Vishen Lakhiani explains why many creative insights arise outside logical settings (e.g., shower, nature) by introducing the concept of 'perceptual diversity'—the ability to access alternate states of consciousness. He surveys anthropological precedents and four methods to reach altered states (plant medicine, neurotraining, meditation, breathwork), explains brainwave levels (beta, alpha, theta, delta) and argues meditation—specifically the Silva Method—is the most practical. He recounts his personal success with Silva, his collaboration with Jose Silva's family, and invites viewers to a Mindvalley masterclass (Silva Ultramind).
Chapters
Why is it that so many great ideas, so many great insights don't come to you when you're in a boardroom or in front of a whiteboard, but when you're walking through nature, or when you're in the shower, or when you're in meditation, or when you're on holiday on a beach? There's a reason for this, and it has to do with a concept called perceptual diversity. Five years ago, if I told you the story I'm about to tell you now, people would think I was insane. But today, what I'm about to share is becoming more and more commonplace among top creatives, engineers, and CEOs all around the world. You've seen MindValley grow. If you've been following me for the last five or six years, you've seen MindValley grow really rapidly. But what people may not know is that a large chunk of the ideas that I come up with, I do not come up with at work. I come up with when I'm in my own head in various levels of consciousness. There's a term for this. It's called perceptual diversity. It's the idea of being able to tap into alternate ways of seeing the world beyond just the waking state. And in fact, anthropologists who study indigenous cultures find that 90% of the cultures across the world have some form of altered state in their culture. For example, meditation in India, martial arts practices in the east, smoking tobacco around an outdoor fire in a Native American culture, or ayahuasca in indigenous Amazonian culture. All of these cultures are using different tools to put the human mind into an altered state of existence. But what has happened over the last 200 years is that as we entered the age of rationality, we rightfully said that science has all the answers. This is partially true. Science has a lot of answers. But there are things that we couldn't explain with science that we chose to discard because we couldn't fully understand them. And one of the things we lost is what scientists call perceptual diversity. Perceptual diversity is the ability to perceive information, ideas, insights through altered states of mind. Just as we're losing biodiversity, as we move into this modern age, we're losing perceptual diversity. But what's happening now is that people are beginning to rediscover perceptual diversity. One of my friends, a brilliant American CEO, told me this. For example, he said, if you're a CEO in Silicon Valley and you are not using plant medicine, you are at a Competitive disadvantage. He asked me not to share his name because he too is afraid of being judged. But he has a point. Plant medicine is one of the ways to access altered states. In fact, in Daniel Goldman's book, Altered Traits, he says there are four ways to access altered states, to tap any into these, these ideas, these insights. Plant medicine is powerful, but there's also neurotraining, meditation, and breath work. All four of these are powerful tools you can use to access these states of mind that modern society has just beaten out of us. And when you're in these states of mind, remarkable ideas can flow. But all three of these have some issues. Ayahuasca requires a lot of time investment. Neurotrading is expensive, expensive breath work is unpredictable. You often don't know the insights you're going to get. They are all remarkable. But Daniel Goldman says the number one is meditation. Now, in terms of meditation, it's so commonplace today, there are a gajillion meditation apps you can jump on. But there is one form of meditation that I think is the best out there for inducing altered states and teaching you how to tap into these altered states of mind and to shift your reality. And that is something called the Silva Method. More on that in a bit. First, what are the altered states? So there are different ways to measure altered states of mind. The waking level is called the beta frequency. You can measure this with an EEG device. It's a frequency that pulses in your brain as you relax. As you go into states of meditation, you go into what is called the alpha level. The alpha level is really useful for mental clarity, for creativity, for self. Self hypnosis. You can program your brain like you program a VCR and for healing. But you can train yourself to go deeper to what is called the theta level of mind. The theta level of mind is where you often get intuitive or psychic downloads. Using the Silver Method, I learned to be awake at the theta level of mind. The theta level of mind is that level of mind that some people theorize Nikola Tesla was in when he would describe this incredible insights popping into his head. And finally, there's Delta. Delta is where you're mostly asleep. Delta is associated with the act of creating coincidences or bending reality. Very few people learn to utilize the delta level of mind. But there are ways to get there, and the Silver Method teaches you that. I stumbled upon the Silver Method in Silicon Valley in 2001. I was, and if you've read my book the Code of the Extraordinary Mind, you know the story. I was struggling. I was failing in pretty much multiple dimensions of life. I discovered the Silver Method. I took a class. It blew my mind. It changed my world. I got promoted four times in the next three months. I started having flashes of waking intuition. And so I became a silver teacher. For five years I was teaching the Silver Method. And eventually I decided to start mindvalley. Today, the Silver Method is still one of the foremost tools I use to navigate the world. But the founder of the Silva Method, though Jose Silva, passed away in 1999. And so I'd have to learn his tools through classes from instructors and books. But over the last 20 years, I've worked with Jose's family to put together the most advanced pieces of the Silva Method and to create a new program on mindvalley called Silva Ultramine. I was honored when Jose's family asked me to be the new face of Silva ultramine. This is 20 years in the making and it's now available in Mindvalley. And I want to invite you to experience this free in this upcoming masterclass. Enroll in the link above and what you're going to learn in this masterclass. It's going to be about 90 minutes, but you're going to learn how to access altered states of mind. I'm going to give you the methodology to teach you how to get to the first level, which is the alpha level. And I'm going to show you what to do with the alpha level of mind to reprogram your beliefs and your self identity, and even to accelerate your body's natural rate of healing. All of us have to teach ourselves to move from what Steven Kotler calls monophasic existence, which is living in one level of mind, to polyphasic existence, which is being able to tap into different levels of consciousness to accomplish what we are here to accomplish as human beings. And I can't wait to introduce you to some of these ideas. These are a key part of how I live, how I design my life, how I function in the world. And I think everyone needs to be learning this. So I've been experimenting and teaching this to hundreds of people. I did a class here in Estonia with 500 people in a room in the biggest conference center here. And now I want to bring this to the masses on mindvalley. So go check out this masterclass.
