of making my thinking stronger, made the process of thinking boring. What's better, to force yourself and write thoughtlessly or develop a will?
6.
I should think in English. Yesterday's experience was not sufficient to figure out what's better. If my thinking becomes worse for the next three days, I return to "I want." I will use "I should" for a while. Today I've had meetings with the members of our group. Two meetings were planned and one meeting wasn't. Speaking with different people about the idea of learning to think in English — I figured out that nobody considers thinking as a powerful tool for developing English. If we write down the process of thinking during a day, we will get the book with more than 300 pages. I have counted it by multiplying 15 hours and 20 pages that I can read within an. If we think as fast as we can read, that observation is correct. What If we divide the book into several chapters and make notes in English in them?
7.
My teacher advised me to use "want" instead of "should", but I've decided to replace the word by "must". I think it will pass the meaning more correctly. The reason for that is my attitude to the process of thinking. Sure, the wish brings some results, but necessity brings more. Especially if you figure out what the necessity is. When I know that I must think every day, I do it without efforts. Even though my wish will weaken, I can tune myself to work. Maybe sometimes I'm not being clever and everything I think is full of crap — no matter. I know the process of thinking makes me better. I must continue it.
8.
I must think in English. Ok, today I'm going to start with a simple question "who am I?" It's a nice question for the beginning. I am a man. What am I doing? I’m writing a note. Why am I writing the note? I am doing it to improve my English. Why do I need to improve my English? I want to think in English in order to get information with the help of it. Why do I need information? I need it because it makes me stronger. Why do I want to become stronger? I want to do it because it's the main thing that just exists… The way of learning to think in English by asking myself some questions is very simple and effective. When I finish one sequence I can start another: I can see. What do I see? Right now I can see this page and my arm with a pen...
9.
I must think in English. I'm thinking about present continuous. I'm using this page for an exercise. I'm training my brain to work more clearly. The exercise is helping me to understand the language. Also it allows me to develop my imagination. Are you reading this text? Are you figuring out my thoughts? Are you translating it into your own language or you understand everything in English? I guess you want to think in English. No? Why not? Are you feeling discomfortable? You are thinking in English right now, but maybe you are doing it slowly. So just settle in. You are following the way that I'm making in this place. The way is becoming more straight. Where are we going? We are going up the big tower of knowledge. We are going up to its top.
10.
I must think in English. Today I'm going to train my brain to combine present continuous and present simple. What is the difference between these things? I'm writing about present simple now, but if I say, I write about present simple, it is also right. In the first case I mean, I'm making a note at this moment; in the second one, I have a habit of writing about present simple. Sometimes I miss the difference and make mistakes. Probably, I'm always making mistakes in these rules. What does it mean? It's the same as saying, I make mistakes very often When I say, I always do something, it means, I do it every time but when I say, I am always doing something, it means that I do something more than it needs to be. Maybe I'm always thinking in English?
11.
I must think in English. I'm thinking of using present continuous and present simple again. A book of grammar rules I'm reading, is affecting me a little bit. Earlier I didn't pay attention to grammar and the only thing I cared about was the joy of the process of studying. Everything I did, I considered as interesting issues which developed my ability of thinking. I was able to listen to incomprehensible speeches of some professors as J.B. Peterson during 20 hours per week or watch 40 episodes of Crash Course History for several days without subtitles figuring out only 30-40% I perceived. I liked it. All the time I've been convinced the impression from the activities defines what you get as a result. Usually, grammar books made me upset and I lost the wish of studying. The reason for that was that I didn't have a purpose to share my experience with somebody else. The mood I had during that period, may be explained more accurately with the words of an ancient thinker who wrote in Latin: "Satis sunt mihi pauci, satis est unus, satis est nullus."
A change came over my mood. I'm starting to like grammar.
12.
