Malware in the Conscious Operating System

We’ve all got some form of what I like to call “malware in the conscious operating system.” Malware as I use the term in this context equates to belief, which is like a computer virus or adware that infects a computer system and renders it less than optimal and only partially functioning in many ways. Some of our beliefs are very much like a virus as they are formed and seep into our conscious operating systems unconsciously. To understand this completely, we really need to look at these terms in a little more detail so we can clearly understand what is plainly right in front of us in terms of our daily existence. Until it’s called out, we are unaware of the existence of a thing. Without said awareness, the “malware” so-to-speak, lives on unfettered by understanding creating some interesting challenges for a soul to deal with. That isn’t bad or wrong, I’ll say. Keep in mind this is just a framework for understanding.

When we look at belief alone, we can begin to understand precisely what it means. In fact, dictionary.com defines it as:

noun

1. something believed; an opinion or conviction: a belief that the earth is flat.
2. confidence in the truth or existence of something not immediately susceptible to rigorous proof: a statement unworthy of belief.
3. confidence; faith; trust: a child's belief in his parents.
4. a religious tenet or tenets; religious creed or faith: the Christian belief.

A belief in a thing does not make it real or a fact. A very quick and simple example of this fact is our common belief for the sake of convenience that the sun rises and sets each day when in fact, it is the Earth that is turning. We might even think the world turns slowly when in fact the truth is that the Earth spins on its axis at the speed near the equator at approximately 1,070 miles per hour according to starryskies.com. So, we can believe the sun rises and sets all we want to or that the Earth turns slowly but we can see from the facts, that these things are not true. The beliefs are not real. We have come to believe the sun rises at sets or that the Earth turns slowly from things that we have read or been told by others who held these beliefs.

There is another term I have often used, “Environmental Psychology.” This term references the things, situations and influence of the outside world upon a person that leads to the forming of belief about one’s self, one’s life or life in general that has more of a psychological nature. Such things might include beliefs that we are worthy or unworthy, gifted or cursed, lucky or unlucky, lovable or unlovable and the list goes on. Again, our environmental psychology has shaped our beliefs about ourselves, other people and the world. But if our beliefs are not true and we’ve built the entirety of our lives upon a false premise in the form of belief or holding unconsciously to a belief created by environmental psychology, how might that affect our experience of life?

So above we have defined how our beliefs are formed. Let us get into the now and sit very comfortably with our new understanding for just a moment. How might this new information assist us in how we live our lives right here and right now? Well, it can help us in a great many of ways but we must first steer clear of any form of blame for the series of beliefs that we hold that limit us in any way. We’re going to start living in the now positively because that puts our power right where it belongs, in our own hands. So, let us be accountable for our beliefs because whether or not they were given to us or we formed them in response to environmental psychology, it is we who decide to continue to hold the belief or not. Right? Give that some thought. No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to hold that thought from your childhood where you overheard Aunt Martha or Uncle Harry say to each other you were a "this kind of child" or a "that kind of child" that left you feeling either bad or good. Belief is not real. It is untested hypothesis.

Moving right along, we can unleash an anti-virus program for the Malware running in the background of our Human Consciousness Operating System in the form of belief given us by environmental psychology. But to do this, you must realize it will take effort, commitment, courage, tenacity and a little bit of reflection and critical analysis. You have to find the malware first before you can remove it. If you do not know it is there, you will never find its source and never be able to remove it successfully and will always resort to behaving as if old beliefs are facts. So, the simple way to find them is to look for them.
 

An easy way to spot them is to think about something that you really want right now in this moment. Go ahead, think about that for a moment. Have you got something in mind? Good. Hold that thought. Now, think about what in your mind prevents you from having what you want? Jot down all the reasons or rationales that have you believing that you cannot or do not have what you want. Continue until you have every possible reason whether real or not real, vetted and noted. Don't judge what you think, just write it down. Now, take a look at your list. I am willing to bet that there will be at least one if not many more life limiting beliefs representing themes of malware that you’ve lived with your entire life staring right back at you hidden quite conveniently in simple thoughts. 

Choose one of those thoughts on your list that you’d like to investigate further. Take that thought and ask yourself is the thought you chose real? Is the belief behind it real? Can you prove that it is real? How can you prove it is real without using an assumption and only dealing with independently verifiable facts that stand up to repeated testing with the same outcome? By critical thinking I mentioned above, I did not mean to think of yourself critically. I meant to start critically analyzing your beliefs with the rigor of a scientific researcher. Is that thought or belief true? How do you know? If you run across a belief on your list that cannot be independently verified as definitive truth or fact, I invite you to introduce yourself to your first piece of malware. Now, if you’d like to eradicate the malware you have to be willing to let go of the belief no matter what that means. Sometimes letting go of a belief can be simple and at other times it can be very difficult. Letting go of the idea of Santa Clause was not easy at first as a child now was it? Letting go of the idea of monsters under the bed also wasn’t easy but getting to the truth and dealing with reality is how we can set ourselves free from malware.  

You see, malware is a prison we commit ourselves to for many very good reasons but mostly due to lack of conscious understanding. You may have full understanding at the spiritual level and any malware you hold may be the very premise from which your greatest life lessons are learned. However, if you find at some point that your beliefs limit you in ways that you no longer desire, you can relinquish the beliefs that don’t bear out under the scrutiny of testing and in so doing you reveal to yourself the hiding place of the key that unlocks the door to your self-made prison cell.  
Do you remember I said earlier there was no right way or wrong way to learn life lessons? In this wonderful piece of wisdom from the Kybalion written by the Three Initiates early on in the last century, the following phrase comes: "Every Cause has its Effect; every Effect has its Cause; everything happens according to Law; Chance is but a name for Law not recognized; there are many planes of causation, but nothing escapes the Law."--The Kybalion. There is cause and there is effect. Your beliefs create the path from which you learn about your life. If you find your lesson plan enjoyable, proceed without change. If you find it isn’t and you seek greater understanding, then look to your malware, beliefs and environmental psychology. The emerging patterns and themes will be your guide and will help you to understand you. It’s one tiny part of the reason you are here.  

