Handbook

Guide

It is now approaching noon. Therefore, we have enough light to dedicate ourselves to the manifesto. We want to dedicate ourselves to what unites us and what guides us. The manifesto is our constitution and thus a whole. However, this manual for the manifesto is divided into five sections. Just as our hand is a whole but has five fingers.

You have already encountered the manifesto for the first time in history. Now imagine a Petri dish on which a few happy bacteria are dancing that you cannot recognize with the naked eye. Then you add a drop of a magical substance to this dish. This is new for our bacteria. They sniff it and then taste it very carefully. New generations of bacteria arise that are already familiar with what was once new. So, it's time to give the bacteria a new drop to increase the concentration.

This image serves as a template for our manual. The manifesto is best experienced step by step, or drop by drop. Even though the manifesto is short and comprises only 20 lines, it takes time for these words to unfold within you gradually.

Each of the five drops has its essence. We first explain the essence to you in each section. This is followed by a part that we call Change and Repetition. In this part, we have thought experiments and questions for you to experience the essence yourself.

One more thing: We are not in school here, but in life. You will see that you can only do everything right with the manifesto and also in this manual. The more attention you give to the drops, the more intensively they can work within you.

Now we can get started!

The First Drop. Essence.

Nothing is true.
Everything learns.
Question. Verify.
Understand. Improve.

The first drop contains these four lines. So this is the beginning. It's the thumbs up. These four lines are still somewhat intangible to you. Perhaps you feel these lines as a slight resistance in your stomach. Or maybe you hear a voice that snippily retorts: "Nothing is true? Even this sentence?" It is particularly helpful to first read these four lines out loud. Go ahead! No one is listening except you. In ancient times, it was even the custom to always read texts out loud.

Let's now take the first feeling that has become noticeable. How can nothing be true? There are such things as truths. So, the sun rose this morning and it will set again this evening. This is one description among many possible descriptions. Another possible description is that the Earth will continue to rotate, thus pushing the sun out of sight this evening. But now it's 11 o'clock. That's true. No, that is also a description. Another description is that it's only 9 o'clock in Timbuktu. What time is it on the sun right now? So, let's just note at this point that what we experience can be described with language. Let's also note that there isn't just one description, but a multitude of descriptions.

Now you might argue that this may be the case with subjective experience, but there are natural laws, and they are carved in stone. Natural laws are models, so again, descriptions, not truths. Gravity is a description of a cup shattering as it hits the hard floor. But gravity is a model. We know today that all our models are wrong. So the only question is how wrong the models are and when we will find a better one. 1 + 1 = 2. That is true in the language of mathematics. Within the exact sciences like mathematics, the word truth has a special meaning. But even Kurt Gödel has shown in his incompleteness theorem that with great complexity, systems become contradictory.

Nothing is true. That's tough to swallow. Yes. And this sentence does not sound uplifting at first glance. But this sentence does not stand alone. This sentence belongs to the next one, just as the day belongs to the night.

Everything learns.

The Germans have a very nice word. They call what surrounds us reality. This word, reality, emphasizes an essence. This word emphasizes the effect. In our model, reality as a unity is a constant effect and a constant learning. In our model, there are no truths, because everything is a process. In this reality, direct experiences occur, such as the letter B you are now seeing, or indirect experiences occur, such as the thought "That's tough to swallow." Thoughts, i.e., indirect experiences, can be images, short film sequences. Thoughts can also take the form of an inner voice. As soon as a thought enters our experience, it is usually followed by a more or less strong feeling. Possibly we believe these thoughts when a strong feeling reinforces us. Our model and our view may now seem like hair-splitting to you, and the question arises for you, what does this bring. Quite simply. It brings a freer view. While previously our windshield was often full of thoughts that stubbornly hold on, now thoughts can quickly fly away. The view becomes clear, and we can step on the gas pedal.

Well, then we are now allowed to take the next step and pay more attention to the contents of thoughts. As we have already determined, thoughts can appear as images, but also as spoken sentences. Key word: Inner monologue.

