Transcendence; An Evolution of Consciousness
By Dan Wooden
"Transcendent (tran sen'dent), adj. 1. going beyond ordinary limits; surpassing; exceeding. 2. superior or supreme 3. (of the Diety) transcending the universe, time, etc. 4. a. (in Kantian philosophy) transcending experience; not realizable in human experience. b. (in modern realism) referred to, but beyond, direct apprehension; outside of consciousness. (Webster’s)
Introduction
Relativity and Quantum Theory
String Theory
The Sensorium
Alternative Mind States
Saying No to Arbitrary Reality
Phenomenal Events
Transcendence
Introduction
A global tide change is upon us, a change that began thousands of years ago and that will continue from today. A paradigm shift is beginning. We are active participants in a slow revolution, the scope of which encompasses nothing less than the meaning of life and the experience of God. It is this phenomena I set out here to explain. As I’ll explain transcendence has to happen soon. And it all ends in love. What I am attempting to describe here is a change in our conceptualization of reality.
It is likely that the experience of human life has changed more drastically during the 1900’s to the present than at any other time in history. As a civilization, we are just emerging from some profound discoveries with ramifications that have yet to ripple through the common understanding of reality. Science keeps getting better. Instruments are better. New experiments are showing us that reality is like a dream world. Really. We influence everything we see. The dream gets more complicated though. There are ‘parallel universes’. Spots on far sides of the universe are instantaneously connected. Insanity is in question. Miracles happen…
I am not the inventor of a path or creator of an idea. I’m just holding a sign pointing in one direction. It is important to understand that in many aspects this step is in the same direction as a well worn path walked by many before us, including followers of Eastern religions and maybe even Jesus. The focus here, however, is not on religion. This is a broad based analysis of consciousness. We will find that in the United States we must go beyond accepted popular sociology if we are to develop a more reality-based consciousness.
Recent developments from the front lines of research in a variety of fields are revolutionizing our modern conceptions of reality. While every theory we will discuss is of course subject to change over time, core scientific discoveries from the past 100 years have made it clear that the universe is more complex than some of us might have first imagined it to be. Many of our most accepted axioms of science have profound ramifications when we apply their descriptions of reality.
In particular, I will begin with a brief discussion of the theory of relativity, quantum theory, and then string theory. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get a basic idea of the broad range and astounding ramifications of these principles. I, personally, am terrible at math but have read some interesting books on these subjects. As we later apply some of the basic principles of modern sciences to the present worldview of most humans, it will become apparent that the majority of humanity is operating under assumptions from a Newtonian, mechanistic paradigm where a complex reality is completely over-simplified.
In modern physics, quantum mechanics have replaced classical mechanics as the most accepted and accurate description of reality. The reality that is created by analyzing the world through a variety of accepted modern principles, including quantum and string theory, is a ‘weird’ world full of energy and interconnectedness where space and time are the same thing.
Understanding the way we create our worldview provides a powerful platform for recognizing the meaning of symbols, mysticism, and even madness in a world that is interwoven and physically complex beyond our understanding. Towards the end of this argument I will examine a variety of documented phenomenal events from this more progressive worldview. As we will see, this new reality is a slippery slope that demands a revision of our understanding of the way that consciousness exists in relation to the universe. The amazing events we’ll discuss could be examples of latent abilities that we are all capable of. .
What I am going to do here is begin by describing a fundamental transformation in what we know as the structure of space, time, and identity, doing so for the purpose of obtaining a more transcendent, sublime state of consciousness.
We will approach this fundamental transformation in our understanding of existence with compassion, without using labels or personal biases, and without fear of the discoveries we might find. In the end it demands that we each give in to compassion as we identify the broader ranges of the mind.
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Before we talk about physics, religion, and psychology together in one paper, it should be noted that there is significant resistance among many people in the scientific community towards using 'science' in any conversation concerning religion, philosophy, and spirituality. Scientists are reluctant to accept principles that cannot be tested. They see science and religion as valid only when seen as existing in different realms. Mystics argue that scientific descriptions simplify life into physical reactions and do not communicate spiritual experience or things beyond measurement.
Ancient Tibetan thinkers, however, did not hesitate to incorporate their experimental observations of life into ethical and religious practice. As we will see, some metaphors used by ancient eastern religions to describe existence work strikingly well to describe what science today constructs as reality. In the abstract to his article entitled The Tibetan Cultural Praxis: Bodhicitta Thought Training, Kenneth Liberman describes the Tibetan method of integrating knowledge.
“[Tibetan] ethical practices are based in large part on epistemological investigations which are aimed at disclosing the nature of understanding and the structure of perception, philosophical investigations which have much in common with Western philosophical traditions, including phenomenology. Where the Phenomenologists pursue such inquiries without extensive consideration of the ethical consequences they might have, the Tibetan philosophers are concerned with applying these philosophical insights to ethical domains, providing for their ethical practices a sound philosophical basis, in addition to the religious basis they also have" (Liberman 1985).
While many people are actively involved in the pursuit of knowledge, it seems there are fewer who recognize, as the Tibetans did, that the application of this knowledge to our lives provides us with a profound looking glass with which to see life and draw meaning from our experiences. Thinking about 'reality' and 'consciousness' from a modern scientific perspective leads us to a simple realization; there's more to reality than the simple lives we have been living.
As we explore some of the basic properties of our existence, perhaps it should not be a surprise that this new reality conforms well to a world described by Tibetan philosophies like Buddhism and Hinduism. As we begin to understand the parameters of this new paradigm, religion, mysticism, and madness must be reconsidered as actions that may transcend the superficial reality traditionally present in a limited, mechanistic worldview. We will each continue from here as Tibetan philosophers.
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Understanding some of the basic principles of the physics of our universe can be a profound experience. There are three main theories in modern Physics that, when understood , will revolutionize most people's basic conceptualizations of what really constitutes 'reality'. While physics can be very mathematically complicated, these pillar concepts of how the universe seems to work can be easily understood in a conceptual manner. These three pillars are the theory of relativity, quantum theory, and string theory.
Relativity
Thank you Einstein. Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity revolutionized not only modern physics, but also our entire understanding of the mechanisms behind the functions of our universe. Einstein's famous equation, E=mc2, is astounding on its own accord. This widely accepted principle of the workings of our universe means that energy (E), is the same thing (=) as mass (m) multiplied by the speed of light (c) squared. “E=mc2 tells us that energy can be turned into matter and vice versa. Thus, if an energy fluctuation is big enough it can momentarily cause, for instance, an electron and its anti-matter companion the positron to erupt into existence, even if the region was initially empty!” (Green 120).
Alan Watts describes this concept in The Way of Zen, writing that; "Form is not different from emptiness, emptiness is not different from form. Form is precisely emptiness; emptiness is precisely form" (Watts 84). We are surrounded by energy that has yet to manifest itself to our senses. Einstein’s discovery of the theory of relativity in the early 1900’s was a major break-through in a new way of thinking and led the way to the development of quantum mechanics in the next two decades. Even in the limited universe of our perceptions gravity does not really exist, only bent space time. What?