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little bit of food for thought. If you'd like to learn more about this topic and how the concepts of it can help you remove the obstacles in your life that prevent your growth, let me know. I've got a book and workbook for you that can help you discover more about yourself called Exploring the Conscious Self. With the self-study guide book and work-book, you'll be well on your way to discovering a good many things about you that you may never have given thought to. If you're interested in more details, please contact me at jaiehart@gmail.com.  

  Dr. J.L. Harter, Editor see bio section for more information.

Belief As the Driver to Experience and Imagine the Cosmic Energy But With Limitations

 

Abstract

Believing is what makes the believer believe what the believer wants to believe and this belief lures the energy to flow from the external to the internal; from the invisible to the visible; what we considered as a phenomenon or fulfillment of dreams in our lifetime. Cosmic energy naively progresses to create and recreate; to form and reform; to rise and give rise to and to fill and fulfill the desires of a being. Belief drives the experience of the experiencer; for it fills the being to its completeness and renders the achiever to achieve and believe in oneself. The belief of a believer is therefore unique and special to the believer and can never be or should never be taken away; for if so, may lead to loss of the being’s ability to perceive the ever prevalent energy; for there is no alternative to belief and believing for the higher being. On the other hand, if belief is coerced or foisted, it may lead to an excruciating irremediable change in the energy with a forfeiture of the soul, mind and consciousness.  

Key Words

Belief, Believe, Cosmic, Energy, Experience, Imagination

Belief propels the soul, mind and consciousness

Belief makes the being a believer, but what the being believes is what the being has been edified with and therefore it is the belief that drives consciousness and the ability to experience. This is wholly applicable to higher beings and not to the lower beings; for the lower beings lack the ability to analyze with their imagination and innocuously blend within the cosmic energy, to experience it, rather than squandering to analyze it. When you believe in something, you relate to something; it is this something or nothing that drives you to believe; in full awareness of oneself.  When you believe you are connected; you get connected and faith builds in the being, for consciousness builds the faith in full awareness. In the absence of belief, the believer loses the ability to think and pursue, for everything at that moment seems redundant; that which cannot be achieved or completed and so is not gratifying to be believed, as there is no sense of achievement. So what makes everyone believe? Belief soothes the soul, calms the mind and builds awareness inadvertently; understood as an achievement; rather a goal by the higher being; a sense of satisfaction.

When a higher being believes, the being connects unknowingly to the cosmic energy; an energy that is prevalent in the universe, which resides within the body to make up the soul, the mind and one’s consciousness; that which resides in the vastness of the cosmos. Belief makes the believer believe, that what cannot be proven is true and with a strong belief, the cosmic energy supports and guides the believer through the entirety of one’s life. To believe what one believes is what has been thought from the very beginning and that which is imbibed within oneself through teaching e.g., Religious scriptures. The dependence on this belief rises as we grow physically and intellectually. Any kind of belief is a belief and there can be no limitations to believing, for the energy is of no limit and with belief makes it grow and think. The higher beings therefore needed to believe in the existence of a form. A form created to bring in fear; to control the human kind; for the human kind was somehow aware of its ability to go beyond its limitations. This gave rise to the form that we call God; which is the cosmic energy that was good but the day there were forms of God, God was lost and the ability to believe was crushed.  Energy was utilized to grow these separated forms rather than uniting them and God or cosmic energy was taken for granted.

The cosmic energy is indestructible, but intelligent and conscious to blend and transform to one’s desires and goals, but emancipates itself when anticipated to perform against its will. For there is no good or bad, all is good, for the energy is good and its goodness is what drives the cosmos. Believing in what one believes gratifies the cosmic energy too flow within the structures that design the being. A prayer can fulfill a wish and a wish granted is acclaimed as the power of God, for God the form created by beings is a self-motivating form which unknowingly activates the self and the energy flow. Therefore God for us cannot be ignored, for it is through this medium that we actually interact with the cosmic energy; it is through this medium that we energize our soul; it is through this medium that we are conscious and aware and prevent our ignorance to the actuality of the cosmic energy. Taking this medium away would leave all of the egoistic forms helpless, for there would be no form to look up to. So long these forms remain; energy shall be utilized in the right manner and for the right cause. Belief in a form or forms of energy as God controls the soul, mind and consciousness of a being; brings in a sense of stability.

We are conscious because we believe in the creation; we are conscious because our soul is a part of the creation that lives within and connects us to the creation; for it is creation that created all that is around us. Believing in oneself is equivalent to believing in the creator for the creation lies within us and therefore when we believe we can make this energy perform beyond the imagination of ourselves, we observe as miracles or achievements in our life. A being is born and comes into this life with no understanding or specificity of a belief, for the being is more concerned with its survival and through intuition builds its awareness of the creation. Lower beings demonstrate this ability to understand and perceive the energy that resides in the cosmos; to utilize it to grow and live; to release it upon death. But the higher beings ignore it, to give importance to the egoistic achievements in life. As the being grows, the energy takes shape and forms the mind, soul and consciousness to realize and applaud the creation; to take and receive what the energy has in store for the being; to build and grow the structures and the body within; to emerge intelligence; for the human kind seeks beyond intuition that leads to learning and memory.

Seeking leads to analyzing and understanding the creation; energy is utilized to understand the energy that makes the being seek beyond imagination and believe, therefore the why of creation gets replaced with the how of creation. For if all this was created then there should be a creator and so there should be a God and that is when the ever-prevalent energy loses its importance and so does God. For a human, God is human, a much bigger human; a human that possess powers beyond the limits of a human; energy for the higher being is not God, for now God is taken form and the form is human. Belief in God now unknowingly drives the energy that grows stronger and better and builds the soul, the mind and propagates consciousness. God takes the first place and belief in this form drives energy within and beyond. When you believe, you connect to the cosmic energy; for this energy fills you and therefore guides you. Belief for a human is an uncontrolled and involuntary connection with the cosmos which is portrayed in the form of religion and religious activities and therefore should not be taken away from the being, as unlike other beings, humans cannot perceive the cosmic energy and therefore need a medium to do so.

