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PREDICTIONS FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM by Alfred A. Barrios, Ph.DAbstract The greatest problem that we face today is that it is very hard for people to change. Science has advanced man’s potential for a longer and happier life in many areas but is still very lacking in the one area that holds the key to bringing this potential to it full fruition: man’s great difficulty in breaking free of negative programming. We have in recent decades made great progress in programming and reprogramming computers but when it comes to the main computer – the human brain – we are still very much in the dark. And unless this key is found soon the world is in danger of being totally destroyed. Armageddon is not far away. To quote from the introduction to my book, Towards Greater Freedom & Happiness (TGFH): "It has been said many times that man is a creature of habit. What does this mean exactly? It means that much of our behavior has become so deeply ingrained that it is habitual, involuntary or sub-conscious (i.e., beyond our conscious control). This of course is no problem if all of our behavior happens to be positive. Unfortunately, we know that most of the time this is just not the case. Thus, although many would not care to admit it, most of us are not really free. How many of us don't often find ourselves prisoners of our negative habits, attitudes and emotions? Even when we know the original cause of our negative behavior, it usually doesn't seem to help for it has become involuntary or automatic. The harder we struggle to free ourselves, the more tightly entangled we become. The major problem with man throughout the ages has been that he hasn't really developed a systematic method of controlling these negative reflexes. For the most part, they have controlled him instead. Yes, there have been numerous attempts to transcend this mental imprisonment. These include sorcery, religion, eastern disciplines like meditation and yoga, and most recently, western psychology. And these attempts have been successful in reaching a certain percentage of people. But there still remains a very large percentage who have yet to be reached. And we need to get to them soon, for at the phenomenally fast rate at which technology has advanced during the past century, man now has the means to totally destroy himself and will unless we can get to him first." In actuality, one solution has been found. It is a program called Self-Programmed Control – a simple but powerful systematic set of techniques for facilitating reprogramming combined with a clear idea of what positive changes to make – a positive direction component (positive guidance: habits, attitudes, beliefs...) for achieving greater happiness and peace. The program has already achieved some rather miraculous results in the areas of education, medicine, work incentive, industry and drug rehabilitation as reported in TGFH (pp. 198-217). As the word of this program begins to spread (through effective promotion) more and more people will learn its methods and incorporate its positive philosophy. I foresee several key areas through which the program will be able to reach the most people: education, medicine, crime, industry and religion. As a result, each of these areas will go through some major changes starting with the next 30 years, and I’m sure continuing on well into the rest of this coming first century of the new millennium. EducationThe main shortcoming that has held back people in the past from taking full advantage of the educational opportunities in the world today has been an insufficient amount of emphasis on what I feel are the three main factors determining a student’s level of success in school: Self-efficacy of both students & teachers (belief in one’s capabilities), learning skills, and the ability to deal with personal problems. As a result of programs like SPC which can play a key role in helping in all three areas, combined with a new "non-screening" attitude on the part of education (i.e., realizing that all students are capable of high achievement rather than assuming only a small percentage are) we will see tremendous strides in finally ridding the world of one of its greatest plagues – ignorance. To reiterate, the changes we will see in education in the next 30 years will be:
A program like SPC will help tremendously in decreasing crime considerably. It will help in at least two major ways:
Because the name of the game in industry is money and increased productivity, it is most likely to be the most receptive to a program like SPC. SPC will help increase productivity in at least three major ways:
The start of the new millennium is a perfect time for a reformation in religion. That reformation I predict will be a major blending of religion and science, two entities heretofore thought to be antithetical. The main factor allowing for this coming together will be the realization that religion no longer needs to rely on super-natural explanations (explanations that defy the laws of nature) for its miraculous religious occurrences. How does SPC play a role in this coming together? Well for one thing SPC presents a rational explanation for the power of belief and faith. One of the key factors in the success of SPC in facilitating reprogramming is its systematic approach to increasing the belief and free will factors. As explained in both TGFH and my recent paper "Science in Support of Religion" belief has the ability to change behavior by both intensifying one’s response to thought as well as facilitating higher-order conditioning (reprogramming). I define belief as concentration on a thought to the exclusion of anything that would contradict it. As a result of the coming together of science and religion I feel that both the scientific- minded (often agnostics or atheists) and the religious-minded will be benefited. The former can benefit from what I feel are the two key aspects of religion (ways of building the belief factor, and positive guidance). And the latter can benefit from rational logical approaches (such as SPC’s) to expanding and supplementing these two key factors. (back to top) |