The Solid World

One of the paradigms we’re really stuck on is this idea of a solid world. Even though physicists tell us otherwise, they too are stuck in a particle model, inventing particles even to move forces. Now some of that is motivated by an avoidance of concepts like “ether”. The idea of Ether (or Aether) is that it’s an invisible substance that fills all space and is the medium through which things like light travels. Just like waves travel through water. Modern science posits space is mostly empty. Light travels through space in a vacuum. And thus, there has to be a particle if there is no medium.

I’d say the truth is somewhere between these 2 positions. And subtler than one might think.

Einstein’s classic equation E=mc2 tells us that matter is more or less the same thing as energy. Energy is neither created nor destroyed, it simply changes state. So we might think of matter as a state of energy.

Physics tells us atoms are not solid. In fact they are mostly empty space. Particles are really fields of probability. Where the nucleus the size of a basketball, the first electron orbit is about 10 miles out. And particles like electrons and protons and such, are blinking in and out of existence at every moment.

What is it they come and go from?

Back to Einsteins equation, we know that energy is related to the speed of light (c). We could say energy is movement. But movement of what?

Curiously enough, the answer is fundamentally consciousness. Something science tends to think of as an effect of brain function is actually the substratum of all experience. Of our sense of self, and of the world.

We might want to separate the experience of the world from the world itself in a discussion like this. But in fact, there is no difference, aside from point of view. Different people will experience the same thing in different ways. But it is within that process of experience that objects of perception become and are sustained.

This may not be entirely apparent as many of us are identified with being this local person. A me. But in the same way each of us experience the same thing a little differently, each of ARE the same thing, experiencing it a little differently. When we are caught by the experience of it we have the false sense of being different.

If attention fully stopped from all sources, that apparent object would vanish.

What is attention? It is the directed flow of consciousness, flowing within itself.

It is that recognition of self-awareness that brings forth all experiences. What we experience as objects are field effects of the flow and vibration, held within awareness.

Some people talk about consciousness as having states – sleeping, dreaming, cosmic, etc. But it does not really have states. As one dreams even in cosmic consciousness, we know these “states” are not really equivalent. They are limited by the mechanism – by the body/emotions/mind of the perceiver. Even that is not a real limitation.
Davidya

The Shift

Well – my life continues to surprise. You may have noticed a lag in posts recently. I’ve been busy preparing to move. An unexpected series of events have lead me to head off on a long term retreat. I start in about a week.

The scenario allows me to focus on writing and long term development.  This may affect how much writing I do here but that remains to be seen. I am very curious to see what is in store as there has been an astonishing variety of coincidences around this.

Chat soon,
Davidya

The Secret Powers of Time

I’ve written here a number of times on time, our perception of time and how our relationship with time influences how we experience the world. Time first arises from the process of perception itself so these are intimately linked.

In this little clip, animation is used to illustrate a talk on how our relationship with time influences our work, lifestyle, education, and much more. And how it’s changing. Remember how all clocks used to turn in circles? Now many just count off the moments.

Your Whole Life Is About Awakening

“Everything that happens to you from moment to moment happens because it has the highest probability of waking you up. I know that this idea might sound crazy, but there’s no getting around it. Your entire life has one agenda: awakening.”
– Tom Stine

This makes more sense if we consider all of reality exists as a process of self-knowledge, of waking more deeply to itself. This is of course reflected in every aspect of itself, including each of us.
Davidya

Life Leaks Out

Life can be a very curious journey. Because of all our expectations, history, and conditioning, we often end up conflicted about things that are important to us. Money, work, relationships, and so forth. We can even find ourselves fighting against amazing opportunities, simply due to uncertainty. Or more deeply, a mistrust in life’s goodness. Fear makes even heaven seem like jumping off a cliff, even if it’s only a step away.

Now certainly, life circumstances can arise that require us to put aside some things. Like letting go of personal time to raise children. But even there, we can be mindful of how we’re dealing with that. Are we accepting the short-term constraints or rumbling under the surface?

Unless resolved, conflict leads to something being repressed. When our desires are repressed, we spend a lot of energy keeping them so. This not only reduces available energy, it can cause illness and impede our ability to experience happiness. When we’re busy trying to control, we may find the flow of life makes us feel pushed or “forced”. We then wonder why life is not “working”.

And then life starts to squirt out the side. No matter how hard we put a lid on it, those desires are still at play, active beneath the surface. Brewing a stew. At some point, it will leak out somewhere unpredictable. Out from beneath the veneer of “supposed to”.

Then, we find ourselves stumbling sideways into what we’ve wanted all along. Only it may have been so long that we’ve forgotten the desire was even there.

But life always finds a way.
Davidya

The Hourglass Model

Recently, a model has come to mind to explain the evolution of our perspective of  the way we are in the world. It relates closely to some common models used to explain meditation experiences.

Picture 2 cones, one pointing up, and one pointing down. The point of the second rests on the point of the first, a little like an hourglass.

