Do you ever ask yourself why we're at war, and then when you come to the conclusion that you have no idea, you decide to research the matter, only to find that the only reason given by any source what-so-ever amounts to "Terrorism"?
Well, I do.
Anyway, how about something up-lifting today?
It turns out that the human mind is a problem solver by nature. This seems evident in everything we've accomplished in such a short amount of time as a species*. So suppose you were to give your subconscious a puzzle to work out while your conscious deals with the day-to-day routine of every-day life. What kind of puzzle would you give it? What kind of problems would you like your subconscious to solve for you while you wait for the results?
Complex mathematical equations?
The form of a Beethoven symphony?
How to rebuild a car engine?
The answer to all of our global problems (a lot of good it would do you)?
How to find the path to personal fulfillment and happiness?
Well, I have good news for you. Your subconscious already does this. All the time. Every day.
[the end]
You want more? Well, okay...
So how do your thoughts get into your subconscious? Well, usually they pass through your conscious. Most subconscious thoughts begin life as something you were COMPLETELY aware of. So, I would advise against being too pessimistic. It IS true that negative thoughts lead to negative events.
So, why don't we take this in a different direction for a moment?
For a refresher on the concept of our minds creating our own reality, please read my post titled WHO IS THE MASTER WHO MAKES THE GRASS GREEN? Then continue.
Okay, so we understand how our own minds create reality. A reality that ONLY belongs to you. It exists INSIDE your head...not outside of it. Keeping this in mind, consider the following:
"If you can imagine it, you can BE it."
We've heard this since childhood. But perhaps a better way to say it is this: "If you ARE imagining it, you ARE experiencing it." And what is reality besides something one "experiences"?
Okay, so that's cool. But how can I have any affect on the random events that happen to take place from moment to moment? Can I really be expected to control my own mind on THAT level? Well, some new-age thinkers feel that just maybe we can.
Assuming that everyone I've ever come in contact with shares a similar reality to mine, and that my reality is something entirely constructed inside my mind...can I then be removed from everyone else's reality, if I imagine (create) a new reality for myself? Would I suddenly blink out of existence? The conclusion I draw would be that the reality you escaped from would compensate for your absence and remove you from record (memory) so to speak. I don't cease to exist in that reality. Suddenly, I never existed there at all.
Perhaps.
A sigil is something that a lot of people believe has the ability to help us create a new reality for ourselves. The idea is to implant a symbol of whatever it is you "desire" into your subconscious, which will surface to your conscious, thus becoming your reality. How can such a subliminal implant be placed?
Some say this will work:
Think of something that you desire, and write that scenario down as though it were currently true. Example: If my desire is to be happy, then I write the sentence, "I AM HAPPY." I then remove all vowels, as well as any duplicate letters, so that I am left with, "MHP." After that, I get really stoned and "space out" for a while with a pencil and paper. I use the letters "MHP" as elements with which to design a "symbol". This process should never be rushed, and could possibly take hours. The end result doesn't necessarily bear any resemblance to the letters I originally started with, although their presence is implied. I memorize the symbol I have created. Perhaps even get it tattood somewhere that I am bound to look at least once a day (the top of my right hand?).
This symbol acts as a puzzle for my subconscious to solve. Since I took my time creating it, and even enjoyed the process, it is burned into my memory...and some part of me remembers that my symbol evolved from the sentence, "I AM HAPPY." The letters used to write that sentence are nothing more than symbols themselves. We use them to describe our reality. Without them, we'd be no more able to understand our world than an ape.
Most psychologists will tell you that our subconscious is certainly represented in our conscious in ways that we don't always understand.
So suppose that your subconscious uses the symbol you implanted into it to describe reality.
If you are imagining it, you are experiencing it.
Hey, it's worth a shot!
