Post 8 - More on Belief

As mentioned in post 1 the major hindrances to understanding are belief and identity.  We spent some time on identity and the practice of non identity.  Now it's time to take on belief..  We all have a belief system as it is part of the human organism.  The problem is that we have not sufficiently identified beliefs capabilities in terms of what it can do and what it can not do.  So what do we mean by belief?  Fundamentally it is a system of  thought and ideas.  All religions are basically belief systems.  Most of what we think of  when we talk about belief is "content".  What do you believe about . . . .etc which gets people going on how they feel or think about a certain event or situation. Before we go further it should be noted that . . . . ..

Historically belief systems do not have a very good track record.  There was a time when the whole world believed the earth was flat.  But that didn't make it flat.  In the 17th century we believed that the earth was the center of the universe not withstanding evidence by Copernicus and Galileo to the contrary.  The Holy Office of the Inquisition however managed to persuaded Galileo to recant setting the world back at least 250 years.  So it seems belief doesn't make any difference in regard to effecting event level occurrences.  Belief doesn't make any difference to the outside world, but it does make a difference to the individual.

The purveyors of propaganda love our belief system because we are so easily manipulated.  TV, radio, the press, internet etc. publish all kinds of information some of it good and some of it not so good.  Semantically speaking we confuse belief with words like faith which many clergymen use interchangeably.  Faith and belief are two very different animals.  Due to the corruption of our language it is difficult to give a sound definition to either of these terms.  The dictionary definition of BELIEF is something believed.  This is hysterical.  As Alfred Korzybski [ Founder of the institute for General Semantics ] use to say " words defined in terms of other words ultimately leads to undefined terms".  I don't like the word define just because dictionaries tend to do this.  They define words in terms of other words.  Korzybski would say  "describe to me what you mean by such and such.  Much different.  Now you are using whole sentences  to paint a picture for the listener of what it is you are talking about.  So let's give it a shot. 

Belief - first of all we can't say belief IS because that is an equation of identity to start with.  We might say belief is not a well understood part of the human psyche but has to do with confidence in the truth of some statement or event that is not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof.  It is connected with language both verbal and non verbal cues and influences our behavior to the degree and strength of our conviction.  Example:  Sports is probably a good analogy.  Coaches love belief as that faculty is so manipulated for the individual to believe in himself to perform in a certain way.  Nothing wrong with that.  If you don't believe that you can play and win don't even bother walking on the field.  However, everybody who plays a sport believes that he or she will win or they would not even try.  But we all know that there is only one winner.  So 50% of the individuals who play lose.  What can we say about that.  Belief is a necessary but not sufficient condition for determining an outcome.  You must have the skill, training, the techniques and belief but that does not guarantee a win.  Finally it should be said that winning is not properly portrayed as well.  Winning is not in the 'now'.  Winning is the result of action in the now.  At the termination of the action the compiling of a score based on certain criteria determines the winner.  If a player is constantly worried about winning then his consciousness is not in the 'now' which is where it has to be in order to properly execute a play.  Coaches often misunderstand this subtle difference in mind set.  We don't have to try to win we have to play hard and focused and then that effort will make us competitive and perhaps a win.  If we don't win it's not the end of the world.  Knowing this relaxes our minds and allows our nervous system to perform at it's best.  When our minds get in the way thinking about winning we tighten up and lose our momentum.  We need to enjoy the now.  Belief should be thought of as a type of random access memory similar to a computer.  Information stored in the RAM memory resides there until some other information comes along that more nearly fits the facts of any situation.  Then discard the old.  Those who have a vested interest in a particular belief system however will fight the new ideas because of monetary interests or other reasons. 

OK how about faith.  This is a little dicie in that everyone probably has his/her own definition.  Esoterically faith has to do with fundamental vibrations of the universe.  To be precise it is the 1st harmonic of a vibration that many call knowledge.  Knowledge is not information which is what we mostly deal with everyday.  Knowledge is of a higher order which we as humans are not able to perceive.  So failing our ability to perceive knowledge we live by faith which is the 1st harmonic of the vibration labeled knowledge.  The ability to tune to this vibration called faith represents your state of consciousness.  Faith and belief are different orders altogether.  Don't confuse one for the other.  It's sloppy thinking.