Belief and believing without limitations can suppress the experience

Believing in a medium can drive consciousness, the soul and the mind, for inadvertently the being interacts and utilizes the immeasurable and incalculable energy that prevails within the cosmos; the cosmic energy that encompasses the whole of creation and all that was and is being created. The medium gets defined and created by believers who believe that, all that is around them is because of the one whom they believe in rather than the energy that resides within and around them. For so long the belief drives the energy, it remains harmless but the day this energy is utilized to entail belief the energy will transform, but cautions before leaving. So who brings in a differentiation of beliefs? Higher beings bring in a comparison in order to differentiate between beliefs; for when a goal is achieved the belief is good and when not, the belief is bad. The energy gets labeled as good or evil; God gets labeled as good or evil and the belief is believed to be good or bad. When a comparison arises among beliefs, the actual essence of the belief is lost and the energy becomes unstable. Belief is important but cannot be forced and this is what religions do and that needs to be changed; for all of mankind suffers the burden of this act.

Religions were created to bring a sense of belief; to realize the force that drives life; to experience life and creation. It may have brought in this feeling, but it also brought in fear; fear of someone more powerful than the being; fear of God. The fear of God forces one to believe; the fear of God grows with the growth of intelligence but inadvertently it reduces the experience of the experiencer; for the energy is too simple to be God. As intelligence and ego grew, the outfall of intelligence grew, the egoistic being thought “Is life so simple? Are we here just to experience the creation?” and the existence of life has thence been taken for granted. The reason we don’t seek the experience of the creation is because we always want to experience much more than life; we imagine beyond the limits of imagination where the very essence of imagination is lost and so is the experience. Belief drives us to believing more than we should believe; to utilize energy for our selfish needs rather than that of experience. Higher beings converted the form God to many gods and with many gods came the comparison between gods and then the superiority of gods; today we fight trying to defend which God is superior to the other. The belief of humans has gone beyond that of God, for God is a mere form that is utilized to induce fear; with the being now more powerful than that of God, the being is feared.

Energy by higher beings is utilized to generate fear, hatred, and anger among beings, which somehow is becoming a belief, where the believer believes in it more than God or energy. The goodness of God now needs a medium to be understood for more than the goodness of God we seek what more the God can do; we extrapolate God not realizing the limitations of God the true energy; not realizing that just like energy can create, energy can destroy for it is a mere transformation that it needs to undergo to make this change. Why should I believe in what I would not like to believe? For it is my mind, my soul and my awareness of the creation and therefore my belief is what I believe and is beyond the imagination of the other. So if that is the case, why is superiority of belief a cause for the downfall of mankind? Unrealized, we take the cosmic energy for granted, for this energy created us, therefore is the creator of our creation; we may call this energy by names and give it forms, but this is what made us. With religion we create forms; forms with many types and we compare these forms which belong to the same one form; for when there are forms, there is comparison and when there is comparison, there arises supremacy and ego. The superior and the inferior make the energy unstable for then; the charm of its very own existence gets questioned.

Conclusion

Energy resides in the vastness of the universe and it is this energy that transforms itself from one form to another keeping the created and to be created functioning. We come into this world through a source of energy, in order to experience the beauty of the energy and its creation that resides all around us. As we grow we forget the need of our existence and belief drives the very existence of ourselves. Belief is therefore the driver for the growth of our mind, soul and consciousness, for it is the very own cosmic energy that fabricates us. This is common within beings, until beings grow to be higher beings, with the ability to analyze themselves and also their beliefs, differentiated based on superiority of their forms and beliefs; gods and goddesses. Despite of the presence of the several forms, realizations of the very existence of our belief in these forms makes us realize the abundant energy source that drives the existence of the being; the cosmic energy that provides the experience of being alive; helps experience the soul, mind and consciousness, but subsists only if exploited within its limitations; the limitations of believing. 

Contzen Pereira, Ph.D. Independent Scholar, Mumbai, India. Email Address: contzen@rediffmail.com, contzen@gmail.com

What if What You Believe is Wrong and You Learned That Was Okay?

Abstract:

We form belief based on perceptions as we live our lives day and and day out.  These beliefs form the filters through which we view each other, the world and ourselves in the Quantum Whole of consciousness existence.  Our tiny little “c” consciousness via the ego doesn’t always know fact from reality, truth from illusion or belief from untested hypothesis and that’s really okay.  We learn though our beliefs and we must start somewhere in order to move in any direction or arrive at any destination no matter if it is even a temporary one.  So, we start with what we come to understand from the outside world and then we begin to learn what our beliefs are for.

Key Words

Belief, Continuum, God, Source, Truth

Background

Belief is an untested hypothesis.  That might sound bad but it isn’t really.  It’s actually perfect. You see, we all must begin with a premise as we explore and experience this dimensional experience in which we currently find ourselves.  We must agree that it exists, maybe that it was created and that it had a Creator outside of us, we must agree that we are individuals, we must agree that we are within creation and then everything else sort of falls into a rhythm or vibration to which we respond to in kind with vibration in reaction to what we experience stemming from our beliefs.  This article explores the concept of Source or God from the perspective of belief with the highlighted focus on belief itself as the main point.  Too many philosophical arguments have been put forth for and against the existence of God and I will not add to that body of work with my own at this time.   Instead, I wish to touch on belief, the mainstay of any God, Goddess or Diety hypothesis or considered reality.  My hypothesis is that with belief, something is unreal unless you believe it is real.  I will explore a few works that delve into belief in order to bring the reader a certain context with which individualized belief may be carefully considered and understood to be very powerful. I assert that it is the holder of the belief that has the Source power to create and that the Source is a continuum of consciousness of which we are part.