* "This seems evident in everything we've accomplished in such a short amount of time as a species." I don't think enough emphasis is ever put on this. We have been in existence for such an incredibly short amount of time, and we have already come this far. I imagine we would be quite revered by other-worldly civilizations of an equal age. Although I do think those civilizations might form some concerns over some of our social/cultural practices. This even happens on Earth between differing countries. One country may seem very technically advanced yet socially ignorant, whereas another appears technologically inferior yet philosophically sophisticated.
Showing posts with label reality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reality. Show all posts
Monday, January 12, 2009
SOCIAL & CULTURAL VIRUS PROTECTION
In keeping with comparing human consciousness to technology: Could it be that culture is merely an operating system? One filled with viruses and an extremely difficult to use interface?
What makes life worth living? The answer, of course, is different between everyone. But I think most people can agree (at least on a conscious level) that the things that make us happy are things that appeal to our sense of aesthetics. Yet monetary success remains the focus of most of our ambitions. If someone discovers that they have a talent for art, often times the next question is one of how to profit from their talents. Of course, this is not always the case.
By use of the human cerebral cortex, we can observe patterns and make predictions of the future based on those patterns. To species who don't have a cerebral cortex (or an otherwise-developed capability of predicting future events), we are making impossible prophecies that couldn't possibly be explained by anything they're able to understand. "Supernatural" wouldn't be an unreasonable term to use, because what is happening is unexplainable based on the available knowledge (knowledge that is comprehend-able to this particular organism).
We owe a lot to our cerebral cortex. It's the only thing that allows us to rule our lives by reason and not by simple survival instinct (which is what the rest of the brain is dedicated to). The cerebral cortex was built on top of this "animal brain".
You might consider things like written language, math, logic, and even art to be different "dimensions" (although not in a literal sense) that we as humans have a unique ability to understand thanks to our cerebral cortex. Other species' simply cannot comprehend such concepts.
And yet...we're the ones killing ourselves. We're the ones who continually manipulate one-another for our own selfish profit that doesn't benefit our ability to survive or reach happiness what-so-ever. We're the ones that, despite the ability to use "mental tools" such as logic & reason, refuse to demand evidence for what is claimed to be true...making us more vulnerable to manipulation.
These are but samples of the buffet of corruption (in the same way that a computer file may become corrupt) present in our current society. Let's go back to thinking of our culture as an operating system. These flaws in the way the operating system works are merely viruses. There are viruses that cause illness in animals, there are computer viruses, and there are social/cultural viruses. In essence, they all do the same thing: Disrupt the intended function of the "program".
So where's the anti-virus software? Well sadly, those of us who are able to recognize such weaknesses in our social structure aren't in a position to remove the source of the problem. What's worse...they're not even an option amongst candidates to choose from. The current people in charge are well-suited to solve social issues of 60 years ago. But it's time for a software up-grade; ours is out-dated. Our current software simply isn't able to detect the flaws in the system.
We can learn a lot from our own creations, I think. You wouldn't use anti-virus software from 5 years ago, would you? We have different KINDS of problems now, but we're still using out-dated problem-solving techniques that don't even address the root(s) of our problems.
It is time to stop relying on politics to create the world we want for ourselves. If this is a country governed by its people, then the people in office are governed by us. We are not governed by them. Each one of us has an extremely powerful brain EVERY BIT as capable of providing solutions to issues as ANYBODY who is currently in charge of ANYTHING.
WE grant the OUR government permission to do what WE tell it to do. Things like how to spend our budget or whether or not we should go to war with a foreign country are decisions that WE ARE LEAVING UP TO SOMEBODY ELSE!!! Sure, you can vote for the politician that you agree with the most...but are three or four options REALLY good enough when NONE of them really fix anything? DEMAND better. If you pay taxes, make SURE you know exactly what YOUR money is being used for. If you don't want to financially support something...you shouldn't have to.
What makes life worth living? The answer, of course, is different between everyone. But I think most people can agree (at least on a conscious level) that the things that make us happy are things that appeal to our sense of aesthetics. Yet monetary success remains the focus of most of our ambitions. If someone discovers that they have a talent for art, often times the next question is one of how to profit from their talents. Of course, this is not always the case.
