Blog Post #4: MegaCepts Are Confirmed by Authorities

A key goal of the MegaCepts process is to arrive at ten or fewer greatest thoughts regarding a topic that is particularly interesting or important to you. The process guides and empowers you to think deeply about that topic and, if needed, make a well-thought-out decision.

There are numerous examples of complex and important topics where authorities have established ten or fewer greatest thoughts. Examples include the seven major religions, the eight major forms of government, and the three major branches of science. These greatest thoughts, essentially MegaCepts, enable us to better understand these topics. For example, the Ten Commandments provide a structured and valuable way to understand Christianity.

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be.” Proverbs 23:7

You may be skeptical about the idea that any topic, including extremely complex or technical subjects, can be defined by ten or fewer greatest thoughts. I have had over fifty years of experience defining MegaCepts for all my own important topics, including when serving as a CEO in several technical and entrepreneurial companies. I have coached hundreds of C-suite leaders to do the same. I have also researched many other important subjects to identify their greatest thoughts. My personal experience and coaching experience, combined with my research, have confirmed the validity of the MegaCepts approach to great thinking and leadership decision-making.

Let me demonstrate how the MegaCepts process can lend clarity to two important and complex subjects: religion and government. Each has its own greatest thoughts, or MegaCepts, that provide a valuable framework or context for great thinking.

Religion

There are seven major religions in the world. Each of these has ten or fewer greatest thoughts defined by its ultimate authorities:

  • Buddhism: The Four Noble Truths and Five Precepts
  • Christianity and Judaism: The Ten Commandments
  • Confucianism: The Five Virtues and Five Cardinal Relations
  • Hinduism: The Nine Beliefs
  • Islam: The Six Articles of Faith
  • Taoism: The Nine Central Beliefs

Government

There are eight major government types in the world. Each of these has ten or fewer greatest thoughts, or MegaCepts, defined by its ultimate authorities:

  • Anarchy: The Two Principles
  • Democratic republic (the USA is an example): The original seven Articles of the Constitution and ten Amendments to the Constitution, called the Bill of Rights
  • Communism: The four Principles of the Communist Manifesto and the ten goals of the Communist Party
  • Monarchy: The Five Tenets
  • Oligarchy: The Ten Principles
  • Socialism: The Seven Basic Principles
  • Theocracy: The Seven Faiths
  • Totalitarianism: The Five Signs

Let’s highlight the powerful benefits of the MegaCepts process using Christianity as an example. The primary book on Christianity is obviously the Bible, which contains sixty-six books. In addition, over one thousand other books have been written about Christianity. The Wikipedia article on Christianity is over thirty pages long with hundreds of separate research references! All this makes thinking about Christianity extremely complex and daunting.

However, if you first study and think about the Ten Commandments and adopt them as the MegaCepts of Christianity, your ability to think about and understand Christianity improves dramatically. Let’s list the Ten Commandments here (as presented on the website www.BibleInfo.com):

  • You shall have no other gods before me.
  • You shall make no idols.
  • You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.
  • Keep the Sabbath day holy.
  • Honor your father and your mother.
  • You shall not murder.
  • You shall not commit adultery.
  • You shall not steal.
  • You shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
  • You shall not covet.

If you think about these and accept them as the greatest thoughts about Christianity, the MegaCepts, you will be better able to think about and understand everything else you read, study, and discuss about Christianity.

If you research each of these ideas separately, you will find further clarification. For example, if you search for information on the second commandment, you will find variations of the following, such as this Biblical quotation on www.BibleInfo.com:

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the inequity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; but showing mercy to thousands to them that love me, and keep my Commandments.”

Once you are comfortable with the validity of the idea and the power behind MegaCepts, the next step is to understand the MegaCepts process, so you can use it to establish the greatest thoughts, or MegaCepts, for any topic that is personally or professionally of interest to you. As illustrated above, some important topics come with predefined greatest thoughts supplied by authorities. But many more topics do not have predefined greatest thoughts, and that’s when you will need to think about and establish your own MegaCepts for the important topics in your personal and professional life.

If you think that Mega Thinking would have value for you, CLICK HERE to visit my Amazon page where you can obtain my book. And independent of your interest in the book I would love to hear from you about your questions and ideas. Contact me at [email protected]. And let’s have a coach-and-player chat!

Coach Dave

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