A conversation with Ray Menezes and Marc Lebon

A conversation between Ray Menezes and Marc Lebon on 17 September 2014

Radio Show

For anyone who is interested in the topics of this blog I recently became involved in a radio show that is basically a conversation between myself and Mark Lebon interspersed with music.
From 11.11.14 the show is now being done with myself and Louis Weinstock here is the link for the latest show and previous shows.




If anyone has any questions relating to the topics on this blogsite or on the radio show please post them here and I will try to answer them.

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.

Democracy Power and Evolution

Money and power can overrule what is right. People can vote to overrule what is right. Violence can and often is used to overrule what is right. Although we may overrule what is right it is important to understand that when we overrule in this way, we have changed nothing, right is still right and will always be so. All we can do is delay what is right. In time all acts of overruling what is right will themselves be overruled. The past shows us that it has always been this way and must always be this way. As humans we are able to overrule what is right and because we are able we do. This is the source of all our suffering, we do not consider the effect of overruling what is right and we do not consider the chaos that is released into the world whenever we overrule what is right. The moment we overrule what is right our suffering has already begun. Evolution is a simple but irrevocable law that says only that which works is right, time is not an issue to this law. We may believe that overruling what is right is our choice but if we pay attention we will see that when we overrule what is right we begin to suffer and furthermore this suffering will not stop until our act of ignorance is corrected. When we knowingly or unknowingly harm ourself or another we have broken this absolute  law and suffering has been created and must continue until it is reversed. Here is the catch - we may overrule what is right and because through ignorance we do not immediately notice that we have also initiated suffering we somehow assume that we have got away with it. All causes have an effect and while the effect may not immediately follow the cause it inevitably will. We grow up believing that we can cheat these laws only because the effect of our actions is not always immediate. Also it seems we would rather live in a world where we can cheat and if this can be achieved through simply not noticing the effect of our actions then so be it. Democracy is a great idea but it is flawed because those who have money and power are willing to use that money and power to convince everyone else that what they want we should also want. Those without money and power because they too would like to have money and power are easily convinced by those who have money and power because these people obviously know how to achieve what we want.

Multidimensionality of Ego

Ego equals knowledge. This knowledge comes in many forms but the world is mostly concerned with one form and that form is thought. Thought is knowledge of something and this knowledge is applied to everything. This appears to be a vast resource all our knowledge of ourselves, the world, of history, science, philosophy and language have come about through thought. This knowledge indeed seems vast yet what if this knowledge is only 2% of the knowledge available. The body experiences the world through the senses, which can be thought of as sensory information. This sensory information is usually given meaning relating to the 2% or mental part of our computation. The sensory information without the meaning is very ancient and would have begun with the first stirrings of life. The 2% mental computation element is relatively recent yet in the short time since it occurred it has completely swamped the sensory information part of ourselves. Not only has it swamped the sensory part of what we are it now completely dominates that part. We identify with the 2% part of what we are. This is not dissimilar to identifying ourselves with our big toe. This is the major difference between man and all other forms of life. We are dominated and identify with 2% of what we are. All other forms of life are aware of the sensory information which is the remaining 98% and they identify if at all with that. Most humans seem to think that the advantage is with us because we have access to thought knowledge. The truth is that both man and all other forms of life are at a disadvantage in the way we access knowledge. What if the human body and mind were capable of accessing all the knowledge available. This is the next stage of evolution and it is occurring but very, very slowly. The problem is in the nature of belief because belief is taken to be real when it is not. It is possible to have and use knowledge without believing it to be real. Believing knowledge to be real is the cause of all the negative aspects of human behaviour. This can be seen most clearly when we take ourselves too seriously, this seriousness can become anger, rage, depression, greed and many other forms of mental illness. We identify with what we believe and so feel threatened when what we believe is threatened. Fanatics have no sense of humour. When we lose humour we lose our humanity and become capable of any horror. To take the next evolutionary step it is necessary to see that belief can never be real it can however be useful. It is necessary for us to understand this distinction on the deepest possible level. What we believe can never be real, real in the sense of taking our beliefs too seriously. When this is deeply understood all the knowledge we have becomes either useful or not. Sensory knowledge is always useful, that is 98% of the information received through the senses is naturally useful. The remaining 2% of mental knowledge would no longer have the power to do harm. Knowledge in all its forms is ego and knowledge is the same as belief. From this point it can be seen that all that we know or can know is not real. Taking this knowledge to be real is a natural evolutionary mistake and as with other evolutionary mistakes is eventually corrected. This can be seen in the zen statement that in the beginning a mountain is a mountain then it is not a mountain and then it is a mountain again. In the beginning we see the mountain through our senses then at some point we add meaning to what is seen by our senses. Finally the meaning that has been added is seen for what it is, that it may or may not be useful and regardless of its usefulness is ultimately seen as not real. Finally we can see the wonder of what we are and where we are without the need to believe what is seen and this itself is the wonder.

Out of the Darkness

   

It is essential that you learn to see any negatives that occur in your mind and apply the following logic. If I am thinking or saying something negative this is proof that what I am thinking or saying is untrue. All negative statements about yourself are untrue they always indicate that we believe something that is not true. We just have to keep applying this logic. If something is untrue it is the same as saying it does not exist. As you notice the negatives in your thinking they will begin to dissolve, only then is it possible to fully connect with your raw physical sensations and then faith is no longer needed. See negative thinking as a trail that will lead you out of the darkness - in that sense it is not negative, without negatives consciousness becomes 'known'. Be clear this is only about being aware of the negative thinking that takes place it is not about analyzing or judging anything. When you notice that a negative thought has occurred leave it at that just notice it, nothing else needs to be done. There is no place for negative thinking, it serves no purpose and in fact the reason we do it is to punish ourselves. This need to punish ourselves usually involves punishing others and this can only be done when we are unconscious of what we are doing. Fear and anxiety thrive on negative thinking and cannot exist without it. This being so it is imperative to learn to focus all our attention on this obvious bull in the china shop. With full attention negative thinking cannot exist - without negative thinking there can be no problem. All suffering arises with the unconscious desire to punish ourselves through the use of negative thinking. All suffering ends when we are able to shine a light on what was in darkness and in so doing make the unconscious conscious.