In the Point Value, I spoke of how we are each at essence a point value of Being, a collapse of the infinite into a point of focus. The soul. If we picture the upper surface of the hourglass as infinite being, the upper cone represents the collapse of infinity into a point (of infinity).

That point then expresses outwards through the lower cone into infinity, what we call the world.

So infinity collapsing to a point, then back out into infinity of expression.

Now, if you flip the hourglass over, the now upper part is the soul expressing out into the world.  If you just look at the upper part, you see a diagram often used to illustrate the experience of thoughts arising in the mind, like a rising bubble. And the inverse, of the attention following down finer and finer values of thought into more subtle values of the mind during meditation. And thus to transcendence in samadhi.

When we’re identified with the world, we are outward looking, noticing only the effects of the expression through us.

When we meditate, we follow the experience down into finer values of thinking and feeling. We become aware of the soul value.

When we transcend the mind in samadhi, we step into the infinity of source, “behind” the soul. The other cone. We experience expansion.

When we become Self realized, we shift from identifying with the experiences of the person into the inward cone. We experience ourselves as separate from the expression, the outer cone. We may even experience moving up the cone with waking.

With time in that “space” we become aware of more refined values of the expression as well as more refined values of the collapse side.

We move deeper into source and come to recognize source in both cones. Then the division between cones ends and we see ourselves to be both the collapse and the expression, All this is That and I am That.

But even there, as I discussed on Point Value, there can be identification with the fulcrum. We are in the middle, slightly individualized.

As we step out of even that identification, we take another step back…

Toroidal

Now, taking it to the next level. Both the top and bottom of the hourglass are infinite and are the same infinity. Awareness flows though and back into itself. I’ve talked before about how everything arises with awareness curving back on itself, becoming aware of itself. The effect of this is a kind of bubble of awareness. Awareness looking across at itself. Subject and object, self and world. If we put the hourglass of our life inside this bubble, we discover a model of totality.

And we can see this mirrored throughout all expression. In the atomic structure, within planets and stars, and so forth. The physicist Nassim Haramein has built models illustrating this flow over the event horizon of all form.

As an example, a galaxy is not a disc as we’ve long thought. The disc is across the center of the model and is surrounded by a massive sphere of far more stars than in the disc. But the stars on the bubble are spread out more so not as visible. They follow the toridal pattern.

Here’s an example. Notice the hourglass in the middle. It’s all flowing into and out of a point value in the center, a “black hole”. Or as he jokes, the “black whole/white whole“. Some suggest this explains gravity. Nassim suggests it’s a model of the unified field.

Unified Field Theory. One law to rule them all. 
Davidya

The Point Value

For awhile, I’ve talked here about the three major stages of the awakening shift. What Adyashanti described as Self absorbing the head, heart and gut. What is broadly called Self realization, God realization, and Unity.

I’ve also talked about the 3 “am-ego’s”, the 3 layers of an “ego” self that are released as these awakenings occur. (although GC can take place further along) The mental concept of being separate, the emotions that drive it, and the core identity that separates us from the world.

More recently, I’ve been observing this relationship with the chakras and how there’s another further stage, what I’ve started to call Embodiment. Where the Self moves down to the base and out onto the surface of experience, right there to the senses. We can literally touch Brahman.

It turns out that there is a further value of individuality, associated with decent of Self to the root. The point value.

We can understand this better if we understand the bigger picture. In essence, the infinity of being is collapsing to a point at every point. We could say we’re one of those infinite points. Infinity in a point, our soul, in a sea of sparkling lights of life.

Our soul can be accessed in the heart but it is the root chakra energy that identifies with that point as individual.

The Sanskrit term Ahamkara is usually translated as ego, but I believe this is what it refers to. The point value, the first principle of individual. Ego arises as a result of that. Or we may just call the whole process ego.

It’s not the point value that’s individual but the identification with it that makes it so.

Thus we have a 4th value. The infinite in a point, identified as individual. As that is further engaged, we have identification with that individuality as separate (the core identity), emotions to drive that, and the mental concept of being “other” and unique (what I call ego). We loose them in reverse.

The other Chakras

Now, you might note that a head, heart, gut, & root model misses 2 of the chakras, the throat and sex. These also need to be opened to the divine flow and in some people’s paths may be distinct shifts as well. We’ll all probably notice the first time your body has a conversation, talking to someone without any input from you. But it seems the other 4 are the common places of self-identification. At least in the current time and culture. We’ll see how well this holds up over time.

Of course, Self doesn’t actually descend. It was here all along. What actually “descends” is the opening and allowing to what preexists. This also awakens us to our full cosmic nature, even right on the level of the body.
Davidya

Shankara’s 3 laws

Shankara’s 3 laws:
1st law: Brahman is real
2nd law: the world is not real (the half truth)
3rd law: Brahman is the world

Thus, the world is real, but not the real we started out thinking it was. Not the real of separate objects but rather as an appearance of the one wholeness. A dance of the divine.

Ramana Maharishi put it this way:
1. self is real
2. the world is not real
3. self is the world
He emphasized that Shankara “did not stop at the second statement but went on to the third”.

In another forum, it was observed that precisely because the world isn’t real proves it is Self.