Quantum Theory
Quantum theory has been the most successful theory in the history of physics. Scientific experiments to test ideas in quantum physics have consistently yielded results similar to those predicted by the theory. In fact, "exceedingly delicate atomic experiments have confirmed the existence of subtle quantum effects to an astonishing degree of accuracy. No known experiment has contradicted the predictions of quantum mechanics in the last 50 years" (Davies).
The principles of quantum theory we will discuss here are some of the most basic and accepted aspects of our most successful attempt to describe physical reality. As we will see, "Following the logic of quantum theory to its ultimate conclusion, most of the physical universe seems to dissolve away into a shadowy fantasy" (Davies 30). Quantum theory is very cool.
Quantum theory predicts that that, in the most accurate experiments, it is impossible to determine the result without imposing effects from the process of observation. A popular experiment with light that shows this effect is called the two-slit experiment. By observing photons or electrons as particles and waves, we see we have a direct effect on the outcome of this experiment. The important thing is the ramifications of this idea.
Another experiment, called the delayed choice experiment, shows us that our measurement changes the past! "In the delayed choice experiment, it appears that what the experimenter decides now can in some sense influence how quantum particles shall have behaved in the past" (Davies 9). The delayed choice experiment shows us that our decisions define our existence; the process of our observation affects the outcome of many experiments. Increasingly exact measurements result in increasingly ambiguous, probabilistic outcomes.
Chapter two of Alan Watts' book, The Way of Zen, is titled 'The Origin of Buddhism'. In this chapter Alan Watts describes the Buddhist concept of realty in a way that very similarly parallels the ramifications of quantum physics. "The anitya doctrine is, again, not quite the simple assertion that the world is impermanent, but rather that the more one grasps at the world, the more it changes. Realty itself is neither permanent nor impermanent; it cannot be categorized. But when one tries to hold on to it, change is everywhere apparent, since, like one's own shadow, the faster one pursues the faster it flees" (Watts 66). This concept is very similar to that of the particle wave duality and the described role of the observer in quantum mechanics. The observer can never escape his own shadow, the most exacting questions in quantum physics result only in probabilistic clouds.
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The Aspect experiment. "Non-local universe" is a term used to describe a completely connected universe. An experiment conducted by the scientist Alain Aspect shows us that making an observation on one particle instantaneously determines the form of another particle that can be large distances away. The instantaneous determination travels to the other particle using a faster than the speed of light connection.
Of course that is impossible! Nothing can go faster than the speed of light; everything is relative to the speed of light. What this experiment suggests is that particles in different regions of space in our universe are connected. The term is a non-local connection. This means the universe is a complexly woven together fabric that I would also describe as 'all-one'!
Like modern physics, Tibetan religion describes the non-dual wholeness of reality. The Dalai Lama explains to us that "In sutras such as the Sutra of Buddha Nature, [the Buddha] spoke of an absolute nature that is devoid of the dualistic concept of subject and object. This is also the subject of the Sublime Continuum" (Dalai Lama). We must find the Sublime Continuum. Transgress duality. Understand that it is all one. The non-local features of quantum theory provide scientific backing to experiences of transcendental interconnectedness.
As we incorporate quantum physics onto our worldview, we must understand that our consciousness creates reality. Later we will further describe the way that our perceptions influence what we describe as reality. The striking parallels between physics (quantum mechanics in particular) and Tibetan philosophy have been well described by many authors. Fritof Capra's book The Tao of Physics, published first in 1975, further describes many of these connections well.
String Theory
One of the biggest challenges facing modern physics in the last 50 years has been reconciling the two leading theories; quantum physics and the theory of relativity. Today, string theories provide the best way of combining these two observed functions of the universe into one unified theory. String theories, which have become increasingly accepted by scientists in recent years, lead us to accept that there are dimensions of interconnectedness between us that we are largely unaware of. "String theory so thoroughly shakes the foundations of modern physics that even the generally accepted number of dimensions in our universe- something so basic that you might think it is beyond questioning - is dramatically and convincingly overthrown" (Greene). Variations in string theory propose as many as twenty-one dimensions to the known universe.
The concept of additional dimensions existing in the universe is not a new idea. Physicists have been familiar with the concept since 1919, when Theodor Kaluza first proposed the idea. In fact, the simplest interpretations of quantum physics can lead us to imagine an infinite number of parallel universes! (Davies 84). It is only more recently, though, that technology has increased our experimental abilities and these concepts have been revisited to explain the smallest parts of our reality.
"String theory resolves the central dilemma between quantum mechanics and general relativity- and that unifies our understanding of all of nature's fundamental material constituents and force. But to accomplish these feats, it turns out that string theory requires the universe to have extra space dimensions" (Greene 201). String theory suggests that the reason we do not see these dimensions is because they are 'curled up' in atomic units that are extremely small and beyond our perception. Another way to explain this idea might be to say that every atom on this earth contains dimensions that connect what we observe as concrete reality through hidden energy links found in the a world beyond our perceptions.
Emerging ideas in physics paint a profound picture of a multi-dimensional universe, where time and space are the same and everything is interconnected.
The following quote comes from a modern Zen master, the late Sokei-an Sasaki. "One day I wiped out all the notions of my mind. I gave up desire… I lost the boundary of my physical body. I had my skin, of course, but I felt I was standing in the center of the cosmos. I spoke, but my words had lost their meaning. I saw people coming towards me, but all were the same man. All were myself! I had never known this world. I had believed that I was created, but now I must change my opinion: I was never created; I was the cosmos; no individual Mr. Sasaki existed" (Watts 141). In this example of Eastern thought, the Zen master achieved an understanding of a connectedness beyond our traditional experience.
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A critical examiner of these scientific principles would of course remind us that these are only theories, and that new concepts will change our vision of 'reality' over time. We must be careful in extrapolating from microscopic processes to every day life. Furthermore, we may have socially produced reservations about re-describing reality and considering dualistic words like 'insane', 'psychedelic,' or ‘transcendent’ which are powerful simply as words in the symbolic social world today.
Despite even the most intense criticism, however, it must at least be admitted that reality is definitely complicated beyond our simple mechanistic ideas of it. Most people are comfortable accepting the fruits of new scientific knowledge, but how many of us contemplate the source? The particle wave duality, and basic principles of our best science are mind blowing. The more one studies them the more one realizes that they shatter our conceptions of consciousness. The important point here, though, is that while we may not know exactly how the universe works, we can at least admit that there are things happening beyond the Cartesian realm of observable concrete reality.
More recent research involving polytopes like the positive grammanian and the amplituhedron are able to reconcile some of the discrepancies between general relativity and quantum effects by abandoning our humanistic reference frame and starting from a more complicated geometric reference frame. This is new and exciting research.