Summary:

Belief - Ascertain the facts.  Decide from there. 

Faith:  Sense/feel this vibration.  Be aware and get familiar with it.  Sharply differentiate between belief and faith.

I am going to let everyone digest this post as there is a lot to be digested. 

Till next post . . . John

Post 7 More on Identity

As I mentioned in "Tough Stuff" belief systems have probably done more to divide us then unify us.  Also belief systems are thoughts 'about reality' not reality itself.  Since we image fundamental reality we are unable to directly perceive it's actions.  Thus we describe structure and function and let the individual learn from that point by his/hers own investigation. 

As I suggested in the first few posts fundamental reality consists of wave - frequencies from zero to infinity.  Part of these vibrations are energy fields [ think of electromagnetic fields] that are nested one within the other in a never ending chain [don't think linear it is fully dimensional].  Associated with these fields are properties or aspects such as power, consciousness, intelligence, and mind to name a few.  Today we will talk about identity.   As I mentioned in FIELD ASPECTS the transformer is a very good analogy of the MAN state of identity.  The field that we are identified with is what psychologists call the ego.  The ego is real to the extent that it is powered by the cosmic primary but the ego power has no source of its own.  Therefore when the cosmic primary withdraws the ego field collapses in the process we call death.  Through our lifetimes our ego field is conditioned by all sorts of factors including family, friends, culture, mass media and deliberate mass mind control techniques by various organizations with secret agendas.  Therefore this work is offered as a method of 'leap fogging' the ego field and letting that be the offering to "Cesar" and concentrate on identifying on the next stage of development which I refer to as the "Second Crossing" as outlined in post 4 the ladder of development. 

The first crossing was involved with identification of all inputs as 'this body is me'.  That was the easy part.  Now we have to make an effort to adjust to the fact that "I am " not the body, my feelings, or the images that reside in my mind and switch that identity to next field of experience.  So what is that exactly?  Good question.  We are preparing in this lifetime to give birth to a functional form that we can operate in for the experience of that level.  This action has many labels, but in our society it is called the birth of the christened consciousness.  By the way this is where the idea of the virgin birth comes from.  It has nothing to do with a physical birth.  It's an analogy  for the birth of a light body for which we will occupy in our ongoing.  We are building it right now by all the things that we do etc.  Once that form is complete we give birth to it and our consciousness (field) switches to that form.  The seeding for the start of the birthing process starts when the polarity of the positive pole has sufficient power [voltage] to attract a higher power which then makes a connection to start the process.  Just like human pregnancy but without a corresponding partner.  An analogy in electronics would be a capacitor.  A capacitor absorbs energy until it reaches its capacity and then it discharges its energy and starts again to "fill up".  Another example in nature is a thunder storm.  Clouds build up energy and finally as the potential difference between cloud and ground reaches the point where it surpasses the ability of the air insulator to maintain the division of the positive/negative differential the energy is released in what we call lightening.  The positive from the sky build up connects to ground to release the electrical tension.  This process is repeated on many levels including the human condition.  Once this lightening strikes the process of the second crossing is initiated.  It then needs time to gestate before the 'light body' is ready for occupancy.  Then we go about growing up on that level. I am trying to stay away from labels to avoid emotional ties connected with them.  Labels are convenient for communication, but they have their own cultural baggage which we will get into in later posts.  For now I will describe the process and try to stay away from hot button labels.

This process can not be rushed.  It can be aided and that's what so many of the disciplines are really doing.  Meditation, yoga, tai chi etc are disciplines that involve focusing the mind as well as clearing the body of energy blockages and waste.  Those who are fond of gardening know that the right amount of sun light, water, and fertilizer makes a plant grow and flower.  If there is reduced sun or water the plant suffers in proportion.  But having said that the individual must follow his/her own inner voice.  There's no rush.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.  

Post 6 And the Truth Will Set You Free

Post 6       And the Truth Will Set You Free

I hope we are not moving to fast.  Comment and I will try to answer hopefully sooner rather than later.  In the last post we stressed identity as certainly one of the detriments to self development.  When you drill down deep enough the term 'self development' is only in reference to the movement of ones own state of consciousness.  From the man state point of view the individual does two things.  [1] takes energy in or [2] sends energy out.  All the rest is manifestation depending on ones desires, thoughts, actions etc.and to what form the energy is directed. 