Put another way, we could say the world in itself does not exist but it’s true nature as Brahman does. Or, it’s real, but only as Brahman, not as separate objects.

We might use the analogy of a movie theater. (stretching a bit) We can be completely drawn into a good show and it can seem very real when we are. Yet what seems like real life is the illusory movement of different tints on celluloid in a series of still sections. (or more recently a data stream) Yet the film and the tints exist. The projector and its light exists. The projector operator exists. And the screen exists. It’s all one thing, a movie theater. The theater is real, only the appearance of the movie in it is illusion. When we see what’s going on behind the images, we see whats real. But the movie continues. Sort of like that. Then we can still enjoy the movie but not be caught by it.

Some will describe Brahman as pure Being or existence. Others will observe that more deeply, it neither exists not doesn’t exist. It is beyond even being. This is where we get into confusing definitions of “real” and “exist”. We may even observe experiences where something is real but not existent or exists but is not real. They become subtly different values.

One cannot resolve these paradoxes with the mind alone. It must be experienced. That will make it real to us.

Some will describe Brahman as synonymous with emptiness but that is not fully valid. We could also use the word fullness as Brahman contains all bliss and the world. Thus it’s better to use terms like wholeness or totality as it is inclusive of both. And that’s another word – inclusive. As I discussed over on Neo-Advaita, non-duality means total inclusivity. Any statement of illusion means other, which is duality. It’s a step short of the third law.

On the subject of illusion, I’ll also remind about Shankaras take on the 3 values of Maya – as a covering, as an illusion, and as the play of God. The world is not always seen as a total illusion. We all know this from our own experience.

If we don’t recognize Maya as the Lila or play, we won’t yet come to recognize the 3rd law. It arises later in the Unity process. Without that, we don’t know totality. We don’t have the perspective of Vedanta. With that, we begin to see the truth of being.
Davidya

The Journey of Faith

Recently, I shared some observations elsewhere about what I saw as the evolution of faith, in this context to a specific teaching. We may not consider our relationship with a teaching “faith” unless it’s specifically a religious teaching. But the pattern is much the same in any case. In fact, the process is true for anyone in the growth and development of their worldview. Religious or Material.

I’ve found that a typical exploration consists of an early caution or testing of the waters phase, a newbie phase, a keener phase, then a more mature understanding phase.

Maturity develops from their own adaptation based on their own understanding & experience, or there is a falling away or outgrowing of the teaching. This depends on the maturity of both the student and the teaching itself.

[as per Comments, a Disillusionment can occur between Keener and Maturity]

If the keener doesn’t mature, at some point something in the teaching or teacher will not jibe with their expectations. They can then be royally disappointed or traumatized and reject the whole thing. More so if they fail to differentiate the difference between the organization, the teacher as a person, and the teaching/vision.

The maturity of the individual and the vision of the teacher and organization around them can be key to encouraging or discouraging a mature worldview. If the keener’s fundamentalism becomes entrenched, it can become an issue for everyone. True cults are largely built around this.

If the teacher is not part of a tradition, the teacher and teaching can be harder to separate. But there is still a difference between the person and the awakening they embody. And that awakening is equally unique to that person.

After the above comments, someone mentioned The Stages of Faith by James Fowler. Now retired, he was a professor of Theology, a Methodist minister and a developmental psychologist. His model is based more on time of life and religious faith than relationship to a teaching, but it’s interesting how similar it is to my own observations.

Stage 0 (birth to 2 years): Primal or Undifferentiated faith
Early learning of the relative safety of the environment, safe or unsafe.

Stage 1 (age 3 to 7): Intuitive-Projective faith
Fantasy and perception unrestricted by logic and makes lasting impressions. Taboos learned.

Stage 2 (school age) Mythic-Literal faith
Adopting stories, beliefs and observances of community to fit in. Very literal. Reciprocal fairness. Anthropomorphic deities (the personal) Some adults are still here. (One should not confuse this with the more advanced lead-in to God Realization that can also be largely personal)

Stage 3 (adolescence) Synthetic-Conventional faith
World extends beyond family. The basis of personal identity, myth and worldview, conformity and a consistent ideology. May not be aware of having it until some change or crisis.

Stage 4 (mid-20′s to late 30′s, or later) Individuative-Reflective faith
Rising responsibility for one’s worldview. Group identity vs individuality. Various internal struggles can emerge.

Stage 5 (mid-life) Conjunctive faith
Recognition of the unseen or repressed aspects, the unconscious. Acknowledge paradox, the relativity of any position, and transcendence.

Stage 6 (exceedingly rare) Universalizing faith
Radical actualization. Inclusive of all being. Create “contagious” zones of liberation. More often honoured after their death. (This seems to group together layers of awakening)

It strikes me how similar these stages are to my Perspectives model and the related  States of Consciousness model.

Oh yee of faith, how be it seen?
Do you stand on the belief of your father?
Do you see the paradox and the relativity of your position?
Do you stand in inclusively, seeing all as perspectives of the one?

Such a journey it is.
Davidya