The Sensorium
Let’s think about white light. The visual spectrum can be defined both by the colors humans see and through numerical values of wavelength. As we move progressively in one direction along the continuum, there comes a point where the light is imperceptible to us, and can only be measured by an external machine or calculated with mathematics or physics. Just as our eyes take a limited sample of the electromagnetic spectrum, in a similar way we are learning to admit that our perceptions take only limited samples of a much more complex reality.
In part VI, we will look at the existence and effects of things ‘beyond the visible range’. The point of this section is to describe and analyze some of the documented effects of even slight changes in limited subsets of measurable perceptions. The sensorium is a term that has been used to describe some basic human perceptions. As we will see, even slight changes in the stimulus around us can lead to unconscious changes in the way we perceive the world and might just lead us to transcendence.
I’m not going to describe in detail the 5 senses… suffice to say they take a limited sample of reality and I will hit on this again later.
Walter Ong describes the sensorium and the three stages of its evolution in The Word and the Sensorium. "Growing up, assimilating the wisdom of the past," he says, "is in great part learning how to organize the sensorium productively for intellectual purposes" (Ong 6). Ong describes the changing sensorium as having evolved through three specific stages; the oral/aural stage, the chirographic/typographic stage, and finally, secondary aurality. As we will see, these changes in the input we receive through the sensorium result in changes in the way we think, understand, and create reality.
The oral/aural stage, typical of primitive societies, was marked by the absence of written communication; oral/aural societies are very social and typically memorize history and family background through songs and chants. "Writing, and most particularly the alphabet, shifts the balance of the senses away from the aural to the visual, favoring a new kind of personality structure" (Ong 8).
Stage two (the chirographic/typographic stage) can be linked in history to the renaissance, a fantastic movement brought on by increasing human cognitive ability. Scientists attribute this effect to the complex syntax of words and language. Increasing literacy rates not only allowed information to spread in a new way, it presented a serious mental workout for most humans. This gains made in this stage have allowed us to create our current understanding of the world. The idea here is that even simple changes in the way we observe information and communicate change how we think.
Stage three is the stage termed "secondary aurality. Ong observes that; "Our own age today, as has by now frequently been pointed out, is marked by a new stress on the auditory" (Ong 9). In the rush for ratings, media systems are gradually moving beyond a reliance on print, instead introducing popular new levels of visual and audio information. These changes are happening fast. Technological changes and the related dissemination of ideas have changed human existence more in the past 100 years than we have experienced over much longer durations. What’s happening to us?
The true effects of a changing sensorium on the human experience are hard to predict. In "MahVuhHuhPuh" a chapter of The Gutenberg Elegies, Birkerts attempts to explain some of the far-reaching gains and losses that will result from the effects of modern media on human cognition. Aside from the immediate benefits of technology and media today, there are long-range advantages as well. Birkerts' gains include an expanded global perspective, expanded neural capacity, more relativistic comprehension of situations, and a readiness or willingness to try new situations and arrangements (27).
Although he outlines both positive and negative aspects of our changing sensorium, between the lines Birkerts has an evident fear of our unforeseeable future; "Not a brave new world at all, but a fearful one" (21). Birkerts' begins by describing "a fragmented sense of time and a loss of the so-called duration experience, that depth phenomena we associate with reverie" (27). The depressing list continues with "reduced attention span and a general impatience with sustained inquiry", "shattered faith in institutions", "divorce from the past", "estrangement from place and community", and finally an "absence of a vision for the future" (27). These documented changes in the sensorium suggest our way of life will continue to change as humans continue to manipulate the way we experience reality. My hope is that as our progressive views of consciousness bring on a new paradigm we will learn to transcend the sensorium.
Buddhist traditions describe the ‘reality’ experienced by humans in what they call the five aggregates. The five aggregates (or skandhas in Sanskrit) are the five psychological constituents that characterize sentient beings: form, feeling, appraisal, impulse, and consciousness.
The Dalai Lama explains, “All schools of Buddhism, with one minor exception, agree that the notion of the personal self, the “I,” is dependent upon the five aggregates. They reject the belief in a self that exists independently of these aggregates. The theory of selflessness, however, goes much further than the denial of the personal “I”. For one must aim to realize that all phenomena are empty, or devoid of true existence, and have in fact a mode of being that is extremely subtle” (Dalai Lama115). Many Eastern spiritual traditions practice moving beyond the physical body. The conflict between dharma and moksha in Hinduism is an example of a religious embodiment of this idea.
There are a variety of hidden aspects of human communication that are poorly addressed by society like eye contact, body language, symbols and disproportionate power relationships.
Alternative Mind States
Lets get back to the white light analogy. The human eye can see light in a limited range (300-600nm?) of what is known as the electromagnetic spectrum. Of course we are aware that there are x-rays, infrared rays, and even radio waves that we do not see. However, it is possible to use special films or machines to be able to see x-rays or hear radio as music. In the same way, as a part of this exploration of mind we will incorporate altered states of consciousness into our understanding of reality as methods that can potentially give us additional insight into a larger, more complex reality. As we have already proven that true reality is complicated beyond our imagination, and affected by our own mind, we should reconsider alternative mind states (and later phenomenal events) that we might have traditionally ignored. So many reflections, what is behind the mirror?
“How little we know when we say: ‘I believe in what I see’. If one can see how influence works, how thought and feeling speak, how objects partake in them and give them to one another, how thought and feeling, life and influence are conveyed by the medium of an object – it is most wonderful” (Khan)
Alternative Mind States is simply another way of saying different states of mind. Psychologically, it is often possible to understand an alternative state of mind by identifying compassionately with someone else. Even the vicarious experience of a book can allow a person to understand an alternative state of mind. I believe it is completely possible to explore our own consciousness, to feel compassion and understanding in all situations, and experience a broader state of consciousness.
If you can relate to another person, or even character in a book, you can understand from a broader perspective. As we discuss the mentally ill, religious practices, drug and meditation-induced mind states, it is important to attempt and regard them as evidence from a broad spectrum of conscious experience. It is my belief that by understanding completely we can accept and understand the realities of others. As we learn to be more compassionate we will learn that we are all one.
As we progress on to understanding more about reality, it is important to realize how in the old paradigm society uses the collective consciousness to make ourselves feel safe. This is addressed in more detail later. Suffice to say aome people feel comfortable with their conceptions and chose to ignore new, revolutionary evidence because they have so much constructed in the physical world. Bennett notes, "After his wife had a cerebral hemorrhage she seemed to lose all social inhibitions and said directly what she felt. This was extremely threatening to most people and was regarded as senile dementia or insanity; yet to a few people who were not personally threatened by her observations, her comments were extremely penetrating. If you label someone as crazy, you need not listen to him" (Tart 202). This technique of ignoring the truth is a part of psychiatry, religious conflict, the drug war, and ideological state apparatuses (ISA's). This issue is addressed later in Saying No to Arbitrary Reality.