In researching works to address this concept without writing a book, I naturally gravitated towards the informative work of Dr. David Hawkins.  Coming from a psycho-spiritual perspective, coupled with an educated biological background lent much credibility to the concepts presented by Dr. Hawkins.  If you are well-read in the area of metaphysics and spirituality or even philosophy and psychology, you may come to realize that many of his ideas, were not new but were ancient in origin but just very well described in current times by Dr. Hawkins.  The ancients understood much concerning belief it seems until the season of forgetting began for reasons only the Creators of Source existence know.  Much of what was presented by anyone from any discipline that slightly seemed to delve into any area not acknowledged and accepted by Western science was considered, well, “woo woo” as my Step-Father used to say.  I understand this perspective but I also realize that it is antiquated speak for anything the mind cannot comprehend that seems magical or even illogical.  This prevalent concept of cold hard scientific fact only and only scientific fact had it’s time but isn’t it time we start to support new ideas? Even some of our beloved scientists admitted to making discoveries while in a meditative of relaxed state in which their intuition could come through (e.g., Einstein, Edison, etc.) Even the discipline of physics dictates there must first be a premise and then from there equations are created to balance out the theory and voila, the newest theory of the universe is born and no one looks back.  Research Dr. Nassim Haramein and his wonderful work with The Resonance Project to understand more about his work defining the New World View.  I bring this up because this is the perfect example of what happens with belief, why we need it, what we can do with it and why at times we need to be wrong with our beliefs and learn to be okay with our seeming errors.  Our beliefs are the starting point to our discoveries in life.

Dr. David Hawkins spoke much in his works about positionality and that our perceptions were mere positionalities on the same continuum.  This is a very unique perspective worthy of deeper digging.  To explain, within his work I, Reality and Subjectivity, Dr. Hawkins explains various gradations from the perspective of both light and goodness.  After outlining the gradations on each of these continuums, Dr. Hawkins states:

The gradations are all on the same continuum, not on two opposing ones.  There is merely one continuous quality track.  One will see that there is no ‘good’ that is the opposite of ‘bad.’ The scale on the left indicates the presence or absence of Love and is therefor only about Love, just as the scale on the right indicates degrees of light and not opposites of light versus darkness.  Apparent ‘facts’ are illusions of truth, and it is obvious to see that such denotation actually depends totally on context.  On an absolute level, total context would include comprehension of every contribution to an event throughout eternity, plus an equal knowledge of all karmic history of everything and everyone involved.  This accounts for the spiritual declarations of ‘judge not’ and “judgment is mine,” sayeth the Lord.” It isn’t that the ego is incorrect, it is just incapable of arriving at an accurate comprehension of any seeming event. (47)

Further Consideration

When we think of belief, we humans in the West seem to turn instantly to morals and religions as if the words were all one and the same in reference to a biblicaly defined God.  Interestingly,  Laurence Gardner (The Origin of God, Dash House 2010, Brockenhurst, UK) in his work The Origin of God deals with the specific belief in this context by outlining the ways in which the manner of ‘knowledge’ most have come by in the description of God is actually refuted by the bible and other texts written around the same time.  Rather than see this narrowly as blasphemy, I see it as a disruptive concept worthy of merit.  Disrupting theories give us pause to stop whatever it is that we are doing and consider what it is we believe about something and whether or not that belief is true. Further, we then have the distinct opportunity to decide whether or not we’re going to take it (whatever “it” is) on faith and continue believing or seek the truth if there is one.  In an excerpt from this referenced work Mr. Gardner states:

In pursuing the evolutionary story of the Judaeo-Christian God to this point, we have considered the biblical text of the Old Testament by way of a flowing précis of its chronological contents. There is actually no other way to learn how the God Yahweh came to exist as a venerated cultural entity, since the Bible is the recognized document of record from which  all related teachings are drawn.  God, in the way he is religiously understood, was primarily featured in the Bible, which remains the base reference work for all theistic writings that have emanated in the millennia since its composition.  As we have seen, however, the Old Testament is not actually a book about God; it is a generational account of a patriarchal strain which became the Israelite nation.  It is a story of individuals, families and kings, of hardships and successes.  In the course of this narrative, God plays a major role at the outset, making a few personal and semi-personal appearances down to the post-Abrahamic era (c.1750 BC).  He then moves into physical obscurity and, from around 1350 BC, becomes almost incidental to the plot from the time of Moses.  What the Bible does not do, neither does it attempt at any state, is to prove the existence of God.  His reality is taken as read from the outset. (312)

In order to take this in without becoming upset or losing track of the main point, step back from the subject matter for a moment and return to the basic premise we started with that belief is something we work with until we have more details to either confirm it as fact or refute it as untested hypothesis or proven falsehood in the face of finding definitive truth.  For some interesting reading, speaking of beliefs, read the work from the philosopher Manly P. Hall, The Secret Teachings of All Ages for some interesting alleged occurrences about the time the bible was canonized. Elaine Pagels also has some interesting things to say about that time period in her work on Beyond Belief:  the Secret Gospel of Thomas.  I mention these two works because within them, some of the things we have been given as a belief purported to equate to definitive truth begins to falter a bit in the light of truth which makes certain former beliefs fall to the category of untested hypothesis rather than definitive truth.  But while I can say that, I have to come back for a moment to Dr. Hawkins discussion on positionalities and continuums.  I’m left contemplating the consciousness of the universe for my own reasons and seeing everything in existence as part of one massive continuum I’ll call Consciousness with a very big “C” and from the Source of it to the heart of us, I see nothing but positionalities, stages and variations of beliefs and testing via the process of experience.

Conclusion:

Some of the things I’ve mentioned above may seem a bit harsh to some if I have seemed to insensitively trample upon their belief.  To be quite frank, my intent was not to commit any personal insult or injury but rather to point out that belief is a great place to start.  I think where we falter as the whole of humanity is when we either individually or collectively hold a belief blindly as definitive truth without question or testing and shut down our minds and hearts to all other possibilities that we may need to continue searching for the truth whether it is with or outside of us seemingly.  If we find one belief doesn’t bear out as truth in the light of day, it could be troubling or disappointing for a time.  Unfortunately, some individuals are willing to fight for their beliefs.  That is very sad to me.  Would that they could instead simply assert their right to speak their opinion while allowing others to seek their own understanding, there may be less conflict in this place we co-exist within.  However, this can also be the impetus for the creation of much growth through the exploration of the path to truth of a matter.  I am beginning to love the disruptors that show up in our lives challenging our beliefs because it is their benevolent existence that has allowed me to graciously and some times very clumsily set aside those things that are illusory in order to better enable myself to begin to open my heart and soul to grasping what could quite possibly be the greatest truths in existence.  Maybe none of us have found them yet.  Maybe some of us have.  It’s all beautiful and perfect regardless.  In a way, in my conclusion I find acceptance for things as they are, beliefs as they are, truth seekers as they are and disruptors as they are.  All serve purpose.  As for Source, I believe in a Source but my belief is based on my experience and connection to that Source.  I treasure the moment and all thereafter and every position on THE continuum that is this Quantum Whole of our Consciousness.

