Neuroscientists have estimated that the average human brain has 100 billion cells, and that each of these cells is connected to 20,000 other ganglia and dendrites. This means that you have more brain connections than molecules in the known universe.



If this does not make you gasp, then you may have to question your ability to fog a mirror.

Naturally, with all this brain-power, you may wonder, as I did, when I learned these startling facts, is why does even my computer and calculator seem smarter than I am?

The answer is historical and social conditioning.

Yes, ever since you were little you have been educated to use less than your capacity. In studies of child prodigies, it has been found that they were raised in an extraordinary way that went against the prevailing social norms. They were exposed to sufficient intellectual stimulus at an early age and subsequently performed in a way that was truly remarkable.

I'll give you an example:

Instead of the disciplinary punishment so common to education, Boris and Sarah Sidis, believed in nurturing a precocious and fearless love of knowledge, into their son William.

This was an unusual idea in the early 20th century. They received much criticism for it. Nevertheless, they persisted.

The result of exposing young Sidis to educational information when most parents breathe a sigh of relief that their child can walk and talk was that young Sidis could read the New York Times at 18 months, taught himself Latin at 2, Greek at 3, wrote four books at 4, and knew Ten languages (English, Latin, Greek, Russian, Hebrew, French, German, Turkish, Armenian and Vendergood, his own invention) by age eight. And this was just the beginning. By the age of 11, William Sidis mastered higher mathematics and planetary revolutions, became youngest student to ever enroll at Harvard, and lectured Harvard Mathematical club on "Four-Dimensional Bodies.' He graduated from Harvard, cum laude, on June 24, 1914, at age 16. And two years later, entered Harvard Law School in 1916.

Now with this impressive start in life, you would expect that he lived a happy and productive life.

Actually, he went into obscurity, took on low paying employment, lived in horrible poverty, and even went to great efforts to hide his intelligence.

The reason: tremendous public disapproval. He was considered a freak, and constantly tormented by his peers.

Contrary to what you may have believed, intelligence is not popular, and this is why most people have learned how to dumb down their own.

Thus, it is not nature that has deprived us of expressing our own natural brilliance, but history and society.

We have been brought up to believe that we are not that bright. And this belief is a historical legacy, because high intelligence has never been very popular. A highly intelligent population is not the ideal of religious and political forces, and since the beginning of recorded history, human intelligence has been suppressed.

Today, with our tremendous explosion of knowledge, we are finding it increasingly necessary to open our minds to our mental potential. Although, of course, the same compressive social forces are still hard at work. For example, our modern day schools still use the model of industrial age training, despite the tremendous breakthroughs in accelerated learning psychology clearly demonstrated by people like Georgi Lozanov, Tony Buzan, and Win Wenger.

Or, here's another example. Take radio and television. These two mediums are capable of giving every listener or viewer a first class university education. But what are they used to do? Negative news footage, social banter, and silly shows and movies. Anything deep is considered controversial.

You may, of course, argue, that William Sidis, had wonderful genes, because both his parents were brilliant as well; but, the fact remains, that even if one cannot be as brilliant as a known genius, your neurology is capable of tremendous feats, much more than you have ever known.

However, when you study the history of known geniuses, you find for the most part that they became geniuses because of how they were raised. There are some exceptions, but for the most part, they found allies, usually intelligent parents or mentors, that sheltered them from social conditioning about what they were capable of doing. Thus, they overcame the social forces that compel most people to develop mediocre minds.

In other words, the biological equipment is there for anyone to be highly intelligent. It just has never been used much. In many cases, it has been actively suppressed by negative environmental conditioning.

You are much brighter than you think.

Imagine what would happen if you were to start a program of mental cultivation? For example, each day, you can decide to be more creative with one aspect of your life.

Simply by having an intensely desired goal and asking focusing questions, you can resolve most of the problems that are bothering you today. Once you start to stimulate your mind, it will respond.

The reason why all our problems appear overwhelming and unsolvable is because of a massive conspiracy, since the beginning of recorded history, to suppress intelligence.

In the 20th century, we have invented more things than the entire history of the human race. How? It is because as a species, we have allowed more intelligent people to have a say in what is going on in the world. The industrial revolution created a demand for more brain power and a small minority of people responded.

Imagine what would happen in a world where everyone was allowed to be much more intelligent? We would be building cities under the ocean and colonizing space and resolving those bewildering problems that are threatening to destroy our species altogether.

Now, sadly, nobody is going to give you permission to be as bright, capable, and effective as you want to be. You must cease it for yourself.

You can start today by just deciding to clearly outline your goals and purpose in life and begin a deliberate campaign to find out how you can resolve your most pressing problems.

Once you start to tap your tremendous neurological capabilities through a conscientious effort, who knows what you are capable of being, doing, and having from life.

When there is enough desire, you can do anything.

If you're looking for abundance, it's right inside your head. Nature has given you more raw intellectual capacity than you could ever use in a single lifetime. Imagine what would happen if you were to tap into even a sliver more than you have been using to this date. Your world would literally explode with exciting possibilities.

And as Mahatma Gandhi once said, "You must be the change you want to see in the world."