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Foresight Professional Training Program
The First Sixteen Chapters
The nonfiction book, “Raising Seadragon,” follows the journey of Seadragon, a high school student with aspirations of becoming a lawyer, as he starts his first job at the Quach & Mustafayev Group (QMG), a local entrepreneurial venture. During his time at QMG, Seadragon is introduced to Thumos philosophy, a framework for personal growth and healthy communication. He shares personal stories about his aspirations and struggles, and through his interactions with the group, he learns the value of empathy, understanding, and collaboration.
Over the course of ten months, Lyonel Fritsch, a colleague who is six years Seadragon’s senior, works with his mentor, Miguel, and other members of QMG, including Alec and Junior, on various projects. He learns about Thumoslang, a vocabulary designed to achieve social clarity and creativity integration. Thumoslang provides a set of operating terms to maintain individuality while fostering a collective understanding within a group, mitigating the collapse of meaning, and boosting productivity.
Throughout the book, the concepts of Thumos philosophy and Thumoslang are explored and applied to various aspects of life, from relationships to business. Seadragon’s journey with QMG and Thumoslang is a story of personal growth, discovery, and the power of collaboration to create positive change. The book concludes with a message of hope and encouragement, emphasizing the potential for Thumoslang to change the world, starting with Seadragon.
Chapter 1
In this chapter, “The Snake, Fan, and Tree Trunk,” the parable of the blind men and the elephant has been used to teach the importance of perspective and empathy for generations. The story follows a group of blind men who touch different parts of an elephant and each come up with drastically different descriptions of the animal. This tale reminds us that people can have varied perspectives on the same subject, influenced by their experiences and biases. It highlights the value of actively listening and seeking to understand each other, leading to empathy, tolerance, and growth. Thumoslang, a novel language developed by mentor Miguel, can be likened to the elephant in the story. Our interaction with Thumoslang will determine our perception of it, and like the blind men, we must approach it with an open mind. Elias Turner, known as Tengu in the Providence music scene, shares his experience with Thumoslang in a video.
Chapter 2
This chapter, “Deep Time,” explores the historical belief that the Earth was young and its features were caused by big disasters such as the biblical Flood. Geologists like James Hutton and Charles Lyell later showed that the Earth was much older than previously believed, with its features being the result of slow processes over millions of years. The chapter then discusses the concept of “foolproof,” which refers to something that is so well-designed that it is difficult to fail, but does not necessarily make it easy to understand. The concept of Thumoslang is used as an example of a foolproof concept, which took a long time to discover and is still an enormous “elephant” to explore. The chapter ends with a question about how our first experience with Thumoslang will shape our perception of it, similar to the blind men and the elephant.
Chapter 3
In this chapter, “Welcome to Our Group,” Seadragon, a high school freshman, shares his experience working with his writing mentor, Miguel, and how it has helped him explore various topics and express his thoughts in an engaging way. Although he is not yet ready to tackle a serious book project, he appreciates Miguel’s guidance in refining his writing while ensuring that his voice and ideas remain at the forefront. He also shares personal stories about his aspirations to become a lawyer and his struggles with speech, which Miguel helps him cope with by pointing out that it is normal to take a moment to collect his thoughts before speaking. Overall, Seadragon’s journey with Miguel has been an encouraging and enlightening experience for his writing and personal growth.
Chapter 4
In this chapter, Water, a high school student, met Miguel, a philosopher working on a book, on a bus ride and got the opportunity to work with him on his project. Water interviewed for a new job and landed it, and he also managed to score a job for his friend Junior. He and Junior then came up with a Spanish nickname for Miguel that stuck. A few weeks later, Water, Junior, Miguel, and Alec, Miguel’s writing buddy, had a lively discussion about clubs and other social activities. Miguel devised a code name for Water and Junior’s work team, ‘Voda,’ meaning ‘water’ in Ukrainian. The following day, Water shared a captivating story on their group’s Instagram account, directing people to a landing page created by Water and Junior for Ri4CTV Job 2302. Within two hours of the story being posted, Junior received an email from an eager applicant who wanted the job, and it turned out to be Seadragon, the author of the chapter, “The Adventures of Team Voda.”
