Sitting

In the Dark

Image arises

Solid Foundations of Being

Separate

And

Shared

Light in the Dark

Illuminating

The Entire

Cosmos

We can only know

We are

Here

We can only know

The Time is

Now

 

Yet

We dance

Through the

All

Of the Cosmos

Anchored to the Earth

Dancing across the Stars, Galaxies, Nebulas

Black Holes

Radiating All

That-Is

All

That-Is-Not

Connected

Beings

Surfing

the

Doing

of

Whatever

Arises

“The self is Toast”

That is a paraphrase from one of my favorite quotes from Ken Wilber… 

I’m still in the middle of reading “The Integral Intake,” by Andre Marquis.  A wonderful, highly recommended book. 

Andre has taken Wilber’s AQAL, 4-quadrant model, along with other works, and developed a remarkable guide to idiographic assessment for use in Integral Psychotherapy.  

On pages 113/114 he writes about Translative Spirituality versus Transformative Spirituality. 

He quotes Wilber on how Translative Spirituality is the function of most religions, where a system of beliefs and rituals helps decrease the suffering of the perceived separate self. 

Whereas Transformative Spirituality “dismantles” the self, shattering the illusion of a separate self. 

The full Wilber quote goes “the self is not made content.  The self is made toast”

Which brings me to my current growing edge. 

I am also reading and contemplating “The Illusion of Conscious Will,” by Daniel M Wegner. 

He documents in depth all of the studies that point toward this illusion. 

Perhaps one of most interesting experiments concerns the voluntary movement of lifting one finger. 

Brain activity begins about 500 milliseconds before the actual movement.  However, the experience of conscious awareness of wanting to move your finger only occurs about 200 milliseconds before the actual movement. 

The awareness of moving the finger begins at about 80 milliseconds before the actual movement, and then, the finger actually moves. 

This is only one experiment of many, pointing to this illusion of conscious will.   This is a 400+ page book after all… 

 

One can experience this directly when the action is faster.  In martial arts the practice is to have the movements occur without the conscious mind.  The conscious mind cannot keep up with the action. 

But, the conscious mind will take credit for any successes, or failures, that occur. 

In his last chapter, Wegner discusses the difficulty in trying to resolve the paradox of Free Will versus Determinism, particularly where it relates to responsibility and morality. 

To paraphrase Ramana Maharshi, there is no destiny, there is no free will… 

The Truth is only found in paradox… 

Importantly, this relates to the structure of our penal system. 

We must only control the actions of those who hurt the other or who are destructive. 

We must not punish. 

We must not jail those who we morally judge to hurt themselves…  read this as drug use or sex workers. 

We must provide the means for those with destructive actions to see through this illusion of self… 

To see more clearly, allows inner growth and the evolution of self toward Self. 

Decreases addictive behaviors. 

This allows less of this unconscious information to express itself in destructive actions.   

 

There will always be individuals that need to be kept separate from general society. 

My own work involves the continued contemplation of this small “s” illusory self, and its relationship to Self, i.e., All-That-Is and All-That-Is-Not. 

This contemplation involves seeing deeper and deeper, in an attempt to drop more and more illusions. 

Am I successful? 

Only others can tell. 

This illusory self can never be sure… 

Namaste

The 3 Levels of Reality

Yeah, stuck on 3 again… 

Ken Wilber outlines, from my reading, the most detailed map of Everything. 

See the links in this blog for a review:

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/02/just-stranger-in-strange-land-part-2.html

And for a discussion on how this relates to consciousness, see here:

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2015/12/what-is-consciousness.html

I like to keep things as simple as possible; i.e, The 3 Commandments… 

So, due to too much meditation and shamanic journeying, I became fixated on this experience of 3 Levels of Reality…

And they are not distinct levels, they have leaky borders, and likely transitional levels.

The First Level of Reality is where the vast majority of people live, and consider this to be the only reality that exists…  this physical, material world. 

The Second Level of Reality is the dream state, corresponding to the dreaming REM sleep state when sleeping, and the shamanic journeying state when “awake.” 

The Third Level of Reality is “All-That-Is and All-That-Is-Not,” also what I often label as Source, or whatever you want to call this “nameless” ineffable experience. 

http://www.ahalmaas.com/glossary/nameless

This third level corresponds to deep dreamless sleep and to the experience of “No-Self,” nirvana, samadhi, and so forth…  

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-first-commandment-part-2.html

These realities are nested within each other. 