How do we release the strangle hold that identity has on us?  Here is an exercise that you can do everyday that only takes a minute.  Everything that you look at is in our consciousness mind a label.  When I look at a bottle and someone asks what is it ? I say it is a bottle of course.  But that's not what it is that is what we call it.  It is truly a configuration of units of energy and my label for it is bottle.  When you are at the dinner table and some says pass the water pitcher you then say to yourself (quietly) the item I am passing to Mr.so and so is a configuration of units of energy and my label for it is 'water pitcher'.  By doing this repeatedly the psyche begins to release it's hold on labels and gives the mind a chance to reflect on the reality of the energy involved even though it can not register the fast movements of light generated.  Remember this is a private matter and you don't want to broadcast at the dinner table that you are passing a configuration of units of energy and your label for it is water pitcher.  That won't fly with the company you keep.  Just make it a gentle reminder to yourself that you know the images in your mind are only representations of fundamental reality and not the words or labels used to describe it.  This action will go along way towards non identity and allow your world view to change as well as your circumstances. 

The ability to tune to higher frequencies in consciousness ultimately leads to the ability to see "the burning bush" so to speak.  At that state when you look at a tree and are quiet and reflective it is possible to see points of light dancing in and out of existence that form the image that you create in your mind.   When comfortable in this state of development the ho hum work a day world seems pretty one dimensional and you begin to lose interest in many of the people, activities, and interest that were formerly your daily focus.  Now you are on the cusp of seeing the 'truth'.  You remember the old saying that "the truth will set you free".  The truth won't set you free.  The truth is out there and you are not free.  OK first of all we have to get the complete quote.  It says from John8:32 "and ye shall know the truth and the truth will set you free".  The operative word here is KNOW.  Ye shall know the truth . . .  so how do we know the truth?  When you start to tune to the higher frequencies by releasing the identity of this body is me then consciousness is poised for movement.  Practice the exercise mentioned above - it works. 

Post 5 The Ladder of Development

In the last post we spoke about the ladder of development.  The term development is relative to ones state of consciousness.  There really is no development there is just process.  However if you are identified with a particular level of consciousness then development is very real.  So let's get the big picture and then we will drill down to our level. 

In the beginning was the word.  I think you heard that one before.  The word in this context refers to vibrations.  Next comes the three aspects of this process which we may describe as -

1. Fist Aspect - undifferentiated energy
2. 2nd Aspect - Energy differentiated into patterns  [ Electrical and magnetic fields ]
3. 3nd Aspect - Configurations of units of energy  which we label plants, animals etc.

In the 19th Century Helena Blavatsky who was the founder of the Theosophical Society  coined the phrase  "as above so below" to emphasize the repeating nature of forms which the major characteristic is that any part is a replica of the whole.  In the 20th century this was further defined by Benoit Mandelbrot who defined a new geometry called fractals which are often found in crop circles and are called Mandelbrot sets.  The snow flake is another example of a fractal.  Each arm of the snow flake is a replica of the whole flake. 

The most common energy forms in our reality is the spiral.  As we look into space we see spiral galaxies and on earth we see spirals in nature such as sea shells, plants and vines, branches and leaves in trees.  We also notice the spiral as we see water flow down a drain it quickly resorts to a spiral form.  So as we try to get a handle on a picture of our world spirals certainly is a major part of it.  We call this spiraling process  the 'cosmic process'. 

David Wilcox calls these spirals torsion waves in his book The Source Field Investigations which by the way is a great book and can be found at www.divinecosmos.com.

We need to understand this process so that we can make changes that will inure to our benefit.  If we remain unconscious of the process then we make choices based on whimsy and chance which is more like playing Russian roulette. 

