The Antidote

Convalescence: The Connection - What It Is Not

Essay Nine

By

On the Beach

 

 

This is Essay Nine in my series ‘The Antidote’.  All previous Essays may be found here.

 

After my last essay it should be clear that in every instant we are always operating concurrently in the physical as well as the non-physical - and these two aspects of ‘Self’ are actually in constant communication. We don’t need to connect to Nature for this to happen. In fact we don’t need to do anything to make it so because this is our natural ‘nature’. But somehow we have now completely forgotten this fact.

The state of mind that separates the physical thinking ‘Self’ from the non-physical ‘Self’ is actually a false artifact: there is no separation at all. This false artifact, created from our conditioning here in the physical, is keeping us from knowing the larger part of ourselves. Connecting directly to this larger Self and learning about it is exactly why I want each of us to work on connecting to the greater consciousness of Nature, a consciousness clearly outside the individual self while, at the same time, deeply inter-connected with us at all times - whether or not we recognize or accept this as so. For most humans, trying to connect directly past the control of our improperly developed Awake Mental Voice while in our currently weak and artificial state is almost impossible.

Just for the sake of discussion let us assume we can make some ‘point-of-reference’ statements about the nature of the connection we have with a larger non-physical aspect of ourselves, and also to the larger universe all around us. These statements are based on my own lifelong explorations and experiences. And my intention in stating them here is to reveal some very basic elements of the nature of this new relationship I hope some of you might have created with the non-physical. Of course, these are my own subjective observations.

 

Sharing My ‘Universal’ Insights

In Essay Seven I gave a list of the characteristics of ‘my’ universe; now I want to briefly discuss what ‘my’ universe simply - isn’t. Some of these are common ‘universal’ misconceptions I wish to elaborate on. While I said earlier these are my observations only I now want to enhance this conditional statement even further:

The observations I share here are all my own observations and are completely subjective. They are mine and mine alone.

Observation One: Having said this, there is no other statement anyone can ever make about any event they observe in the universe, anywhere in the universe - even in our own little physical world right here, right now - even if such observations are made with a group of people who all claim to have ‘shared’ the same experience. Regardless of any ‘shared reality’, all such observations are personally subjective. Always and only. There is no such thing as an ‘objective’ observation or statement of intent. Every single thing we think or do, that anyone thinks or does, is personally subjective.

Every single experience each of us has is also absolutely subjective, both for our consciousnesses and for our perceptions - and that is the way it should be. Being alive is a totally personal experience, with personal exploration and observation being at the very base of all life. Rules and laws function mainly at the level of our capability to comprehend them, not as unbending eternal limits on us. As we grow and experience more and more life, we learn (or should learn) the limits on our behavior which make sense for the place we inhabit at that moment of time are actually only those limits determined by our own perceptions, not by something outside of ourselves.

Observation Two: ‘Objectivity’ is mainly a label used by some entities to make them appear superior to others. They pin a badge of importance on themselves and say their observations are so much more real than our observations. This makes them ‘infallible’ and moves their observations from the realm of the personally subjective into the apparently superior and impersonally ‘objective’ one.

This structure is basically either false because it is a lie, or false because it is not important. There is only one true and important thing: each of us must learn to practice the clearest perception and make the best choices from amongst many possible choices and potential results of our observations and actions on our own. Our personal exploration of the known and unknown is entirely our own responsibility. If we hand that responsibility off to anyone outside of ourselves we risk enslavement in one way or another. Doing this well takes time and lots of observations and experiences.

Observation Three: There is nothing impersonal about this journey. This is a very deeply personal universe. Each of us has to become immersed in life, fearlessly immersed, so we can experience deeply - and then experience even more deeply and learn how to make good observations, create good intentions and formulate good actions. In this case the definition of ‘good’ means actions which have long-term positive outcomes, but usually it means for a group rather than just for an individual. These are actions based upon intentions that make good, long-term sense for us as individuals, not as individuals of a group. This requires real wisdom, something which takes a long time to develop. Inside such a system it is entirely OK to say “I don’t know”, and then to treat each ‘I don’t know’ statement with humility and careful exploration. Dogma has no place in this system.

Observation Four: Currently here on earth the term ‘objectivity’ usually means some sort of consensus biased towards a desired outcome. Instead of being a term meaning ‘truthful’ observation and intent usually based upon more than one observer and more than one observation, ‘objectivity’ becomes a kind of physiological operation, a psy-ops designed to structure beliefs in some specific way. It is not at all truly ‘objective’, i.e. containing real truth of observation. If we look at life all around us, living inside the patterns of the forms and structures of life today, there is no consensus. Life does not operate on consensus; life operates on a massive, simultaneous exploration of each and all possible options, usually all at once. An action either leads to success or failure; and successes lead to more exploration while failures lead to dead ends and/or death.

Every option is being explored constantly, with better options gradually being chosen over very long time periods because of successful successive outcomes. This is real planning, not our fake short-term ‘planning’, which is a process biased by expected or fantasy outcomes. I am talking about real objectivity based on actual results, not on biased input. I’ve heard this called ‘dis-sensus’ and I think this is a good word to describe the actual process life uses to create choices from purely subjective observations taken without bias. We certainly do far worse with our fake objectivity and biased consensus planning for the future.

So, to recap these first four ‘observations’, our life is based upon our own personal subjective observations. The outcome for our life is our own responsibility, achieved by making the very best observations, intentions and actions we can. If they are not made well, they will lead to failure of some sort. Relying on ‘objective’ observations outside ourselves is impossible since we are personally responsible for ourselves and everything we do, not as an issue of reward and punishment, but rather as a simple matter of developing our own skills and abilities.

This last observation of the purely subjective nature of the universe and our own subjective position in it leads us to several other observations:

 

Moving On

Observation Five: The next observation I want to make about what ‘the universe’ isn’t, is our habit of naming things. The universe works quite well without a single word being used. In fact no words as names for things are necessary at all for the proper and long-term functioning of the universe. There are a lot of things not really correct about our habit of naming things. I don’t want to say this habit of naming things is wrong, exactly; it is OK - but it is a habit which can lead to some serious misunderstandings.

