Introduction
As humans, we are all allocated a piece of equipment, the humangee. This manual seeks to help you understand that device—less in the physical sense and more in the mental and software aspects, which ultimately control the instrument.
We start with the position that you are a custodian for the device and attempt to provide an objective view of the human use of mind in its environment. However, this relationship and description will evolve as you move through the manual, and the more subtle aspects of the software and being will become better understood over time.
This manual aims to enable you, the custodian, to better:
· understand your full device and mind.
· gain clarity on your position on Earth and in the human version of time.
· contextualize common misconceptions.
· gain clarity on natural laws.
· understand prevailing paradigms of life through exploring helpful ideas and terminology.
· unlock concepts that your device knows inherently.
· discover and use practical tools to assist your device in daily living.
· supplement other self-help books, podcasts, blogs, apps, and videos.
In doing so, this manual hopes to enable that life to be appreciated and enjoyed. If, on reading this book, you take appropriate action, you and your loved ones will find your lives changed for the better forever. You might even consider keeping this manual in the smallest one-person sitting room in your dwelling (usually your bathroom)!
Why is it called Humangee 101
A draft manual for living
There are many questions about humans, the mind, the body, and existence. Think back to studying English literature at school. Maybe you read a poem and then the class went line by line to dissect and analyze what the poet meant or intended.
Given the poet’s background and place in time, what were the various things that may have influenced their observations? Who or what were they referring to, and what in their past life brought them to write this deep, insightful prose?
Following a discussion with a writer, they assessed that it was probably just a nice bright day where the poet experienced the circumstances differently than on another day. It was a fresh observation, written to express what they saw and felt. The thoughts and inspiration came to them, and within sixty minutes the draft was written.
Life, mind, and inner harmony are not unlike that (i.e., we can make something very complex out of something that is quite natural and simple). However, there is an innate knowledge that we need to be able to tap into, that we must learn to access. And there are paradigms and ground rules that need to be understood and set straight in order to achieve our natural harmonious state.
Hence the book is called Humangee 101, because in the US system of education, the 101 courses are generally the introduction level, which allow for the exploration of a specific topic or subject area. At this level, the course is designed to provide the core information to enable the student to establish whether they would like to investigate the subject further.
Humangee 101 was designed to serve the same purpose.
Ultimately, this manual aims to provide an overview that is understandable, relatable, and usable. It hopes to give the humangee enough information to decide if they would like to study and apply it more.
By virtue of buying this book, you have self-selected. You are self-motivated to find better answers to the bigger fundamental questions of life.
You are off to a good start. You will spend a lifetime with your humangee. How you train, retrain, or manage it will set the tone and direction for the rest of your life.
Section 1 provides background knowledge and reframes some aspects of how we humans think about our device. It asks questions that you may or may not have considered and provides some references that may be helpful in ensuring a well-informed foundation for the material to follow. It also asks the questions from a perspective that stimulates a different view or appreciation. It may even convey a sometimes-helpful starting position, allowing the custodian to feel I don’t really know what I don’t know.
The chapters in section 2 detail the framework of how the humangee mind components operate. This provides explanation and recommendations for a happy, productive, contented life. These are based on sound principles, outlined throughout the manual.
A symbol in the footer of each page, and within the text, serves to act as a reminder to pause.
The icon comprises three buttons: Pause recommends moments of reflection throughout the day, Go reflects focused attention in activities, and Stop reflects complete rest and sleep when appropriate.
This pause may seem innocuous or irrelevant, but it is a mechanism for developing a habit of pausing regularly—learning to be awake, in the present, right now.
Consider it as the wedge of awakeness coming into your reading and mind activity. One of your tasks is to make a habit of pausing to come into the present moment (1–4 seconds is enough).
This manual is intentionally uncluttered. Therefore, many concepts lack examples and scenarios. This will no doubt leave gaps in understanding or make it seem devoid of clarifications.
However, unanswered questions are meant to be pursued by the user. As we know, it is only the answers that you are satisfied with that you will live by.
Good luck.