Sources:

The Origin of God  Gardener, Laurence, Dash House 2010 Brockenhurst, UK print.

The Secret Teachings of ALL AGES Hall, Manly P. Penguin Group, 2003 NY, print.

I, Reality and Subjectivity Hawkins, David R. Veritas Publishing, 2003 AZ, print.

Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas, Pagels, Elaine.  Random House Publishers, NY 2003, print.

Rev. J.L. Harter, PhD, M.Msc., B.Msc., Author, Blogger, Teacher,  Spiritual Counselor and Founder/Editor of the JMCC.  See Bio section for more information.

Experiential Reality

 

What precisely is the basis of your experiential reality?  Do you know? As I consider my own experiential reality, I have to consider what comprises its component parts:

The 5 Physical Senses:  What I see, hear, smell, touch and taste.

    The 6^th Partially Physical Sense:  What I instinctively know (auto-biological, genetic and intuition).

    The 7^th Sense:  This is really a refined aspect of 1. And 2. Above but it comprises the less tangible but no less important concepts of sensing energy and vibration.

The 8^th Sense:  This is a further refinement of all of the above but can be compartmentalized in alternate states of consciousness and is more dimensionally oriented and not necessarily just in the physical.  I consider this sense more in tune with the level of the Spirit which is closer to the One Consciousness or Cosmic Consciousness (or 9^th Sense and there are more).

So, all of the above “senses” are part of my experiential reality but based on how I perceive what my senses are taking in and then further how I objectively or subjectively label or judge what I perceive what my senses are taking in, I have established my Experiential Reality.  Is everyone’s experiential reality the same, you might wonder?  Well, the way we humans sometimes act, it seems at some level we must believe that everyone’s experiential reality is in fact the same because we are very quick to attack someone who slights us in some way for not acting or behaving as kindly or thoughtfully as we do.  But, as you can begin to see (or will see shortly), the truth is we don’t all perceive everything exactly the same way because we can’t.  We can share some perceptions and observations but part of the way we experience the world comes from our senses and how we filter and store the data.  We sense or open to receiving data and then the mind runs its processes to look throughout our experience here in this lifetime (or even others) to find something similar with which it may come to know what it is sensing.  Based on a person’s very individualized experience, the sensory data that comes in will be compared to data taken in at some point in our past.  Simulations of the mind are then run as a result of the comparison processes in order to determine what something is that we have sensed in our experience.  This means that we can have the same inputs but our resulting findings based on our experience won’t always be the same.

I find this an interesting series of thought particularly in light of the conflict of human interactions.  We assume because hubby didn’t take out the trash that hubby doesn’t think very much of us.  We also might assume based on our mind’s findings post-simulation and analysis of data, memories, etc. that when Suzie doesn’t call us when we want her too, she doesn’t like us any more.  Okay, you get the basic idea here, right?  Not everyone comes to the same conclusion after taking in the same data sets.  What further complicates the comparison process from one human being to another is that our senses are different at various levels.  If you just take the first sense, sight.  Not everyone can see 20/20 or see with color.  So, how do you determine the same data taken in but different outputs in thought results?

You see, the data we take in is first filtered by our senses and then further filtered by our memories, perceptions, judgments and beliefs and then we determine the outcome of the data set, (e.g., because of “x” in my memory banks, this is what “this” is).  Now, to further my point lets take Vera, Chuck and Dave.  Vera’s hearing isn’t perfect  but her vision is 20/20.  Chuck is color blind but has exceptional hearing.  Dave is neither color blind nor hard of hearing.  All 3 are standing on the sidewalk at a parade.  Marching directly in front of them a brightly costumed float followed by a band is playing some kind of song loud enough for the crowd to hear.  Later, all 3 of my imaginary friends get together and compare notes on the marching band and parade.  An argument ensues about how loud the music was, how drab the costumes seemed, etc.  Each asserts his or her perception is right.  But, consider, who is really right and who is wrong?  Each can argue from their perspective just on the first physical sense alone.  But what if each also has another trigger-filter inside.  The last parade Vera attended, the man next to her had a heart-attack and died leaving her her a bit apprehensive of parades.  The last parade Dave was at, he was with his friends having the time of his life.  The last parade Chuck was at, someone launched a bag of popcorn that landed squarely on his head leaving him a bit annoyed.  How might these experiences further shape their perceptions of the parade and marching band?  Again, who would be right and who would be wrong in their experience?

Now, take this concept and look at life.  Through the first 5 senses and the mind’s operating processes, we’ve already run data through multiple filters, first physical and then mental.  We can argue on the labels that result from these filters but who is right and who is wrong?  How can you tell?  Well, the 6^th and 7^th senses can help if you are attuned to them but what if you are not?  How could you tell who is right and who is wrong?  What if the 8^th sense kicks in for one of the three and leaves one of them with a knowing that the whole event, parade, music, costumes, being there together watching it and then arguing it afterwards was just a way in which folks might better learn to understand how we take in information and experience this world? What if the 8^th sense, residing more at the level of the Spirit is very in tune with all that is and sees things not in terms of right and wrong but rather in what is beneficial and what is not to a particular person’s life path?

