Tuesday 16 September 2014

Directions for Consciousness

In the beginning life is filled with consciousness but it is the body that determines how that is used. In the course of evolution the body changes but consciousness does not. As the body changes consciousness is directed to to create new possibilities. Consciousness needs direction and in the beginning these directions are given by the natural needs of the body. Much later a shift occurs and the mind/ego takes over or begins to dominate the natural directions of the body. It is at this point that the body will do what it is told regardless of wether the new directions are sane or not. When directions given to the body turn out to be based on insane or false beliefs then suffering in one or more of its many guises is what follows. This suffering is not dissimilar to a law of physics like gravity; the suffering is a natural consequence of believing something that is not true. The similarity to a law of physics or science is because no matter how many times we run this experiment of believing something that is not true the result or consequence is predictable and will never vary. This is a serious problem and the results of believing things that are not true can be seen all around us and all over the world. There really is no other problem, all human problems have their origin in our capacity to believe things that are not true. To correct this problem it is useful to identify all the things that are believed that are not true. The easiest way to do this is to notice the natural beliefs of the body, that is the sense beliefs of the body or the way the body naturally exists in the world; breathing, touching, tasting, hearing, seeing and smelling.

I am writing my reply to Kite's comment here 
Yes without the meaning embedded in beliefs sensations become like clouds drifting across the sky. What is interesting is that these sensations which are actually quite nebulous can turn the nebulous into something concrete or into absolute suffering. We are addicted to this process of turning the nebulous into concrete because the more we do it the more real ( it seems) the world becomes but more importantly it is the ego/belief entity which has no substance or actuality which is able to deceive itself into believing that it is real and does exist. And pain in all its forms is a great convincer of this.

7 comments:

  1. Absolutely true! After I read this I realised that although the suffering in the guise of uncomfortable sensations in the body seem true they are ultimately totally imaginary coherent with the belief that they correspond with. The other sensory sensations are much truer so to speak and relate to the practical reality of the 'world'. Most of the times I get mixed up between these two types of sensations but today I kind of felt clearer about the difference between them. The abstract false belief based sensation supposedly felt in the body is not really a sensation at all, but a mere phantom like semblance of a 'painful sensation' at the least and a totally imagined feeling at best.
    Is this correct?
    In any case I will continue this exploration as my description of his seems much more valid in practice than in trying to describe it in words of course.
    Thanks

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  2. Yes without the meaning embedded in beliefs sensations become like clouds drifting across the sky. What is interesting is that these sensations which are actually quite nebulous can turn the nebulous into something concrete or into absolute suffering. We are addicted to this process of turning the nebulous into concrete because the more we do it the more real ( it seems) the world becomes but more importantly it is the ego/belief entity which has no substance or actuality which is able to deceive itself into believing that it is real and does exist. And pain in all its forms is a great convincer of this.

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  3. Thanks Ray,
    Exactly the line I was on except that I feel those beliefs that make the nebulous sensations concrete feel like virtual sensations themselves. Isn't that true to some extent? I mean beliefs are so abstract that they need some tangible feeling to be experienced even though they have no concrete reality in fact.
    All I'm trying to say is that this is how I experience them and it helps to sieve out the more natural sense beliefs from the thought ones. It just helps me to notice what is true and what is false more accurately. Am I on the right track?
    Thanks

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    1. Sense beliefs are the best place to start this explorations. In sense beliefs we find all the dynamics of all other beliefs. Because sense beliefs are in a sense more truthful they are easier to see and understand, remember understanding occurs when all information is in - half the information = half the understanding or no understanding. When understanding occurs new levels of comprehension are revealed and the process begins again. So once the sense beliefs are understood it becomes easier to see and understand all other beliefs. The sense beliefs become a kind of reference point from which we can venture out and explore like exploring a deep dark and complex cave system, but having a piece of string that leads back to the entrance so yes keep your attention on the sense beliefs and all other beliefs including the false beliefs will reveal themselves automatically. At some point this process itself becomes self sustaining - it runs without any effort.

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  4. Wow! That makes it so much clearer Ray. Thanks so much

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  5. I am starting to see that the sense beliefs are definitely more true than the thought beliefs. However I would like to know why even the sense beliefs are ultimately not true. I know they are also beliefs but they will last for the whole of one's life and that's how permanent you can get. Why then say they are true only comparatively and not absolutely? I know I may be jumping the gun as I have yet not understood sense beliefs in their entirety but I am very curious as to what will happen to them ultimately.

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    1. Ultimately they go the same way the body goes. The point of all this sense beliefs and all other beliefs is that ultimately they are all the same that is untrue. Understanding this lead us to ultimately freeing ourselves from all beliefs even sense beliefs although comparatively true of course they are very useful they still however prevent us from seeing what lies beyond all beliefs. This also connects to what we talked about earlier - nebulous and concrete it is necessary to move beyond all aspects of the concrete. Ultimately sense beliefs all though more nebulous than other beliefs still have a concrete component to them necessarily so but it becomes possible to appreciate the concrete component while being free of it. Refer back to this saying of the Kashmir shaivists ' when god/shiva created the universe/shakti he worried that he would forget that he is god. For me this is very precise information about quantum theory wave/infinite potential and particle-something acting on that potential to create everything that can be created. The sense beliefs can be seen as particle and part of what causes god/shiva to forget himself.

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