I must think in English. Today I'm trying to figure out what thinking is. I know it's a metaphysical question and no one can define what exactly it is. But for me making up certain definitions is a waste of time. I want to describe the picture that I see when I'm thinking about thinking. Everytime, when I see the picture, I see new details. My view never stays the same. Of course, I can wrap my head around the formal definitions like this: "thinking can refer to the act of producing thoughts" or like that: "thinking is the objective analysis of facts to form a judgment."
However, my comprehension of what thinking is, will not become better if I repeat mechanically these bunches of words. In order to figure out what thinking is, I must think myself, especially if it is about a new language. How could I learn to think in English replacing one mindless bunch of words with another?
13.
I must think in English. However, today I don't want to do it. My ability of concentration stepped down. I need to take a little rest. Perhaps, it's time to go to underground. There I could continue to seek the hidden harmony more effective.
14.
I must think in English. Today I want to work with Present Perfect. I've just ended up a lesson in Murphy's book. I need to apply this structure more often. I've already understood how it works, but I use it so little. I haven't had I practice yet. In order to fix it I will stick P.P in my notes one time per day at least. Ok, I've decided to stop to publish my English exercises in CF because I want to compare whether it influences on my writing or not. Also I want to write donw some happens and facts which I don't want to share.
Yesterday I have a tolk with an english spiker by skype. We met in vk. I invited him in my groop and since a couple of days we began to speak in English. I felt discomfort a little bit when we were speaking because of my weak English. Nonetheless we were communicating about 1.5 hour and he said that I could call him anytime.
15.
I must think in English. Today I'm going to work with gerunds. Working with gerunds I'm improving my grammar and not only. Yesterday I said that I will apply at least one sentence using the Present Perfect. It was this. Ok, now I will use writing and train gerund's comprehension. Figuring out that my writing could be more alive with it I have to pay attention for this issue. Today I've thought up a nwe game for meetings. It refers to the topic of Present Perfect and irregular verbs. Rules of the game are quite simple. One says any verb and other should build a sentence by using this structure, "I have never + v". It allows to train both Present Perfect and irregular verbs. And also it develops imagination.
to be continued
Few months later...
1.
Hour of thinking. Well, I think it's time to switch my thinking to English. Almost half a year I've spent for preparation. Now, I have to start. I will think in English at least one hour every day. By thinking I mean writing in the first place. However, it will be a special kind of writing. I'm not going to write about something that I know well, I'm not going to write about a daily routine as I do it in my diary -- no. My goal is to write about things which I want to understand better. My experience shows that writing could be merely effective if you really examine yourself without any fear to find a fool inside your head. Obviously, if you want to understand something, there is a good way to ask yourself, "What do I know about that?" Inquiring is a straightforward and honest way. Then you just take a pen, sheet of paper and write everything that you know about the subject. After that you are ready to learn the subject. You can take books, video lectures, scientific articles and so on. When you've made some research you'll come back to your first writing and see what happens. If you have an intellectual honesty you may say, "Oh, I was so stupid, I did not figure out this, I was wrong in that etc. Ok, what's about now? Maybe, now, I know enough?" And then you write about the subject again in a different way using knowledge you've got from your research. And again, after that, you make a new research, come back to your second writing, see your foolishness, and repeat such a circle till no one will understand you.
2.
Hour of thinking is like a game. Almost every games start from a small development which leads toward a bigger development and bigger and bigger. I spent many years playing in video games. I killed all my youth for those things. It's not complaining, but I could say without doubts if I devoted the same amount of energy and time for linguistics, at this moment I would know at least 10 languages. Of course, it couldn't be possible to figure out in 10, that there is something more impressing, astonishing, wonderful, amazing than fucking video games. Really, I was sitting nights in computer's clubs and never being satisfied willing to play more and more. Hundreds of nights!
