Monday, June 27, 2016

Discovering the Need to Learn How to Swim in Primal Consciousness

When looking at Petroglyphs created several thousand years ago, what does the image of a turtle create in your mind? 

You see here the turtle
image at the Jeffers Petroglyphs,. Put into words whatever arises out of the mists of your memory as you are now quiet for several minutes. 

For urban conditioned people this may take a while. The subconscious is increasingly dominated by a secular and commercial world that makes money by shaping  in the mind that which is seen with frequency. So many images are sexual because those images satisfy the curiosity and driving urge toward an orgasmic experience. You may have to pass through this gate to enter the next and even more primal information.

 Underneath  that layer of consciousness are the layers of memory that go back thousands of years in each of us. Some call it the primal memory. 

The turtle image seems so boring at first - just like watching a turtle move across the sidewalk or street. Almost like watching grass grow. Be more patient than you think possible. This time allows the mind to sink to a next level of depth.

All of a sudden the turtle seems to move just a bit as the primal consciousness begins to claim your field of attention.  Hold that image in the present memory.

This exercise is intended to summon a person beyond the usual depth of attention. Much like going into a lake from a sandy beach and then feeling the beginning of a drop off. A new swimmer may thrash around in the attempt to regain footing. So begins a sense of urgency about learning to swim.

This lake of human development is almost  infinitely deep.  


 

Saturday, June 11, 2016

What Information?

There is something called the "Sammelweis Reflex" developed in 1840.

The definition of this reflex is: Ignore information if it does not fit within ones world view.

There is another theory which says that it is possible for a person to have induced blindness which involves obedience to a belief how the world works that prevents seeing how the world really works.

Where did I find such challenging ideas? In a book entitled "The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has An Expiration Date" by Samuel Arbesman.  2012

At first the writing in this book struck me as an attempt to destroy all intellectual endeavor and gathering of knowledge as a total waste of time. In the long run I came to realize that Arbesman pushes all claims of certainty about facts to absurdity.  He is a mathematician and network scientist. The notes say he likes to have fun.

My life has been spent working the people who have to make constant decisions on how to manage daily life, raise children, do company management, make military decisions, and create dinner. Those are the easy things. Then comes suicide, taking opioids, memory loss, when to have sex, and such weighty matters. 

The body/mind makes so many decisions for us as each moment passes. How the world really works is at the core of this thought exercise. For the people at the funeral for Muhammad Ali yesterday their universe was on display. The world view was clear as words can express a culture. The expressed world view was interesting but how little staying power does it have? Ali spent years working on the funeral so that it would send a message in this communications based world.

Now the moment is history and the Sammelweis Reflex takes over. Information will be ignored. How does the world really work? These blips of widely viewed information will fade into the background noise of the universe.

My field is religion. The Christian Religion. I am suspicious of all who claim to have the ultimate truth in their toolkit of life. Including myself.