So the first step in the practice of the way is the practice of non identity.  This is not easy and takes time but is crucial in ones ongoing.  To start we have to become aware of what we are identified with and of course the answer to this is we are identified with images that appear in our mind as substantive and 'real'.  I put real in single quotes to emphasize that the word real is an undefined term.  It's a fiction.  Real is what we decide it to be not some place that is strictly defined and available to all.  Our language is full of these fictions and occur naturally in our abstracting process.  An example would be the word tree. Tree is a second order abstraction.  The first order being the conversion from a light wave to an electrical signal after it impinges on our skin.  The electrical signal is then processed to an image and if processed in a normally healthy individual presents a well defined image.  We then label this image, in this case tree, for purposes of communication with other individuals of the same species.  We then further abstract to label a large group of trees a forest.  As we go farther and farther into the abstracting the process the farther we get away from the reality.  Forest is a fiction.  What is the reality in forest?  It's tree.  Forest is a self created convenience.  The idea here is to be very conscious of the abstracting process to avoid errors in evaluation.  Alfred Korzybski called it "Consciousness of Abstracting".

 

As mentioned previously the term abstracting or to abstract means to 'draw from'.  Another words we live in a cosmic sea of vibrations but we as humans can't process all of them at the same time so we abstract certain vibrations that are natural to our state of consciousness.  Even these vibrations are moving so fast that we can not register them so we 'sum' them and the result is presented to our mind as a picture.  This process is similar to the movement of a fan with multiple blades.  We can see the individual blade as the fan begins to rotate, but the faster it rotates [ frequency ] the less we are able to differentiate the blades as separate and the rotation speed finally builds to a point that we can no longer register the blades of the fan as separate so our nervous system sums the frequency and presents an image of a flat plate to our minds. 

This action applies to everything in nature.  In the eastern tradition this was referred to as illusion and that we live in a world of illusion.  The translation from the original Sanskrit word to the English word illusion sometimes gives the wrong impression.  Our world exists 'out there' but not in the way we perceive it.  To say that it is an illusion implies that it doesn't exist at all.  There may be something to that but for our purposes let us say that there are vibrations, we do perceive them [ not all of them ], but the resulting vibrational presentation to the mind is self created. 

J. Krishmurti was a great Indian rishi who lectured quite a bit on college campuses during the 1970's and his tag line was "you are the world" and "you create your own reality".  I'm quite sure that most people in the audience really didn't get it but all clapped and agreed.  The fact is that he was correct and before this post gets too long we'll pick up the practice of non identity in the next post. 

Ladder of Development

 
I might mention at this point that I studied under a man named Vitvan.  Image 1 below comes from his work which some may wish to review at http://www.sno.org/.   I am introducing this image as an aid to understanding.  This information comes from a higher space so I am not asking anyone to believe it but simply to review it and put it aside in your mind for future reference. 

In this work the term "fundamental reality " means waves/vibrations.  These vibrations further break down into fields similar to electro magnetic fields.  The system consists of fields nested within fields infinitely.  The field becomes the structure upon which units of energy are positioned.  What keeps your protons, neutrons and electrons from wandering away to some other location?  It's the field.  In a previous post I used the iron filings and magnet example to demonstrate how the field force forms the configuration.  Our science had it backwards for many years.  It was thought that 'objects' like planets and moons etc were formed by collision and after a period of time due to size and mass that a field was generated.  Now some scientific thinkers are realizing that first comes the field and then comes the configuration.  The configurations formed may be labeled dogs, cats, snakes etc depending on how we abstract the vibrational form.  The term 'abstract' means to draw from which is what our senses do as part of our perception process.  [ We will get into more detail on this process later].  Referring to our image below we can see that the "man state" is just above the animal group field.  The red line near the bottom of the image labeled "1st Crossing" identifies the transition of consciousness [ the field ] to a self reflexive state whereby he/she identifies with his own image.  Remember that we are the label givers and the image creators.  We create images in our minds from reflected light that is moving so fast that we can not view it at its high frequency so we sum the movement into an image.  Images don't exist in reality we create them.  This is very difficult to understand in the beginning but will begin to sink in later on.  Similarly with defining states as outlined in image 1.  There really is no 1st crossing per say.  That is our label for it.  In reality it is a gradual continuum.  The thing to remember here is that we are the label givers.  Grouping and label giving are natural to us as long as we are aware that we are the label givers.  Don't confuse labels with events.  Alfred Korzybski, founder of the Institute for General Semantics, would caution his students by saying the map is not the territory traversed.  Don't confuse label with things.  OK moving right along.  The first crossing happens automatically in that little or no effort is required by the entity.  The second crossing however requires effort.  That effort can take many forms which we will take up later on. 