By use of the human cerebral cortex, we can observe patterns and make predictions of the future based on those patterns. To species who don't have a cerebral cortex (or an otherwise-developed capability of predicting future events), we are making impossible prophecies that couldn't possibly be explained by anything they're able to understand. "Supernatural" wouldn't be an unreasonable term to use, because what is happening is unexplainable based on the available knowledge (knowledge that is comprehend-able to this particular organism).
We owe a lot to our cerebral cortex. It's the only thing that allows us to rule our lives by reason and not by simple survival instinct (which is what the rest of the brain is dedicated to). The cerebral cortex was built on top of this "animal brain".
You might consider things like written language, math, logic, and even art to be different "dimensions" (although not in a literal sense) that we as humans have a unique ability to understand thanks to our cerebral cortex. Other species' simply cannot comprehend such concepts.
And yet...we're the ones killing ourselves. We're the ones who continually manipulate one-another for our own selfish profit that doesn't benefit our ability to survive or reach happiness what-so-ever. We're the ones that, despite the ability to use "mental tools" such as logic & reason, refuse to demand evidence for what is claimed to be true...making us more vulnerable to manipulation.
These are but samples of the buffet of corruption (in the same way that a computer file may become corrupt) present in our current society. Let's go back to thinking of our culture as an operating system. These flaws in the way the operating system works are merely viruses. There are viruses that cause illness in animals, there are computer viruses, and there are social/cultural viruses. In essence, they all do the same thing: Disrupt the intended function of the "program".
So where's the anti-virus software? Well sadly, those of us who are able to recognize such weaknesses in our social structure aren't in a position to remove the source of the problem. What's worse...they're not even an option amongst candidates to choose from. The current people in charge are well-suited to solve social issues of 60 years ago. But it's time for a software up-grade; ours is out-dated. Our current software simply isn't able to detect the flaws in the system.
We can learn a lot from our own creations, I think. You wouldn't use anti-virus software from 5 years ago, would you? We have different KINDS of problems now, but we're still using out-dated problem-solving techniques that don't even address the root(s) of our problems.
It is time to stop relying on politics to create the world we want for ourselves. If this is a country governed by its people, then the people in office are governed by us. We are not governed by them. Each one of us has an extremely powerful brain EVERY BIT as capable of providing solutions to issues as ANYBODY who is currently in charge of ANYTHING.
WE grant the OUR government permission to do what WE tell it to do. Things like how to spend our budget or whether or not we should go to war with a foreign country are decisions that WE ARE LEAVING UP TO SOMEBODY ELSE!!! Sure, you can vote for the politician that you agree with the most...but are three or four options REALLY good enough when NONE of them really fix anything? DEMAND better. If you pay taxes, make SURE you know exactly what YOUR money is being used for. If you don't want to financially support something...you shouldn't have to.
WHO IS THE MASTER WHO MAKES THE GRASS GREEN?
My last post contained this sentence: "We know we're right, but can we blame them for being ignorant?"
I don't think I put enough emphasis on this.
Think about this: do you think a deep sea creature realizes that there is a WORLD of information they know nothing about? I doubt it. Thoughts that complexes most likely don't even enter into their minds. They are simply surviving. We as humans, on the other hand, carry the burden of this giant brain of ours. We have the capacity to answer SO MANY THINGS...and we think that the universe MUST be comprehensible to our minds.
Much like our lives are far too complex for a fish to understand, the universe is much too complex for us to understand.
Reality is something that exists whether you're here or not. But the reality YOU PERCEIVE only exists if YOU exist. And what is reality without perception? The age-old question about the tree in the woods. It still baffles me.