More than 10 years have gone but I still remember all castles, all units, all skills, many heroes, a lot of artifacts in "The Heroes3". I remember everything that refers to such games as Starcraft, Warcraft, Dota, LTD. Tons of meaningless knowledge. However, there was something really important, something vital -- there was the strategic thinking. When I was 1 of 100 best players in Warcraft 3FT (2005) in Europe's battle net, I felt myself extraordinarly powerful, when I was 1 of 50 best players in Dota (2011) in Europe's bn, I was getting more and more confident in my vigor. I knew I would do the same in any fields, not only in video games. All those years I developed a strong flexible neurostructure and it seems I'm going to set it on English.
3.
What do I know about linguistics? Could I call it "science" or, maybe, it has a more appropriate definition? Really, recently I found out that "science" was formed from the verb "scire" which means "to know". Literally, there is not a difference between both words "science" and "knowledge". If I assume the linguistics is something I can know, it'll give me nothing for a clear comprehension. If I assume the linguistics is something that could be known, I can ask further, "What should I do to know the linguistics?" The first answer, which is coming to me, is learning. However, the answer, again, can be treated in many different ways, "What exactly should I learn?" -- The language? But, what is the language? I don't ask which language I should learn; I want to understand what the language is in general. Is it something I can see, touch, smell? Of course I could say the language is a thing used by living creatures to communicate with each other, but for my issue it's almost useless knowledge. I want to figure out what is the vital thing in linguistics? Why is it so important? What could help me to convince myself that I'm doing something meaningful investing my time in it? However, if the language is a thing for communication, maybe, the most important part of the language is to make the communication better? The language helps people to understand themselves better, to do something together, and to create, so to speak, future. From that perspective I should learn in the first place how to communicate with other people better. Ahh, it's so boring.
4.
Linguistics. What else could I say about it? It seems, there is something mysterious there. I know that language controls my behavior. The more appropriate language I use the better I can act. "I" is something that is controlled by the structure which could be called language. From this perspective, it's wrong to think that I learn language. In fact, the language learns me as an organism. The more I allow it to do so, the better it knows how to make me stronger, smarter, wiser etc. It would be interesting to compare language and consciousness. When I do something I want to do, I see, sometimes, I do it contrary to something I should do. There are two, so to speak, voices. The first uses language of words and symbols, the second -- impulses, feelings, affects and so on. Sometimes, I feel it's almost impossible to fight against the latter, but if I strengthen the first by trying to follow it in my daily routine, the influence of the second language gradually becomes weaker. Working with my mother language during last 10 years and improving it increasingly, I noticed that it completely changed my mind, life, comprehension, activity, vision and so forth.
5.
Observation. When language is used as a tool to observe an organism's behavior, it leads to changes in both behavior and language. In order to understand it in practice, you need to separate yourself in two parts: the ego and something that would observe the ego's actions. By actions I mean everything, including thinking. As you've guessed, the observer has to use a different language. Otherwise, it will be impossible to make a real separation.
You can think about the observer comparing him with consciousness, reason, god etc., the main quality of which is an intellectual honesty. Write down everything the ego does; speak about everything the ego thinks; think as the observer by using a new language and describing things which seem good or bad for you. If you think that the ego's actions or thoughts are good; if you see they are really helpful, not only for the ego in that particular moment, but for, so to speak, life itself -- support the ego by writing, speaking and thinking. On the other hand, if you see the ego does something stupid, something leading to bad consequences -- criticize it! Attack the ego with constructive criticism and teach it, teach it, teach it! Don't teach anyone else; teach yourself, teach the ego!
6.
If you want to learn writing, you needn't to care what about you should write. When you spend your time thinking about such and so topics you lose a real purpose of writing. What the real purpose looks like? Writing helps you to figure out who you are; it helps you to change your value structure; it allows you to see what is really important for you. Don't be a fool seeking themes for writing among such stuff which you don't care about. Don't be a fucking idiot who thinks that writing is used predominantly for novels, scientific articles, documents etc.