As we start out at birth we identify with body sensations.  This progresses to feelings and then desire for objects.  This is followed by higher emotional states which in turn is followed by intellectual or cortical states.  Now our effort has to be focused on non identity to allow space for the second crossing represented by the noetic mind and the master of wisdom.  You remember the story of the 3 wise men traveling to visit the child of the christened consciousness.  Who were these wise men?  Well they were

• Thought
• Desire
• Action

When desire becomes a wise man then thought and action can be can be focused for the 'work to be done'.  This work starts with non identity.  One exercise is simply to remind yourself that things as they appear are simply images in the mind.  An example might be a glass.  Remind yourself that what you call glass is really a configuration of units of energy and my label for it is glass.  This doesn't have to be broadcast to the world, it is simply a gentle reminder to yourself.  By doing this on a daily basis you begin to loosen the grip that images and language have on your consciousness. 

Following is an Anecdotes published in Wikipedia about Alfred Korzybski.

"One day, Korzybski was giving a lecture to a group of students, and he interrupted the lesson suddenly in order to retrieve a packet of biscuits, wrapped in white paper, from his briefcase. He muttered that he just had to eat something, and he asked the students on the seats in the front row if they would also like a biscuit. A few students took a biscuit. "Nice biscuit, don't you think," said Korzybski, while he took a second one. The students were chewing vigorously. Then he tore the white paper from the biscuits, in order to reveal the original packaging. On it was a big picture of a dog's head and the words "Dog Cookies." The students looked at the package, and were shocked. Two of them wanted to vomit, put their hands in front of their mouths, and ran out of the lecture hall to the toilet. "You see," Korzybski remarked, "I have just demonstrated that people don't just eat food, but also words, and that the taste of the former is often outdone by the taste of the latter."

So much for labels . .   

 

Image 1

Field Aspects

 
This power that we have been talking about and that takes the form of a bio field has many aspects.  It's primary aspect is that it is conscious.  What we call consciousness is a small subset of  the larger consciousness.  A question that we ask at this point is "conscious of  what".  In our everyday reality we test for consciousness by asking questions about the outside world.  EMS people in particular are constantly asking patients who have suffered some sort of trauma and have passed out and are just coming to questions like " what day is it, who is the president, how many fingers do you see" etc. These are questions about perception and perhaps memory not really about consciousness per se although they are related.  Consciousness and the field are two labels for the same reality.  We have to get away from thinking of the world around us as objects or images as these images only appear in the mind not in reality.  So what is "out there"? The short answer is wave and vibrations appearing as points of light.  For those not familiar with the movie the Matrix starting about minute 7 Morpheus and Neo meet for the first time and their dialog is about the question of what is real.  Morpheus says to Neo "So what is reality?"  " If you think this table is real then your reality is simply a conglomeration of electrical pluses in your brain".  The dialog goes on for about 6 more minutes but is very thought provoking.  The point is that our nervous system is an interpreter of the greater reality not reality itself.  You might be able to visualize it a bit better by the following diagrams.  The following diagram [ diag 1 ] depicts a transformer.  It transforms energy from a higher state to a lower state.  An example would be the plug in devices you use to charge your cell phone.  The wall power voltage measures 120 volts.  Your cell phone uses roughly 19 volts or less.  the small block connected to the wire is a transformer stepping down the voltage from 120 volts to 19 volts.  In the diagram below the left side of the transformer can be thought of as the Cosmic Primary [ the high voltage ].  The right side is our individual field.  The unique thing about a transformer is that the primary winding does not touch the secondary.  Voltage in the secondary is "induced" by the action of the oscillating primary.  I don't want to be to technical but this is a wonderful analogy of the human field in relation to the cosmic primary.  No connection except by induction.  This gives our field of consciousness a limited view of "reality" through the operation of reduced voltage and frequency.  This limit in perception gives us our feeling of being individuals with free will and we are not aware of our connection to the cosmic primary.  The secondary field has been labeled by some religions as "the Soul" and by psychiatrists as the ego.  There are lots of labels but the reality is that the secondary field as depicted in diagram 1 is a subset of a larger field so that we can experience the world as an individual with relatively free will and purpose.   We apparently choose our own course and make our own decisions about out life.  [ more on that later ] - When the cosmic primary begins to withdraw from the proximity of the field relationship the secondary or personalized field collapses into a state we call death. Field proximity follows what is called the inverse square of the distance law.  That is the power falls off not linearly with distance but as the square of the distance.  Gravity, light, and electro magnetic emissions all follow this law.   Therefore if you measure the light of a flashlight shining on a wall as 160 lumens and then move 4 feet away from the wall and measure it again you will find that the number of lumens is now 10 rather than 160 as the distance is squared before the division process.  One can see that it doesn't have to move much to cause a corresponding major change in the luminosity.    

