The Putting Machine: Secrets Of A Mind Game 32b1g

The Putting Machine

Secrets of a Mind Game

Ernie Makepeace

AuthorHouse™ 1663 Liberty Drive Bloomington, IN 47403 www.authorhouse.com Phone: 1 (800) 839-8640

©

2016 Ernie Makepeace. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/08/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-4258-7 (sc) ISBN: 978-1-5246-4257-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016916168

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only. Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 You are already a great putter

Chapter 2 Aiming is the most important thing

Chapter 3 The grip

Chapter 4 The set up

Pronation

Supination

Chapter 5 The swing

Chapter 6 Reading greens

Summary

Dedication

Dedicated to Cesar, Kyle, and Scott Makepeace.

Preface

This book is about how the subconscious and the conscious mind interact to produce a putting swing that is both accurate and instinctive. On the surface it is just a book about the mechanics of the complicated science of putting. This book takes the complicated part and makes it simple. The laws of physics that are involved are few and how to access them is very easy. Once you understand what laws and how to use them you’ll come to understand why aiming and setting up are more important than the hit itself. I avoid using the word stroke because that implies a conscious effort to move the putter in a particular way. The putter does move in a very particular way but not by a conscious effort.

This book is also about how to turn putting into a subconsciously driven habit. We mostly live our lives in a habitual way. Scientists say that 95% of what we do is by a subconscious habit. The difficult part then is for us to give up control of a club that we work so hard to control. Much of what you’ll learn from this book is different than what is being taught or what you may have read before. The results will have to speak for themselves.

Introduction

“Everything must be based on a simple idea. Once we have finally discovered it, it will be so compelling, so beautiful, that we will say to one another, yes, how could it have been any different.”

John Wheeler (1911-2008), Physicist

If you’re a ionate golfer like me you’ve probably seen a lot of videos and read many articles and books on golf in general and putting in particular. Over time some things have proven to be valid while others can’t stand up to the competitive test. I suppose the bottom line is that we do what is comfortable and works for us as long as the results are what we are trying to achieve. Any way you look at it, putting has always been an individual sort of thing.

While technology has transformed golf into a power game, putting has remained largely unaffected by the efforts of the “scientists”. Enlarged sweet spots not withstanding really most of the changes have been cosmetic. The only real advancement for the putter has been with the introduction of the large soft rubber grips. These larger grips put more of the palms of the hands on the putter which enhances feel and reduces wrist movement. As with most of these new things, it is an individual preference and no real rule exists to help one decide which is better than another.

There really are only two different types of putting methods; conscious and subconscious. The majority of golfers fall under the deliberate stroke driven conscious method. That particular way of putting requires a high degree of accurate aiming, setting up, and line and distance control. With that method there

is a very deliberate way of moving the putter head. Continuous practice is essential in order to execute and turn that very delicate action into success on the greens. Consistent success is somewhat elusive because it requires perfect execution from an imperfect human being.

The other type of putting is the subconscious kind. This method also requires a high degree of aiming and setting up. However, with this particular way execution and distance control are left for the subconscious to perform. You become an observer. You watch and feel the putter head move with the flawless precision of a pendulum. You give up control of the line and the speed. It is as much out of your hands as it is out of the hands of someone watching you. It is the proverbial gaining control by giving up control.

Psychologists say that conscious actions are only the tip of the iceberg. We mostly do things on a subconscious automatic level. Driving my 5 speed Jeep Wrangler in heavy traffic would be very difficult if I had to think about changing gears yet I can change gears rapidly while talking to a friend because of an automatic behavior referred to as a repetitive psychomotor pattern or what we think of as a habit. Changing gears is a repetitive psychomotor pattern. I don’t have to think about doing it. This book seeks to turn the putting swing into a repetitive psychomotor pattern we know as a habit. In order to do that, we must employ, in the simplest possible way, the perfect repetitive action of certain laws of physics.

Chapter One You are already a great putter

If you bought this book to become a great putter then it might shock to you to learn that you are already a great putter. The only thing you lack is the information to access your hidden talent. This information has been available to everyone since the game began. It is bathed in simplicity. It only takes awareness to allow it to reveal itself to you.

