Friday, August 04, 2006

Interview with Peter Ragnar in Poker Player Magazine

Conversation with Peter Ragnar, author of The Awesome Science of Luck,
Peter’s interviewed by: Charlie Shoten, author of No Limit Life

Charlie:
Peter, I've got to tell you about an experience my sister and I had many years ago. We were playing a game of cards. Fran took a newly mixed deck and without looking at any of the cards, said “four of clubs.” She lifted the top card, and it was the four of clubs. She repeated this nine more times and said the number and suit of each card correctly for eight of the next nine times. She said this scared her and she never told anyone about it. She also said she'd tried to do it again, but, but never was able to. I was very young, and it didn't make much of an impression on me. I had totally forgotten about it. She was reminded of it yesterday, July 4, after she read our previous article in Poker Player.

I am convinced we can see beyond seeing and hear beyond hearing, as you say in The Awesome Science of LUCK. Peter, even if you hadn't totally convinced me, my sister sure did. My sister is the kind of person that needs to see it to believe it, so this is a very strong example for me. I was there. The question that I have for you is, why did this ability suddenly appear and then go away forever?

Peter:
Charlie, does the earth go away simply because we are flying above the clouds? No, of course not. From our seat in the plane, we simply can't see it. Take any activity we engage in, from playing poker to catching a ball. There are 10,000 things taking place around us, yet they go unnoticed because our attention is on the present moment’s activity. Suddenly, we have a fog bank blocking what might be considered distractions to our focus. This is helpful so that we stay focused and don't drop the ball.

Our ability to see didn't go away; our mind simply blocked what it considered irrelevant to the moment. However, by using “soft” focus and letting our thought chemicals settle, we not only sense but see in our mind’s eye unusual and seemingly unrelated clues. The clues can cause strong urgings to play our hand a certain way. The more relaxed we become, the more clues we receive and the more we win—not only at the table, but in life.

Our minds unconsciously pick out and store millions of clues during our entire lives. But to keep us from going into sensory overload, these clues are blocked from the conscious mind. This frees the conscious mind to concentrate on the task at hand. However, once the conscious mind relaxes and thoughts begin falling away, it's like clouds breaking up; suddenly you're able to see with amazing clarity. In those brief moments, you will know the cards like your sister Fran. But the second a doubt or fear appears, the clouds come in and the seeing is lost.

So, for Fran, her ability didn't disappear. It didn't go away any more than the earth has vanished. The trick with this natural talent that all of us possess is that thinking about it makes it go into hiding. Only when it knows we're not looking will it suddenly appear.

to be continued...Check out The Awesome Science of Luck here