The Council of Mentors: Using AI to Get Advice from Your Heroes
What if you could get advice on your most pressing life questions from your personal heroes? With AI roleplaying, you can simulate this powerful experience by creating a "Council of Mentors."
What is the Council of Mentors Technique?
This is an advanced roleplaying exercise where you instruct the AI to embody several different personas at once. You present the "council" with a problem, and then ask each "mentor" for their unique perspective. This is a powerful evolution of the single-philosopher roleplay.
The goal is to get out of your own head and see your problem from multiple, diverse viewpoints. The AI synthesizes the known work and personality of each figure to provide a rich tapestry of advice for you to consider. Learning how to ask powerful questions is a great way to get more out of this practice.
Prompting Your AI to Create the Council
"I want you to facilitate a 'Council of Mentors' session for me. You will roleplay as three different figures:
1. **Carl Jung:** The psychologist, focused on the subconscious, archetypes, and individuation.
2. **Brené Brown:** The researcher, focused on vulnerability, courage, and shame resilience.
3. **A wise Zen Master:** Focused on mindfulness, detachment, and the nature of the present moment.
I will state a problem I am facing. Your task is to have each mentor provide their advice on my problem, one by one. Please clearly label who is speaking (e.g., 'Carl Jung says...'). Their advice must be consistent with their known work and philosophy.
My problem is: 'I am afraid to be vulnerable and share my creative work with the world.'"
Why This Technique is Effective
- It Breaks Mental Ruts: Hearing multiple, high-quality perspectives can instantly break you out of a one-dimensional way of thinking about your problem.
- It Accesses Different Parts of You: Jung's advice might speak to your deep, subconscious fears. Brené Brown's might speak to your heart and emotions. The Zen Master might speak to your higher, observing self.
- It Fosters Creative Solutions: The intersection of these different viewpoints often sparks a new, creative solution that you wouldn't have considered otherwise.
This technique is a testament to the responsible and creative use of AI. You are not asking the AI for "the" answer. You are using it as a sophisticated tool to simulate a conversation with the wisdom of humanity that you already admire, helping you find the answer that is already within you. You can also use an AI as a mirror for self-reflection.