 

Similarly with the bio field.  As the primary field moves away the secondary field collapses.  So the faster we can identify with the primary field [ our true self ] the faster we overcome the label called death which is a false identity.  

Links

Visit This Link - Quotes regarding the political process and our current state

Structure Function

This discussion will be about structure, function, order.  It is not about concepts, thoughts, beliefs and other flights of fancy.
We’ll start with a few quotes:

Socrates “With all thy getting get understanding” Good advice. But what does understanding mean. Does it have to do with knowledge or something else like information. We’ll get into that later on.

Rene Descartes – ” If you want to talk to me define your terms”
More good advice. We would modify that statement slightly by saying describe to me what you mean by . . . such and such. One word definitions don’t cut it anymore. As the founder of the Institute of General Semantics once said, ” words defined in terms of other words ultimately leads to undefined terms.

There are many hindrances to understanding, but the two main blockages are belief and identity.  The human belief system is part of the overall field of mind, but a very small part.  As a system it can be compared to the lymphatic system or the immune system in that it is a structural part of the whole.  You would not consider turning over your whole being to the lymphatic system nor should you be that involved with the content of your belief system.  It is there and is useful but not a major player in the life of the total organism.  A quick story – I had several individuals stop by my house sometime ago giving away printed material about the “WatchTower”.  I listened for a minute and then said ” you are talking about belief systems.  All religions are belief systems but it’s not about belief, it’s about consciousness.  The young man looked at me as if he had been hit by a bomb.  He suddenly realized that he needed to investigate a bit more.

Belief systems do not have a very good track record.  There was a time when the whole world believed the earth was flat.  But that didn’t make it flat.  In the 17th century we believed that the earth was the center of the universe not withstanding evidence by Copernicus and Galileo to the contrary.  The Holy Office of the Inquisition however managed to persuaded Galileo to recant setting the world back at least 250 years.  So it seems belief doesn’t make any difference.  That is we can believe that the world is flat, but the world does not respond.  My course of instruction goes into more depth regarding belief but the essentials are stated.  Belief doesn’t make any difference to the outside world, but it does make a difference to the individual.

The wholesale adoption of belief systems by the masses is analogous to turning over all your driving responsibilities to your hydraulic system.  It can’t do it.  It is not designed to do it.  The hydraulic system is designed to stop the car not to make it go.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t important.  It is, but it’s not everything.  Similarly with the human belief system.  It’s there and needs to be recognized, but we have given our whole being to it unnecessarily much to our detriment.

The next major impediment to our ongoing is identity.  Not only are we identified with our thoughts, ideas, body, feelings etc, but are also identified with images that we self create in our mind and believe to be substantive and out there when in fact they are in our heads.  My course deals with methods to loosen the strangle hold that these images impart to our being.

Adding to the confusion is the enormous amount of disinformation purveyed by the media.  In our times we have seen information expand from miniscule in the beginning of the last century to overwhelming at the beginning of the 21st century.  Today we suffer from information overload and faced with the difficulty of parsing and determining fact from fiction and lies from relative truth.  An examination of the human nervous system as an information processing system is also examined in the course material.

My philosophy has always been “leave an organism alone and ultimately it will realize its destiny”.  Unfortunately we are approaching a time deadline and the information is better released with its attendant risks, rather than hold it back and be overtaken by events.
More in the next post. . . .