Mastery checklists

Chapter I. The Alternatives Model

Study guide section for this chapter →

Terms you must own

  • The Guardian's riddle — state the riddle and what the Guardian says you fail to understand.
  • Transurfing — define it in one sentence and name the two things it replaces.
  • Variability — state the postulate and say why he starts there.
  • Alternatives space — define it and name what it is not.
  • Sector — say what one holds and what distance between two sectors measures.
  • Script and scenery — define each and say which one a change of "theatre" alters.
  • Lifeline — define it and say what makes two lifelines near or far.
  • Material realization — say what moves and what stays still.
  • Thought energy — say where it comes from, what it does and what he admits he cannot explain.
  • Choice versus wish — state the difference and what he withholds until later.

Carried forward

None. This is the first section.

Objectives

0 of 14 ticked

  • recall Evidence: write both in two sentences, then say what "apples fall to the sky" stands for. [0:11:32] [0:14:14]

  • explain Evidence: write the sentence, then list the two strategies the narrator tried before the dream. [0:08:13] [0:14:51] [0:17:18]

  • explain Evidence: answer review question 3 in the guide. [0:18:02]–[0:26:21]

  • explain Evidence: write three sentences, using the blind men or the atom models as the example. [0:27:34] [0:34:24] [0:35:30]

  • explain Evidence: write a two-sentence definition without the words "field" or "template". [0:37:27] [0:38:20] [0:39:50]

  • recall Evidence: draw a few sectors on paper and label the script and scenery of two of them. [0:39:50]

  • explain Evidence: draw three lifelines at increasing distance and caption each with its theatre equivalent. [0:40:49] [0:41:42]

  • explain Evidence: answer review question 5 in the guide, then add the film-frame image of time. [0:43:46]–[0:51:11]

  • explain Evidence: write the definition, then one sentence on why he says the mechanism hardly matters. [0:53:03] [0:54:14] [0:59:59]

  • apply Evidence: pick a recurring situation from your week (a colleague, a commute) and write the four steps for a hostile attitude and for a changed one. [1:00:55]–[1:02:08]

  • apply Evidence: do Desk work 1 in the guide. [1:03:05]–[1:04:26]

  • analyse Evidence: write one paragraph using the gallery-room image; answer review question 9. [1:02:08] [1:04:26] [1:07:50]

  • analyse Evidence: write the two senses of "choose" he uses; he gives the conditions only later, so mark this as open. [0:30:46] [1:05:36] [1:17:38]

  • analyse Evidence: write the test, then two limits (for example, science used as analogy, one person's report); do Desk work 3. [0:28:20] [1:08:50] [1:17:38]

Readiness check

Answer these without looking anything up.

  1. What does the Guardian say the narrator has the right to do, and what does he say the narrator fails to understand?
  2. Why does Zeland say no model of the world can be proven, and what one fact does he say every model shares?
  3. What is in a sector, and what happens to the difference between two sectors as they move farther apart?
  4. In the cooling-ring or wave image, what moves and what stays put? Which part of his model does each stand for?
  5. Describe how thought energy leads to a different lifeline. What causes the shift?
  6. Why does battling an unwanted situation make more of it? What is the alternative he offers?
  7. Is a wish a choice? What is the single quality he says separates them, and when does he promise to explain it?
  8. In what sense is fate preordained, and where does religion go wrong, according to him?

The next chapter assumes you hold one idea: your thoughts select which sector of the alternatives space becomes your reality, so what you attend to and fight against steers your lifeline.