One issue is discrete objects seem utterly separate to us primarily because of our habit of naming them. We are very slow beings operating in a very slow, dense part of the universe made up mainly of very slow energy. Material objects appear separate and distinctly unique to our eyes. We give all these objects names and think of them as separate from one another. If we will stop for even a moment and think about this, we will see the fallacy in what we are doing.

At some level of awareness we already know every object within our place in the universe is steadily falling apart with some completely disappearing in our own short lifetime. The energy used to hold these objects together is constantly flowing out of them and into other parts of our universe. If we could see this flow of energy we would see these supposedly distinct objects are always simultaneously flowing back and forth, one into the other. They are not so distinct after all and we could actually watch this energy flow from one object into another if only we knew how. It is much more difficult for us to philosophically separate ourselves and such objects, one material object from the other. Our focus from this energetic point of view should be on the flow of energy and the rate of that flow rather than on some static and separate state of being that has a ‘name’.

Observation Six: If we could see this energy flow in our universe, instead of using nouns to name these items of matter - or ‘things’ - we would use verbs. And we would be much more careful about how we created these things in the first place. We would not only see this energy flow - we would also be able to comprehend how much energy might be used and lost over a period of time when creating any of our material things. If we did so we could live in a manner much more closely attuned to the flow of energy which is really taking place around us. This would allow us to make much better material things as well as social structures. But most importantly we could learn how to make much better choices regarding energy use.

We can see and sense this energy flow when we connect to Nature. We will see one object flowing into another and know the fallacy inherent in naming ‘separate’ objects based on our observational bias by using our material eyes only.

Sure, we can develop machines and instruments to measure this energy flow. But using such artificial tools prevents us from truly comprehending energy at a deeper, more personally intuitive level. Once we have personally experienced energy at this level we can properly appreciate its use.

So - this universe isn’t a static box made up of a finite bunch of named things; it is actually a dynamic, systemic process, one much more verb than noun in nature.

A corollary to this observation should be obvious, but in our current state of separation it needs to be stated. When our larger ‘Selves’ are also expressed as physical beings in this universe, our physical bodies then become things as well in this energetic universe - but still not separate from it in any way. Our bodies follow the same chemical rules and are under our direct conscious control. We are not separate from Nature at all. We and our bodies do not need to utter a single word in order to function - or even to function perfectly.

At this point I wish to mention an important caveat relating to my earlier essay explaining how to re-connect with Nature, expressed as another observation.

Observation Seven: The entire issue of translation from the non-physical to the physical is an example of another huge problem with the use of words to convey an experience that is ineffable. There are many experiences and observations in the non-physical which are simply beyond words. One might describe those using words, but we don’t have a big enough palette of physical words for such non-physical experiences. So our physical mind tries to convert these experiences into ‘words’ or existing concepts since that is what we must use in this physical place. When we do so, lots of important details are lost in the translation process.

We physical beings are limited by our current physicality to the use of mere words to describe things that are, quite frankly, beyond the capabilities of our physical languages. We really do not have any other choice but to use the words and beliefs we already have inside us when we finally do experience the larger part of our non-physical consciousness (or other parts of the non-physical universe) and want to communicate about them. This limiting effect creates an unsatisfactory outcome - which is very understandable, if not totally frustrating. A person describing their near-death experience(s) is a very clear example. In almost all cases the physical person is reduced to using their own very limiting and ultimately inaccurate religious beliefs to describe something far beyond any religion.

However, we probably should accept this simple fact and try to hold back on some of the colorful, but extremely inaccurate, hyperbole we might use to embellish our ‘out-of-the-ordinary’ observations and experiences so we can remain absolutely truthful about what we actually experienced.

For instance, how many times have we heard someone describe meeting Jesus or God or Mohammed in an initial out-of-body journey? Or of going to ‘heaven’ and experiencing that specific place, usually on their very first trip out of their body? Since these are the beliefs most physical people already have, it is understandable they might interpret their early non-physical experiences in this manner.

But how would we respond if they described their experiences of a hundred trips into the non-physical and of meeting hundreds of different personalities, maybe none of them similar to the great being they initially felt was Jesus? Or of going to many different types of places in addition to their original trip as something that made them think of heaven? Now - how would they describe these non-physical events? What if on that first trip, instead of meeting one great being who made them think of Jesus, they met seven such beings and spoke to each of them? What would they call these beings then? Angels perhaps? But are these neophyte descriptions of their experiences really accurate?

Every one of these individual observations will be driven by the existing beliefs of the physical person having these experiences. They are, rightly or wrongly, coloring these experiences with their existing, very limited, physical beliefs and understandings.

Personally I think it would be far better for those having such explorations to initially resist using existing physical human concepts to label their early non-physical experiences and simply give themselves time to come to a better understanding of what they are really seeing and doing before attempting to describe them in any way to others. It took a lifetime to create our current earthly beliefs; why not give ourselves a bit more time to understand what we are truly experiencing in the non-physical - as well as being open to entertaining the possibility of something entirely different as a possibility? Besides, since it is not a physical event why speak of it as though it is? And why layer physical terms on top of it without first trying to understand it on its own terms?

Observation Eight: Another area of confusion right now involves the whole idea of ‘channeling’. The common definition of channeling, or of being a channel, is the condition where a non-physical entity speaks through, or communicates through, a physical being. Let’s look at this concept in more depth and see if we can create a better understanding about this topic. This whole topic is normally not seen in positive terms at all, which is in itself quite inaccurate.

It is my firm belief we are non-physical beings with a physical aspect or component in constant operation right here, right now, while we are reading these words with our Awake Mental Voice. That is really the whole focus of these essays. All of us channel our own individual, larger, non-physical Selves - all the time. Each and every time we open our mouths or put pen to paper, we might be ‘channeling’ that larger non-physical part of our self. Since most of us don’t even know of this larger non-physical aspect, we have no idea this may be going on. Can other entities also speak through us? You bet! It can happen any time, too.