Writing, in the first place, is a tool for development your thinking. You can use it only for yourself. You can use it only for journaling, you can use it for conceptualizing information which you receive everyday from any sources. Writing keeps you in focusing. When you're doing something and writing about it day by day, you results will be enormously great. Especially, if you are learning a foreign language, writing can pull you toward the highest level of comprehension of that language by making the process more meaningful, more captivate, more alive. Just solve the problem with fear of being honest and you'll achieve everything. To seem smart and to be smart are completely opposite things. A wise man is a fool in crowd's eyes.
7.
Openness. What does it mean? As I understand it now, it is an unconditional honesty. You don't hide yourself in anywhere; neither your actions nor your thoughts should be remained outside your writing. Of course, that doesn't mean you should write about everything you do and think. To recount every minute would not be possible, at least for now. Maybe, when the time comes and technology can record our every stream of consciousness for any time in our life will be as common as, say, recording driving a car using a cheap video recorder.
The unconditional honesty can be achieved when you don't care about the ideals of your actions and thoughts; even knowing they are stupid or meaningless, you face them without avoidance. It also can be achieved when you don't afraid to show your stupidity to others allowing them to compare your "real" stupidity to their own. Insofar as it is a really hard to show your "real" stupidity, this gives you many benefits. When you can admit, truly admit, that you were stupid -- you are close to being able to learn. I mean real learning that 99.9% of people know only in theory. Why? Because they think they are smart. They think they've already know everything! They think that they know enough. They are too naive to believe they know what thinking is -- too naive to believe they know what it means "to know".
8.
There is a blank sheet of paper again. Since an hour it will be filled with a few dozens of sentences which do not exist now anywhere. Can I say that they really do not exist, if I certainly know they will be written? Indeed, if it is inevitable and the page will filled with some words, I can claim that the words do exist now despite more than half a page is still empty. But what is the future will never happen? Recently I watched "Crash Course Literature" and in one episode there was a discussion about a famous writer (I forgot his name and the name of his book) who wrote a story about a man willing to stop the time. It was his idea-fixe. He really thought about the issue, considering it as something achievable, and sought ways for its realization...
How it could be possible to live in the present without moving uninterruptedly somewhere? Would it be still living? What is the damn living? Willing? Let suppose that I'm here and soon I will be there -- at the end of the page -- then the place, in which I will have come, exist now. It's not the future. Yes, I know the place exists only as a possibility and there could be tons of different possible places, right? No. The first written sentence has determined the second, the second -- the third etc. If I come back in the same time-space whenwhere the page was started, I necessarily will have gone through the same way which eventually will have led to the end. I mean "this percise end."
9.
Comparing writing the "Hour of Thinking" with playing video games, i.e. "Warcraft 3FT", I find many analogies. Really, I'd played thousands of games and then written thousands of pages before I figured it out. Each game can be considered as creating special units and controlling these units such that they interact with each other very effectively. The same can be said about writing, especially about such sort of writing like this: There are units -- words; I'm trying to organize them in an effective order and the goal is to attack stupidity. My own foolishness is the enemy in the game and developing knowledge by this exercise I fight with it day by day.
I could recommend to everyone, who is addictive from a game-passion and wants to quit, using this kind of writing therapy. There is no big difference whether you invest your time in playing or writing -- you will get the same emotions. However, writing gives to you much more opportunities and makes you stronger. If you spend one hour per day playing Dota, Starcraft, whatever -- since a year you will be just a little bit better player; whereas one hour per day spent for writing will have made you a completely different person. It also would give to you over 300 pages of information about yourself. The better you know yourself the better you know others. Knowing others you can predict their actions and interact with them extremely effective. You also will be able to communicate with others much more powerfully because the daily writing enormously enhance your communicative skill. And even if you don't want to communicate with others there is no a better way to achieve that, but the daily writing.
10.
