Mindsets

Consciousness is connected to intention and intention can be considered to be what we want. At no time can we do something that we do not want to do. Everything we have ever done therefore must also be what we wanted to do. It is important to understand that what we intend or want is a perfect system that enables us to survive as well as the manner in which we survive. If our intention is not clear or complete then it is certain that problems and possibly suffering will arise. A complete intention occurs when we are in full agreement with what we want. This can be very subtle, how do we know if we are in full agreement with what we want? The surest way to check this is to look carefully at what we actually have. What you already have must be what you want. If there is any trace of suffering in what you have then this is the proof that you are not in full agreement with what you want. When we are in full agreement with what we want life becomes easy and effortless. All possible negatives are eliminated and this alone will improve our quality of life enormously. Without negatives our life will naturally find a direction. It is difficult to put a name to this direction but life begins to flow very easily and without effort and in a positive and healthy direction.

Incomplete mindsets involve not being in full agreement with what we want. If we were to program a computer with incomplete information then that computer could not do anything but follow this incomplete information and this in turn means that the computer could not possibly work efficiently. This is true for us, if our intention is incomplete then the information that is given to consciousness must also be incomplete and this must cause negative results.

Complete mindsets are always positive and never involve suffering. Simply put complete mindsets work. Here are some complete mindsets;

At no time will I believe something that is not true. At the root the only things that can be assumed to be true is that which is happening without any beliefs being attached. If we attach a negative meaning to what is happening then we must live through the unnecessary negative meaning and its consequences.

I will no longer accept ageing, tiredness, illness or depression or any other negative belief as all these are beliefs that cannot be true. The reason why these beliefs are not true is because they arise from the ego and the ego is not what we are, what we are is consciousness and none of these beliefs have any validity within consciousness; consciousness does not age, become tired, ill or depressed. Consciousness can never change except when the body dies and is always clear and complete.

I will from now on only learn from my experience regardless of what that experience turns out to be. Without negative beliefs we can only learn, it is not possible to  experience something that we cannot learn from. Learning is always positive or else it is not learning. 

I will never intentionally do anything to harm myself or anyone else. Being untruthful can be seen to be potentially harmful to oneself and others. Experiment with other possible mindsets and find out for yourself those that work and those that do not. 

The most subtle mindsets are those that connect to our feelings, our feelings are connected to physical sensation and as such they have no meaning. If we add a positive or negative meaning to physical sensation then we must live through the meaning we have added. Positive meanings can often be subtly connected to negative meanings and so are unnecessary. What the body feels is known but does not need to be held as a positive or negative belief.

Everything That Can be Known

Everything that be known can only be known as a belief, this includes all that can be known through our senses in terms of sight, sound, touch, taste, smell as well as all the possible thoughts and concepts that the mind is capable of creating. All of this is the sum total of what we can know and experience. The foundation of all that can be known and experienced is composed of belief and belief turns out to be only what we find palatable. What does this mean? It means that it is not possible to know anything other than what we believe and therefore the whole of human experience is suspect and truly unknowable. So long as the lens through which reality is viewed is dominated by the ego it will never be possible to discover anything that is not agreeable to that same ego. What is agreeable to the ego can never be truth because it is truth that the ego fears more than anything else. When we view reality through the lens of our beliefs everything seems to fit together and make sense. This is because the root belief that allows all other beliefs to seem coherent is the belief in the ego itself. This is the belief that all other beliefs depend on and although we may question many of our beliefs we will avoid questioning this one. The ego is our apparent identity, it is who we think we are, and to question this is not unlike wishing to commit suicide. Without the root belief in the ego all other beliefs become transparent, some of these beliefs turn out to be practical and useful and all those that are not are immediately seen and discarded. Our sense beliefs such as sight and sound are obviously practical and useful and are not affected by the collapse of belief. All negative beliefs regarding ourselves or others can have no practical or useful result and tend not to arise, if they do arise they are not believed in and quickly dissipate. Without the root belief in the ego which is not what we truly are there is only consciousness which is all we have ever been.

The Flip

Many years ago I read a warning that said if you meditate be careful ‘as you may be grabbed by the cosmic Buddha’. This warning indicates that if you meditate something may happen that is not of your control. It was said as a warning because there are many reasons why we may meditate and sometimes these reasons are not serious. We may get more than we bargained for. I asked a friend many years ago who was interested in meditation and spirituality if there was a pill he could take that would give him instant ‘enlightenment’ would he take it, he did not hesitate he said no. His reply indicates to me that none of us know what enlightenment is so why would we want it. We may have our own ideas about what it is but still the truth must be that we do not know. Even if we think it is a state of perfect bliss I am sure there is a part of us that has a doubt. This is natural because this tends to be the case when we do not know. The word enlightenment in the Buddhist sense must be a word describing something that can never be known. This word can certainly not be known prior to ‘enlightenment’ or after. It is obvious that it cannot be known before as we clearly do not know what it is apart from our beliefs about what we think it is. It cannot be known after because who is it that would know. If there is any knowing it is the knowing of the ego. The ego has many reasons why it may wish to be enlightened but these reasons all involve a desire for power of some kind. The person who talked of being grabbed by the cosmic Buddha was a Buddhist. This can be put another way that is not particularly Buddhist. There is consciousness and there is the ego, the ego arises in consciousness and at a certain point when we are young takes over the show. That is, ego believes itself to exist as an entity apart from consciousness or separate from consciousness. The ego does not exist as an entity any more than this computer I am using right now exists as an entity. The computer or the ego have a use but something very strange has occurred if we think that the computer or the ego are conscious of anything. Artificial intelligence seems to me to be about something similar; how to make it appear that a machine has consciousness. My guess is that this could never happen, a machine will never be conscious but I have no doubt that we will reach a point where a machine mimics and even enhances many of the tasks that a human is able to do. We can program a machine to play chess so that it may win against a human being but this is not consciousness. Consciousness is what makes such things possible and this is true also of the ego. Consciousness is what makes the ego possible and the ego could not exist without consciousness. Consciousness on the other hand can exist quite happily without the ego in fact it always has because the ego cannot truly be said to exist. We are all on a journey towards what I call the ‘flip’. All our striving to be free of suffering whatever form that striving may take whether we like it or not is leading us towards the ‘flip’. We are not able to control this journey in any way yet the mechanism for this occurrence is already working. When suffering is eventually truly seen to be the product of belief the flip will take place - from ego being the dominant part of us a flip occurs in which consciousness is seen to be what it has always been. Consciousness is what we really are and although the ego has a place in consciousness it will never again be mistaken for what we really are.

The Ego is a Ghost That Arises in Consciousness

The ego is a ghost that arises in consciousness. The ghost has a name and many preferences. It believes it lives and will die but it has never been born. It believes that life is suffering and seeks to confirm this at every opportunity. The ghost has discovered that suffering more than anything else gives the appearance of life to something that does not exist. The ghost does not exist and although it suspects this it does not know it. Huge amounts of energy are expended by the ghost to keep this secret from itself, when the secret is revealed the ghost will fade and be no more. How is it that something that does not exist appears to suffer? This amazing trick is created using smoke and mirrors; stories are invented that sooner or later will cause suffering. Once created suffering has all the qualities of reality and this is because the body mirrors what the mind believes. It has probably taken thousands of years for this trick to become as sophisticated as it now is. It is now so sophisticated that it can hardly be conceived anymore that suffering is a dream created by something that does not exist. Through belief consciousness can and does create everything including the ghost and it is through the realisation that belief is the source of all illusions that suffering can at last end.