Learning how to recognize such things are happening is part of our responsibility as a living physical being, someone fully capable of such activity. Since we do not want just anyone or anything to use us or speak through us, it is our responsibility to become discriminating about controlling this potential flow of incoming information. That does not mean we should stop ‘channeling’. I mean, how does one actually stop channeling? Even if we decide to fully embrace the separation of material from non-material, we will still channel our own non-physical Self. To throw this aspect of our ‘Self’ away is not very intelligent or useful at all - and is completely impossible anyway.

Here is an experience from my past which will give you an idea of how this works in our modern world of materialism and separation. As a younger man in college, in several classes I had the great privilege and honor to have Dr. Linus Pauling as a professor. Dr. Pauling won the Nobel Prize in 1954 for discovering the helical structure of a protein molecule. The search for this structure took him eleven years of intense effort. He told us the solution to this problem finally came to him one night in a dream and he credited his subconscious with the solution.

Back in Essay Five, I mentioned I had trouble with current definitions of the parts of the human mind structure, the ones we call the ‘id’, the ‘ego’ and the subconscious. None of these concepts have any meaning so long as the definition does not include the active participation of the greater non-physical consciousness with the physical brain. This does not mean I don’t think we have a thing which could be considered a physical sub-consciousness. I am sure we do.

We are subconsciously aware of all sorts of data entering our physical minds from our physical bodies at all times. But I think the main source of our subconscious is actually in our larger non-local, non-physical consciousness. Since we don’t know we have this non-physical consciousness or even believe it exists at all, it has to sneak up on us, many times in the form of a dream. Some of us, like Dr. Pauling, are aware enough to accept such profoundly dream-embodied information when we are able to physically remember it.

So - it is very important not to be dismissive of channeled information. It is your responsibility to learn how to deal with such information in appropriate ways, and to learn how to filter this information and verify it as you must while a physical being.

Observation Nine: Now I want to discuss the idea of the infinite universe. The idea that the universe is made up of seven planes, and entities exist on these seven planes according to their personal growth is just hopelessly limited. This is another type of antique ‘heaven’ concept driven by our old religious beliefs, but being offered to us as New Age concepts. Such planes might be associated with the energetic skills we have and how they allow us to exist in many, many different places, i.e. an ‘infinity’ of places we create and maintain to the best of our abilities. Five levels or seven levels or fifty-seven levels or 57,000,000,000 levels - all are hopelessly limited concepts.

There are no such limits at all to the universe.

Our connection to the universe is not limited to any finite number of items or objects or things. The universe is an organically growing structure created out of consciousness and has no limits of any kind in any direction or dimension. And there are simply no limits at all to the potential of the universe as a place for us to explore. It is therefore impossible to logically conceive of anything that is not potentially contained in the universe. The depth and breadth of potential experience in this universe is without bounds. That makes it the perfect playground for any and all sorts of consciousnesses to learn and play.

Observation Ten: In relation to the non-physical, another item on my ‘What the Universe Isn’t’ list is the idea ‘we are all one’, i.e. that we are all part of some single, greater entity and eventually will all join up, hold etheric hands and somehow become one ‘Thing’. This idea is simply not correct. But I do know how easy it is to come to this conclusion if one has ever experienced a greater connection to Nature or some other larger aspect of the non-physical than what we are used to, and we feel that vast connection.

When we achieve such a connection we can feel other entities and objects in great detail. It is very easy to come to the conclusion ‘we are all one’ because in that moment of connection we all seem to ‘be’ one entity. And when we are inter-connected in this way outside of the Awake Mental Voice, everything is so much more intense and rich with detail than anything we are used to that it is easy to mistake ‘other’ for ‘self’ in this connection. This feeling and conclusion is an artifact of our current abject separation and isolation from each other in this physical place we call Earth. We can connect to anything and everything if we know how; but we are not all one thing, all one consciousness - and never will be.

Observation Eleven: There are all sorts of entities playing in this playground, all from different sources and all with different abilities. Fortunately, the universe is flexible and expansive enough to contain us all. This concept, that we are discrete individual entities, is actually much more complex and ultimately makes the universe a much more interesting place for exploration.

This is not to say some entities are not children of other entities and may, if they wish, re-incorporate back into a parent entity if they choose to do so at some point in their experience. But such a re-incorporation never leads to one entity. It leads to Infinity.

Observation Twelve: A contrasting corollary to the concept of pure individuality is part of the process of learning how to be a conscious Being in this universe is learning how to work together with others. Cooperation is a hallmark of this universe in fractal terms. Even sub-atomic particles have joint roles with each other that require them to know how to co-operate. We, as creatures of consciousness, even though we are unique and individual, must also learn how to work together in cooperative fashion for the best use of our own individual energies. This dynamic tension between the ‘l’ and the group is part of the great lessons we have the opportunity to learn while physically and mentally isolated from one another here on Earth.

Observation Thirteen: The idea of the universe being nothing more than pure consciousness is contained in the discussions currently raging around the scientific concept of ‘Duality’. I mentioned Duality in the First Essay when I said the current concept of materialism posits that everything is material, comes from material and what isn’t material is something else.

This idea of material dualism is now being attacked - as it should be. But many of the attackers are making their arguments in opposition to materialism, saying there is nothing except consciousness and the entire material world is a part of consciousness. They believe there is no such thing as anything separate and outside of consciousness.

I think this argument is made more as a reaction to materialism than on the basis of any exploration of the universe. I agree: everything comes from consciousness and is created by consciousness. But in many cases objects are created consciously and then exist separate from the consciousness which created them. In the physical world, these objects can take on a life of their own and exist quite well without the actions or observations of the consciousness that created them.

