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