Date: 28 Sep 2000 00:41:13 -0000
Subject: Thesis...


To whom it may concern,
									My name is Perry O'Brien, and I'm an 18-year old Sophomore at the University of Southern Maine. As a Philosophy Major, I am required to write a thesis to complete my degree, and as a student in the Honors Program, I am given the oppurtunity to write this thesis very early on in my academic career. My thesis topic is Free Will and Self-Transformation, and I intend the format of my thesis to be a philisophical treatise cleverly disguised in the form of a Self-Help book, so as to make the ideas I offer accessible to those without the benefit of a philisophical education. Anyway, I am looking for any books, articles, comments, criticims, and contact information available to begin the conceptual work for this project, and since you appear to be someone who may have experience in such matters, I'm writing to ask for any resources, ideas, or suggestions of other people to contact that you could offer. I know I've been a little vague when discussing my thesis, so let me clari!
fy: 
						I intend do two important things in the course of my thesis. First, I want to formulate an arguement stating that all humans, regardless of any sociopolitical, psychological, or genetic factors, have the innate ability to engage in a sort of metacognition, where they become keenly aware of their own mental workings and faculties. Then, armed with this knowledge, any human can take an active role in the erasure of negative, or destructive patterns and ideas(many of which have been established by authority figures at a young age), and the formulation of new, more dynamic patterns which benefits the individual in question. Secondly, I want to suggest a number of ideas and techniques on how exactly such a feat is possible (ie meditation, bio-feedback, self-analysis, metaproramming, etc...). Needless to say, this thesis statement carries with it a number of philisophical and psychological dillemmas which I intend to confront, but I feel that I will be best equipped to do so a!
fter communicating with experts in both fields, and  after doing much, much more research...

So, anything you, or someone you know could offer in the way of ideas or suggested readings would be fantastic...

				Thanks for your time,

                 -Perry O'Brien

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