An example would be the creation of a child by a male and female human. This is only one example of the fractal nature of the physical universe. I am not saying everything that is created consciously is a self-aware consciousness. I am saying everything that is created is a form of energy and as such is imbued with some form of consciousness, with perhaps only a limited awareness depending on the complexity of the created object. But once created, it goes on to exist in its own unique form of creation until changed by loss of energy or other circumstances.

The universe is dual in the concept there is consciousness itself as well as all of the creations of consciousness, including all of the physical matter, things and objects in the physical universe. The issue of material versus non-material, or Dualism, is only an artifact of our strong bias toward the material.

In this essay I have attempted to flesh out our universe a bit more and add some more color to what we are as entities in this universe. I don’t want to go into much more detail at this point. That will be for subsequent essays focusing more specifically on our recovery process.

 

On the Beach

25 October 2014

12:20 PM

Iba, Zambales, Philippines

 

The Antidote

Convalescence: New Tools

Essay Eight

By

On The Beach

 

This is Essay Eight in my series ‘The Antidote’. All previous Essays may be found here.

 

At this point I am very hopeful all my readers will have taken the time and opportunity to connect consciously to Nature. It is my very great desire that everyone has this experience and thus discovers true joy and beauty during the time you are out from under the control of your Awake Mental Voice.

I do know this is a very difficult thing to accomplish. In fact, I know it is so difficult that some will probably not even try, being concerned more about possible disappointment rather than possible success. This is very understandable and is nothing to feel too bad about.

This simple thing I would like everyone to try is so far outside our normal comfort zone in experience and knowledge that it is very understandable to feel some reluctance to even try this experiment. However, I would still sincerely encourage you to make the attempt as the rewards are so very great.

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

Remember being a very young child, before peer pressure and fears, especially fear of failure and looking stupid in front of your friends, became an issue? Remember when everything was done in joyous play, in innocent exploration? Those innocent times usually get choked off when we are about five years of age. Try to remember that little child within, the three- or four-year old who would explore life with fun and abandon. This is the playful ‘you’ I would like to see come forward to try this simple but oh so difficult thing of pushing the Awake Mental Voice away.

This little child is really closer to our non-physical nature than our adult physical self. This child could easily connect to a tree, and probably did many times. This little child is still there inside each of us; in fact, this playful child is really the larger Self, connected to our non-physical, non-local consciousness. This little ‘inner child’ is not yet under the control of the Awake Mental Voice.

The judgments and prohibitions and restrictions placed on us as adults are not yet developed in such a little child’s Awake Mental Voice. Use this ‘inner child’ to connect to Nature in any way possible, in order to draw this child out. This child probably saw things, heard things and felt things that were denied by parents and other adults, and so eventually, under the pressures of approval, that ability to see and feel the non-physical was set aside - but never really lost.

Gently, oh so gently, draw this child out and let this child connect to Nature. Be gentle in this process. As the adult of this child, carrying the weight and load of all the restrictions of the Awake Mental Voice, each of us has denied the reality of this child in us for most of our lives. Gently connect back to this child, allowing your Self to be led back into those simple joyous times to re-learn how to connect back to the larger Self.

But above all else, do not push, do not strive, do not become frustrated. Be very gentle. There is a lifetime of pain to overcome.

Where Do We Go from Here?

And now, you may ask: I have successfully connected to my larger self through this big oak tree in my back yard; but what do I do with this new condition in me?

The first and most important thing to do is to understand that each of us is certainly much more than simply a ‘meat computer’. There is something very mysterious about the kind of consciousness that has allowed us to connect to this tree, to feel this tree in a fundamental ‘tree sort of way’, and maybe even to talk to this tree. This new awareness of the Self being more than just something stuck inside one’s physical head looking out, is a very, very important thing to realize. It will eventually change almost everything we have previously thought about ourselves.

Practically, this connection to the oak tree shows that each of us must also have a non-physical awareness somewhere - otherwise how could we communicate with, share with, or feel this tree? The question to ask now is this: What is this other part of us, this part very much not inside our physical head, that was able to connect with the tree - and what can this part of us actually do for our physical Selves?

First, it is important to understand the ‘you’ that is thinking about this event, probably using the Awake Mental Voice to do the thinking, is actually a part of this non-physical consciousness - not the other way around. This physical ‘you’ which is the only part we have ever known about in this earthly life is a very tiny part of the larger non-local, non-physical aspect of our Self. The physical ‘you’ comes from this larger spiritual You.

This is what you probably never knew or experienced before. And believe me; this connection scares the hell out of the Awake Mental Voice. It will see its domination lessening, possibly even being lost with this connection to the larger spiritual You. And it will do everything it can to defend itself. However, in order for us to have an ongoing connection with our greater Self, this stripping away of the Awake Mental Voice must take place.

And this is how it should be. The Awake Mental Voice has no business being in control. This is an artifact, as I explained earlier. The combination of our physical awareness and our larger non-physical awareness can become more closely connected and more powerful. Our physical consciousness can begin to draw on the knowledge of the non-physical aspect of the larger Self. But the physical part of us will need to learn how to do this. I suspect few of us have any knowledge or skills in this area at all.

The first thing to know is that the larger non-physical Self will probably not use words to communicate. Words are hopelessly slow for the non-physical. Such beings will usually use a burst of gestalt information that seems like an almost overwhelming feeling, emotion or impression of ideas. So at first it will be important to learn to differentiate physical feelings and thoughts from this new in-bound source of information.

Everyone is different; but for me, my own physical emotions are much louder, much stronger, than the feelings that come from the non-physical. In fact, it is easy to overlook or dismiss the non-physical information at times because it will be in competition with your awake physical awareness and is simply drowned out by our loud ‘on-board’ mental voices.

My non-physical teachers told me to learn to listen for the small, quiet voice that seems to come in with a very subtle feeling that introduces it. It could be in the guise of a color, so to speak, or one that sets a tone or gives a kind of sound to this gestalt of information. I have learned over the years to differentiate different entities from each other and from my own non-physical consciousness - but I do have to admit it is not easy. It is just a fleeting feeling, and a very small feeling at that.