Chapter 1
Getting to Know HUMANGEE
It’s your birthday. The first day of your life on planet Earth.
The device is wrapped up and primed for a whole new adventure.
It’s like getting your own Puppy Humanoid Device.
On the box it says:
Homo sapiens – Unregulated, Morphed, Animate Natural Growth Evaluation Experiment
Meeting Humangee
Humangee are provided free to parents and ultimately to the custodian. Parents generally take responsibility until a humangee is capable of fending for itself. At this stage in its life, it is helpful to really understand and appreciate the custodian’s responsibilities. This is clarified throughout the manual and with some satire in the Software End Users License Agreement (EULA) in Appendix 3.
Word is that they are an advanced AI (Artificial Intelligence) robotic device capable of engaging in work, transportation, friendship, enjoyment, and more. There have been a few iterations to date. The specification of the hardware has now become relatively standard. Humangee has an extended-life battery that typically lasts up to eighteen hours before requiring recharging and a good emergency power backup system.
Humangee has a sophisticated bioengineering design with multiple interconnected and interdependent systems with remote failover systems. Hence, if one part is not operating properly, other components or systems may compensate. It has multiple input/output systems, a large and flexible random-access memory, and a superb storage system.
Not unlike a puppy at the start, humangee needs to be properly trained. If the unit is not managed correctly, it will develop inappropriate habits that are detrimental to itself, the custodian, and the wider community. If allowed to develop incorrectly, it has the capacity to become apathetic and lethargic. It will lose its spark, its sense of fun, and its ability to provide the joy and stimulation for which it was originally designed.
The description of and background to the name “humangee” is overviewed in chapter 3.
Beware Ego Virus
A frequent current problem is the development of Ego Virus, which causes the device to misinterpret reality and see ego and desire-driven outcomes as the aim. When humangee fails to fulfill these desires or encounters other challenges, their contentedness level drops below the healthy range.
This can be quite challenging for most, as they find it difficult to get the level back up once it has dropped. From an output perspective, if it has dropped, they will get up and go about their day-to-day activities but implement them in a less stimulated or joyous way than previously. Their interaction with others is somewhat muted, and they often experience a hint of resistance. For humangee, this can sometimes be tinged with disappointment and occasionally irritation.
Allowed to Evolve Naturally
The manufacturer-designer has historically not issued an owner’s manual for the device, as it was keen to understand the full range of characteristics, personas, attributes, skills, and capacities that would evolve.
To date, natural changes have enabled devices to grow and evolve unconstrained in many aspects and develop unanticipated capabilities. The devices have uncovered a range of new modes of transport and ways of harvesting the fruits of nature on Earth.
Collectively, they have teamed together to solve very complex problems and to develop technological capabilities that are excellent and almost god-like.
Physical World versus Subtle World
In crude terms, there are two key realms in which humangee operate: the mind and the heart. These ultimately correspond to the physical and subtle worlds that we experience.
The physical world is the area where the thinking mind operates. It has evolved with human civilization and comprises that which we can appreciate and experience through the gates of our senses. It includes everything that we see, hear, and touch all around us. It includes the people and experiences we have on an everyday basis. We experience this physical world with our body and our mind. Parents and teachers encourage us to use our thinking mind. Throughout life and in school, through work and in university, we’re taught or encouraged to think. We are taught that you need to think to survive or to get ahead. Over a lifetime, many humangee morph into thinking addicts, losing contact with or appreciation of what is going on in the heart.
Humangee wonder why there is misalignment in their thinking and actions; they wonder why discontentment arises that they cannot explain or comprehend.
By comparison, the subtle state is one of tranquility—presence without agitation. It is experienced in an absence of thought and desire. These characteristics of the heart are less well understood because we have been taught only to measure using our five senses and our externally focused thinking function. Hence, many people do not appreciate that this subtle aspect of our inner being exists and needs to be addressed and catered to. As the book progresses, we will show that the paradigm and picture painted by society is through a set of lenses that are not entirely accurate.
