From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 3 - November 1991
Classic Comment
By Terry E. Scott, England
It's not the same!
Some of the simplest pieces of tech are the most powerful, and such is
the case with differentiation. It is to mind and spirit as early
morning exercise is to the body.
Light-yet-effective differentiation can be run in solo mode without a
meter. It can be practised in harmony with another activity, typically
when one is walking through town or countryside yet has some attention
to spare.
Differentiation, employed without undue formality, also works on
people who have never heard of the tech. And it runs well in a formal
auditing session. Further, it can be used as a light assist.
Here is the essence of the technique: Notice two similar objects, and
spot a difference between them.
The process can be enhanced easily enough. First, spot not merely one
but several differences between items. Second, begin with terminals
that are not very similar - then, later in the session, discover items
that are very similar indeed at first glance.
One will come to know when to quit on one terminal and so on to
another. A meter is not necessary.
Through a concentrated session of knowing differentiation, a being
becomes more aware of his surroundings, others and himself. Logic and
intuition may expand as side-benefits, for computation requires
comparison and association.
Association - noticing similarities - is of course a part of any games
condition, but many beings do too much of this and too little
intentional differentiation.
I "re-discovered" differentiation a few years ago when I used to do
two and half hours' train travel every day. "Hmm... Notice that light
fitting and the one that's a yard away from it: the one on the left
has its lamp on - fine; there's a scratch on the shade of the right-
hand one - okay; oh, they are that much space apart - very good!
Notice those two windows..." All done non-verbally, in fact, sheer
lookingness.
In passing, differentiation manages to accomplish locational
processing on a self-audit basis. Differentiation would make it
possible to snap oneself out of any non-optimum condition. Above all,
stable gains are possible in the present.
Differentiation is one of the lightest yet most powerful right-in-the-
here-and-now techniques available.