The more you dig into this and analyze it, the more questions arise for the careful and open observer.  When you dig in you start to realize the common conflicts humanity suffers is all based on the same data taken in but sensed and then filtered differently forming individuals aspects of experiential reality.  But, if our experiential reality is not the whole truth then what is the truth?  THAT is THE Million Dollar question and one worth asking, not others, but of the self and only the self.  For only in the still and quiet moments of reflection and understanding can we ever hope to comprehend that there exists a truth of reality beyond the limits of our Experiential Reality.  Arguing for the rightness of our Experiential Reality and, therefore, negating someone else’s Experiential Reality comes down to a choice of how much energy one is willing to expend on something potentially irrelevant and illusory.  On the other hand, through the sharing of the various Experiential Realities with the understanding of the various filters and perceptions, we could stand to gain much knowledge rather than belief based on perception alone.  This theme is key to awareness of our larger conscious existence.  It takes effort but is by far more worthy of our efforts to seek understanding that to fight to be right.

 

© 2014 J.L. Harter

Rev. J.L. Harter, PhD, M.Msc., B.Msc., Author, Blogger, and Spiritual Counselor, Editor of the JMCC.  See Bio section for more information.

Beyond the Sun's Light: Finding Conscious Understanding

Funny thoughts of late have I held for reasons I don’t know if I care to explore.  There are so many thoughts converging and feelings surfacing in this moment that I’m not sure where to begin.  I wanted awareness and I wanted understanding and I find it near comical the effect it has had on my vision.  I see things now so differently.  At first the sights in my new found vision hurt me to my core.  It hurt my heart to see what humanity does to itself, all of the pain and all of the striving to be better than even in the negative.  Oh it sent my mind spinning and my world swirling right straight back into the heart of me.  And there I sat so very quietly.  Long years spent thinking and searching for meaning and understanding only to find pain?  I knew that could not be the reason and something within me drove me further within.

I see so much now in this world.  I see sociopathic behaviors in companies, narcissistic behaviors in humans, antagonistic behaviors in those harmed by their own psychology and the wake of additional collateral damage left to flounder in a sea of not knowing, seemingly lost.  Was I better off before?  I questioned that.  I really did.  For what did understanding bring me now but to see how much humanity suffers with intent.  Yes, I said Intent with a capital “I.”  It took many years for the horizons to broaden ever wider and to contend with the emotions and feelings my new vision brought me. 

Reconciliation could not be had while working from within a framework I was given and unconsciously held on to.  I was working from the premise of malware so deeply installed within my own human operating system that I made myself such a victim of this world.  I couldn’t admit it but I felt it.  It crushed me and I unconsciously sought out lesson after life lesson to reinforce what I was learning.  But I wasn't getting the lesson so I fought back harder and longer and walked off eventually in dire frustration creating silence and distance while thinking I was stepping off the battlefield.  I was not.  The battle had only begun and I waged it well.  Unfortunately, no wait...fortunately, I waged that battle against myself.  The battle was an illusion born of delusion and mistaken belief held for so long it seemed real.  It wasn't real.  It was never real.  Breathe.

Perhaps it was actually growth that brought me to that point.  When I reached that point and the pain grew deep enough I had to stop all thought, all feeling and then begin to reach within for the truth.  Brilliant teachers from all parts of humanity helped me to understand that belief can be a deadly thing to our emotional states, our relationship with ourselves, our relationships with others, our relationship with this world and reality as well as our relationship to the Cosmic One in which we are all an intrinsic part.  I did not understand that it was belief alone that created the opacity of the filters through which I once viewed this world and life here within it.  From ground zero, you cannot see the Whole.  From 10 feet up, you cannot see the Whole and from 1,000 and 100,000 feet you cannot see the Whole.  You have to get yourself entirely outside of the framework you think you know in order to see the Truth.  And even when you see it at first you will not want it.  You won’t at first understand it.  Our consciousness is beyond our description and is more than the limited striations of psychology or any other “ology” that exists to define it.  We must learn to find our own resonance and the Source of that resonance and feel our way through the muck and mire of an unaware and zombie-like state of a life lived asleep.  We must awaken gently with a blessed curiosity that does not prejudge an outcome of our exploration other than knowing we are capable of not only seeing and feeling the Truth but being It.

In a naturally and intentionally altered state of consciousness, I saw the world at last and I felt humanity in its entirety and with everything in me to the level of the tiniest cell within I knew the precious nature of existence.  I was shocked and astounded at my own capacity then for not only understanding but love…a love so profound and purely endless these words are really useless in conveying the depths.  We are here in this world of dichotomy for learning.  When we awaken to the Truth, the definitive Truth that can only be intuitively felt, we relax a little and the former pain of our first awakening visions begin to subside, we come to find peace and resonance with life as it is.  We find no need to change or control what is and therein lies our freedom should we wish to take it.  We can take it.  We just have to want it.

So, the point again, where was it? Yes, there it is…feel it…close your eyes for a moment and breathe in the first fiery rays of morning sometime or the last scarlet golden rays of the day as night brings a blanket of stars into view.  Know that this understanding of the Whole of our Consciousness is not unlike the sky.  Every single day we look up and we see gray or blue and white but we don’t see what is really there when the sun is up do we?  The stars are there day and night; different positions maybe as we move on our little planet in our beautiful Milky way Galaxy.  The stars are always there behind the blue, behind the clouds, behind the blinding rays of the sun.  The truth, the Truth is like that too.  It’s always there…like the heart beat of eternity…when you hear it and your own heartbeat resonates in tune with the cadence of the heartbeat of the Source of all Consciousness, then you know you have found what you were looking for.  You know you never lost anything and you know some part of you was always Home even if you forgot and even if you still struggle to remember consistently.

I wish for you a blessed journey precious ones.  Enjoy your lives; the good times and bad times equally and with a grand and yet relentless curiosity.  Seek to understand what it is you are learning and you will begin to understand the amazing wonder that you are as a glorious part of this beautiful and powerful Sentient Conscious Whole.  In love and light, may the peace and stillness carry you and comfort you always and in all ways.  And So, It Is.

  © J.L. Harter (photo and words)

Rev. J.L. Harter, PhD, M.Msc., B.Msc., Author, Blogger, and Spiritual Counselor, Editor of the JMCC.  See Bio section for more information.