But - if such small rushes of feelings occur and we can learn to stop and pay attention to them, what we might find is this feeling and the small voice will blossom into a larger message of information. This information will usually be advice or help with problem-solving or encouragement to explore more options in what we might want to be doing physically.

Such voices will never tell us to do any one thing, as those choices are up to each of us. These ‘little voices’ often take the form of what we might call hunches, inspirations, intuitions or premonitions. We all have them frequently, but usually we dismiss them as not being real or important. We should learn to pay more and better attention to them. They are usually messages coming to us from our non-physical self or from our non-physical assistants.

A Last-Minute Reprieve

Here is a dramatic example: A few years ago my wife and I were set to take a Christmas vacation at a very exclusive beach resort in Thailand. I had bought and paid for the whole package and it looked wonderful. A bit more than a week in a private cabin on the beach.

I woke up the morning before we were to leave with a vague sense of unease. It was not from a dream, but just a nagging sense of dread, something being dreadfully wrong. I ignored the feeling and continued on my way getting ready for the trip. By 10 AM the sense of something being very wrong was too much to ignore any longer. I knew this was information coming into me from a non-physical source, so I took the time to carefully unfold the feeling and let it flow out into me. To my shock and surprise the only way I could interpret the message to me was to change our vacation plans and under no circumstances go to Thailand.

The message was clear and distinct and the feeling of disaster could not be avoided. But the message never told me in words to not go; it was just an overall feeling of disaster that I had to interpret. So I did something I could not believe. I listened to the small voice and bought tickets to Hong Kong instead, getting a small package tour that included the very last hotel room my travel agent could find in Kowloon. Of course she thought I was crazy because I was throwing more than $8,000 away for a $2,500 trip to a dump hotel in Hong Kong. But I could not go against the feeling inside me coming from this small voice. I had no idea what the issue might be, but I knew we could not go to Thailand.

So my wife and I went to Hong Kong for Christmas and had a wonderful time. We discovered that the streets are closed to auto traffic in Kowloon and a large part of the city becomes a huge street festival. We partied for two days with 250,000 of our new best Chinese friends.

We woke up late on the morning of 26 December more than a little hung over, but very happy with our little holiday. I turned on the TV only to catch the first reports of the tsunami hitting Phuket and the other beach areas of Thailand. We had been scheduled to be right on the beach in an area that in a matter of five minutes no longer existed. My wife and I just sat on the bed, watching this horror unfold, crying our eyes out with grief and relief.

My small voice had saved our lives.

Never in my life had I just walked away from $8,000; but in this case I knew I could not avoid that small voice telling me not to go to Phuket. I had learned too many times in the past to pay attention to that small voice. In this case, Phuket and all that happened there with the tsunami was not to be our personal drama.

At no time did the information coming in to me tell me what to do; it only made it very clear that something very wrong was going to happen on our trip to Thailand. I actually decided there was the possibility of a plane crash or something like that. I just knew we could not go.

If I were not so aware of my larger spiritual nature I would probably have ignored that small voice, not wanting to throw the money away, and we would have participated in the Phuket drama. Truly it was a real agony for me at first when I knew I was going to have to change our plans.

Learning to hear and feel that still, small voice inside and allowing that information to expand into our awareness so we can more fully capture its messages is something I cannot emphasize enough.

It is also possible to actually ‘feel’ body sensations that are a reflection of our larger non-physical self. These are not emotional feelings we have to be aware of, but very subtle body sensations. Our physical body is directly connected to our non-physical body and that non-physical consciousness can send signals to our physical body. We can learn to recognize these signals if we know what they might feel like.

One way to do this is to meditate, quiet your mind or do a bit of self-hypnosis, whatever you do to get more in touch with your non-physical self. Once in this state simply ask the question you want more information about. If you feel your physical body tensing up, especially in your abdominal muscles you can feel confident that your non-physical self does not like or agree with your question/issue. This is usually a negative signal sent from your non-physical self to your physical self. A very small physiological effect, like the effects a person might have in a lie detector test. These very small muscle sensations are something you can learn to sense.

To Second that Emotion

Another signaling system that can come to us is from our own physical emotions. Emotions are thoughts that become physical habits of a reflexive nature. A certain situation comes up and we experience an emotional feeling about it, perhaps even a strong feeling. Emotions are always signals something in our belief system has been ‘triggered’ and we should probably take the time to examine the reason for the feelings rather than simply going with them. What is the cause of this emotional trigger - and is it really a valid reason for the emotion?

This system of using emotional triggers as cues for self-examination is especially good for examining belief systems that have become personal habits. If we read something that causes a strong emotion it is wise to take a moment to examine that entire process, both the information and our reaction to this information. Is it a belief which is being challenged or confirmed? If so, on the basis of what data? Is the new data better and more real than whatever created the original belief system?

In both of these cases information is being passed to us from other areas of our being than from our Awake Mental Voice. Some conscious part of us is sending us an emotion. Our job is to learn to recognize this is happening and then to take the time to examine what this means.

This is part of what should be a natural set of observational skills. But these observations occur at a deep level and come from a set of experiences most people are taught to dismiss. Knowing now about our larger non-physical nature, we can no longer dismiss and deny these emotional observations. Now we can learn how to examine this information and incorporate these new facts into our actions.

In fact a whole new skill will be developed if we are really intent on connecting with our greater non-physical self. In other words we need to learn ‘how to think about how we are thinking’. Remember, in my view of the reality of the universe thoughts are really hard substance things imbued with energy and capable of creating reality. Taking the time to examine our thoughts will become an essential exercise if we really want to explore ourselves more fully.

I wish I could claim this phrase, but I think the spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti made it up first: ‘the proprioception of thought’. Proprioception is a term in neuroanatomy that describes a class of nerves that tell the brain what position our muscles are in. Krishnamurti used the word as a description of a process that each one of us should use all the time in examining our own thoughts to determine where they are and why.