Well, let's talk about philosophy. What is the opposite pole of so-called "love to thinking, wisdom, truth etc."? Is it foolishness? Ignorance? Maybe stupidity? Self-delusion? How one could love such things? Is it really possible to love foolishness? If we compare the wisdom with a woman, as it had done in the introduction of Nietzsches's 'Beyond Good and Evil’, and then will ask how much ugly the woman should be to resemble the foolishness in itself, we can find out that all women comparing with thinking, wisdom, truth etc are obviously ugly. The same could be said about men. Roughly speaking, all human beings are not deserved any attention when we start to speak about the real knowledge.
Coming back to the subject, it could be said that the opposite pole of philosophy is philanthropy (in above sense). Wow! If you develop your passion toward some woman or man you can't be truly a philosopher. Of course, you can love both wisdom and someone (i.e. wisdom and yourself), but in this case neither wisdom nor someone will actually love you. Ok, maybe someone will, but wisdom will certainly not. Wisdom loves you only if you are ready to sacrifice everything for her, completely cut out all your addictions and devote a whole life seeking truth, real knowledge, wisdom and so forth. Otherwise, you can be killed by wisdom, as it happened with some Nietzsche, who decided that it is possible to love simultaneously her and a cute, frivolous Russian girl.
11.
What does it mean "to love wisdom"? Well, let's start from the verb. Could "to love" be equal "to wish"? Or it should be "to wish" + "to desire" + "to like" + "to move towards" + "to pay enormous attention" + "to sacrifice all for..." = "to love"?
I know the love is a merely abstract notion and every one figures it out in a different way, a different degree, a different perception, etc. Romeo's love to Juliet is not the same as Antony's love to Cleopatra. I also can consider such kinds of love as the mother's love to her baby, a baby's love to its toys, a poet's love to his poems, a man's love to his work, a woman's love to her hair, etc, etc, etc.
Ok, it seems I can give my own definition of the notion. Love is something I think about more than anything else. If I love someone or something, my thoughts direct chiefly at the object. It does not mean I'm thinking about the object uninterruptedly all the time, it means, as it seems to me, I'm thinking about the object when I need not thinking about something I'm involve in. It is rough, but enough for my purpose. Now, there will be an attempt to describe 'wisdom' in last several sentences. There is not enough space for that, but I, at least, should try. Wisdom is "love to thinking", therefore, philosophy (love of wisdom) is going to be "love to love to thinking". But what is thinking?
12.
What is thinking? Perhaps, thinking can be considered as building new concept around "the known". An organism takes its knowledge and starts to build some sorts of structures widening edges of its comprehension. One of the best ways of doing that is observation an organism's actions and meditating upon: What these actions are? Why does an organism do these actions? How these actions connect with actions of other organisms? What is the meaning of these actions?
Here is one example of that. Right now an organism is reading the text. It's looking at sequences of words and trying to find some sense in them. Probably, it's doing that because it's wondering what is thinking, or there could be a great deal of other reasons. Insofar as the organism is in an environment of other organisms its behavior depends upon many factors connected with their actions. One of the functions of organisms' behavior is learning which includes seeking new information. Reading is one of the best ways of receiving new information and if the organism reads the text it could mean it needs learn something the text contains.
Another way of thinking about it can be presented as follow. An organism is writing the text. It is finding some sequences of words in its mind and writing them down. Again, there are many reason of doing that, and it's hard to describe the activity by one or two particular reasons. Perhaps, writing helps to the organism improve its comprehension in its own behavior. Sometimes, it's just an exercise to invest time in. Maybe, it's running from a connection with others; maybe it's running from any meaning, an attempt to create something meaningless deliberately. Is it possible to create something meaningless deliberately?
13.