"If no one pays attention, we will all die from climate change!"

Here comes our magical quartet from the first drop into play. Stage free for…

Question. Check. Understand. Improve.

This quartet now begins its play with Question. In our example, the following questions would offer themselves:

Who exactly should pay attention? What should they pay attention to? What should they do? When will we die? How do we know that? Won't we all die anyway? Is the sentence relevant to me right now?

Question is our first soloist. Often, a burst of "why" questions can illuminate the models behind the models and lead to greater clarity. Question. What do you want to achieve? How can you achieve it?

After our first soloist has played, now Check may begin with its virtuoso play. The answers we have received can now be checked:

Are the answers applicable to us? Are the answers coherent? Are the answers complete? Do further questions arise from the answers?

Time to invite our third player on stage: Understand.

Against the backdrop of the questions and their answers, something can become clear. Here the English are to be praised, who use the beautiful word understand for this activity. Understanding described as a stepping back. Understanding as taking a new position in which the previously unclear is embedded in an existing model and thus expands the model.

Now finally our fourth player may step in to complete the piece: Improve. The fruits of our third player can be ideas, impulses, and new perspectives. If something is understood and thus has become clear, then ideas can also emerge on how something can be improved. For example, if a supposed truth has no relevance for you at the moment, it can be filed under the label "Later." Or it may lead to an impulse to see something in a new way or to deal with it in a new way and thereby change it.

Let's summarize the current score. We have a duo working with a quartet. Together they ensure more clarity and thus much better decisions.

All this may now seem quite pompous and strenuous at first glance. To do something so elaborate in the future that has so far been so simple.

As with any change, it is also the case here as it is with riding a bike. It was once laborious to learn to ride a bike and perhaps painful when we crashed on our face. Today we don't even think about it and can even ride with no hands, and some of us even post our new status on social media while doing it if we have to.

The First Drop. Change and Repetition.

Paying attention to what has been said so far and thus allowing it to sink in is already half the battle. Below, we have some simple exercises for you. Speaking of rent. The word 'Miete' has been known in German since the 8th century. Originally, it meant wages and also gift. The fastest way to learn is to practice something daily. The famous five minutes. Through this, both small and large miracles can often occur. For these miracles, sleep, and especially dreaming, where we process what we have learned, is obviously important. If you now firmly associate the exercise with an existing ritual, such as brushing your teeth or your bedtime ritual, then it works particularly well. Let's get started!

Reading: Write the four lines on a small note. Read the lines out loud every day after waking up or before you start your work.

Writing down: If you realize over the course of your day after evaluating a thought that it may be relevant at some time but not now, note the thought in your smartphone or a small notebook.

Word clarification: Write down five words that you encounter daily but only have a vague idea of what they exactly mean. Then take each of these terms and explore it with the help of the magic quartet. You can experiment with terms here as you like. Take terms that are ubiquitous, such as time or sustainability. Another possibility is to take very specific terms that are meaningful to your group, such as the name of a competitor or a special technical term from your work.

Sentence clarification: Now create a list of five sentences that you hear over and over again from yourself or others but that seem suspect to you. Commonplace phrases such as "Nothing comes from nothing" or "Money doesn't buy happiness" are popular here. Then take these sentences and examine them with the help of the magic quartet.

Casual conversation clarification: Now that you've become a bit more practiced, you can also try it during a dialogue about something unimportant. This can be the chit-chat over the fence with your neighbor or a little gossip at the local bakery. Write down a few sentences after the conversation and illuminate them with the help of the magic quartet.

Reading clarification: Now try with the reading of a book or an article. Read the content with your new glasses and this newly sharpened attention. What conclusions do you come to?

Expert clarification: Keep a small logbook in the future where you enter surprises that occur in the fields you count as your circle of competence. These unexpected events are particularly valuable. If you research these, you will get important impulses for fundamental improvements.