It is helpful for each humangee to consider the balance between the physical and subtle worlds, between the mind and heart. Should some form of equilibrium or alignment exist? And if it should, but is not accommodated, what are the consequences? Part of the purpose of this manual is to provide insight, to understand that this still subtle state or aspect is accessible. It also presents tools on how to access, use, and enjoy it, and thus restore some balance.
Environment and Leadership Challenges
Individual humangee often make poor development and custodian choices, which have resulted in less-than-ideal device characteristics. Collectively, device communities have evolved with inconsistently implemented programming, not living by the original laws. For example, they only see one side of their being—the transient, changing, physical world part. They completely miss the permanent subtle world part.
This results in significant numbers of discontent humangee, doing increasingly self-sabotaging things. It is not necessarily helped that they are lacking well-informed role models, custodians, or wise leadership.
The net effect is a divergence from the design norms. The Ego Virus is spreading and is already yielding bad outcomes across the humangee database population. It, along with other misconceptions, results in the humangee not appreciating its capability, its uses, or its purpose.
In essence, our poor humangee no longer knows who or what s/he is, or what s/he is capable of. This is a concern at one level, where it would be good to see if humangee can self-fix. If the virus continues unchecked, it has scope to destroy the Earth ecosystem and humangee life as we know it.
Discussing Our Humangee on a Third-Party Basis
Taking this approach as a human-like entity is helpful. As custodians, we have been given the opportunity to nurture, manage, have fun with, work with, enjoy, experiment with, share challenges with, spend time with, love, go through hard times with, and have total responsibility for humangee. The third-party view allows us to be more objective in how we look after another similar intelligent embodiment that has the same characteristics (namely ourselves).
We can even brush its teeth.
There is a mixing of reference to humangee, human, the being, and us, as we explore how best to manage the device and understand its environment. (humangee is also the plural). These are all synonymous and interchangeable.
As the custodian, when these concepts have been read and understood, there is a clear direction and choice on whether to lead our humangee progressively to contentment or to a lesser alternative.
So, to start, we need to understand a bit about the basis on which the humangee has been designed and evolved.
In determining a true understanding of the more subtle aspects of the mind, we cannot use the same tools as for the physical sciences—measurement against sensory variables (sight, sound, feeling, taste, and smell). Neither can we use our known physical-world constants like gravity, the speed of light, measures of hardness, etc.
With regard to the subtle aspects of the mind and its functioning, we can use objective, awake, informed observational assessments of real examples from our daily lives, where the nuances and peripheral context is understood. In this way there is an appreciation of the scenarios, timing, history, impacts of various actions, and the associated outcomes.
Thus you can test principles for yourself and others over time to validate or refute the various concepts. Hence the positioning is that these principles are based on practical observations. The findings from this more subjective but voluminous critique process is consistent in the everyday lives of millions of humans over many years. It has been done by philosophers throughout history and is a core practice for the students of this area. Students on this path veer away from theory and become firmly grounded in practice, trials, tribulations, and minutiae—the reality of daily life. This is what makes it real, believable, acceptable, and thus actionable.
At a personal level, each individual needs to appreciate the nuances from their own perspective. Thus, it is paramount for each of us to do our own assessments and reach our own conclusions.
References to spirituality, religions, and concepts beyond what we can demonstrate by personal practical examples are minimized.
So, in simple terms, we know it works but not always why or how it works—maybe a bit like your mobile device.
Unboxing: This is the process when one gets a new bit of tech. Take it out of the box, remove the packaging, assemble it if needed, see it, hold it, find the instructions, and see how it works.
An Instrument for My Use
Humangee comprise more than just a body and a mind. The challenge and adventure is in understanding and using what they have.
Questions Determine Answers
It is vital to appreciate that the questions that we ask ourselves determine the type of answers that we get (e.g., Why are you so bad at this? What is wrong with you today?) If we repeatedly ask the same questions, we get the same type of answers. Most humangee become habitual in the nature and type of questions they ask.
If we ask better or different questions, we get better or different answers (e.g., What are you most enthused about today? What are you most thankful for at the moment? I’m curious, what insight prompted you to reach that conclusion?)