Where did that thought come from, and why is it there inside me? This sounds silly in a way, to take the time to think about what, and to ask how and why we are thinking what we are thinking - but it is actually critical.

In our world, the word ‘Life’ is a noun; but ‘Life’ should be a verb, a word of action. Life is not about passively learning a lot of words; it is about learning how to use those words properly in action. But how do we do that if we don’t even know where our thinking consciousness is actually engaged at any time - but most importantly right now?

Thinking about thinking - and being concerned with where your thoughts are and where they came from - is actually the first real step toward being able to connect fully with our non-physical self. It is a critical bit of self-awareness that teaches us where we are now in our thinking and gives us clues as to how to get where we want to go. Most of us never take the time to question where our thoughts come from or why we are having them. It is very important to take the time to do this if we want to connect more fully with our non-physical aspect.

First, doing so will teach us how to be critical of our own thinking and thinking processes. Since we now know we are primarily consciousness in action we can see why it is important to be clearer about what our thoughts really are and where they came from.

Second, by thinking about our own thinking we can learn to more easily differentiate between our physical self and other aspects of us. This is very important if we really want to explore our non-physical nature. We want to be able to remain focused in the physical so we can use that focus to compare those thoughts and ideas to the other thoughts and ideas coming into us from the non-physical. This feature was the original idea behind the Awake Mental Voice. This allows the physical to fully appreciate the dramas of the physical and make them concrete experiences, as they should be.

These experiences then can be reviewed as memories, but to do this properly they need to be distinct memories, separate from all the other information flowing through from the non-physical. Just consider a really confusing dream and the sequence issues we might have with it. We need to learn how to clearly think about our physical thoughts and recognize them inside all the other information we will be experiencing.

Third, by becoming more discerning in our own thinking and thoughts and more connected to our deeper non-physical consciousness, we will be much less likely to pay any attention at all to the lies continually coming at us from other entities wanting to sell us things that are not at all in our best interest.

So learning to think about our thinking and how it got the way it is while also learning how to ‘hear’ and distinguish the new sources of information flowing into us from the non-physical we have now connected with will be the first issues we need to address. Getting these issues under more firm control will allow us to build on these new sources of information and experience. The most important attribute of these new tools will be to enhance our experience as a physical being.

In the next essay, I will talk about the fact all perception is subjective. There is nothing we individually experience which is not subjective to us and to our senses. This raises one other issue with the new tools we are developing and that is to have other like-minded people close to us so we can share our perceptions with them and maybe even mutually explore some parts of the universe together. This is really the only way to make some of these experiences become ‘objective’.

This collective sort of experience becomes most important when you really want to put thought into action and create something. Two or more very close people who know and trust their observational and interpretive skills need to work together in the process of carrying observations forth into intentions. I am not talking about giving anything up to anyone outside of you. That is the very bad idea of an outside enforced collectivism at work. I am talking about working together with mutual trust and care.

I’m sure some readers will already have had the thought these ‘new tools’ are actually not so new at all. Some might feel they have been using these tools all their lives. And that is the very great truth about our ever-present connection to our non-physical. It is always there, always on, always functioning. Without it, we do not function at all as a physical being.

The fact we do not recognize that these feelings coming into us, these premonitions, these synchronicities, these deja vu moments, are actually from another part of ourselves is just part of the whole package of conditioning that has been layered on top of our physical being in an attempt to separate us from this larger non-physical and non-local Self. This is the really powerful, competent and much more knowledgeable ‘You’ that exists just a bit separate from the physical, but to whom we are always connected - no matter what Modernity may have otherwise convinced us to believe.

 

On the Beach

25 August 2014

3:12 PM

Iba, Zambales, Philippines

 

The Antidote

Convalescence : Taking Stock

Essay Seven

By

On The Beach

 

This is Essay Seven in my series ‘The Antidote’. All previous Essays may be found here.

 

I am hopeful, very hopeful, that all my readers took the time to actually try to connect their own physical consciousness to the consciousness of Nature. And I am also hopeful some were able to accomplish this.

But I do know how difficult expanding our consciousness actually is. For most of the inhabitants of Modernity it is almost impossible. Our Awake Mental Voice will simply be too strong for us to overcome our own limiting beliefs. Still, I am hopeful.

If each of us were to lose ourselves within this larger experience, even if only for an instant, we would feel this profound change so deeply we would absolutely know it is truly possible. And perhaps, just perhaps, we would try again and, maybe next time, be able to push the Awake Mental Voice away even farther and for much longer.

This is my sincere desire for each of us: to be increasingly able to experience the larger part of ourselves, directly and subjectively, inside of our own being.

My words, anyone’s words, are not enough though. Each of us must experience this for ourselves. Words just get in the way because words are the domain and dominion of the Awake Mental Voice.

There is a famous poet whose use of words is so odd, so different and so perverse his words will make your Awake Mental Voice scream in agony, begging you to stop reading those horrible words. Such words, strung together in nonsensical ways, make perfect sense if ‘you’, the bigger You, will give his words time to become non-words and see them as ideas instead. Let’s see what this author has to say about where you might go and what I hope you will become by experiencing the loss of your Awake Mental Voice through connecting to your larger Nature:

“The poems to come are for you and for me and are not for mostpeople ---it’s no use trying to pretend that mostpeople and ourselves are alike. Mostpeople have less in common with ourselves than the squarerootofminusone. You and I are human beings;mostpeople are snobs . . .

If mostpeople were to be born twice they’d improbably call it dying---

    Miracles are to come. With you I leave a remembrance of miracles: they are by somebody who can love and who shall be continually reborn,a human being;somebody who said to those near him,when his fingers would not hold a brush “tie it into my hand” ---

    nothing proving or sick or partial. Nothing false,nothing difficult or easy or small or colossal. Nothing ordinary or extraordinary,nothing emptied or filled;nothing feeble and known or clumsy and guessed. Everywhere tints childrening,innocent spontaneous,true. Nowhere possibly what flesh and impossibly such a garden,but actually flowers which breasts are among the very mouths of light. Nothing believed or doubted;brain over heart,surface:nowhere hating or to fear;shadow,mind without soul. Only how measureless cool flames of making;only each other building always distinct selves of mutual entirely opening;only alive. Never the murdered finalities of wherewhen and yesno,impotent nongames of wrongright and rightwrong:never to gain or pause,never the soft adventures of undoom,greedy anguishes and cringing ecstasies of inexistence;never to rest and never to have;only to grow.