One of the first problems we encounter with attaining this awareness is the language used to communicate ideas that are essentially felt more than understood in the usual way. Most times language doesn’t carry the power that your imagination does. Great poems string together words that elicit feelings, ideas, images and emotions that are created in your mind. That’s why written words haven’t been enough to learn complicated ideas about golf that require imagination. It takes a good student to make a good instructor. We’re going to be in this together. For this learning experience to be successful you must use your imagination and see and feel images and emotions in your mind. In its purest form golf is a mind game. Use your imagination that’s what it’s there for.

You have approximately 100 billion neurons and trillions of dendrites which accompany them. They are ready to accept any message from your brain and deliver it to the appropriate nerves that in turn deliver neuro transmitters to end plates connected to a muscle where molecules of acetylcholine are released to make your muscles contract. All of this happens very fast at 120m/per second. It is, of course, much more complicated than that, in fact the machinery behind it is not entirely known to biologists today. Our interest is not in how it works but in that it’s all put into motion by a conscious thought. It is not difficult to see that swinging the putter on a specific line and at a specific speed requires the activation of many neurons to get the job done. If we were able to reduce this activation to just one deliberate small movement then our rate of success would increase dramatically simply because it would require less conscious effort. That is one of the goals of this book.

The one small movement is a simple downward push of the left shoulder for

right handed golfers. How many neurons and synaptic connections are involved for this action is unknown. We can safely, however, imagine many thousands less than the ongoing activation of a continuous conscious action. Giving up control of the downswing is very much like dropping the putter head on the ball. Gravity pulls the putter head down like a pendulum at a predictable accelerating rate. There is so much feel and imagination involved that it is difficult to describe in mere words. You must experience it to understand it, and then maybe you will say, how could it have been any different.

Chapter Two Aiming is the most important thing

I believe that aiming is and will continue to be the most difficult action to master in putting. I say that because I know full well that as perfect as “The Putting Machine” swing is, it will not yield the desired results if it is not aimed properly. The good news is that aiming can be mastered paving the way for untold success for those who come to truly understand the simple mechanics behind it.

One third of your awesome brain is dedicated to vision. That’s a lot of firepower for one system. It is therefore obviously important for you to know how to use your visual acuity properly to take advantage of this power that you possess. Your eyes are located on your face so that they can naturally trace vertical and horizontal lines. Look up and down and you easily see vertical lines. Look side to side and you can easily see horizontal lines. This imaginary grid that’s always in front of you disappears when you tilt your head. If you tilt your head and try to see a straight up and down line you’ll notice that the line appears to have a slight curve to it. Not only that but it just doesn’t feel comfortable because it affects your equilibrium. To see a straight line on a green it is vitally important to have your eyes directly on top of the line which you want the ball to roll on. This position will allow you to clearly see the grid with imaginary perpendicular lines. It is then easy to pick out a spot in front of the ball and to set up squarely to a line which is the focus of your attention.

To begin the aiming process you simply stand behind the ball so that you can see a straight line from the back of the ball to a spot about a foot away in front on the line. This line should between your legs dissecting the right side of your body from the left. Your shoulders should be perpendicular to that line. You are looking at a line that is essentially only a foot long.

The problem really begins when you turn sideways to align yourself to the target line. Without a club in your hands step toward the ball until you are on top of it looking straight down at it. Imagine a line coming straight up from the ball to a spot between your eyes. Keeping that imaginary vertical line fixed between your eyes turn sideways until your eyes, shoulders, hips, knees, and feet are parallel to

the target line on the ground. The imaginary vertical line remains between your eyes throughout the hit. The distance the feet are from the line will vary from individual to individual. You will eventually find the appropriate distance for your shape and size. Practice will turn this seemingly awkward move into a seamless flawless habit. A line now perpendicular to the target line will dissect the right side of your body from the left.

Now instead of the line being in front of you so that you look up and down at it, it is now sideways so that you must look at it from side to side while the ball is directly below your eyes. Gone is the comfortable panoramic view behind the ball, in its place is a restricted, confined area that looks the same putt after putt. That is a good thing. that the near target is only a foot away. There is no need to be aiming or looking at a line further away than that.