Many of the things schizophrenics do conform to both quantum mechanics and Tibetan philosophy. "Schizophrenics may believe they have invented everything they encounter-that, for example, they themselves have invented the story they have just read. One patient claimed that he used to be drawing in a book but had finally escaped and came to the hospital. Another declared that he contained within his own body all the heavenly bodies while also maintaining that these heavenly bodies simultaneously existed in the outside world." (Sass p.22) It is important to recognize that, given our lack of true understanding of how the universe works, it is an audacious move to discount or label any unusual experience as being either diminished or delusional. What we have here are verified experiences beyond established false limits on legal modes of mental existence.
In an article in General Psychology, R.M. Nideffer writes that “In attempts to understand himself and his world [man] has often oversimplified his existence by focusing attention on either mental or physical functions. Such a narrowed perspective has led to a separation of mind a body and the development of an artificial continuum” (Nideffer). Analyzing our context in the universe and understanding our existence from a broader and more informed perspective leads us to a fundamental transformation in our interpretation of every passing event and coincidence in a universe where everything is connected.
Analyzing the behavior of schizophrenics with an understanding of modern physics leads to surprising and undeniable parallels. For example, studies have shown that many schizophrenics perceive an unbroken wholeness in space and time. "Studies have shown that schizophrenics often treat the converse of any relation as identical to the relation. For instance, according to the schizophrenic's way of thinking, saying that 'event A follows event B' is the same as saying 'B follows A'. The idea of one event following another in any kind of time sequence is meaning less, for all points in time are viewed equal" (Talbot 64). A variety of recent studies on schizophrenics suggest that they have perspectives on life that conform to some of the concepts of physics already discussed. In this case, the space time continuum and relativity.
Zen Buddhists acknowledge the potential awkwardness of the initial realization of a broader concept of consciousness. "With its characteristic emphasis on the concrete, Zen points out that our precious 'self' is just an idea, useful and legitimate enough if seen for what it is, but disastrous if identified with our real nature. The un-natural awkwardness of a certain type of self-consciousness comes into being when we are aware of conflict or contrast between the idea of ourselves on the one hand, and the immediate, concrete feeling of ourselves, on the other". (Watts140). As we will see, there are striking parallels between mysticism and madness in a new world paradigm.
Since the 1950's scientists have been experimenting with drug-induced alternative mind states on a serious level. Research with psycho-active drugs have achieved break- through results both when administered to patients or taken by doctors in controlled settings. Stanislov Grof, a respected scientist in the medical community, has been investigating clinical uses of LSD in Prague, Czechoslovakia since the 50's.
Grof's experiments with LSD in controlled settings have lead to astonishing results. In this research, "It quickly became clear that serial LSD sessions were able to expedite the treatment of many disorders" (Talbot 67). Many people are surprised to hear of the beneficial uses of LSD when working with mental disorders. According to the DEA, LSD is classified as a schedule I drug, which as a category defined by a lack of medical applications.
Dr. Grof is the prestigious chief of psychiatric research at the Maryland Psychiatric Research center and an assistant professor of psychiatry at the John's Hopkins School of Medicine. His profound discoveries, great intellect, and unshakably lucid mentality have made him a trusted source on even the most controversial drugs.
Stanislov Grof’s work with LSD and mental patients led to some amazing instances of cognitive ability well beyond the current 'normal' range. In an article entitled Non-therapeutic uses of LSD, Stanislov Grof, describes the benefits of alternative mind states that he discovered in his work with professors, students, and the mentally ill. In this article, Grof also reports a variety of phenomenal events that took place in some of his more that 3,000 guided sessions. These kinds of phenomenal events are addressed later in this paper.
In States of Consciousness, a UC Davis psychologist by the name of Charles Tart explains how mystical or altered states are often misinterpreted by psychologists and psychiatrists. "For example, a subject takes LSD and tells his investigator, 'You and I, we are all one, there are no separate selves.' The investigator reports that the subject showed a 'confused sense of identity and distorted thinking process'" (Tart 210). The mechanistic view of traditional psychiatrists leaves little or no room for alternative mind states. It is the overly self-righteous that cannot admit we are all confused.
Grof sums up his experience, writing, "After years of conceptual struggle and confusion, I have concluded that the data from LSD research indicate an urgent need for a drastic revision of the existing paradigms for psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and possibly science in general. There is at present little doubt in my mind that our current understanding of the universe, of the nature of reality, and particularly of human beings, is superficial, incorrect, and incomplete" (BTB 31). As we recognize the need to redefine our concepts of existence, LSD and other psychedelic drugs should probably be considered as one tool for attaining altered mind states.
In his book called The Paradoxes of Delusion; Wittienstein, Schreber and the Schizophrenic Mind, author Lusi Sass describes that, even in the most recent diagnostic systems of the American Psychiatric Association, In "SMD-III and DSM-III-R (instituted in 1980 and 1987, and now influential throughout most of the word) delusion is defined as a "false personal belief based on incorrect inference about external reality and firmly sustained in spite of what almost everyone else believes and in spite of what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof to the contrary". (Sass 17) This definition leaves no room for any mystical or transcendental experience. It's strange advice to consider in light of the theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, and our lack of understanding about conscious reality. Has a miracle never occurred on earth? Has there never been a phenomenal event?
There is a great deal of evidence that tells us these things occur. There may be a gray area in which stories we witness or believe.. but there are so many documented unexplainable things! At some point being ignorant of all phenomenal events is a close minded as the most devout conservative religious fanatic. The APA is ignorant of the concept that existence varies for different people; and suggests that there is only one right way. How many times have two people walked away from the same conversation with completely different ideas of what the conversation was about?
We must question our righteousness in calling one mode of consciousness more valid than another. In the future, there will be amazing things to learn from expanding our understanding of consciousness. Just as we use radio, infrared, and x-rays, we will soon learn to integrate altered states into our conscious worldview.
In a book called A Key to Genius, Jablow Hershman, the author, explores examples of people who might be labeled 'crazy' and yet are able to use their different perspective for creative innovation. Hershman describes the work of many famous and influential artists who might have had unusual mental patterns. "The person who fluctuates from mild depression benefits from both states. He is imaginative, original, insightful, conscientious, and willing to keep working until no further improvement can be made. His work is likely to be rich, deeply felt, of great range and scope, balanced between strength and subtlety" (Hershman 198). Hershman cites examples like Mozart, Beethoven, and Van Gough to back up his argument. To that list I’d add Carl Jung.
The irony of this excerpt from A Key to Genius is that immediately following this statement the author makes an opposing statement as he moves the discourse towards mood control. "The adroit administration of mood-stabilizing medications can help manic depressives increase the time they spend creatively, and so can their choice of activities. (198). This type of contradiction epitomizes certain aspects our current psychological paradigm, where even though amazing things have occurred in working with schizophrenics and other altered states of consciousness, people still question the true validity of these mind states.