At the center, is this experience of the everyday, physical-material world.  Where the rules of physics seem to apply. 

Surrounding this physical world is the dream state, sleeping or shamanic, where the rules of physics no longer apply.  And where you may receive information from power animals, beings, and entities who have little correspondence in the material world. 

Surrounding the entirety is Source.   Which contains all Levels, in our discussion here, both the dream levels and the material levels. 

Those of you who are physical-ists and material-ists.  By definition, cannot conceive of anything else that you might label “real.”  For you, the dream world is mostly irrelevant.  Much less there being anything outside the world of dreaming. 

Those of you who have done dream work, and found much useful information from your dreams, may give some credence to this level of reality.

Those who have done shamanic journeying work, believe that this is truly another level of reality.  Often, one of the most important places to travel on a regular basis for information for living the fullest life one can. 

The highest level is, perhaps, the most problematic. 

The problem occurs when you have never experienced this “peek at the peak.”  Being bathed in pure Source, outside of deep dreamless sleep. 

Hard to believe in something you have never experienced. 

What was most interesting to me was the experience of these 3 Levels of Reality had correspondence in dream states and the awake states.  REM dreaming with shamanic journeying, deep dreamless sleep with “nirvana.”

Now you may ask, what about the physical material state? 

Where is the dream equivalent?

This is where things get really interesting… 

This physical reality is only an experience of a small slice of what is true. 

We really cannot see all of physical reality. 

Physicist Brian Greene suggests that our experienced universe is actually a holographic projection of information on the surface of a black hole.  

http://discovermagazine.com/2011/jun/03-our-universe-may-be-a-giant-hologram

And I discuss this further here:

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2016/10/multiple-levels-of-reality.html

So, this physical material world may only be a dream itself. 

A perceived projection of the possibly 11 dimensions of String Theory. 

A projection, as perceived by our primitive body-minds, this bag of seawater carrying Source around… 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/just-bags-of-saltwater-carrying-ocean.html

So, why am I telling all this? 

Am I trying to burst your bubble about what you think is reality?

I used to think I have no agenda… 

But, I do have one… 

I would like for people to live the most full life available to them… 

My view of reality, may not be your view… 

That is great! 

 

For myself, I am constantly “sifting and winnowing” for the truth… 

Knowing, that ultimately, this “primitive bag of seawater carrying Source around,” will only be able to understand the barest slice of the Truth… 

Yet, this primitive bag may also experience the whole shebang… 

And, perhaps, help others experience this beauty of being alive… 

That is what makes life worth living… 

Namaste

The 5 Clocks of Humankind

I had a powerful dream. 

Powerful dreams are marked by a lack of easy forgetfulness.

Most of my dreams drift away, if not written down right away. 

This one was crystal clear, and stayed in my mind without writing anything down.

I saw 5 clocks,

like round pocket watches,

lined up face to back,

like books on a little shelf. 

The second clock was pulled out and there was only one hand, and that hand was just a little past the 12 o’clock mark. 

I understood that each clock face represented about 100,000 years. 

These were the clocks of human time on this earth. 

We were past the first 100,000 years of evolution, of our modern species. 

We are now in the second 100,000 years, perhaps 10-15,000 years into the era of so called civilized humans. 

I realized this message was a gift, signifying that we have a long way to go. 

Those of us who can visualize what our civilization might become, are frustrated by how little we have progressed. 

We foresee a time of peace and kindness to each other, and the earth. 

Michael Moore’s movie “Where to Invade Next,” shows us the amazing possibilities for an improved civilization, which exist right now. 

Sebastian Junger’s book “Tribe,” documents how humans pull together at times of disaster, noting that both crime and depression decline. 

This dream was a call for me to remember that many individuals can see the most beautiful future possibilities of our species on this earth. 

But, we are not there yet. 

We are far, far from these places we can go… 

 

I wrote before about taking the 1,000-year view. 

http://enlightenedmdphd.blogspot.com/2013/03/laughter-and-meaning-of-life.html

I think now we have to take the 10,000 or even 100,000-year view. 

We have a long, long, long, way to go… 

Practice patience. 

And work toward a better future.

Don’t be attached to outcome… 

Namaste