Is it possible to write something meaningless? Even if I write a sequence of words, or letters, which don't connect in any sense, my writing still would have some meaning. Why? Because of reasons. I can't write something without reasons. There will always be something preceding my writing which causes it. If the reason is strong enough and I can prove it by writing, prove that something I write about is really important, there will be a deep meaning. On the other hand, if I've just decided to exercise my brain and write everything that comes up to me during an hour -- it will be mostly superficial but nonetheless it has some meaning. The reason for writing determines the depth of its meaning. But what determines the reason of writing? I can ask myself, “Why am I writing?” Let's suppose the answer will be, "I do so in order to learn language. I know that writing is the best way for learning languages, and I go through the way as well as I can." Well, then there could be another question: why do I learn language? The strongest reason is that the more meaning will be in my writing. Roughly speaking, I can create meaning as easy as I can produce my writing. But how to create something that is meaningless? Is it really impossible? If I can find a reason for everything I can't say that something meaningless is possible at all. Of course, I could use the word 'meaningless' to describe something unimportant but in the real world it always would be incorrect.
14.
Looking at the history of literature from philosophical perspective it could be noticed that writers not only try to create ideal characters but also recreate them by putting old popular characters into contemporary circumstances and giving them new names. It could be interesting to observe transformation of the fighter, or the lover, but in this case I prefer to pay attention to the thinker. There is no difference between the thinker and the philosopher despite the latter term has more ancient roots. Who is the thinker nowadays? Can we see, hear, and touch him? Where does he hide and from whom? Which name does he dress? Scientist? Man of knowledge? Zne-buddhist? Vlogger? Mathematician? Guru? Coach of motivation? Linguist? Journalist?..
Really, all of these could be thinkers in special circumstances. There are so many types! One who has chosen development of the brain as a strong direction in life can be applied for thousands of deeds. The population of human beings has grown enormously and almost everyone has an access to any knowledge which ever existed. It seems that during 21 century we will get more unbelievably greatest thinkers than had been known during all history of humankind. It's inevitable that at 2050s there will be millions of thinkers of Einstein's level. Millions! Even now, I can see more than 100 000 views under e.g. J.B. Peterson's lections. More than 100 000 views and most of them arrived in 2017 year! The same is in many other cases. It's completely different from emerging the "free" access to books in 15 century. It's a real revolution. Fools will extinct.
15.
The speed of reading. The first question is how does one measure speed? In school, the speed of reading is measured by counting the amount of words read per minute. That's why most schoolboys spend so little time for reading. I use another approach. I count pages I read in a month. I realized the importance of such a measurement recently, and now I want to conduct an experiment how it would work in practice. When I was engaged in reading in my mother language, I was able to read 2100 pages over 17 days. Of course, sometimes I was able to read more than that, but it was the case when I measured my reading and wrote about it in my diary.
Setting up a task to read at least to 1000 pages in English, it’s pretty easy to focus on reading and make the process more captivate. I know that If I am able to read 1000 pages per month and maintain the speed over a long period of time, e.g. a year, I will know English better than 90% of native speakers because half of them don't read at all. All I need to achieve the speed is time and great books. I have both plus the internet. Here is a strategy for beginners: week 1-- 1 page per day. At least one page. Week 2 -- 2 pages and so on. A few more than half a year and the sufficient amount of pages will be achieved. Don't forget to stick a progress list on the wall in your room!
16.
How to become an expert in writing? Why is it important? What does writing mean for life? What does it mean for me? Why have people started to write? There is a great deal of information about it in the internet, in books, etc., but let's make some assumptions: Shaping knowledge? Counting? Making science? Art?
Obviously, writing is a very effective way to develop everything what people do. It helps focusing attention on some particular issues in order to explore different viewpoints. Using writing and trying to shape your real knowledge, developing your own language, you can learn any subject as quickly as possible. Especially it refers to languages. In the real world there is no one, or two, or three kinds of English, there are as many English languages as people who speaks and write in it. Every person uses his or her own English. There is no common English at all. If you begin to develop your own English and learn from the smartest human beings to imitate their language, you eventually become one of them. If you can admit that you are a fool, it gives you opportunity to grow. You can say, for example, "Ok, I see I am a fool, I can't speak, write etc. Here are many smart men and women. What are they speaking about? What are they doing? How? Can I do the same? Can I do it better than they?"
17.
Language as the most powerful invention of mankind.
