The history of the Brain Club can be traced to two particular moments in time which "met" and ignited to give the flame of a new idea.

The first was in May 1973 when I was international editor of Mensa (the high IQ society) magazine. I had been asked to precis the information I had been gathering on the human brain and its intelligence, and to make suggestions based on that information. You can see the embryo:

"In all disciplines researchers have found themselves being drawn toward the same vortex: the brain-mind-body problem and the inherent question of the organism's potential.

"Biochemists have microscoped their way to the hypothetico elemental molecules (DNA RNA) to find that sub hierarchies appear to exist; mathematicians have postulated numerous theories on the mathematical constructs of the universe, but have become universally unstuck when attempting to devise comprehensive models for the organism which is devising those models; physicists have spanned macro-cosmic time and space yet now find themselves confused by the apparent enormity of a small node; psychologists have trampled witlessly over the whole area and only now are realising that they themselves are being absorbed by it; philosophers in attempting to define it, have found it laughingly forces them into a spiral of defining definitions, with no apparent source. And fringe science has been hurling some hefty spanners into the traditional works.

"It is also now known beyond all doubt that the mind is a fabric consisting of layers of inter-linked networks which can control heart beat, oxygen intake, internal organs and brain waves consciously. Further, there is evidence to suggest that the mind has an even more extensive control over functions. In deep states of meditation or hypnosis people have been observed to eliminate all pain, to paralyse any part of their body completely, to produce massive skin eruptions where no cause was apparent and to eliminate them immediately, to induce any predetermined sympton artificially, to perform feats of strength normally attributed only to super- or mad-men, and to cure themselves of apparently incurable diseases.

"In the more academic areas forerunners such as Penfield have performed experiments in retention and recall which suggest that the basic storage capacity of the brain is absolute in terms of remembering its own existence. Subjects whose brains were electronically probed produced complete, multisensory recall of situations randomly triggered and ranging over complete lifetimes. In addition to this, recent work on mnemonic systems indicate that even without electric interference the brain can remember 7,000 disconnected items in sequence, in random order, and in reverse order with no decline in performance as the number of items to be recalled is increased.

Reassessment of learning

"In view of all the above it is now obvious that a complete reassessment of human learning and potential must be made. One of the first considerations is of course how to best educate an organism which is estimated to have a minimum of 100/800 possibilities for associative interconnecting — it is apparent that our standard inflexible linear and restricted approaches are no longer acceptable.

"It is equally apparent that standard psychological methods for testing ability must be changed almost totally, if not eliminated entirely. To judge an organism's capacity, for example, by its forced response to a question about shapes in an ink blot is ludicrous when it is realised that the same organism can create multi-dimensional holographic, varicoloured, original and projected images without assistance. This ability, variously labelled daydreaming, hallucinating and madness etc, is either taken for granted or is denigrated. But it takes little acuity to see that any organism which can create and observe the creation at the same time is formidable.

"Similarly the measuring of general aptitude with 'intelligence' tests is absurd. The Berkley Studies on creativity indicated no link between high IQ and a person who was independent in thought and action, less dogmatic and more relativistic in his view of life, preferring complexity and novelty, valuing and having a good sense of humour, very involved in theoretical and aesthetic values, fluent, flexible, original, comprehensive and astute. Not much is left! Rather than forming organisations which assume that some people are more 'interesting' and 'able' than others, surely it is time that we evolved. It is now the time to see Man and the universes as they are: infinitely involved, infinitely fascinating and worthy not of categorization and division, but of understanding."

The second spore

The second major event took place in April 1986 when an organisation called the Turning Point asked me to address their monthly meeting in Stockholm. Turning Point had been formed by a group of young minds who felt that mankind, and indeed the entire planet was at a "turning point". They as individuals and as a group needed to acquire as much information as possible to help them make a positive contribution to the future of the race.

During the course of my lecture on the brain, I distributed a questionnaire asking them to rate themselves on a scale of 0 to 100 in various categories including learning skills, intelligence, general self-evaluation and hope for the future (the fore-runner of the one in your membership pack).

The average rating in each category was between 60 and 70 per cent. It struck me that this was definitely above average, but far below what should be natural, especially in a group who had come together specifically because they believed in the future and believed they could learn and contribute.

As I continued to discuss with them the brain and the future, I was simultaneously exploring the question "What can one do to help groups such as this (and indeed all individuals and groups) to develop their phenomenal natural capacities in a way that is continually self-regenerating and expansive?" In a flash my distilled thoughts from May 1973, the intervening years of continued exploration of the brain's and body's capacities, and the immediate situation with those amazing people in Stockholm came together. Of course! The Brain Club!

Brain Club members

The Brain Club is for anyone who wishes to gain access to their brain, and who simultaneously wishes to use it well. They are simple qualifications for membership, but they conceal the most staggering set of qualifications that "anyone" needs to become a "someone". Consider these facts (qualifications) about the average human being — yourself.

