Notes added after Gabe’s talk:
Some tools, techniques and strategies to avoid bias, manipulation, mistakes, blind spots etc in your life and personal growth:
- Study logical fallacies, cognitive biases and conditions that lead to ignorance, mistakes and a lack of discernment in general
- Develop deep self-knowledge – study everything you can about yourself (your strengths, weaknesses, principles, shadow, ego, defense mechanisms, will, subtle energy, transcendent experiences, etc)
- Apply the “Is this true?” technique – apply question to something in your reality, focus your attention on this for for at least several days to a week at least and see what comes to you. Apply discernment when evaluating what comes to you.
- Fact-checking / reality test as much as possible when evaluating things, including yourself. This includes spiritual and psychic “capacities” such as intuition as well – test them before
- Use fact tools such as fact-checking websites when necessary
- Develop critical thinking as much as possible
- Develop fearlessness towards the “brutal and honest” truth about yourself and the world
- See theories as movable and testable hypotheses as much as possible, even if they seem very “certain” in your reality
- Maintain and cultivate the experimenter and investigator in yourself.
- Have more spiritual and psychic experiences to increase your self-knowledge and knowledge of the world, especially it’s “multidimensional” aspects
- Study history which develops one’s contextual intelligence when analyzing current events and phenomena and increases one’s big picture awareness.
- Cultivate a desire for truth and develop truthful living – be as coherent and incorruptible as possible in what you think, what you say, and what you do – maximal coherence and integrity
Gabe’s upcoming events / courses: http://www.gabrielsereni.com/events.html
Discerning Truth and Reality in Personal and Spiritual Growth
As we go through our own journey in life and grow personally or spiritually, we face numerous challenges. Finding truth, wisdom, and properly using the process of discernment is one such area of challenge. But what is “truth” and and how can we know “it”? What is “real” or what is “reality”? How can we detect, navigate or avoid falsehoods, manipulation, cognitive bias, logical fallacies, pseudoscience, scientism, spiritual bypassing, pseudoskepticism, dogma, groupthink, superstition, blind spots, and other traps in our process of personal and spiritual growth?
In this talk Gabriel will explore these and other questions drawing from his own experiences as well as research in cognitive psychology, transpersonal psychology, parapsychology, spiritual wisdom traditions and history.
In this talk we will:
- Evaluate how the concepts of truth, wisdom, reality and the process of discernment work, and their role in our personal growth process.
- Explore advanced discussions such as the relationship between belief systems and spiritual and psychic experiences, including common mistakes people make in their interpretation of these experiences.
- Look at challenges facing much of the public at this time including fake news, gaslighting, whataboutism, etc., and what this means for society and us.
- Explore case studies and “discernment” challenges that occur in our personal, spiritual and psychic growth, and how we use the right tools and techniques to navigate or avoid them.
- Cover logical fallacies and cognitive biases that cause us to make mistakes in life or decisions we make about what is true or not.
See how some of the fascinating findings in non-local states of awareness such as remote viewing and out-of-body experience can better inform us in the process of discernment and our “construction” of reality.
Bio: Gabriel Sereni is a researcher, speaker, and coach with a degree in psychology and philosophy. He has served in various leadership positions in non-profit organizations involved in the scientific study of transcendent experiences and psi phenomena including IANDS (International Association for Near-Death Studies) and the IAC (International Academy of Consciousness). For over fifteen years he has given lectures and workshops worldwide on topics related to psychology, personal and spiritual growth, transcendent experiences, history and science. He has over two decades of experience studying and applying numerous practices for personal and spiritual growth and is an experienced meditator and instructor. From these practices he has had numerous experiences regarding non-local states of awareness including lucid dreams, remote viewing and out-of-body experiences and actively researches these phenomena. He can be reached at www.gabrielsereni.com which contains his upcoming events and research. He currently resides in Boulder, Colorado.
Cost for buffet luncheon and lecture is now $23.00 (same price without lunch).
We can accept CASH or CHECK only – payable at the door.
Friday, January 5, 2017
Buffet begins at 11:00 AM and presentation starts at 11:30 AM
NEW LOCATION:
Nissi’s Entertainment Venue & Event Center
2675 Northpark Drive Lafayette, CO 80026
(On the SE corner of 95th St and Arapahoe Rd)