Chapter 5
In this chapter, My Mentor’s Gadget, Seadragon shares interesting facts about his mentor, Miguel, including a throwback photo from 2013 when Miguel worked as a Test Automation Engineer for Factory Mutual Insurance Company in Rhode Island. Seadragon also talks about Miguel’s impressive drone, Skydio One, which has thirteen cameras that assist the drone in avoiding obstacles during flight. He provides a thrilling video showing Miguel testing the drone in a small room, and another video of the drone following a skateboarder through the streets of College Hill.
Chapter 6
In this chapter, “From Your Mentor Miguel,” the mentor, Miguel, introduces himself and his writing team, the Quach & Mustafayev Group (QMG), who run the YouTube channel Ri4CTV and Instagram channel @Ri4CTV. The group has published six books and achieved their first sign of success in December 2022. Lyonel Fritsch joined the group in January 2023 to produce a comprehensive business plan, and Junior and Seadragon, two freshmen from Classical High School’s Class of 2026, joined the group a few weeks later. Miguel offers himself as a mentor to everyone in the group, and he promises to offer guidance and support to help them achieve their goals. He encourages readers to contact him or his team for direct guidance if necessary.
Chapter 7
In this chapter, “Ultimate Meaning of Leadership,” Miguel shares some of his life experiences that have shaped his understanding of leadership. Miguel reflects on his adventurous spirit as a child in Vietnam and his travels around the world in his career, leading to a frustration with the lack of a clear definition of leadership. It is during his chance encounter with a group of cyclists in Rhode Island that he has an epiphany about what true leadership means: being ahead and part of history. He shares his thoughts in a video with Norman Baker, who is impressed with the clarity and power of Thumoslang, a language of social clarity that Miguel has developed.
Chapter 8
“Deliverable or Entertainment?” In this chapter, Miguel uses Thumoslang to clarify the meaning of ‘work’ and ‘entertainment’ to Junior, who is new to the group and was helping Seadragon filling out his timesheet. Junior thought he had been working with Alec in the recent days, but Miguel explains that work means making deliverables that are used by the company, while entertainment means holding interest and attention. The conversation was overheard by Seadragon, Alec, and Junior, who realized the power of Thumoslang in facilitating understanding of key concepts and improving overall clarity. Thanks to Thumoslang, everyone in the group was able to be on the same page about the difference between work and entertainment.
Chapter 9
In this chapter, “Become More Powerful,” the author discusses the concept of thumbnail definitions and their significance in Thumoslang. The chapter provides several examples of imperfect thumbnail definitions and their improved versions. It also emphasizes that Thumoslang does not describe what a concept looks like but tells you when it is at play. The author cites various examples, including one of a teenager who changed his life after reading a few sentences of Thumoslang. The chapter concludes by discussing the immense power of Thumoslang’s countless thumbnail definitions and how they can make one more powerful than they have been led to believe.
Chapter 10
In this chapter, “Bongo for All,” Miguel discusses the cost of living and how to attain one million dollars through passive income. He introduces the concept of the Bongo, a wealth-building friend group (WBFG) whose members speak Thumoslang and are called bongo siblings. Miguel explains that a secondmind friend is like a super friend who helps you stay on track when you are working on your goals. It is important to maintain a strong secondmind relationship through reciprocity. Miguel recommends starting a bongo as soon as possible and building strong relationships with bongo siblings by working on personal ideals. He also suggests that bongo for all could be a business strategy to help everyone in the community build wealth from scratch.