Some of you may tweak the process slightly and that’s ok but there are three things that cannot be changed; your eyes must be on top of the line, the imaginary vertical line from the ball to a spot between your eyes must remain there and finally your shoulders must be parallel to the target line.

Chapter Three The grip

Grip pressure may be the most misunderstood fundamental of all. By now most players know that a light grip is ideal for putting. We’ve all heard that it is very much like holding a little bird in your hand; light enough not to hurt it, but firm enough not to let it go. While that has been very good advice, I think gravity can show you a more consistent way that you can count on day after day. Once you come to understand the role that gravity plays in the scheme that is putting, you’ll be able to put more of the pieces of this puzzle together.

To start with place your elbows against the sides of your torso. Hold the putter in front of you straight up and down with the left hand so that the thumb is straight up on the grip and the index finger is pointing away from you. The four fingers of the right hand now hold the grip so that the little finger snuggles against the middle finger of the left hand. Next place the pocket below the right thumb on top of the left thumb while placing the right thumb on top of the grip. Softly put your left index finger across the three right hand fingers. That grip is the reverse overlap which is popular with most golfers.

As you hold the club up in your reverse overlap grip, relax your fingers to the point that gravity could pull it through the grip were it not for a very slight pressure applied to keep the club from slipping down. As you become more familiar with this method you will notice that your grip pressure is consistent day after day because the pull of gravity is the same day after day.

One of the main reasons for a light grip is that it relaxes your wrists, which allows information about the weight of the putter head to travel up to your brain where receptor neurons tell the brain what it feels like. It is the same as when you step on a stone and the information travels up to your brain to let you know that it hurts. Feel, it appears, comes from the outside and travels very quickly to receptors that deliver the message. How the brain gathers signals that result in the feel for how hard to hit a putt is not something that, as far as I know, has ever been studied. My theory is that when a putt is read information about length, speed, break, and condition of the green is delivered to the subconscious mind

where the feel for this particular putt is very quickly formulated. It is, at best, an incomplete theory because I only have subjective experience to back it up. Only by experiencing it yourself will you be able to know what I am writing about. Your job then is to aim, set up, and just let it happen. This is when the repetitive psychomotor pattern is subconsciously activated.

One of the objectives of making putts is to not try to make them. This is known as detachment to the outcome. It is obvious that getting the ball to go in the hole is what we want to do, however staying in the present and doing what we are supposed to do now is more important than what happens to the ball in the future. The instant the ball is hit, information about distance and line is transferred from the putter to the ball. After the ball has been hit there is nothing else you can do to influence the outcome of your efforts.

Chapter Four The set up

As stated earlier, it is in the transition from behind the ball to the side of it that most mistakes take place. This very important action must be rhythmic in nature. The set up should take the same amount of time whether it is a sixty foot or a three foot putt. Ideally, once the decision to set up and hit the ball is made then the whole action turns into a flowing, seamless motion that culminates with the transfer of energy from the putter head to the ball. It is very much like a choreographed dance move. You practice the same move time after time until it becomes second nature.

Allow me to make something very clear; from the instant that you are satisfied that you have picked out the proper line and you decide to hit the ball on that line there is no need to stop and become motionless. Aiming, setting up, and hitting the ball are tied together by the timing of the whole process. It takes a certain amount of time for each individual to perform this task. Some players will take more time than others but the amount of time that each takes remains the same for all putts. The point is that it must flow at a pace that is comfortable and suits your personal rhythm. The transition from the conscious action of setting up to the subconscious action of hitting the ball is hidden in the timing of your personal rhythm. It is something that you must discover for yourself.

Standing approximately a foot away from behind the ball and holding the putter in your right hand, move to the left so that the outside of the right foot is next to and parallel to the target line. While moving to that side, do not lose sight of the target line or the top of the ball. Scroll your eyes from the ball down the target line and back again as you place your right foot on a 45 degree angle to the ball. The next move is very critical; swing your left foot around so that it lands perpendicular to the target line while the shoulders are parallel to it and your eyes are on top of the ball. Grip the club in the manner which you have practiced and place the putter directly behind the ball and perpendicular to the target line. The distance the feet are from the target line will differ slightly from person to person. Again, it is something that you must discover for yourself.