When people have phenomenal religious experiences, many do not consider them to be delusional or deceiving, but rather enlightening and profound! Many societies today still focus their entire existence on having an ecstatic or phenomenal religious experience, and that had been a pattern for thousands of years. Native Americans went on vision quests to high mountain tops. As much as science conflicts with literal interpretations of many religions, a scientific ‘relativists’ might agree there are many paths to the ecstatic experience. Traditional psychological perspectives provide little space for alternative descriptions of our already ambiguous reality. Uninformed mechanistic platforms in modern society do not provide room for relativity and rejection of the status quo.
Saying ‘No’ to Arbitrary Reality
That we are living in an arbitrarily defined paradigm is no longer a mystery. How often during the day, however, do you wonder about dimensions of interconnectedness that are existing parallel to you and yet that you do not normally see, touch, or hear? As the modern public becomes more educated about the nature, scale, depth and interconnectedness of the universe we will begin to question why we have ignored many of these ideas for so long. [There is no such thing as time, everyone was once one, and so is one].
As we learn more about the history of our current psychological paradigm we will find that we have not come to our current understanding by chance alone. Propaganda think tanks like the army's psychological warfare unit have experimented with thought-control and subconscious manipulation since the early 1900's. Learning how to think is an important part of the social relationship between the state and its citizens.
One of the most powerful and interesting state apparatuses is the media and propaganda. More scary than that? Education. Walter Lippman and John Dewey were two philosophers who played influential roles in the development of thought controlling propaganda and education in the early 1900's. "Driven by a vision of an irrational citizenry helpless before clever propaganda, straight thinkers developed a theory and pedagogy promised on the idea of cognitive incompetence" (Sproule 92). Propaganda and communication science attempt to enforce arbitrary bounds on cognitive reality to promote nationalistic interests.
John Dewey was influential figure in defining education in the twentieth century. Dewey advocated thought control through his psychological view of logic. "Dewey's works on logic presented thinking as a mental process best reformed by the scientific method and provided, therefore, a general warrant for psychologists and educationists who worked during the 1920's to develop a theory and pedagogy of straight thinking" (Sproule 96).; it's an interesting word.
In another cool quote from this book they write that; "In amalgamated form, Lippmann and Dewey's ideas fed a view that the weak minded and dangerously neurotic public could not be trusted to take intelligent political action without formal training, supported by quantitative assessment, in how to think" (Sproule 97). Beyond traditional propaganda that was meant to rally nationalism and support for war efforts, modern propaganda and recreational media play an important role in determining our worldview.
The philosophy of rhetoric, communication science, and thinking science are described well in the chapter 'Protecting the Public' of Michael Sproule's book Propaganda and Democracy; The American Experience of Media and Mass persuasion. We should also discuss symbols, their manipulation, media, marketing, and ways to see through the constant barrage of manipulation and subconscious suggestion we see everyday. Really.
There are well-documented examples of state propaganda from each of our world wars. However, few people today think critically of how the media is controlling their thoughts by controlling discourse.
Thought control in democracy- Noam Chomsky
“Fabrication of necessary illusions for social management is as old as history. But in the democratic system, the necessary illusions cannot be imposed by force. Rather, they must be instilled in the public mind by more subtle means. A totalitarian state can be satisfied with lesser degrees of allegiance to required truths; it is sufficient that people obey, what they think is a secondary concern. But in a democratic political order, there’s always the danger that an independent thought might be translated into political action, so it is important to eliminate the threat at its root. Debate cannot be stilled, and indeed it should not be stilled, in a properly functioning system of propaganda. The reason is that it has a system re-enforcing character if it is constrained within proper bounds. What is essential is to set the bounds firmly. Controversy may rage, as long as it adheres to the pre-suppositions that define the elite consensus. And it should furthermore be encouraged within these bounds; that helps to establish these doctrines of the very condition of thinkable thought, and it re-enforces the belief that freedom reigns” (Chomsky).
In Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, Louis Althusser explores the way the state manipulates its citizens with state apparatuses, which of course can include printed and electronic media. By creating ideologies, the state distracts many of its citizens from thinking freely for themselves. It is in this way that people are directed away from the question, "What is consciousness?” Althusser explains that the state requires the reproduction of the conditions of production. The reproduction of labor power requires "a reproduction of submission to the ruling ideology for the workers" (Althusser 133). It is reasonable to consider that modern ruling ideologies do not address or encourage individual conscious growth because it is not necessarily in the interest of the state. However, as the evolution of consciousness takes place, we might realize mental limitations inherent in the current ideology. A revision of this ideology will be difficult, because transcending the existing system will expose some of the power inequalities people might otherwise be unaware of.
Marxist theories of state power and state apparatuses suggest that the state is a "machine" of repression, which enables the ruling classes to ensure their domination over the working class (Althusser 137). As we focus on reformulating a more modern paradigm in which to think and live, we must become aware of barriers to the cognitive growth process embedded in our socialization structures.
Michel Foucault is a modern philosopher who has made some astounding philosophical assertions that fit into a revolution in our understanding of the truth behind reality. Foucault forges a new explanation of the relationships of power found in our complex interrelationships including descriptions of the mentally ill and people who have phenomenal religious experiences.
In Institutions, Normalization, and Power, John Caputo and Mark Yount discuss Foucault’s views on a variety of subjects including institutions, the university, the work place, and sex. A complex analysis of the location of power in society is at the heart of Foucault's explanation of relationships and identity in society. For Foucault, knowledge is power. Power is knowledge. "It is power that produces the science of subjectivity in order to produce subjects" (Caputo 07). From this perspective, complex power relationships that many people may be completely unaware of determine our understanding of reality. Foucault explains that power is present in all discourse.
Foucault explains that psychiatrists effectively 'create' their positions in society by using power and knowledge. "When in the nineteenth century enlightened reformers declared the mad ‘mentally ill’ and placed them in the hands of the physicians, medical professionals found it necessary to produce the science of mental illness. Psychiatrists and psychologists, criminal justice professionals and social workers, confessors and spiritual directors: all produce the knowledge they apply" (Caputo 07). My opinion might be that the creation of these types of fields comes from audacious ‘type-A’ personality people who define their lives with arbitrary variables and then impose this closed world-view on others in order to achieve excesses in the bounded concrete material world that they claim describes 'true-reality'. Many peoples' ideas of freedom and consciousness are defined more through a classical psychological constraints rather than true experience that comes from the realizations of an unrestricted, unbiased mind.
Caputo continues - should I paraphrase or getting lazy just force it to you direct;
"What do the mad know? What truth would they speak if we lend them an ear? This "tragic" truth, the truth of a "split" let us say, a tragic knowledge. This is the sort of truth that would kill you- or drive you mad - of which Neitzche spoke. Was Nietzche's madness a function of what he knew? Was his knowledge a function of his madness? Foucault suspends both question to a kind of epoch that puts both physiological and therapeutic questions put of action. His interest is hermeneutic: He wants to hear what one says who has been driven in extremis. While Foucault does not cite it here, one is reminded of the passage in Beyond Good and Evil in which Nietzche repudiates the need to have the truth "attenuated, veiled, sweetened, blunted and falsified" -- which is pretty much what Foucault thinks happens to madness in psychology. Foucault seems to have in mind what Nietzche calls the "elect of knowledge" who are almost destroyed by their knowledge which carries them off into "distant, terrible worlds" (Nietzche).