    Always the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question.”

E.E.Cummings

“Introduction to Collected Poems”

1938

 

Mr. Cummings’ made-up words and tortured phrases are perfectly designed to describe a state of being that cannot be described in words.

This is exactly what is needed to describe what happens to a person who manages to connect with the larger part of themselves and pushes their Awake Mental Voice back, out of absolute and complete control of their beingness. The person who can do this becomes a real being, not a mostpeople. And that state is quite beyond words.

Most of us have had the experience of being out from under the control of the Awake Mental Voice when we are doing something that pleases and fully engages us. When we are very intent on this thing, what ever it might be, we enter a kind of trance-like state of no words where time does not exist, only the actions we are doing, which seem to almost flow out of us without our conscious thought. In this state, words do not have meaning, nor does time exist. We are one with our thought and action.

As an old carpenter I would enter this state when I had a project to build, something very interesting and creative that I really wanted to make. I would ‘wake up’ hours later, not really sure where all the time had gone but amazed at what I had accomplished. I could not recall any words in my mind or the passage of time, but only the actions of my body, working to build exactly what I wanted. I am sure many readers have had this happen.

During this time we are no longer under the power and control of our Awake Mental Voice, our ego. We are no longer ‘the small us of our physical body’ but have now allowed the larger ‘Us’ to take control. In this state, it is very easy to connect with Nature and to allow our consciousness to connect with and expand into other consciousness around us. This aware state of consciousness, free from the control of the Awake Mental Voice, is the state we are looking for. This is the state we can use to connect with our larger non-physical consciousness and those of other entities around us.

So here are some more tools to use to get that pesky Awake Mental Voice to shut up and get back to where it belongs: playing a supporting role in maintaining our individuality while in the physical.

Use your senses to help you focus away from the constant stream of words the Awake Mental Voice likes to use to stay in control.

For example, people like me who are mainly visual should use their vision to intently become aware of some small part of the plant or aspect of Nature they are focusing on. Look deeply into some part of it, trace edges, compare colors, look for patterns, sense volumes, anything to distract you away from words.

If you are an auditory person, use the sounds the wind might be making all around you. Or, use instrumental-only music if you have something you really like to listen to. Focus on the interaction of your emotions and feelings of these sounds with the aspect of Nature you are trying to connect to.

If you are mainly a kinesthetic person, get up and dance. Dance and move around whatever it is you want to connect with; get your body moving and feel the effect your movements have on you in relationship to the Nature around you.

Do what ever it takes to push the Awake Mental Voice out of its position of dominance over you. This is an artificial state, one never meant to be. It exists because we do not know of our own non-physical nature and doubt that it really exists. If we had no doubts we could probably do this thing much more easily and our Awake Mental Voice would not have so much control over us.

Please keep at this exercise and don’t give up until you can experience even a mere instant of timelessness outside the words that usually are part of the Awake Mental Voice’s control over you. Don’t strive; don’t push; just gently focus away from words.

The reason I want you to focus outside of yourself, on something in Nature, is to lessen the control of the Awake Mental Voice. Going inward puts one directly under the control of that ego voice. Nature is our source and where our life is. It will not lead us into trouble and it will connect to us when we are out from under the control of our Awake Mental Voice.

I understand that all solutions to any issues are inside one’s Self - but that self must be whole in order to find those solutions. Until each of us as individuals can break this artificial control of the Awake Mental Voice, we cannot use the other larger parts of us that we need. We are actually cut off from most of our greater Self. I am using an outward focus as a method to break this control. Once the greater aspect of each of us is back in control of our physical consciousness, we can focus inward to use the resources we actually have but are not aware of.

A Brief Review

Now I would like to take some time to go back through my previous six essays and build up my view of us in the universe as I know it. I think this is an essential step in moving forward. It is part of building a foundation for each person to stand on. I don’t mean to imply your view should be mine, but we each need to know and be aware of how we see ourselves and the universe around us. We need to know about our foundations and understand what we are thinking. If we don’t do this then how do we really know where we are? And how do we really map a path to where we want to go?

So here is On The Beach’s view of the Self in his universe:

1. Each of us exists here as a physical being - but that is a temporary state.
2. We are actually timeless, non-physical beings learning how to exist in an infinitely large, timeless and complex universe. This makes each of us a multidimensional, timeless being of infinite potential.
3. This larger being is mainly a being of energy and that is where our actual consciousness resides, outside of the physical body each of us inhabits now, in the non-local universe somewhere.
4. Everything in the universe is conscious in some way. We can connect consciously to any and all of it if we know how to do so.
5. Our way in this universe is entirely our responsibility, no one else's. Salvationism in any form is a lie.
6. No one is judging our actions or beliefs; those are our personal and individual responsibilities. But our abilities are created out of our beliefs. We must own these beliefs as our own and make sure what we believe is actually true.
7. Each of us can only do what we can do; but our potential actions are almost without limit if we know how.
8. In the current physical, and in the next non-physical place we will inhabit, we are always surrounded by other entities, both helpful and un-helpful. Part of learning how to function in this universe is to learn how to discriminate amongst these various influencing factors.
9. Some of these entities are specifically around to help in our physical life. They will not tell us what to do, but they will support us and help us to see the options available to us. Each of us can learn how to connect with these non-physical entities.
10. We will reside in the non-physical in a place matching the energy levels of our belief systems and there we will be able to do only what we can do.
11. While physical, these rules are relaxed so we can take part in dramas designed to help us learn via experiences and choices. We are not held to our abilities, but our general beliefs will be influenced by the general energy level of all those around us in the physical.
12. While physical, many of our actions are in reality dramas that we and others have chosen to plan out ahead of time and then perform for our growth. This gives us the immediate choice of actions from amongst many possible options. These dramas are planned in the timeless non-physical and non-physical assistants help us in our physical performance.
13. Our choices in these dramas can be changed at any time. We are not held to any drama but have free will. This is what the experiences are all about: giving us each the chance to make choices among a number of options, in real time. The dramas will be changed as needed in non-linear time.
14. These dramas seem to happen one after another but they are actually all happening at one time, from the timeless non-physical perspective. Karma as a form of judgment for reward and punishment does not exist.
15. We must have direct experiences in order to truly learn; reading and words will not be enough.
16. While we are physical, a physical construct has been created to help us identify with the unique physical being we now are. This construct is the ego, or what I call the Awake Mental Voice, which has been perverted by improper narratives of life that have been created to damage and weaken the physical individual. The main focus of this damage is to keep a physical being from knowing about or connecting to their greater non-physical aspect.
17. Every thought is actually a ‘thing’ with energy of its own. These thoughts can create reality if they have enough energy to exist in the places we cast them into.
18. While we are physical, most of our reality is co-created with others. We are learning how to create reality together with others.
19. Since each one of us is a conscious creature of energy, many of the lessons which are important for us to grasp are about how to use and conserve energy. We must learn how to use energy properly, even though there is an almost unlimited supply. Learning how to work as a group to share energy responsibly is a key to growth. Learning how to steal energy from others usually ends in disaster for non-physical beings.
20. Matter and energy are probably equivalent, somewhat like the Einstein equation. However, I am not sure that light speed is the constant in that relationship. Personally, I think there is no such thing as matter; that dividing up the universe into matter and energy is actually an observational error on our part because of our sensory biases in this physical place.
21. I think this physical universe is made up of energy and empty space, with that space being alive with potential energy. Conscious thought has the ability to interact with both the existing energy structures and the empty space to create new structures as desired…if we know how.
22. There is no such thing as metaphysics. Everything is physics.
23. There are many universes and limitless opportunities for experiences.
24. Everything we experience is subjective. It is up to us to decide how truthful and worthy the experience really is. We must not rely on any earthly resource outside ourselves to make that judgment for us. We must build on our own experiences, testing carefully and questioning carefully.
25. There is nothing imaginary, dreaming or asleep about anything that happens while physical. These dramas are as real as they can get and are to be experienced in great detail. The main reason to be alive here is for the great joy of such experiences.
26. Everything that happens in the physical happens now. There is no past and there are an infinite number of potential futures. Our job is to create an appropriate future by making good choices now. There is only now in the physical time space.
27. The physical earth is the body of a being who gave us life. She is with us constantly and we can connect to Her if we know how. However, She is much more than just the body of our physical Earth.
28. That said, there is no omnipotent god who created everything and sits in judgment. She has no omnipotence and does not demand obedience or reverence.
29. There is no hell or heaven since there is no judgment.
30. There are creators of life in this universe. If we are the physical parents of a child, then we, too, are a creator of life.
31. The universe is infinite and is constantly being consciously co-created by every conscious entity in this universe.
32. There is no limit to this process of personal growth and experience, as all of life is a process at the level of the non-physical experience. We never arrive.
33. Quality of thought and action is very important. Quality is an attribute of consciousness.
34. Discrimination on our part is a very important aspect of learning during our experiences. Not being discerning can lead to our enslavement.
35. Discrimination and discernment can help keep us from falling under the control of entities that want something from us. Evil intent exists and it is part of our duty as a conscious being to learn how to identity evil intent and avoid it.
36. The process of creating life, of being a part of the living   experience and growing in abilities and quality in that experience, is precious beyond words.

These characteristics are based on my experiences alone. I strongly suggest that everyone reading this write out a list of characteristics for your own universe, based upon your knowledge and experience as of this moment. You cannot build a foundation and take a stand if you do not know where you are right here, right now.

My universe gives each of us the potential of infinite possibilities - but limits us to our personal skills and actions, making each of us responsible for our own growth in all areas. My universe has no ‘God’ and no salvation, only each of us learning how to make it in this conscious existence. Help is available but so are very unhelpful distractions and potential failures. We learn by doing and by always being aware of our actions and their consequences. We must learn how to be observant and then create actions that are formed based on properly informed intentions. Sustainability in all things is a key since we are a being of energy. We must learn how to properly use what energy we have available to us.

It is important to note that while we are a physical being, our focus should be on doing the best possible job we can while in the physical. All these non-physical issues are important only as they help us make better choices while physical. They are not helpful at all if we fall off into an endless exploration of non-physical issues without the real ability to explore these issues experientially. Then the non-physical can become a distraction.

For instance, why is it important to have a discussion about how many levels or planes of existence there might be? This idea makes no sense if we really understand that the universe is infinite. Because someone physical was able to explore 7 areas of existence and then describes the universe as consisting of 7 levels is nonsense.

We should explore as much as we want and feel safe to explore, but it is important to always understand that what we are experiencing is only the tiniest fragment of something beyond our ability to describe, much less experience as a creature of the physical. We need to focus on what we can observe and understand directly and what issues we can directly control with our own thoughts and actions. There is always much more, as most of what exists is beyond our capacity to observe, understand or describe.

It should be fairly obvious that we cannot do this task very well as a physical being if we have no idea we are also a non-physical being.

It should also be obvious that a group of physical entities that have no idea of their real nature as non-physical beings can never create social structures or institutions that will be useful to the group.

In fact, it should be very obvious by now that mankind faces a catastrophe created directly out of not being aware of its true nature, as a part of Nature.

In my next essay, I will lay out some additional tools that can make a very large difference for a person who is able to connect to their larger non-physical nature.

 

On the Beach

17 August 2014

3:12 PM

Iba, Zambales, Philippines