To help us see a bit more clearly, the questions in the following sections are simply to provoke some thought into how you look at your device and help uncover some aspects of how it might operate.
Another way of looking at the questions (and our answers to them) is as a mechanism to muddy the water or scratch the mental record in what we ask of ourselves, as we will then see things in a different and broader way than before. We then have some scope to be even more open-minded or to see from other perspectives.
Understanding the Fundamentals
Consider a humangee a bit like a fantastic spaceship with lots of controls, buttons, and capabilities. Once you’ve unpacked it, what would you do with it?
You might look for an on/off button. Look at the controls to see how you can make it start. Is there a brake or a handbrake, should you want to stop it in a hurry? You may even look for a manual or instructions or ask your parents how it operates. However, they might only be able to understand it a bit more than you, if at all.
You would want to know how it works, what it can do, and what it is designed for. How fast can it go? Are the models that other people have different? What aspects are the same as others’ instruments? How can it be useful to me, my friends, my family?
Where should we keep it? Does it need fuel? Once I have it going, what if some part breaks? What do I do, who do I go to? Who is my mechanic or support person?
How does this thing work?
(Cartoon missing)
Computing Device Aspects
What about the software operating system—how is it managed and kept up to date? What apps does it run, or can it run? If it has an inappropriate program or virus, can I remove it? Is there an antivirus or anti-malware application?
What about security. Can the instrument be phished or hacked? Can other people mess with my applications? Can others see, corrupt, or interfere with my data or programs?
Whether you appreciate it or not, you are the custodian of a phenomenally dexterous, functional, robotic device. Even more relevant, it is a sophisticated piece of computing, storage, and communicating equipment! If managed properly, it will serve you well, but if not, it may not operate the way you would like.
Device Network and Applications
How does my instrument receive inputs and data? How does it output, store, and communicate with others? Do these instruments only communicate on a very local basis (e.g., with Bluetooth), with Wi-Fi in my house/office or immediate vicinity, or with 4G/5G—on all of the time to a wider network?
Is there a wider communication capability among humangee devices or instruments? Are there any central servers in operation or applications that all humangee instruments can avail themselves of?
Do we have a World Wide Web or a mental Facebook, Amazon, or Netflix? Is there a place or process where we get the mental, emotional, and spiritual stuff we need? Is management of the system centralized or decentralized?
How do I fuel or recharge my device? Should I turn it off at night? How do I know if the charge is low? Does it have different stores of charge? Which WhatsApp groups do I share my data, interests, and thoughts with?
The human instrument has both physical aspects that I can see, feel, hear, sense, and touch. But more importantly, it has significant other aspects that are subtle or hidden under the various covers or compartments. These are the ones where there is less clear direction on how they operate and should or could be managed.
(Cartoon missing)
Invest the time & effort to learn how to manage your device
The great news is you CAN learn how to manage it.
You’ll be glad to hear that, like a car or a mobile phone, when you know how to use it, you can have hours, years, and decades of fun and adventure.
However, if you don’t learn to drive and manage it, if you don’t live by the natural laws—like an incompetent, albeit well-meaning, vehicle driver—you will end up either crashing, being crashed into, or drifting into a ditch.
If this happens, will you be able to get up and out on the open road again to tell the tale? Some will learn a bit of how to manage and control the device. Most choose to drive with the radio on, phone in hand, the windscreen translucent with mist and dust, focusing on the peripherals, with low attention or focus on the proper path or road. As a result of poor guidance, most humangee are subject to a constant state of trial and error, hoping for the best.
To use the old cliché: Hope is not a good strategy.
A parallel comparison with a software-based device that we all know and love is helpful, as it allows us to use a recognized concept when explaining the benefits of learning to use the device. We now have a generation of “phone dependents,” those who can’t live without their handset.
Your humangee makes the Apple-Galaxy Home Robot, due to launch in 2046, seem like a child’s toy.
Your device is singularly one of the best designed pieces of equipment and operating environments ever. And what’s more, we all get one for free. And the game is to learn how to use it for survival, enjoyment, and the common good.