“The mad, in these early writings, have experienced a terrible truth, they sail on dangerous seas, have been released from ordinary constraints, they are the extreme points of sensitivity to the human condition. They are not truly "other" than "us”. That is only the alienating gesture in which "we" constitute ourselves as sane and normal and constitute "them" as "other." The mad speak of a truth which we have neither the nerve nor the ear, which is the truth of who we are. They instruct us about meanness, aggressiveness, and combativeness (Caputo)
The result of imposing an arbitrarily defined psychological paradigm on society through the use of propaganda has limited progressive research into alternative states of consciousness. However, despite the limitations of an existence on the edge of a paradigm shift, there are many ways to experiment with altered states of consciousness such as silencing the mind in meditation. While some people normally experience altered states of consciousness, others use religious ceremonies, meditation, drugs, music, or even just exercise to invoke these experiences, obtain a more broad based conscious existence, make miracles, or just to feel good.
Phenomenal Events
One of the more amazing and astonishing books I have read in my life is The Holographic Universe, by James Talbot. Talbot describes a holographic model of the universe that has been explored by both the respected physicist David Bohm and Karl Pribram, a neurophysiologist at Stanford University. Talbot's holographic universe, in my opinion, provides a profound metaphor for understanding the complexities of consciousness in a multidimensional universe. Aside from its value in re-shaping our physical conceptions of reality, The Holographic Universe provided me with references to many of the astounding events we will describe here.
Religious Belief
One of the most powerful, scientifically documented examples of the power of belief comes from a 1962 example of a man named Vittorio Michelli and the Military Hospital of Verona, Italy. Michelli’s hipbone had seriously de-generated and can be seen that way on x-ray films. There is no cure to re-grow hip bone, so Michelli went for a miracle. “After a series of baths in the spring at Lourdes, Michelli experienced a miraculous healing. His hip bone completely re-generated over the course of several months, a feat currently considered impossible my medical science” (Talbot). “The X rays made in 1964, 1965, 1968, and 1969 confirm categorically and without doubt that an unforeseen and even overwhelming bone reconstruction has taken place of a type unknown in the annals of world medicine” (O’Regan). This example is also from The Holographic Universe I just also quoted the primary source. The important thing is that this guy re-grew bone, a fear considered impossible by modern science! Is it possible that the powers of God lay accessible to anyone? If it is possible for this to happen once… it can happen and that is profound evidence to consider in this amazing dream of existence! There are many more examples…
Other Religious Examples
“The Christian talks much about the miracles of the man Jesus but shuns away from what He said in putting into practice ‘that even you shall do these things and greater things shall you do. And is it not so stated that the power of concentration of thought can whisk you out of sight in an instant? Can it not levitate the most heavy objects and move them. Again we go back to your Christian book in which the man Jesus said that those who have the faith of even the size of a mustard seed can say to this mountain, ‘Get hence’ and the mountain gets hence” (Lehman).
Transcending the Body
“The subject drops a six inch darning needle on the floor, rolls it around with his foot and then pick it up. ‘All right’ he says, ‘now I’ll put it through the biceps.’ Without hesitation he begins pushing the dirty needle into his right arm. His eyes are open, trained on the needle. It pierces the skin, penetrates the tough muscle tissue, passes through a vein and comes out the other side of the arm. The subject has not so much as flinched, though he has had to push very hard to skewer the arm. The look on his face can only be described as that of intense detachment and nonchalance. It is obvious that he feels no pain.
As the subject begins to pull the needle out, Dr. Elmer Green, who is conducting this experiment at The Menninger Foundation in Kansas, asks him if the wound will bleed. Immediately, blood spurts out of both sides of the wound for about fifteen seconds. Still, there is no look of alarm on the subject’s face. ‘Now it stops,’ the subject says, and it stops instantly. More incredibly, within seconds the holes close up, as if drawn tight by some invisible purse strings, and disappear” (Rorvick).
Synchronicity
The Random-House Webster's dictionary defines synchronicity as, "n. synchronism of events that appear to be interconnected but have no demonstrable causal relationship" (Webster). The Zen Master Osho describes achieving an understanding of 'the truth' as a kind of synchronicity. "Master's don't teach the truth; there is no way to teach it. It is a transmission beyond scriptures, beyond words. It is a transmission. It is an energy provoking energy in you. It is a kind of synchronicity…." (Osho). If you don't know what a synchronicity is or have never had one happen to you, you probably just don’t understand the definition. Everyone experiences coincidences; a synchronicity is like a coincidence that has been realized. Often encoded in synchronicities are profound symbolic meanings.
Dreaming
The power of dreams is amazing. Like a hypnotized mind state, the subconscious dream-states we experience often seem more than real. In fact, when you think about it, what is it that makes this moment more real than any state of dream consciousness other than its duration? And another profound question; when you see yourself in a dream, as a person acting and thinking, who is doing the dreaming? Thanks again to Steven Jenkins for this idea.
The concept of life’s existence as a dream is a metaphor used in Indian philosophies like Hinduism and Buddhism. Learn about the words samsara, karma, maya, and moksha. Hindu gods include Shiva and Vishnu.
And now for a story.
Once there was a young ascetic. The ascetic renounced all his worldly possessions to search for the absolute truth. One day during his mediation in a cave, he fell asleep. In his first dream the ascetic dreamt he was a bird. As a bird, he flew high over the villages and forests. He knew the feeling of flight and of wind in his feathers. And when the bird landed in a tree it too momentarily fell asleep. The bird began to dream.
In this new dream, the dreamer became a horse. The horse existed on a ranch, and worked hard every day with its owners. One day the horse fell asleep, and he too had a dream, a dream of being a young prince. The young prince lived in a castle and knew a life of royalty. One night, the prince, too, fell asleep and dreamed he was something else.
And in this even newer dream, the prince became an omniscient God. This all-knowing God looked through the sequence of these dreams. He saw the prince, horse, and bird. Then, looking further back, he sees the body of an old ascetic, dead in a cave. And that, my friends, is enlightenment.
Hypnotism
Many people have experienced altered states of consciousness by watching hypnosis or being hypnotized themselves. Some deeply hypnotized subjects do or know things that they otherwise would not in a normal state. (There are examples) Many people have witnessed this effect themselves, first hand.
In the Holographic Universe, Talbot tells of two hypnotism research subjects that traveled to a similar ‘alternate world’ when they underwent hypnotic suggestion. “In session after session, Anne and Bill continued to construct various realities, and all were as real, available to the senses, and dimensionally realized as anything they experienced in their normal waking state” (Talbot 144) The real surprising thing about this one was that the subject got so frightened by the realness of their experiences that they gave up experimenting with hypnotism!
LSD
It does seem that some of the psychedelic based interpretations of existence fit well into our modern ideas of consciousness. Don't be scared. Nothing is wrong and you wont go to jail for reading this! Don't be tricked by biases of the state apparatus. Think for yourself and make up you own mind.
