I will kick it off by relating my personal development up to this point.

It can accurately be broken down into four time-dependent phases: Acclimation, Perception, Realization, and Mastery. It is important to understand that the boundaries of these phases are not rigid; rather, each phase uses the previous ones as a starting point, building off of them in a new direction. Therefore, although each phase has a definite beginning and a "rising" stage, none has a "falling" stage. Instead, when I speak of the end of one of these phases, I mean only that its value has fallen into a secondary role as my focus shifts to another one. Everything that comes as a result of these phases stays forever. Every new phase uses the fruits of the previous phases for its own growth.

During Acclimation, which was the period which started at my birth, I was getting used to being me, mostly in a pragmatic sense. Using my instincts and my environment as a basis, I developed methods of interacting with my world (internal and external) which were feasible and at least decently sustainable. You could call this stage of development "learning the ropes".

My Perception phase had its roots in my early childhood, but my memories of that time are scant. The phase didn't really start picking up until my mid to late teens, as I delved deeper into science, and especially into philosophy (the real science behind science). At first, my development in the Perception direction was somewhat disconnected from what I had learned during Acclimation. The connections which I did make were fleeting, though empowering. In the beginning of my freshman year at college, I consciously set my focus in the Perception direction. I experimented with all sorts of personal, social, practical, and spiritual perspectives, and found the resulting "perspective web" to be a very empowering way of looking at the world. I continued to drive myself in this direction through the end of the 2006 calendar year, and still pick up on it whenever I see fit. To continue the metaphor, you could call this phase "watching the ropes".

In the last months of 2006, however, the pursuits of my Perception began to bear fruit. Thus began my Realization phase. This phase consisted of locating my position in the great web of perspectives I had woven. The rising part of this phase, although much shorter in time than the rising parts of the previous phases, seemed to take even longer in my mind. I later learned that this was because I was looking at it from a Perception-oriented angle. Once I realized that Realization itself was an angle, and a direction in which I could focus myself, my growth in this phase accelerated. A month or two later, the Realization phase was complete. You could call this phase "finding my rope".

The most major part of the Realization phase was, in fact, the spontaneous beginning of the Mastery phase. I remember realizing exactly when this happened (about a month and a half ago). The Mastery phase consists of tying together everything I've learned from the other phases, and launching it in the directions that I choose. The actions I learned in the previous phases (learning, perceiving, realizing) act as mere components in the new action--mastering. A key idea to Mastery is the idea of empowerment. Consider anything in your life--anything at all. How does it empower your life as a whole? Food empowers me by sustaining my existence. Communication empowers me by transmitting information and by creating positive social relations (which, in turn, empower the sense of well-being of everyone involved). Cigarettes empower me by giving me a consistent crutch to prop my addictions on. Philosophy empowers the whole of my life directly by focusing my mind's work on my mind's work. Et cetera. To finish off the metaphor, this phase is "mastering the interactions between all of the ropes, especially by using my rope".

Now that I have reached the mastery phase, I can confidently direct myself in any way I desire. My willpower--although it was already strong before--is now completely solid. By gauging anything in terms of empowerment, the idea which is the singular basis for my ego, I can pick and choose any method (direction, perspective, addiction, etc) at will. I am whole.

And already, Mastery is bearing fruit. My grades, which were previously only "fairly decent", are now spectacular. Likewise with the rest of my work. My motivation is immeasurable. I am my spirituality--I am my God--but I need no worship, only direction. You may be curious as to what long-term directions I have given myself. I will leave these for later discussion, but I will mention a few by name: artificial intelligence, large scale socioeconomic reform, and philosophical writing.