From International Viewpoints (IVy) Issue 3 - November 1991
 
Classic Comment
By Terry E. Scott, England

It's not the same!

Some of the simplest pieces of tech are the most powerful, and such is 
the case with differentiation. It is to mind and spirit as early 
morning exercise is to the body.

Light-yet-effective differentiation can be run in solo mode without a 
meter. It can be practised in harmony with another activity, typically 
when one is walking through town or countryside yet has some attention 
to spare.

Differentiation, employed without undue formality, also works on 
people who have never heard of the tech. And it runs well in a formal 
auditing session. Further, it can be used as a light assist.

Here is the essence of the technique: Notice two similar objects, and 
spot a difference between them.

The process can be enhanced easily enough. First, spot not merely one 
but several differences between items. Second, begin with terminals 
that are not very similar - then, later in the session, discover items 
that are very similar indeed at first glance.

One will come to know when to quit on one terminal and so on to 
another. A meter is not necessary.

Through a concentrated session of knowing differentiation, a being 
becomes more aware of his surroundings, others and himself. Logic and 
intuition may expand as side-benefits, for computation requires 
comparison and association.

Association - noticing similarities - is of course a part of any games 
condition, but many beings do too much of this and too little 
intentional differentiation.

I "re-discovered" differentiation a few years ago when I used to do 
two and half hours' train travel every day. "Hmm... Notice that light 
fitting and the one that's a yard away from it: the one on the left 
has its lamp on - fine; there's a scratch on the shade of the right-
hand one - okay; oh, they are that much space apart  - very good! 
Notice those two windows..." All done non-verbally, in fact, sheer 
lookingness.

In passing, differentiation manages to accomplish locational 
processing on a self-audit basis. Differentiation would make it 
possible to snap oneself out of any non-optimum condition. Above all, 
stable gains are possible in the present.

Differentiation is one of the lightest yet most powerful right-in-the-
here-and-now techniques available.