This is post 3 of 4 in the series. You can jump to the other three posts below:
Stage 3 Contents: Click a link here to jump to a section below
- An Overview of Stage 3
- Posts on Polarity & Systems Thinking
- Posts on the Brain, Cognitive Biases, & Mental Models
- Posts on Human Development & Meta-Crisis

Sloww Stage 3: How do I master the mind?
An Overview of Stage 3
Stage 3 Key Question:
- “How do I master the mind?”
Stage 3 Student Focus:
- Sensemakers: developing mental wealth and memetic immunity.
Stage 3 Description:
- Along with the meaning crisis, humans (individually) and humanity (collectively) also seem to be in the midst of a sensemaking crisis in the information era—our knowledge isn’t keeping pace with our technological advancement.
Important Note: Lighter living (stage 1) and life purpose (stage 2) are transcended and included in stage 3.

Stage 3 Posts (Full List)
You can see my own personal progression in stage 3 by skimming a summary of posts 201-300.
Note: Links with a lock icon (đź”’) go to a Premium post.
Posts on Polarity & Systems Thinking
Polarity Thinking:
- Polarity Thinking 101: An Introduction to the Power of Polarities (+ Visuals)
- A Modern Dose of Timeless Perspective: “How to Live” by Derek Sivers (Book Summary) + 🔒 Premium Summary
Systems Thinking:
- Systems Thinking & Understanding how Everything Connects: “Thinking in Systems” by Donella Meadows (Book Summary)
- The Five Whys (or 5 Whys): A Root Cause Analysis for Better Problem Solving
Humanity as a System:
- 50+ Deep Perspectives on Humanity’s Underlying & Ultimate Challenge (Hint: Ourselves)
- An Intro to Effective Altruism & How to Do the Most Good in Your Life
- “Call me Trim Tab”: Buckminster Fuller & The Impact of an Individual on Society
- 35 Human Learnings from “The Lessons of History” by Will & Ariel Durant (Book Summary) + 🔒 Premium Summary
- 50 Profound Quotes & 5 Deep Questions from “The Lessons of History”
Earth as a System:
- What is Spaceship Earth? & Why It’s Time Humanity Gets “On Board”
- What is the Earth Overview Effect that Inspires Astronauts?
- Slow Down & Set Perspective with Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot”
- Dr. Bronner’s Soap & Moral ABCs (Product Label Summary)
Posts on the Brain, Cognitive Biases, & Mental Models
Best of the Best:
- Introducing “Mini Mind”: 365 Daily Emails of Bite-Size Brain Food
- đź”’ The Mental Mastery Cheatsheet: 500+ Cognitive Concepts Curated (Biases, Fallacies, Effects, Illusions, Heuristics, Mental Models, & More)
- đź”’ Stream of Consciousness: What is Going On?
- đź”’ Stream of Consciousness: Is this the Strangest Thing in Life?
The Brain:
- Left Brain & Right Brain: 20 Brain Hemisphere Differences from “The Master and His Emissary” (+ Infographic)
- The Four Characters of Your Mind: “Whole Brain Living” by Jill Bolte Taylor (Book Summary)
- đź”’ Stream of Consciousness: Is Free Thinking Even Possible?
Cognitive Biases:
- 25 Cognitive Biases to Master for Better Thinking (+ Infographic Cheatsheet)
- 3 Profound Life Lessons from “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace + 🔒 Premium Summary
- 25 Cognitive Concepts from “The Art of Thinking Clearly” by Rolf Dobelli (Book Summary) + 🔒 Premium Summary
- 25 Psychological Tendencies from “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment” by Charlie Munger (Speech Summary)
- The Wit & Wisdom of Charlie Munger: “Poor Charlie’s Almanack” (Book Summary)
- Darwin, Munger, & More: “Seeking Wisdom” by Peter Bevelin (Book Summary)
Mental Models:
- 25 Mental Models to Master the Art of Thinking (+ Infographic Cheatsheet)
- An Intro to General Thinking Concepts: “The Great Mental Models Volume 1” by Farnam Street (Book Summary)
- 100+ Mental Models from “Super Thinking” by Gabriel Weinberg & Lauren McCann (Book Summary) + 🔒 Premium Summary
Everything Else:
- Truthful Takeaways from “Lying” by Sam Harris (Book Summary)
- 7 Intellectual YouTube Lecture Series to Pursue Lifelong Learning Online for Free
- The Rise of Wise Podcasting: 10 Intellectual Podcasts to Think Deeply, Boost Knowledge, & Live Better
Posts on Human Development & Meta-Crisis
Abraham Maslow:
- Go Beyond the Hierarchy of Needs in Maslow’s “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature” (Book Summary)
- Why we Need to Evolve Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs from a Pyramid to a Sailboat Metaphor
- Maslow’s Holarchy of Needs: Should the Hierarchy of Needs Pyramid be Redesigned?
Integral Theory, Ego Development Theory, & More:
- The Origin of Integral Theory: “A Brief History of Everything” by Ken Wilber (Book Summary)
- 20 Tenets of Integral Theory: An Intro to the Philosophical Principles of Ken Wilber
- An Intro to Integral Theory: “A Theory of Everything” by Ken Wilber (Book Summary)
- An Introduction to Integral Theory: “The Integral Vision” by Ken Wilber (Book Summary)
- đź”’ Stream of Consciousness: How Many Perspectives Can You Take?
- An Introduction to “Ego Development Theory” by Susanne Cook-Greuter (EDT Summary)
- Humanity is Stuck in Development: Civilization’s Critical Evolution to the “Watershed Stage” in Ego Development Theory
- đź”’ Behind the Scenes: My Ego Development Theory Self-Assessment
- đź”’ Behind the Scenes: How my Personal Development Journey maps to Ego Development Theory (Sloww Stages vs EDT Stages)
- What is Spiritual Intelligence? The Twenty-One Skills of “SQ21” by Cindy Wigglesworth (Book Summary)
The Meta-Crisis:
- A Crisis of Crises: What is the Meta-Crisis? (+ Infographics)
- Introducing the “Meta-Crisis Meta-Resource”: A Digital Directory of all People & Projects in the Wisdom Web
- The Consilience Project 101: An Introduction to the Catalyzing of a Cultural Renaissance + đź”’ Premium Synthesis
- 35+ Deep Daniel Schmachtenberger Quotes on Civilization Design, Game Theory, Sense-Making, Sovereignty, & More + đź”’ Premium Synthesis
- 8 Profound Podcasts Introducing the Meaning Crisis, Sensemaking, & Game B
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I fully agree with everything you have mentioned in your website. They are very powerful words of wisdom and I am grateful for you for giving all of us a chance to journey through this spiritual path. I have embarked on these 3 stages: slowing down and making my life simpler; I have found short-term and long-term purposes (callings) in my life; and am meditating and reading spiritual books related to mindful meditation. I practice and pursue all the above actions everyday.
Your website is full of wisdom and when I read them it inspires me to keep going. Thank you so much. With gratitude – Raj
That’s amazing to hear, Raj! Good for you embracing all the stages!