A universe of possibilities at your fingertips

A violin has four strings, but if the player is skilled enough, beautiful music can be made even by playing on just one string. Not only that: one of Bach’s most famous pieces, the Aria from the Suite in D major, is played by the solo violin on a single string and is actually known as the “Aria for the G String.”
However, even considering these feats, it’s clear that you can’t do very much with just one string.

A guitar has six strings, and all the more so, if you want to play with just one, the results will be rather poor. Even if someone were to devote all their energy and talent to improving their performance on a single string, they still wouldn’t be taking advantage of the fact that a guitar, unlike a violin, has the ability to use all six strings at the same time—with the wonderful results we all know.
A melody played on a single string, no matter how well executed, cannot compare to what could come from a guitar played to its full potential.

But the violin and the guitar are extremely simple instruments. What about the brain? No one knows how many “strings” the brain has, in how many ways it can be used, or what kind of polyphony and results it would be capable of producing if its full potential were utilized.

We keep playing on a single string

And yet, ever since the time of Aristotle, we’ve insisted on using just one “string” and have become extraordinarily skilled at using it. The string that tells us that 2+2 always equals 4, that tells us that triangle ABC is congruent to triangle A’B’C’, that tells us that if A=B and B=C, then A=C.

Of course, this string is fantastic, and it has enabled the marvelous technological achievements we have enjoyed throughout history—achievements that have now reached a truly spectacular level.

But the overemphasis on this string has led us to neglect the others, and our almost exclusive reliance on it has made us forget that there are a great many fields—in fact, the vast majority—where 2+2 does not equal 4 at all, where triangle ABC is not necessarily equivalent to triangle A’B’C, and where, if A=B and B=C, it does not follow that A=C. (Not to mention the fact that the other strings exist, vibrate, and shape our existence, whether we like it or not)…

Science has expanded the limits of reason

And mind you, I’m not talking about mystical oddities or New Age-style nonsense: I’m talking about science. The entire body of scientific knowledge from the last hundred years have shattered our traditional understanding of rational thought, and it’s impossible to grapple with the latest discoveries of relativity theory or quantum physics using the outdated ideas of positivism. (Do any of you readers really have any idea what time dilation, the equivalence of mass and energy, the curvature of space, nonlocal effects, and so on actually mean? Come on, let’s try to be serious and rational…
But let’s just tackle something simpler: how many of you are truly aware that the world is upside down in Australia and that, despite what we see and perceive, we’re spinning at a speed of about 1,700 km per hour? Not to mention the speed of our orbit around the Sun…)

And if official science—even the most rational, physics—has been forced to consider ways of thinking beyond the rational, it’s not hard to understand that art, psychology, economics, and history, in order to be understood, require much more than our limited rational mind is capable of grasping—a mind that constantly insists: 2+2 equals 4!!! !!!
(And anyway, all truly important discoveries have required stepping outside the usual patterns of thought.)

“The intuitive mind is a divine gift, and the rational mind is its faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” – Albert Einstein

So why am I talking about all this? In these days, after more than a year of organizing it exclusively for corporations, I’m offering the firewalking seminar to the public—and, as always, along with the publicity, I’m getting the usual questions: What’s this all about? What’s the point? Aren’t you some kind of Satanist cult? What does this have to do with business? And so on.
And since many of those who ask me these questions are among the readers of this site, I’m taking this opportunity to attempt an answer.

Why firewalking works

As trainers—just like managers, coaches, and salespeople—we should be focused on one thing: the concrete results we’re able to get from people.
And often, these results have no logical basis, and the cause-and-effect relationship is sometimes nearly impossible to pinpoint.

After studying all the most modern theories and methods, I’ve become convinced that, when it comes to human resources, nothing fundamentally new has appeared in the last five thousand years, and that everything presented as seemingly new is nothing more than a recycling of methods that have been used since the dawn of civilization.
There isn’t room here to delve deeper into the concept, but check any trendy theory, and you’ll find methods described in detail in the Bardo Thodol, in Vedanta, in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, in the Tao Te Ching, and even in the Bible…

In all traditions, walking on hot coals has represented a moment of growth, a purification ritual, a method for overcoming fears, and an experience of self-transcendence.
The fear of fire is deeply ingrained in our DNA, and any jungle beast, no matter how strong and brave, will undoubtedly shy away from a carpet of hot coals.
And, regardless of what you’ve read in “scientific” literature, when you see a ten-meter carpet of flames in front of you, every cell in your body screams, “Don’t step there!!!!”

Fire is only the messenger

Many believe it’s a test of courage, but that’s not the case at all. The entire seminar—through visualization techniques, breathing exercises, and inducing a state of light trance—is nothing more than an attempt to activate some of the “strings” we don’t usually use.
And that is the true significance of the experience.

But since our subconscious mind isn’t satisfied with explanations—it needs concrete proof—walking on fire is one of the most powerful messages we can send: as we walk through the flames, our subconscious receives an extremely powerful shock that calls our entire belief system into question.
And a question inevitably arises: “If I’ve just done something impossible, how many other impossible things would I be capable of doing?”

Perhaps now the real purpose of firewalking is becoming clearer.
Most of us use only one string among the infinite number available to us—and often, not even that one to its full potential, nor even very well.
And they don’t realize that by embracing the idea of leaving the familiar and safe places within their comfort zone, they could achieve absolutely spectacular results.
To play with two, ten, a hundred strings…

How many strings are you really using?

Of course, a seminar can’t work miracles. But it can be an extremely powerful and useful experience, and for some, it may truly prove to be a turning point that changes their lives.

And, of course, it’s no coincidence that this ritual has been used in recent years by all kinds of high achievers—from athletes to actors, from top managers to politicians.

So, it’s neither a test of bravery nor a satanic ritual, but an extremely powerful message sent to our subconscious, fearful, conditioned, and limited mind—the one that does everything possible to keep us in our safe little corner.

A message that says: you have thousands of strings at your disposal—use them…

Best regards,

Bruno