Multifaceted Understanding

Life is purely amazing and its purpose for each individual, so very different.  It seems we are naturally predisposed to selecting “sides” or “beliefs” in terms of how we wish to orient our focus of living.  There are many philosophical, metaphysical and psychological “isms” through which we could choose to view the world.  Many of us do this naturally without identifying consciously with these various schools of thought or beliefs but they seemingly form thoughts and actions within our consciousness through our daily interactions with our follow brothers and sisters.  So what are these main “isms” that define the filters from which many of us align our beliefs?  A little research through the World Wide Web brings us the following to consider from the world of philosophy, which also includes at least two others of interest to me personally, psychology and metaphysics.  Let me share with you a little of my quick research to make my point:

Idealism

From The Basics of Philosophy online resource, we have Idealism described as follows: 

Idealism is the metaphysical and epistemological doctrine that ideas or thoughts make up fundamental reality. Essentially, it is any philosophy which argues that the only thing actually knowable is consciousness (or the contents of consciousness), whereas we never can be sure that matter or anything in the outside world really exists. Thus, the only real things are mental entities, not physical things (which exist only in the sense that they are perceived). 

From this filter, we have alignment (at least at a very basic level) from among some of our great thinkers throughout history.  Some names you might be familiar with like Plato, Aristotle, Rene Descartes, Gottfried Leibniz and Immanuel Kant.  Each took the basic framework and added to it their own unique and interesting perspectives (to say the least) and brought forth interesting ideas, thoughts, arguments and theories about the world in which we find ourselves and the way we organize our thoughts about existence.  I can see some of my own thoughts and beliefs through the filer of Idealism (but please understand that my perspective is that belief is an untested hypothesis which I don’t necessarily hold as truth).

Realism

From the very same source as the above, we find Realism defined as:

Realism, at it simplest and most general, is the view that entities of a certain type have an objective reality, a reality that is completely ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc. Thus, entities (including abstract concepts and universals as well as more concrete objects) have an existence independent of the act of perception, and independent of their names.

The doctrine had its beginnings with Pre-Socratic philosophers like Thales, Heraclitus and Parmenides, but its definitive formulation was that of Plato and his theory of Forms . . .

Aligned with this filter and expanding it further to their own perspectives we find the great minds of St. Augustine, St. Anselm and St. Thomas Aquinas.  These individuals held very interesting perspectives and theories on our origins, the existence of God as well as additional impacts on critical thinking.  I can see merit to the filter of this particular perspective or at least understand some of the frameworks and concepts as well as many other “isms.”

Pragmatism

The former views originated much further back in our human timeline than pragmatism.  As the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy says of Pragmatism:

Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that unpractical ideas are to be rejected. Pragmatism originated in the United States during the latter quarter of the nineteenth century. Although it has significantly influenced non-philosophers—notably in the fields of law, education, politics, sociology, psychology, and literary criticism—this article deals with it only as a movement within philosophy.

The term “pragmatism” was first used in print to designate a philosophical outlook about a century ago when William James (1842-1910) pressed the word into service during an 1898 address entitled “Philosophical Conceptions and Practical Results,” delivered at the University of California (Berkeley). James scrupulously swore, however, that the term had been coined almost three decades earlier by his compatriot and friend C. S. Peirce (1839-1914). (Peirce, eager to distinguish his doctrines from the views promulgated by James, later relabeled his own position “pragmaticism”—a name, he said, “ugly enough to be safe from kidnappers.”) The third major figure in the classical pragmatist pantheon is  John Dewey (1859-1952), whose wide-ranging writings had considerable impact on American intellectual life for a half-century. After Dewey, however, pragmatism lost much of its momentum.

This is yet another understandable filter from which to view various aspects of the things in life that we face or contemplate.  I will neither argue for nor against it for I find merit in or at least understanding of many filters and “isms” very generally speaking.  Again, I’ll say, that doesn’t necessarily mean that I dogmatically subscribe to this filter or others alone.

Existentialism

From the same source as the above, we find Existentialism.  An excerpt to help with understanding is:

Existentialism is a catch-all term for those philosophers who consider the nature of the human condition as a key philosophical problem and who share the view that this problem is best addressed through ontology. This very broad definition will be clarified by discussing seven key themes that existentialist thinkers address. Those philosophers considered existentialists are mostly from the continent of Europe, and date from the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Outside philosophy, the existentialist movement is probably the most well-known philosophical movement, and at least two of its members are among the most famous philosophical personalities and widely read philosophical authors. It has certainly had considerable influence outside philosophy, for example on psychological theory and on the arts. Within philosophy, though, it is safe to say that this loose movement considered as a whole has not had a great impact, although individuals or ideas counted within it remain important. Moreover, most of the philosophers conventionally grouped under this heading either never used, or actively disavowed, the term ‘existentialist’. Even Sartre himself once said: “Existentialism? I don’t know what that is.” So, there is a case to be made that the term – insofar as it leads us to ignore what is distinctive about philosophical positions and to conflate together significantly different ideas – does more harm than good.

The seven key themes noted in the above excerpt are listed below.  You might check the source and do a little reading when you have a moment.  You might find these very interesting:

Philosophy as a Way of Life

Anxiety and Authenticity

Freedom

Situatedness

Existence

Irrationality/Absurdity

The Crowd

As with the above “isms,” we find some of the interesting thinkers of more recent times such as Soren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Albert Camus.

Philosophy is rich with ideas and theories concerning existence and consciousness and perhaps that is why I’m so drawn to it.  The convergences of all the various aspects these filters hold exist within our every day thoughts.  I cannot help but wonder about why it is we must align with a singular thought process at all, however.  As others before me have come to similar conclusions, I won’t argue about the basic human need to belong to something and to find purpose within it through belief alone.  One of my other favorite topics was born from Philosophy when Wilhelm Wundt in the second half of the 1800’s introduced the concept that Psychology should become its own discipline. (Discovering Psychology, 4)

There are many more “isms” through which we began to understand our frameworks.  These would include:

Structuralism from Edward B. Titchener (1867-1927):  “Structuralism became the first major school of thought in psychology.  Structuralism held that even our most complex conscious experiences could be broken down into elemental structures, or component parts, of sensations and feelings,” (Discovering Psychology, 4).