In Non-therapeutic uses of LSD, Stanislov Grof describes the administration of psychedelics to creative individuals, drug induced religious and mystical experiences, the role of LSD in personal growth, and the use of LSD in the development of paranormal abilities. In The Adventures of Self Discovery, Grof describes other particularly astonishing examples of this type of phenomena.
In some experiments, like those conducted in the 60’s at Harvard by Richard Alpert, Timothy Leary, and Ralph Metzner, the psychedelic test subjects included college students and professors. The majority of these test subjects had phenomenal, life changing, profound experiences (Source, American Dream). One survey of 100 test subjects found that “76 percent reported experience of the holy, 61 percent to an intense degree. 32 percent reported that their experience of God had been ‘beyond anything ever experienced or imagined’” (Barber). Harvard students.
In The Adventures of Self Discovery, Grof describes "One particularly unnerving session [in which] a young man suffering from depression found himself in what seemed to be another dimension. It had an eerie luminescence and although he could not see anyone he sensed that it was crowded with discarnate beings. Suddenly he sensed a presence very close to him, and to his surprise it began to communicate with him telepathically. It asked him to please contact a couple who lived in the Moravian city of Kromeriz and let them know that their son Ladislav was well taken care of and doing all right. It then gave him the couple's name, address, and telephone number" (Talbot).
In The Adventures of Self Discovery, Dr. Stanislov Grof goes on to say that "I went to the telephone, dialed the number in Kromeriz, and asked if I could speak with Ladislav. To my astonishment, the woman on the other side of the line started to cry. When she calmed down, she told me with a broken voice: 'our son is not with us any more, he passed away, we lost him three seeks ago" (Grof). In the context of a non-local universe, connections like this mean that there are tremendous possibilities for conscious sharing telepathy in our universe. Religious and drug-induced experiences of 'super-consciousness' may be accessible to any well-trained, compassionate mind.
Most psychedelic drugs are currently illegal in the United States, except for to Native Americans who are ‘authorized’ to have a mind-expanding experience for religious reasons. Of course many traditional cultures utilized entheogenic substances as an important part of their religious system.
Some individuals have said that drugs and the hippie counterculture movement are an ‘escape’ from reality. “The use of drugs seems only to underline this interpretation. There is no doubt that one can select examples that will support this case. But one can also support the case for the exact opposite – that these younger people have somehow sensed deeply within themselves a basic hunger for that which will make some sense of their lives. The hunger goes much deeper and is more pervasive than the desire for drugs, which most come to realize are not ends in themselves but simply one means to awaken in some perceptions of a larger world” (Clark).
LSD is still classified by the DEA as a schedule 1 drug, which means that it has no medically beneficial uses and can kill you (only if you jump off a bridge, drive a car, or have a heart attack). In fact, the physical side effects of hallucinogens pale in contrast to legal drugs like cigarettes and alcohol. Stanislov Grof’s dramatic success working with LSD and the mentally ill provide some widely accepted proof of medical benefits from LSD. The illegality of these drugs in the US, to me, is like a legally enforced thought control. As I have argued, in thinking outside of the ideological state apparatus we should consider drug induced, religious, and 'insane' experiences along with sober and literal interpretations of every day life when we define our world.
New Science
A very recent example of revolutionary new evidence about the nature of Consciousness suggests that we humans have the ability for a consciousness that is
'beyond the brain'. "The studies are very significant in that we have a group of people with no brain function ... who have well-structured, lucid thought processes with reasoning and memory formation at a time when their brains are shown not to function," Sam Parnia, one of two doctors from Southampton General Hospital in England who have been studying so-called near-death experiences (NDEs), told Reuters in an interview" (Tippit). Parnia explains that this new evidence could revolutionize our understanding of consciousness. "We need to do much larger-scale studies, but the possibility is certainly there" to suggest that consciousness, or the soul, keeps thinking and reasoning even if a person's heart has stopped, he is not breathing and his brain activity is nil, Parnia said" (Tippit). Parnia explains, "‘the brain itself is made up of cells, like all the body’s organs, and is not really capable of producing the subjective phenomenon of thought that people have'. He speculates that human consciousness may work independently of the brain, using the gray matter as a mechanism to manifest the thoughts, just as a television set translates waves in the air into picture and sound. (Tippit)" This new evidence emerging from studies of near death experiences is another piece of evidence to consider in analyzing our understanding of consciousness.
Another amazing book with examples of phenomenal events to read is a Readers Digest book and I think it is called Miracles of the Unexplained.
Transcendence
Understanding the ramifications of many observable concepts in both physics and psychology naturally lead us to a re-examination of our world view and what it means to be conscious. An understanding of even some of the most basic theories in these fields show us that the human experience is more malleable than we may have previously perceived it to be. From this context, philosophical and religious explanations of reality become more valuable as we search for connected indicators of 'true reality'.
Back to the white light analogy. Thinking about the way color is created provides an astounding metaphor for describing the function of the mind. What is light when it shines alone? There are no colors for people who are colorblind. Plants do not visually perceive light, and yet they are adapted to live in it. Light itself is blind. No colors exist alone. It is your mind that is a prism, and when you see colors you are seeing your mind. And its not just colors. Every thing you see, hear touch and smell you are seeing your mind. I first heard this basic analogy from my Religious Studies Professor, Steven Jenkins.
Is it possible to silence the mind? See the white light? To be miraculously healed? To see everything as one? As we understand more of the limitations of our existing pedagogical- psychological paradigm we can see clear parallels between mystical and 'mad' experiences. Our modern understanding of consciousness in the universe allows for a tremendous amount of flexibility in our limited and vague interpretations of a more ultimate reality. In his book, States of Consciousness, Charles Tart describes a variety of what he calls d-ASC's (or discrete altered states of consciousness). In this book, Dr. Tart draws parallels between meditation-
induced mind-states, religious experiences, psychedelic drug experiences, and 'mental disease'.
Dr. Tart assures that transcendent experiences will never be lost. "These experiences will not go away if we crack down on psychedelic drugs, for immense numbers of people now practice various non-drug techniques for inducing d-ASC's, such as meditation and yoga" (Tart 207). Alternative mind states can be obtained through many ways, and sometimes it may be as easy as paying attention to what’s obviously there.
In Selections from Religious Experience, Clark addresses some of the triggers of mystical experiences. “I have known of several people who have reported that ecstasy was preceded by the reading of the sympathetic pages of William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience (1958). Religious practices are probably the most commonly used method that people use to have transcendental or mystical experiences.
It’s worth it to say something about belief. The man who re-grew his hipbone very well might not have had he not such unshakable strength to his belief. Hypnotic states, where people do things they otherwise might not (or even be able to do) are another example of this type of phenomenology. Yet one more example is that of people with multiple personality disorders who are allergic to a given substance in one state of mind and not in another. Everyone believes in something. Believe in more!