That whole action will at first be somewhat clumsy, but as it becomes a habit with practice it will become more graceful and eventually you won’t give it a second thought. Think of it as trudging a new path in a forest except this forest is in your brain being created by your many neurons. The more you practice the more ingrained this path becomes. One of the fascinating aspects of all this is that you don’t actually have to physically perform these moves. All you have to do is think about them and the neurons fire away.

I recall reading about an experiment involving eighteen basketball players. Six of them practiced shooting free throws for a week, six of them only thought about shooting free throws, and six of them did not practice or think about free throws at all. When they were brought together the six who only thought about the free throws made more baskets than the other two groups.

There is growing speculation that we possess mirror neurons that mimic actions that are being performed. Some scientists are skeptical because the research has only been done with monkeys but my guess is that if we imagine an action then our neurons can fire away and mimic that action. That’s why it’s important to view the video that is available for this book. In that way you can tie what you learn from reading the information with what you see being performed. It’s an interesting way to learn because you know exactly how and why the movements are happening when you see them happening.

Your forearms have two bones which make the rotation of your wrists possible. Were it not for these two bones rotation would be impossible. The radial bone extends at the wrist from the base of your thumb to the base of your upper arm. The ulna bone extends at the wrist from a bone connected to your little finger to the base of your upper arm. When your hands are in front of you as if in prayer, the radial bone is above the ulna. This is considered a neutral position.

Pronation

Pronation occurs when the radial bone, from a neutral position, rolls over the ulna so that the back of the hand is facing the sky. You will notice that the bones cross under the forearm. This action is necessary in the release of the club head in the full swing. It is very similar to the motion of the second baseman’s underhand throw to first base. While this is a very desirable action for the full swing it will absolutely wreck a putting swing.

Supination

Supination occurs when, from a neutral position, the palm of the hand is rolled so that it is facing the sky. You will notice that the two bones are now parallel to each other. In the full swing the left arm, for right handers, is in supination while the right arm is in pronation. Body mechanics dictates this action for the smooth transition into the follow through. In putting, however, we want both arms in supination to eliminate the rotation that requires constant attention and virtually eliminates consistent success. I have played with very good putters who open and close the face, but they were few and far between.

Supination of both forearms during the hit is the secret to keeping the putter face square without having to think about it. Coupled with the proper set up and grip pressure the putter face will retain its perpendicular angle to the line like a machine as long as you don’t interfere by trying to control it.

The next step is to bring the supinated forearms and elbows in and press them slightly against the midline of your body. You will notice that your forearms can easily move up and down and rotate from side to side while your upper arms remain still. This freedom allows us to do such incredible things like open doors and bring a cup of coffee to our lips. All that potential motion is great but it can wreck a putting swing so it must be held in check.

In order to stabilize the supinated forearms, you must first flex your hands down while keeping your elbows pressed against your sides. Next, bring your hands together by rotating the supinated forearms toward each other until your hands meet as if gripping the club. Take note that half of each forearm is touching your upper body. That relationship remains throughout the swing. It should feel very restricting. The object of what you have done is to keep your hands from pronating. It is imperative that you keep your elbows touching your body. In this particular position the supinated right forearm will not allow the left forearm to pronate and the supinated left forearm will not allow the right to pronate. The only thing that either can do is go straight back and straight forward.

Chapter five The swing

You are now ready to swing the putter. You have in effect turned yourself into a putting machine. If you can imagine a machine made of steel parts, similar to that of your body, that needs a motor for power and a computer to run it then you get the idea. This machine has the added advantage of being able to use certain laws of physics to achieve its goal of delivering information to the ball about where and how far to go. The information is exchanged at the point of impact. When the putter head touches the ball at the moment of impact, the ball is instantly on its way. There is no time to grip it and to try to put over spin on it. Balls begin to roll end over end when they meet friction from the green. Super slow motion cameras have confirmed that balls skid first and then begin to roll.

This particular method, however, seeks to make the ball meet friction immediately by hitting down on it at a very precise and shallow angle of attack. This very delicate action cannot be consciously controlled. It must be part of the machine like action of the swing. It is programmed in the set up. The results will have to speak for themselves.