Chapter 11
In this chapter, titled “The First Bongo Group,” Miguel and Alec’s successful book sales are highlighted. They sold two units of Miguel’s nonfiction book, Toothpaste Against Loneliness & Distractions (TALD), and two units of Alec’s novel, Reborn with Power, at the Anti-Robot Club Marketplace event. Miguel and Alec formed the first bongo, a wealth-building friend group based on Thumoslang, where they worked for free as bongo siblings in a secondmind family to create wealth from scratch. The chapter emphasizes the power of collaboration and the importance of working together towards a shared goal.
Chapter 12
In this chapter, “Day One: Discover Thumoslang,” Seadragon, a new member of the group, discusses his introduction to Thumoslang and his interest in joining the group’s efforts to create wealth from scratch. Miguel introduces Seadragon to Lyonel, another member of the group who has found Thumoslang to be a useful tool for developing logically sound economic concepts. Lyonel shares his experience with Thumoslang and how it has helped him break down complex economic concepts into their bare-bones components. Thumoslang has allowed him to develop foolproof ideas and avoid logical problems. The chapter includes a transcript of a video in which Lyonel describes his experience with Thumoslang and its use in developing his vision for a booklet on workplace democracy.
Chapter 13
In this chapter, “An Eye-Opening First Workday,” Seadragon learns about Thumoslang philosophy from Miguel and a video featuring Alec’s first encounter with Thumoslang. They discuss the importance of personal ideals in relationships and how Thumoslang can help avoid interference with those ideals. Miguel explains that understanding and respecting someone goes beyond just knowing the definition of respect and involves understanding their personal ideals. Seadragon realizes that he has never asked anyone about their personal ideals and therefore could not truly understand and respect their values. The chapter emphasizes the importance of understanding personal ideals to prevent interference in relationships.
Chapter 14
In this chapter, “The Joy of Pizza and Friendship,” Seadragon shares a personal anecdote about making a pact with his friend to ask their crushes out. He reflects on the value of these small moments of camaraderie with friends and how they bring him joy. Seadragon also realizes that his own life is full of interesting experiences that he can share in a unique and engaging way, even if he is not a celebrity. His mentor Miguel introduces him to the concept of objective reporting, and Seadragon is excited to learn about it. Miguel also shows Seadragon the first four chapters of an internal booklet he is writing about Seadragon’s journey through adolescence, and Seadragon is thrilled to have his story documented.
Chapter 15
In this chapter, “Activate the True Purpose of Your Life,” Lyonel’s mentor, Miguel, suggests that he learn from Alec, a high school classmate who became a business owner. Alec introduces Lyonel to the concept of ikigai, the Japanese idea of finding one’s purpose in life. The chapter goes further and explains how to activate it using Thumoslang. The basic steps involve identifying (Circle 1) what one loves, (Circle 2) what one is good at, (Circle 3) what one can be paid for, and (Circle 4) what the world needs, and finding the overlap between these four starting circles. The chapter provides a detailed breakdown of the steps and explains how to use Thumoslang to activate one’s ikigai. The ultimate goal is to find purpose and meaning in life and to pursue it with dedication and enthusiasm.
Chapter 16
As explained by this chapter, “Seadragon and the Original Thumos Textbook,” the narrative, “Raising Seadragon,” follows the story of a high school student, nicknamed Seadragon, as he starts his first job at the Quach & Mustafayev Group (QMG), a local entrepreneurial venture. Seadragon’s aspiration to become a lawyer is complemented by his initial tasks at QMG, which involve assisting in developing legal procedures to enhance the company’s operations. During a field trip, Seadragon receives a copy of “Thumos: Adulthood, Love, and Collaboration,” a book featuring the innovative concept of Thumos philosophy, which provides a framework for personal growth and healthy communication. Over the course of ten months, Lyonel learns about Thumoslang, a vocabulary designed to achieve social clarity and creativity integration. Thumoslang provides a set of operating terms to maintain individuality while fostering a collective understanding within a group, mitigating the collapse of meaning, and boosting productivity. The book documents how Thumoslang can change the world, starting with Seadragon.
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