  1. Each human is created from a single sperm, one of 400 million produced by the father, and a single egg produced by their mother. These eggs are so small that it would take two million to fill an acorn cup.
  2. Within each sperm and egg combination there is the capacity to create about 300,000,000,000,000 billion humans who are all unique.
  3. Each human eye contains 130 million light receptors.
  4. Each human ear contains 24,000 fibres that are able to detect enormous ranges and subtle distinctions in the molecular vibrations of the air.
  5. To empower body movement, locomotion, and environmental sensitivity, we have 200 intricately architectured bones, 500 totally co-ordinated muscles, and seven miles of nerve fibres.
  6. The human heart beats 36,000,000 times each year, pumping 600,000 gallons of blood each year through 60,000 miles of tubing, arteries, veins and capillaries.
  7. Human lungs are composed of 600,000,000 globes of atmosphere-sensitive capacity.
  8. The blood circulating in the human body contains 22 trillion blood cells. Within each blood cell are millions of molecules, and within each molecule is an atom oscillating at more than 10 million times per second.
  9. Two million blood cells die each second. These two million are replaced by two million more.
  10. The human brain contains 13 billion neurons or nerve cells, more than two and a half times as many cells as there are people currently inhabiting the planet.
  11. The human brain contains 1,000 billion protein molecules.
  12. The number of internal "maps of thought" that the brain is capable of producing is one followed by 10.5 million kilometres of standard typewritten zeros.
  13. Each human body has four million pain-sensitive structures.
  14. Throughout the human body there are 500,000 touch detectors.
  15. Throughout the human body there are 200,000 temperature detectors.
  16. Within each human body is enough atomic energy to build any of the world's greatest cities many times over.
  17. Since the beginning of time there have been 70 billion humans, each one astoundingly different from all the others.
  18. The human olfactory system can identify the chemical odorant of an object in one part per trillion of air.
  19. Research is increasingly showing that the creative and memory powers of the brain tend toward the infinite.

Learning how to learn

The Brain Club is designed to nurture these incredible beings, and to assist in the next leap in evolution: the awareness of intelligence by itself, and the knowledge that this intelligence can be nurtured to astounding advantage. Consider again the following:

Stock market analysts watch, like hawks, 10 individuals in Silicon Valley. When there is even a hint that one might move from Company A to Company B, the world's stock markets shift. The English Manpower Services Commission publishes a survey in which it is noted that of the top 10 per cent of British companies, 80 per cent invest considerable money and time in training. Of the bottom 10 per cent no money or time is invested.

In Minnesota, the Plato computer education project raises the thinking and academic performance levels of 200,000 pupils. In the armed forces of an increasing number of countries, mental martial arts have become as important as physical combat skills. National Olympic squads devote as much as 30 per cent of their training time to the development of mental set, stamina, and visualisation skills.

In the Fortune 500, the top five computer companies alone spend more than a billion dollars on educating their employees. In Caracas, Dr Luis Alberto Machado became the first human being to be given a government portfolio as minister of intelligence, with a political mandate to raise the level of the mental power of a nation.

This encouraging news must be considered in the context of the problem areas defined by the global community as most significant. The information from the brain front must then be applied to these main areas.

Over the past 16 years I have polled more than 100,000 people on each of the five continents. Among the more than 100 mental skill areas commonly mentioned as requiring improvement, the top 20 are:

  1. Memory
  2. Concentration
  3. Presentation skills/public speaking
  4. Presentation skills/written
  5. Creative thinking
  6. Planning
  7. Thought organisation
  8. Problem analysis
  9. Problem solving
  10. Motivation
  11. Analytical thinking
  12. Prioritising
  13. Reading speed (volume of material)
  14. Reading comprehension
  15. Time management
  16. Stress
  17. Fatigue
  18. Assimilation of information
  19. Getting started (wasting time)
  20. Decline for mental ability with age

Each of these areas can be, with the aid of modern research on the functioning of the brain, tackled with relative ease. I shall touch on seven major areas:-

  1. Left and right brain research
  2. Mind Mapping
  3. Super-speed reading/Intellectual Commando Units
  4. Mnemonic techniques
  5. Memory loss after learning
  6. The brain cell, and
  7. Decline of mental abilities with age

I will relate each of them to many of the major problem areas, and show how our new knowledge can be applied to the raising of mental performance. It has now become common knowledge that the left and right hemispheres of the brain dominantly deal with different intellectual functions. The left brain primarily handles logic, language, number, sequence, analysis, listing while the right brain deals with rhythm, dimension, colour, imagination, day dreaming and spatial relationships.

What has recently been realised is that the left brain is not the so called academic side, nor is the right brain the so called creative, intuitive, emotional side. We now know from volumes of research that both sides need to be used in conjunction for there to be both academic and creative success.

The Einsteins, Newtons, Cezannes, and Mozarts of this world, like the great business geniuses, combined their linguistic, numerical and analytical skills with imagination in order to produce their creative masterpieces.

Using this basic knowledge of our functioning, it is possible to train ourselves in skills relating to each of the problem areas, often producing incremental improvements of as much as 100 per cent. My contribution to helping and achieving such improvement is the Mind Map.