A pendulum is a suspended weight on a string swinging back and forth powered by gravity. The pendulum action of the putting swing is a modified version. A “Newton’s Cradle” device which is powered by gravity is a modified pendulum which exemplifies Sir Isaac Newton’s conservation of energy. It shows very clearly the transfer of energy form one object to another in the same fashion that the energy of the putter head is transferred to the ball. The ball absorbs the energy and is instantly on its way. The accelerating free flowing movement of the putter along a line of least resistance is also programmed in the set up.

The swing is a modified pendulum because the putter head is not directly below the grip of the club. The rigid shaft and the angle of the wrists allow the head to fall in a straight line to the ball. Gravity is not pulling the head toward the ball but rather toward the butt of the club. The rigid shaft and the flexed wrists will not allow it to do that. Gravity is in effect pulling the head toward the body throughout the entire swing. An experiment you can try is to hold the club close

to your body by your left index finger and thumb while still holding it with your right hand. Bring the club back with the right hand away from the ball and then let go and you’ll see that it will not go to the ball but it will go toward the body.

The butt of the club must remain pointing at the belly button because even though it is modified it is still a pendulum. The set up makes this action easy to do and allowing an inch or more to protrude past the grip makes it even simpler.

The downward pushing action of the left shoulder initiates the backswing of the putter. The wide arc of the swing keeps the putter head close to the ground and does not allow it to get very high up in the air precipitating the shallow angle of attack. This is automatic and any effort to lift the putter head higher will result in a steeper hit which will drive the ball into the ground and make the ball hop. Your job is to merely hold the club lightly and watch what happens.

The downswing is initiated by the upward motion of the left shoulder. The left shoulder goes up which makes the putter head go down. This particular action employs the power of centripetal force which is a force that pulls an object towards its center of rotation. This is the force that cowboys use to spin a rope above their heads to throw at and catch a steer. This force works in conjunction with gravity to propel the putter head toward the ball. It is a pulling not a pushing action. This pulling action guides the putter head on our desired shallow angle of descent.

The moment of impact is also a transition to centrifugal force. This force pulls objects away from the center of rotation. Immediately after impact when centripetal force ceases to pull the club to the ball, centrifugal force takes over and pulls the putter head away from the point of impact. It is at this moment that the release of the toe happens as well. This release is automatic and must be allowed to happen. You will notice that for the release to happen the left hand stops and allows the putter to climb onto its plane. In effect the left hand has to stop to keep the butt of the club looking at the belly button.

Initially, if you can manage to just let things happen you will not only see but feel what is so difficult to describe. What I have done is just point you in the right direction you have to make these discoveries for yourself. There will come a point when you will understand the forces that are in use and it is inevitable that you will feel a sense of connection to them.

We have become attached to so many dogmatic ideas about putting that we close the door on ideas that are different from what we consider the norm. One dogmatic idea is that the putter head needs to be guided down the target line for accuracy. Nothing could be further from the truth. The fact is that the instant the ball is hit it leaves the face and the fate of the putt is right there and then decided. The energy of the hit instantly travels through the center of rotation to the other side of the ball and as it accelerates, the putter head having transferred energy begins to slow down. Try this experiment; place three balls touching each other in a straight line a foot away from a ball you intend to hit. Make sure all four balls are on the same line. Now hit your ball directly into the back of the first of the three balls. The last of the three balls will take off on a straight line while the other balls remain in place. That is an example of Newton’s conservation of energy. The internet has brought information to all of us that we can access at will. I suggest you look all this up on your own and make your own discoveries.

By now my hope is that you will have gotten the gist of what this putting method is about from the mechanics of aiming, setting up, and some of the important forces we use to putt. The most difficult part of all this is that you give up controlling the putter in any way. You merely hold it very lightly and push the left shoulder down. You hit the back of the ball and you let whatever happens happen. How much simpler can it get? There is a video that I have on my website at www.mindvibration.biz that gives a visual example of this method. It is only about the mechanics of the swing.

Chapter Six Reading greens

It is a matter of fact that if you are deficient in reading greens you will not make many putts. I play most of my golf down south where Bermuda greens prevail. Players know that the grain on these greens grows toward the setting sun. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell which way the grain is going. One way to combat this problem is to take a close look at the cup. Even a freshly cut cup will have one side of it with a slightly worn edge. This is because the grass that is slanted toward the setting sun will have part of its roots severed where the other side will not. It will be more obvious on days when the cups have not been changed. A general strategy is to just play the slope and disregard the grain when putting down grain. Consider the grain when playing into or across it. You can decide how much the grain will affect your ball when warming up on the practice green.