Tibetan religions provide astonishingly accurate descriptions of what reality is really like (as described by modern science), and what consciousness might be. To me, these descriptions provide some of the best ways to attempt to think about reality. As Alan Watts describes; "The problem of 'what' the mind is can now be seen to be the same as the problem of 'what' the real world is. It cannot be answered, for every 'what' is a class, and we cannot classify the classifier. Is it not, then, merely absurd to speak of the mind, the citta, at all if there is no way of saying what it is? On the contrary, the mathematician Kurt Godel has given us a rigorous proof of the fact that every logical system must contain a premise which it cannot define without contradicting itself" (Watts 92). A broad based understanding of nature shows us that words produced by consciousness itself cannot, of course, describe our existence.
Many forms of meditation focus on silencing the mind. Controlling your mind is an important part of Hinduism, Buddhism and Zen. Meditation, to me, is a natural way to move beyond the constant input of the sensorium, which reinforces what I have come to see as an arbitrary reality that is really a subset of more complex energy. As my Physics professor Dr. Robert Astrue used to tell me, "You can't think outside of the box when you think in boxes". Perhaps it is this 'thinking outside of the box' explanation that can explain why so many of the most influential artists and even scientists of our time were sometimes considered 'crazy'.
There is a Zen Koan that describe thought’s inability to define itself just as a pen cannot write itself, a sword cannot cut itself…
What can we do for a better understanding or to tap into our latent powers? Meditate? Change your religion? Use Drugs? Dream? The truth may be that there are many paths to enlightenment and a more complete understanding of reality. Many people believe it all comes down to love. Let us consider the following quotation from Herman Hess's Siddhartha.
This quote occurs as Siddhartha explains how he achieved enlightenment by the river to his friend Govinda. "During deep mediation it is possible to dispel time; to see simultaneously all the past, present, and future, and then everything is perfect, everything is Brahman. Therefore, it seems to me that everything that exists is good, death as well as life, sin as well as holiness, wisdom as well as folly. Everything is necessary, everything needs only my agreement, my assent, my loving understanding, and then all is well with me and nothing can harm me" (Hess). It is important to recognize the role of compassion in the above idea. I believe that feeling compassionate in all situations can help us to all experience more. In the above quotation, Hess's Siddhartha offers an interpretation of life that is similar to Tibetan ideas. Transgressing dualities is done with patience, wisdom and perhaps most importantly a kind of love.
Do not judge others, or speak negatively of them. That is not understanding.
“A good heart is the source of happiness and joy, and we can all be good hearted if we make an effort. But better still is to have bodhicitta, which is a good heart imbued with wisdom. It is the strong desire to attain enlightenment in order to deliver all beings from suffering and bring them to Buddhahood. This thought of helping others is rooted in compassion, which grows from a gratitude and love for beings, who are afflicted by suffering.” (98 Dalai Lama).
It’s worth it to say something about our existing fears and our struggle to create more discourse on the nature of our existence. As we have seen, our existing outlook has been warped by some false popularized conceptions of reality. People who are more aware of the subtle pulls in socialization process today manipulate others for purposes like nationalism, religion, and capitalism. Symbols, which can have powerful effects, can easily trap us into samsara and we experience the ups and downs of Karma.
*
In Media and Propaganda Noam Chomsky writes about why it is important to expose power inequalities.
I have my own ideas as to what a future society should look like… I’ve written about them… At the most general level we should be seeking out forms of authority and domination, and challenging their legitimacy. Sometimes they are legitimate, that is to say they are needed for survival. So, for example, in the 2nd world war, we had a totalitarian society, basically, and I thought there was some justification for that, under war time conditions.
And there are other forms- relations between and parents and children, for example- include forms of coercion which are sometimes justifiable.
But any form of coercion and control requires justification, and most of them are completely un-justifiable. Now, at various stages of human civilization it has been possible to challenge some of them, but not others. Others are too deeply seated, or you don’t see them, or whatever. And so, at any particular point you try to detect those forms of authority and domination which are subject to change, and which do not have any legitimacy, in fact which often strike at fundamental human rights, and your own understanding of fundamental human nature and human rights” (Manufacturing Consent).
*
The fact that miracles do not happen more often might be explained by admitting that people are socialized by science to believe they are impossible. Embracing this change means forging ahead, charging up that slippery slope of belief and complete understanding. As we move beyond this paradigm of concrete reality, we will break our existing embedded biases as we focus on understanding the nature and meaning of a more malleable conscious existence
As new concepts in physics continue to emerge we must of course recognize their validity, and attempt to incorporate them into our descriptions of consciousness. We must also remember, however, that we create the world we claim to describe. As we progress into the next century, it is important that we always remember the way we each create reality, the astonishing opportunities that exist in nature, and take an active role in promoting transcendent and aware modes of consciousness.
The most important thing to remember is love. Feel compassion for everything. This is the most important step to understanding completely. Create a discourse on consciousness. Think outside the box. Everyone is sitting around and waiting for the paradigm to shift, not realizing that we each will play a role in the current evolution of consciousness.
A Short Story to Conclude with a Smile
From A Journey to the East
“I tried to make him understand my position. I scorned all evasion. I told him frankly that I was a participant in the great enterprise of which he must also have heard, in the so-called “Journey to the East,” or the League expedition, or whatever it was then described as by the public. Oh yes, he smiled ironically, he certainly remembered it. In his circle of friends, this singular episode was mostly called, perhaps somewhat disrespectfully, “the Children’s Crusade.”
This movement was not taken quite seriously in his circle. It had indeed been compared with some kind of theosophical movement or brotherhood. Just the same, they had been very surprised at the periodic success of the undertaking. They had read with due respect about the courageous journey through Upper Swabia, of the triumph at Bremgarten, of the surrender of the Tessin mountain village, and had at times wondered weather the movement would like to place itself at the service of a republican government. Then, to be sure, the matter apparently petered out. Several of the former leaders left the movement; indeed, in some way they seemed to be ashamed of it and no longer wished to remember it. News about it came through very sparingly and it was always strangely contradictory, and so the whole matter was just placed aside ad acta and forgotten like so many eccentric political, religious, or artistic movements of those post-war years. At that time so many prophets sprang up, so many secret societies with Messianic hopes appeared and then disappeared again leaving no trace.
His point of view was clear, it was that of the well-meaning skeptic. All others who had heard its story, but had not themselves taken part in it, probably thought the same about the League and the Journey to the East. It was not for me to convert him, but I gave him some corrected information; for instance that our league was in no way an off-shoot of the post war years, but that it had extended throughout the whole of world history, sometimes, to be sure, under the surface, but in an unbroken line, that even certain phases of the World War were nothing more than stages in the history of our League, further that Zoroaster, Lao Tse, Plato, Xenophon, Pythagoras, Alverus Magnus, Don Quixote, Tristram Shandy, Novalis and Baudelaire were co-founders and brothers of our League.
He smiled in exactly the way that I expected”
-From “A Journey to the East” by Herman Hess
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