Mythic Physique Enlightened

As you've probably surmised by now, my inner being resonates quite strongly with earlier ways and earlier times. My entire life, in point of fact, can be seen as a series of continuing attempts to locate and master the wisdom of bygone ages, then share it with the people in our modern world. This knowledge is usually quite practical, though it often seems counterintuitive to modern sensibilities. For instance I have experienced great success with controlling my hyperglycemia and lowering my body fat with a Paleo-type diet, which is very high fat as well as protein.

Through D/C Russ I recently discovered The Enlightened Savage, an online course by Anthony Hernandez, which helps you apply known truths about our primal origins and bio-social design to the challenges of today.

The course consists of eighteen videos, which are currently available for free, and a Practice Package with much more detailed information. There are twenty four chapters, a goal matrix and a workbook to help you better process and apply the information.

It turns out that we were not designed to succeed in the society we have created for ourselves. Our Primal Instincts stand in the way of our attaining peace, stability or happiness. Fortunately, understanding how we work, and why, can help us transcend our built-in limitations.

Note: 5/30/16: I have just begun my second round of watching the videos. This time I am reading the text that expands and further explains them. I will add to the comments below as I see fit.

Note: 6/16/16: Thus far, the texts truly enhance the experience of experimenting with and absorbing this material. The course material is easy to understand, and very challenging - yet rewarding - to implement.

Onwards!

Video #0 can be found on the website and does an excellent job of piquing your curiosity and whetting your apetite for more information.

Video #1 introduces you to the course's core concept, defines some key terms and has you focus on identifying your vocation and exploring your ideas about wealth, health, love, and fun. What is your dharma? It may be the key to your fulfillment.

Video #2 examines our evolution and demonstrates how recently we've appeared on the cosmic clock. Our genetic uniqueness, as well as our commonalities with apes and other terrestrial life forms, is comrehensively communicated. Did weak jaws prompt humans to master fire and develop technology? This is fascinating stuff and firmly grounded on scientific understanding.

Video #3 further erodes our delusions of biological specialness and convincingly demonstrates that not only are we animals, but we evolved from prey. The origin of dragons in our collective psyches and our propensity to follow orders, no matter how atrocious or inhumane, are also covered. We became social and hierarchal to survive as a species.

Video #4 reveals why we develop habitual routines and why it is extremely difficult to break them. And it demonstrates how our Comfort Zones, though often far from comfortable, protect us from harm and will fiercely resist change.

Video #5 focuses on the importance of social groups and the survival value of our social conditioning. Also, it explains how our core beliefs, formed and reinforced by addictive and powerful primal emotions, protect the structural integrity of our Comfort Zones.

Video #6 shows us how our core beliefs color our experiences and shape our reality. Although we can't leave the game of life, except through death, and our chances of winning, our even breaking even, are slim... what can we do to increase our chances of success?

Video #7 is even more alarming as it becomes clear that our core beliefs, fueled by the continuous cravings of our addictive emotions, are then further reinforced by our rationalizations.

Video #8 compares our functioning with that of a computer, providing us with a new way of approaching the challenge of changing ourselves. And it reveals how small childhood events can determine the direction that our lives take.

Video #9 forces us to confront our patterns and acknowledge their importance in safeguarding our survival.

Video #10 brings us back to the very beginning, to issues of work, vocation, and meaning. It also totally redefines our notions of success and failure and reframes the process of self-improvement.

Video #11 reveals how the Path of Most Resistance must be taken if we truly wish to break our habitual, and addictive, patterns.

Video #12 helps us begin our journey by releasing the past and taking small steps towards where we wish to be. The realities of the path are not at all sugar coated.

Video #13 has you imagine several aspects of your ideal existence, in great detail. Without using spiritual laws or quantum physics, how would you begin bringing what you desire into being?

Video #14 explains how to categorize all your goals as Internal, External and Commercial.

Video #15 asks us to thank the programmed patterns that have kept us alive thus far, and the emotional patterns they addicted us to, then choose to change our core beliefs, give ourselves new survival instructions, and much healthier addictions.

Video #16 extols the virtue of taking one small step, celebrating that step, then taking another, then another... and making adjustments as needed along the way.

Video #17 advises to declare where you want to go, plot your course, then take a step toward your desired destination. And to celebrate each step taken.

Video #18 challenges you to withhold judgement on the 'goodness' and 'badness' of events, as your initial valuation may be premature, and can trigger addictive emotions. Questioning your evaluations as they occur can increase your awareness and interrupt the cycle.

Having watched the entire run of videos, I will now return to the course with a functional overview, an aerial map as it were. I will re-watch the videos as I explore the content of the books. In the interim, I'm rewarding myself by spending some quality time with my wife and watching a show with her.

Onwards!

Reviews by Hercules Invictus