Most greens are sloped from back to front to drain water off of them. Usually there will be drains in the fronts and sides of greens to accept the runoff. Water, obviously, runs downhill and balls will have a tendency to follow that path created by the water. Those general rules are good for playing courses that you’re not familiar with. If you play most of your golf on your home course then I would advise you to spend a practice round rolling balls from all over the greens and keep a mental note of what you see. Another way to feel the grain is to run your hand across the surface of the green. If it glides with no resistance it is with the grain. If you meet resistance and you raise the nap of the green it is against it. This action is illegal for any sort of play, but not during a practice round when you are gathering information.

How you putt has an impact on how to read a green. If you like to hit the ball firmly you will have to read less break than someone who hits the ball to just topple into the cup. On very fast greens it is better to hit the ball so that it crawls into the hole. On slower grainy greens it is better to hit it firmer to keep it on line. This putting method allows you to hit the ball either way. The speed and condition of the greens will determine which method you will use. The only difference really is in the tempo of the hit.

Regardless of what kind of greens you play on, reading and making breaking putts is where the money is. One of the hardest putts to make is that nasty left to right putt. They’re not all the same; a downhill left to right is fairly simple compared to a side hill one where you have to hit it above the hole at the perfect speed to let it fall into the cup. One of the problems with that putt is where to aim. You should aim every breaking putt at the point where you have read it to break. So if the putt breaks a foot away from the hole that’s where you aim it. If it breaks five feet away that’s where you aim that one. The idea is to hit it hard enough to get it to the break so that gravity can then pull it down the line which you have chosen. As you can see there’s a feel there that only you can understand and execute.

Putting at home on a smooth carpet is an ideal way to practice particularly during those winter months when it’s too cold to play. Including of your family in your practice is a great way to have fun and spend some quality time together. Here’s a game you might enjoy. Take a yard stick and paint twelve inches different colors and put numbers on them from one to twelve. Place standing up leaning against a throw pillow. Move about five feet away .Roll a pair of dice and whatever number comes up that’s the number to hit on the yard stick. If you hit it you get ten points plus the number you rolled. First one to a hundred wins. Everyone must putt from the same spot. If you miss you get no points. You better start learning how to aim before you play.

I hope you enjoyed this unusual peek at a part of the game that is more mental than physical. Somehow things even out between those guys who can boom it out there and those who can putt.

Summary

The Putting Machine method requires commitment to a way of putting that is different from what players are accustomed to. The main difference is that the club head moves with the freedom of a pendulum without any conscious control of line or speed. The hit is the culmination of many controllable things such as reading greens, aiming, and setting up.

Giving up control of the line and speed is probably the most difficult part of this process. Confidence in this method comes with practice and the realization that a subconscious part of you is best suited for the task at hand.

Imagination plays a major role in making putts. Once you’ve read the putt, imagine the ball rolling on that line. This gives your mind a “visual” track to follow. Your subconscious mind then goes about hitting the ball at the proper speed for that particular putt. All you are left to do is to watch what happens. You do absolutely nothing. How much simpler can it get?

This short concise book is one that you may have to read a couple of times to get the gist of the information. I hope you enjoyed this peek into a somewhat metaphysical part of this best of all games. I encourage you to do your own research into a Newton’s Cradle device to get an idea of the similarity with the moment of impact of a putter and a golf ball.

Players are always talking about taking their games to the next level. All of us who play golf are tied together by one ongoing thought - improvement. We all want to get better and to that end we will read, watch videos, take lessons and do whatever it takes. Modern golf instruction has taken a lot of the mystery out of

the swing. Putting, however, has resisted the progress that has evolved other parts of the game. The methods of the men and women who taught us the game remain just as good then as they are today.

I think that if there is a secret to putting it is that the putter head must return exactly to its address position which is perpendicular to the target line. How to do that without trying to do that is what this book is really about. It’s a mind game and the only one who can experience it is you.

“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

The Matrix