Do human beings really invent language? Or, maybe, language invents human beings? That's a questionable question which can't be properly understood till we don't know what is language and who are human beings? Of course we can know it only from "first person experience". Assume language is something that can be used to control behavior of human beings and, vise versa, human beings are organisms controlled by language. Then, let's suppose language was invented but human beings to control themselves. Does not sound great, right? Something invents something in order to control itself -- there should be obvious misstep. But what if the nature creates language to control human beings? Well, are not human beings the part of the nature? The conclusion will be the same: Something creates something to control itself, right? No. In this case it will be a little bit different: Something creates something to control a part of itself. Moreover, the better the creation becomes the more effective control we get. Hence we can say that 'to live according to the nature' is to help the nature developing language...
Recently I thought about methods of improving my English trying to analyze many of my actions and finding abstract examples which could describe them with maximizing certainty. I've found the good analogy in comparison between seeking the best knowledge and chasing the best girl. You find one, focusing at her till it become boring, and go towards another repeating the circle endlessly. And there is something you shouldn't miss. The next must be better than the last.
18.
Writing As A Tool For Accumulating Attention.
Writing can be extremely useful for focusing on anything. Even if you write down only one sentence every day, i.e., "I want to think in English", it helps you to focusing your attention on a particular task uninterruptedly such that you’ll becoming more and more engaged in it. If you are able to devote only 10 minutes per day to write down several sentences, it'll improve tremendously your ability to focusing. The more time you can spend daily on writing and focusing your attention on a particular task the higher results you'll receive. Well, it's an obvious feature but why spend time articulating these nooby things? Everyone knows that writing helps heighten attention regarding to anything that is written down. Sure, but how many people do you know who spend a half hour each day writing about what they are doing? Perhaps there are many people who keep their diaries, but it's not the same. A diary is just A diary. The tool for accumulating attention is "the hour of thinking". It's like meditation, but instead of contemplating your breathing you are focusing on your thoughts. You don't want to stop them by eliminating your inner dialogue; you set up the opposite target and your issue is to develop the dialogue as much as possible. The deeper you can go into your thoughts and clarify them by writing the closer you are to comprehending how it works. When you have a daily hour of writing, your «capital» of attention will be as different as the amount of metaphysical numbers, which people call money, that Bill Gates has compared to the wealth of your neighbor. You'll literally be able to invest your attention in everything, developing any skill you wish, improving any ability you have, and achieving any goals you set.
19.
Speaking Exercise As A Tool For Focusing Attention.
Again, the exercise can be used for focusing on everything, but it the case of learning languages its usefulness is more than obvious. Creating a habit to speak in front of a camera during 5-10 minutes each day, or developing the habit up to several speeches per day, it's easy to see how far the exercise can push you ahead. If you're learning a target language and maintaining to speak each day during a month, it'll give you more than 3 hours of speaking practice. Doing it during a whole year, you'll have received 40 hours of the practice. I mean it's just a habit. The speaking with yourself by using the camera can be compared with smoking. Indeed each smoker spends 10-20 minutes every day to disturb his/her thinking by cigarettes and yet hardly thinks that altering the habit by speaking exercise, he or she can completely change the condition of his/her body. Ok, it's going to become boring.
The first question which should be considered here is what shall I speak to myself? Let's suppose I meet a friend, i.e. during a walk, and was asked, as usual, about my deeds. Let's suppose the friend is extremely curious and he wants to know everything I could tell to him. The camera is your friend and you can tell everything what's happening with you to it. Taking into account that we're considering the issue of focusing attention, it's reasonable to tell about your goals and accomplishments. It's possible to start with the question, "What should I do in order to be in the place I want to be?" If you've just begun learning a new language you can say, "Ok, I'm here, I want to be there, what should I do for that?" Then you just answer at the question finding something you should do in near future. Then you're doing that, coming back to your friend (the camera) and telling everything you've done, felt thought etc. Than again -- the question: here-there-whatshouldIdo, actions and so on...