In traditional note taking, whether it be for memory, for the preparation of communication, for the organisation of thought, for problem analysis, for planning or for creative thinking, the standard mode is linear: either sentences, short phrase lists, or numerically and alphabetically ordered lists. These methods, because of their lack of colour, visual rhythm, dimensions, image and spatial relationships, cauterise the brain's thinking capacities, and are literally counterproductive to each of the aforementioned processes.

Mind Mapping uses the full range of your brain's abilities, placing an image in the centre of the page to facilitate memorisation and the creative generation of ideas, and subsequently branching out in associative networks that mirror externally the brain's internal structures. By using this approach, the preparation of speeches can be reduced in time terms from days to minutes; problems can be solved both more comprehensively and more rapidly; memory can be improved from absent to perfect; and creative thinkers can generate a limitless number of ideas rather than a short list.

The Mind Map on page 4 is of a complete mind and body course in which the central image is a brain, linked with the physical body, and the two hearts: emotional and cardio-vascular health. The main branches emanating from the central image encapsulate the main themes of the course, starting at 9 o'clock with initial exercises.

The course then deals, clockwise, with each of the main elements noted, concluding with an integration and review for the future. You can see that the Mind Map can encapsulate in a very small space a mass of information, and can be used for both previewing and reviewing purposes. A number of the main elements in the Mind Map will be considered next!

Combining Mind Mapping with new super speed reading techniques that allow speeds of more than 1,000 words a minute in conjunction with excellent comprehension, and eventual effective reading speeds of about 10,000 words per minute, one can form intellectual commando units. Reading at these advanced speeds, Mind Mapping in detail the outline of the book and its chapters, and exchanging the information gathered by using advanced Mind Mapping and presentation skills, it is possible for four individuals to acquire, integrate, memorise and begin to apply in their professional situation four full books' worth of new information in one day. The implications are obvious.

Mnemonic techniques were invented by the Greeks, and were until even recently dismissed as "tricks". We now realise that these devices are soundly based on the brain's functioning, and that when applied appropriately they can dramatically improve any memory performance.

In the mnemonic techniques one uses the principles of association, and imagination, making dramatic, colourful, sensual and consequently unforgettable images in ones mind. The Mind Map is, in fact, a multi-dimensional mnemonic, using the brain's innate functional areas to effectively imprint required information upon itself.

Using mnemonics businessmen have been trained to remember perfectly 40 newly introduced people, and similarly to memorise lists of over 100 products, facts and data. These techniques are now being applied at the IBM training centre in Stockholm, and have been a major reason for the success of their 17-week introductory training programme. Memory loss after learning is dramatic. After a one-hour learning period, there is a short rise in the recall of information as the brain integrates the new data. This is followed by a dramatic decline. By the end of 24 hours as much as 80 per cent of detail is lost.

The implications are disturbing especially for business if a multi-national firm spends $50 million a year on training. Within a few days of that training's completion, if there is not appropriate reviewing programmed into the educational structure, the value of $40 million of training has been lost. By a simple understanding of the memory's rhythms it is possible to avert this decline, and also to train personnel in such a way as to increase the amount learned in any training by using extra techniques.

In the last five years the brain cell has become the new frontier in the human search for knowledge. We have discovered that not only do we each have 1,000,000,000,000 brain cells, but that the interconnections between them can form patterns and memory traces that permute to a number so staggeringly large as to be functionally equivalent to infinite. The number, calculated by the Russian neuro-anatomist, Pyotra Anohkein, is one followed by 10 million kilometres of standard (11pt) type-written noughts.

With this inherent capacity to integrate and juggle with the multiple billions of bits of data that each of us possess, it has become increasingly apparent to those in brain research that adequate training of our phenomenal biocomputer, which in a second can calculate what it would take the Cray computer, at 400 million calculations per second, 100 years to accomplish, will enormously accelerate and increase our ability to problem-solve, to prioritise, to create and to communicate.

The usual response to the question: "What happens to your brain cells as they get older?" is: "They die." It is usually voiced with an extraordinary and surprising enthusiasm. One of the most delightful pieces of news from the brain research front comes from Dr Marion Diamond of the University of California, who has recently confirmed that there is no brain cell loss with age in normal, active and healthy brains. On the contrary, research is now indicating that if the brain is used and trained, there is an increase in the brain's interconnective complexity — that is, intelligence is raised.

Training of people in their 60s, through to their 90s, has shown that in every area of mental performance statistically significant and permanent increases can be made with adequate training.

We are at the beginning of a revolution the like of which the world has never seen: a huge leap in the development of human intelligence. In education, in business, and on the personal front, information from the psychological, neurophysiological and educational laboratories is being used to dissolve rapidly problems which had hitherto been accepted as a normal part of the human condition.

By applying our knowledge of the brain's separate functions, by externally reflecting our internal processes in Mind Map form, by making use of the innate elements and rhythms of memory, and by applying our knowledge of the brain cell and the possibilities for continued improvement throughout life, we realise that a massive leap in evolution is not only possible, it is in the process of happening. The Brain Club is in the vanguard.

Welcome, then, to the next great human adventure. An adventure in the exploration of your own and other people's vast intelligences. An adventure that will prove stimulating, challenging, and profound. That adventure is you.


(Winter 1989)