Robert Anton Wilson talks about our connection with the world around us. About how difficult it seems to reach this state of "nirvana", when you suddenly are aware of your "one-ness" with the world around you. But really, we are engaging in this one-ness at ALL TIMES. He talks about the Buddhist search for the "Master who makes the grass green". When you realize that without the grass, there would be no green...and also without YOUR EYES, there would be no green, then it becomes quite a bit easier. You see, the green-ness is a "transaction" between you and the grass. The moment you close your eyes, the green goes away...even though you and the grass both still exist. And that's just ONE FACET of ONE SENSE that we have.
Here's the truth: the grass isn't green at all. The grass simply IS. "Green" is something WE GIVE IT. And who knows what green really is? What if I stole your eyeballs and substituted them for my own, and suddenly I realized that through YOUR eyes, things that look green to me now look pink? How could we ever know without making such an exchange? We know that dogs don't see pigments the way humans do. But does one human eye see exactly what another human eye sees?
We use all kinds of instruments to perceive. But perhaps the most over-looked is the instrument of oneself. You can't describe the world around you without FIRST describing the instrument used to examine the data. Well, you are the instrument. And reality only exists because you are creating it with your own mind, using data that you input into your brain through these channels, or "senses". Our brain processes all this information in a very complex, yet instant, way...and when it's done, the result is the world around you. Uniquely yours and nobody else's.
This isn't to demean human existence into a mathematical formula, or a series of chemical reactions. Quite the contrary. I think this realization makes the universe a lot more interesting and full of wonder than is even possible to imagine. I think that if the general population simply went about their lives with this understanding in their minds, society would gradually move in the direction of an enlightened public...without much coercive action.
This is what I hope, anyway.
I don't think I put enough emphasis on this.
Think about this: do you think a deep sea creature realizes that there is a WORLD of information they know nothing about? I doubt it. Thoughts that complexes most likely don't even enter into their minds. They are simply surviving. We as humans, on the other hand, carry the burden of this giant brain of ours. We have the capacity to answer SO MANY THINGS...and we think that the universe MUST be comprehensible to our minds.
Much like our lives are far too complex for a fish to understand, the universe is much too complex for us to understand.
Reality is something that exists whether you're here or not. But the reality YOU PERCEIVE only exists if YOU exist. And what is reality without perception? The age-old question about the tree in the woods. It still baffles me.
Robert Anton Wilson talks about our connection with the world around us. About how difficult it seems to reach this state of "nirvana", when you suddenly are aware of your "one-ness" with the world around you. But really, we are engaging in this one-ness at ALL TIMES. He talks about the Buddhist search for the "Master who makes the grass green". When you realize that without the grass, there would be no green...and also without YOUR EYES, there would be no green, then it becomes quite a bit easier. You see, the green-ness is a "transaction" between you and the grass. The moment you close your eyes, the green goes away...even though you and the grass both still exist. And that's just ONE FACET of ONE SENSE that we have.
Here's the truth: the grass isn't green at all. The grass simply IS. "Green" is something WE GIVE IT. And who knows what green really is? What if I stole your eyeballs and substituted them for my own, and suddenly I realized that through YOUR eyes, things that look green to me now look pink? How could we ever know without making such an exchange? We know that dogs don't see pigments the way humans do. But does one human eye see exactly what another human eye sees?
We use all kinds of instruments to perceive. But perhaps the most over-looked is the instrument of oneself. You can't describe the world around you without FIRST describing the instrument used to examine the data. Well, you are the instrument. And reality only exists because you are creating it with your own mind, using data that you input into your brain through these channels, or "senses". Our brain processes all this information in a very complex, yet instant, way...and when it's done, the result is the world around you. Uniquely yours and nobody else's.
This isn't to demean human existence into a mathematical formula, or a series of chemical reactions. Quite the contrary. I think this realization makes the universe a lot more interesting and full of wonder than is even possible to imagine. I think that if the general population simply went about their lives with this understanding in their minds, society would gradually move in the direction of an enlightened public...without much coercive action.
This is what I hope, anyway.
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