Photo of Jose Silva lecturing to large audience

The man who unlocked the secrets of the human mind

Even though he was born to poor parents in Laredo, Texas, on the Mexican border, Jose Silva was always successful. His story is a true American success story. In fact, his story transcends time and space: It is one of the great success stories in the history of the world.

  • Young Jose Silva selling newspapersAs a six year old boy he went to work to help support his family, after watching his father die as the result of a terrorist act during the Mexican revolution.
  • Jose learned to read and write on his own - in both English and Spanish
  • Instead of going to school, he earned money for his family by selling newspapers on the streets of Laredo, and shining shoes, and doing odd jobs.
  • By the time he was a teenager, he was an employer and hired other youngsters to work with him, going door to door to sell merchandise he purchased in San Antonio.

The youngsters were earning as much money after school as their parents earned working full time. And young José was earning as much every day as the typical adult in Laredo earned in a week.

One day Jose came across an electronics course, borrowed it, studied it, and went into the radio repair business. Eventually he built the largest electronics repair business in south Texas.

This was pretty impressive for a youngster who had educated himself, had supported his family since age six, and had earned the respect of people in the community.

But there was one area where Jose’s hard work and street smarts weren't paying off.

Why weren't his children like him?

Even though Jose had experienced success in many areas, his children were not following in his footsteps. Some bad report cards convinced him that he had to find the answer.

The answer seemed to be in the way that super successful people - like himself - used their minds.

  • He made good decisions, but his children sometimes failed to do the correct thing.
  • He could concentrate on a task and complete it. His children didn't seem to have that same ability.
  • Jose was usually in the right place at the right time, and this had led to much of his success. But his children, like so many other people who never see their dreams come true, sometimes seemed to wind up at the worst possible place at the worst possible time.
  • He was never ill, but his children got the usual childhood diseases.

This raised several questions in his mind:

  • Why could some people learn more easily than others? Jose learned without ever attending school, while his children were bringing home some F's on their report cards.
  • Why were some people so much better at earning a living than others?

He felt that the answer was in the mind. But how could he explore the mind?

Studying the mind

Jose began to study psychology - the study of human behavior. One of the things he learned is that the brain operates on a small amount of electrical energy, and that this electric current vibrates or pulsates at different rates.

Sometimes the brain's electrical energy vibrates rapidly, twenty times every second, referred to as twenty cycles per second, abbreviated twenty cps. Sometimes it vibrated slower, at ten cps, or five cps.

He wondered why this was so.

Jose Silva working on electronic circuitThen he drew on his experience in radio repair, and realized that some radios sound better than others.

What makes the difference in a good electrical circuit, and a bad one, he wondered? He already knew the answer:

  • In electronics, you seek the circuit with the least impedance, because that is the circuit that provides you with the greatest power.

Since the brain operates on a small amount of electrical energy, the same principle should hold true:

  • Find the operating mode where it has the least impedance and the most power, and you've found the best mode for mental activity.

The mind did not reveal its secrets to José Silva easily. He persisted, investing his own time and money, continuing even though critics scorned him.

Today he is recognized as the leading researcher in the world in the field of the mind and human potential. And Jose Silva's UltraMind ESP System is leading humanity into the beginning of the second phase of human evolution on the planet:

  • Learning how to use your ESP to obtain guidance and support from higher intelligence so that you can fulfill your mission in life.

How your brain works

Jose Silva explaining Scale of Brain EvolutionYour brain operates on a small amount of electricity, just like other computers. It can process and store information, retrieve that information, and use that information to make decisions and solve problems.

Unlike other computers, the electricity that the brain generates and functions with does not remain at a fixed frequency.

  • Sometimes this electric current vibrates rapidly - 20 times per second or more.
  • Other times it vibrates very slowly, one time per second or less.

Scientists call these vibrations "cycles" or "Hertz," and have divided the brain frequency spectrum into four different segments, based on the number of cycles per second, which is abbreviated cps.

  • Beta is above fourteen cps, typically twenty cycles per second when your body and mind are active and you focus your eyes.
  • Alpha, from seven to fourteen cps, is associated with light sleep and dreaming.
  • Theta, from four to seven cps, is associated with deeper sleep, and with the use of hypnosis for such things as painless surgery.
  • Delta, below four cps, is associated with deepest sleep.

Jose Silva reasoned that the best range to use for mental activity would be the range that has the least impedance and the most energy.

The alpha frequency is the strongest current-wise, and the most rhythmic of the four.

That's why it was the first to be discovered by scientists with their primitive sensing equipment, and was named "alpha" for the first letter in the Greek alphabet.

How people use their mind

It seemed logical to Jose Silva that the alpha level would be the ideal level to do your thinking, if you could learn to actually activate your mind while at alpha.

  • You could think more clearly because it provides more energy.
  • You could maintain your concentration better.
  • You could access more information, more easily, because it is in the absolute center of the brain's normal operating range.

But here's the catch:

Research revealed that most people do their thinking at the beta frequency!

Most people, when their brain frequency slows to alpha, enter the "sub-conscious" area, and then fall asleep.

Most people are using the weakest, the least stable frequency to do their thinking: the beta level.

But the superstars stay awake at the alpha level, and do their thinking at alpha.

Functioning at alpha...successfully

In order to do this successfully, you must learn two things:

  1. To produce alpha brain waves with conscious awareness. That is, reach the alpha level without falling asleep.
  2. Become mentally active while remaining at the alpha level.

Everybody can daydream. Passive daydreaming is sometimes done at the alpha level.

But even if you can daydream at the alpha level, you might wind up going straight to beta when you become mentally active and direct your imagination the way you desire.

Double your pleasure

Besides being the most efficient operating level in terms of low impedance and high power output, there is another very important advantage of using the alpha level:

At the alpha level you can access data that has been stored on two brain hemispheres instead of just one.

At beta, you can only access data that is stored on the left half of your brain - your left brain hemisphere.

The left brain hemisphere is used for storing information you detect with your physical senses: what you see and hear and touch and experience in the physical world.

At alpha, you can access data that has been stored on either your left brain hemisphere, or your right brain hemisphere.

The right brain hemisphere is used for storing information you detect with your subjective (mental) senses: your psychic senses.

Will you double your ability when you learn to think with both brain hemispheres?

You will do much better than that.

Next: A Man... a Message... a Method