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Sub-Vocalization

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Sub-Vocalization

Postby Obsidian » Tue Jan 03, 2012 8:31 pm

So I've been thinking a lot about this and wanted to see if I could get some other people's thoughts on the matter.

I've noticed lately that my thoughts move a lot quicker than the voice spelling them out in my head. An entire, fully-formed concept will appear in my mind and I'll then spend the time talking through it in words.

An example would be when you think of what you want for breakfast. In an instant the mind will throw up a concept (whether it's a picture or a feeling or a smell, etc) of you eating a big bowl of cereal, as well as the other things that go with it. The milk you need, the fruit you might add, how much energy it will provide vs how much you expect to expend during the day, etc. All that in an instant.

Then (for me and (I think) most people) I'll start mentally talking through it, as if I were preparing to type it out, write it down on speak it to someone. This means my instantly formed concept can take 20-30 seconds (or much, much more) to work through.

After researching speed reading recently I've found that one of the first 'steps' towards speed reading is to eliminate the internal 'voice' reading out the words as you see them on the page. I vaguely remember as a young child reading in that manner until I was instructed by a teacher that that was the wrong way to do it and I had to read each word out to myself. With that in mind I've been trying more and more to stop sub-vocalizing but I'm finding it incredibly difficult.

From a magical point of view I find it inhibits me quite a lot as well. Me forming a shield begins with a fully formed concept in my mind that I'll then turn into a picture, add or subtract bits of functionality and set about making. The making process however is (for myself, literally) a step-by-step word-based process. I find myself saying mentally, "condense the local energy into a dense ball then expand that into the appropriate-sized shell. Next install the tech components you wish to have operational in the shield. Harden and mask it. Attach it to an energy source." so on and so on. The 'construction' process can take me 5 minutes or more going in a sub-vocalized step-by-step when the initial concept formed instantly and the picture took only a few seconds (max) to finish.

My purpose with posting regarding this subject is to see if anyone else has thought about this concept. Whether they've had any luck eliminating a good portion of sub-vocalization from their lives. Just how other people think in in general.

I'm somewhat shocked in myself (after this realisation) just how much I'm slowing down my own thought processes by vocalizing everything I think about. How ineffective and inefficient it is. I wonder whether we have any speed readers here who don't sub-vocalize when reading, or perhaps people who cast without the need of mentally 'talking' (or 'typing') through the process. Or even if this has occurred to anyone else and they're working on it the same as I am.

Thoughts and feedback?
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Re: Sub-Vocalization

Postby Kalenthios » Wed Jan 04, 2012 8:04 pm

Heh its funny, my friend has based his entire work of magic off of using only concepts and eliminating the need for sub-vocalization. It allows him to do things 100x faster. He's taught me and i've caught on pretty well but i'm still working on it, but yeah I know what you mean. It really does take long to take things from concepts and word them out and such. You should try what my friend does, it can be very useful at times :). One way he taught me was to think of an elephant, but don't think of the picture or sounds, just think of it as a basic concept, and keep trying with different things until your able to think of almost anything as a basic concept. Then you can move on from there by combining concepts, and then using them in magic!
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Re: Sub-Vocalization

Postby Osele » Thu Jan 05, 2012 1:00 pm

I agree. My personal brand of magic involves manipulating entire concepts as discrete units, which enables me to work that much faster. Eliminating sub-vocalization was not really necessary since it never existed for magic (for me), the concepts in which were a lot more foreign to me than in reading or other related skills; but in general eliminating it will help.
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Re: Sub-Vocalization

Postby Kuroimon » Fri Jan 06, 2012 1:11 am

It's not simply about speed and efficiency however. As we all know, concepts can contain information that simply cannot be translated into words or images.
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Re: Sub-Vocalization

Postby Obsidian » Mon Jan 16, 2012 5:24 am

It's such a struggle because magic for me has predominately been an online experience. Obviously my personal practice is all on my own but I was taught online and had to learn how to explain everything in words. What this has done is given me the vocabulary to concisely explain what's happening in and around me (magically or otherwise) but also means that magic for me is so wrapped up in words.

I'm finally, very slowly, starting to eliminate the need for extensive subvocalisation throughout my day-to-day life. Trying to allow thoughts to come up, develop then move on without being put into words is a lot more difficult than I would have thought!

Perhaps some further explanation with what you suggested, picturing an elephant as a concept? For me, the thought of elephant is the complete picture. How it looks, smells, sounds, 'feels' and just what it 'is'. I don't need words to think about an elephant but I don't think it's a basic concept of 'elephant' that comes into my head. Or is that what you meant?

Regarding my basic magic practice, instead of telling myself (or whatever I'm telling) to condense energy to form a ball which I then tell to be or behave in certain ways, I'm trying to just 'feel' the energy, it condensing and then me imprinting my idea onto the ball without a detailed word by word. Is that how you attempt to work with magic?
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