Functionalism from William James (1842-1910):  “Functionalism stressed the importance of how behavior functions to allow people and animals to adapt to their environments.  Unlike structuralists, functionalists did not limit their methods to introspection.  They expanded the scope of psychology research to include direct observation of living creatures in natural settings,” (Discovering Psychology, 5).

Behaviorism from John B. Watson (1878-1958):  Behaviorism “. . . rejected the emphasis on consciousness promoted by structuralism and functionalism.  It also flatly rejected Freudian notions about unconscious influences.  Instead, behaviorism contended that psychology should focus its scientific investigations strictly on overt behavior – observable behaviors that could be objectively measured and verified,”(Discovering Psychology, 6)

There are more “isms” than I could possibly list in one simple article, which was my true intent.  Just for fun, I will add one more “ism.”  The actual definition of “ism” which comes to us from The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary:

Full Definition of ISM:

1 : a distinctive doctrine, cause or theory

2 : an oppressive and especially discriminatory attitude or belief.

So, as you can see, we humans with all of our “isms” are an interesting lot.  I deeply appreciate all of the “isms” that are and have been contemplated, the great minds that created them and the reasons for their creations.  It reflects to me, the multifaceted aspects of our conscious existence.  Consciousness is what we are, I firmly believe.  We have so many isms to contend with as we live our lives but here is an interesting thought, we don’t have to subscribe to any particular belief at all.  We do not have to hold an ism as truth unless it is sufficiently proven to be a definitive truth to us in some way.  I see all of the isms, philosophies and theories as ways in which we question our existence, the reality of the world and perhaps, the existence of Source (or God, if you will).  What if we are that Source in all of its multifaceted concepts and constructs?  Maybe it matters less which field of hard or soft-science or other fields of thought you subscribe to and more how these things help you achieve that which you sought to achieve in this life?  Not one of us has an answer that would be definitively true for the unique and amazing aspect of consciousness projected in the physical reality we acknowledge here in this time that is you.

I think that what we are all attempting to define is consciousness (with a little “c” referring to the egoic aspect) and Consciousness (with a big “C” referring to the quantum Whole).  From my own work, The Ego is the Veil:

Consciousness is only partially discovered and is certainly only a partially understood frontier that has the potential to neatly knit everything we see, feel and experience together.  With further exploration of this frontier, I think we may find some very exciting things about our existence here in this frame.  I think also that the study of consciousness cannot be contained as valid from the perspective of only one or a handful of the various applied science and other disciplines.  As mentioned before, each discipline can only define consciousness from within the confines and constructs of their academic perspectives.  It will take some fearless pioneers unafraid to break down the walls, barriers, biases and prejudices working hand in hand to help us better understand the nature of what it truly is.  I am not satisfied by the biological constructs alone.  I am unsatisfied with the neuro-biological constructs alone.  I am unsatisfied with the philosophical and psychological constructs alone and I am still as yet unsatisfied with the theological and metaphysical constructs alone.  I think if we work together we can find the common themes to all the various disciplines, come together, share notes, establish and test new hypotheses and attempt to draw no conclusions about what it (consciousness) truly is. (82)

In my own works I posit in a similar vein as Freud in that the ego is where consciousness meets physical reality and that creates not the typical dualist thought but that ego and veil (as in ego consciousness and veil, Cosmic Consciousness) are one and the same.  Everything we see, feel and experience is a multifaceted aspect of Consciousness.  I don’t see consciousness in terms of the hard or easy question or problem but rather I see it as the entirety of the framework from which we exist.  It is because of this that I feel we struggle so much with our limited human words to define it.  It is more than words or a thing…it is also a feeling, which is beyond emotion and an energy that is beyond our limited sensory perceptions alone.   

We, in a way, are like tiny ants trying to define the entirety of the Universe.  It’s too big and too much to take in with limited frameworks and premises.  We’re all right and wrong in our thoughts in some regard concerning our consciousness and existence.  Maybe we view that which we attempt to define from filters that are limited to begin with? We are as multifaceted as consciousness is and cannot be singly defined with any amount of accuracy in our entirety from the physical, to the mind, to consciousness or why all of these things neatly come together in the human beings that we are.  We can define component parts and operations, we can run simulations and experiments of thoughts and theories and we can test what is true and what is not based on repeated success in our testing of theories from the perspective of some ism to prove our view.  But what if it is the view itself that creates the outcome?  What if it is our focus and intent that creates everything?

We are amazing to put it simply; every single one of us with our goals and ambitions, our thoughts and our dreams.  We are actively participating in this huge Conscious (Big “C”) experience with conscious (little “c”) thoughts and ideas.  We will not find the doorways of true understanding through thought alone no matter which discipline or “ism” we filter it through.  It will take something more akin to the feeling (not read emotion) of the true expanse of our awareness to understand.  More than mere belief, I have faith that with all of the explorations from the past, those of the present and even those yet to come, we will arrive at expanded Conscious Awareness in the bigger sense.  In a way, perhaps multifaceted ways, we are already there.

Sources:

Burnham, Douglas et al, “Existentialism” The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/existent/.  Web.

Harter, J.L., 2014, The Ego is the Veil, California, The Ministry of Connected Consciousness.  Print.

Hockenbury, Don et al 2014, Discovering Psychology.  Sixth Edition, New York,  Worth Publishers.  Print.

Mastin, Luke, “Realism” and “Idealism,” The Basics of Philosophy,  http://www.philosophybasics.com.  Web.

McDermid, Douglas, “Pragmatism, “ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy  http://www.iep.utm.edu/pragmati/ Web.

Miriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, “Ism”, http://www.merriam-webster.com.  Web.

Rev. J.L. Harter, PhD, M.Msc., B.Msc., Author, Blogger, and Spiritual Counselor, Editor of the JMCC.  See Bio section for more information.

© 2014 Jaie Hart (photo and words, except where cited from other sources)